Chapter 31#
“……Y-yes,” the man explained carefully, “The balance on the first savings card is already zero, and the second—the second credit card—you’ve maxed it out too.”
Luo Mingshan glanced at him, saying nothing.
But the man clearly saw two words in his eyes—useless.
The man curled up in the corner hurriedly lowered his head, not daring to look at him, trembling all over, regretting it so much his intestines were twisted green.
If only he had known that Luo Mingshan was not human at all, five hours ago he would never have been bewitched, sneaking off alone in a high-speed spacecraft to pull Luo Mingshan out from underground…
That’s right, this unlucky bastard who had been robbed until he was bankrupt was none other than the “high-class male” who had earlier brought Zhao Xing and his group out from underground.
At this moment, Cheng Yu still couldn’t forget the scene when he had met Luo Mingshan again not long ago.
Unable to let go of his obsession with Luo Mingshan, he had secretly gone to the underground passage entrance and used his authority to board the subterranean elevator, returning to Zone F of the top-tier factory in K13 District.
He had planned to go find the warden and, under his guidance, meet the beauty who had stolen his heart at first sight.
But he never expected that as soon as he stepped out of the elevator, he saw Luo Mingshan.
It wasn’t working hours then; Zone F had turned off the main lights, leaving only a single nightlight.
And under that dim, shadowy nightlight, that breathtakingly beautiful long-haired man was huddled alone in the corner, hugging his knees.
Even when Cheng Yu deliberately made noise, he paid no attention.
Like a little animal that had been cruelly abandoned.
Arousing boundless pity.
Cheng Yu crouched in front of him, pushed his shoulder gently, and kindly explained his purpose.
Luo Mingshan seemed still ill, his complexion pale and his mental state poor, so at first his expression was a bit dazed: “…You want me to go up to the surface with you and be your lover?”
Cheng Yu corrected him gracefully: “Not lover, boyfriend. I want to establish an equal romantic relationship with you.”
Luo Mingshan looked into his eyes and suddenly smiled.
His eyes reflected tiny fragments of light, as if all his exhaustion and sickliness had been swept away.
So beautiful, almost able to bewitch everyone in the world.
He looked at Cheng Yu with that smile so lovely it could break hearts, and said softly, “So it turns out I had to appear on the surface because you took a fancy to me… Thank you for sending me such a good excuse. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t know how to explain to him why I’m showing up on the surface.”
Cheng Yu didn’t even hear what he said clearly.
Because all his attention was stolen by the smile on Luo Mingshan’s face.
Until… after the spacecraft switched to autopilot, Luo Mingshan kicked his iron leg bones apart in one second, tied him to a corner, and forced him to tell where those 101 people had been sent.
Only then did Cheng Yu realize what kind of monster he had provoked.
Zhao Xing had also seen live-stream tipping in the underground world.
He used to have a younger brother who was crazy about watching beautiful women stream. Not only did he wait for the livestream every day, but he also loved throwing money around in the chat.
Tossing hundreds into the stream, getting a sweet “Thank you, big bro” from the female host, and he’d be grinning all day.
Every time Zhao Xing saw him scrimping and saving just to act like a big spender in the stream, he’d curse him for an idiot.
But Zhao Xing never imagined that one day he himself would be showered with money in a livestream.
And the one throwing the money even sent numbers like 1623.4 and 41784.5, clearly maxing out two cards for him. From the looks of it, he was heading straight for bankruptcy.
Zhao Xing had never experienced such a situation before. He coughed dryly and said, “…Thank you, L. You don’t have to do this.”
“L,” who had thrown hundreds of thousands into the stream, had automatically upgraded to a VIP member, and his bullet comments were now in color.
【L: I’m sorry, big bro, this is all the money I have.】
Luo Mingshan opened the contestant rankings beside him. After being deducted 30 points, Zhao Xing only had 16.33 points left, with no advantage over other contestants who came with their own capital, ranking only 78th.
He really wanted Bro Xing to reach the top.
Luo Mingshan looked at the “105 points” next to the first place and pouted unhappily.
Actually, at first, he had thought of using the same method he used underground—manipulating electric currents to charge virtual currency into the account.
But he stopped before he even started.
The surface world was too unfamiliar to him. The risk was too high; he might be discovered, and it might implicate Zhao Xing. He didn’t dare act rashly.
Seeing the word “big bro” in the bullet comment, Zhao Xing’s heart suddenly, inexplicably, gave a little twinge.
But the next second, alarm bells rang in his mind.
Zhao Xing frowned, his expression turning serious: “L, how old are you? Are you an adult?”
【L: Just turned 18.】
Zhao Xing: “…”
Just barely an adult.
Suddenly, an image of a pair of hardworking parents and a wayward teenager flashed before Zhao Xing’s eyes.
But a refund was impossible—there was no way this scam of a show would open a refund channel, especially since the other party was of age.
Zhao Xing looked at the electronic board, frowned, and said coldly, “Kid, no more tipping.”
“L” didn’t send any more bullet comments.
Zhao Xing suspected he had been hurt by his cold attitude.
But that didn’t matter; if it could make a kid addicted to streaming tipping turn back, it would be a good thing.
Zhao Xing stopped paying attention to the electronic board and instead searched D004’s corpse for supplies.
While Zhao Xing wasn’t looking, the bullet comments on the board were still flying by rapidly.
“Why did L stop sending comments? To be honest, F101 is a bit ungrateful.”
“L, don’t be upset. F101 probably said that because he thinks you’re too young and doesn’t want you to spend so much money.”
“F101 is a bit too much, isn’t he? The guy tipped him hundreds of thousands, and instead of being grateful and kneeling to thank his number-one fan, he lectures him and calls him ‘kid.’”
【L: I stopped sending comments because I couldn’t promise him that I wouldn’t tip anymore.】
【L: Also, I really like it when he calls me ‘kid.’】
…………
“Damn! I ship it!”
“Aaaaah, how can I ship something even in a show like this!”
D004 really had a lot of good stuff on him—way more than the previous one. Zhao Xing happily looted, packing everything into his belt.
Eventually, he just threw away his old belt and replaced it with D004’s large-capacity storage belt.
Zhao Xing suddenly remembered the moment when he mistakenly thought he had killed Su Dong’an.
But the panic and fear from back then felt like a lifetime ago.
Maybe…
Zhao Xing stood up, looking down at D004’s cold, mechanical corpse.
Maybe it was because the surface world really did turn people into monsters easily.
Whether it was D004…
Or Zhao Xing.
The gifts L had tipped were almost simultaneously delivered to Zhao Xing by three small flying robots.
When the three flying robots landed, they assembled into a table and chair set, perfectly arranged with a lunch, a medical kit, and a weapon case.
Zhao Xing enjoyed the food, treated his wounds, and replaced his weapons and equipment again.
The luxurious lunch consisted entirely of delicacies Zhao Xing had never even seen before.
The most miraculous item in the medical kit was a spray that completely numbed all the pain from Zhao Xing’s wounds.
And the protective suit in the weapon case was exactly what Zhao Xing had wanted. He gave it a quick test and found that the fabric was so amazing that even a spiked iron knife couldn’t easily cut through it.
If he had to describe Zhao Xing’s feelings at that moment—
It would be no less than picking up an airdrop crate in some retro shooting game and getting the best gear.
Zhao Xing’s lips curled up, his face completely unable to hide his joy.
His smile was dazzling and brilliant, almost rivaling the sun.
“Thanks, L.”
L sent a round smiley face in the bullet comments.
Well-fed and fully equipped, Zhao Xing felt like he was walking with confidence.
He didn’t waste any more time and headed straight to the easternmost part of the island to do the task.
Although Zhao Xing felt that with his current gear, he no longer needed to fear other Blue Planet people or surface humans, he still put on a mask and wore D014’s tattered jacket again to avoid trouble.
Now that the immediate dangers of hunger and death were gone, Zhao Xing finally had the leisure to take a closer look at this island.
Along the way, he encountered many vending machines.
The glass cases of the vending machines were transparent, clearly showing the food, medical supplies, and weapons inside.
Everything had a marked price, ranging from 0.1 points to 10 points.
In the lower-left corner of the vending machine were palm-sized cards, with an explanation next to them: “Purchase this card to receive a random piece of important information. Highly recommended for Groups E and F. Sold at 1 point each.”
Zhao Xing needed information the most, so he directly swiped his face to buy a card.
The card came out of the dispenser slot.
He flipped it over and saw a line of text on the back.
“Congratulations! You have received an R-level message! After sunset, Yinlinger will appear. For your safety, please head to the White Tower to take shelter.”
Yinlinger?
What was that?
Even though he didn’t quite understand, Zhao Xing still felt the card seemed quite useful.
He swiped to buy three more cards.
“Congratulations! You have received an N-level message! One-time-use room cards for the White Tower can be purchased at vending machines.”
“Congratulations! You have received an R-level message! In addition to main tasks, you can also obtain points by searching for randomly dropped task cards and completing low-level tasks.”
“Congratulations! You have received a UR-level message! There is a very beautiful garden behind the giant stone statue. You can go there to relax in your spare time.”
Zhao Xing had never played a card-drawing game, so he didn’t know that UR was even rarer than SSR in card games. He just felt that the last card was completely useless, with almost no useful information, and the previous cards were much more helpful.
Little did he know, the bullet comments behind him were going crazy.
“Aaaaah, it’s a UR card! What incredible luck does this guy have to actually draw a UR card!”
“Geez! Isn’t this the UR card that never appeared from start to finish in the last game? How did someone draw it on the first day of this game?!”
“Damn! The UR card has a protection mechanism, so I can’t even read what’s written on it. So curious, so curious, what the hell is it?!”
“D014 is so calm, he just tore up all the cards and threw them in the recycling bin. What did the UR card say?”
“It’s F101.”
“Ah, isn’t that D014? The number on his jacket is D014!”
“That’s right, it’s D014. The person before was talking nonsense!”
“……”
“The bullet comments in this channel are all weird, huh?”
Zhao Xing remembered the “Yinlinger” warning on the first card and focused on picking a one-time-use room card from the vending machine.
The White Tower was pyramid-shaped; the higher the floor, the fewer the rooms.
There were eight floors in total, with a room type every two floors.
They were six-bed rooms, four-bed rooms, two-bed rooms, and single rooms.
A six-bed room cost 2 points, a four-bed room cost 5 points, a two-bed room cost 10 points, and a single room cost 20 points.
And that was just for one night.
It was ridiculously expensive.
Zhao Xing’s current point balance was 12.33. He planned to buy a six-bed room card for now.
But just as he was about to make his selection, a familiar mechanical voice sounded in his ear.
【Viewer “L” tipped F101 500,000 yuan, automatically converted to 50 points.】
500,000?
Zhao Xing was startled. He turned his head to look at the nearest electronic board.
There, bright and clear, was L’s colored bullet comment.
【L: Big bro has been very tired today. Choosing a single room will let you rest better.】
Zhao Xing: “…You, didn’t you say you had no money left?”
【L: Just discovered a new feature. I can take out a personal loan.】
Zhao Xing: “…”
Help!
Can someone please save the brainless, wasteful kid on the other end of the internet?!!