Chapter 67
They followed the man in the baseball cap through the bustling crowd.
The vendors looked up curiously, but didn’t stop hawking their goods, continuously sprinkling water over the merchandise.
The water here wasn’t as black as the sewage in the Poor Village, but it was still murky.
Along the way, they saw intact fish and other seafood, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables.
Soaked in the slightly cloudy water, the goods looked vibrant.
“It all looks so abundant. Compared to the poor, the rich are worlds apart,” Luo Jia Bai sighed. “A single fresh fish could make villagers fight to the death, while the Rich District behind these doors never lacks fish. It’s truly cruel.”
Lu Li stared at an apple.
No matter which angle he looked from, the red of the apple was luscious and tempting, every side exactly the same.
So uniform.
So perfect.
He said softly, “The color is too bright. It looks fake.”
Luo Jia Bai quickly lifted his gaze. When he saw that every vendor and customer wore almost the same smile, he shivered.
The smiling Doll Nuo Nuo from the previous level still left a shadow in his mind.
“There’s a wall ahead, and one behind too…” Luo Jia Bai craned his neck forward and back, comparing repeatedly. “I thought I was seeing things before, but this wall is exactly the same as the one we entered from the Poor Village.”
Lu Li also noticed that the Rich District was surrounded by two high walls.
The separation was obvious.
He asked the man in the baseball cap, “What’s behind that wall?”
The man in the baseball cap was in a good mood. He turned around, looking at Lu Li and the other Players as if looking at shining bags of gold, and smiled, “You poor people always like to aim too high. Don’t think about such unrealistic things. Behind that wall live the Nobles.”
“I’ve lived in the Rich District most of my life and have never seen anyone enter the Nobles’ wall,” he said. “If you can move up one social class and become rich in your lifetime, you should be satisfied.”
Lu Li fell into thought.
The poor, the rich, the Nobles.
The class system was still incomplete.
He asked, “Does your country have a king or government?”
“Shh! The king isn’t someone people like you can discuss so casually!”
The man’s smile froze. He looked as if he’d heard something terrible, glancing around to make sure no one else heard Lu Li’s bold question.
He glanced at the Pearl in Lu Li’s hand, which was beginning to glow faintly as night fell. After a moment’s thought, he said, “We have only one king. No one has seen him for hundreds of years, but so what?”
Feng Shan, who had been following behind Lu Li, clenched his fists, his brow furrowed. After hearing the conversation, he repeated, “No one has seen the king?”
The man in the baseball cap smiled again. “Under the king’s rule, we’re getting richer and never have to worry about food or drink. Isn’t that enough?”
“Who cares what the king looks like?”
Luo Jia Bai pressed, “Is he immortal? Has the same king ruled for hundreds of years?”
The man shook his head. “That’s all I know.”
Lu Li looked toward the edge of the Rich District. “Do you have a sea here too?”
“We live by the sea, of course.”
Lu Li held up the Pearl to the Moon.
Both Moons in the sky were full.
From a certain angle, the Pearl’s shape overlapped with the Moon.
He asked, “Do you know about the Sea Demon?”
The man in the baseball cap replied mechanically, “That’s all I know.”
All of this NPC’s dialogue has been fully mined.
Anything more would be beyond the NPC’s scope of cognition.
He felt as if he was being followed.
Lu Li turned around and looked at Feng Shan.
“Are you afraid of the sun? Always hiding behind me?”
“I’m just returning the favor.” Feng Shan unclenched his fist. His Evil Spirit Bracelet brushed against Lu Li’s wrist. “These 200,000 Points are for you. I don’t like owing people.”
After transferring the Points, he quickly stepped back. Pointing at Lu Li’s face, he said, enunciating each word:
“But that doesn’t mean I think I lost to you.”
Luo Jia Bai slapped Feng Shan’s hand away. “Don’t point at people, that’s rude!”
Feng Shan snorted and left.
Luo Jia Bai muttered, “Even in the Necromancer Game, he still acts like a young master.”
Lu Li looked at his balance and smiled. “He gave me a lot of Points. I’ll share some with you.”
Luo Jia Bai looked a little embarrassed. “I… I didn’t do anything just now, all those Points are for you. But I did pretty well in this Instance, right? If you want to share, just give me a few thousand, or ten or twenty thousand is enough… Holy crap!”
Luo Jia Bai’s eyes widened at the Points Lu Li had casually transferred to him.
“Why did you give me 100,000!? Did you add an extra zero by mistake?” He pretended to hand the extra back to Lu Li.
Lu Li held his hand down. “I’m giving you half.”
Luo Jia Bai was moved, but had few words to express his gratitude. “Lu Li, you’re my boss, you’re my dad!”
Lu Li said, “A son can’t be older than his father. That’s illogical.”
Luo Jia Bai choked, realizing Lu Li had no sense of humor. “In this context, ‘dad’ is just an adjective.”
“Honored guests, we have arrived at our destination.”
The man in the baseball cap doffed his cap. The black iron gate slowly opened, revealing what lay inside.
Mr. Qiao’s villa stood five stories tall, with a fountain at the entrance, looking just like a Castle.
The man in the baseball cap only escorted them to the bottom of the steps. “Mr. Qiao and Mrs. Qiao are inside the villa. Go up the steps and head in.”
–
Mr. Qiao’s villa was so luxurious it was almost overflowing.
The floor of the first-floor hall was piled with gold coins. The walls were hollowed into cubbyholes, each displaying rare marine creatures:
golden, blue, and purple Coral, shells opened wide like Pearl displays, countless gems, jade, and emerald.
When the cubbyholes and tables couldn’t hold any more, the treasures were simply tossed onto the floor.
The players carefully avoided these dazzling, beautiful things, exclaiming:
“My god! Is this a marine life museum?”
“No wonder he’s in the top ten for assets in the Rich District. He’s insanely rich.”
“Pearl is the ticket for the poor to become rich. How many does he have here? I can’t even count!”
A cluster of purple Coral growing out of a cubbyhole bumped into Lu Li’s shoulder.
Lu Li looked down.
He saw a purple mark on his clothes.
He reached out to touch the Coral.
His palm also turned purple.
He muttered to himself, “Are they dyed?”
The color of the Coral was fake.
Bang-
A door deep in the hall swung open.
“Guests, please come through the corridor and join me.”
“My wife can’t wait to meet all of you!”