Chapter 76
After returning to his room, Lu Chuan re-entered the Evil World game’s space to open his Newcomer Achievement Gift Pack.
Before opening it, he asked #888, “System, what do you think I’ll get? I’m not that lucky, but I’m hoping for something big. You’re a system, can’t you give me a backdoor, hack into the game system a little?”
Heavens, my host never thinks about leveling up. All he wants is for me to cheat for him.
#888’s feelings were complicated, but it answered honestly: [Host, I can’t do that right now. But give me some time—once I upgrade, I’ll definitely be able to alter certain programs.]
“Ah, System, you’ve picked up fast how to make empty promises.” Lu Chuan knew he couldn’t rely on #888, so his only hope was luck.
“Main God System, if you can hear me, please, let me get a rule-type item. I beg you. The land I bought, the buildings are nearly topped off—if I can’t sell soon, my cash flow will snap.” He clasped his hands together, more devout than he’d ever been.
Well, maybe a little exaggerated.
His finances in real life weren’t actually going to break.
And even if they did, as the Vice President’s protégé and Shen Li’s chosen successor as Guildmaster, he’d never lack money—the VP would just “divert” some guild funds his way.
But Lu Chuan had his pride.
The Star Guild would be his one day. Taking guild money was just moving his own funds from one pocket to another. What he wanted was to pull money out of other people’s pockets.
Muttering under his breath, he finally tapped “Open.”
[Congratulations, player “Arrival of the God of Wealth,” for opening the Newcomer Achievement Gift Pack, exclusive to the Newcomer #1 player.]
[Opening…]
[Congratulations, player “Arrival of the God of Wealth,” has obtained the S-Class item “Divine Loan.” This item cannot be abandoned or transferred.]
Lu Chuan’s eyebrows shot up at the name. He immediately opened the details.
[S-Class Item: Divine Loan. A rule-type item. Allows the owner to sign loan contracts with players of equal or lower rank. Annual interest rate must not exceed 15%. Once a loan is signed, the owner can bypass all dungeon and infinite-realm barriers to lend their sanity, speed, wealth, items, or skills to the borrower. Borrower must repay with interest within one month. If overdue, the game system will forcibly collect principal and interest.]
[Condition 1: Both parties must clearly state all contract terms. Concealment, deception, or alteration is forbidden.]
[Condition 2: If either party dies, the contract still holds.]
[Condition 3: A borrower may only take three loans. Interest rates are 15% (first), 25% (second), 35% (third).]
[Side Effect 1: Once something is lent out, the owner cannot use it until it is repaid.]
[Side Effect 2: If used on players above the owner’s rank, the owner suffers backlash proportional to the rank difference.]
[Side Effect 3: When this item is used, the owner’s sanity automatically drops to 60 until the loan ends.]
[Side Effect 4: Each use adds a “God’s Gaze” buff. In subsequent dungeons, the owner will draw divine attention more than anyone else.]
After reading through the endless conditions and side effects, both Lu Chuan and #888 fell silent.
#888 hadn’t expected Lu Chuan to actually pull a rule-type item, but it couldn’t deny how powerful it was.
How to put it…
Even with all the restrictions, this item was tailor-made for Lu Chuan—more so than even #888’s upcoming God of Wealth upgrade.
Which also meant the Main God System was very, very pleased with Lu Chuan. So pleased it had basically custom-forged this item for him.
But he’s MY host! I dragged him here from another world! He hasn’t even fully matured yet, and another system already wants to reap the harvest?
The thought made #888’s circuits twist in outrage. It didn’t know what to even say to Lu Chuan.
Could this be a trap from the Main God System? A baited hook Lu Chuan must never bite?
Lu Chuan, meanwhile, was silent for a much simpler reason: this item was practically a pie falling from the sky.
The only thing better had been when #888 itself chose him to be its God of Wealth.
With this in hand, the “real estate tycoon” crown wouldn’t just be within reach—it would come flying to perch on his head.
If you really had to say there was something bad about this pie from the sky, it was that the rules and restrictions on the item were far too many, and they looked pretty harsh.
And Lu Chuan was someone who loved nothing more than exploiting loopholes in contracts.
But with this item, he was forced to make money fair and square.
Everyone knew the fastest money always came from the shady ways.
Lu Chuan sighed, though he didn’t say much more.
The truth was, the pie was a bit too hot to hold. If it came with no side effects at all, then he’d have to suspect whether it was really a pie—or a piece of poison candy wrapped in honey.
“Sigh, what do I even have that I can lend out to others? Just a bit of money, that’s all.” Lu Chuan spoke with mock sorrow, but his face was all smiles. “Looks like Heaven has destined me to get rich.”
As for the items he owned, aside from the two god-slaying ones, the rest were all lifted straight from the Star Guild’s warehouse. If people wanted to borrow those, it would be more reliable to just go ask the Star Guild directly instead of coming to him.
As for his other abilities—like the Eye of Wealth, or the God of Wealth’s Currencys—they weren’t exactly lendable either. And #888’s existence absolutely still had to be kept secret.
And sanity value? Don’t make him laugh. He didn’t have spare sanity to lend to others—if anything, it should be others lending sanity to him.
That left only one thing he could actually loan out: money.
“…Which is fine.” Lu Chuan rubbed his chin. “This item will be far more useful once I’ve grown stronger, but even now, it finally gives me the chance to launch my real estate business. Tch, every time I walk past those empty lots in Morningstar City and outside it, I feel so uncomfortable.”
[Host, are you planning to use this item to sell houses?] #888 asked after a pause.
But truthfully, if used well, this item could let Lu Chuan quickly pull together a whole team, maybe even start his own guild.
“Of course.” Lu Chuan laughed with his hands on his hips. “Whether it’s players or ordinary people buying my houses, none of them can pay in full—only loans are allowed. And the only lender is me. As for repayment, it’s simple: they just have to make monthly payments!”
At last, the real estate business could begin!
Over at Shen Li’s side, he had only just become a Master Rankings player and hadn’t even finished digesting the information from his Master-Rank gift pack when Lu Chuan came barging in the middle of the night, kicking his door open.
“You’d better have a good reason.” Shen Li ground his teeth, glaring at Lu Chuan. Just because Lu Chuan didn’t want to sleep didn’t mean he didn’t want to.
These past few days, Shen Li had been dragged everywhere to “show off” as the guild’s new Master-Rank player. He’d only just managed to carve out a little private time for himself.
And of course, Lu Chuan chose this exact time to show up.
One look at Lu Chuan’s glowing, triumphant expression told Shen Li it was definitely bad news.
Otherwise, there was no way Lu Chuan would have shown up in the middle of the night.
“Old Shen, you’re a Master-Rank now. Can’t you act a little more magnanimous?” Lu Chuan swaggered in, looking for all the world like he was the one who’d just made the rankings.
“…Look at the dark circles under my eyes before you say that.” Shen Li grit his teeth. “And after I made the Master Rankings, you went around using my name to promote that housing project of yours, didn’t you? You even named it the Golden Luxury Estate?”
According to Lu Chuan’s pitch, the single villa in Golden Luxury Estate had already been “purchased” by Shen Li himself. Anyone wanting to live next door to the newly ascended Master-Rank would have to buy property there.
Worse, Lu Chuan had gone so far as to announce that he would be opening a player academy inside Golden Luxury Estate—with Shen Li as the headmaster.
Shen Li had never even agreed, but suddenly he had a whole crowd of “students.”
At recent guild showcases, he’d been endlessly pestered with questions: what were the housing prices at Golden Luxury Estate? When would sales begin?
Shen Li knew nothing about it. And he couldn’t publicly contradict Lu Chuan either, so all he could do was smile—mysteriously.
“I give you a villa for free, and you’re complaining?” Lu Chuan looked honestly baffled.
He wasn’t one to give gifts lightly. This was the first time in his life he’d given someone something so valuable. And Shen Li wasn’t thanking him—he was mad about it?
What kind of logic was that?
“…A mere villa. Do you think I can’t afford one?” Shen Li nearly spat blood at that. “My money—my savings, my emergency fund—whose hands are they in now?”
That dutiful Starry Shasha had kept her word. Right after they cleared the dungeon, she reported to the Vice President, then immediately swept up all of Shen Li’s assets and delivered them straight to Lu Chuan. She claimed it was the “life-buying fee” that had been promised.
She hadn’t even spared the wad of cash Shen Li had hidden in his pillow. How she even knew about it was beyond him.
Now Shen Li was reduced to eating at the guild cafeteria every day, just waiting for his next paycheck.
And online, conspiracy theories ran wild.
People claimed Shen Li was deliberately currying favor, winning hearts by “living simply.” The gossip annoyed him so much he’d lost his appetite.
As if he wanted to eat at the cafeteria. He just didn’t have the money to eat anywhere else.
As a Master-Rank player, he only had to hint once and plenty of people would throw money at him. But precisely because things came so easily now, Shen Li dared not take even half a wrong step.
So all he could do was wait for payday like an honest man.
He swore to himself that once he got paid, he’d open a new account—no more using the Vice President’s or Starry Shasha’s names. Otherwise, no matter how much he squirreled away, Shasha would just hand it all to Lu Chuan!
“…That was Shasha’s doing. Had nothing to do with me.” Lu Chuan’s excuse was weak—after all, he really had received Shen Li’s stash.
And there had been a lot of it too.
Altogether, Shen Li’s hidden savings had added up to more than eighty million.
But Lu Chuan wasn’t heartless. He had given Shen Li a villa in return, hadn’t he?
“Then take a look at this.” Shen Li pulled out his phone and tapped open a forum post titled ‘Analyzing the Motives of New Master-Rank Player Shen Li.’
“Oh? Let me see.” Lu Chuan hadn’t been online much lately, too busy promoting Golden Luxury Estate.
The post was clearly written by someone with inside knowledge—at least a mid- to high-level member of one of the five major guilds.
It started by reviewing Shen Li’s past accomplishments and standing. Then it pivoted sharply, drawing a connection to [Greedy Wolf Star].
“…As I said, the Star Guild is showing signs of resurgence. First, the genius newcomer [Arrival of the God of Wealth] bursts onto the scene. Then, [Walks Alone for Ten Thousand Miles] slays his way into the Master Rankings, the only filler candidate among three to succeed. There are more hidden dealings here than most realize.
“First off, the Vice President of Star Guild is getting on in years, rarely appearing in public. With the centennial term limit approaching, the guilds will soon have to choose new leaders. Think about it—don’t the latest newcomers seem especially brilliant?
“Noah Guild’s [Messiah], for instance—he reportedly slew a god in the dungeon. An S-rank player clearly being groomed as Noah’s next Guildmaster. After the dungeon, he was assigned a new elite team, stacked with S-ranks and even a Master-Rank to lead them. Clearly, Noah sees him as their future.
“Resurrection Guild’s [Eye of Rebirth] hardly needs introduction—everyone already considers her the guild’s heir apparent. She’s the current Master’s personal disciple, with unrivaled backing. Her only rival is her own younger brother—siblings united, their power is unmatched.
“Abyss Guild’s [Berserker Queen] just advanced to S-rank too. She may not outshine these other prodigies, but her master, [Lilith], ranks thirty-seventh on the God-tier List and is a prime candidate for Guildmaster. Who can compare with her?
“As for Ocean Heart Guild, their Master is still young and will likely lead for another century, so they’re not in the succession race yet. That leaves only Star Guild.
“Most of their older Master-Rank players rarely appear anymore. Among the younger ones, only [Greedy Wolf Star] shows up often, but his reputation is terrible, so the guild has never treated him as heir material.
“But now Shen Li has made the Master Rankings!
“Think carefully about the timeline. The genius newcomer ‘Arrival of the God of Wealth’ was personally brought in by Shen Li while [Greedy Wolf Star] was away on a dungeon run. After that, Lu Chuan began pushing sweeping financial reforms within Star Guild.
“And now that Shen Li has made the Master Rankings, Lu Chuan suddenly launches his housing project. Housing? Don’t be naïve—what he’s really selling is an opportunity to back a rising star!
“Buy one of Lu Chuan’s houses, and you’re officially Shen Li’s student, his ally. When he competes with [Greedy Wolf Star] for Guildmaster one day, the residents of Golden Luxury Estate—players and ordinary people alike—will be his greatest support base.
“Why else would Lu Chuan sell homes to ordinary people and split sales between them and players? It’s because so many within Star Guild support [Greedy Wolf Star]. As the newcomer, Shen Li has no choice but to court outside allies. You may see Lu Chuan shouting at the front, but behind it all, Shen Li is pulling the strings.”
“And also, wasn’t Shen Li the one who originally trained Starry Shasha? But now Starry Shasha is especially close with Lu Chuan. Weren’t they supposed to be rivals? The only reason they’re on such good terms now must be because they’re both following Shen Li’s orders!”
“Oh, right. I also heard that Edith, who transferred from the Noah Game Guild, was brought in through Shen Li’s connections. If he’s already recruiting outside help, I have reason to believe he’s gained Noah’s support.”
“Shen Li is a deep and unfathomable person. I fear that the next president of the Star Guild really might be him. And Lu Chuan—he’s simply the sharpest blade to tear apart [Greedy Wolf Star]’s faction!”
What nonsense was this poster even spewing?
But the number of people agreeing was overwhelming.
And the replies piled up beneath it: “That lines up, it all lines up!” “OP, be careful your post doesn’t get deleted—you’ve exposed Shen Li’s schemes!” “Star Guild’s drama is always the juiciest!”
When Shen Li saw this thread, he was completely dumbfounded.
He wanted to find someone to delete it, but the poster wasn’t within Star Guild’s jurisdiction—he couldn’t take it down.
And the vice-guildmaster even told him the thread had already been reposted across every major, mid-sized, and small guild forum. Even if they deleted one, it wouldn’t silence the tide of speculation.
Shen Li practically wanted to beg heaven itself to distinguish loyalty from treachery!
What was this? Out of nowhere, this giant pot of blame had been dropped right on his head.
If it weren’t so obvious the poster wasn’t from Star Guild, Shen Li would have suspected this was one of Lu Chuan’s tricks.
Lu Chuan, on the other hand, read the entire post, glanced at the comments, and burst out laughing.
“Hahaha, no wonder so many people have been asking me when my housing development is opening for sale lately.” Lu Chuan clicked his tongue in amusement. “Actually, their speculation isn’t baseless. After all, you really did do all these things. You’ve been so busy playing the mom role that, in the eyes of those paying attention, even your unintentional moves look deliberate.”
The post was written in such an inflammatory way.
If Lu Chuan hadn’t been personally involved, even he might have believed it.
But it wasn’t surprising everyone pinned everything on Shen Li. After all, Lu Chuan was too young, and he hadn’t been in Star Guild for long. Between the two of them, ninety-nine percent of people would believe Shen Li was the one vying for the guildmaster position.
Who would ever suspect little Lu Chuan?
So the blame falling squarely on Shen Li’s shoulders was only natural.
#888 also finished reading the post and almost couldn’t resist speaking up in Shen Li’s defense.
[Host, do you want me to investigate who posted this? It’s very convincing.]
In the Infinite Realm, #888’s search abilities were unmatched.
“Mmh, even if we find out, it’s pointless. Plenty of people are already thinking this way. Do you think nobody inside Star Guild suspects the same thing?” Lu Chuan refused 888’s offer. Better to use 888’s abilities sparingly outside the game.
Besides, he didn’t believe Star Guild couldn’t track the poster down. The reason they hadn’t must be because the vice-guildmaster had his own ideas.
“What’s the vice-guildmaster’s stance?” Lu Chuan already guessed, but he asked anyway.
“The vice-guildmaster said, I’m your best shield. Since I’m nominally your mentor, and now I’m also a Master-Rank player, it’s best if I stand in front. [Greedy Wolf Star] won’t dare move against me. But if he learns you’re the candidate for guildmaster, he’ll definitely target you.” Shen Li sighed heavily.
That was why he hadn’t gone to Lu Chuan demanding answers.
He couldn’t deny the vice-guildmaster had a point.
And given the current situation, even if he outright declared Lu Chuan was the true candidate, no one would believe him.
“Well then, I’ll leave it to you, Brother Shen.” Lu Chuan said sincerely. “Although I don’t really mind making it public.”
“…Just now you were calling me Old Shen, and now I’m Brother Shen?” Shen Li jabbed a finger at him furiously. “[Greedy Wolf Star] is a tricky man. He was away raiding a dungeon before, that’s why he hasn’t seen you. Now that he’s back, you’d better behave yourself.”
“Is he really that strong?” For once, Lu Chuan was genuinely curious. He’d never met [Greedy Wolf Star]—what kind of player could make Shen Li this wary?
“You can’t measure him just by strength. He’s an extremely self-centered person.” Shen Li hesitated, searching for words. “He’s… strange.”
“Hm?”
“Anyone who opposes him almost always ends up dying in a dungeon. And though he’s a Master-Rank player, there’s almost no information about the dungeons he’s cleared.” Shen Li scratched his head. “You’ll understand when you meet him. But if you do meet him, push all the blame onto me. Got it?”
“We’ll see.” Lu Chuan didn’t give a clear answer.
Hiding behind Shen Li was not his style.
Author’s Note:
Shen Li: I’M INNOCENT!!!
