Shen Mo struggled to open his eyes. His thoughts slowly returned from the depths of his mind, and a trace of vigilance made him do his best to identify everything around him.
An unfamiliar wooden room.
A thin blanket covered him. There was no bed; he was lying directly on the floor.
Tatami?
He raised a hand and rubbed his head, trying to sit up, but the weakness coursing through his body made him abandon that plan.
System.
He silently called out in his mind.
A faint screen opened in his mind, crystal clear.
Sure enough, it wasn't an illusion.
Shen Mo didn't know whether he should laugh or cry.
He had originally just been an ordinary game designer on some blue planet. Then, a system had suddenly descended, beginning a countdown to his transmigration. He couldn't resist it and had only managed, at the last moment, to use the so-called Universal Trading System to buy a large life insurance policy for his family.
This feeling...
"This is awful," Shen Mo muttered.
A transmigrator getting a cheat ability was something many people dreamed of, but the problem was that something like a system had definitely been created by someone. Whoever the big shot behind it was, they definitely existed.
After sitting there in a daze for a while longer,
Shen Mo seemed to accept the fact. There was a saying—if you couldn't resist it, then enjoy it. As long as you didn't think too highly of yourself, life could be enjoyed everywhere.
"The Universal Trading System?"
Shen Mo examined the system's functions.
It was exceedingly simple.
He could trade with others. No matter what was traded, it could be converted through the system into something called Trading Points. These could be used to purchase everything in the system's store—everything in the truest sense of the word.
Shen Mo had even seen Doraemon's Time Machine. Could you believe it?
Though behind it was a string of zeros so long he didn't even want to count them.
But that was a Time Machine!
The kind that could genuinely change the past.
"There should be restrictions, right?"
Shen Mo felt his thoughts gradually clearing as he examined the trade terms.
There really were restrictions.
Both parties had to agree voluntarily, and the value of the traded item had to fall within a range from one-fifth to five times its value.
Shen Mo currently had 110,000 Trading Points.
That was about the same as the savings he had accumulated over three years of work—he had used part of it earlier to buy the insurance policy.
Judging by the fact that one box of Master Kong Instant Noodles cost five points, the prices were roughly comparable as well.
Not bad.
This wasn't the kind of system that even scammed its host on exchange rates.
"Ah, seriously, I was so close to winning."
A woman's voice suddenly came from outside the room. Shen Mo immediately focused, quickly placing several powerful defensive items into his shopping cart.
Bang—
The sliding wooden door was rudely thrown open.
A woman in a light gray sleeveless outfit appeared in the doorway. She had pale golden hair, golden eyes, and exquisite features.
Was that...
A Tsunade cosplay?
Shen Mo wasn't much of an otaku, but he did enjoy anime as entertainment.
He recognized her at a glance.
That character!
"Oh, you're awake." The woman dressed exactly like Tsunade from the anime seemed delighted to see Shen Mo's eyes open. She walked over, plopped down beside him without a hint of ladylike grace, and held out her hand. "As you can see, I saved you. All right, hand over the medical fee."
Shen Mo blinked.
From the moment she spoke her first sentence, he had spent 30,000 Trading Points to exchange for a basic grasp of Japanese.
His gaze shifted to the other woman. Sure enough, she was dressed exactly like Tsunade's disciple, Shizune.
He already had a premonition.
"It's like this." Shizune knelt down beside him as well. "We found you collapsed outside the door, then brought you inside to treat you."
Of course, she wouldn't mention that Tsunade's original words had been, "This guy has such delicate skin. He must be some wealthy noble," and that she had intended to swindle him for treatment fees.
"I see." Shen Mo replied in the language he had just learned. "I will pay the medical fee. Thank you very much, but could you prepare some food for me first? Something liquid would be best."
"Tch, you really know how to order people around." Tsunade rose indifferently. "Shizune, I'll leave this guy to you. Don't let him run away before he pays the medical fee."
She had already examined him earlier.
His muscles were slack, and there was no Chakra in his body.
He was just an ordinary noble or rich man.
Tsunade had originally treated wealthy people in exchange for gambling money, so dragging Shen Mo inside had merely been a casual act.
By comparison,
Shizune's attitude was much better. After agreeing, she told Shen Mo not to move around before going to prepare some liquid food.
Shen Mo watched them leave the whole time. Only then did his taut nerves relax slightly.
Judging from their appearance,
the possibility of cosplay was low.
Then were they the real deal? Had he transmigrated into the world of Hokage?
"If that's really the case, it's actually advantageous."
Shen Mo thought to himself. At this moment, he wasn't thinking about meeting characters he had once loved, but about how to maximize his own benefits. Avoiding danger to his life was the basic requirement; only after that came enjoyment.
A world whose plot he knew was undoubtedly more advantageous than an unfamiliar one!
For example,
selling Resurrection Coins to Tsunade would absolutely fetch the maximum price of five times their value.
In fact, if he didn't consider converting trades into Trading Points through the system, even selling them for more than five times their value wouldn't be difficult, because Tsunade had a need for them.
But—
"Trades that fulfill the other party's needs are only the lowest level." A faint smile curled Shen Mo's lips. "The true business method for maximizing profits is completing trades for things the other party doesn't need."
In his previous world, there had been a classic business story called selling combs to monks.
A certain richest man had fiercely criticized the story as deceit, because monks had no need for combs.
But this kind of deception
was everywhere in gaming.
That's right.
What Shen Mo meant was Opening Chests!
Or card drawing, opening boxes, Opening Packs—whatever you called it, it was all the same. Players threw huge sums of money at the things they wanted, only to receive piles of useless junk, and they did so willingly.
As a game designer, Shen Mo understood such methods better than anyone.
So he had already made up his mind.
Didn't Tsunade have the title of Legendary Big Fat Sheep? It would be far too wasteful to let her go.
After simply eating some liquid food and recovering a little strength, Shen Mo placed a few life-saving trade items into his shopping cart as usual so he could buy and use them at any moment. Then, he prepared to begin his first trade.
He requested to discuss the medical fee, and Shizune brought him before Tsunade.
He had already asked around. The current point in the story should be after the Third Shinobi World War. The Fourth Hokage had already died more than ten years ago, and Tsunade had left Konoha.
One of Konoha's Legendary Sannin was drinking alone. A slight flush of alcohol had appeared on her porcelain-like skin, and with her voluptuous figure, she looked nothing like a Big Mom in her fifties.
Even with Shen Mo's discerning eyes, refined by countless films and television shows, he couldn't help but praise her.
She was a beauty.
"Kid, your gaze is interesting." Tsunade cast Shen Mo a sidelong glance.
With her eyesight, she could naturally see the admiration in Shen Mo's eyes.
He didn't conceal it in the slightest.
Though it was uncommon, it was merely interesting.
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