Spirit City, Douluo Game Hall.
That night, the last batch of customers left.
Yan stood guard at the entrance, pushing the last young Soul Master who refused to leave out the door. The young man even turned back and shouted, "I'll be the first one here tomorrow!"
Yan shut the door and slid the bolt into place.
"Finally, they're gone."
He glanced around the first-floor hall. Fragments of Gold Soul Coins and discarded mystery-box packaging littered the floor. There was even a puddle on the tiles in front of the Horse Racing Machine; some sore loser must have knocked over a teapot.
Xiao Wu had already started cleaning. She bent down to pick up the cardboard, her scorpion braid hanging over her shoulder and brushing the floor. Zhu Zhuqing swept beside her with a broom, her movements brisk and silent.
Hu Liena sat behind the counter, tallying the accounts. A ledger lay before her, and she held a pen, checking off each entry.
Xie Yue stood beside her, watching.
"How much did we take in today?" Xie Yue asked.
Hu Liena drew a line in the ledger and looked up. "One hundred and twenty-three thousand Gold Soul Coins."
Xie Yue nodded.
"Thirty percent more than the day before yesterday," he said.
Hu Liena smiled. "The [Object Hide-and-Seek] and [Blindfolded Tag] games upstairs drove quite a bit of spending. Plenty of people came down after playing on the second floor and opened more mystery boxes."
Yan walked over from the entrance, and the words "mystery boxes" immediately got him worked up. "Is there something wrong with that Fruit Machine? I put in forty Gold Soul Coins today and didn't win once!"
Hu Liena turned a page in the ledger. "Yan, you've spent a total of three hundred and twenty Gold Soul Coins on the Fruit Machine this month. You won twice and got forty back. That's a net loss of two hundred and eighty."
Yan's face stiffened.
Xie Yue glanced at him. "You're the employee with the biggest losses here."
Yan opened his mouth but couldn't get a word out. He decided not to discuss the subject any further and turned to help Xiao Wu pick up the cardboard.
Once the hall had been tidied and swept, Hu Liena put away the ledger after checking all of the day's accounts with Xie Yue.
Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing finished putting the place in order, and everyone said their goodbyes.
Yan checked the first-floor doors and windows one last time. Only after confirming that nothing had been overlooked did he secure the main entrance. Everyone left the Game Hall one after another, their footsteps gradually fading down the street.
On the second floor, Qin Chuan sat alone in a chair in the lounge.
Downstairs had fallen completely silent. No more noisy voices remained.
He opened the system panel.
[Total points: 1,032,847.] [Points spent (shop maintenance, restocking, mystery-box prizes, item replenishment, etc.): 812,300.] [Remaining available points: 220,547.] [Soul Power Level: 58.]
Qin Chuan looked at the numbers and did a quick calculation.
A million points sounded like a lot, but they disappeared fast.
The prizes in the mystery boxes didn't materialize out of thin air. Every bottle of Soul Power Recovery Potion, every Soul Bone, and every dose of Tenfold Meditation Potion had to be purchased from the System Shop with his points before he could place them in the mystery boxes as prizes.
Qin Chuan glanced at another item in the shop.
[Otherworld Survival Scroll] ×1. [Price: 100,000 points.] [Unlock requirement: host must be at least level 58.]
He stared at the scroll for a while.
Otherworld Survival. The room upstairs that had always had a "Not yet open" sign hanging outside was reserved for it.
This game was different from the Claw Machine and Fruit Machine downstairs, and different from Object Hide-and-Seek upstairs, too.
It carried risks-real danger. But in exchange, the rewards were outrageously high.
The highest rewards were a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone and a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.
A hundred thousand years.
In this world, a single Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone was enough to help a Titled Douluo break through a bottleneck, perhaps even touch the threshold of Limit Douluo. The forces across the entire continent capable of producing such a thing could be counted on one hand.
Qin Chuan was itching to try it.
But he also knew that he was only level fifty-eight. The system's "highest reward" was the ceiling, not a guaranteed minimum. What he could actually obtain depended on the game's difficulty and how well he cleared it.
Besides, he had never played this game.
What if it all went sideways?
After some thought, Qin Chuan decided to buy it first and leave the rest until tomorrow.
Just as he was about to close the panel, a soft knock came from downstairs.
Qin Chuan froze.
We're already closed. Who would come at this hour?
He went downstairs, walked to the entrance, and peered through the crack in the door.
Someone stood outside in a white brocade robe, a white jade pendant at his waist and both hands clasped behind his back. He had no attendants with him.
Xue Qinghe.
Qin Chuan slid back the bolt and opened the door.
"Brother Qinghe, what brings you here so late?"
Xue Qinghe stepped inside. Qin Chuan closed the door.
The first-floor hall had already been cleaned. The lights weren't all out; two wall lamps remained lit, bathing the hall in a dim yellow glow.
Xue Qinghe looked around, confirming that they were alone.
"Brother Chuan, didn't you say the new game could be unlocked today? Otherworld Survival?"
Qin Chuan leaned against the counter and looked at Xue Qinghe.
This "Crown Prince" had visited almost every day for the past ten days, topping up his account each time and staying until closing. From the Claw Machine downstairs to Object Hide-and-Seek upstairs, he hadn't missed a single game.
His Soul Power had risen from level seventy-two to nearly level seventy-three. For a Soul Master above level seventy, that rate of growth was already unnaturally fast.
"Yes, I was just getting ready to finish unlocking it," Qin Chuan said. "I was planning to invite everyone to play together tomorrow."
Xue Qinghe leaned against the counter, crossing his hands in front of him.
"Why choose another day when the moment is already here? I have other business tomorrow, and I might not be free the day after, either. How about we try it tonight?"
Qin Chuan looked into Xue Qinghe's eyes.
Of course he knew who the person before him really was. Qian Renxue, whose Martial Soul was the Six-Winged Angel, heir to the Angel God. She had disguised herself as a man to come here and play, and had kept at it for ten days.
Qin Chuan didn't expose her, but he knew where things stood. Qian Renxue was someone worth befriending.
He thought for a moment, then said, "This Otherworld Survival game might be dangerous."
Xue Qinghe's brows twitched slightly.
Qin Chuan continued, "It isn't purely entertainment like the games downstairs. There are genuine risks. If things aren't handled properly, you could get hurt or even lose your life."
Xue Qinghe's expression grew serious.
"Then what are the rewards?"
Qin Chuan watched him for two seconds.
He hadn't intended to share this information casually. But Xue Qinghe wasn't just anyone. There would be plenty of occasions to deal with the Heaven Dou Empire in the future. Doing him a favor now would be far more worthwhile than trying to make up for it later.
"At most, you can obtain a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone."
Xue Qinghe froze.
Then his breathing stopped for half a beat.
A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
Either one alone was enough to send the entire continent into a frenzy. For a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, Bibi Dong would mobilize all of Spirit Hall's forces to hunt in the Star Dou Forest, and Ning Fengzhi would trade away the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's entire fortune.
Yet Qin Chuan was saying that playing a game offered a chance to obtain them.
Xue Qinghe took a deep breath, suppressing his surging thoughts.
"You're the only person I've told this secret to," Qin Chuan added.
Xue Qinghe understood. There were two meanings behind those words: first, I trust you; second, don't tell anyone else.
He nodded. "I won't tell anyone about this."
Qin Chuan nodded.
"Then are you ready?"
Xue Qinghe looked into Qin Chuan's eyes without hesitation.
"Let's go. Risk and reward go hand in hand."
Qin Chuan smiled. "All right. We have to go in and give it a try sooner or later."
The two went upstairs.
Qin Chuan pushed open the door, and they walked inside.
The room was empty, just as before. Four stone walls and a single oil lamp.
Qin Chuan stood in the center of the room and turned to look at Xue Qinghe.
"Are you ready?"
Xue Qinghe nodded. "I'm ready."
Qin Chuan raised his left hand.
"Game Domain."
Hummm~~~
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