Chapter 9

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

It was another sunny morning. Chen Xu woke up and stretched out comfortably. He got out of bed, opened the curtains, and allowed the golden sunshine to shimmer on his face. It felt warm, inviting him to close his eyes and indulge in this relaxing and tranquil moment.

He was getting more and more accustomed to such days of leisure.

From outside, came the sound of water droplets falling on the ground. Luo Xiyun was watering the vegetables planted on the side of the road.

He turned around, picked up a marker, and wrote the number 120 on the wall.

This was the 120th day since he entered the dream world. Two-thirds of the time had gone by.

It had also been three months since Luo Xiyun’s arrival.

As usual, he brushed his teeth, washed his face, shaved, changed his attire, ate breakfast, grabbed his alpine sack, and pushed the door open to go outside.

As usual, Luo Xiyun had already finished watering the vegetables and had returned to her home.

The street outside was strikingly changed in comparison to three months ago when he was alone. A diversity of plants occupied most of the space, leaving only a narrow route.

The plants were, for the most part, a variety of vegetables with some flowers and other plants around the periphery as decor. These vegetables were neatly arranged, giving off the ambiance of a garden.

This was naturally Luo Xiyun’s doing. Except for the vegetable seeds that he had collected, she brought in all the flowerpots and soil from the surrounding flower shops. Usually, she was also the one taking care of them.

Chen Xu walked out of the vegetable garden and over to the left side of the lane. This area had become his garage.

He selected the SUV he most frequently drove. In the past four months, he had already tried out every luxury car that he came by. He drove most of them only once or twice, mainly because they were not practical.

He had to bring a lot of things when he went out. For that reason, small cars were naturally not up to the job. Trucks were less comfortable, so large SUVs became his best option.

Before leaving, he took out a very simple hand-painted map. It was a treasure map he drew himself.

After Luo Xiyun arrived, his usual workload was reduced by half, and his free time had increased. Therefore, he embarked on his treasure hunting journey. The simple map in his hands was the fruit of his expeditions in these last few months.

“The surrounding areas are almost covered. I’ll go further this time.”

With a target already in mind, he drove to his destination.

XX Street, the city’s most famous and bustling commercial street. As it was relatively further away, he had not explored it before.

After he parked the car, he took his tools and went to the nearest commercial building.

It was pitch black at the entrance. He put on a headlight and held another flashlight in his hand. With a glance, he saw a few “lucky box” vending machines placed at a corner.

“These scam boxes again,” he mumbled under his breath but halted anyway. He set down the toolbox in his hand, put on a mask, took out a hammerhead, and with a bash, shattered the outer glass.

A gust of dust rose to the air. This place had not been cleaned for several months, and there were thick layers of dust everywhere in the vicinity. With just a meager touch, there would be dust flying around everywhere.

He took a few steps backward and waited for the dust to dissipate before he retrieved the boxes inside and opened them one by one.

“A facial mask. What brand is this? Never heard of it.”

“A phone casing. Worth at most a few bucks.”

“Earphones from a trash brand.”

“50-dollar coupon for some online shop, huh-uh…”

…

Chen Xu dissed every box he opened.

Lucky box vending machines had suddenly raised in popularity as of recently. By scanning a QR code to pay 30 dollars, one could acquire a lucky box. It was said on the ads that there may be a mobile phone, an SLR, a tablet, and so on in the box.

However, in the past few months, he had smashed dozens if not a hundred of these machines and had seen not even a single item mentioned in the advertisements. All he ever got were less-valuable commodities.

When he picked up the penultimate box, he could feel that it was a little heavier.

“Should be perfume,” he guessed. He had opened up so many boxes that normally he could roughly guess the item inside just by its weight.

After opening the box, he was dumbfounded. It was the box of an iPhone X.

“It can’t possibly be empty right?”

He was very skeptical. An iPhone X cost almost 10 thousand dollars. Why would the owners of these vending machines spend so much money on it?

He opened the package arbitrarily. It was really a mobile phone. It looked brand new. After turning it on, it quickly opened the activation page.

He followed the prompts, activated the phone, and entered the system. He inspected the serial number in Settings. It matched the one on the packaging box.

“Hopefully it’s not a fake.” He still had some doubts. Regardless, he slotted the phone into the backpack he was carrying behind and marked down the location of the vending machine and the box number on the treasure map.

He was pretty sure that everything in this dream world could be matched to that of reality.

Meaning to say, what could be found in this dream world would exist in the same place after he returned to reality.

For instance, he opened up a mobile phone in this lucky box. In that way, there had to be a mobile phone in the lucky box of this number in this vending machine in reality as well.

With this in mind, he went on expeditions to find things, calling it treasure hunting.

In the past few months, as long as he had time, he would go treasure hunting, but it wasn’t very rewarding.

To put it bluntly, the wealth of the entire world was at his disposal, but no matter how wealthy he was in the dream world, it wouldn’t bear any significance if he couldn’t bring these riches out into the real world.

In the same way, even if he knew which house was stashing a load of cash, or which had the most jewels stored in their safe, it would be equally meaningless. He couldn’t possibly steal them when he woke up. He would be foolish to try to do so.

Consequently, there were not many opportunities for him to make actual money. It was entirely a matter of luck.

After all, there were too few items like “lucky boxes”. He smashed dozens of vending machines before getting only one mobile phone. The chance of winning a prize was certainly exhilarating.

He continued opening the rest of the boxes and acquired no other loot. So, he continued moving forward.

The entire building was dark, and there was dust everywhere. It looked like a scene straight out of a horror film. Chen Xu strolled around the first few floors and withdrew. The atmosphere of this place was too depressing.

As he left the building, he felt relieved. He thought that he should visit such commercial buildings less often in the future. After all, the things inside had little value to him.

Next, he went to the pedestrian pathway. Poring over the paved road covered with dust and fallen leaves, he couldn’t help but lament the deterioration. In only a few months, the streets that were originally beautifully decorated were laid to waste.

“Grrrrrmmm.”

After only a couple of steps, he heard a heavy thud and looked up. Unbeknownst to him, a thick black cloud had risen in the skies.

It was going to rain soon.