Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Civilization Paradise
As Luanna took the report, she carefully glanced at the test values on it.
She found that the MCSS value had dropped from the original 43 points to 40. (Reference immune value: 100)
Confused, she looked at Doctor Cheng and asked.
"Mentor, hasn’t Mr. Long Ming’s MCSS value decreased? Shouldn’t his condition be worsening? Why did you tell him it’s well under control?"
After hearing this, Cheng Yue let out a deep sigh and then said to Luanna.
"Of course I know his condition is worsening. Long Ming, as well as his father and grandfather, were all my patients. They all passed away under my watch. I’ve never been able to find an effective treatment for their family’s genetic disease. Long Ming has already spent a lot of money on treatment. It’s impossible for him to fork out any more, so conservative treatment is the only option. The reason I lied to him is that I hope he can maintain a positive mood and not feel so much psychological pressure. Maybe he’ll be able to live a little longer that way."
"I understand."
Luanna nodded in response.
...
In the afternoon.
The Lower District subway station entrance.
Long Ming followed the dense crowd out of the station. Gazing at the familiar streets, he finally relaxed.
GRUMBLE~
He suddenly felt his stomach rumbling. It was to be expected, though, since he’d been busy since morning and hadn’t eaten a single bite.
Long Ming then headed toward a small shop on the side of the street.
Just then, a burly boss with a cigarette dangling from his mouth saw Long Ming approaching and greeted him warmly.
"Isn’t that Long Ming? What’re you having?"
"Boss, one order of plain noodle soup."
After speaking to Boss Zhao Ku, Long Ming found a seat at one of the tables set up outside the shop.
"You got it!"
Zhao Ku said with a smile as he walked back into the shop.
In a good mood, Long Ming gazed at the bustling street in the distance. ’Today’s check-up results were better than expected. I hadn’t been holding out much hope.’
Just then, he noticed a long line of people in the distance, though he couldn’t tell what for.
"Noodles are ready! I added some scallions for you. Eat up while it’s hot!"
Zhao Ku placed a bowl of plain noodle soup in front of Long Ming.
"Thanks. By the way, Boss, what’s going on over there? Why is there such a long line?"
Long Ming was quite curious.
"I have no idea. Probably some new influencer-hyped shop opening. They likely hired a bunch of shills to line up!"
"Oh, I see. Isn’t that just ripping people off?"
"Exactly. Unscrupulous shops like that and their shills should be rounded up."
Boss Zhao Ku griped along with him.
"Heh!"
Long Ming chuckled and lowered his head to eat his noodles.
...
A little over an hour later, Long Ming opened the door to his apartment, coughing as he stepped inside.
He poured a glass of water, took his medicine, and let out a long breath before walking over to his computer desk and sitting down.
Long Ming controlled his game character to open the auction house, preparing to list some equipment and items for sale. But when he saw the prices others were selling their equipment and items for, his eyes went wide in disbelief.
In just one day, the prices of all equipment and items in the game had crashed by half.
Long Ming rubbed his eyes and looked at the computer screen again, hoping his eyes were just playing tricks on him.
Unfortunately, reality was cruel. The game’s virtual assets had indeed crashed.
Long Ming took a deep breath, quickly calming his turbulent emotions. He then found the merchant he often worked with, Black Fatty, and sent him a video call request.
DING DING~
The video call connected quickly. A man with a chubby face and a small, two-pronged mustache appeared on the screen.
"Yo, if it isn’t Brother Long! What can I do for you?"
"Xiaopang, the prices in Black Star have crashed."
"I know!"
"What happened? Everything seemed fine this morning."
"You don’t know?"
"No. What the hell happened?"
"Didn’t you see the announcement? At noon, the Mountain City Mountain’s City Lord’s Mansion officially announced that to clean up the unhealthy gaming climate, the government has decided to launch a game for all citizens. Everyone’s been panic-selling since they found out, so the prices in Black Star crashed."
"..."
Hearing Xiaopang’s words, a bitter smile appeared on Long Ming’s face. ’I can’t believe the sky fell just from going to a doctor’s appointment.’
Although Long Ming had graduated from a higher education institution, his physical condition was so poor that he was completely unable to handle a conventional job.
However, he was blessed with a strong talent for academics and gaming, so Long Ming made money by part-time tutoring and playing games.
Originally, the money from these two sources was just enough to cover his living expenses and buy his follow-up medication.
But because of his recent, constant coughing, even speaking had become difficult. As a result, he had to quit his rather lucrative tutoring job and rely solely on gaming. He never expected the game to have problems too.
At this point, Xiaopang asked Long Ming with a chuckle.
"Brother Long, how much inventory do you have left?"
"I’ll send you a screenshot."
Long Ming took a screenshot of his inventory and sent it to Xiaopang.
"Whoa, so much equipment, items, and Game Coins! You really know how to hoard!"
Xiaopang glanced at the screenshot, a look of surprise on his face.
"It’s alright."
"What a shame. If only you’d sold it all this morning. The market’s totally collapsed now."
"It’s too late for ’what ifs’."
"How about this? If you’re willing, I can buy all this stuff off you for twenty percent of its value."
"Twenty percent?"
Long Ming’s mouth twitched as he looked at Xiaopang. ’This guy is ruthless.’
"Don’t think it’s too low. Prices on the auction house have already dropped to fifty percent, and they’re still falling fast. With all that stuff you’ve hoarded, it’ll be hard to sell. It’ll be worthless soon enough."
"Then why are you still buying at twenty percent?"
"Haven’t you heard the saying, ’fortune favors the bold’? Sure, Mountain City Mountain released a game, but who knows if it’s any good? It might just be another cash grab, and then people will come back, right? Anyway, forget all that. Just tell me, are you selling or not?"
Xiaopang said, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Sell!"
Long Ming didn’t hesitate for a second, deciding to cut his losses immediately.
’Xiaopang’s not wrong, but I can’t afford to gamble. Besides, everyone is flocking to the official government game. What’s the point of me sticking with this one? With my skills, I can make a living in the new game just as well.’
"Great. Let me calculate the total... it comes to 20,950. Let’s just round it up to 21,000."
"Alright. Wire the money to my account, and I’ll trade you all the items."
"No problem. It’s not like this is our first time doing business."
Xiaopang was grinning from ear to ear.
’I’m a business genius! I’m about to strike it rich!’
"Okay."
Long Ming then hung up the video call and proceeded with the trade.
A moment later, Long Ming had cleared out all his assets from the game. Staring at the empty account, he felt a little dazed.
BZZT~
Just then, Long Ming’s phone vibrated, and a message popped up.
"Dear Mr. Long Ming, 21,000 has been credited to your bank account ending in 421. Your new balance is 32,150."
Long Ming looked at the balance in the text message and quickly adjusted his mindset. He then exited the game interface and opened his browser to search for information about the new game released by Mountain City Mountain.
Civilization Paradise, an epoch-making masterpiece, utilizes the latest in virtual reality technology, allowing you to experience immersive, breathtaking wonders...
Reading the official description, Long Ming was left momentarily stunned by the hype.
’Is Mountain City Mountain just trying to fool us? Do they really have such advanced technology? Did I sell my game assets too soon?’
But Long Ming had no choice now but to believe it.
He then noticed that this game required either a virtual helmet or a virtual gaming pod, both officially sold by Mountain City Mountain.
The virtual helmet was priced at 20,000 Mountain Coins, and the virtual gaming pod at 2,000,000 Mountain Coins. The sale would begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Furthermore, the devices would only be sold at physical locations, and the servers would go live in three days.
Long Ming immediately looked up the sales locations in the Lower District. He found that there were only a few, but one of them was very close to him.
Seeing this, Long Ming shut down his computer, walked to a corner, picked up a small stool, and left.
He was heading to the nearest sales location to wait in line. Although the sale didn’t start until tomorrow morning, if he waited until then to go, he most likely wouldn’t be able to buy one.
Therefore, Long Ming planned to take his small stool and queue up all night. When it came to this sort of speculation, he was a pro.
