CH 1

“Elk declared bankruptcy?”

“I didn’t expect the situation to change so quickly…”

“This… this…”

“Ah Yun… you should divorce me and take Xi Xi…”

“What nonsense are you saying?”

“But this 80 million loan…”

Li Shaoxi tiptoed outside to find something to eat after playing a game all night and he was shocked by his parents’ words.

It was March in Dongcheng. The cold wind was blowing outside, but the house was warm due to heating. The room temperature was 24 or 25 degrees. Li Shaoxi was barefoot and wearing only a short white t-shirt and dark gray shorts. His long arms and legs were exposed.

He was around 17 or 18 years old and was the age when his firepower was high. He dressed like this at home all winter, but he didn’t feel cold at all.

Yet at this moment, Li Shaoxi felt a chill penetrate his heart as he leaned against the wall and avoided the shadows.

What were his parents talking about?

80 million?

Li Shaoxi had a good appearance. He had short, fluffy hair, slightly curled hair hanging over his forehead, slightly pale but well-shaped eyebrows above a pair of round eyes and eyelashes upturned like crow feathers that trembled slightly due to surprise. They lined the pair of black eyes bright with ignorance.

Ignorance didn’t mean stupidity. Li Shaoxi quickly organized the context from their words.

His father ran a foreign trade company. Approximately two years ago, an old customer he had been working with for 10 years suddenly increased the number of orders and it was by more than 10 times.

The sudden increase in orders was undoubtedly a good thing. It meant that profits would skyrocket. Old Li, who had been operating steadily for over 10 years, developed a second spring in terms of his business and his excitement was hard to contain.

The increased orders meant the output had to keep up.

Father Li rushed to invest in a new factory, but even so, he couldn’t keep up with the output.

Father Li was heartbroken when he saw an order worth billions and an old customer he had been cooperating with for over 10 years. He had to borrow a large amount of money from the bank.

This was a reasonable and normal action. The principal and interest could easily be repaid as long as the order was completed. It was a win-win for the company and the bank.

Who knew that things would suddenly change?

Due to a big situation, the foreign trade industry became depressed overnight. The old customer of the Li family couldn’t survive the disaster that swept the world and declared bankruptcy.

Old Li was really shocked when he heard the news.

If the loan hadn’t been invested in the construction of a new factory or used to develop new equipment then the loss could still be stopped in time. It would be repaid.

The timing in which it struck was too ruthless. The money was invested but the orders had disappeared. Forget a huge profit, this was clearly a big hole that couldn’t be filled even if the family went bankrupt.

Chen Luyun also panicked. “We… we can also apply for bankruptcy liquidation…”

Li Xiangxing pursed his lips and was unable to say anything.

Chen Luyun couldn’t say anything else.

This money could be received but Li Xiangxing had taken a bunch of old brothers to act as a guarantee. If he didn’t return it then he would harm this group of people.

Once the time came, not only would they be ruined but they wouldn’t have any face to live!

Chen Luyun’s face paled. “What can we do? Xi Xi is about to take his university entrance examination…”

This sentence poked at Li Xiangxing’s death point and his already dull eyes became even darker. “So I told you to divorce…”

Chen Luyun suddenly woke up from her daze and interrupted him. “Li Xiangxing! Don’t say such things again!”

Li Xiangxing: “…”

Chen Luyun took a deep breath. She held back the tears in her eyes and said in a trembling voice, “Old Li, we can’t escape. The sky has already collapsed so let’s carry it together. Isn’t it just 80 million? We… we can pay it back!”

In the face of a huge disaster, the thin and gentle Chen Luyun stood up and supported her husband’s shoulders that were about to collapse.

Li Xiangxing’s eyes were red. “Ah Yun… I…”

Chen Luyun forced herself to calm down. “All the assets that can be realized will be sold. We should also do our best to shrink down the size of the business. We will talk to the bank and see if we can apply for a suitable repayment agreement…”

Chen Luyun continued, “Old Li, we had a bunch of debts 20 years ago. Didn’t we pay it back little by little? We just have to do it all over again this time!”

Chen Luyun’s firm words in her soft voice gave Li Xiangxing strength. He let out the turbid air that had been pressing on his chest for a long time and cheered up. “Yes, we can’t escape. It is natural to pay off our debts. We have to let Xi Xi live in an upright manner!”

Li Shaoxi didn’t know how he got back to his room. He didn’t show up in the house and he didn’t appear in front of his parents.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have the courage to face the sudden crisis of his family. He just knew that his ignorance was the greatest comfort to his parents.

He couldn’t break their persistence, he couldn’t ignore their protection of him and he couldn’t forget that he was also a member of this family. He had responsibilities and obligations.

18 years old was an adult.

But…

It was 80 million!

Li Shaoxi collapsed on the mattress, his head buzzing.

For a long time, Li Shaoxi felt that his life was very good.

If reincarnation was a technical job then he was obviously proficient with it and was quite good at picking.

Before Li Shaoxi was born, the Li family was one of the poorest families in the town.

The five brothers separated their families after getting married and each family reached a bunch of debts.

Li Xiangxing was the youngest and the one people were least optimistic about. Everyone thought that since he didn’t have the support of his brothers, he probably wouldn’t be able to pay off the debt even in 10 years.

However, in just one or two years, the hard-working and capable young couple not only paid off the debts they received but they also caught the trends of the time.  The small business became bigger and bigger and they eventually became the ‘millionaires’ of the town.

Li Shaoxi was born at this time.

Li Xiangxing looked at his white and tender son and was full of joy. He hugged and kissed his son endlessly. “Little lucky star, you are the lucky star of your parents!”

Li Shaoxi was really a lucky star. When he was one year old, his family moved from the small township to the city. When he was three years old, Li Xiangxing bought an imported luxury car. When he was eight years old, the company run by Li Xiangxing was upgraded and the industry expanded overseas…

Their career was thriving but his parents’ feelings were still as close as ever. They treated him very well. They weren’t harsh nor indulgent, demanding nor neglecting. Their only wish was for him to grow up healthy and happy.

For 18 years, Li Shaoxi had been very content. He wasn’t the richest, the most handsome or the best at learning in his class but…

The one who was richer than him wasn’t handsome. The handsome one wasn’t good at learning. The one who was better at studying than him wasn’t as handsome as him.

It was until today when the heavens dropped a calamity.

Li Shaoxi’s 18 years of peace had been turned upside down!

Doing business was always risky. In particular, once the business grew bigger than the risk it faced also increased exponentially.

Father Li had a competitive personality.

Anyone who started from scratch was always ambitious. He inevitably had less caution when defending his business.

Of course, it didn’t matter how cautious a person was. A global disaster was impossible to prevent.

Who would’ve thought that a cough in winter would’ve set off a terrible hurricane that ravaged all humanity and even subverted the world’s pattern?

Li Shaoxi pondered over the conversation between his parents. He slowly and clearly replayed it in his mind as if typing it word by word on a keyboard.

Li Shaoxi might only be a senior in high school but he knew a lot about his family’s company.

His mother and father had respected him since the time he became thoughtful. They never avoided him when it came to some family meetings and even intentionally let him know more.

He was their only child. If he wanted to continue running the business then early contact with it was beneficial and harmless. Of course, they wouldn’t force it if Li Shaoxi wasn’t willing to take over.

Li Shaoxi was well aware of the sharp increase in orders.

He also heard his parents discuss the loan to build a new factory.

He just hadn’t expected that the amount would be so large and the disaster would come so suddenly. There wasn’t even a buffer time!

80 million…

80 million!

Li Shaoxi jumped up from the bed and pulled out his ‘collection’.

He liked shiny things as a child and he wasn’t short of money at home. His parents would give him gifts every holiday so he had saved a lot…

Rubies, sapphires, tourmalines, agate…

All of these together would be worth over 200,000.

20 to 8000.

It was a drop in the bucket!

Li Shaoxi took a deep breath and thought about what else he could do for his family.

Ding.

Li Shaoxi didn’t pay attention.

Ding ding ding.

Li Shaoxi frowned and looked at the VR device that had made the sound.

This was a new toy that his father had bought for him not long ago. Due to the concept of the metaverse, people were no longer satisfied with computer and mobile games and started to move toward virtual reality.

This device could be called a revolutionary breakthrough. It could load 3A level game masterpieces. Last night, Li Shaoxi had played it most of the night.

However, now Li Shaoxi didn’t have the heart to play games!

Eh…

Wait.

Li Shaoxi thought about it. This broken equipment was worth 70,000 to 80,000 yuan. He had only played with it a few times. Couldn’t he get a lot of money back by selling it second-hand?

No matter how small the fly, it was still meat. Li Shaoxi didn’t dislike it!

In order to sell it second-hand, he had to first log off his personal information and reset it.

Li Shaoxi quickly picked up the dinging glasses and entered the settings interface in order to erase traces of his own use.

The game was still stopped at the interface of Zombie Siege. Li Shaoxi looked at the level he had reached overnight and gritted his teeth as he pressed ‘delete’.

There was nothing to be upset about. He didn’t deserve to play games in the future!

The picture in front of him went dark. Li Shaoxi was about to take off his glasses when he heard a ‘ding’ again.

It was a very short sound but it was completely different from the previous mechanical sound. It was like someone with a good voice was deliberately ‘dinging’ in his ear.

There was an indescribable chill that spread from his ears to his nerves, making people tremble.

Li Shaoxi’s ears trembled uncontrollably.

Immediately afterward, an even colder, temperatureless but unexpectedly clear voice entered his ears.

“Survive for three days and you can take away anything you can carry from the game with you.”

Li Shaoxi: “?”

Before he could respond, the device that had been reset by him suddenly lit up. Gold and black font appeared in front of him in a very eye-catching manner.

Game Name: Treasure Miner

Treasure miner?

Wasn’t this the single player mini-game with big treasures that manipulated a lousy old man with a blatant perspective cheat?

White Lily: Hello, this is a novel by Long Qi, the author of familiar novels like Game Loading and Glory. There will be some familiar aspects of the author that you will find along the way, such as their humor and some other areas (spoilers). The MC might be a bit weak in the first arc but he gradually grows stronger as he gets to know this new world and his abilities.

I hope you have fun reading this!