A Small Windfall

Chen Xu repeatedly checked that the Virtual Dream Device was still on him before he finally relaxed. What a scare.

One look at the time told him it was almost seven. He had been about to cook some noodles for breakfast while he still had time, but then he remembered something extremely important. He hurriedly brushed his teeth, threw on some clothes, and rushed out.

"Hope I make it in time."

After going downstairs, he did not even stop to buy breakfast and headed straight for the bus stop. Instead of taking his usual bus, he boarded another one.

On the bus, he kept checking the time, his expression anxious.

At 7:26, the bus reached a stop. He was the first to rush off, sprinting toward the commercial building across from the bus stop and drawing plenty of stares from pedestrians.

Chen Xu could not care less. When he reached his destination, he glanced at his phone and felt a surge of delight. "7:29. Just in time."

Then he saw a man and a woman standing in front of the Lucky Box vending machine. His heart tightened, and he immediately rushed over.

"This is the Lucky Box that's been so popular lately? I didn't expect there to be one here too. Let me scan one." A slightly chubby man filmed with one phone in one hand while using another phone to scan the code and pay.

"Look, the box is out."

The man took out the box and said, "This is the packaging. As you can see, it's pretty nice. Now, let's open it."

He called his companion over to help. They quickly opened the box, and he continued filming as he said, "Let's see what's inside. Hmm, it's a tube of lip balm."

He picked up the lip balm and held it up to the camera. "As you can see, it's covered in Korean. Now, let's search for it on Taobao."

Before long, he found it. Showing his phone to the camera, he said, "Take a look, everyone. This one is listed on Taobao for seventy-five yuan. Not bad. At least I didn't lose money."

Then he stopped filming and said to the girl beside him with some dissatisfaction, "Couldn't you come over and help me?"

The girl beside him replied impatiently, "You said you were coming shopping with me. So all this was for your business?"

The man said irritably, "If I don't find a way to make money, where am I supposed to get money to buy you clothes? Hurry up, let's film another one."

This man was Xu Ming, a young man in his early twenties. One day, while watching short videos, he came across Lucky Boxes and immediately recognized the business opportunity. He quickly got hold of several machines and placed them in high-traffic areas.

Riding the wave of hype stirred up by short videos, he made a little money.

However, trends in short videos came quickly and went just as quickly. Over the past few days, the Lucky Boxes he had placed were no longer selling well. So he decided to film short videos himself to promote them.

This machine was one he had placed there. To make sure it would attract attention, he had bought an Apple X. He had personally put it inside just minutes ago.

To avoid being exposed by onlookers, he had specifically come early in the morning to film.

And as a novel fan, he understood the importance of buildup. So he had deliberately scanned a box containing only an ordinary gift first.

Otherwise, getting an Apple X on the first try would have been too contrived and not believable enough.

Xu Ming started filming again. "I originally wanted to give what I scanned to my girlfriend, but it turned out to be men's lip balm. Let's scan another one. What will we get this time? Thinking about it, I'm actually a little excited—"

At that moment, someone suddenly rushed over, squeezed him aside, and scanned the QR code first.

"Someone actually beat me to it—"

Xu Ming's heart skipped a beat. He worried that the box containing the Apple X had been selected, but then he thought he could not possibly be that unlucky. Even so, he kept joking aloud.

Then it felt as though someone had grabbed him by the throat, and his expression changed drastically.

That person had actually selected that very box.

Panic rose in his heart. How could it be such a coincidence? Of all boxes, why had he chosen that one? But the box was already in someone else's hands, and no matter how anxious he was, there was nothing he could do. He could only watch helplessly as the person opened the box and revealed the Apple X packaging.

He finally could not hold back. "Hey—"

Who would have thought that the man would swiftly stuff the phone into a bag, stare at him warily, and say, "Mine."

Xu Ming watched him put away the phone, his face twitching as he said urgently, "It's like this..."

"You're not trying to snatch it, are you?" The man became even more wary and took a step back.

Xu Ming had never expected the other man to be so vigilant. He was at a loss for words. "That's not what I mean. I wanted to..."

"Sorry, I don't have time." The man cut him off, turned around, and left.

"No... listen to me first."

Xu Ming wanted to stop him, but the man suddenly broke into a sprint and vanished through the entrance in the blink of an eye. Xu Ming stood there dumbfounded. How had this happened? Thinking of the phone he had spent ten thousand yuan on just yesterday, now ending up in someone else's hands, hurt so badly he could barely breathe.

His girlfriend still had no idea what had happened. She asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"The gift I prepared for you was taken by someone else." Xu Ming looked like he was about to cry.

Meanwhile, Chen Xu had already boarded the subway. Having successfully obtained the phone, he was delighted.

He could not remember many details of the dream clearly anymore. Only the location and number of the Lucky Box containing this phone remained crystal clear in his mind.

After all, having been poor for so long, he was particularly sensitive to anything involving money.

To be honest, he had only been trying his luck, yet it had really turned out just like in the dream. It was a brand-new phone, still unopened, and selling it would bring him nearly ten thousand yuan. For him, it definitely counted as a small windfall.

"Black Technology indeed."

He felt a little awed and became even more confident in the Virtual Dream Device. It could actually simulate every aspect of reality so perfectly in a dream.

To be honest, when he first entered the dream, he had been completely unprepared. He had not realized the value of that empty world at all and had only thought about how to survive.

Using a game as an analogy, he had been a rookie player who could only rigidly follow the prompts to complete quests, without any thought of exploring hidden maps.

"What a shame."

He could not help sighing. At the same time, he became extremely eager for the next dream world.

Before long, the train arrived at his stop. He left the subway, took out his phone, and called his high school classmate, who sold phones at the electronics market, saying that he wanted to sell a brand-new Apple X.

The other party immediately agreed and told him to mail the phone over.

After finishing the matter, Chen Xu had reached the building where his company was located. He arrived at his desk at exactly eight o'clock.

As he turned on his computer, he thought about seeing Luo Xiyun soon and suddenly felt inexplicably nervous.

PS: Although he knew asking for votes with so few bookmarks probably would not help much, it was Monday. If he did not ask for votes, it somehow felt like he would not fit in, so he might as well ask.