Chapter 46: The Landlord is Here
“Living in the Capital is no easy feat.”
On this rare weekend, Wang Xiaoming had no choice but to spend the entire day house-hunting, only to come up empty. He now deeply understood the meaning behind those words.
He was the only child in his family. Last month, his father passed away, leaving only his mother behind in their hometown. Her health wasn’t good, so she had no choice but to come live with him.
Wang Xiaoming worked in finance as a manager in the Capital, with a monthly salary of over 20,000. The company provided meals and accommodation, so overall, it was a decent job. But to bring his mother over, he needed to rent a place. And in the Capital, every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.
Places too far from work were inconvenient. Closer ones had terrifyingly high rents, often several thousand yuan. He wanted to save money while he was still young to buy a house and eventually get married. If the rent was too high, it wouldn’t be worth it. His mother would likely scold him for being wasteful too. But finding a truly suitable place? That was easier said than done.
He searched online, visited several real estate agencies, asked colleagues and friends, but still couldn’t finalize anything. The stress was starting to take a toll on him.
Just then, a coworker called, shouting excitedly and startling him.
“Xiao Ming! Aren’t you looking for a place? Quick, go search for ‘Dream Home Rental Site’ online! The rent listings there are insanely cheap!”
“Huh? What?”
“Don’t ask. Just search for ‘Dream Home Rental Site’ and you’ll get it! The first result! Go, go, go!”
Wang Xiaoming walked to the side of the road so he wouldn’t block pedestrians and confusedly opened his browser to search for “Dream Home Rental Site.” His eyes widened in disbelief.
Was this a joke? A fully new 80-square-meter apartment with two bedrooms, two living rooms, one kitchen, and two bathrooms—renting for only 1,000 yuan per month? Basic renovation, brand new, and the rent would never increase. If it was that cheap, why even bother buying a house? Renting for life would be more cost-effective.
In just a minute, Wang Xiaoming was even thinking: if this was real, he could rent two units—one for his mother, one for himself. And after marriage, he and his future spouse could just live in one of them.
But… was it real?
The Dream Home Rental Site suddenly popped up online, labeled “Official.” It looked highly credible. Not only did it catch the attention of Wang Xiaoming and his coworker, but also millions of workers nationwide.
Search traffic for the site skyrocketed. It spread like wildfire across Weibo, Tiktok, forums… Naturally, this also caught the attention of Jasmine’s Government. How they investigated it behind the scenes goes without saying.
Back to Wang Xiaoming—he noticed next to the listing he liked, two numbers were displayed: “Total Units” and “Reserved Units.” In just a few minutes, the reserved number had jumped to over 100.
He gritted his teeth and reserved a unit. The deposit was 1,000 yuan. If this turned out to be real, he would have his own space at last—much better than rooming with colleagues. If it was a scam, then he’d just treat the 1,000 yuan as a loss. He could afford that.
Not everyone was as carefree as Wang Xiaoming. For many, 1,000 yuan was a big deal.
The first wave of renters were influenced by the very first person to reserve a unit—almost by accident.
That man’s name was Xiang Shang, a recent graduate who hadn’t found a job yet and had been crashing in a fellow townsman’s rental for a month. But the next day, his friend’s girlfriend was coming to stay, and Xiang couldn’t continue living there. Hotels were too expensive. Apartments were hard to find. Then he stumbled upon this listing—thought he just got lucky—and without thinking, he reserved a unit. The landlord said that if he wasn’t satisfied after viewing, he could still cancel.
With him leading the charge, plus the website displaying a “Countdown Timer” like a ticking time bomb, others panicked and rushed to reserve as well.
After successfully reserving, Xiang Shang took a closer look at how to view the place and where to go.
The address was listed at the bottom of the page: Times Square, Central District of the Capital.
But in reality, this address was the teleportation hub of Earth.
The Dream Home also had its own teleportation station.
After being transported to Dream Home’s teleportation station, tenants would need to make their way to their respective homes.
Mu Lantu had been very considerate. The teleportation hubs were built in the centers of ten residential zones. Nearby, he constructed roads, highways, train stations, high-speed rail lines, and airports. It would be very convenient for tenants.
Once the ten major settlements were up and running, Mu Lantu planned to build more teleportation stations on both Earth and Dream Home to serve all citizens of Jasmine Country.
He’d already asked 005—each teleportation hub cost 100 million to build.
A long road ahead.
But as long as the plans were clear and funds cycled back, Mu Lantu could proceed in an orderly way. After all, he had a whole lifetime ahead of him.
That’s for later—back to Jasmine Government.
Any information related to Dream Home immediately attracted their attention, let alone a site suddenly offering ultra-cheap rentals. The implication was obvious: Dream Home might have an owner—or indigenous residents! That possibility was deeply alarming.
The government acted swiftly, deploying armed forces to cordon off the listed address, restricting public access and controlling nearby internet traffic.
Local civilians were both frightened and curious, secretly peeking from nearby buildings.
The military officer in charge, Su Yingzhao, arrived at Times Square but found nothing unusual. He thought maybe it was a false lead.
But Cheng Weiguo, the government official assigned, wasn’t convinced. Caution was the baseline of their work.
“Maybe you have to reserve a unit to get the exact location? I’ll try.”
Cheng Weiguo began the process on his phone.
A message popped up:
“Sorry, after verification, you own two properties. You are not eligible to rent through Dream Home. Please leave this opportunity to someone in need. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Su Yingzhao’s expression darkened. Dream Home Rental Site could access property records—could it access even more?
Cheng Weiguo had the same thought. The two looked at each other, alarmed.
Su Yingzhao called over a soldier and had him try.
The soldier didn’t receive a rejection message—his reservation went through.
Just as Su Yingzhao was about to speak, the soldier suddenly gripped his rifle tightly, eyes wide with disbelief, as if witnessing something surreal.
Su Yingzhao grew alert. “What is it?”
The soldier glanced nervously ahead, then back at Su. “Commander… you don’t see it?”
“See what?” Su Yingzhao asked in a deep voice. “What do you see?”
Stammering, the soldier replied, “I see… I see a massive… something like a portal from the movies…”
Su Yingzhao and Cheng Weiguo were both stunned.
Su Yingzhao said sternly, “Swear on your uniform that every word you said is true.”
The soldier saluted solemnly. “I swear, every single word I said is true!”
Mu Lantu saw it all via his system’s livestream.
He had expected the government would try to gain rental access and enter Dream Home. But anyone who didn’t qualify would be “kicked out” by 005. Dream Home was only for actual tenants.
Those who already owned property—or whose spouse owned property—were ineligible. For example, if a wife wanted to rent but her husband already owned a home, she’d be disqualified. However, adult children of such families who owned no property could qualify.
Business properties like shops, factories, hospitals were a different category.
The villa district was another special case—targeted at the wealthy, priced similarly to those on Earth, and not subject to ownership restrictions.
Mu Lantu tried to prevent exploitation of the system. He didn’t want the wealthy to squeeze out ordinary people. While there might be loopholes he hadn’t noticed yet, he could always patch them later. He held final authority over all interpretations.
Half an hour later, the government dispatched a fully armed 10-person squad in protective gear and bulletproof vests into the teleportation hub.
They arrived at Dream Home, first explored some buildings, then ventured into the mountains, collecting soil and plant samples along the way…
However—
Ten minutes later, they were ejected back to the Water Earth hub. Everything they’d collected—even a speck of dust—was left behind.
Mu Lantu silently whispered an apology. He couldn’t let them mess around. Otherwise, he couldn’t govern the planet.
He just wanted to be a simple landlord.
Seven days later, the government withdrew all forces from Times Square.
All rental units had been leased—including police stations, fire departments, factories, hospitals, and banks.
The government sent another team to Dream Home to build a research institute.
Mu Lantu allowed the people in—but blocked all their equipment. If they could build new tools from scratch, he… might intervene again.
Dream Home’s appearance inevitably impacted Jasmine Country’s real estate industry. As more settlements emerged, the impact would grow—leading to bankrupt developers and widespread job loss in construction.
Mu Lantu had anticipated this. On a small scale, his goal was to become a landlord. On a larger scale, he wanted to liberate generations from the burden of mortgage slavery. As a former “housing slave” himself, he bore deep resentment.
To fulfill these goals, such growing pains were unavoidable.
Dream Home would also create countless new job opportunities. Whether people seized them would depend on their preparedness. Opportunities always favor the prepared. In the long run, this would benefit both the nation and the people.
Besides, Mu Lantu trusted that Jasmine Government was more resourceful than he was. They’d find solutions. After all, Dream Home was practically their child now.
