Chapter 3: Solving the Tax Issue!

Night had fully descended, and the neon lights along the street glimmered to life, casting tempting colors as if announcing the arrival of nightlife. The Atlantis map refreshed once more, and the system prompt appeared right on time.

[Current Atlantis map is at level 1. One regular animal, the crystal shrimp, can be refreshed. The animal has been refreshed!]

Receiving the prompt, Chu Lin entered the game and, as usual, packed this batch of crystal shrimp into the seafood chest. Then, holding a crystal shrimp, he headed toward the central collection encyclopedia.

Though this was a casual game, the map still featured an upgrade mechanism. To upgrade, one had to complete the collection encyclopedia. The current collection progress was only 1 out of 5.

[You have already collected the current animal’s encyclopedia. Duplicate collections are not allowed!]

Chu Lin tried to add the crystal shrimp to the encyclopedia but received this message. The level 1 Atlantis map required collecting five different animals to upgrade, but he only had one map and no other game functions. The map refreshed only one type of crystal shrimp daily, and duplicates couldn’t be collected. How was he supposed to complete the task?

He’d puzzled over this for more than ten days.

If he couldn’t complete the encyclopedia task, how could he upgrade?

Was he destined to refresh only crystal shrimp for the rest of his life?

Though earning forty thousand a day surpassed most people, Chu Lin was unwilling to settle for this with such a golden opportunity.

But the next morning, the game system delivered an unexpected surprise.

[Current Atlantis map is at level 1. One regular animal, crystal shrimp, can be refreshed. The animal has been refreshed!]

[It seems there is an ocean current today. Some animals have unexpectedly been swept in!]

Chu Lin was startled by the prompt, having forgotten about the possibility of such random events.

Aside from regular refreshes, the Atlantis map had a chance to spawn other animals or treasures, with the probability and quality improving as the map leveled up.

This was such a probability event—a current had brought in other animals.

He entered the Atlantis map immediately.

At first glance, the ground was still covered in crystal shrimp. But as he packed them into the seafood chest, he discovered two other types hidden among the shrimp.

They were Venus clams and scallops.

Chu Lin was familiar with both, but the clams on the market usually reached only four centimeters—these were twice as large, almost unrecognizable except for their markings.

The scallops, too; market scallops maxed out around ten centimeters, but these were nearly twice that size.

[Atlantis Venus Clam: Quality 1]

[Note: This Venus clam is produced by the Atlantis map. Its flavor and texture far surpass ordinary clams!
Texture +1, Freshness +1, Size +1!]

…

[Atlantis Small Scallop: Quality 1]

[Note: This small scallop is produced by the Atlantis map. Its flavor and texture far surpass ordinary scallops!
Texture +1, Freshness +1, Size +1!]

Chu Lin read the information for both seafoods, confirming they had the Size +1 attribute.

He promptly grabbed one of each and went to the encyclopedia. This time, it worked.

[Congratulations, you have collected an animal. Current map level: 1. Collection progress: 2 out of 5!]

[Congratulations, you have collected an animal. Current map level: 1. Collection progress: 3 out of 5!]

In other words, the level 1 Atlantis map still had a chance to refresh other seafoods, allowing completion of the encyclopedia collection.

The Venus clams and scallops brought in by the current weren’t numerous—only about one seafood chest, roughly thirty pounds—so there was no need to sell them; he could keep them for himself.

Venus clams and scallops made excellent seafood noodles.

So, Chu Lin cleaned some scallops and clams and cooked himself a bowl of seafood noodles.

The steaming broth, paired with scallops and clams boasting Texture +1 and Freshness +1, was pure enjoyment.

Even though his cooking was average, the quality of the ingredients outshone any restaurant chef.

After finishing his seafood noodles, he returned to his seafood shop and moved all the crystal shrimp out of the game.

Soon after, Liu Fa arrived, greeting him with a broad smile as he got out of the car. “Morning, Mr. Chu!”

Ten days had passed, and young Chu was now Mr. Chu.

Liu Fa wasn’t foolish. After twelve trips for Chu Lin, he had earned eighteen hundred in extra income.

Compared to before, this was a bonus.

After hauling Chu Lin's goods, Liu Fa could still run his daily business.

He had stashed away the money, not letting his wife know, and his pocket cigarettes upgraded from Red Double Happiness to Gray Wolf.

After completing the morning delivery, Chu Lin’s card received another forty-two thousand three hundred seventy-six yuan.

Back at the seafood shop, he had just handed today’s one hundred fifty yuan to Liu Fa when his phone rang—a call from Huang Bin.

He answered promptly, saying, “How is it? Any news?”

Huang Bin was his high school classmate, an information broker, the kind people often call a middleman.

The brokerage business was tough, requiring strong sources, excellent social skills, and a solid network.

Fortunately, there were now dedicated brokerage firms, allowing agents to leverage company resources and split commissions on successful deals.

Huang Bin worked at such a firm. Though he hadn’t pursued higher education after high school, his adaptability meant he was doing much better than Chu Lin, and he was the only classmate Chu Lin still kept in touch with.

Their friendship began as desk mates in high school, strengthened by a chance incident when Chu Lin helped Huang Bin fight for the class beauty, which led to Huang Bin's early romance and hand-holding with her.

Now, the class beauty had moved on, dating a rich boyfriend in college and blocking Huang Bin’s contact info.

But the bond between Chu Lin and Huang Bin remained.

This time, Chu Lin sought him out to solve issues with tax invoices.

Otherwise, with tens of thousands entering his bank account each day, tax season would be a headache. If he failed to pay, and the tax bureau discovered it, he might end up learning the song “Tears Behind Bars.”

As for the bank, he wasn’t worried—after all, the payment source was Zhi Zhen, and the remittance was classified under recorded product categories.

“There’s a shrimp farm, not small in scale, should meet your requirements. I’ll come pick you up now,” Huang Bin replied before hanging up.

The shrimp farm was his current solution.

He’d researched taxes and invoices over the past days, considering his situation, and found a method: issuing his own input invoices.

The government had special policies for agriculture and fisheries. For example, aquaculture companies could issue only output invoices, not input ones. Particularly, small-scale aquaculture taxpayers couldn't deduct input tax, and lacking input invoices wasn’t a problem.

With a shrimp farm, things were easier—shrimp produced by his own farm could be invoiced to himself.

That resolved the tax issue.

However, this required a suitable, operable shrimp farm.

He couldn’t find one on his own, so he asked Huang Bin for help. Huang Bin immediately agreed, asking no questions.

That’s what friends are for. Even if they couldn’t help financially, they never hesitated with what they could do.

Soon, a BMW 3 Series stopped in front of the shop. A roguishly handsome young man poked his head out and called, “Chu Lin, get in!”

It was Huang Bin!

Chu Lin quickly locked up and took the passenger seat.

The BMW 3 Series wasn’t a luxury car, but Huang Bin came from an ordinary family. Buying his own car at twenty-three already put him ahead of most peers.

As he started the car, Huang Bin explained, “There’s a shrimp farm by the seaside in the suburbs, about five hundred acres. Rent is eleven hundred yuan per acre per year. The original owner was lured into gambling by a woman, ended up deeply in debt, borrowed from relatives and friends, and then vanished. The shrimp and equipment were all seized to cover debts.”

“Now, only the empty site remains. Fortunately, before fleeing, he divorced and transferred the shrimp farm to his wife. She quickly remarried a man from out of town and plans to move away, eager to transfer the farm.”

“But there are only two months left on the lease—not enough time for a single batch of shrimp. Renewing would cost over fifty thousand a year, plus equipment purchases, requiring a hefty investment. So, no one’s interested, and she’s anxious. She’s willing to sell the whole package for just four hundred thousand!”

“If it’s only four hundred thousand, I can sign the contract immediately,” Chu Lin’s eyes lit up at the news.

A five-hundred-acre shrimp farm was more than enough to cover the seven hundred pounds of crystal shrimp refreshed daily from his game map.

And while the two-month lease was a problem for others, it wasn’t for him—his shrimp came out daily.

Two months would net him over two and a half million, making forty thousand a fair price to pay for reasonable tax accounting.

The key was to tweak the contract, dating it a month back, following a debt settlement format.

That way, the seller owed him money, and a month ago collateralized the farm to him, which explained why he started shipping shrimp only ten days ago.

This provided the conditions needed to issue invoices to himself, as long as they matched market prices.

As for the business bureau, he could claim late filing due to family matters. With both parties present and paperwork in order, the registration would go smoothly and no one would ask questions.

Of course, if examined in detail, there were loopholes.

But he was just a small-time operator, and as long as he paid taxes on the shrimp sales, would officials really waste their time on him?

“Chu Lin, are you getting rich?” Huang Bin exclaimed. “Why do I feel you’re completely unfazed by forty thousand? You have the air of someone to whom money means nothing!”

“Really?” Chu Lin hadn’t noticed.

But with a game in his mind bringing in forty thousand a day, anyone would feel more confident.

Chu Lin and Huang Bin soon reached the shrimp farm. It was a segmented, isolated farm, divided into individual breeding ponds.

Chu Lin toured the place. As Huang Bin said, all the equipment was gone, leaving only the shrimp ponds, stakes, and fishing nets that couldn’t be moved.

Luckily, the five hundred acres were substantial, with over two hundred independent shrimp ponds, plus a yard with a two-story steel prefab building—clearly for offices and worker accommodations.

This explained the forty thousand asking price.

Had the lease had another half year, forty thousand wouldn’t have bought it.

Meeting the owner’s ex-wife, Chu Lin saw she was indeed eager to sell, and cooperated with his contract tweaks, as long as the payment was made in one lump sum.

After negotiating and drafting the contract, she accompanied him to the business bureau. Once the procedures were confirmed and error-free, Chu Lin decisively transferred forty thousand to her, completing the deal.

By dusk, walking out of the bureau with a folder in hand, Chu Lin had transformed from the owner of a small seafood shop to the boss of a five-hundred-acre shrimp farm.

Huang Bin waited in the parking lot. Seeing Chu Lin get in, he joked, “Congratulations, Mr. Chu, on acquiring a five-hundred-acre shrimp farm!”

Chu Lin laughed and teased, “Mr. Chu is happy now. Xiao Huang, let’s calculate your commission for this deal.”

Huang Bin waved his hand. “No need between brothers. It’s almost dinner time—just treat me to a meal.”

Chu Lin smiled, “Of course! Say where you want to go—Mr. Chu will indulge you today.”

Huang Bin grinned, “Let’s go to Zhi Zhen Seafood Grand Restaurant. I hear they have a specialty shrimp dish that’s a hot seller, over a hundred per plate. Friends say it’s truly delicious.”

Chu Lin was taken aback. Could this specialty shrimp be the crystal shrimp he supplied?