Chapter 74: Commission

"This," Uncle Xue Jingming put down the bank statement and turned to look at his wife, Li Zhao.

"." Li Zhao fell silent for a long time; as a senior executive at a moderately successful company, she certainly knew the current international financial market situation was far from good.

In the United States, factories were heavily deploying Prometheus Corporation's automated robotic arms, causing laid-off workers to flood the streets in protest. The Middle East burned with war, oil prices remained sky-high, Europe teetered on the brink, and it seemed the Third Season of World War was about to begin.

The stagnation and contraction of overseas markets had spread globally, causing the financial markets to shift three times a day.

When financial conditions were favorable, even pigs could fly if they stood on the right风口. But under current circumstances, still earning stable, substantial profits could not be explained by mere luck or bold gambling—it required exceptional insight and deep knowledge and experience.

In other words, it had entered Li Zhao's blind spot.

After a moment of silence, she slowly looked up and asked: "." Have you found a house yet?

"Found it, in Huangbai District." Li Cheng pulled up his phone gallery and showed her the house he'd chosen, "The lease is signed, appliances are all there, ready to move in with just your bags. I've already booked a moving company—they should arrive any minute. If everything goes smoothly, we can move in right now."

Buzz—

His phone vibrated; a text message showed the moving company had arrived downstairs.

Xue Jingming opened his mouth, "Leave so soon? Won't you stay for dinner or something?"

"No, I have homework to finish tonight."

Li Cheng was not an overly emotional person. After hugging his family (his hug with Aunt Li Zhao was especially awkward), he opened the door and let the movers carry away his four packed boxes of personal belongings. He left the residence where he'd lived for over a decade, and transferred a substantial sum of money into his aunt and uncle's bank account.

With Yuan Zhixia as an insider friend, he didn't need to worry about authorities investigating the source or destination of the funds—saving him the trouble of laundering money himself.

Riding away, watching the building shrink in the rearview mirror, he took a deep breath and calmed his turbulent emotions. All players, himself included, had already passed the point of no return—even those near-godlike Lv40 Transcendents.

————

Moving tip #1: First, observe the neighborhood layout, confirm the positions of surveillance cameras, blind spots, and security patrol times, and plan possible escape routes.

Step two: Inspect every corner of the room for hidden surveillance cameras or listening devices installed by others.

Step three: Take the sound-absorbing panels you already bought from the White Bone Corridor and stick them on the walls to block noise, making it easier to dispose of mammal corpses the size of deer later.

Final step: Carry out a series of renovations to the bathroom—replace the toilet and install your own domestic wastewater filtration system.

Modern technology can achieve effects far beyond most people's imagination—for example, police have a technique called "wastewater drug testing," which analyzes samples from urban sewage systems to detect toxic components in wastewater, giving them complete awareness of drug crime trends across an entire district.

They can identify which areas have drug users, which have drug producers, filter layer by layer, narrow the scope, and ultimately pinpoint exact households.

This technique isn't limited to detecting drugs—it can also detect blood, specific medications, banned chemicals, and more. The Special Affairs Bureau once used this method to identify and locate numerous lone-wolf players secretly taking enhancement drugs.

A true official black weapon.

"Sigh, lone-wolf players are such a hassle—you have to handle your own hair, blood, fingerprints, even shit and piss, afraid someone might secretly collect them and use cursed items like the Nail-Head Seven-Arrow Spell to cast remote curses."

"Self-made shit path, final shit battle, unaware of shit life, born into shit, die in shit."

Just as Li Cheng was tightening the toilet lid screws and making up nonsense idioms, he unexpectedly received a friend request from Changsun Yao.

【I have a commission. Interested?】

Huh? Li Cheng's expression turned surprised. As far as he knew, World Nuclear Peace House, while not a major guild, was far from a small hobby group of just two or three players.

Any simple, easy commission would be handled internally—they wouldn't reach out to outsiders.

Besides, it had only been a month since Li Cheng officially became a Chosen One. With the average player's B-rank completion rating, he was probably around Lv3 now. What kind of good commission could there be?

"But once you're in a line, you love it—I'm a professional mercenary, Da Zai Zhi. Refusing without even hearing the details would make me look unprofessional."

Li Cheng muttered to himself, typed a message on his friend communication panel, and began chatting with Changsun Yao.

The client was a wealthy merchant from the neighboring city who started from nothing and, after twenty years of struggle, amassed nearly a billion in assets.

He himself was fine, but the problem lay with his descendants—his son, young and frail, suffered from chronic illness; his newborn grandson, less than a year old, mysteriously developed bruise marks on his skin, faintly shaped like palms.

The household surveillance cameras showed no source of the bruises; hospital examinations yielded no conclusions.

According to the client, even the Special Affairs Bureau was powerless—their instruments detected no abnormal fluctuations.

Helpless, he turned to World Nuclear Peace House, hoping they could send someone to provide real-time protection for his family over the next two days. The reward: three million cash per person.

Three million cash equated to roughly 240 game currency. Earning 240 in two days wasn't bad.

Consider that new players often struggle to earn 400 points even after exhausting a full scenario mission—and this wasn't even a mission, just simple protection of ordinary people.

If everything went smoothly, nothing unusual would happen. No wonder they'd come to me, a newbie.

Li Cheng asked: "Three million cash per person? That means there will be several players?"

Changsun Yao replied: "Yes. Everyone in my company is temporarily unavailable. Only 【You An Jian】 is free and willing to go. He met you once before in Lousjie. Besides you two, the client has hired two other players through other channels."

【You An Jian】—that young man with round glasses, looking just like Abing?

Li Cheng thought for a moment: "Hiring four players temporarily for two days means paying twelve million. With this merchant's billion-level fortune, he probably couldn't sustain this for long."

"Correct. The merchant's ancestral home is Wudun Town; he later moved to Su City. These two days, Wudun Town is hosting the World Internet Conference—he's attending and bringing his family back home."

Wudun Town is very close to Yin City—just two hours by highway—and it's a picturesque classical Jiangnan water town, a national 5A-level tourist attraction.

Tomorrow and the day after are Saturday and Sunday—no classes. Might as well treat it as a trip. Either way, no loss.

After brief consideration, Li Cheng accepted the commission, received more detailed information from Changsun Yao, and set off for Wudun Town.

(End of Chapter)