Screech—
The hatch opened.
Construction Kid and Bricks crawled out of the cultivation pod, threw his head back at the ceiling, and howled as though he had been reborn.
"Holy shit!"
"I'm finally alive!"
Three days!
A whole three days without being able to log in!
Only he knew how he had endured those three days.
The first thing to do after getting out, of course, was take a shower and wash off the bad luck.
He quickly put on his clothes, picked up the VM by the pod's headrest and put it on, then Construction Kid and Bricks bolted into the bathroom. Before long, he came back out feeling refreshed.
However, when he saw the water bill, his cheerful mood instantly turned into pure rage.
"Fuck! I only showered for ten minutes—how did it cost one silver coin?!"
He clearly remembered timing it perfectly and stepping out on the very last second of 9:59!
Just then, a huge lizard crawled out of the shower stall next door.
Garbage Lord glanced at him and chuckled.
"Bro, how long have you been offline?"
Construction Kid and Bricks looked at him.
"Three days! Why?"
"Three days? No wonder you didn't know. Shower fees went up yesterday. It's one silver coin per ten minutes now, and from the thirtieth minute onward, it's two silver per minute."
Construction Kid and Bricks was instantly stunned.
"One silver for ten minutes?! Why don't they just rob us?!"
Garbage Lord seemed to have expected that reaction and replied calmly.
"Relax. Shower water got more expensive, but mission rewards have gone up too. You can run the tunnel-clearing mission once a day now. Forty Gnawers get you fifty silver!"
Construction Kid and Bricks stared at him in disbelief.
"Fifty silver?! Are you kidding me?"
Garbage Lord grinned.
"Why