Fortune-Telling!

A few hours later.

Tang Luo stood outside his home, exhausted from the journey. He entered the passcode, opened the door, and went inside.

Two months in the real world.

Many years for Tang Luo.

He had finally returned home.

Fortunately, the place belonged to him. It wasn't a rental.

Otherwise, his belongings would probably have been gone.

The house had been empty for two months.

Tang Luo's "departure" had been sudden, and the windows had all been left open.

The place was filthy. Dust had gathered in many corners, and there were traces of rainwater that had poured inside.

He found his phone on the sofa, dead from lack of power, and plugged it in.

Tang Luo went into the bathroom and turned on the tap.

He let the water run for a while, until it went from murky to clear, and then washed up.

Fifteen minutes later.

Tang Luo looked in the mirror and reached up to touch his head.

A short layer of hair had already grown in, but it wasn't black.

It was white.

A visible sign of his injuries.

Wrapped in a towel, Tang Luo left the bathroom and turned on his phone.

A few missed calls and a pile of text messages popped up.

They were all kinds of notifications.

The bank's monthly two-yuan text fee, five yuan in phone credit from the carrier, and a pile of assorted ads.

There were, of course, no texts from ordinary people.

Among the missed calls were spam calls and a few from friends.

Before his transmigration, Tang Luo had been self-employed and a landlord—well, the second part was the main thing.

He didn't have to worry about work.

His family situation was a little complicated.

His father had died when Tang Luo was three or four.

Tang Luo barely remembered him.

His mother had remarried when he was young, too.

They weren't even on familiar-stranger terms. They might not see each other for years.

Of course, Tang Luo didn't resent her at all.

After all, she had given him an apartment and a fairly well-positioned storefront in this city.

Life as a landlord was wonderful.

Tang Luo had heard some sordid stories about his parents.

A foolish high school girl from a fairly wealthy family, who wasn't too bright, had "fallen in love" with a delinquent.

For the delinquent's style, think Genji Takiya from the live-action Crows Zero movies.

You could imagine how irresistible that was to a rebellious high school girl.

But real life and movies were entirely different things.

The consequences of getting pregnant before marriage and eloping on impulse had been brutal.

Once she "came to her senses," it became a shameful chapter she wished she could erase.

Tang Luo was the most important "evidence" of that chapter, a child who had inherited the family's resentment.

Fortunately, although the family's daughter had been foolish and rebellious enough to break her parents' hearts, she had enjoyed a meteoric rise in the business world, as if blessed by the gods.

Money could solve a lot of problems.

So Tang Luo had mostly been raised by nannies.

His maternal grandmother visited once in a while.

The year he graduated from high school and went off to college,

that side of the family cut ties with him.

They gave him an apartment and a storefront.

By now, Tang Luo hadn't been in touch with them for nearly six years.

Well, he'd gotten a text at New Year's.

He didn't know if it had been a group message. He'd replied "Happy New Year" and gone back to his game.

It sounded pretty miserable.

In reality, it was the kind of free life most people could only envy.

As long as Tang Luo didn't spend his days partying, the rent from his storefront was more than enough, even if he lived a little extravagantly.

If he hadn't been struck by lightning and transmigrated, Tang Luo figured he could have lived that way forever.

You couldn't expect a man in his twenties to worry about what life would be like when he got old.

"I went traveling for a while. Hiked, cleared my mind, and attained enlightenment. I'm back now. What's up?"

Tang Luo opened his chat app and messaged the friends who had called him.

They were college roommates.

They got along well, but lived in different cities.

They chatted now and then and rarely met up.

It was much the same with his high school friends. They all lived in different cities.

They occasionally talked online.

Leaving his phone to charge, he took out Omen and placed it on the bookshelf.

That made it look like a toy gun, just a decoration.

Then Tang Luo removed the Merit Jade Lotus and tossed it gently into the air.

The Merit Jade Lotus hovered there, light radiating from it and spreading in every direction.

It cleaned the entire house from top to bottom.

Everything became spotless.

Well, Tang Luo was probably the only person who would use merit power to clean his house.

Come to think of it, the Merit Jade Lotus could be carried freely in and out of mission worlds. Did that mean it was considered equipment?

He turned on his computer and went online.

It wasn't that Tang Luo was addicted to the internet and had to get online the moment he got home.

He needed to buy some things.

His old clothes and pants were a little too small for the Tang Luo who had returned after transmigrating.

He needed new ones.

More importantly, Tang Luo needed an outfit suitable for the God and Demon Game.

As Victorious Fighting Buddha, a highly accomplished Buddhist monk,

he naturally needed a set of his own.

People relied on clothes, and Buddhas relied on gold.

There was no doubt about it. Tang Luo needed a golden outfit.

The kind that made people take one look and know he was a "highly accomplished monk," without him having to introduce himself.

A mustard-yellow monk's robe was out of the question.

He could consider a moon-white one.

As for whether it was within the rules, Tang Luo didn't care.

Victorious Fighting Buddha could wear whatever he wanted.

People at their level surely weren't attached to outward appearances.

Tathagata and Guanyin, for instance, both had hair.

Discipline Monk hadn't given either of them trouble over it.

He spent about an hour buying everyday clothes for the future.

For his God and Demon Game outfit, Tang Luo had the brilliant idea of choosing a cosplay costume.

No matter how dashing or cool an ordinary monk's robe might be, it couldn't compete with a cosplay outfit.

He browsed monks and even Taoists from various anime, games, and films, looking for something suitable.

Why look at Taoists, too?

Because this wasn't real life. The monk and Taoist robes designed to look handsome and dashing didn't differ much, aside from their obvious distinguishing features.

After more than an hour of browsing,

Tang Luo settled on a number of outfits, including costumes from characters in Pili Glove Puppetry.

One Step Lotus, Near-God One Page Book, Elegant Monk Buddha Prince—he saved all the designs he liked.

He also picked out a monk's outfit from Massive Online Social PY Game 3.

Then he went to Hand Chopping Cat and found a shop that specialized in custom orders.

He placed the order, sent in his measurements, and listed his requirements. He had them modify any parts that were overly ornate for visual effect and would get in the way of moving.

It took two or three hours.

Only then was he done "buying his outfit."

"I wish I'd been wearing the Brocade Kasaya back then," Tang Luo thought.

The Brocade Kasaya was impervious to water and fire, never gathered dust, and could even change its appearance. It was the perfect outfit for daily life, travel, and vanquishing demons.

With his "outfit" taken care of, Tang Luo picked up his phone and checked it.

A few friends had replied one after another.

Nothing was wrong. They'd just been chatting, and when he didn't respond, they'd called.

One of them, though, told Tang Luo he'd recently encountered a paranormal incident.

In the past, Tang Luo would have teased him for "masturbating so much he started hallucinating."

But now...

He immediately messaged Zhang Yuchou back: "Paranormal incident? Tell me about it."

The other man didn't reply right away.

Tang Luo wasn't in a hurry. He put on his loose pajamas, which still fit him, and lay down on the soft bed.

He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Five days later.

Tang Luo appeared at the Xihang City train station.

"I'm here." He made a call. A little over ten minutes later, he met up with his friend Zhang Yuchou.

"You?"

They were both surprised when they saw each other.

They were surprised by how much the other had changed.

There was no need to say anything about Tang Luo.

Zhang Yuchou's cheeks had sunk in, and dark circles shadowed his eyes.

He looked as if he hadn't slept in three days and nights, and had been tied to a bed and thoroughly worn out. He might collapse at any moment.

"Are you sick?" Tang Luo asked, looking at Zhang Yuchou.

"Much worse than sick."

Zhang Yuchou sighed. "What happened to you?"

They had been college roommates.

After graduation, Zhang Yuchou had gone to Xihang City for work.

Tang Luo, meanwhile, had become a landlord.

The four friends had gotten together once a year ago, but hadn't met again since.

"I trained hard, got taller, and my hair turned white," Tang Luo said.

"You can still grow taller when you're almost thirty? But you've done more than just grow taller." Zhang Yuchou said, "At least you didn't go bald."

Tang Luo touched his short white hair and smiled without answering.

He had indeed gotten stronger, and gone bald, too.

But his hair had grown back, and he didn't plan to go around with a shaved head in everyday life, so he'd started growing it out again.

His hair follicles hadn't died.

Besides, in the God and Demon Game, a white-haired monk had just as much style as a bald one.

And no one would call him baldy.

And that settled it.

"What about you? What happened?" Tang Luo asked.

A few days ago, Zhang Yuchou had said he'd encountered some kind of paranormal incident.

Tang Luo had tried to get in touch, but they hadn't been able to talk it through over the phone.

A landlord with money could go wherever he wanted.

So Tang Luo had come to Xihang City.

It had moved Zhang Yuchou so much that he'd come to pick him up himself.

"Let's talk as we walk."

Zhang Yuchou sighed.

That was true.

But Xihang City was a bustling metropolis in one of Huaxia's economically developed eastern coastal provinces, and public transportation was almost always crowded.

It was nearly rush hour, too, with people packed together.

Naturally, there was no time to talk.

When they arrived at the tiny room Zhang Yuchou called home, he flopped onto the bed like a dying man.

Tang Luo made himself at home, pulling over a chair and sitting down. He kicked off his shoes, propped his feet on the bed, and asked, "Aren't you working today?"

It felt pretty nice to be back to his old self.

"I don't have a job anymore." Zhang Yuchou rolled over and sat up.

"Hm?" Tang Luo asked. "Are you planning to quit and go home?"

Xihang's cost of living ranked among the highest in the country.

If you didn't have a job, you either had to find a new one fast or go home.

Otherwise, you'd probably starve on the streets.

But Zhang Yuchou's family home had been demolished just after he graduated.

They'd received compensation and bought a new place that was still under construction, so it would be another year or two before they could move in. His parents and the rest of his family were still renting.

If Zhang Yuchou went home, he'd probably be "living on the streets" too.

"I did quit, but I'm not planning to go home yet," Zhang Yuchou said. "My lease hasn't expired, and there's a 4,000-yuan deposit!"

"For a demolition-rich kid like you, is 4,000 yuan even money?" Tang Luo asked.

"Of course it's not money. It's my life! My life!"

For an ordinary college graduate who'd been working and renting a place on his own for just over a year,

4,000 yuan wasn't just money. It was their life.

I'm begging for my life... I mean, please vote for this story!