Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Can’t Afford to Live
「The next day, in his room.」
Long Ming was on the floor, doing push-ups.
"98, 99, 100! COUGH, COUGH!"
After finishing the set, Long Ming collapsed onto the floor, panting, and rested for a moment.
Then, he started doing sit-ups.
Sweat streamed down his cheeks, but he kept going.
BUZZ~
His phone suddenly buzzed, and a message popped up.
"Whew..."
Long Ming let out a small breath, then walked over, grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and finished his training for the day.
His physical condition was terrible, and only through constant exercise could he slow its decline.
Besides, the game he was playing demanded peak physical conditioning and reflexes, so he had to work even harder than anyone else.
Long Ming put down the towel, walked to his bed, and picked up his phone to look at the message that had popped up.
’He sent the money back already? Guess he doesn’t need it anymore?’
The message on the screen simply read: "Yeah, problem’s solved."
Long Ming began to type a reply to Wang Yang.
"Alright then, let me know if you need anything! By the way, I wanted to tell you something. Those two, Bai Chuan and Wei Xiu, are also playing that Civilization Paradise game. I’ll join in once things are wrapped up here. You’ll have to carry me then; we can give those two a real shock."
"Not carrying you. Can’t be done."
"Fuck, don’t be like that! No loyalty at all."
"We’ll talk when you’re actually going to play."
"Fine, I won’t bother you then. I gotta get to work. Talk to you later."
Wang Yang ended the chat right there.
After reading the messages, Long Ming turned off his phone’s screen and went to take a shower.
Afterward, he returned to his bed, put on the game helmet, and activated it to enter the game.
WHOOSH!
When Long Ming opened his eyes again, he was in Starry City.
"The Celestial God Guild is recruiting!"
"The Begonia Flower Guild cordially invites all brothers and sisters to join! The benefits are great!"
...
Listening to the din, Long Ming glanced around. Players were everywhere, holding up all sorts of signs and recruiting on the spot.
He looked down, tapped his wristband to open his warehouse, and stared at the Level 1 Random Civilization Experience Scroll inside, a hesitant expression on his face.
To be honest, while his first trip into the trial world, Wabiga, had earned him his first pot of gold, the experience itself had been awful.
For one, there were too many players. Forget just competing for resources—they would attack and plunder each other. No matter how strong you were, you couldn’t defend against being mobbed or ambushed.
More importantly, the worlds accessed by these Level 1 Random Civilization Experience Scrolls were dirt poor.
Last time, he’d spent ages searching and found nothing of value. Most of the items were just white-grade.
Even though the market price for bullets had dropped, a single round still cost about 3,000 one-dimensional coins. This meant if he fired a few too many shots, he could easily end up losing more than he earned.
And if his luck was bad and he died in there, it would be a catastrophic loss.
Thinking this, Long Ming decisively opened the marketplace’s trading interface and searched for Invitation Letters.
Unfortunately, there were no Invitation Letters listed for sale.
Long Ming didn’t give up, though. He just kept patiently refreshing the page.
More than ten minutes passed. Suddenly, just as the trade screen refreshed, an Invitation Letter popped up.
Long Ming had just barely made out the price before the Invitation Letter was instantly sniped.
He stared at the "Sold Out" notification, the corner of his mouth twitching. An Invitation Letter priced at 200,000 one-dimensional coins, gone in an instant!
That meant Invitation Letters were in high demand, and 200,000 was priced too low.
Long Ming sighed and went back to refreshing the page, hoping another one would pop up.
Soon, another Invitation Letter appeared. Long Ming’s hand shot out to click it, but he was a step too slow. It was sniped again.
Long Ming’s brows furrowed, but he kept waiting patiently.
Two hours passed in a flash, and Long Ming still hadn’t managed to snag an Invitation Letter. It wasn’t that none were being posted for sale; he just couldn’t compete.
Clearly, a group of professional traders were camping the listing, ready to snatch them up at any cost the second they appeared.
He couldn’t possibly out-click them on his own.
Just then, another Invitation Letter popped up. Unsurprisingly, it was sniped in an instant.
But this time, Long Ming was left speechless by the final transaction price.
This one had sold for 2,000,000 one-dimensional coins. The price was obviously wrong—a blatant rip-off.
Sure enough, a moment later, Long Ming heard angry shouts from nearby.
"Fuck! That bastard! Who prices an Invitation Letter at ten times its value? Are you that desperate to make a living?!"
"Haha, a newbie, huh? That must’ve hurt. We only carry 300,000 on us for bidding. You brought that much cash? What are you, a sucker?"
"Dammit, I’m gonna make him refund me. If he doesn’t, I’ll find him in real life and settle this."
...
Watching this scene unfold, Long Ming couldn’t help but shake his head. His gaze returned to the marketplace.
He was in a bind. Continuing to wait around like this wasn’t a solution; it was just a waste of time.
After a moment’s thought, he finally decided to take a gamble with the experience scroll.
However, Long Ming didn’t plan to go in fully geared. He found a deserted spot, stripped off all his equipment, and stored it in his warehouse. In the end, he took out only a Gekko automatic pistol, a Kagba tactical dagger, and a plain backpack.
Even though this loadout looked pitifully sparse, he was still worried about taking a loss.
Of course, Long Ming wasn’t one to be indecisive. Having made his choice, he didn’t hesitate further. He took out the Level 1 Random Civilization Experience Scroll and activated it.
WHOOSH!
In an instant, Long Ming was teleported to a small, top-shaped mechanical platform.
Players were everywhere.
Long Ming glanced down at his wristband interface.
Teleportation Platform No. 845.
Civilization Activated: Cadum
Civilization Level: 1
Participants: 531/1000.
...
"This is a little slow. We still don’t have enough people."
"That’s normal. It’s morning, after all. A lot of people aren’t up yet."
"True."
...
Long Ming scanned his surroundings and saw that the other players were gathered in small groups.
But just then, countless beams of white light descended, and the participant count instantly jumped to 941/1000.
A second later, hundreds of figures in black robes, each wearing a black shooting star armband, appeared on the mechanical platform.
Seeing these new arrivals, the crowd began to whisper amongst themselves.
"Shit, why are there so many people from Star Tower?"
"I don’t know. Just don’t mess with them. That bunch is weird, not all there in the head."
"Tch, like anyone in their right mind would want to mess with them."
...
Long Ming’s heart sank. He hadn’t expected to be matched with so many people from Star Tower.
The three major cities had never gotten along, so people from Mountain City Mountain had no love for those from Star Tower.
At that moment, the count reached 1,000.
Instantly, Long Ming and everyone else on the platform were engulfed in a white light that blotted out everything.
A few seconds later, the white light began to recede.
Long Ming raised his Gekko automatic pistol, warily scanning his surroundings.
He was surrounded by buildings constructed from gray stone. Their architectural style was strange and varied, and their outer walls were covered in abstract, distorted oil paintings.
Iron lampposts lined both sides of the quaint street.
The pungent smell of exhaust fumes permeated the air of the silent street.
