Chapter 9: A Beautiful Future

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Mom was planning to go out to set up a street stall?

“No way.”

Li Xiaonian refused without hesitation. “Mom, you’re in poor health. It may seem simple to set up a street stall, but it’s actually not easy. Your cooking skills are good and your business must be good, but can you insist on frying for a few hours? Besides, you won’t earn much. I firmly disagree, and Dad certainly won’t agree too.”

Being rejected by her son so flatly for the first time, Mo Lanhu was so aggrieved that she burst into tears. “Are… are you ashamed of me? You’re embarrassed to be with your disabled mother, right?”

“Mom, listen to me…”

Giving Li Xiaonian no chance to finish, Mo Lanhu immediately shook her head and got into a huff. “I don’t want to listen! No matter what, you must go with me tomorrow. Even if I can’t hold on for that long, you can cook in my place, can’t you? I’ll teach you how to cook. I have faith in you.”

“Mom, listen to me…”

“It seems that you still think I’ll embarrass you.” Mo Lanhu interrupted Li Xiaonian again.

In order not to be interrupted by his mother again, Li Xiaonian could only say, “Okay, I’ll go with you tomorrow, but let me finish, OK?”

Hearing it, Mo Lanhu finally calmed down and looked at her son. “Okay, go ahead.”

Li Xiaonian thought how to put it for a while and said, “I wanted to tell you tomorrow. Since you are still up, I’ll just tell you now.” Li Xiaonian swallowed a mouthful of egg fried rice, took a sip of water, and continued. “In fact, since I finished dinner this evening, I’ve made this much money in the game.”

Li Xiaonian held out two fingers.

“20 yuan?”

“No, you can be bold to guess.” Li Xiaonian said with a smile.

“200?” Mo Lanhu stared wide.

Li Xiaonian chuckled and responded with great certainty, “Two thousand, two thousand for real, RMB.”

He originally wanted to say 20,000 yuan, but even two hundred yuan would astonish his mother. If he said 20,000 yuan, he was afraid that his mother might have a heart attack, so he just said two thousand.

Although he actually earned 800,000 yuan, no one would believe it, let alone his frugal mother.

As Li Xiaonian expected, his mother was stunned when she heard that her son had made two thousand yuan in a few hours.

“Mom, are you okay?” Li Xiaonian was worried.

After a long while, Mo Lanhu asked again, “Did you really make two thousand in just a few hours?”

It took a million lies to cover up one lie

“Yes, you know how honest your son is. When have I deceived you?”

“Playing games is so profitable?”

Mo Lanhu murmured, staring at the virtual helmet his son gave her with glowing eyes. After a while, she calmed down and asked again, “How did you earn the money? It should be luck. And, although you make money today, you might lose money tomorrow.”

Li Xiaonian could only continue to make up stories. He said seriously, “Although there is a slice of luck, it isn’t a one-shot deal. I have acquired a hidden secondary profession. It’s a ‘Machinery Master’ who specializes in repairing and building weapons and equipment. This is an exclusive business. I buy cheap ores, turn them into a weapon, and sell it at a high price, earning a high price difference. Today I can earn two thousand and tomorrow I’m confident to earn four thousand or even more.”

Mo Lanhu was already very happy when she heard that her son had made two thousand yuan. And when she heard that her son could earn more every day, she quickly accepted it.

“Son, do you think I can make money in the game like you?” Mo Lanhu looked at her son expectantly.

“Sure, others may not know your abilities, but as your son, I know very well what you’re capable of! I’m sure you can make money.

Very glad that he finally persuaded his mother, Li Xiaonian continued to fudge, “Mom, although I only played the game for half a day, based on my learning experience, I conclude that as long as you follow two points, you can make a fortune in the game: 1. Choose the profession you truly like. When facing NPCs, you must treat them as real humans. 2. Don’t be afraid to spend money. If you meet anything you like, just buy it. If you like an item, it means that it’s connected to you in some way. It may seem illusory in the real world, but in the game world, it represents opportunity.”

Li Xiaonian drank a sip of water and continued. “Your son can make a lot of money now. If you lack money, just ask me for it. As for the house mortgage, I’ll try to collect money and pay it off as soon as possible. In short, never grudge money in the game. As for Father, please persuade him to resign some time.”

Li Xiaonian’s purpose was very simple. He just wanted to impress his mother by depicting a beautiful future so that her mother could play happily in the game without worrying about money.

Like a curious baby, Mo Lanhu was earnestly learning from her son, asking questions from time to time: What is an NPC? Which of the six professions is the strongest and which is the weakest? What kind of guild she should join in after leaving the novice base.

She was asking questions and Li Xiaonian was answering them.

Li Xiaonian explained to her patiently.

The two talked for a full two hours. After making sure that there were no omissions, Mo Lanhu couldn’t wait to say, “Son, teach me how to use the virtual helmet.”

“It’s easy…”

Li Xiaonian taught his mother how to wear a virtual helmet.

Making sure that his mother had entered “Star Wind”, Li Xiaonian secretly breathed a sigh of relief, murmuring with a smile, “As long as you enter “Star Wind”, you won’t be able to resist its temptation.”

After cleaning the kitchen and drinking another half a cup of water, Li Xiaonian returned to the game.

Ding…

System: “Welcome back to “Star Wind”. Hope you have a good time.”

This time, he still appeared in the trading market of Skyfire Base. Even when he was offline, the booth he set up was still automatically purchasing energy ores.

In the last two hours.

A lot of crystal stones had been purchased, totalling more than 300 catties.

As for the more advanced crystal nucleus, gold crystals, and crystal marrows, no one sold them.

“More than 300 catties of crystal stone, enough for me to exchange for a lot of supplies.”

Immediately, Li Xiaonian put all these crystal stones into [Shadow].

Ding…

System: “You’ve provided the space battleship (Shadow) with a tiny amount of crystal stones and are rewarded with life potions (42), psycho potions (21), ordinary bullets (5242), and antidotes (22).”

There were a lot of items, and ordinary players definitely couldn’t take all of them, but Li Xiaonian had the right to use the inner space of the [Shadow], which was 100,000 cubic meters. Even mecha or a smaller space battleship could be stored in it, not to mention these items.

In order to avoid being suspected by others, Li Xiaonian still went to the pharmacy to buy some combat supplies.

After preparing enough supplies, Li Xiaonian began to patrol the familiar yet unfamiliar Skyfire base to see if he could remember any special hidden tasks in the base.

It was a bit strange to stroll around the base again after five years.

The slaughterhouse didn’t seem to have any good merit tasks.

The arsenal required special permission for players to enter.

When Li Xiaonian walked to the machinery plant, his eyes lit up as if he had thought of something.

“There seems to be an entry-level task for the secondary profession [Machinery Master] in the machinery plant. It was a hidden-career task.”

However, struggling for a long time, Li Xiaonian still gave it up in the end.

He vaguely remembered this task. It would take a long time and require the player to work hard in a machinery plant for a full year. If he hadn’t had [Shadow], he may accept to spend a year for a hidden career, but now, he couldn’t accept it. With the time of a year, he might have become a big shot.

“This task is not urgent. Let me keep it in mind. Anyway, it won’t be triggered so quickly. If I really don’t have the time to do it, I can sell it to the Wolf Walk Guild at a high price.

While Li Xiaonian was pondering, a group of players came up, and the leading giant greeted him.

“June, would you like to team up with us? Our team lacks a war doctor. You can rest assured. Our team is very strong.” The giant player looked at Li Xiaonian with admiration.

Li Xiaonian paused, showing a look of contempt. “Just you guys? How do you have the nerve to say that you are very strong? A single glance at your equipment, I know that you are a group of rookies. If I team up with you, you’ll only drag me down.”

“Well, fine.”

The giant’s face flushed, and he just wished there was a hole in the ground for him to hide in.

When Li Xiaonian left, the giant player’s teammates curled their lips unhappily.

“F*ck, he is so arrogant. What’s the big deal of being an elite of the Red Legion? Who does he think he is? If I fight against him one on one in the wilderness, I can definitely hole him like a hive.”

“Come on, don’t brag. Even Xiaolang is defeated by him. Are you stronger than Xiaolang?”

The young man looked embarrassed and curled his lips. “I didn’t expect June to be so arrogant. I just complained. You don’t have to slap me in the face. Besides, even if I can’t beat him, can’t our whole team beat him?”

“That’s right. What is emphasized in “Star Wind” is teamwork. No matter how strong an individual is, his strength is limited.”

…

Li Xiaonian didn’t want to be so offensive, but he had no choice.

He just wanted to make others hate and avoid him. Otherwise, if he was too easy-going and was friendly to anyone, his every single move would be easily exposed to the Wolf Walk Guild, which would do him no good.

He walked forward.

Suddenly, he found himself in a special place—-the prison.

Li Xiaonian was immediately stopped by an NPC soldier. “Brat, no nearing here. Leave immediately. Otherwise, we’ll arrest and detain you on the charge of disturbing the peace.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Li Xiaonian retreated hurriedly.

He didn’t think that the NPC was joking. Once detained by the NPC, the player must serve out their time in prison before leaving. The time the player was out of the game didn’t count as punishment time, and the player must remain in the game all the time.

Of course, all kinds of books were provided in the small cell, and players could only read and study. Other than that, there was no entertainment at all.

Li Xiaonian had just taken a few steps back.

Suddenly, an ethereal voice rang in his ears.

“Little guy, I smell a familiar smell on you. You should be a blessed one too. Are you interested in accepting the tasks I posted?”

Just as Li Xiaonian was about to look around, the voice sounded again.

“Don’t look around. I’m detained in jail. If you want to come in and accompany me, you can just look around, but I remind you that if you are arrested now, you’ll be detained for at least 26 days. If you want to know more about my task, step back three hundred meters. There is an alley there, and you can safely communicate with me when you enter the alley. Don’t worry. It’s safe there and you won’t be discovered.”

Was it a hidden task? And what was the ‘blessed one’?

Li Xiaonian was overjoyed and looked carefully at the NPC soldier in front of him, who immediately glared at him ferociously.

Li Xiaonian hurriedly backed up. “I’m leaving. I’m leaving.”