Can't Afford to Live

Next day. Inside his room. Long Ming was down on the floor, doing push-ups. "Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred! Cough, cough!" When he finished the set, he collapsed onto the floor, gasping, and rested for a while. Then he moved on to sit-ups. Sweat kept streaming down his cheeks, but he kept at it without stopping. Buzz~ His phone suddenly chimed, and a message popped up on the screen. "Whew~" Long Ming let out a soft breath, stepped aside, picked up a towel, and wiped the sweat from his forehead, bringing the day's training to an end. His body was in poor shape these days; constant exercise was the only thing that could slow the decline. And the game he was playing now demanded extremely high physical conditioning and reaction speed—he had to work harder than anyone else. Long Ming set the towel down, walked to the bedside, picked up his phone, and glanced at the message that had popped up. "You're paying it back this fast? Don't need it anymore?" "Yeah. It's settled." Long Ming typed out a reply to Wang Yang. Then Wang Yang replied: "Fine—just ask me again if you need it! Oh, right, let me tell you something. Bai Chuan and Wei Xiu, those two, are playing Civilization Paradise as well. Once things settle down on my end, I'll join too. When that happens, you'd better carry me and give those two a scare." "No. I couldn't carry you." "Damn it, don't be like that. Where's your sense of brotherhood?" "We'll talk when you actually start playing." "Fine, I'll quit bugging you. I've still got to get to work. Talk next time." And with that, Wang Yang ended the conversation. After reading the messages, Long Ming shut off the screen and went to take a shower. Then he returned to his bed, picked up the game helmet, put it on, and activated the game to enter. Whoosh! When Long Ming opened his eyes again, he was standing in Fanxing City. "The Heavenly God Guild is recruiting!" "The Begonia Guild sincerely invites all brothers and sisters to join—benefits and treatment are excellent!" Amid the noisy clamor, Long Ming turned his head and looked around. Players holding up all sorts of signs were openly recruiting members. He lowered his head and tapped his wristband to open the warehouse. Looking at the Level-1 random civilization experience scroll stored inside, a hint of hesitation crossed his face. To be honest, his first trip into the experience world Wabija had won him his first pot of gold, but the experience itself had been truly miserable. For one thing, the players involved were countless. Never mind the scramble for resources—they attacked and plundered one another, and no matter how strong he was, he still dreaded getting mobbed or ambushed. More importantly, the worlds opened by these Level-1 random civilization experience scrolls were poor. Last time he had searched for ages and dug up hardly anything valuable—most of what he found was white-grade stuff. Besides, although bullets had dropped in price on the market, a single bullet still cost about 3,000 Yiwei coins. In other words, if he fired too many shots, he might well spend more than he earned. And if his luck turned bad and he died in there, the loss would be enormous. At that thought, Long Ming decisively opened the mall's trading interface and searched for invitation letters. Unfortunately, no letters were listed for sale. But Long Ming didn't give up; he patiently kept refreshing. Ten-odd minutes passed. Then, the instant the trade screen refreshed, an invitation letter popped up. The moment Long Ming made out the price, someone snapped it up. Staring at the "sold out" notice, he felt the corner of his mouth twitch. An invitation letter listed at 200,000 Yiwei coins—gone in an instant! Which showed how desperately people wanted these letters; 200,000 had been priced far too low. Long Ming sighed and kept refreshing, wondering if another one would appear. Soon a second invitation letter popped up. Long Ming reached out to tap it at once, but alas, he was a step too late—snapped up again. His brows knitted tight, but he went on waiting patiently. In the blink of an eye, two hours passed, and he hadn't won a single invitation letter. It wasn't that none were for sale—he simply couldn't grab one. Under these circumstances, it was obvious a pack of professional merchants was camped there sniping, snatching at any cost, buying up every letter the moment it appeared. On his own, he could never out-grab them. Just then another invitation letter popped up and, no surprise, was snapped up again. But the sale price left Long Ming speechless. This letter had sold for 2,000,000 Yiwei coins—a price that was clearly wrong, plainly meant to fleece people. Sure enough, the next second, cursing drifted over from a distance. "Damn it, you bastard! Ten times the price on an invitation letter—I can't afford to live!" "Haha, a newbie, right? Big loss this time, huh? We only brought 300,000 each for the bidding. You hauled that much money in—aren't you just a sucker?" "Damn it all, I'm making him refund me. If he won't, I'll go settle it with him in real life!" Watching the scene, Long Ming couldn't help shaking his head, his gaze turning back to the mall. For a moment he was at a loss. Dragging this out was no solution—it wasted far too much time. He thought it over and finally decided to use an experience scroll and give it a go. But he didn't plan to go in fully equipped. Instead, he found a spot with no one around, stripped off every piece of gear he carried and stowed it all in the warehouse, then took only a Gecko automatic pistol, a Kagba tactical dagger, and an ordinary backpack. Shabby as this loadout looked, even then he worried he might not break even. Of course, Long Ming was no ditherer. Having made his decision, he stopped agonizing, took out a Level-1 random civilization experience scroll, and activated it. Whoosh! In an instant, Long Ming was teleported onto a small mechanical platform shaped like a spinning top. Players were everywhere around him. He lowered his head and glanced at his wristband interface. Transmission Platform No. 845. Opening Civilization: Kadum Civilization Level: 1 Players: 531/1000 "A bit slow. The thousand still isn't full." "Normal. It's morning, after all. Lots of people haven't even gotten up." "True." Long Ming looked around and found the players clustered together in little groups. But right then, countless white lights came falling down, and in an instant the count jumped to 941/1000. The next second, several hundred figures appeared on the mechanical platform—black robes, black meteor armbands on their arms. At the sight of them, everyone dropped their voices to murmurs. "Damn, why are there so many people from Star Tower City?" "No idea. Forget it—just don't provoke them. That lot is creepy and twitchy; they're not right in the head." "Tch. Like anyone wants to provoke them." Long Ming's heart sank. He hadn't expected to be matched with so many people from Star Tower City. The Three Great Cities had never gotten along, so the people of Shanchengshan bore no goodwill toward the people of Star Tower City. By now, the thousand players were all present. In a flash, white light engulfed Long Ming and everyone else, and nothing could be seen. A few seconds later, the white glow gradually faded. Long Ming raised the Gecko automatic pistol in his hand and turned his head warily to scan his surroundings. Buildings met his eyes—raised from gray rock, each with a strikingly different style, their outer walls painted with abstract, twisting oil paintings. Along both sides of the quaint old street, iron streetlamps stood one after another. Over the silent street hung a pungent stench of exhaust fumes.