Two thirty in the afternoon.
Inside a rented apartment in an old residential building near Sanba Square.
Li Xian had packed his things. He lit his last White Pagoda Mountain cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.
He looked around. The bedroom was less than fifteen square meters, with worn-out decor and sparse furnishings. He'd lived here for nearly three years, and there hadn't been a single day when he didn't hate the place. But now that he was about to leave, he suddenly felt a little reluctant.
After all, you couldn't help growing attached to a place after living there for so long.
Still, that alone wasn't enough to stop Li Xian from leaving.
People climbed toward higher ground, while water flowed downhill.
It was a truth that had held firm for thousands of years.
Li Xian was no exception. Before, he'd had no choice but to cram himself into this place. Now that he had money, of course he wanted to pursue a better life.
Saying goodbye to the way he'd lived before was the first step Li Xian took after getting the Money Spending Game.
His main task now was to spend money.
If he kept cooped up here, how long would it take him to spend the ten million the system had given him?
What's more, the system had only given him seven days. Time was tight.
He stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and checked his backpack to see if he'd forgotten anything.
In truth, he didn't have much to take with him. Apart from the clothes on his back, his backpack held only a laptop, a few figurines he liked, and a new pack of underwear.
He'd asked his roommate next door to get rid of all the other odds and ends, including his remaining old clothes, pots and pans, and toiletries.
Keep it simple. Travel light.
Once everything was packed, Li Xian brought up the game interface before leaving.
Character Attributes Panel
Host: Li Xian, male, 24 years old, height 178 cm, weight 92.5 kg (slightly overweight). Level: lv1 Appearance: 59. Charm: 50. Strength: 51. Endurance: 52. Agility: 40.
His personal attributes were still dismal. Li Xian couldn't bear to look at them.
He'd completed two missions earlier and earned two attribute points. After carefully considering his options, he'd finally put one into Appearance and one into Endurance.
His Appearance had reached 60, a passing score. He'd barely crossed the threshold of being handsome. Adding one point to Endurance hadn't made much difference, and the mission was still a daunting one.
A man couldn't say he wasn't up to the task. Endurance had to take priority over the other attributes.
After assigning the points, Li Xian opened the system inventory.
Inside were seven chances to draw and a Buff Card: Iron Fist Boy.
He slotted the Buff Card into the Card Slot and felt his strength increase. Then he immediately started drawing.
Earlier, he'd either been on the road or driving, so he hadn't had a chance to use his draws. Now, he was actually looking forward to it.
[Ding! Seven consecutive draws begin.] [Congratulations! You received Calming Drink +1.] [Congratulations! You received Car Air Freshener +1.] [Congratulations! You received White Person Toothpaste +1.] [Congratulations! You received Deodorant Gum +1.] [Congratulations! You received Yordle Height-Increasing Insoles +1.]
Li Xian: "?????????"
What the hell were these things? The system was giving out this kind of useless junk in its draws?
Li Xian's expression darkened. It was as if ten thousand mud horses were stampeding through his mind.
[Congratulations! You received Buff Card: Driving with One Hand is Super Cool.] [Congratulations! You received Wealth Card: Shopping Random Discount Card.]
Fortunately, the last two draws gave him something useful. Otherwise, Li Xian figured he wouldn't use the draw feature again.
Beer, drinks, mineral water, peanuts, sunflower seeds, chewing gum?
What was this, a convenience store? It was using all this crap as prizes.
Of all the household items, snacks, and drinks, the height-increasing insoles seemed like the most practical.
Following the instructions, Li Xian stuck them to his heels. They were soft and comfortable, as if they'd grown right onto his feet.
With the insoles, Li Xian was three centimeters taller. At 181 centimeters, he was just about tall enough to qualify as a heartthrob.
All right, that wasn't the point.
He was much more interested in the two cards.
[Shopping Random Discount Card instructions: Use this card after making a purchase for a chance to receive a discount of between 9.9 and 1.0, provided the purchase does not exceed five million.]
The card had a spending limit, and the discount depended on luck. Getting a 90 percent discount would be amazing, but if he had bad luck and got only a one percent discount... well, it was better than nothing.
A little disappointed, Li Xian turned his attention to the other card. He'd assumed it would improve his driving skills, but when he read the description, his expression froze.
[Driving with One Hand is Super Cool: When one hand leaves the steering wheel, your Charm increases by 10% (can be upgraded).]
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
With my driving skills, should I really be driving one-handed???
With his backpack on, he went downstairs.
Li Xian first stopped at a nearby tobacco shop and bought two cartons of cigarettes: one carton of Hongtashan Master and one of Nine-Five Supreme. They cost him two thousand yuan. He reluctantly gave up on his usual White Pagoda Mountain, figuring he'd use its grandpa to soothe his wounded heart.
As for the Nine-Five Supreme, he'd seen someone showing off with it in a group chat last time, and he'd been wanting to try it ever since.
He lit one and took a puff. It really was pretty good.
The smoke was smooth and mellow. After he exhaled, a faint fragrance lingered in his mouth, mingled with a rich aroma, while a hint of sweetness remained at the back of his tongue...
All right, he couldn't keep this up... What the hell, cigarettes don't make your breath smell bad? No matter how good they are, they all do!
After finishing a Nine-Five Supreme, Li Xian chewed a piece of gum. At last, the Deodorant Gum he'd won in the draw had come in handy.
He bought a sweet-and-sour Grilled Cold Noodles from a street vendor, then went to find his Mercedes G-Wagon.
There was nowhere to park beneath his old building, so he'd left his G-Wagon in the parking lot of a nearby foot spa. That was another reason Li Xian had to move out quickly.
A car that nice couldn't just be left parked on the street, could it?
When he arrived at the parking lot, quite a few people were gathered around his G-Wagon. As soon as they saw the owner arrive, they all sensibly stepped aside.
But they didn't go far. They stood nearby, whispering about who this chubby car owner could possibly be.
Li Xian didn't care in the slightest. With his utterly ordinary looks, there was no way he could attract attention even if he tried.
He opened the door and climbed into the driver's seat. Cao Xue, who'd been clinging to him, still hadn't left. She was sprawled in the passenger seat, playing on her phone and secretly grinning.
"Brother Xian, if you didn't come back soon, I was going to sleep in your car." Seeing Li Xian return, Cao Xue stretched and spoke.
Li Xian couldn't be bothered to answer. He tossed his backpack and cigarettes onto the back seat and started the car.
Before, Li Xian hadn't realized Cao Xue could be so hyper. Zhang Ning must have kept her in check, making her behave. Now that she'd been let loose, though...
How could someone have such a cute face and still have a mouth that never stopped running?
"Brother Xian, where are we going now?"
"To hell!!!!"
"Hehehe... Don't scare me. Even if we're going to hell... I'm still sticking with you." Cao Xue went all in on being shameless. She knew that if she left today, she might never get another chance to get close to Li Xian.
Li Xian was an undeveloped gold mine, and she was the only one who knew about it right now. If she didn't seize her chance, she wouldn't even get to lick the bowl later.
Li Xian understood exactly what she was thinking. She'd discovered he had money and wanted to be the first to get a taste. He wasn't instinctively opposed to the idea, but he wasn't mentally prepared to accept it yet.
For now, he needed to get used to the rhythm of being rich before he thought about anything else.
A hookup would take too much time. He could spend a million or two in that time.
Still, Li Xian admired her persistence. No matter how much he tried to shoo her away, she just wouldn't leave.
Before you continue