I'm the Agile Dog of the Mountains: @everyone, my masters, that game the Farm Lord posted, have you guys played it? How's the money?
Lu Jiuling looked at the message.
Good. Finally, someone had started it. Now he could observe from the shadows.
Brother Dog was clever and had a sweet mouth. Judging by his usual messages, he wasn't some shut-in otaku but the type who got along swimmingly with everyone.
If he had entered the God Game and luckily come out alive, with his smarts, he really could fool the others.
Cangying Paizi: What a shitty link. It won't open at all!
Shanyue Shao: I can open it!
Lu Jiuling's heart skipped a beat when he saw Shanyue Shao's message.
He got in?
His fingers immediately scrolled up, flipping through Shanyue Shao's previous messages to judge his personality based on them, conducting a profile.
I'm the Agile Dog of the Mountains: Is it profitable?
Lu Jiuling knew that Brother Dog didn't care about gameplay. Whether it was fun or not didn't matter; what mattered was whether it could make money!
He really wanted to reply: It has great prospects.
Although the God Game carried a huge risk of death, as long as you cleared it, you could become a Transcendent. The return on investment was absolutely astonishing!
Just think about himself—yesterday he had still been worrying about next month's rent, and now he was wearing a Patek Philippe worth millions.
Even if temporary teammates were poor, they definitely carried one or two hundred yuan on them, wore a watch, gold accessories, and such...
Loot a few more corpses, and making several thousand yuan would be no problem.
Speaking of which, could Taboo Items be sold?
Lu Jiuling figured they could be sold; he just needed to find a place to fence them.
Shanyue Shao: The money's good. It's just a bit crippling.
Sanguan Dasui Lianhun: Is your "crippling" the wholesome kind?
Among the group members, "crippling" had two meanings. One was that the game was too grindy, requiring players to invest a massive amount of time. The other was that the character designs were too lewd, making people unable to resist rubbing one out after playing for a while.
BigBoobsCultist: Are the female characters well designed? Do they show a lot? Are the tits big?
Cangying Paizi: Why can't I still open it?
Cangying Paizi: @FarmLord, what's going on?
PureLoveWarrior: O God, launch!
I'm the Agile Dog of the Mountains: Damn, I can't open it either!
Lu Jiuling looked at these messages, his slightly furrowed brow gradually relaxing. These people probably hadn't entered the God Game. But what was going on with Shanyue Shao?
He got in, then survived?
He couldn't be that female high school student named Xue Lingren, right?
Lu Jiuling tapped on Shanyue Shao's avatar of "Monkey King Burning Incense." There was nothing inside—clean as a whistle.
BigBoobsCultist: @FarmLord, the link's expired. Send a new one!
FarmLord: The beta test slots are full. I'll send it again during the next test!
The Farm Lord suddenly appearing, along with this message, made Lu Jiuling's pupils abruptly contract. He quickly found yesterday's link and clicked it. A blank page popped up.
Two lines of text were on it.
Unable to access this website!
Please reload!
FarmLord: @everyone, who tried this game? PM me!
Lu Jiuling pondered.
What was the Farm Lord trying to do?
Who exactly was he? Did he know what would happen after clicking that link?
Also, what game had Shanyue Shao played?
Lu Jiuling hadn't considered PMing Shanyue Shao to ask about the situation because the risk of exposure was too high. Even if he wanted to ask, he would wait until after he completed his Advancement Ritual, became a Transcendent, and had a certain level of strength.
Since things had come to this, rest first!
Lu Jiuling turned off the screen with one button. Just as he put down his phone and prepared to wash up, with a *ding-dong*, the screen lit up.
Lu Jiuling's heart skipped a beat!
Because it was a message from the Farm Lord.
FarmLord: You didn't try the game?
Lu Jiuling thought for a moment and replied.
SixNineZero: No, I had too much homework yesterday and there's a monthly exam today, so I didn't have time to play!
Would he believe it?
Lu Jiuling wasn't sure.
After waiting a dozen or so seconds, the Farm Lord replied: What a pity. I had high hopes for you!
What do you see in me?
Lu Jiuling was puzzled, but this question couldn't be asked.
FarmLord: Next time there's a beta opportunity, you must come try it. You can make big money!
Like hell I will!
Lu Jiuling typed:
SixNineZero: Yeah, I'll have time after the college entrance exam!
After washing up, Lu Jiuling lay in bed looking at the ceiling, planning.
The top priority was to quickly find a Transcendent class compatible with himself and complete the Advancement Ritual!
...
Without having to drill problems late into the night or get up early to memorize vocabulary, Lu Jiuling slept extremely well.
He grabbed his backpack, got on his bicycle, and leisurely cruised toward school.
Halfway there, he passed a morning market. Lu Jiuling bought a roujiamo and a cup of soy milk. After eating, his physical state was more robust than ever.
As expected, times when you didn't have to grind studying...
Were truly happy!
Anzhou No. 2 High School, Class 287 of Senior Year. The third desk from the left in the last row was Lu Jiuling's seat.
It couldn't be helped. He was over 1.8 meters tall. If he sat toward the front, the classmates behind him wouldn't be able to see the blackboard.
Lu Jiuling didn't arrive particularly late, but among the forty-plus classmates, except for a scant few, almost everyone was there.
Most were memorizing vocabulary.
As Lu Jiuling walked to his seat, he keenly noticed a doll-faced girl with ear-length hair sneak several glances at him.
Obviously the kind with fondness!
Lu Jiuling reached his seat. Before he could sit down, the boy in front turned around and adjusted his round glasses. "Bro 69, why didn't you come to school yesterday?"
Bro 69 wasn't an honorific but a nickname the boys had given Lu Jiuling.
As for why they called him that, one only needed to think about the shape of the numbers 6 and 9 and certain extended meanings to understand.
"I was sick!"
Lu Jiuling was perfunctory. He couldn't exactly say he had gone to play the God Game.
"Was it serious?"
The boy was named Tang Lei. He wasn't tall and sported a three-seven parted hairstyle whose length somewhat violated school regulations.
Like Lu Jiuling, he had tested into No. 2 High School from a rural area out of town, so the two of them hung out quite a bit. After more than two years, they got along well.
"Does he look serious to you?"
Xu Shaowei, sitting nearby, shot Lu Jiuling a sidelong glance and muttered, "Liar!"
"Heh!"
Tang Lei let out a dry laugh, not daring to respond at all.
In the latter half of their sophomore year, Xu Shaowei had suddenly confessed to Lu Jiuling but was rejected. Since then, their relationship hadn't been great.
Tang Lei didn't understand. Although Xu Shaowei was somewhat lacking in looks and couldn't rank in the top three of the class, those big boobs were absolutely No. 1 in the entire grade. One hand couldn't even grasp them.
Why couldn't his buddy understand?
Looks were subjective; different aesthetics gave different scores. But big boobs had a standard—bigger was definitely better.
A girl like Jiang Shan was beautiful at No. 2 High School and deserved to be called the school beauty, but in Anzhou, she wouldn't stand out. At best she'd be a first-tier beauty. But Xu Shaowei...
I'd give full marks!
This was an absolutely scarce resource.
The kind inflated with silicone didn't count!
"Am I wrong?"
Xu Shaowei snorted coldly. "If you were sick, why did you still have the time and energy to get a haircut?"
"Holy crap, your haircut isn't bad. Where'd you get it done?"
Only now did Tang Lei notice that Lu Jiuling had gotten a haircut. The short, textured buzz cut paired with his face shape made his buddy look more spirited and his aura sharper.
"Shaowei, it's been more than half a year. Still not over it?"
Lu Jiuling smiled faintly. "How about I confess to you so you can reject me once?"
"Who needs your stinking confession?"
Xu Shaowei wanted to roll her eyes at Lu Jiuling, but when she met his smiling, peach-blossom eyes, her heart suddenly skipped a beat, and she felt the flutter of attraction again.
Lu Jiuling shrugged, pulled out a math problem book, and started drilling problems.
He wasn't going to confess at all. He was purely teasing Xu Shaowei.
Xu Shaowei regretted it. She should have agreed and thoroughly humiliated him.
But she felt that once Lu Jiuling confessed, the five words she would likely say were "I like you too."
Some male celebrities only looked good with makeup and even needed photoshopping. Some people looked good bare-faced, like Lu Jiuling.
If wearing an old school uniform still made people think he was handsome, then his looks were unquestionably top-tier.
Halfway through morning self-study, class teacher Tang Weimin arrived.
He first walked around the classroom twice, observing the students' study states, then walked to Lu Jiuling's side and lightly rapped his knuckles on the desk.
"Come out for a moment."
Tang Weimin's voice carried a hint of hoarseness.
Lu Jiuling stood up and followed behind, observing Tang Weimin.
The thirty-eight-year-old class teacher wore dress pants, a white shirt tucked into his belt, and shoes polished to a mirror shine.
He was a teacher who paid great attention to his image!
"Are there any difficulties in your life?"
Tang Weimin wasn't blind. One look at Lu Jiuling's condition and he didn't look sick at all, so he felt Lu Jiuling's excuse of taking a sick day was probably for another reason.
"No."
Lu Jiuling shook his head. Yesterday at noon, on his way home after getting a haircut, he had called Tang Weimin and said he wasn't feeling well, asking for a day off.
At the time, Tang Weimin had only told him to rest well. He hadn't expected him to still follow up now.
"There's only three months left until the college entrance exam. If anything is going on, you must tell me. Don't let it affect the exam!"
The class teacher stood with hands behind his back, looking at Lu Jiuling.
The boy before him was shy and bashful, studied hard, and although handsome, had never had a girlfriend. He was the type of student who gave teachers very little worry.
"Thank you for your concern, Teacher!"
Lu Jiuling sensed Tang Weimin's goodwill.
"Don't miss tomorrow's class spring outing!"
Tang Weimin urged, "Go back to studying!"
"Teacher, can I ask for leave?"
This had been decided half a month ago at a class meeting. This weekend, the entire class was going to Fanshi Ancient Town, but Lu Jiuling didn't want to go now.
Hearing these words, Tang Weimin's eyes suddenly narrowed, and his right hand behind his back clenched tight.