[But to ensure your own safety, you did not begin killing right away. Instead, you investigated the insect swarms in the surrounding area, doing your best to avoid encountering powerful ones.]
[You knew exactly where you stood: you were here to harvest wealth, not throw your life away.]
[Oh, God of Wealth who bullies the weak and fears the strong! Only when facing the feeblest insect swarms do you dare harbor such lofty ambitions.]
[By feigning weakness, you lured five nearby flying insects over.]
[You attacked the squad of flying insects and emerged victorious.]
[Wealth Source Points +0.0005.]
[You made some noise and attracted four flying insects.]
[You seized the right moment and attacked.]
[Wealth Source Points +0.0004.]
[...]
Su Wen watched the text before him continually flicker and frowned slightly.
The lines above were all much the same, describing how he lured and killed flying insects in the future space-time.
Each flying insect was worth a thousand. Although getting it for free was delightful, he had spent ten million to activate Wealth Disrupts Space-Time.
The most important task was to find a resistance base established by humanity, then bring back the Martial Dao innovations from the next ten years and some useful information.
The returns from these flying insects were still far too meager and could not compare with what he had spent.
At a thousand per flying insect, under normal circumstances, "he" would need to harvest ten thousand of them just to break even.
And that was only breaking even!
Crossing space and time without gaining anything could, in a sense, already be considered a loss.
Besides, "he" was currently in a fallen region, where powerful insect swarms were everywhere. If he hunted them there, being discovered was only a matter of time.
But this time, "he" had gone straight to killing flying insects, without giving Su Wen any chance to choose.
"Hahahaha!"
"I heard the God of Wealth had arrived. Where is he?"
All of a sudden, a hearty burst of laughter came from outside.
Soon, a knock sounded at the door.
"Brother God of Wealth, is this a good time to talk? If it is, I'll come in."
"Come in!"
Su Wen thought for a moment before answering.
As soon as he spoke, a burly man in a black trench coat and a blood-black mask pushed open the door and entered.
"Good, good!"
"Now that we have you, I don't think the organization will be short of money anymore."
"In every folk legend, the God of Wealth is a symbol of endless riches!"
The burly man paused, then said, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm the Battle God, battle as in fighting."
"I just got back from the Arrow Realm. When I heard the organization had taken in another new member, I hurried back."
"What do you say? Want to get together for a meal and have a few drinks tonight?"
Su Wen chuckled. "Brother Battle God, I'm not much of a drinker."
The Battle God waved a hand and said, "Hey! Who in this world doesn't know how to drink? Drink enough, and you'll learn!"
"Besides, haven't you finished your training? With your current physical condition, if you can't handle it, just use your power to break down the alcohol in your body. We only need to keep ourselves pleasantly tipsy while we drink."
"Let me tell you, when things are peaceful and you have time to spare, being pleasantly tipsy is when your mind is most relaxed and at ease."
As he spoke, the Battle God beckoned, and a glass of water flew into his hand on its own.
"I'm a little thirsty. Wait while I have some water."
"Actually, I'm super excited that you're here! Don't get me wrong, my orientation is perfectly normal. I don't have that kind of preference."
"Look, old man Theater God doesn't like drinking. All he wants to do every day is tinker with his theories and experiments on theater. Whenever he talks, it's all about theater and the like. Once in a while he'll mention a movie, but it'll be some old film from decades ago."
"And I'm quite afraid of old man Theater God. I'm really scared he'll suddenly tell me I'm destined to die. His cruel theater theory last time put me through the wringer."
"You haven't experienced it yet. Once you do, you'll understand."
"As for Wind God, he's still a little kid! I like drinking, but I can't lead an elementary schooler astray, can I?"
"And Star God? Well... he's very busy, and he's busy with important things. We'd better not interfere with matters of national importance."
"So I've been waiting for a brother who can drink with me to join the organization. I waited and waited, and then you came along."
"What does that mean? It means the two of us were brought together by fate!"
Su Wen listened to the Battle God prattle on and on, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.
But he could hear the excitement in the Battle God's voice too. How could a drunkard not be excited to find a potential drinking buddy?
Unfortunately, Su Wen did not particularly like drinking.
"Brother Battle God, I actually don't like drinking."
Su Wen continued, "If you don't mind, I could drink tea in place of alcohol, or you could drink alcohol while I have a soft drink?"
The Battle God was taken aback, then suddenly asked, "Are you an adult?"
"I am."
"You're an adult and you don't drink? I drink alcohol while you have a soft drink? Talk like that where I come from, and you'd be sitting at the kids' table for the New Year's meal."
"Where my family comes from, I really do still count as a kid."
"..."
After a moment of silence, the Battle God smiled and said, "That's all right, then. We'll take it slow! I can drink alcohol while you have a soft drink. There's no rush with this sort of thing."
"Brother, whenever you want a drink in the future, make sure you call me."
"Even if no one else will drink with you, I definitely will."
Su Wen replied, "All right. Whenever I want a drink, I'll be sure to call you."
"Ah!"
The Battle God sighed softly, then sat down on the sofa and clicked his tongue. "Alcohol tastes so good. Why don't you all like drinking it?"
"Eating and drinking your fill while shooting the breeze with friends, especially talking about life and reminiscing about the past after you're pleasantly tipsy-how enjoyable is that?"
"..."
And so the Battle God sat in the office, his mouth never stopping as he prattled on.
Su Wen could see it now: the Battle God was not just a drunkard, but a chatterbox too.
Still, he had nothing else to do, so he chatted idly with the Battle God while keeping an eye on what his future "self" was doing.
While they chatted, he could also learn about the present situation from the Battle God!
[While you were killing flying insects and harvesting wealth, the fighting here attracted the attention of a nearby giant insect.]
[Oh, irrational God of Wealth! The profits from harvesting wealth have gone to your head, making you forget the danger you are in.]
[Fortunately, because of your timid nature, you had kept watch for changes in your surroundings and chose to flee the moment you sensed something was wrong.]
[Then, with the giant insect in pursuit, you began burning your own qi and blood, fleeing madly at full throttle.]
[While being hunted, you could no longer concern yourself with following the map to find a human settlement. You could only flee on instinct.]
[Wherever a path could help you, wherever there were narrow caves, wherever you could better escape the giant insect's pursuit, that was where you went.]
[But the giant insect was powerful. At this critical moment, you somewhat regretted not having mastered a movement technique, which would have made your flight much smoother.]
[Oh, impoverished God of Wealth! Faced with the giant insect closing in from all sides, will you train and learn a movement technique?]