Extraction "Exchange"

The losers were stripped of their "qualifications," and the successful naturally received corresponding rewards—

Such as He Qiu, who was also lying in a hospital bed at this very moment.

After suddenly "fainting" in the van that afternoon, the coworkers beside him realized something was wrong and quickly called an ambulance to send him to the hospital. Then they hurriedly contacted HR, went through quite a few twists and turns to find He Qiu's parents' contact information, and notified the elderly couple as well.

...By the time his parents received the news and rushed over from dozens of miles away, it was already midnight.

And the patient who had only recently been brought in, who should have been lying unconscious on a temporary bed, had suddenly sat up. He even looked remarkably energetic.

"...No, Mom, listen to me! I'm really fine, it was just a small accident! There's nothing wrong with my body!... Didn't the scans show that the doctor couldn't find anything wrong either?!"

"Listen to me! I know my own condition! Let's not waste this money!... It's not that I'm reluctant to spend it! There's really no need! I don't have time to waste here! I need to get home quickly! There are more important things I need to... Cough, cough. Anyway, Mom, really! Listen to me! I wouldn't joke around with my own health!"

At two or three in the morning, after the broad-shouldered patrol nurse rather unfriendly reminded them, "Please do not disturb the other patients' rest," they had no choice but to lower their voices and continue their low-intensity tug-of-war argument for quite some time.

In the end, before his patience was completely exhausted, the son named He Qiu had no choice but to unleash the seemingly unreasonable ultimate move of "my body, my choice." Thinking that his emergency admission procedures had not yet been completed and that leaving now would save him a great deal of unnecessary trouble, he disregarded his parents' objections and left the hospital with a rather firm attitude.

The three of them sat in a taxi heading home. He Qiu's father wore a dark expression the entire way, so angry that he barely said another word.

He Qiu did not feel very good about it either.

He knew perfectly well how anxious and worried his parents had been when they received news that something had happened to him, and how much love had driven them to rush over. Besides, his family's finances were not particularly poor. Under any other circumstances, he would have patiently comforted the two of them. Even if only to put their minds at ease, he would have obediently stayed in the hospital for observation.

...But at this critical moment, he truly could not.

He really did not have that much free time to waste on such trivial matters.

Hunched over alone in a corner of the back seat near the door, carefully ensuring that no dashcam or similar camera could capture the details, He Qiu cautiously took out his phone, unlocked the screen, and carefully stared at the new app that had appeared at some unknown point in the lower-left corner of the interface.

—An unnamed icon in the shape of a silver vortex.

Or rather, a personalized "mark" whose appearance automatically adapted according to the private factors and preferences of a Main God user. In He Qiu's case, it happened to take the form of an online app.

After casually leaning over to say a few soothing words and handing his phone to his mother so she could glance at some recent messages, he heard a cold prompt quietly sound beside his ear—"User number 0104971, do you choose to display your Main God Game user mark to this non-Main God user and Visitor?"

He Qiu's heart jolted.

"If I choose to display this mark, will there be any consequences?"

"No additional consequences. However, it is recommended that you keep your Main God user mark confidential to ensure the security of your personal information."

All right. Once he confirmed that there would be no consequences—especially that his mother could not see the ghostlike silver app icon without his permission—He Qiu quietly let out a breath of relief.

Returning to his position and half-concealing the phone screen, he eagerly tapped the "nonexistent" icon.

The moment he tapped it, a dim silver layer appeared over the screen. A silently emerging electronic-style interface contained several clearly labeled categories, including [User Personal Information], [Exchange Item Information], and [Mission World Records].

His eyes lit up. Without bothering with anything else, He Qiu immediately opened [Exchange Item Information].

There were not many entries inside. To be precise, only two lonely lines of information floated on the interface.

—[Yellow Sprout Pill] (Extractable)

—[Body-Washing Introductory Heart Method] (Extractable)

The two glaring prompts lay before him, making it almost impossible to keep his expression under control.

But when he saw the prompt at the bottom of the page—[Please note: once an exchanged item has been extracted, it cannot be returned to an extractable state. Certain exchanged items with time-sensitive properties will also leave their fixed initial state and begin losing efficacy...]—

He immediately realized the problem and, after hesitating for a moment, forcibly pulled back his hand. He would wait until he got home.

The night sky was dark and heavy.

Along the way, He Qiu had never felt time pass so slowly.

When the taxi stopped outside the entrance of a familiar old residential complex, he almost immediately scanned the payment code, got out, and led his parents swiftly toward their home inside the complex.

This was not the apartment He Qiu rented near his workplace, but the old house where his parents usually lived—the place where he had grown up.

But ever since he had foolishly refused to listen to his parents after graduating high school, insisting on going out to "find something to do" rather than continuing his education... he had generally only returned on holidays.

Looking back on those matters now, he occasionally felt deep regret. After all, only after entering society and receiving its beatings could one truly understand their parents' painstaking care and the hardships of life.

...But precisely because of that, he could not miss this opportunity.

Looking at the familiar house, something faint, silent, and resolute quietly surfaced in He Qiu's eyes.

After hurriedly placating his parents with almost anxious impatience, he remembered to send his coworkers a text saying he was safe and needed to take a few days off. There were all kinds of trivial matters that required a perfunctory response.

By then, it was already five or six in the morning.

The sky outside had begun to brighten.

After that, He Qiu hurriedly hid himself in his old room and began studying the two exchanged items within the Main God Mark—items he had painstakingly selected and which were currently in an "extractable" state.

...

[Name: Body-Washing Introductory Heart Method]

[Type: Inheritance/Cultivation Method]

[Quality: Tier One]

[Description: A foundational cultivation method for mortal beings seeking entry into the Dao, originating from a certain Eastern Immortal Dao worldview. Upright and balanced, easy to begin. Its core practice involves breathing exercises in stillness, circulating the heavenly cycle, washing the body, and building the foundation. If supplemented with spiritual medicine, the results will be twice as effective with half the effort.]

[Exchange Requirements: 200 Universal Points, one Common Exchange Card.]

[Additional Notice: As this type of inheritance is distributed through "empowerment," it is recommended that exchangers retrieve it after returning to the real world, to avoid possible losses in inheritance effects caused by existing in a purely mental state separate from the physical body.]

...

[Name: Yellow Sprout Pill]

[Type: Pill]

[Quality: Tier One]

[Description: Originating from a certain cultivation-based derivative worldview. Yellow sprouts are true qi, emerging and producing life and growth. The ingredients are ordinary, and the pill's medicinal effects are gentle. Consuming it can replenish spiritual energy and aid cultivation.]

[Exchange Requirements: 50 Universal Points]

...

He carefully read through the two descriptions again, with the seriousness of someone who wished he could bite into them, chew them apart, and savor every word.

Strictly speaking, the words "upright and balanced, easy to begin," and "gentle medicinal effects" were the most important parts of those two descriptions.

Back then, he had no choice but to painfully sell back the special iron ingot obtained from "Dwarven Craftsmanship" to the Main God, gaining a hard-won additional three hundred Universal Points. With his funds finally somewhat more plentiful, he and a university student named Du Qifeng—whom he had temporarily met by chance in that strange Main God Game—had spent a long time studying the seemingly endless exchange list. Just before he nearly lost patience and went cross-eyed, He Qiu had finally chosen these two exchanges based on some of the other man's advice.

"...Brother He, I don't know whether the things I know are connected to this place, or whether they're even correct. After all, they're just things I read in novels, and there's more than one kind of setting like this, so just take it with a grain of salt..."

"I understand what you're thinking. After all, who doesn't have a dream of cultivating immortality? But honestly, Brother He, the cultivation-related exchanges you're looking at are generally considered a type of exchange with growth potential, and it's very easy for them to contain hidden pitfalls..."

"...Actually, I really don't recommend exchanging for cultivation methods that especially require time. In online games, those are called late-game heroes. They consume both time and resources, and it's easy to miss a lot of opportunities..."

"That's true. With the little Universal Points we have, we can't afford any decent bloodline enhancements. The poor ones aren't very useful, may even affect our potential, and we probably can't make much use of consumables or technological exchanges either..."

"Hiss, Brother He, that actually makes some sense when you put it that way... If we can't turn it directly into cash, then we might as well invest in potential and bet on the late game. Besides, we're participating in this Main God Space with our consciousness right now. It seems that we won't actually die for the time being, so there isn't such an urgent need for immediate combat power..."

"Anyway, definitely don't exchange for the kind that are just raw secret-manual information. They may be cheap, but without a foundation strengthened directly by the system, trying to cultivate them yourself could take most of your life just to get started... Honestly, I'm not even sure whether these things can truly be learned or cultivated in reality..."

"...Do you understand the human meridians? Do you understand medicine or Daoist theory? Can you read those ancient-text versions of the manuals, or even more outrageous ones? Listen to me, Brother He. If you're choosing something in this area, you have to choose one that comes with empowerment and lets you take the first step directly. You get what you pay for—don't even think about saving that Exchange Card..."

"...The first priority for a cultivation method is naturally to have the lowest possible difficulty, so you can ensure that it can truly be put into practice quickly... Also, you need to pay special attention to whether it has potential, whether there are hidden dangers, whether there might be qi deviation or cultivation flaws, things like that..."

...

Trying hard to recall the university student's endless chatter, He Qiu revealed a helpless smile.

Being young was nice. Give someone a little superficial kindness, and they could easily and sincerely open their heart to you as though you were a friend.

Very soon, along with the thought of confirming extraction, before he could sense any additional change at all, it was as though a section had suddenly been cut out of a film reel. A small jade box had silently appeared in He Qiu's hand.

His fingers trembling slightly, he picked up the jade box and rubbed its smooth surface hard. He could even vaguely see through its outer wall to the small, perfectly round "pill" inside, no larger than a fingernail.

He Qiu simply hardened his heart and slapped himself twice across the face with all his strength, allowing the burning pain in his cheeks to remind him once again that this was not fake.

It was not a dream, not a game, and certainly not some hallucination produced by a sudden mental breakdown...

The thing before his eyes truly existed in front of him.

The room remained silent for a long time.

Slowly.

With his fingers gripping the jade box so hard that his knuckles stood out, he fixed his gaze on the phone screen, on the only remaining item still "awaiting extraction"...