Chapter 145: VIP Treatment

"Comrade Xiao Qian is a regular battalion commander, and his military rank is one grade higher than yours?" Chang Yu was shocked, his head buzzing.

"That's right!" Comrade Xiao Li replied, feeling dejected.

Chang Yu turned his gaze to Katerina once more, his eyes full of inquiry. However, compared to last time, his facial expression was slightly stiff. The look seemed to be asking Katerina if what Comrade Xiao Li said could possibly be true.

Katerina understood Chang Yu's meaning, gave him a firm look, and nodded affirmatively. It was as if she were saying: Yes, everything he said is correct.

"My goodness!" Chang Yu sighed from the bottom of his heart. "So... I really am a high-ranking official? I always thought Xiao Li was calling me 'Chief' just to butter me up! I never expected that I am actually a 'Chief' who can command a major at any time. Is our Disaster Relief Bureau really filled with such hidden talents that a dignified major battalion commander is only fit to be our logistics officer?"

Only at this moment did Chang Yu realize the true extent of the Disaster Relief Bureau's power. A major battalion commander would be considered a mid-level officer in any military unit, right? In those conventional forces, such a figure would be someone who could summon wind and rain, an existence held in high esteem. Yet here in the Disaster Relief Bureau, major battalion commanders like Comrade Xiao Li were a dime a dozen, and what’s more, they were just peripheral staff handling logistics. The threshold for this Disaster Relief Bureau was, perhaps, a bit too high, wasn't it?

...

By the Songjiang River, at Zhen Youcai’s home.

"Hello? Is this customer service? I want to file a complaint!" The chubby boy was furiously shouting into his phone. "What? What am I complaining about? Of course, I'm complaining about your company's discriminatory treatment! Why can others pull an SSR card with a single attempt, while I can't get one no matter how many I pull? I’ll tell you, I’ve spent over a million yuan in total. Every bit of currency I exchanged was used to buy blue summoning tickets. I pull ten cards every day, ten cards every night. And the result? Not a single SSR, not even an SR is easy to come by! Tell me! Did you mess with the backend on purpose to keep me from winning?"

"Sir, have you ever considered that perhaps your luck is just bad?" the customer service representative replied weakly. "Our game's operating model is completely fair and impartial; there is no such thing as rigged outcomes. The reason you can't pull an SSR is simply due to bad luck. Why don't you try a few more times? Who knows, you might get lucky. Doesn't that make sense?"

"Bullshit!" the chubby boy cursed in a rage. "Let me tell you, I've spent money! I've given your company over a million. For a VIP client with my level of spending, you shouldn't treat me like those common players. Truth be told, hurry up and arrange an SSR for me so I can be happy, or else I'm quitting the game!"

"This... Sir, you absolutely cannot quit the game!" The customer service representative was feeling particularly conflicted. Listening to Zhen Youcai, it was clear he wanted the company to rig an SSR for him. This request put her in a difficult position. On one hand, if she didn't agree, she would inevitably provoke his resentment. If he really lost his temper and quit, the company would suffer a significant loss, and if her superiors found out, she would certainly be held accountable. On the other hand, if she agreed to manipulate the odds, she would be breaking the company's long-standing principle of fairness and impartiality. If this leaked, it would surely spark dissatisfaction and even protests from other players. If it reached the internet, her superiors would still hold her responsible.

In short, no matter what she decided, she would be held accountable. Looking at how this was turning out, the thought of being severely criticized by her superiors or even fired brought tears of grievance to the representative's eyes. What should she do? She was in a state of turmoil.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed her mind. A solution appeared.

Hearing the silence on the other end, Zhen Youcai grew impatient. "Hello? Hello? Are you listening? Just give me a straight answer, yes or no!"

"Yes, yes, yes, I'll arrange it for you right now," she promised, steeling herself just to calm him down. Calming down customers was paramount; she was well-versed in handling disputes between clients and the company.

Zhen Youcai breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, if they had really refused, he wouldn't have known what to do. He couldn't... actually quit the game, could he?

"By the way, may I ask which SSR you want?" the representative asked earnestly.

"Of course, it's Shuten Doji. I've been wanting a Shuten Doji for so long, just arrange that for me." Zhen Youcai pretended to be calm, but his heart was already blooming with joy. If he weren't suppressing his excitement, he would have laughed out loud. He believed that the moment they asked what he wanted, his request was as good as granted. He imagined a notification email arriving soon: *Dear Customer, your Shuten Doji has been sent to your inbox. Please check.* Below that line, there would be an image of the red-haired, handsome man carrying a large gourd.

"Very well, I have received your request," the representative’s sweet voice interrupted his daydreams. "Now, you just need to wait for my update... Have a pleasant day."

"Oh, yes!" Hanging up, Zhen Youcai waved his arms in excitement. He stared at his inbox, waiting for his Shuten Doji to arrive.

*Ding-dong~*

The system notification sounded. Zhen Youcai excitedly opened his game mail. There was indeed a message from the system: *Dear Customer, to thank you for your outstanding contributions to our game, our company has gifted you three blue tickets.*

"What is this?" Zhen Youcai was stunned on the spot. "What happened to the Shuten Doji? Why did it become blue tickets?" He thought, *Could this be the SSR they are sending me? As long as I use these tickets, I’m guaranteed to summon a Shuten? Yes, that must be it. As expected of a big company, they are thorough. After all, you can't be too public about back-door deals. Even if this leaks, they can just say I pulled it myself.* "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!"

He confidently clicked on a blue ticket, and... after a dazzling blue light, he pulled an R-rank card.

"Don't panic, don't panic," Zhen Youcai took a deep breath. "There are three tickets in total. It's normal not to get it on the first try." He rubbed his hands together and clicked the second ticket.

Result... another R-rank card.

"It must be the last one!" Zhen Youcai was like a gambler blinded by desire, staring at the final card with longing. "The first two weren't it, so it has to be the last one. My Shuten Doji, here I come~" He pressed his finger to the screen with a sense of pilgrimage...

The result... was still a damn R-rank card!

Seeing this, Zhen Youcai felt a surge of heat rise from his stomach to his throat—a taste both fishy and sweet, sweet and bitter. At this point, how could he not know he had been played? There was no predetermined Shuten Doji; the so-called "arrangement" was just a lie to appease him.

"Pfft!" A mouthful of blood sprayed onto the floor.

"Garbage game, you've ruined my youth!"

"I'm quitting! I'm deleting this game!"

"Ding Lei, I, Zhen Youcai, will be your sworn enemy for life!"

When Yang Yang arrived at Zhen Youcai's house with Comrade Xiao Qian, this was exactly the scene they encountered. Zhen Youcai was kneeling on the floor in regret, banging his head against the ground. He looked like a young wife abandoned by her husband, trying to forget her marital troubles through self-harm.

"Liars, big liars! Where was the arrangement? Where was my Shuten Doji?" Zhen Youcai wailed, tears of humiliation in his eyes. "I, a top-tier VIP client, was played by a customer service rep! What a disgrace!"

"I spent over a million, and all I got were three blue tickets? Is this a consolation prize? A 'thank you for your patronage'? Or just a way to brush me off?"

"I, Zhen Youcai, am wealthy; I have plenty of money! Do I care about three blue tickets? I can get those whenever I want! What I needed was an SSR!"

Zhen Youcai rolled on the floor like a wriggling caterpillar. "Since you are unjust, don't blame me for being unrighteous!"

Suddenly, his eyes turned firm. A hint of hysterical madness brewed within them, like the eve of a storm. "With my skills, do I still need to be like those poor wretches, pulling cards in the pool all day long?" he muttered. "I just need to break into their company firewall and steal all the SSRs, won't I? Originally, I was worried about upsetting my sister, since this is illegal. But the problem is, they started this! I'm just a victim. A victim forced into a little self-defense—surely that's fine, right?"

The chubby boy wore a sinister, twisted grin. Even from a distance, Yang Yang and Comrade Xiao Qian could feel the malicious aura radiating from him.

"I've decided!" The chubby boy’s lips curled into a lewd smile. "Sharing joy is better than enjoying it alone. Not only for me, I’m going to equip every 'African' player [unlucky player] with a full set of SSRs! I want them to never feel inferior about their destiny again. I want them to walk in the sun with their heads held high and declare to the world: We, the great 'African' players, can also have SSRs!"