Chapter 7: The True Face of the 7-Plane Merchant Company

Liu Ziqiong lay on the bed, closing her eyes and pretending to sleep. Before she arrived, her mother had cautioned her about many things—for instance, that the Master might pick a fight and give her a beating to teach her the meaning of social hierarchy, or that the Master might cause her great pain... Although Master Zhang was good to his servants, it was common knowledge among the staff that normal masters might prey on a few maidservants or so; after all, that was the norm, and their Master Zhang was the anomaly.

But none of this matched the current situation at all. Liu Ziqiong felt that this Master treated her with the same doting affection as an older brother. Not only did he coax her with food, drink, and play, but he even slept in a separate bed from her, behaving entirely like a gentleman. As someone who only half-understood matters of romance, Liu Ziqiong even felt that the wedding night, which she had previously feared so much, wouldn't be so bad if the partner was the Master...

Liu Ziqiong stole a glance at Liu Baiyu, who was sleeping soundly and peacefully on the bed. She noticed that the Master actually had quite fair skin and a tall build, with a high bridge to his nose. If his hair weren't cut short like a monk's, he would actually be quite handsome...

Sleeping soundly and peacefully? If Liu Baiyu knew this, he would immediately burst into tears. He was currently in the middle of a verbal war with the customer service of the Plane Merchant Company in his dream.

"The Plane Merchant Company customer service is at your service! The Plane Merchant Company is the home of the Plane Merchants themselves!"

"You talk even better than you sing! Dammit! This isn't what we agreed upon! Didn't you say I could exchange for high-tech products to crush the ancients and become a king and conqueror? Where are the high-tech products? Now I can only exchange for an agricultural vehicle that doesn't even have gasoline. How the hell am I supposed to crush anyone! I don't even want missiles or anything like that, surely there's at least a Type 56 semi-auto? I don't even want the 600-yuan internal price; can't you just give me 500 units at the 10-yuan export price? I want to form an armed merchant group to crush Hong Taiji!"

"Those robbers, looters, slave-traders, heaven-defyingly sinful Manchu slave owners—I think they all deserve to be hung from streetlamps! Oh, wait, there are no high-end, classy things like streetlamps right now, so let's just hang them from crooked trees instead!?"

Liu Baiyu was lost in his own delusions, leaving the Plane Merchant Company customer service representative looking utterly bewildered. To be honest, because the constitution required to become a Plane Merchant was one in several hundred thousand, they were naturally all self-centered and looked down on everything. However, this was the first time the customer service had encountered someone so lost in their own fantasies.

"Mr. Liu Baiyu, have you read the contract between the Plane Merchant Company and yourself?" the customer service representative reminded him cautiously.

"I read it! Doesn't the first clause say that the Plane Merchants help you acquire various materials, and you use the Plane Merchant system to exchange for high-tech products to crush the ancients and become a king and conqueror!"

"Did you read it carefully?" The customer service representative looked at Liu Baiyu, increasingly convinced that he was a pure, unadulterated idiot!

"I did!" Liu Baiyu found it strange. The contract between the Plane Merchant Company and himself was only a few hundred words; it couldn't compare to those tens of thousands of words filled with traps in so-called "fair" contracts...

"This... Mr. Liu Baiyu, you didn't read it carefully enough. The first clause states in full: In principle, Plane Merchants help you acquire various materials, and you use the Plane Merchant system to exchange for high-tech products to crush the ancients and become a king and conqueror..."

The Plane Merchant Company customer service representative emphasized the three words "in principle," drawing them out significantly, clearly intending to highlight them as the key terms.

Dammit! Liu Baiyu gasped. In this day and age, whether dealing with the government or merchants, isn't the most important thing in a contract those hidden killing blows like "in principle" or "basically"? Fortunately, he had re-read the contract, and there were no "force majeure" clauses, nor any "the company reserves the right of final interpretation" clauses. Furthermore, the Plane Merchant Company was quite honest; they hadn't used their monopoly to drastically lower prices and exploit him. If he bought modern goods in small quantities, it was treated as retail; in large quantities, it was wholesale. As for the acquisition price of the myriad materials, he didn't quite understand, but his own company's CEO had once bought silver currency, and it seemed to be about eighty percent of the Plane Merchant Company's acquisition price, which wasn't bad.

However, for the modern-day Liu Baiyu, he had already accepted the reality that all merchants are unscrupulous. He said to the Plane Merchant Company customer service in a trembling voice

"Then... then please explain? What exactly does 'in principle' mean?"

*Kid, you're still too green!* The Plane Merchant Company customer service representative gave an imperceptible smirk. "In principle means that the first rule is to obey the second rule: the Plane Merchant Company guarantees that the personal safety of the Plane Merchant is the top priority; you cannot take risks as a Plane Merchant for the sake of profit..."

*Isn't this a clause to protect my interests?* That was what Liu Baiyu had thought initially. But now, he felt that this clause was indeed a hidden killing blow. Still, he felt the urge to argue

"That's correct, but if you won't even let me exchange for a Type 56 semi-auto, how can I guarantee my own safety? If the Jurchen army comes, or a few bandits show up, I'm finished!"

"If I let you exchange for a Type 56, you'd be truly finished!" The Plane Merchant Company customer service representative revealed his true self—a chubby, big-eyed man with darting eyes and a gentle, highly approachable smile that screamed "sly fox." He looked at Liu Baiyu as if he were looking at an idiot.

"History has a corrective force. For a transmigrator, if you honestly climb the technology tree, there's no problem. However, if you exchange for a large amount of future products out of thin air and use those products to kill a large number of ancients, you will be directly erased..."

"Like in *Infinite Horror*, where my body just explodes? Has my body been tampered with?" Liu Baiyu panicked completely. He thought he had cheated his way into being an emperor in ancient times, only to find he was an existence similar to the "bugs" in *Infinite Horror*. How could he bear this?

"No, no, no! There is nothing wrong with your body. When I say history has a corrective force, I mean that if you use weapons of mass destruction—like that 'sweeping through thousands with a Type 56' thing you mentioned—you will be erased by various natural forces through 'coincidences,' such as earthquakes, floods, explosions, or even being hit directly by a meteorite..." the customer service representative explained carefully.

"Hit directly by a meteorite? Are you talking about Liu Xiu?" On modern internet forums, Liu Baiyu had joked more than once that Liu Xiu was a "Son of the Plane" who used meteorites to kill people. Now, hearing the explanation from the customer service, this guy might actually be some kind of Son of the Plane or an incarnation of heavenly punishment.

"That's exactly it. Our Plane Merchant Company didn't understand this in the early days either; we only deduced this after dozens of precious Plane Merchants died..." Seeing Liu Baiyu's face turn pale, the customer service representative realized he had let something slip and hurriedly explained

"This... the first pot of gold always has a bit of a bloody scent. But we are on the right track now. As long as you follow the rules and climb the technology tree—or even pretend to climb it—the historical corrective force will default to treating you as a native. There's nothing to fear..."

"Forget it, I want to go home! Go home!" Liu Baiyu had made up his mind. Anyway, by selling antiques like old furniture and copper braziers, he had earned over ten million in a single day. Returning to the world of 2014 to be a landlord would be enough to live a carefree life forever. This Plane Merchant Company seemed honest on the surface, but in reality, it was black-hearted. He might end up in a very, very bad state!

*You think you aren't in a very, very bad state right now?* The Plane Merchant Company customer service representative gave Liu Baiyu a sympathetic look.

"That's right. According to the third clause of the contract between the Plane Merchant Company and yourself, you can return to your original world at any time. However..."

"However my ass! It's written in black and white, and there are no 'in principle' words there, so what else is there to say!" Liu Baiyu was furious. Even a scam company shouldn't play like this.

"Don't wear that expression that implies our Plane Merchant Company is a scam company. Think about it—if there were no governing body for plane transmigrations, wouldn't the space-time order be thrown into total chaos?"