NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 78
Chapter 78: Zhao Hanyan, Who Wants to Cry but Has No Tears!
“Impossible!” Right away, Zhao Hanyan was the first to cry out, eyes wide in disbelief.
Her voice still retained its usual charm, but it was filled with shock.
Next to her, Zhao Mingyuan’s pale and sickly face also showed signs of astonishment.
50,000 gold coins per person.
Two people combined…
That’s 1,000,000 gold coins!
Given the current conversion rate, that equated to a staggering 10 million RMB!
“Brother Qianjun, Sister Qingyue, how the heck did you get so many gold coins?” Cheng Bankun asked in disbelief. “My mom has been in the eSports business for ages, so we have mature trading channels and a stable player base. But just to help me gather the 500,000 gold coins needed to change classes, she nearly emptied out all the coins she’d acquired since the server launched. We barely managed it!”
His tone was filled with shock and confusion. He wasn’t boasting. But when it came to coin acquisition, his family had been in the game from the start.
Across the whole country, barely anyone could match them in coin reserves.
Yet now, he was dumbfounded!
Rather than replying to Cheng Bankun, Ning Qingyue smiled at the stunned Zhao Hanyan and said, “My brother and I waited two days for the mysterious NPC. When we finally found him, he gave each of us 500,000 gold coins!”
“M-Mysterious NPC?!” Zhao Hanyan was frozen in place.
How… how could it be related to the mysterious NPC?!
She mumbled to herself for a while before stammering, “T-That’s it? That simple?”
Ning Qianjun stepped in. “Yes, it’s really that simple.”
Ning Qingyue tugged at her brother and urged, “Alright, let’s not waste time explaining. Don’t forget, we need to level up!”
Ning Qianjun immediately nodded.
The siblings hadn’t forgotten. They got this million in gold coins under one condition: Reach Level 15 within three days!
Otherwise, double the amount would be deducted!
The two of them quickly made their way to the Tower Guardian NPC and initiated the transaction.
The Tower Guardian greeted them with a smile and said, “You Outer Humans are quite capable. I originally thought it would take at least six months before someone could gather the class change fee. I never expected that in just two or three days, three of you would manage to come up with the full amount.”
After speaking, he warmly invited them into the tower to find their designated job-change floor.
Each floor of the tower was unique.
As the siblings ascended the tower, Zhao Hanyan stomped her feet in frustration.
“Ahhhhh! Why did I have to come to Zhouxing City early?!”
She wanted to cry but had no tears.
She was filled with regret!
If only she had stuck to her original plan and stayed in the Novice Village waiting for the mysterious NPC, maybe she too would have received the 500,000 gold reward!
Then she wouldn’t be stuck watching others begin their class change while she still had to pool money with her brother.
And even together, they barely had enough for ONE person’s fee!
How humiliating!
Zhao Mingyuan tried to comfort her, “Yan’er, I’ll give you all my coins. You go into the tower and change jobs first.”
Zhao Hanyan pouted, snorted, and replied, “Now you remember me?!”
Then she traded all the gold coins from her pouch to her brother and logged off in a huff.
She was furious.
“Troublesome girl…” Zhao Mingyuan frowned and shook his head helplessly.
The other players were still trying to digest the news.
They also wanted to change jobs and enter the tower, but the 500,000 gold coin fee was too steep. It was discouraging!
“Let’s go explore the city, take on some quests, and try to earn some coins. Once we have enough, we’ll come back to change jobs.”
“This damn game is the worst I’ve ever seen. Everything costs money!”
“From now on, we need to hang onto our gold coins. No more trading them away!”
“Yeah, now that everyone’s short on coins, the price is only going to go up. One day, coins might be worth as much as Bitcoin!”
“I can’t stand coin speculators!”
A long line of players had queued up only to find out about the sky-high fee, and they all began to disperse.
Whenever new players arrived, others would kindly warn them, “The job-change fee is 500,000 gold. If you don’t have it, just leave early!”
Many left dejected.
But one sword-wielding player ignored everyone and walked straight toward the tower’s entrance.
“Is that guy deaf?”
“Maybe he actually has 500,000 gold!”
“Yeah right! You think everyone’s like Cheng Bankun, whose family runs a full eSports business? Even his family just barely scraped together enough!”
“Let’s be real. At this stage of the game, maybe 10 people in the whole country could afford it!”
“You’re thinking too small.”
“Word is, even the government has deployed military personnel into the game. You think they can’t gather 500,000 coins?”
“Well… comparing organizations to individual players is a bit unfair!”
All eyes were on the sword-wielding player, expecting a spectacle.
Previously, some clueless newbies had tried to sneak in, but they were immediately seized by NPC soldiers and dragged out of Zhouxing City.
In this game, the definition of “causing trouble” was vague. Even attention-seeking antics could be seen by NPCs as hostile provocation.
Zhao Mingyuan and Cheng Bankun hadn’t entered yet.
They also noticed the approaching sword-wielder.
“You know him?” Zhao Mingyuan asked, thinking the man might be another rich heir like them.
Cheng Bankun squinted at Ye Qiu and shook his head.
“Don’t recognize him. He’s definitely not from our Beijing circle.”
There were many elite circles across the country, some even rivaled Beijing’s.
Since he wasn’t familiar, Zhao Mingyuan didn’t bother further and instead whispered, “Did your family mention anything recently?”
Cheng Bankun’s expression turned serious.
Looking around cautiously, he said, “My dad pulled me offline just to tell me… the authorities issued a directive. There have been monster sightings all over the country, and local forces were told to stay alert and act decisively if needed…”
Zhao Mingyuan nodded. “First the countdown in our minds, then the game itself… now monsters in the real world. Feels like something huge is coming.”
Cheng Bankun added quickly, “My dad also said those real-world monsters have direct counterparts in the game! He told me to focus on getting stronger in-game.”
Zhao Mingyuan replied, “Same here. Even the elders in my family who used to dismiss gaming all joined.”
Just then, a figure appeared beside them.
At the same time, a voice rang out, “Zhao Mingyuan, Empire Overlord?! It is you!”
It startled, both Zhao Mingyuan and Cheng Bankun turned around.
Ads by PubRev
It was the sword-wielding player.
He now stood directly in front of them, eyes locked onto Zhao Mingyuan with barely concealed excitement.