Chapter 22: The Delightful Scene Everyone Anticipates

Wen Nan was stunned.

This was hardly necessary… to go this far.

If this were reality, Fatty would never act like this. With the power of his family, with his status as the second young master of the Wang family—outside the game, in most situations, it would be others eager to curry favor with him.

Even in real life, if he truly wanted to curry favor with someone, he would usually start by transferring fifty thousand to the person, letting them see his resources, and then “convincing them with reason.”

No matter what, he would not end up like now—resorting to direct action, and worse, slapping his own face.

But this wasn’t real life. The gold coins in this game couldn’t be bought with real money at all!

The endless string of zeros in his real-life bank account meant nothing here. Here, it truly was zero, completely useless!

He had always lived in luxury, accustomed to extravagance. It was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but the reverse was unbearably hard. Now, with only a pathetic hundred coins in his account, it was simply torture.

How does the saying go? Once you’ve seen the light, you cannot endure the darkness.

He had once tasted prosperity—poverty now was simply intolerable.

And this was not just about poverty. This place was crawling with female ghosts. Physical pain was one thing, but if things went wrong, it could really cost him his life.

This couldn’t go on.

He needed money; he desperately wanted to make money.

In his first task, after enduring a brutal beating for more than three hours, he had barely earned 1,861 gold coins—just enough to buy a single safety bubble.

Yet this Lord Ye before him… had earned 395,554 gold coins from just one task!

Nearly four hundred thousand coins! And they were only level one, hadn’t even left the trial area, couldn’t buy the advanced store items yet. Otherwise, with that many coins, one could buy a small safehouse in some remote corner of the map!

And this was only the first mission in the trial area. For a top player to earn enough to buy a safehouse right away—what kind of level was that?

To Fatty, this was the God of Wealth descending to earth!

If he didn’t fawn over this person, he would write his own surname upside down!

After slapping himself, seeing that the other party was unmoved and even looked troubled, Fatty immediately stepped forward and said,

“Grandpa Ye, are you still not satisfied? If you’re not, that’s fine, I’ll keep going until—”

“—No, stop, that’s enough.” Wen Nan hurriedly raised his hand to stop him.

He actually wanted to explain that he truly wasn’t some big shot, but was afraid that if he argued, Fatty would just start slapping himself again, so he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Fatty took his silence as acceptance of his own subordinate status.

He raised his head, glancing at the settlement panel on the light screen, at the final figure: Ye Jiu’s balance of 395,554 gold coins. Tears of envy streamed down from the corners of his mouth.

He wanted so much to ask, Grandpa Ye, could you lend me a little money?

Not too much, just a few thousand coins. Enough for a few safety bubbles to stash in his inventory, enough to keep his backside intact during the next mission—he’d be content.

But these words circled his mouth several times and, in the end, he didn’t say them.

He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth; he knew all too well the feeling when acquaintances approached and, after barely a few words, started asking to borrow money—disgust, distaste, the urge to avoid them like the plague.

No, he absolutely could not let himself become a street rat in the eyes of the God of Wealth.

He was lucky—just entering the trial area and he’d encountered such a top player.

He had to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—do everything he could to become the hairs on this boss’s leg!

Since the God of Wealth didn’t want him to talk now, he obediently shut his mouth and resolved never to mention borrowing money.

With this thought, Fatty nodded vigorously, sealing his lips and standing there without a sound, like a carved gourd.

Wen Nan was bewildered. He hadn’t expected that a simple sentence would render the other party so silent, as if struck mute.

At that moment, the settlement panel on the overhead screen vanished, replaced by a new line of prompts—

Congratulations, contestants! Main Quest One has officially ended!

Main Quest Two will be issued at exactly 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. Please pay attention to this screen.

Until Main Quest Two begins, this is your rest period. You may move about freely.

Contestant live streams will reopen after Main Quest Two officially starts.

Please take care: during non-quest periods, it is not recommended to leave the respawn point. Otherwise, all consequences are your own responsibility!

Now, countdown to Main Quest Two—

8:00:00—

7:59:59—

7:59:58—

…

The countdown ticked away, second by second.

The realization that a new task was about to begin made the remaining three in the dormitory grow solemn once more.

Huang Tao, the athlete, said nothing as he walked to the balcony, slid open the door, and went to the safety rail. He raised his hand, prodding the wire mesh as if checking its sturdiness.

Shao Ling, seeing this, adjusted his glasses and said, “There’s special protection around this respawn point. Aside from players, no NPC or special entity in the game can enter.”

He glanced around the small four-person dorm. “If I’m not mistaken, the entire dorm, including the balcony and bathroom, counts as the respawn area.”

Hearing this, Huang Tao nodded, relieved. He left the balcony, returned to his desk, and with a swift motion, leapt onto his bed, waving at the others. “I’m going to sleep. Rest up—there’s another task in the morning.”

On this map, the target wouldn’t change. The next main quest would certainly have him facing that friend who loved singing, dancing, and basketball. Even with his toes, he could guess there’d be more basketball torment to come…

Thinking of this, Huang Tao sighed in agony, raising his arm to cover his eyes.

Shao Ling, too, thought of his next quest. Some images came unbidden to mind—scenes that couldn’t even be broadcast in the live stream…

His sigh was deeper and heavier than Huang Tao’s.

Fatty was different, however. He chose not to dwell on those unpleasant memories but to seize the moment.

And what needed to be seized…

He looked at the desk next to his. “Grandpa Ye, are you going to sleep? I can lend you my blanket.”

Wen Nan stared at Fatty in disbelief.

It was the height of summer, the dorm had no air conditioning, and it was hot even lying on the floor—who would want a blanket?

“No, thank you,” Wen Nan replied politely, afraid to say more lest Fatty start slapping himself again.

Fatty pondered, then asked, “Or would you like to sleep holding me? I’m fat and soft. Feels great to hug.”

Wen Nan: …

“No, thank you. I’m not sleeping.”

“So what do you want to do?” Fatty leaned over eagerly.

Wen Nan pulled up his player panel, a smile curling at his lips.

What would he do?

Naturally, it was the segment every player loved most—

The lottery draw!