Chapter 3
Chapter 3
After a brief silence, Qiao Yu’s Live Stream Room was inexplicably tipped another 1 gold coin by a certain ‘enthusiastic’ viewer.
Qiao Yu looked at the balance of 3 gold coins and felt a secret surge of joy.
He had already made 300 bucks in such a short time? It seemed he had discovered a strange way to strike it rich.
Clack, clack, clack, clack-
A series of hurried footsteps suddenly echoed outside the door. The person was walking faster and faster, appearing outside the room before Qiao Yu had time to react.
It was a middle-aged man wearing grey loungewear, his ordinary face etched with a hint of anxiety. “Why did you run off to this place? Weren’t you here to rent a room?”
Qiao Yu blinked, looking like he hadn’t quite processed the situation yet.
“What are you standing there for? Hurry up and follow me!” The man stepped inside and reached out to pull Qiao Yu. “Quite a few people came to rent rooms today. If you don’t go now, all the good rooms will be picked over… Hiss, why are your hands so cold?”
The middle-aged man hurriedly let go of Qiao Yu’s wrist, staring at him with a look of astonishment.
Qiao Yu took the opportunity to shiver. “I might have frozen while I was in the Basement.”
Hearing this, the Landlord involuntarily raised his hands to hug his own shoulders. “That makes sense. I told you not to wander around. What if you catch a cold?”
At this point, the Landlord’s expression softened slightly. “But it’s fine. We have a doctor living in our apartment, a man named Zhuang. If you catch a little cold or something, just go see Doctor Zhuang. It saves you the trouble of traveling all the way to the hospital. Don’t worry, Doctor Zhuang is a very nice person. He doesn’t even charge a registration fee, and the medicine is cheaper than what the hospital prescribes…”
Amidst the Landlord’s incessant chatter, Qiao Yu was led up to the fourth floor. He then saw six other… tenants waiting for the Landlord in the hallway.
Or perhaps they weren’t just tenants, because Qiao Yu noticed that as soon as he came up, everyone turned to look at him simultaneously, their expressions uniformly solemn.
“Everyone’s here now. This is the only floor that isn’t full yet.” The Landlord approached the other six people in the hallway and said with a smile, “Except for Room 4001 and Room 4004, there are exactly seven rooms left. Decide among yourselves who stays where, and once you’ve agreed, we can sign the contracts.”
After saying this, the Landlord pulled a set of keys from his pocket and gave them a loud jingle. The sound of metal clashing echoed through the empty hallway, the ringing persistent.
Hearing this, Qiao Yu casually pushed open a door and poked his head in to check the room’s condition.
To his surprise, it was fully furnished, clean, and tidy, and it even had a private bathroom.
Ignoring the series of eerie events from earlier, this was actually a good place to live-cheap and comfortable.
“Are there any other rooms? Are there any vacant rooms for rent on the third floor?”
While Qiao Yu was looking at the room, a male tenant in a black suit suddenly spoke up.
Meanwhile, the others stood silently in place, not boldly inspecting the rooms like Qiao Yu. They were like motionless puppets, extremely cautious.
The Landlord frowned upon hearing the question and sighed. “I’m sorry. Although our apartment is old, the environment is top-notch and the price is cheap. There are no vacancies downstairs at all. Only these seven rooms are left on this floor. If you don’t want to stay here, you’re welcome to look elsewhere.”
The Landlord’s meaning was clear: there were only these seven rooms. Take it or leave it; there were plenty of people looking to rent, and he didn’t need this one specific tenant.
The Suit Man turned to look out the window. It was a hazy mist out there; visibility was so low that the sky and the streets were completely obscured.
Furthermore, since they had been selected by the Live Stream Room to start an Instance, wanting to leave before completing the mission was nothing more than a pipe dream.
The Suit Man finally gave up. He moved quickly to pick a key from the Landlord’s hand, specifically choosing Room 4006-a room that was neither at the beginning nor the end of the hall.
The other five people rushed forward in a frenzy, scrambling to grab the keys from the Landlord’s hand.
The chaos only subsided when only the keys for 4003 and Room 4005 remained.
Qiao Yu locked eyes with a thin, small boy standing not far away. Their eyes, though different, clearly conveyed different meanings.
The thin boy’s eyes were brimming with tears, looking utterly pitiful, while Qiao Yu’s face was a mask of blank confusion.
“I told you not to go running off!” The Landlord sighed, handing the two remaining keys toward Qiao Yu. “Only two rooms left. Which one do you want?”
Qiao Yu looked at the two iron keys before him, then turned to the thin boy. “Ahem… why don’t you choose first?”
The thin boy let out a sob, his voice thick with a nasal quality. “Is there even a difference?”
“Of course there is.” Qiao Yu pushed open the doors to 4003 and Room 4005 one after the other. After a quick scan of the interiors, he said, “4003 is bigger than Room 4005, but Room 4005 has air conditioning. Do you want the air-conditioned Room 4005 or the more spacious 4003?”
The thin boy: “…”
The other streamers: “……….”
The Live Stream Room: “…………………..”
-Pfft, is this streamer here to do a comedy routine?
-I really admire his optimistic and resilient heart. I’d love to taste what his heart is like; it might be surprisingly delicious.
-+1
-+10086
-+ID card number and phone number.
[System Message: Viewer *** tipped streamer I’m Your Dad 2 Gold Coins]
[System Message: Viewer *** tipped streamer I’m Your Dad 1 Gold Coin]
……..
Ignoring the malice in the Live Stream Room, Qiao Yu stared excitedly at the string of tips, calculating his earnings in his head.
Suddenly, a timid voice spoke up beside him.
“I’ll take 4003.”
Perhaps influenced by Qiao Yu, the thin boy pulled himself together. He wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and took the key for 4003.
Never mind the air conditioning; having more space meant at least he’d have more room to run.
The thin boy thought miserably to himself.
“Young man, then Room 4005 is yours.” The Landlord placed the final key in Qiao Yu’s hand, then pulled out a stack of paper contracts. He smiled. “Shall we sign the rental agreements now?”
The various tenants pulled out wallets or phones, paying the Landlord with genuine sincerity.
One month’s rent plus a security deposit: one thousand yuan.
Qiao Yu looked at the 7 gold coins displayed in the Live Stream Room and clicked to exchange them. Combined with the cash he had on him, he just barely managed to scrape the amount together.
He just didn’t know if this money was like throwing a meat bun at a dog-gone forever.
Seeing that the other streamers had already paid, Qiao Yu had no choice. He clutched the thousand yuan that hadn’t even warmed in his hand yet and reluctantly handed it over to the Landlord.
-WTF???
-He actually converted it all into cash. I really want to see how weird this streamer’s brain chemistry is.
-I’m dead. You can exchange gold coins for cash, but you can’t exchange cash for gold coins! This big idiot… if I eat him, will I catch his stupidity?
Following Qiao Yu’s bizarre maneuver, the audience in the Live Stream Room, which had been nearing a hundred, instantly plummeted to 49.
Qiao Yu: “…”
You’d have to be a total moron to pass up money!
Besides, who would use real money to buy some useless virtual currency? You guys are the real idiots!
Qiao Yu grumbled indignantly in his head, rolling his eyes so hard they nearly reached the back of his skull.