Extracting "Exchanges"

The losers had been stripped of their "qualifications," while 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, sending him to the hospital. They then hurriedly contacted HR and, after quite a few twists and turns, finally found 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 several dozen miles away, it was already midnight.

And the patient who had only just been brought in, who ought to 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 little accident! There's nothing wrong with my body!... Didn't the scans show that nothing was 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 right away! 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 being less-than-kindly reminded by a broad-shouldered, stout nurse to "please do not disturb the others' rest," they had no choice but to lower their voices and continue their low-intensity tug-of-war argument for quite a while.

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

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

He Qiu did not feel very good about it either.

He knew very well what kind of burning worry and love had driven his parents to rush over the moment they learned something had happened to him. Besides, his family was not exactly poor. Under any other circumstances, he would have patiently reassured the two of them, or even obediently remained in the hospital for observation just to put their minds at ease.

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

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

Hunched over alone in a corner by the rear door of the taxi, carefully making sure that no dashcam or similar camera could catch the details, He Qiu cautiously took out his phone, unlocked the screen, and carefully stared at the new app that had appeared in the lower-left corner of the interface at some unknown time.

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

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

After "casually" leaning over to say a few soothing words, he took the opportunity to let his mother glance at some recent messages on his phone. Then, hearing that cold prompt quietly sound beside his ear—"User No. 0104971, do you choose to display your Main God Game User Mark to this non-Main God user and tourist-status individual?"

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."

Fine. After confirming there would be no effect—especially after confirming that his mother could not see the ghostly silver app icon without his permission—He Qiu finally let out a quiet breath of relief.

Returning to his original position and partially shielding the phone screen, he impatiently tapped open the "nonexistent" icon.

The instant he tapped it, a dim layer of silver surfaced on the screen. Within the silently appearing electronic-style interface were 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 opened [Exchange Item Information] first.

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

—[Yellow Sprout Pill] (Extractable)

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

The two conspicuous prompts before him were almost enough to make him unable to contain his expression.

However, seeing the prompt at the bottom of the page—[Please note: once an exchanged item is extracted, it can no longer revert to extractable status. Certain time-sensitive exchanged items will also leave their fixed initial state and enter the process of efficacy loss...]—

He immediately realized the problem. After hesitating for a moment, he still forcibly withdrew his hand, intending to 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 at the entrance to a familiar old residential compound, he almost immediately scanned the payment code for the driver, got out, and led his parents briskly toward their home inside the compound.

This was not the apartment He Qiu rented near work, but the old home where his parents lived and where he himself had grown up.

However, ever since he had acted foolishly after graduating high school, refusing to heed his parents' advice to continue his education and insisting on going out to "find work"... after that, He Qiu would usually only return on holidays.

Thinking back on those things now, he sometimes felt deep regret. After all, only after entering society and taking a beating could one truly understand the pains parents took 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 an almost anxious attitude, he remembered to send his coworkers a text to let them know he was safe and that he needed to take a few days off. There were all sorts of trivial matters that needed a perfunctory response.

By then, a glance at the time showed that it was already five or six in the morning.

Outside, the sky was beginning 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, which he had selected with painstaking care and which were currently in "extractable" status.

[Name: Body-Washing Introductory Heart Method]

[Type: Inheritance / Cultivation Method]

[Quality: First Tier]

[Description: A foundational cultivation method for mortal beings seeking the Dao, originating from a certain type of Eastern Immortal Dao worldview. Balanced and peaceful, easy to begin. Its cultivation principle is to use meditative breathing techniques, circulate the heavenly cycle, cleanse the body, and strengthen one's foundation. If supplemented with spiritual medicine during the process, the results will be twice as good with half the effort.]

[Exchange Requirement: 200 Universal Points, one Standard Exchange Card.]

[Additional Notice: As this type of inheritance is distributed through "empowerment," exchangers are advised to use it after returning to the real world, so as to avoid possible loss of inheritance effects caused by a purely mental state separated from the physical body.]

[Name: Yellow Sprout Pill]

[Type: Pill]

[Quality: First Tier]

[Description: Originates from a certain type of cultivation-based derivative worldview. Yellow sprout refers to true qi, which emerges and gives rise to life. The ingredients are ordinary, and the pill's medicinal effect is mild. Consuming it can replenish spiritual energy and aid cultivation.]

[Exchange Requirement: 50 Universal Points]

Once again, he carefully read through these two descriptions with an earnestness as though he wanted to bite them apart, chew them up, and savor every word.

Strictly speaking, the words "balanced and peaceful, easy to begin," and "mild medicinal effect" were the most crucial points in those descriptions.

Back then, he had no choice but to painfully sell back the special iron ingot obtained through "Dwarven Craftsmanship" to the Main God, gaining a hard-won extra three hundred Universal Points. That had barely made his funds somewhat comfortable. Then, together with Du Qifeng, a college student he had temporarily met by chance in that strange Main God Game, he had spent a long time studying the endless exchange list. Just before he was about to lose patience and have his eyes glaze over completely, He Qiu had finally selected these two exchanges based on some advice from the other man.

"...Brother He, I don't know whether the things I know are related to this place or whether they're even correct. After all, they're only 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 dreams of cultivating immortality? But honestly, Brother He, the cultivation-related exchanges you're looking at can mostly be classified as growth-type exchanges, from what I know. There can be a lot of hidden pitfalls in them..."

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

"That's true. With the few Universal Points we have, we can't afford any decent bloodline enhancements. The bad ones are not much use and may even affect our potential. As for consumables and technology-type exchanges, we probably can't make much of those either..."

"Hiss, Brother He, that actually makes some sense when you put it that way... If we can't turn it into immediate gains, we might as well invest in potential and bet on the late game. Besides, we're participating in this Main God Space through our consciousness right now. For the moment, it doesn't look like we can actually die, so we don't urgently need combat power that can take shape immediately..."

"Anyway, don't exchange for those pure manual-information versions. They may be cheap, but without a foundation strengthened directly by the system, if you really have to practice them yourself, it might take most of your life just to get started... Honestly, I'm not even sure whether these things can truly be learned in reality, or whether they can be cultivated at all..."

"...Do you understand the meridians of the human body? Do you understand medicine and Daoist teachings? Can you read those ancient-text versions, or even more ridiculous classics? Listen to me, Brother He. If you choose this path, you have to pick one that comes with empowerment and lets you get started in one step. You get what you pay for. Don't even think about saving that Exchange Card..."

"...The first priority for a cultivation method is naturally that the difficulty should be as low as possible, ensuring it can truly begin operating as soon as possible... Also, you need to pay special attention to whether it has potential, whether there are hidden dangers, whether it could cause qi deviation or cultivation flaws, things like that..."

Trying hard to recall the college student's incessant chatter from back then, 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, as the intention to confirm extraction arose, before he had time to sense any additional change, it was as though a section in the middle of a film reel had suddenly been cut away. 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 round "pill" within, no larger than a fingernail.

He Qiu simply steeled himself and slapped himself twice across the face with all his strength, letting the burning pain in his cheeks 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 object before him truly existed.

The silence in the room lasted for a long time.

Slowly.

With his knuckles clenched tightly around the jade box, he fixed his gaze on the phone interface and the only remaining "extractable" item...