As for jewelry, he hadn't bought any. It depreciated too quickly.
It was a commemorative gold bar the bank had marketed to customers with over a million yuan in net deposits.
At the time, gold cost 400 yuan per gram. He'd bought two thousand grams, or two kilograms.
Now he needed to figure out how many grams of real gold one in-game gold coin was worth.
He immediately got out of bed, pretending to look for something to eat, and wandered into the kitchen.
That was right—he'd hidden his gold in the kitchen, not in the safe.
The safe held cash.
He went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Inside was a Golden Ham. The two kilograms of gold took up very little space—about the size of three standard ping-pong balls.
He'd hidden the gold inside the ham, which had started to go bad.
Even a thief wouldn't want to eat it.
Then, with a thought, he stored all the gold in his Game Backpack.
The system prompt appeared: [Recharge now?]
[Recharge]
[Ding! Congratulations, player! You have successfully recharged 2,000 gold and received the First Charge Gift Pack, recharge rewards, Purple Talent, and Noble Privilege!]
[You received 20,000 Skyfall Stones.]
[You received 60+6 first-charge Skyfall Stones. You can claim the First Charge Gift Pack for three consecutive days. Log in on the third day to receive an exclusive Purple pet!]
[You have obtained the beginner-level Purple growth talent "Absolute Dodge." You have a 5% chance to dodge all damage, including physical and mental damage. Recharge a total of 6,480 gold to upgrade it to the intermediate level and increase your dodge chance to 7.5%!]
[You have reached Noble Level 5 and gained the following privileges: Force Quit only deducts 10% of your experience; experience gained from killing monsters increases by 50%; pet breakthrough chances increase by 50%; the Minimap gives you a five-minute advance warning of danger; and you can avoid the death penalty once per day.]
So one in-game gold was worth one gram of real gold.
Damn it, he had to recharge right away. More, more, more!
Gao Linzhi was instantly swept up in the excitement.
But his reason told him not to get carried away.
There was no more gold at home.
And going out to buy some was too risky.
People from Xu Corporation were still watching him outside.
He had four million yuan in savings. If he suddenly spent a large amount, the company would definitely notice the changes in his account.
If he had nothing to fear, he could buy a full ten thousand grams.
He could've recharged another ten thousand gold.
But now he had to consider his safety. Even with money, he couldn't go out and spend it.
He needed to get stronger as soon as possible. Only then could he safely use the money he had in the real world!
He'd buy all three pets right away!
Then he'd buy a full set of Green Quality gear!
Gao Linzhi pretended he needed to use the bathroom and went into the master bedroom's ensuite.
[Purchase the pets Corpse Vine, Gray Wolf, and Brown Bear, and place them in the Game Backpack.]
[Ding! The player is only Level 1 and can purchase only one pet. Please choose which pet to buy.]
[Corpse Vine.]
[Ding! Congratulations, player! You have successfully spent 6,480 Skyfall Stones to purchase the pet Corpse Vine. The pet has been delivered to your Game Backpack and can be summoned into the game or the real world at any time.]
Gao Linzhi let out a sigh of relief.
He checked the Corpse Vine's stats.
[Constitution: 25]
[Spirit: 2]
[Level 1 (Green Quality, maximum level 10)]
As expected, its Constitution was much higher than a human's. No wonder—it was a plant, and it was Green Quality.
Next, he bought a Green Quality set for 328 Skyfall Stones.
[You spent 328 Skyfall Stones and received Green Helmet, Green Armor, Green Gloves, and Green Boots.]
[You received a Green Weapon Free Choice Chest.]
After all that spending,
he still had 13,258 Skyfall Stones left.
He immediately equipped the gear and summoned the Corpse Vine.
He was now green from head to toe, and he instantly felt much safer.
But it was too flashy.
[Hide set effects?]
[Yes.]
The game gear soon disappeared, but its protective effects were clearly still there.
Gao Linzhi could feel them distinctly.
A green vine with a hideous maw was coiled up in the bathroom.
But Gao Linzhi wasn't afraid. It felt like an extension of his own body.
Then he opened the weapon chest and chose a bow and a quiver of arrows.
[A quiver contains 30 arrows. You can spend 1 Skyfall Stone to refill it.]
What a rip-off.
Still, as long as he had money, he'd have unlimited ammunition. That was powerful.
Then he put away his pet, returned to bed, and logged back in.
As soon as he came online, the familiar scene appeared before him again.
Towering trees, bushes, and thick undergrowth.
Before he could adjust, a dense volley of throwing spears suddenly came flying at him.
Though Gao Linzhi had been on guard, his body simply couldn't react in time.
He was instantly turned into a pincushion!
A group of raucous laughter rang out.
"Hahaha! What an impatient fool!"
"Yeah, we thought he'd at least wait a few weeks before cautiously showing up again."
"Who knew he'd come back in less than an hour!"
"Too bad we can't find the game access rights he dropped. I wonder who got lucky this time."
Gao Linzhi looked up and saw the same cavalrymen as before emerging from the bushes. They were carrying throwing spears and ropes as they walked toward him.
To them, he was obviously already a dead man.
But the next moment, Gao Linzhi realized that his health hadn't dropped at all!
[HP: 50 (Constitution × 10)]
He understood immediately. This was the effect of his Green gear!
Spending money really did get results!
The enemy's throwing spears were all Whiteboard Weapons—perhaps the game didn't even recognize them as weapons.
In that case, it was only natural that they couldn't penetrate his defenses.
Gao Linzhi immediately raised his bow and shot at the cavalryman laughing the loudest.
The arrow flew a few dozen paces before dropping helplessly to the ground.
It hadn't just fallen short—it had missed, too!
Damn it, how embarrassing.
As expected, showing off and slapping someone in the face wasn't so easy.
But the cavalrymen had already frozen in shock.
"Impossible! He took at least a dozen spears and can still fight back?"
"Could his talent be something that leaves him with one last point of health?" someone else guessed.
"Another volley! I refuse to believe we can't kill him!"
"Where did he get that bow and arrow?"
The Cavalry Leader immediately shouted an order.
Dozens more throwing spears came hurtling toward him.
Many of the cavalrymen quickly threw four or five each. The spears filled the air, leaving Gao Linzhi nowhere to dodge.
He was turned into a pincushion again.
[The "Absolute Dodge" talent activated. You negated the damage from this attack.]
Gao Linzhi relied on his 5% Absolute Dodge chance to evade one spear. It was better than nothing.
This was clearly meant to force him to spend more.
He shot another arrow, but it missed by a wide margin again.
Just then, a game notification suddenly appeared:
[Player action detected. Although you are handsome and dashing, you have not hit a single target.]
[Recharge another 2,000 gold to increase your Noble experience to 4,000 and reach Noble Level 6. You can unlock beginner-level auto mode to deal with three targets at once. Become a skilled player in an instant!]
[Recharge a total of 10,000 gold to increase your Noble experience to 10,000 and reach Noble Level 7. Unlock intermediate-level auto mode to deal with ten targets at once. Become the king of controls in an instant!]
Before you continue