Chapter 458: Thirty Years East of the River

(Modified)

Accompanied by the golden toad's confident statement, the small mountain of gold wheels in front of it instantly disappeared and appeared out of thin air in front of Hearing Li Ang.

And Hearing Li Ang, who received the "payment," suddenly let out a scream, covering his ears in pain.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz!!!"

Accompanied by a buzzing sound a hundred times harsher than any time in the past, a mechanized prompt sounded in Hearing Li Ang's ears.

【Warning, anomalous object "Wealth-Changing Golden Toad" is attempting to change system ownership】

【System ownership cannot be transferred, change operation rejected】

【Warning, anomalous object "Wealth-Changing Golden Toad" is attempting to change system ownership】

【System ownership cannot be transferred, change operation rejected】

【...】

"How could this be..."

Looking at Hearing Li Ang, who although had a face full of pain, didn't add a single wrinkle to his face, and whose hair didn't turn white at all, the golden toad couldn't help but widen its eyes in surprise.

This is thirty thousand gold wheels! It's enough to buy the lives of a dozen people, and it can't even make him look old? Is the Cleanup Bureau's salary that high?

The golden toad, not believing in evil, moved back, stretched out two hands to gather five times more gold wheels than before, and pushed them all toward the man in front of it.

"Fifteen thousand!"

"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"

【Warning...】

【... rejected】

"Fifty thousand!!"

【Warning...】

【... rejected】

"One million!!!"

【Warning...】

【... rejected】

"Ah!!! It hurts!!!"

"This is impossible!!!"

Why can a human be so valuable?!

Looking at Hearing Li Ang, who was screaming while holding his head but just wouldn't die, the golden toad, whose worldview had been hit hard, gritted its teeth, opened its mouth to the maximum, and spat out enough gold wheels to form a river in one breath.

"These... add them all!!!"

Like a gambler who had lost his mind, the golden toad, whose meaning of existence was challenged, began to spit out gold wheels with all its might, until the gold wheels submerged Hearing Li Ang's chest, until a huge mountain of gold rose in the center of the shopping plaza, until its golden skin turned faintly pale. Only then did it rest for a while, however...

【Warning...】

【... rejected】

"Ah..."

After five minutes of noise bombardment, whether his ears were completely deaf or he had slowly gotten used to the stinging pain brought by the noise, Hearing Li Ang not only stopped screaming and stood up straight, but because of the intense "exercise" just now, a layer of healthy flush even appeared on his face.

"..."

Impossible! I don't believe it!! It shouldn't have been like this!!!

Looking at Hearing Li Ang, who was even in better spirits than before, except for being a bit uncomfortable from being squeezed by the gold wheels, the golden toad only felt a buzz in its brain, as if someone had smashed a hammer on its crown, and the whole toad fell down with a thud, unable to climb up for a long time.

"I told you long ago that many things cannot be measured by money!"

Seeing that this guy who didn't believe in evil finally stopped and wouldn't toss anymore, and his ears didn't have to suffer from the noise, Hearing Li Ang couldn't help but breathe a long sigh of relief.

After climbing out of the gold wheels that submerged his chest with difficulty, he thought for a long time about how to talk back, climbed onto the gold wheel mountain with his hands and feet, looked down at the golden toad full of resentment below, gathered his courage, and bluffed half-truthfully:

"Although I am just an insignificant ordinary person, struggling for a meager salary every day, and as you said, selling my life in disguise. But I know very well in my heart that I am not a slave to money! I have never lived for money! So even if you can dominate money at will, you absolutely cannot buy my life!"

"Nonsense!"

Provoked by the disdain in the "slave's" eyes, the severely faded golden toad struggled to get up, its giant head arched again, raised higher than the gold mountain, and then opened its mouth wide at Hearing Li Ang on the gold mountain, trying to spit out more gold wheels to buy this human's life.

However, this time, what it spat out was no longer dazzling gold wheels, but a large number of silver-white currencies carved with patterns, covering this dazzling gold mountain with a layer of pale white snow cap.

"Why did you change to silver wheels? Don't you have money anymore?"

"I do!"

After spitting out massive amounts of silver wheels again, only to find that it still had no effect on Hearing Li Ang, a flash of wavering appeared in the silver toad's eyes, but it soon firmly raised its head and responded angrily:

"I am the holy spirit of the Chengjin Sect! My wealth is endless! It's just that I consumed too much power because of the descent. Once I leave here, return to..."

"Don't be silly, no matter how much money you can spit out, the result is the same!"

Hearing Li Ang, who was submerged to his chest by silver wheels again, sneered, secretly took out a wine bottle and took a big gulp. After relying on the effect of 【Martyr of the Wine Country】 to completely suppress the remaining fear in his heart, he looked up at the giant toad that was faintly turning copper-colored, bullied it for not understanding the existence of the system, and continued to "attack" aggressively:

"You open your eyes and look, isn't the relationship between me and money just like this mountain you spat out?"

After reaching out to push aside the heavy silver wheels and struggling out of the "snow cap," Hearing Li Ang occupied the highest point of the gold and silver mountain again, looked down at the faded toad below, and said with full disdain:

"Admit it, as long as I can stay awake, not be paralyzed and buried by the magic of money, but struggle toward a higher and greater goal, no amount of money is worthy of being under my feet!"

"Crack!"

"I don't believe it!"

Accompanied by a clear cracking sound, the toad, which had a large number of cracks on its body, suddenly raised its head, roaring "I don't believe it" while trying hard to raise its head, trying to arch back to a position higher than Hearing Li Ang.

However, under the blessing of a huge gold and silver mountain, no matter how hard it tried, it could only be a head lower than Hearing Li Ang, bearing Hearing Li Ang's full disdain from below.

"This is impossible!!!"

Feeling a certain great humiliation from the other party's looking down, the faded toad struggled to support its body, jumped upward suddenly, trying to climb the gold and silver mountain, and look down at Hearing Li Ang again.

However, even a small mountain made of gold and silver could not support a giant beast six meters tall. Half of the gold and silver mountain collapsed instantly. The toad, which had barely jumped up, could only roll and crawl down again, panting with difficulty while looking up at Hearing Li Ang on the top of the mountain with dizziness.

"Look, even the money you dominate has started to abandon you now."

"Crack!"

Hearing Li Ang, who made up for the knife in time, sat cross-legged on the "silver wheel snow cap" that was a full meter thick, looked down at the toad full of unwillingness below, first shook his head silently, then grabbed a handful of silver wheels and threw them down, covering the toad's skin that was cracking deeper and deeper, and sighed:

"I, who have been pursuing money all my life, am now standing on countless money, while you, who consider yourself the master of money, can only be buried under money. Thinking about it carefully, don't you find it ironic?"

"Crack!"

No... this is not true! This is not true!

Looking at his body that was almost completely shattered, the cracked toad, which no longer had the strength to climb up, held onto its last hope, raised its head and questioned angrily:

"It's an anomalous object! It's an anomalous object, right? You must have an anomalous object of extremely high status! Even powerful enough to resist my ability!"

"If you think so, then so be it."

After showing off his arms that still didn't have much muscle, Hearing Li Ang shook his head and sneered, bluffing shamelessly:

"You guessed right, I do have an incomparably powerful anomalous object, with a status higher than a True God, but it has no blessing on my body, which leads to me not even being able to lift an iron box now, and I can only carry that sheep head with a shopping bag to do tasks.

Oh right, just now you couldn't buy everything I have, it was because its status was too high, so your ability couldn't take effect... Hehe, if I say so, can it give you a little comfort?"

"I... I..."

"Forget it, you are just a pitiful guy."

After forcibly making a conclusion for the cracked toad's life, Hearing Li Ang, sitting on the gold and silver mountain, suppressed the excitement of being about to mouth-kill a holy spirit, and narrated leisurely:

"I have always felt that a person's view of this world is actually just a projection of his own values.

You see someone making noise, but what you see is not the person making noise, but your own disgust for noise;

You see someone working hard, but what you see is not the person working, but your own appreciation for effort;

This world is clearly so vivid and beautiful, but you not only can't feel it at all, but can only see a group of slaves dominated by money..."

When he said this, Hearing Li Ang paused, looked at the giant toad that was shattering inch by inch below, and said softly with full pity:

"Are those who are struggling to live buried by the magic of money... or are you who see them like a group of slaves?"

"Crack!"

"Clatter!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 459 =====