Dusk.
The city was bathed in a warm orange glow.
After the match, Ye Chuan walked home, accompanied by a girl with a waist-length ponytail and another with shoulder-length hair who strolled leisurely beside him.
"Five thousand, plus fourteen thousand, at seven-to-one odds... damn."
An Shiyu did the math and realized she owed Ye Chuan a whopping 133,000 yuan?!
Not to mention Luo Xi’s 3,000—that made it 21,000!
"Ye Chuan~" An Shiyu quickened her pace, catching up to him with an exaggeratedly sweet tone, "How about rounding it down?"
Despite the sugary voice, her expression remained eerily blank, making it sound more like a rehearsed line than genuine pleading.
"You’re the one who set fixed odds."
Ye Chuan shot her a glance, noting the sparkle in her eyes, and rolled his own. "Fine."
"Great! Then I’ll transfer you 3,000," An Shiyu said.
"You’re rounding down the wrong number!!" Ye Chuan glared and promptly thumped her on the head.
Thunk.
A satisfying sound—proof of a good head.
This scammer was getting desperate!
"Tch, my profits just took a nosedive," An Shiyu grumbled.
What should’ve been a massive payday was now reduced to scraps. In her book, less profit meant a loss.
The worst part? She couldn’t even weasel out of it—Ye Chuan and Luo Xi were childhood friends.
"Ugh." Under Ye Chuan’s stern gaze, she reluctantly transferred the full 130,000 yuan.
Luo Xi giggled beside them. "Shiyu, just give me back my 3,000. I was only playing around anyway."
Hearing this, An Shiyu immediately wrapped her arms around Luo Xi, sniffing her scent dramatically before shooting Ye Chuan a look. "Sniff sniff See this? This right here? An angel!"
"And the 3,000. Hand it over," Ye Chuan demanded flatly, palm outstretched.
"Fine."
In the end, An Shiyu didn’t renege. She transferred Ye Chuan’s 133,000 and Luo Xi’s 21,000, then checked her bank balance. With just over a million yuan left in spending money, she sighed.
"Broke as hell."
Time to squeeze some cash out of Grandpa.
After settling the debts, An Shiyu and the other girl walked a short distance before hopping onto an electric mini-car and zooming off with a putt-putt-putt.
Left alone with Luo Xi, Ye Chuan glanced at the ponytailed girl beside him and smiled. "No club activities today, Luo Xi?"
"I took the day off because of your match," she replied, clasping her hands behind her back and leaning closer curiously. "Chuan, how did you suddenly get so strong? Were you secretly training behind my back?"
"Nah, I got a system. It gives me money daily and boosts my skills."
"Ugh, fine, keep your secrets." Luo Xi playfully punched his arm.
Still, she had to admit Ye Chuan was right about taekwondo being all flash—those guys were weak. Even someone as lean as him could knock them out with one punch.
Luo Xi was pretty sure she could do the same.
If I went up, I’d win too.
"As long as you’re healthy, that’s all that matters." Her ponytail swayed as she brushed a few stray strands from her forehead, offering a sweet smile.
A shadow flickered in her eyes—a fleeting thought of her mother’s worsening health—but she quickly masked it with her usual cheerful grin.
Bathed in the golden hues of sunset, her smile seemed to glow, radiant and lingering.
Ye Chuan was used to Luo Xi’s optimism, but he caught that momentary sadness. Suddenly, he spoke up.
"Actually, the reason I’ve been feeling better is because of an old family remedy. It really works. Maybe your mom could try it."
Luo Xi blinked. "Chuan, are you serious?"
"I hardly ever lie to you."
"Do you still have any of that medicine?" She grabbed his arm urgently.
Ye Chuan nodded. "Yeah, but I’ll need a little more time."
The Deer Blood Pills only dropped when Bai Qianshuang went into overdrive, or if he took risks himself—sometimes yielding them as loot.
As for other elixirs, he hadn’t gotten his hands on any yet, so he wasn’t sure what else might help Luo Xi’s mom. But the Deer Blood Pills? He’d tested them himself, and the results were undeniable.
"Okay, I’ll give it to Mom then." Since Ye Chuan wasn’t joking, Luo Xi chose to trust him—just like during the match, when almost no one believed in him, she’d stood firmly by his side.
Ye Chuan chuckled.
They walked shoulder-to-shoulder, the occasional brush sending Luo Xi’s thoughts drifting.
Suddenly, she asked, "Chuan, what are you gonna do with all that money?"
"Spend it?" He considered the freshly deposited sum. "First, upgrade the house a bit. The rest..."
His mind wandered to the in-app purchases in the Universal Landlord APP. To earn more in the future, he’d have to invest. So far, he hadn’t even hit a single pity pull.
In the end, strength was the key to scoring better loot during his adventures. And the treasures he found there? They had real-world effects, especially those pills.
"So, Chuan... does this mean you won’t mooch off girlfriends for meals anymore?" Luo Xi tilted her head, eyes twinkling.
"Yeah."
"Then..."
"Money’s way better than women," Ye Chuan laughed.
"Oh..." Luo Xi’s voice hitched before she giggled.
Ye Chuan tugged her ponytail. "C’mon, tonight’s my treat. How about that seafood place from last time?"
"Even with money, you shouldn’t splurge like that! Something simple’s fine—how about some Lao You noodles?"
"Sure, works for me."
...
By the time Ye Chuan got home after dinner, it was past seven.
He checked the log—Bai Qianshuang was still meditating, though she’d polished off all the snacks.
"Better not disturb her." Seeing her deep in meditation, he quietly left a fresh bag of snacks by her door.
Sitting on his bed, he glanced at his balance—over 100,000 yuan.
Damn.
A sum he’d never dreamed of, now just a month’s worth of income.
4,000 yuan a day, 120,000 a month.
"Life’s getting sweeter by the day," he mused, surveying the shabby, decades-old decor around him.
Every piece of furniture was older than he was.
Yeah, time for an upgrade. A full makeover!
"But where to start?" As he pondered, his phone buzzed.
He glanced down—
[Balance has reached the specified threshold. Universal Landlord APP unlocks House Construction & Renovation features.]
Ye Chuan: "..."
Seriously? You’re into everything money-related, huh?
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
