Game: Civilization Paradise

"It’s no trouble! Just a little over ten minutes."

Luoxue shook her head gently and replied.

"Sigh... I’ve already bothered you enough before. I can’t trouble you over something so small."

Long Ming sighed, politely declining.

"Alright, then. Take the umbrella. Be careful on your way."

Luoxue handed the umbrella to Long Ming.

"Mm."

Long Ming gave a slight nod, then left with the umbrella open.

Luoxue sat in the car, watching Long Ming’s figure gradually disappear from sight. A faint smile touched her lips as she muttered to herself,

"He still hasn’t changed. As principled as ever."

...

「A moment later, on the subway.」

Long Ming sat alone by the window, gazing at the scenery flashing past outside.

His expression grew more and more solemn as Luoxue’s words replayed in his mind.

HUFF...

Long Ming took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

’It seems everything is just as I suspected, shrouded in secrecy.’

’I just don’t know if it will be the answer I’m looking for.’

...

「Evening.」

Long Ming woke up from a nap and went to the bathroom for a quick shower.

He walked over to his bed, lay down, and put on the helmet.

SWOOSH!

When he opened his eyes again, he had appeared in Starry City.

Long Ming began to sort through his loot from the dungeon.

DK-01 Automatic Rifle: Black Shadow, Triangular Bayonet: Death’s Fang, 5.56mm Armor-Piercing Rounds x300, High-Explosive Grenades x5, Shelter ID Card (Red), Falasi Martial Arts Training Manual (White), Ailo’s Necklace (Red), Ailo’s Diary (Red), and Extreme Ice Blood Crystal (Red).

Long Ming had already discarded everything else.

Long Ming opened the shop’s sellback interface to check the prices.

Shelter ID Card: 1,000,000

Ailo’s Necklace: 1,000,000

Ailo’s Diary: 1,000,000

Extreme Ice Blood Crystal: 5,000,000

Long Ming was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected the sellback price for the Extreme Ice Blood Crystal to be so high.

After thinking for a few seconds, he sold back the first three items and listed the Extreme Ice Blood Crystal on the auction interface with a starting bid of 5,000,000.

Not even a few seconds later, it showed that someone had placed a bid of 5,000,000, entering the auction.

Long Ming froze for a second when he saw this. ’Strange. Genetic Potions don’t sell for a good price, but people are buying the raw materials. How odd.’

He didn’t dwell on it, however. He tapped his wristband, closed the auction interface, and opened the shop.

Long Ming began to browse the items listed in the shop with intense focus.

He had originally planned to save up for a gaming pod, but after his conversation with Luoxue, Long Ming changed his mind.

He was now planning to use the funds he had on hand to buy some items that might hold their value in the future.

Thus, he began filtering for items to stockpile.

...

「Several hours later.」

Long Ming had selected five categories of goods: weapons, medicine, energy, defensive equipment, and food.

But his funds were limited, so he couldn’t possibly acquire them all.

Long Ming pondered continuously. ’Which of these items, when the game undergoes changes in the future, will not only avoid depreciation but might even increase in value?’

Suddenly, Long Ming’s gaze landed on the rapid-recovery type of items within the medicine category.

The supply for this type of medicine wasn’t actually that high, yet the market price had dropped. The current price in the shop was around 10,000 1-D coins, and some players were even listing them for 9,000+.

The reason for this situation was mainly that everyone now knew how to play the game better.

During dungeon runs, average players would rather die than use a potion. After looting one, their first instinct was to put it up for sale in the shop.

After all, even with the falling prices, a single potion was still equivalent to 100 Mountain Coins, enough to feed an ordinary person for five days.

Currently, only the whales and guilds were consuming any significant amount of medicine.

But the guilds, who were the main consumers, also had very strict rules regarding their use. After all, if a guild used too many potions in a single fight, they might not make a profit and could even end up losing money.

This led to a surge in the supply of medicine, and the price plummeted accordingly.

And medicine was often one of the most critical resources in wartime. Normally, even if its price didn’t rise much, it shouldn’t depreciate too much either.

But alas, in this game, you could just resurrect infinitely!

Thinking of this, Long Ming decided to take a gamble—he would bet on a future change.

After all, business opportunities are often hidden in the shadows; by the time they come to light, the opportunity has already vanished.

With that, Long Ming opened his account to take a look.

He now had 96,130,500 1-D coins.

A look of resolve flashed across Long Ming’s face as he decided to start stockpiling materials.

He immediately searched for rapid-recovery medicines.

SWISH!

Row after row of medicine appeared on the screen.

Long Ming sorted by price and saw that the lowest current listing was 9,400 1-D coins.

His expression flickered as he looked at the price. He tapped his wristband and bought up all the medicine priced from 9,500 to 9,900. Immediately after, to prevent his buying spree from causing a large-scale market fluctuation, he listed some medicine of his own for 9,300.

After buying the first batch, Long Ming took out the martial arts manual and began to read it, continuing to slowly purchase more medicine on the side.

「Three hours later.」

Long Ming put away the manual, his brow deeply furrowed.

’This isn’t working,’ he thought. ’I have to constantly watch the shop, and I only have so much energy.’

At this thought, Long Ming raised his wristband and tapped it to log out.

「In his rented room.」

Long Ming took off the gaming helmet, picked up his phone, and found Xiaopang’s number.

He planned to ask him for help. Although Xiaopang had his share of flaws, after knowing him for so long, Long Ming knew the guy was very reliable.

BZZT BZZT~

The call connected quickly.

"Yo, if it isn’t Brother Long! What made you suddenly think to give me a call?"

Xiaopang’s voice came from the phone.

"Xiaopang, how have you been lately?"

Long Ming asked.

"Doing great! And let me tell you, I’m not Xiaopang anymore. People call me Lord Fatty now."

Xiaopang replied with a grin.

"Sounds like you’re doing well. Which internet cafe have you been frequenting lately?"

"It’s nothing special. I’m always at Liang Guang Internet Cafe."

"Oh."

Just as Long Ming heard this and was about to get down to business with Xiaopang,

he suddenly heard someone shouting on the other end of the line.

"Xiaopang!"

"Hey, I gotta go. Something’s going on over here. Talk to you later."

Xiaopang promptly hung up.

Long Ming stared at the disconnected call for a few seconds, then opened his map to look something up.

He found that Liang Guang Internet Cafe wasn’t far away, so he put on his shoes, grabbed a jacket, and left.

...

「A moment later.」

The narrow alley was littered with trash and sewage, flanked by small shops with colorful, glowing signs.

Long Ming held his phone, looking at the map as he searched for Liang Guang Internet Cafe.

His brow was practically knit into a single knot. ’What kind of internet cafe is hidden this deep in an alley?’

Fortunately, just then, he finally spotted the glowing sign for Liang Guang Internet Cafe at the base of an old residential building.

Long Ming walked over and went through the open iron gate.

The acrid smell of smoke hit him as soon as he entered.

COUGH COUGH!

Long Ming couldn’t help but cough a few times.

The coughing was immediately followed by a wave of noise.