Chapter 37
Golden Tower.
The area was already crowded with residents who had come to watch the spectacle.
Hubbard, George, and other social elites stood at the entrance of Golden Tower, all waiting for today’s true star to arrive.
One had to admit, Hubbard and George really had some skill.
Lu Chuan had said he would leave in three months, so before his departure they had completely redecorated Golden Tower, invited numerous business partners to bolster the event, and managed to lease out more than half of the building’s storefronts. They had indeed worked very hard.
In addition, considering Lu Chuan’s Eastern origins, they had even arranged for a lion dance performance to stir up a lively atmosphere.
This time, Lu Chuan hadn’t tricked them either—he had truly helped them resolve their financial crisis. After all, once he left Golden Tower, its operation would still rest in their hands.
Amid everyone’s expectant gazes, Lu Chuan arrived slowly.
From Li Family Village, the village chief’s son and daughter came with the invitation. Both wore suits, looking far more mature than before.
They craned their necks among the crowd, asking about Boss Jin. But when Lu Chuan appeared, they stopped probing and focused on him instead.
Back when Lu Chuan had entered Li Family Village’s dungeon, his appearance had been altered, even his name was false—naturally, they couldn’t recognize him.
But that didn’t matter. Lu Chuan had no intention of revealing his alternate identities to the world. For someone who dove into dungeons as he did, offending others was inevitable; having more disguises meant more security.
“Let us welcome the owner of Golden Tower, Mr. Lu Chuan, to cut the ribbon for today’s grand opening!”
“Congratulations!”
“President Lu, so young and accomplished!”
“It’s about time. President Lu, please.”
George handed Lu Chuan the scissors.
“Thank you all for coming today. I hereby announce the official opening of Golden Tower!” Lu Chuan waved, displaying a true boss’s air. Only #888 knew just how excited he was inside.
“Wuwuwu, System, I’m so thrilled. This is the first real fortune of my life, and the first skyscraper I swindled through sheer skill!” Even though he was already wealthy now, Lu Chuan held deep affection for Golden Tower.
It proved he wasn’t destined to be poor—only unlucky, bound by ancestral taboos.
As long as he got a chance, he could soar to riches.
Thank you, #888. Thank you, Evil World. Thank you, Infinite Realm, for this chance to become rich.
Smiling, Lu Chuan snipped the red ribbon.
And the moment he stepped into Golden Tower, the main system’s chime rang out:
[Congratulations, player, for entering territory Golden Tower. Detected that player already holds a Lord Title. Bind territory?]
“Bind,” Lu Chuan answered silently.
[Binding successful. Congratulations, player [Arrival of the God of Wealth], on gaining your first territory: Golden Tower. Within Golden Tower, player possesses full lordship. Without consent, others cannot enter Golden Tower.]
[Player’s title ‘Godslayer Lord’ activated.]
At that instant, far away in a dungeon corner, Number 9 also felt the tremor.
Number 18 noticed that the senior standing on his back had slowed and urged, “Senior, let’s finish this quickly. This player’s mutation is too severe—his skill is [Plague]. He’s infected people across several nearby dungeons.”
They had come, per the main system’s orders, to subdue this deranged top player. The mission wasn’t supposed to be hard—this player wasn’t highly ranked—but the damage he caused was immense. Left unchecked, his power might infect all NPCs in the instance.
Players’ awakened professions varied wildly, with bizarre skills and limitless potential. If not for the Burial Squad cleaning up their messes, who knew how many instances they would ruin.
But ever since his last mission, Number 9 had seemed different.
“Got it.” Number 9 drew his sword. The power radiating from it spread tangibly, eradicating every plague-bearing virus nearby. The player on the ground, twisted beyond human shape and crawling with known and unknown pathogens, still staggered toward Number 9, even forgetting the fear Number 18 had imposed.
The sword energy stripped away layer after layer of his diseased flesh, down to bare white bone—yet still he approached.
Against players, Number 9’s power was naturally supreme.
Number 18 couldn’t help sighing. If only he could one day slay his senior and rise to his place—otherwise his merit points would always lag far behind.
“Take him,” Number 9 said.
Number 18 extended tentacles, rolling up the near-skeletal husk, compressing him into a ball and hanging it from his tail. Back home, perhaps they could reshape him, restore some sanity.
“Senior, why are you laughing? Is this player funny?” Number 18 couldn’t understand. This was nothing like the other deranged top player who had once tried to pounce on Senior—that one had been at least amusing. This one couldn’t even speak anymore.
“Silence.” Number 9 raised his hand, gathering motes of light into a small, golden coin.
“Senior, whose mark did you brand? Their desire turned into a rock shard? Hahaha—who longs for a stone?” Number 18 found it hilarious. Normally, when Senior branded players, their desires manifested accordingly:
Those who wanted conquest manifested as blades.
Those who lusted for beauty manifested as dolls.
But this one’s desire—a rock shard?
“A golden nugget.” Number 9 examined it, then hung it from his sword hilt.
Quite pretty. Pure.
It matched that player’s impression well.
The glow from the coin shone dazzlingly—an overwhelming desire.
Meanwhile, Lu Chuan was only overjoyed.
At the moment of binding, he clearly felt his link to Golden Tower.
It was as if, with a single thought, he could appear anywhere inside. Like having a 3D map of the whole building in his head, ready to inspect every corner.
But he also sensed limitations.
“Main system, can my territory be taken from me?” Lu Chuan asked for the first time.
[Territories can be seized through Lord Wars. Lords may initiate such wars; if defeated, they lose everything. Greater Lords can forcibly initiate against Lesser Lords, who cannot refuse. Until defeat, Lords retain full control.]
Just as he thought.
If territories were truly inviolable, then wouldn’t players just build guild bases inside them? Surely the five great guildmasters would have done so.
Unless—even dungeon territories could be broken.
And the method was Lord War.
Greater Lords could unilaterally attack Lesser Lords, who couldn’t refuse. Defeat meant total loss.
So thinking being a Lord meant eternal safety was a fatal mistake.
“Can NPCs be Lords too?” Lu Chuan pressed.
[This question requires payment of 10,000 game points.]
“Pay.” Lu Chuan didn’t hesitate—he still had plenty of points, and #888 hadn’t even been upgraded yet.
[A small number of special NPCs can become Lords with their own territories.]
“What kind of special NPCs?”
[This question requires payment of 10,000 game points.]
The main system was a money-maker—almost matched him.
No—better not.
Lu Chuan quickly killed the thought. #888 was better—silly, but offering emotional value.
The Evil World’s main system was too shrewd. Like repels like; forced binding would end badly.
#888, oblivious, stayed quiet while Lu Chuan conversed with the system—better not to attract notice.
“Pay,” Lu Chuan said firmly. These costs were unavoidable.
In the Evil World, knowledge purchased with points couldn’t be shared. Doing so would instantly deduct points.
If a question cost 10,000 points, then every person told would cost that much. If spread widely, it would depend only on how many points the player had.
Fools had tried before—sharing key secrets—and within five minutes, the system wiped them out as their points ran dry.
This was also one of the ways the Evil World game protected its core secrets.
If there were even more valuable information, there must also be stronger methods of concealment.
That was why, when it came to knowledge about Lords, Shen Li could only hint to Lu Chuan that once inside the game he could ask the Main System directly—anything more he simply couldn’t say.
[Special NPCs refer to groups formed when players lose their sanity and mutate. If the mutated player once owned territory, they will continue to hold that territory even after becoming an NPC. In addition, members of the Burial Squad “Executor” within the Evil World game world may temporarily hold territory, but only because of permissions granted by the Main Game System. Once those permissions are revoked, they lose their Lord rights.]
Players can own territory, but Executor cannot?
Lu Chuan faintly sensed there was something off here. “Why can’t Executor own territory?”
[That question requires one hundred million game points and an S-grade item to answer.]
Lu Chuan twitched the corner of his mouth. Forget it then.
He would rather wait until he met an Executor again and ask them directly—it was better than asking the Main God System.
So Lu Chuan stopped pressing.
“Boss Lu, congratulations! We’re holding a banquet tonight—please honor us with your presence.”
“Yes, Boss Lu, truly impressive. So young, yet you’ve managed the Golden Tower so well.”
…
Guests all around congratulated Lu Chuan.
Meanwhile, the children of the Li Family Village’s Chief took the chance to approach him, looking a little embarrassed. “Hello, Boss Lu. We’re from Li Family Village. We received an invitation to open a fruit shop in the Golden Tower, but we were wondering if you know where Boss Jin is?”
The Village Chief hadn’t expected that Boss Jin would even remember them. After all this time, he had still found a way to help them find customers.
The flow of time between dungeons in the game was not the same, but whichever dungeon a player was in, the time flow would automatically adjust to prevent bugs. For example, since Lu Chuan had entered the Golden Tower dungeon five years later, the Li Family Village dungeon had also automatically jumped ahead five years.
“Old Jin is my brother. He’s working at one of my other enterprises,” Lu Chuan said smoothly. “He told me a lot about you, which is why I asked you to open a fruit shop here. How’s your village doing these days?”
“We planted orchards, and business in the fruit shop is decent. But for some reason, the number of tourists has been dwindling, so we were worrying about sales. Then Boss Jin’s letter arrived right on time!” the Village Chief’s daughter couldn’t help adding happily. “And since we came here, many shop owners and companies in the Golden Tower have signed agreements with us to deliver fruit. Just supplying fruit within the Tower alone will be a long-term, stable business. And with such a prime location, business is sure to thrive.”
Besides, their fruit shop’s rent wasn’t very high. Even though it was tucked away in a corner of the Tower, it was more than enough for them.
“Yes, before we came, Father kept reminding us to meet Boss Jin in person. He’s our great benefactor—we have to show our gratitude.”
“That’s no problem, you’ll have chances to meet him in the future,” Lu Chuan said with a smile. “Work hard. I’ll be opening more Golden Towers later, and your fruit shop will open in every single one of them!”
“Thank you, Boss Lu!”
Only then did Lu Chuan nod in satisfaction.
On the eve of the three-month deadline, Lu Chuan gave Hubbard and George another round of grand promises before leaving contentedly.
By the time he left, his in-game bank account had already grown by tens of millions, mostly from Golden Tower rental income. Half of the Tower was still empty, but once those spaces were leased, the rent would flow into his account again. And this was only the opening price—once the Tower grew popular, he could raise the rent further.
So young, yet already living the life of a landlord inside a dungeon—if other players found out, they would surely die of envy.
Lu Chuan returned to the real world with some reluctance.
Every day in the dungeon, opening his account and watching his balance rise so quickly—it felt too good to let go.
Shen Li, knowing in advance how long Lu Chuan planned to stay in the dungeon, had timed it perfectly and was waiting for him.
As soon as Lu Chuan reappeared in his room, Shen Li quickly grabbed him. “Change clothes, we’re heading to the Noah Guild right now.”
“Hm?” Lu Chuan raised an eyebrow. “Captain Shen, even oxen and horses get to rest a little. I just came out of the dungeon.”
“Check the Newcomer Rankings,” Shen Li rolled his eyes. “Shasha just finished her last dungeon run and dropped off the list. A newcomer has taken her spot—someone from the Resurrection Guild.”
Lu Chuan glanced at the rankings. Well, what do you know.
Resurrection Guild’s [Ash of Rebirth], ranked tenth on the Newcomer List.
“I’ve got intel that [Eye of Rebirth] has already gone to a high-level dungeon. Her newcomer dungeon time is about up, and she’s aiming to rush the Grandmaster Rankings in record time. The first newcomer to reach Grandmaster gets a buff—it’s an advantage over veterans like us. And [Hand of Rebirth] has already gone through the Resurrection Guild and will be entering a Rules-type dungeon.”
“Hm?” Lu Chuan froze. “You mean he’ll be in the same dungeon as me?”
“No. He’s confirmed to go with the Noah and Abyss Guild players into a Rules dungeon. You, however, aren’t confirmed yet. That’s why I have to get you there fast.” Shen Li shook his head. “Since they already brought [Hand of Rebirth], they may not want you anymore. So we have to secure your spot first.”
Entering a Rules-type dungeon was difficult enough, and usually had strict player limits. When Shen Li had asked earlier, their attitude had been lukewarm. He hadn’t expected the Resurrection Guild to suddenly cut in.
Could it be that Lu Chuan was seen as a threat by the Resurrection Guild too?
Shen Li gave him a sidelong look, knowing Lu Chuan had successfully bound a territory.
From his glowing, satisfied expression, it was clear his dungeon life had gone very well.
Heh, must’ve made a fortune in there.
“I get it,” Lu Chuan nodded. “They give face to the Resurrection Guild, but not to the Star Guild. Makes sense. The weak have no diplomacy—that saying is dead-on.”
Shen Li: … That may be true, but did you have to put it so harshly?
