Inside the rental room.
After Long Ming finished the remaining instant noodles, he picked up his phone and checked his balance. He only had 5,710 Shan coins left.
His medicine alone cost 12,000 Shan coins every month. This little bit of money was nowhere near enough.
Long Ming let out a soft sigh and walked toward the bedroom.
He went to the bedside, picked up the helmet, put it on again, then lay down.
“Hoo—”
Long Ming drew in a deep breath, then raised his hand and pressed the start switch before closing his eyes.
To be honest, this game had already left Long Ming with something of a psychological shadow.
When Long Ming opened his eyes again, he was already in Starry City.
He immediately raised the interface on his wristband and saw a red dot on the quest log icon.
Long Ming tapped open the quest log directly.
Notification: Survival (Newbie Quest) completed. Obtained 500 one-dimensional coins.
After a glance, Long Ming began taking stock of the gains from this instance.
Gold nugget (white), crude necklace (white), unidentified ring (blue), golden short staff (purple), golden double-barreled pistol, M24 sniper rifle, Perception Potion *1, invitation letter *1, 500 1D coins.
Looking at the gains he had tallied up, Long Ming revealed a satisfied expression.
Although he had thrown away many things, there was still quite a lot left. He just did not know how much profit these items could bring him. Right now, he was desperately short of money.
At that moment, a burst of cursing voices came over.
“Fuck, what kind of crappy game is this? Why make it so realistic!”
“Wuwu, it’s so scary, it hurts so much!”
“We strongly demand the pain sensation be lowered, or we’ll file complaints!”
Long Ming turned his head to look and saw quite a few players gathered together, angrily denouncing the game.
At that moment, several players from the City of Sin happened to pass by. Hearing their complaints, they sneered and fired back.
“A bunch of idiots. If you can’t handle it, don’t play.”
“Who are you talking about? We’re defending our legitimate rights. There’s clearly something wrong with this game. It felt like I really died.”
“Defending your legitimate rights? I think your brain’s short-circuited. They wrote it out plain as day—this game is meant to let you experience the thrill of death. If you don’t want to die, then evacuate alive!”
“We’re not experts. How could we have skills that good? And where was that written?”
“It’s noted on the Civilization Experience Voucher. You just didn’t read it carefully.”
“Ah!”
Those protesting players froze as well.
Seeing this, Long Ming also revealed a thoughtful expression.
In truth, those people’s protests were not completely unreasonable. Because this game was far too realistic, if one failed to evacuate, that experience of death would cause a certain amount of trauma to a person’s mind. Not everyone could endure it.
However, that had nothing to do with him. Others might be able to choose to retreat after suffering a setback, but he had no choice. If he could not make money in this game, even his future survival would become a problem.
Long Ming exhaled deeply, quickly adjusted his mindset, then turned his head and looked around.
Right now, he needed to convert the things in his hands into game coins or Shan coins.
But at a glance, there was no one setting up stalls to buy or sell.
However, he saw many people walking toward the obelisk-like mechanical pillar in the center of Starry City.
After thinking for a moment, Long Ming followed them.
When he drew closer, he saw many players standing beneath the mechanical pillar, heads lowered as they tapped on their wristbands.
At that moment, a notification popped up on Long Ming’s wristband.
“Open the shop?”
Seeing the prompt, Long Ming immediately understood why so many people had gathered here.
However, he did not open the shop right away. Instead, he opened the friends interface and tried adding Gu Yi as a friend.
Though he was the one who had brought the items out, without Gu Yi and the others’ cooperation, there was no way he could have evacuated safe and sound. In a certain sense, they could be considered his teammates as well, so it did not seem entirely appropriate to keep everything for himself.
At that moment, the wristband interface showed that the add request had succeeded.
The chat window popped up immediately.
“Holy shit, God! You actually added me as a friend. Actually, I’ve wanted to add you for ages, but your name was just way too long, so I couldn’t remember it.”
Gu Yi sent a string of messages, extremely delighted.
“Mm, about that…”
For a moment, Long Ming did not know how to say it.
“Aiya, you don’t have to say it. I understand. If the items are gone, then they’re gone.”
With one glance, Gu Yi knew Long Ming must have failed to evacuate and had been killed in the end as well. But that was normal too. After all, Zheng Bin and his bunch were not ordinary levels of disgusting.
“No, I brought the items out.”
“Brought them out? You successfully evacuated?”
Gu Yi was completely dumbfounded, his face full of disbelief.
“Yes.”
Long Ming replied calmly.
“Awesome! As expected of a god! Haha!”
Gu Yi immediately burst into a broad grin. Long Ming had actually managed to evacuate successfully. He could already imagine how furious Zheng Bin and his bunch must be. It was simply too satisfying.
“I added you as a friend because I wanted to talk to you about the things I brought out. Although you said I could have them, those items should have a share for you guys too.”
Long Ming explained the matter to Gu Yi directly.
“Aiya, we don’t want those things. They’re all yours.”
“Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?”
“What’s inappropriate about it? If you really feel bad, then next time we happen to meet in an instance, just carry us brothers once more.”
Gu Yi replied very generously.
Long Ming immediately fell silent. To be honest, his instinct was to refuse, but he truly was short of money right now, so he replied.
“All right.”
“Okay, then it’s settled. I won’t talk with you for now. I’ve got something to do on my end, so I have to log off first.”
“Okay.”
Long Ming closed the chat interface, then opened the shop. The consignment interface immediately popped up.
It was filled with a dazzling array of all kinds of goods.
Round Pearl Necklace (white)
Price: 500 one-dimensional coins.
Gargoyle Bronze Statue (white)
Price: 800 one-dimensional coins.
Looking at the items listed on the consignment interface, Long Ming was also quite surprised.
He had not expected so many things to have been produced in just two short days.
Long Ming kept scrolling through the interface, checking the items listed for consignment to see whether there were any identical to the ones in his hands, so he could confirm the current market price.
Unfortunately, things did not go as he wished. Long Ming searched for a long time but could not find any.
Moreover, every one of these consigned items seemed like a one-of-a-kind piece. There were so many categories that it was dizzying.
At that moment, Long Ming suddenly heard a player beside him complaining to his companion.
“Damn it, what the hell is going on? The things I consigned have been up for an entire day, so why haven’t they sold yet? Are there no whales in this game?”
“Bro, what are you selling?”
“Jewelry.”
“Are you stupid? Jewelry and the like are works of art. Why would you consign them? Who are you selling them to, ghosts?”
“No, but I worked so hard to bring these out. Aren’t they worth money?”
“They are worth money. The problem is, they’re of no use to players. Would you buy them?”
“No. Then what should I do?”