Chapter 8

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The moment Lu Jin’s virtual billboard appeared, it attracted a lot of attention.

While crystal residues were of little value to Scavengers who roamed the Heavy-Mist Zone, they still felt like it was a waste to have to throw them away.

After the AR system was activated, all items in Fantasy World would exist like real items and would require an electronic space to store them. That was why everyone had to carry a backpack while they were out. That backpack was actually an electronic storage bag.

Otherwise, players would have to carry the different items in their hands. If they accidentally switched off the AR system, their electronic body would be deactivated and they would no longer be able to come into contact with electronic items. The items that they had been holding in their hands would fall and others could pick them up for free…

Due to that, people all over the world would keep their AR systems on except for when they slept. Otherwise, they would not be able to see or touch any electronic items and it would be as if they were blind and handicapped.

There was a limit to the capacity of an electronic storage bag. Although it was different from actual backpacks, which could not store items larger than its size, electronic storage bags had a limit on the number of storage slots.

An ordinary electronic storage bag had only 50 slots. A slot could only contain one material or item. Apart from memory fragments, of which 100 units of it could be stored in a slot, other items like a small crystal residue would occupy one slot.

As a precaution, players had to have various tools and items within their reach while they traveled, hence the number of empty slots they had left was limited.

Compared to materials that were left behind by defeated monsters, crystal residues were worthless. Some people would even discard them when they ran out of slots in their bags…

“Brother, are you really collecting crystal residues?”

“Of course.”

“Alright. I have two pieces here.”

…

In an instant, many Scavengers came to Lu Jin to trade crystal residues.

Although the appearance rate of crystal residues was extremely low, it could not be compared to the large number of Scavengers. In less than an hour, Lu Jin had collected 32 pieces of crystal residues.

Lu Jin had not even managed to collect that amount of crystal residue during the internal beta test. At most, he had gotten 10 pieces of them at one go. However, he had expended more than 6,000 units of memory fragments for that.

That’s right, during the internal beta test, a piece of crystal residue could have been sold for more than 6,000 units of memory fragments.

Unfortunately, those 10 pieces of crystal residue did not create a mutated monster. They had only represented a significant loss of memory fragments.

“Young Lu, why are you suddenly collecting crystal residues?” Li Jianyuan, who had just returned from outside the gate, noticed Lu Jin who had set up a stall and was curious. “Don’t tell me that you want to make basic Anti-Insanity Potions?”

Li Jianyuan’s familiar voice made Lu Jin, who was organizing his backpack, to lift his head to respond. At that moment, Lu Jin’s pupils instantly constricted and he nearly dropped his backpack.

A monster that measured more than one meter and that had dozens of hands was crouching quietly on Li Jianyuan’s head. Every hand of that monster had an eye, and its entire body emitted a cold aura. It was exactly like the Shadowraze that Lu Jin had encountered at home.

After Li Jianyuan’s question, that monster’s hands instantly appeared in front of Lu Jin’s eyes. Its fist-sized eyes were less than 10 centimeters away from Lu Jin’s face. They were completely staring at Lu Jin, which made him too afraid to move…

Li Jianyuan looked at Lu Jin, whose hands were a little unsteady. He could not help but walk forward and asked with concern, “Young Lu, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine… My legs are just numb from squatting.” Lu hurriedly explained when he saw Li Jianyuan approaching.

“It’s good that you’re fine.” Li Jianyuan nodded and said slowly, “I don’t know what’s been going on with the misty zone recently. Whenever I go there, I feel like my head gets heavier and I feel dizzy.”

Lu Jin looked at Li Jianyuan speechlessly.

With such a huge monster on his head, it would be weird if it didn’t feel heavy…

Lu Jin also quickly noticed that something was amiss. At some point in time, dozens of Shadowrazes had gathered on both sides of the street. Those Shadowrazes were of varying sizes and shapes.

The largest one of them came to the stalls on the street and bit down on the vendors’ heads, one after another. After chewing on a vendor’s head for a moment, as if dissatisfied, it swiped its claws at the vendor’s body. At that point, the vendor shook slightly and his body flickered faintly.

No one noticed it unfold.

Then, the monster proceeded to bite down on another vendor. It was as though it wanted to chew on all the vendors…

“Young Lu, I have two pieces of crystal residue here. Do you still want them?” Li Jianyuan couldn’t help but ask Lu Jin, who seemed to be in a daze.

“Yes! Of course I do!” Lu Jin hastily nodded his head. He tried his best to calm his nerves as he watched the gigantic monster get closer and closer to him. Pretending to be happy, he said, “After receiving these two pieces of crystal residues from you, Uncle Li, I’m done with collecting them.”

Then, Lu Jin quickly completed the transaction with Li Jianyuan and closed the stall hurriedly.

He did not want to stay there any longer…

A real person!

A real person had actually flickered, as if they had turned into a translucent person.

Although it was only for a short moment, Lu Jin did not think that it was a good sign.

“Looks like I shouldn’t come here so often in the future.” Lu Jin cast a glance at the dozens of Shadowrazes on the street in the distance and spontaneously gave up on the idea of coming to the West Gate to scavenge.

Although it was a pity to have given up on scavenging at the West Gate, he was already the fiancé of the CEO of the Fantasy Light Group. There would always be a way to level up in the future.

He then calmed himself down and looked at the crystal residues in his backpack. He had a fruitful trip that day.

The sun was setting. When Lu Jin returned to his rented apartment, the sky had already turned dark.

When he arrived at the porch of his rented apartment, there was a luxurious maglev car that was never before seen in the suburbs. It attracted the attention of many neighbors.

“Hello, Mr Lu Jin.”

Qin Lianyue, who was dressed in black work attire, got out of the car. She was flanked by two bodyguards, a man and a woman.

The man was about 30 years old. He had a burly frame and an air of intensity that was almost as sharp as a blade. It could be seen that that man had absolutely extraordinary strength.

As for the woman, she was in her early twenties. Although she looked a bit shy, the fact that she was dispatched together with the man proved that she was of comparable standards.

“Miss Qin, why are you here?” Lu Jin looked at Qin Lianyue strangely.

There were still two days left until the engagement banquet. Besides, only Qin Lianyue had come with the two bodyguards and Xia Qingyao was nowhere to be seen.

“Mr Lu Jin, after you signed the contract, you are already the Deputy CEO of our Fantasy Light Group.” Qin Lianyue said slowly, “As Deputy CEO, you will naturally receive special treatment accordingly. This car and two bodyguards will be your unit. These two people will always protect you. If you need anything, you can give them orders.”

“Oh right, here’s a Fantasy Gold Card for you. There are 1,000,000 credits and 10,000 memory fragment units stored in it. In the future, the Group will deposit 500,000 credits into it monthly. As for the memory fragments, there won’t be further increments. After all, even the Group is in dire need of it.”

“500,000 credits per month?” Lu Jin was secretly speechless when he heard that.

With regard to the memory fragments, he could look past it as he could tell from the younger Lu Jin’s memory that all the major groups and influential families had lacked memory fragments.

There were only so many memory fragments that were harvested in the City of Light every day. It was not something that could be manufactured. It could only be obtained from the defeat of monsters or from the discovery of hidden treasure chests in the wild. Therefore, most of the memory fragments came from purchases from Scavengers. A small portion of them came from the hunting teams of various groups and families.

However, such a high income of 500,000 credits per month was something that he had never even achieved in his previous life. With so many credits, he could even buy a B3-model simulation suit and a higher-level electronic storage bag every month.

He could even go to the legendary Arena of the City of Light, which was also the Shrine of Ascension that all players dreamed of going to. He would be able to live extravagantly there.

Qin Lianyue could not help but let out a small sigh when she saw Lu Jin whose eyes were glimmering.

Never mind the credits, but Miss had instructed her to give 10,000 units of memory fragments. That was a huge expense for Miss.

Miss only had 30,000 units of memory fragments in her personal inventory. Miss would have to scrimp for a long period of time after dispensing 10,000 units like that. After all, she had to support her trusted aides. Those resources couldn’t have come from the Group. She had to use her own.

The two bodyguards that Qin Lianyue had brought with her were Miss’s trusted aides.

“Mr Lu Jin, I won’t disturb you any further. The two of them will officially start work here tomorrow.” Qin Lianyue turned around and left with the two bodyguards.

That scene stunned the neighbors. They were silently envious and jealous of Lu Jin.

Lu Jin decided to splurge and ordered two sets of Rank ‘B’ nutritional meals that were worth 2,000 credits for dinner. Compared to the synthetic food, they were much more delicious. It even made Lu Shixue a little excited.

At night, in Lu Jin’s bedroom:

“Ten thousand units of memory fragments?” Lu Jin couldn’t help but look at his lottery system. “Since there are so many memory fragments, let’s splurge.”