Chapter 5: High Taxes

Mo Yubai opened the bicycle upgrade page and decisively chose to upgrade!

This would finally resolve the crisis of having to ride standing up, where one careless move meant getting poked in the butt!

Iron Block 31/25, Plastic 7/6, Battery 16/8

Begin upgrade!

A soft white light flashed, and the dilapidated bicycle transformed into a brand-new electric scooter!

Mo Yubai excitedly stepped forward and patted her new ride. It had a sturdy basket, a fully charged battery, and a soft seat cushion.

Talk about a massive upgrade! This was what a Road Survival Game was supposed to be. What kind of miserable life had she been living earlier today?

She packed up her backpack, hung the Lucky Cat Pendant on her ride, got onto her beloved electric scooter, and set off!

“Welcome to Aima Electric Scooter^[1]. Love! Take action now!”

After riding for about another three hours, Mo Yubai successfully opened two bronze treasure chests.

She obtained: “Down Quilt x9, Pain Relief Ointment x3, Anti-inflammatory Medicine x3, Antidote x3, Soft Pillow x3, Wooden Double Bed Blueprint x3, Spatula Set x6, Sharp Knife x3, Leather Gloves x6, Plastic Basin x3, Wooden Bucket x3, Gold Coin x10, Iron Block x18, Battery x6, Plastic x3, Rubber x3, Nail x3.”

It seemed the drop rates at night were much higher than during the day, though it was certainly much more dangerous!

While opening the second chest, Mo Yubai’s arm had been whipped by the monster guarding it. Now, her entire arm was swollen.

She checked the time. It was already 12:35 AM, time to take a break.

Enduring the pain, she took out the pain relief ointment she had just gotten from the chest and gently rubbed it onto her arm.

Feeling waves of minty coolness, the pain in her arm indeed subsided significantly.

She dismounted her electric scooter with some difficulty and chose to build a small campfire in the middle of the road using wood and torches.

She pitched a windproof tent next to the campfire and set up a noise-making trap using the spatula set, ensuring she would quickly notice if anything approached.

Inside the tent, Mo Yubai took out the quilt and pillow she had just obtained from the chest to make her bed.

She placed the Bird-head Staff within arm’s reach and slipped a sharp knife under her pillow.

Finally, she changed into a clean tracksuit and lay down wearily on her “bed.”

Mo Yubai took out the leftover steamed bun from her backpack along with a bottle of Cat Coconut Water.

As she replenished her energy, she opened the game panel.

Sure enough, all the items in the eighteen cabinets of the Cat Snack Shop were completely sold out!

Fortunately, she had set aside a week’s worth of food in advance, or she would have been starving again!

Opening the backend, Mo Yubai’s eyes instantly went wide when she saw today’s earnings. She was filthy rich!

She reached out to claim her earnings, but to her surprise, a prompt popped up showing that her backpack capacity was insufficient!

Left with no choice, she could only temporarily store her assets in the snack shop.

Still, Mo Yubai organized the items in her backpack along with the assets in the snack shop to make sure she had a clear picture of what she owned.

“Down Quilt x6, Pain Relief Ointment x3, Antidote x3, Anti-inflammatory Medicine x3, Soft Pillow x2, …, Iron Block x224, Battery x124, Plastic x108, Rubber x13, Nail x410, Hemp Rope x400, Wood x325, Torch x9, Stone x721, Gold Coin x1632.”

This was pure bliss! Mo Yubai grinned from ear to ear as she looked at her total assets.

“Survival Game? Piece of cake.”

She retrieved the materials needed for the upgrade from the snack shop and opened her electric scooter’s upgrade page:

Iron Block 80/80, Battery 42/42, Plastic 24/24, Nail 28/28, Rubber 13/18.

She was only short five pieces of rubber to upgrade it to an electric tricycle!

The fact that she hadn’t received a system reward for upgrading to the electric scooter meant she probably wasn’t among the first three players to do so!

Therefore, she had to secure a spot in the top three for the electric tricycle!

She opened the trading market, planning to search if anyone was selling rubber.

To her surprise, other than her Cat Snack Shop, there were only a handful of listings selling stone and wood. Was the market activity practically zero?

Just as she was wondering why the trading market was so dead, she noticed a flashing red banner at the top of the screen. Mo Yubai tapped to open it.

[The Mechanical Race will take a 30% cut from all shops in the trading market as market operation fees.

All trading players, please pay your business taxes as soon as possible. Those who fail to pay within 24 hours will be blacklisted for tax evasion.

Your shop will be permanently banned, and the service area will refuse to accommodate you!]

Well, that explained why the trading market was so dead!

A thirty percent tax! Players were already dirt poor, so with such high taxes, they would definitely trade privately. No wonder this place was deserted.

Still, the Mechanical Race was too kind. If this were a certain country, they would just keep adding taxes until they got tired of it, not stopping until it hit 104%!

Sighing, Mo Yubai helplessly calculated the taxes she would have to pay.

She was shocked by the final tally. She would have to pay: Iron Block x60, Battery x33, Plastic x31, Rubber x3, Nail x122, Hemp Rope x117, Wood x94, Torch x2, Stone x216, Gold Coin x516.

She looked at her resources with heartache. If she paid this tax, more than half of her stash would be wiped out!

But she had no choice. Despite her reluctance, she opened the tax payment page to prepare to pay.

After all, she had a massive business now and would definitely need to trade through her shop in the future. If it got permanently banned, she would have nowhere to cry.

“Huh? Why isn’t my shop on the tax list?” She tentatively tapped the “Pay Taxes” button.

[Player: Mo Yubai

Transactions completed in the trading mall: 0

Tax amount due: 0]

Seeing this message, Mo Yubai pumped her fist in excitement. Yes! Awesome, she didn’t have to pay taxes!

But how was this possible?

Mo Yubai sent a dialogue request to the system.

“Host, the Cat Snack Shop is a minigame that belongs to you, and all the items in it come from you.

The shop also doesn’t require the Mechanical Race of the Road Survival Game to manage it, so they naturally have no right to tax you,” Xiao Ling explained, looking helplessly at her excited host.

“Haha, this is awesome! Thanks, Xiao Ling. Sending you a peace sign ദ്ദി˶ｰ̀֊ｰ́ )✧.”

Mo Yubai showered it with praise, instantly making Xiao Ling dizzy with joy.

“Hehe~ If you have any other questions, Host, you can ask me anytime. Xiao Ling will always be here with you.”

Hearing Mo Yubai’s praise, the little system practically radiated happiness as it replied obediently.

Aww, my baby Xiao Ling is just too cute. Mo Yubai felt a critical hit to her heart. It was a pity she couldn’t give Xiao Ling a big hug and kiss.

“By the way, Xiao Ling, are you a boy or a girl?”

Mo Yubai asked the question she had been curious about for a while. She really couldn’t tell its gender from its synthesized system voice.

“Host, systems don’t have genders. Xiao Ling can be whatever gender you want me to be! I can even adjust my voice to sound however you like!”

“I like you just the way you are, Xiao Ling!”

Mo Yubai shook her head with a smile. Xiao Ling was so adorable, light-years better than that short-tempered highway survival system!

After chatting a bit longer, Xiao Ling went back to sleep. Since they hadn’t found a way to recharge its energy yet, it was running purely on its remaining reserves.

Once they finished talking, Mo Yubai rubbed her hands together in anticipation and opened the system mall. She definitely couldn’t miss out on the ninety percent off discount for new players!