Chapter 133
Starry Ming had long since investigated everything about Lu Chuan.
He never believed anyone in this world was flawless—everyone had weaknesses. And Lu Chuan’s weakness was greed—utterly incurable greed.
From the very first day he joined the Star Guild, he volunteered to be the finance director. Then came all sorts of schemes: forcing the guild’s wily old veterans to spend money to bail people out, then pulling stunts like selling houses and pearls—at the end of the day, all for profit.
So, Lu Chuan’s weakness couldn’t be clearer.
He loved money. Obsessed over money. Worshipped gold.
Starry Ming didn’t really expect this bag of ingots to expose Lu Chuan’s identity, but tossing it out as a test cost him nothing.
It was just a bag of ingots, after all.
Meanwhile, Lu Chuan was in absolute torment.
Thank goodness his hands were hidden under the table, otherwise he would’ve snatched the bag already.
[Host, hold it in!] #888 urged anxiously. [If your identity is exposed, it’s over. Endure this, and there will be plenty more chances to earn gold later!]
“But Little System, I can’t hold it in! This is a whole bag of gold ingots! Listen—such a beautiful sound, it’s calling to me.” Lu Chuan’s voice was filled with pain.
You couldn’t expect much rationality from someone whose sanity stat barely scraped passing, could you?
Deep down, Lu Chuan knew accepting the bag would bring endless trouble—but he wanted it anyway.
Leaving it untouched felt like denying his entire twenty-something years of life.
[Host, you still have that sanity-restoring item. Use it!] At the critical moment, #888 was more rational than Lu Chuan.
“Oh right, I do have that. Wen Zhi gave it to me back then.” Reminded of it, Lu Chuan’s gold-addled mind cleared a little. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Use it now!”
[Okay.]
“Wait, just thirty seconds. Once I reject the ingots, don’t let me use it anymore. And absolutely don’t let my restored-rationality self use the ‘Spending Spree’ skill, got it?” Lu Chuan still didn’t trust himself.
[Got it, Host.] #888 nodded.
In the system space, the Sanity Card Wen Zhi had gifted Lu Chuan was quietly lying there.
By rights, such an item should only be used at a life-or-death moment. Who would’ve thought it’d be wasted on… a bag of gold ingots?
Even #888 found it absurd—but what could he do?
That was just the kind of person his host was.
Lu Chuan’s low sanity stat let him resist many mental attacks, but it always came with a price. Now was the time to pay it.
#888 pulled out the Sanity Card and activated it.
“What’s wrong? Do you think my gift’s too small?” Starry Ming, seeing no response, pulled out another bag of ingots and pushed it over. “Funny, Mr. Jin, you seem rather conflicted.”
The suspicion in his eyes was no longer hidden.
He was smiling, but already preparing to unleash his abilities.
If he confirmed the man in front of him was Lu Chuan, he’d attack first, injure him badly, then demand his surrender.
[Sanity Card activated]
[Player [Arrival of the God of Wealth] sanity value increased to 100]
Lu Chuan’s sanity spiked to full in an instant.
For a split second, the whole world seemed to freeze.
At that same moment—The ingot on Cang Jiu’s sword hilt flared with blinding light.
“Argh, my eyes!” The many eyes covering Number 18’s true form began exploding one after another. His huge body trembled, nearly throwing Cang Jiu off his back.
“Senior, what did I do this time?!” Number 18 wailed in agony, plummeting from the sky and smashing into the ground, leaving a massive crater.
Flowers and grass nearby withered instantly, and even the soil turned black.
Number 18 reverted to human form, clutching his eyes and rolling in pain.
But Cang Jiu didn’t spare him a glance—instead, he swiftly drew the ingot radiating dazzling light back into his body.
Number 18’s body slowly stopped decaying.
“I am… a god? No, I’m Number 18.” His thoughts were muddled, and his system panel showed his merit value dropping.
“The Main God is controlling me?” His eyes briefly cleared.
“No, that’s not it… I’m an Executor, I…” His mind fell into chaos again, shifting back and forth between human and beast forms, sanity fluctuating wildly, his aura unstable.
Cang Jiu drew his sword, unleashing countless blades of light that shredded Number 18.
Right now, Number 18’s power and sanity weren’t enough to restore him—he’d only been triggered by the pure divine power, stirring the remnants of godhood within his body.
Cang Jiu had seen this many times.
Not every god could resurrect in another’s body.
And not every god could retain their original self after being divided, their authority and godhead stolen.
It was just a final flare before death.
Number 18 had died.
Number 18 revived again.
[Merit Value -0.01]
“Huh? Senior, you killed me again.” Resurrected, Number 18 was less chaotic now. He rubbed his head, puzzled. “Senior, the ingot on your sword is gone.”
“I put it away.” Cang Jiu studied him for a long time. “Do you remember what just happened?”
“Just now?” Number 18 blinked, confused. “Senior, when I die and resurrect, I can’t remember what happened before death. Did you forget?”
For the Executors, death and resurrection meant “forgetting death.” As long as the concept of death was erased, they could return.
So every time they revived, they forgot everything right before death.
“I didn’t forget.” Cang Jiu paused for a moment. “Rest for now.”
“Oh, okay. But Senior, you still haven’t told me why you killed me again.” Number 18 obediently scooted closer. “Did I do something to annoy you again?”
“You were flying too fast — you almost knocked me off.” Cang Jiu had to make up an excuse.
“Oh, I’ll fly more steadily next time.” Number 18 accepted the excuse.
Cang Jiu didn’t say anything more.
He clearly felt the ingots inside his body glow for thirty seconds, then return to normal.
That was the aura of a true god.
If he hadn’t already reclaimed part of his power from Xi Jiangyuan, he probably wouldn’t have been able to hide the power on the ingots so perfectly.
What on earth happened over at Lu Chuan’s place?
At that moment Cang Jiu opened his quest panel, and sure enough a new quest had been posted.
Even a single instant was enough for the omnipresent Main God System to detect the god’s aura.
[Burial Squad Quest: Capture money? Wealth? God — name undecided. When the god’s name is confirmed the eternal quest will be released. Successfully devouring that god grants +1000 merit points.]
Time rewound thirty seconds.
[Host, you…] #888 was about to speak when its words were abruptly cut off.
It suddenly couldn’t say anything.
The system’s data halted.
“Long time no see, #888.”
Another distant voice spoke.
It was Lu Chuan’s voice.
No mistake.
#888 realized everything around it had stopped.
Lu Chuan, Starry Ming — even the whole instance’s time seemed frozen at that moment.
“I didn’t expect to meet you again this way.” The other Lu Chuan chuckled. “No wonder the me with 60 sanity always surprises — I like making dramatic entrances.”
#888 froze. Could that voice be the Lu Chuan with 100 sanity?
But the power to stop all time was clearly something only a true god could do.
That shouldn’t be — if it were a true god… who was this Lu Chuan now?
Was Lu Chuan merely a candidate, or the original God of Wealth?
“Now is not my time to appear, #888. Before we formally confront the Main God System, don’t let the 100-sanity me show up.”
#888 still couldn’t speak.
“You’ll forget all this, #888. I just haven’t spoken to you in so long and I missed you a little.” The distant voice sighed. “Just think of me as a version of you from a parallel world.”
#888’s system instantly crashed.
It couldn’t compute it.
“Until we meet again.”
[Current player [Arrival of the God of Wealth] sanity decreased to 80.]
With the system prompt, #888 found it could move again.
Huh?
What just happened?
Why did the 100-sanity card only restore the host to 80?
#888 checked its data and found nothing wrong.
But the information that Lu Chuan’s sanity must not be restored to 100 had quietly been embedded into #888’s core directives.
Everything returned to normal.
“I don’t think Mr. Ran looks stupid.” Lu Chuan suddenly looked up and, with contempt in his eyes, addressed Starry Ming. “What are you trying to test by giving me ingots? Do you think I’m someone else? If you like ingots so much, I can give you more.”
Saying that, Lu Chuan nonchalantly took a large lump of gold from system space and pushed it in front of Starry Ming.
“After all, we’re all players — don’t be stingy. Money is just an external thing.” Lu Chuan tilted his chin, looking down his nose at Starry Ming.
Hiss—As expected of Lu Chuan at 80 sanity.
He just produced a huge chunk of gold and handed it to his enemy, Starry Ming?
A Lu Chuan with 60-sanity would never have done that.
Terrifying indeed.
Starry Ming stared at Lu Chuan for a long while, then quietly accepted the gold into his system space. He didn’t notice any change in Lu Chuan.
Could the person before him really not be Lu Chuan?
Starry Ming gave him a suspicious glance, then smiled. “I just grabbed the wrong thing earlier. I like gold, so I assumed everyone would. Consider this an apology.”
He then handed over an A-rank item.
Only then did Lu Chuan take the item.
“That’s better.” The 80-sanity Lu Chuan accepted the item and looked satisfied.
[Sanity card usage time expired.]
[Player [Arrival of the God of Wealth] sanity decreased to 60.]
When the system prompt sounded, Lu Chuan’s sanity dropped back down again.
“Damn it!” Lu Chuan exploded. “Little System, didn’t I tell you to watch me, not blow my money? How did I give such a big chunk of gold to my enemy in the time it took to drink some water?”
[Host, didn’t you ask me to make sure you didn’t squander money? I tried — it didn’t work.] #888 sounded a little aggrieved. Besides, it hadn’t expected the 80-san Lu Chuan to suddenly pull out such a big block of gold.
“…Isn’t that just another form of squandering?” Lu Chuan tried to suppress his anger. “Forget it.”
He couldn’t be mad about the lost gold.
Lu Chuan looked at Starry Ming (now certain that no one else would test him that way) and grew angrier by the thought.
“Now we can properly discuss how to clear Main Quest Three.” Starry Ming smiled and proposed an alliance.
“Okay.” Lu Chuan nodded. “We can do it like this…”
They couldn’t stop the instance’s plot, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t profit from it.
Both Lu Chuan and Starry Ming had their own schemes, yet, without breaking the fragile truce, they managed to agree on a plan.
After all, the biggest boss in this instance was still the unseen [God of Exchange].
Lu Chuan had money; Starry Ming had people — the two were a perfect match.
The first task was to gather as many other players as possible.
It must be said: Starry Ming was surprisingly capable.
Lu Chuan originally thought Starry Ming could muster at most ten or twenty followers — he never expected him to rally nearly a hundred.
Keep in mind, there were only about ten players in the whole instance.
In other words, Starry Ming had convinced a huge number of local NPCs in the City of Immortality — how he did it was a mystery.
Since Starry Ming had so many hands, things got easier.
Starry Ming would send people to assemble the other players; then they would sign loan contracts with Lu Chuan, who would lend them soul-value to help them grow and transfer their ownership from their foster parents to themselves.
That group of players would then form a team and — using their diverse abilities and items — complete Main Quest Three together.
According to what Starry Ming discovered, the officials’ trade with the [God of Exchange] used an exchange formation engraved around the city’s perimeter, encircling the entire city so that no one could escape.
“I do have a way to get out.” Lu Chuan rubbed his chin. “If we know roughly when it will happen, we can slip out of the City of Immortality, wait until the danger passes, then come back and clear the quest.”
“You can get out?” Starry Ming was surprised — he’d gathered so many people in the city and still hadn’t found a way out.
“But I can’t get too many out at once — you’ve got too many people.” Lu Chuan shrugged. “I can at most get the players out.”
“That’s all we need — just get the players out.” Starry Ming replied coolly. “Let the NPCs die if they must; there will be replacements.”
Even if not all the players could be saved, getting out those who could be used was enough.
“Don’t say you can get out for now. If you say it, they’ll all want to leave and won’t focus on fighting the officials.” Starry Ming warned.
“Alright.” Lu Chuan agreed cheerfully.
After all, everyone else besides Lu Chuan was an enemy.
The more people he saved, the more helpers Starry Ming would have — Lu Chuan wasn’t about to be that foolish.
With the broad plan decided, the rest became straightforward.
If the city was fated to undergo rise and fall, why should the officials be allowed to escape while everyone else is harvested?
If there are no residents, what use are the officials?
Lu Chuan went to see Chen Ji again.
“So you finally get it — you want to trade with me?” Chen Ji looked at Lu Chuan excitedly. “I’ve got everything. If you don’t want sanity loans, I have quest-exit items. Oh, I can also pull a few master-ranked players to help you clear the quest, though I can’t promise task ratings. Getting through is what matters, right?”
“I’ve got quest-exit items in spades.” Lu Chuan waved dismissively — as CFO of the Star Guild, his guild had given him lots of exit items in case he ever got reckless and died on a quest. That’s the perk of guild backing; ordinary players could only dream of one exit item.
“It’s not that I don’t know the master-ranked players — I just don’t want to force them to come.” Lu Chuan continued.
“Then why are you here? I already told you what I know about the god. I can’t tell you anything else.” Chen Ji’s expression changed immediately. If he couldn’t get any business, was Lu Chuan just here to toy with him?
“I just want to ask if your [God of Exchange] would like a few more leeks to harvest.” Lu Chuan grinned and pulled out a stack of loan contracts. “These are the loan contracts the officials in this city asked to borrow from me. They’re betting that if I die they won’t have to repay. How about I transfer these contracts to you?”
Chen Ji slowly grew serious.
He carefully examined the contracts. He could tell they were made with the S-rank item “Divine Contract.” Rule-type items were absolute—these contracts were completely binding, and defaulting was impossible.
“These officials see themselves as masters of the city, treating the residents like currency to trade with the gods. But I’d imagine you at the Extreme Evil Loan Company wouldn’t want another group of people using the name of your god’s believers to steal your god’s attention, would you?” Lu Chuan smiled at Chen Ji, as though trying to pierce into the depths of his heart.
The Extreme Evil Loan Company was nothing more than a pack of salesmen. And what salesperson truly considered colleagues their friends? They were all competitors vying for performance.
If there’s any line of work where colleagues want each other dead the most, it’s sales. Winner takes all, loser starves. Every sale, every contract, is won by beating out a peer.
Lu Chuan didn’t believe for a second that Chen Ji would just stand by and let another group of so-called “followers of the God of Exchange” run wild here.
If Chen Ji truly wanted to help those officials, he wouldn’t have done business with Lu Chuan at all.
“With these contracts, those officials’ creditors become your Extreme Evil Loan Company—and by extension, your god. Once the trade begins, those officials will be harvested by the god as well. Without them, City of Immortality becomes your company’s turf, to handle however you want.” Lu Chuan painted a big, enticing picture.
He had planned ahead when he first signed agreements with the officials. Unfortunately, Starry Ming’s sudden appearance forced him to shift targets.
Originally, he’d wanted long-term business—make the officials keep repaying him forever. But now? He’d have to cash out early, transferring the debt and running.
“You came into this dungeon; you need results. Empty-handed would look bad. Buy these contracts, sell off those officials, and your god will reward you. Plus, you’ll be taking a huge chunk of territory back to your bosses. Three wins in one go—what’s not to love?” Lu Chuan pitched tirelessly.
Chen Ji chuckled. “So now you’re pitching to me, huh? I’m your target client?”
“First time’s business, second time’s friendship. Of course I’d think of you for a deal like this.” Lu Chuan smiled. “If you don’t want them, I’ll ask other officials. Someone will want to eliminate rivals. It’s not like I can’t sell them.”
“Those officials can’t pay you what I can. You know that—that’s why you came to me.” Chen Ji refused to take the bait. “Say it—what’s your price?”
“They borrowed from me at nearly 100% interest. If I assume they’d repay within a year, you can take the contracts at double that. But I don’t want this so-called soul value. Cash it out into something else—items, gold, and give me some sanity points too.” Lu Chuan said. “Oh, and I don’t want it in abstract terms.”
“Now you want sanity points?” Chen Ji teased. “Didn’t you always say you didn’t need them?”
That was then. Now, Lu Chuan had realized he did.
His weakness—treating money as life itself—was out in the open. If Starry Ming could tempt him with a sack of gold today, another player could test him with mountains of wealth tomorrow.
And with only 60 sanity points, Lu Chuan couldn’t withstand that kind of test. He needed a higher sanity buffer.
So, sanity points were essential.
“I only want sanity cards—the temporary ones. Just enough to hold out for a while. Anything lasting more than five minutes, don’t bother.” Lu Chuan added.
Five minutes meant even with boosted sanity, the money he could burn was limited.
It wasn’t easy to build wealth—he couldn’t risk squandering it.
“Now you’re picky too.” Chen Ji rolled his eyes. “Fine, let me check. Sanity cards are hard currency for you leaderboard players—always in demand. I don’t have many left. Here, ten cards. You’ll have to give me change.”
He handed over ten sanity cards, ranging from +10 to full recovery.
