Chapter 84: Buying a House

After Wu Shaochen logged off, he checked his bank account balance, and was surprised to find that it had exceeded 10 million. He was momentarily stunned and thought to himself, “I should buy a house tomorrow, then quickly get a gaming pod. Players’ power grows too quickly; if I want to stay ahead, I need to equip myself with a gaming pod as soon as possible.”

The next morning, Wu Shaochen woke up at eight o’clock. After freshening up, he left the house, grabbed some breakfast from the roadside, and took a taxi to the sales office in the suburbs. He didn’t need a house in the city center; even with 10 million, the houses in SZ city center were still somewhat out of reach.

At the sales office, there were hardly any customers. A few salespeople were chatting idly. As soon as Wu Shaochen entered, a sweet-looking salesperson rushed over and greeted him, “Hello, sir, are you here to look at houses?”

“Yes. Do you have any ready-to-move-in houses with good renovations?” Wu Shaochen asked.

“Yes, we do. Let me show you.” The woman replied and led Wu Shaochen to the model displays.

The house prices in the suburbs weren’t too high, around 30,000 per square meter. Wu Shaochen took a quick look but didn’t find anything he liked, so he asked, “Do you have any standalone villas?”

“Ah,” the salesperson, Song Qingya, was momentarily stunned before responding, “We do, but the price is much higher, about 80,000 per square meter.”

“Okay, show me one.” Wu Shaochen replied.

“Sure.” They went to another model display, and after a while, Wu Shaochen found a villa with a good location and lighting. It was 160 square meters with two floors. After Song Qingya showed him the property, Wu Shaochen signed the contract on the spot. The full price was 8.16 million, which included simple furniture. The paperwork would take about three days to complete. After paying, Wu Shaochen left, asking Song Qingya to contact him once the paperwork was ready.

After Wu Shaochen left, Song Qingya stood there dumbfounded. “Did he really just buy a house so casually? He barely stayed for half an hour. This was over 8 million!”

Afterward, Wu Shaochen took another taxi to his rental apartment, informed the landlord he’d be moving out in a few days, and quickly logged back into the game.

“Ding! The item you placed in the auction house has been bought by another player. The final price was 1.12 million, and after a 16.8% handling fee, you’ve received 952,000, which has been transferred to your linked bank account.”

Wu Shaochen froze. “Why is it higher than the first auction price?” After thinking for a while and not figuring it out, he shrugged it off. “Oh well, I still got the money.”

When Wu Shaochen logged back into the game, he noticed that the second auction of the Tiger Head Dagger had drawn attention again. After missing out the first time, players like Ao Tianxia and Luanying Xiaohong weren’t going to let the opportunity slip by. The price had increased significantly due to the influence of Ling Shao. However, it was still just a golden-tier item, so despite the competitive bidding, Ling Shao eventually secured it for 1.12 million. This meant he had spent nearly 200,000 more than the previous auction, which left him furious.

Wu Shaochen opened the leaderboard. Although he still ranked first, the players ranked second through sixth had all reached level 24, making them a serious threat. There had been some significant changes in the leaderboard as well. The third-ranked Yu Fei had surpassed the god king to reach second place. Meanwhile, the previously ranked ninth and tenth—Shen Nan and the Hell’s Messenger—had dropped out of the top ten, replaced by two unfamiliar IDs:

9th: Fen Tian
10th: Qiu Se Yan Yu

Both were mages, likely due to obtaining group skills. Mages had the most group skills, and as more skills emerged, their leveling speed became noticeable. Now, five of the top ten players were mages.

The equipment leaderboard was completely dominated by golden-tier items. At the top was his own Dark Gold Belt of Blood Ox, followed by the Tiger Head Dagger. The rest were all golden items, indicating that others had likely killed golden-tier bosses as well.

“I should check with Old Sun first,” Wu Shaochen thought. The mark on his forehead had been bothering him, so it was time to deal with it.

After asking around, he finally found Old Sun’s residence. It was a run-down area with low buildings. Wu Shaochen couldn’t believe that such a famous alchemist lived here.

He knocked on the door, and after a long wait, the door finally creaked open. A disheveled old man with messy hair appeared, his murky eyes fixed on Wu Shaochen. “Who are you looking for?”

“Are you Master Sun?” Wu Shaochen asked politely.

“Master Sun? That’s in the past. Now I’m just Old Sun. What do you want?” The old man replied.

“Well, I heard that you’re great at alchemy. Do you have any powerful potions? I’d like to buy some,” Wu Shaochen said.

“Scram! I’m not selling potions,” the old man growled, and Wu Shaochen was immediately kicked out.

Wu Shaochen stood outside the door, completely stunned.

“What’s going on? I haven’t even said anything yet. This old man is so difficult to deal with,” Wu Shaochen thought, scratching his head. “This task is much harder than killing a dark gold boss.”

Just as Wu Shaochen was about to leave, a teenager around eighteen or nineteen walked by, holding a jar of wine. Wu Shaochen didn’t pay much attention at first, but to his surprise, the boy knocked on Old Sun’s door and called out, “Master, I brought you some wine.”

Wu Shaochen watched as the old man happily welcomed the boy inside.

Wu Shaochen thought for a moment, “So the old man likes wine? Maybe I can get him drunk and steal the Soul Flame Fruit…”

“Wait, that might not work. Even if I manage to steal it, I’m sure he’ll catch me once he wakes up.”

“Looks like I’ll have to approach this boy instead. He seems to know the old man well. He might be easier to talk to, especially if he’s a player.”

With that in mind, Wu Shaochen decided to wait outside patiently.

He ended up waiting for over an hour before the boy finally emerged from Old Sun’s house. As soon as he stepped outside, he spotted Wu Shaochen standing nearby.

“Are you here to see my master too?” the boy asked.

“Yeah, but it seems he’s not too fond of me,” Wu Shaochen replied.

“My master can be a bit temperamental, but he’s a good person. I can introduce you to him if you’d like,” the boy offered.

“No need. It’s not a big deal. Would you mind if we had a chat somewhere?” Wu Shaochen asked.