Chapter 74: Comparing Misery

The game Zheng Fa wanted was similar to the scroll Shijie Zhang had used to test the Seventh Young Master.

It needed to display a large number of symbol diagrams on the screen for Zheng Fa to select based on Yang Yuanfu, and finally judge the accuracy of his choices.

Zheng Fa understood very well that his greatest advantage was the topological knowledge of this world; more concretely, it was the notebook summarized by Bai Lao.

This was the source of Shijie Zhang's unwavering belief in his talent for the Dao of Symbols.

Something that made Shijie Zhang care so much would make it easy for him to maintain the persona of a genius at the Immortal-Grade Gathering.

What he needed now was to turn the knowledge in this notebook into instinct.

Hearing his request, Bai Lao frowned and thought for a moment: "I am an old antique and don't understand computers well, but this doesn't sound difficult."

Zheng Fa nodded; in his view, this thing was probably at the level of a web-based mini-game.

"Those ghostly diagrams again..." Bai Lao looked at him for a long while and said, "I won't ask why you really want this. This game is easy to handle if you want it easy, and hard to handle if you want it hard."

"How is it hard?"

"It costs money." Bai Lao told Zheng Fa bluntly: "I can ask my former colleagues to see which computer science student is free to make this for you, but it won't be free."

"How much?" Hearing this, Zheng Fa's heart felt very insecure; he truly didn't understand this area.

"How much can you afford?"

Bai Lao knew his family's situation and didn't beat around the bush, asking directly.

Zheng Fa calculated in his mind; he did have savings.

His parents' pension plus their accumulated savings before they passed added up to over a million; back then, community staff helped him open a large time deposit, with annual interest of about fifty thousand yuan.

He did not plan to touch the principal.

But with various miscellaneous subsidies, Zheng Fa's disposable money per year was stable at over fifty thousand yuan.

He lived very frugally, almost never going out or socializing; eating in the canteen five days a week cost less than thirty yuan in total, and on weekends he occasionally bought roast chicken or something to supplement nutrition and improve his diet, so his monthly food spending was just over a thousand.

If adding other miscellaneous expenses, his annual spending was basically controlled within twenty-something to thirty thousand.

Having come to this world for five years, besides that initial million-plus in savings, he had actually gained over a hundred thousand more.

"Eighty thousand?"

He thought for a moment, still leaving some liquid cash, and nervously said out a number.

"..." Bai Lao stared at him for a long time before speaking: "I think you have some misunderstandings about college students."

"..." "Not enough?"

"According to my observation, college students basically share a common trait." Bai Lao said gloomily.

"What?"

"Poor!"

"..."

"Alright, I'll help you ask; don't be too naive and just accept whatever they say, remember to bargain!" Seeing that Zheng Fa really didn't know the market, Bai Lao added this reminder.

Bai Lao acted quickly and soon pushed a contact card to Zheng Fa on the social software.

"I asked around; this student suits you best."

"Is his skill the best?" Zheng Fa asked.

"He's the poorest! Do you think your broken thing needs any skill? If not for the money, who would be willing to do it for you? When I told them, their teacher even laughed at me, saying making this thing insults their computer science students."

"..."

"This person recently got a girlfriend and is short on money."

Understood—sometimes you can only choose between love and dignity.

The person Bai Lao introduced had a profile picture of a white cartoon puppy, with the leash holding the puppy disappearing into the top right corner of the avatar; the username was Han Xiaobai.

He sent a friend request message to the other party, and the other side accepted it very quickly.

"Boss?"

"Hello, do you know the specific requirements?"

"Yes."

"Then may I ask, what is the price for making such a game?"

Zheng Fa saw that the top of the chat box first displayed "Typing..."

Later, this line of text disappeared.

Then the same prompt appeared again, repeating like this, and only after three minutes did he see the other party's reply:

"Fifty thousand!"

Zheng Fa remembered Bai Lao's reminder, moved his finger, and slashed the price to a bone-breaking rate.

"5000!"

The other party fell into an even longer silence.

"Boss, that's too ruthless."

"Just 5000."

"Really can't do it; I'm still a student, give a bit more."

"I'm in Gao San right now, make it cheaper."

"..."

The other party typed a very long paragraph to play the victim:

"You don't know, this money really can't be reduced. I recently got a girlfriend who spends money like crazy; in our computer science major, there are many men and few women, so finding a girlfriend isn't easy; I spent my living allowance on her! Recently she wanted a new phone costing several thousand, and I was too embarrassed to ask my parents for money, so I took this job."

"..."

"You can spend so much money on a game while still in high school; you probably don't understand my difficulties. Recently, I really can't even afford the canteen..."

"... I really envy you for having parents." Zheng Fa pressed his lips together and typed.

"???" The other party first typed a row of question marks, then said: "Damn! 5000 it is!"

That evening, Zheng Fa saw that the other party had sent him several more messages later:

"To be honest, this game isn't difficult; you can just use a free template. The only trouble is inputting those images, which is pure physical labor. Five thousand yuan is barely enough."

"But this game has no future. If your situation is really as you described, I still advise you not to do it."

Zheng Fa replied: "No longer short of money for dating?"

"I'm still short, but this broken game is so trash. I originally thought you were an ignorant big spender and just wanted to scam some money out of you." The other party said honestly: "But given your situation, I can't watch you throw your money away."

"Thanks." Zheng Fa thought for a moment: "I have other uses for making this."

"That's good, I was just reminding you."

"Then how much is the phone? We'll go by that price then."

"Boss is generous! I guarantee I'll make it fast and well!"

"Zheng Fa, what did you do again?" Seeing Zheng Fa suddenly listless again, Wang Chen asked.

"Playing a game." Zheng Fa closed his eyes, the dense symbols and diagrams from the computer screen last night still seeming to linger in his mind.

"Playing a game!" Wang Chen immediately got excited, patting Zheng Fa's shoulder and saying: "Have you finally found your way back from the path of the academic overlord that alienates the masses? What are you playing? Let's duo!"

"A mini-game, you haven't played it."

"What mini-game is so fun?" Seeing Zheng Fa too lazy even to open his eyes, Wang Chen was truly curious.

"Just..." Zheng Fa thought about how to describe it: "It's like being given a face, and you have to find his parents, his grandparents, his aunts and uncles, even his eighteen generations of ancestors... among tens of thousands of faces."

"What's fun about this game?"

"You don't understand, I'm cultivating my talent."

"What talent?" Wang Chen frowned and said: "The talent for doing paternity tests with the naked eye?"

Speaking of this, his gaze toward Zheng Fa suddenly held some sympathy: "I know you feel a bit inferior and under great pressure being with Tang Lingwu, but you must also have some trust in people—at the very least, don't prepare for rain before the clouds even gather this early."

"?"

Xuanwei Realm, Zhang Shijie's small courtyard.

"The rules for this Immortal-Grade Assembly have changed; no fixed grades, but rankings instead." Zhang Shijie said to Zheng Fa and the Seventh Young Master: "The meaning is that it's not enough for your Talisman Dao talent to be good; you must be better than others."

Hearing this, the Seventh Young Master's face changed.