Wife, We're Rich Now

Virtual Universe, Journey game.

The handover ceremony for the Lord of Lost City had just concluded, and as Tang Ping swiped his fingertip across the translucent authority panel hovering over his retina, he couldn't hide the surprise in his eyes.

The list of permissions on the panel was dense and detailed; not only could he independently set shop tax rates and adjust entry fee standards, but he could also recruit NPC guards, designate city defense zones, and even issue city-wide prohibitions.

To put it bluntly, in this isolated desert city surrounded by endless yellow sand where even birds were unwilling to linger, he was the absolute authority. The tens of thousands of players and millions of AI NPCs in the city were all bound by his rules. If he really wanted to get greedy, the loopholes in tax differentials and resource allocation alone would allow him to rake in massive amounts of game currency.

However, Tang Ping glanced at the Black Dragon Coins in his account and felt only a sense of boredom. To a cultivator like him, who had long since moved past the need for basic resources, those millions of game coins were no different from waste paper.

Closing the panel with a sigh, he walked toward the city gate.

The heavy alloy gate opened slowly, and a hot wind carrying grit rushed to meet him. In the distance lay an endless desert, the setting sun melting like gold and dyeing the sand dunes a warm red, truly living up to the poetic imagery of "a lonely plume of smoke in the vast desert, the round sun setting over the long river."

Such a magnificent sight was indeed shocking at first, but Tang Ping knew that facing this monotonous yellow day after day would eventually lead to aesthetic fatigue.

However, he suddenly remembered that he had never flown to his heart's content in the desert.

Thinking of this, Tang Ping did not hesitate. He pushed off with his feet, his figure darting out of the city gate like an arrow, heading straight for a deserted stretch of sand dunes dozens of miles away.

After confirming there were no traces of players or NPCs in the vicinity, he moved his mind, and a pair of translucent Wind-Thunder Wings suddenly unfolded from his back. The wings were etched with pale cyan wind patterns, their edges wreathed in fine, flickering purple lightning, creating a whistling sound as they beat against the air.

"Go!"

Tang Ping tapped the tip of his sand dune, and with a fierce flap of his Wind-Thunder Wings, his figure instantly transformed into a streak of cyan-purple light, speeding across the vast, boundless desert.

At times, he skimmed the low altitude, grazing the tops of the dunes and kicking up clouds of sand; at other times, he shot straight into the clouds, circling and diving beneath them. When the mood struck, he channeled his domain power, weaving wind and lightning together to whip up a massive tornado dozens of meters in diameter across the desert.

Yellow sand, wrapped in lightning, raged wantonly between heaven and earth, the momentum terrifying.

The realism of the Virtual Universe was perfect; the resistance of the wind, the texture of the grit, and the chill of the high altitude were indistinguishable from the real world.

This was also the first time Tang Ping had flown in such a boundless wilderness. Without the obstruction of city buildings or the limitations of terrain, there was only the endless sky and desert. The feeling of freedom and ease made him unable to help but shout joyfully, "Woo-hoo!!!"

The innate human dream of flight had finally come true in this moment.

Tang Ping's heart was burning, his internal energy circulating wildly. His Wind Domain expanded fully, a pale cyan energy field enveloping his body to minimize air resistance. His Spiritual Telekinesis spread out, precisely capturing the changes in the surrounding airflow. The Thunder Domain then overlaid it, purple lightning merging into the wind field, and his speed surged once again!

"Faster! A little faster!"

"Higher! A little higher!"

His figure became faster and faster, almost turning into a blurred afterimage, drawing long cyan-purple trajectories across the horizon. The extreme speed brought extreme pleasure, making him temporarily forget everything, leaving only pure excitement and exhilaration.

Just then.

"BOOM!!!"

A deafening roar tore through the sky. A pitch-black thundercloud suddenly condensed in the infinite heights, and a brilliant bolt of heavenly lightning, as thick as a water barrel and carrying an aura of destruction, struck straight down at the arrogant Tang Ping racing below!

Tang Ping didn't even have time to react before he was hit head-on by the heavenly lightning. The cyan-purple Wind-Thunder Wings shattered instantly, and his body turned directly into fly ash within the lightning, dissipating above the desert.

The next second, a cold system notification sounded in his consciousness:

[You have died!

Option 1: Spend 100,000 Journey Coins to revive immediately and restore all status.

Option 2: Wait for natural revival (Countdown: 71 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds); you will retain only 50% status upon revival.]

Tang Ping's consciousness lingered in a void of darkness, his face full of helplessness.

"As expected, novels don't lie—showing off gets you struck by lightning. I didn't expect it to be so accurate even in a game." He grumbled, choosing Option 1 without hesitation.

100,000 Journey Coins were only equivalent to 100 Black Dragon Coins, which meant nothing to him; there was no need to waste time waiting for a natural revival.

With a flash of light, Tang Ping's figure reappeared on the previous sand dune, his status fully restored. But before he could even stretch his limbs, another system notification suddenly rang out, carrying a mechanical coldness:

[Beep! Detected new skill combination: Wind-Thunder Level 1 Domain "Perfect Grade" Fusion (Unrecorded Skill).

Do you wish to contribute it to the Journey game system?

Option 1: One-time permanent contribution, immediately receive 1 trillion Journey Coins.

Option 2: Authorized contribution (10,000-year term), immediately receive 1 billion Journey Coins, and receive a 1 million Journey Coin commission for every player who purchases this skill thereafter.]

Tang Ping's heart sank, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back.

Only now did he truly feel the terror of the Virtual Universe. Even a brand-new skill he had formed by temporarily fusing domains could be instantly captured and detected by the system; everything that happened here was likely under the system's surveillance.

He couldn't help but let his thoughts run wild: countless races and endless beings across the universe used the Virtual Universe every moment, including Universe Level and Immortal Level powerhouses. They evolved laws and sparred within the Virtual Universe, generating an astronomical amount of data, yet the Virtual Universe had never experienced the slightest lag or glitch.

"The computing power of the Mechanical Race Universe Master is just too heaven-defying, isn't it?" Tang Ping clicked his tongue in secret, feeling a bit fortunate at the same time.

It was lucky he had entered a game directly operated by the Virtual Universe Company, which was fully managed by AI. Since the game launched, no human or alien had been able to view the backend data. If it had been one of those private game companies, his special domain fusion ability would have likely been exposed long ago.

"Sigh, nothing I can do. A person as flashy as me can't hide that dazzling radiance wherever I go." Tang Ping coughed lightly, his face quickly returning to composure.

In fact, he had long considered the risk of his skills being exposed, which was why he had specifically chosen the deserted desert outside Lost City to display his abilities. Now it seemed that move had been the right one.

Without much hesitation, he spoke directly: "Option 1."

[Beep! Skill successfully contributed. 1 trillion Journey Coins have been credited to your account. Please check.]

Looking at the number that had instantly skyrocketed in his account, Tang Ping's mood turned from cloudy to sunny, and the frustration of being struck by lightning was swept away.

As a super-hit game that swept across the entire human territory, the game currency of Journey could be exchanged in real-time with the common currencies of all major cosmic nations, with a stable exchange rate.

1 trillion Journey Coins, just enough to exchange for 1 billion Black Dragon Coins—this was the entire net worth of a peak Star Rank level 9 powerhouse!

"I'm rich!" Tang Ping couldn't help but curl his lips upward, his eyes filled with excitement.

With this money, he wouldn't have to worry about the resources, cultivation techniques, or weapons needed for his and Luo Xiaoyu's future training.

What he looked forward to even more was that this was only a perfect fusion of a level 1 domain, applicable only to Planetary Rank and Star Rank cultivators.

If he could elevate his domain fusion to a higher level in the future, or even achieve fusion at the law level, wouldn't the rewards for contributing it to the system be a hundred or a thousand times greater?

As for why he didn't choose the revenue share? In the long run, the total profit from a share would likely be much higher than a one-time contribution, but the 10,000-year licensing period was simply too long.

At his current cultivation speed, he would likely break through to the Universe Level in a few hundred or a thousand years. By then, a share of 1 million Journey Coins would be a drop in the bucket for him, and there was no need to waste time waiting.

"So satisfying!"

In a pleasant mood, Tang Ping opened the game's official exchange platform, skillfully registered an anonymous, untraceable account, and converted all 1 trillion Journey Coins into Black Dragon Coins.

After finishing all this, he could no longer suppress the excitement in his heart and chose to log off immediately.

As his consciousness returned to reality, Tang Ping sat up abruptly from the nutrient pod. Without even taking the time to change out of his protective suit, he rushed into Luo Xiaoyu's training room next door in two or three strides.

Inside the training room, Luo Xiaoyu was sitting cross-legged in the Energy Crystal Array, practicing, with a faint white halo surrounding her body. Hearing the footsteps, she slowly opened her eyes, her gaze still carrying the clarity that comes after cultivation.

Before she could speak, Tang Ping lunged forward, pulled her into a tight embrace, and exclaimed with irrepressible excitement and joy: "Wife! We're rich!!"

Luo Xiaoyu's cold face showed a hint of helplessness, but she still reached out and grabbed his vital point.

I get you!

Tang Ping:...

No lewdness allowed!