Chapter 55: Ad Space for Rent

Before entering the "Everpeace" instance, Wu Chang spent all his Rotten Silver Coins, preparing them as startup capital to make a big profit.

It turned out he indeed made a profit.

One B-rank growth item, two C-rank powerful auxiliary items, and a combat cultivation technique.

If other players were to judge, this wasn't just a profit—it was a windfall.

Even ordinary players who clear an A-rank instance rarely achieve such high returns.

But he had no Rotten Silver Coins left.

To clear the "Everpeace" instance, he spent one set of Terralizard Leather Armor and three Healing Type-I potions, totaling 9,000 Rotten Silver Coins.

Yet his return was only 6,000.

The items he obtained were indeed excellent and powerful, but precisely because of that, Wu Chang could never exchange them for Rotten Silver Coins.

But the harsh reality was that after upgrading the Thunder Law Fragment to E-rank, he had only 5,000 Rotten Silver Coins left—barely enough to buy even one new set of Terralizard Leather Armor.

For new players who had cleared only two instances, 5,000 Rotten Silver Coins was practically an astronomical sum.

But for Wu Chang, this amount was utterly insufficient—even if it were ten times more, he could spend it all easily.

Buying more substantial Deep Abyss game guides, upgrading cultivation techniques, upgrading his space backpack—all required massive amounts of Rotten Silver Coins.

Setting aside those distant needs, right now, before his next instance entry, he had to find a way to acquire new armor and potions.

Wu Chang sighed, his wide eyes filled with two words.

Make money!

The rewards from clearing instances no longer satisfied his voracious material needs—he had to wander the Public Zone and look for ways to make money.

As soon as he entered the Public Zone, deafening shouts of sales erupted from all directions.

Like in other games, becoming a Life Skill player was the most solid and reliable secondary income source.

Players with special skills like forging, sewing, or alchemy could gather raw materials, process them into finished goods, and sell them to other players for profit.

Crafting one set of Terralizard Leather Armor cost only 5,000 Rotten Silver Coins and 30 days of work, yielding a 1,000 Rotten Silver Coin profit.

But solid and reliable meant low efficiency and slow speed.

Not only did acquiring special skills require tremendous effort, but even earning 1,000 Rotten Silver Coins over 30 days from one set of Terralizard Leather Armor was nowhere near enough.

He needed a path to instant wealth!

There were many paths to instant wealth, but very few suited him.

The Public Zone's bounty board, gathering intelligence on high-difficulty instances, and the Lucky Draws and Crimson Card Games in the Entertainment Zone were all ways to become rich overnight.

But he had only entered two instances, and both were broken.

"Broken" meant both the original instance and its projected copies vanished entirely, rendering any intelligence from them worthless.

As for Lucky Draws and Crimson Card Games, if the Goddess of Luck's dice could be used in the Crimson Courtyard, he might give them a try.

Unfortunately, they couldn't.

He wandered the Public Zone all morning and still found no suitable way to make money.

Thinking he couldn't come here for nothing, Wu Chang entered the Public Zone bar, hoping to overhear interesting rumors from other players' boasts.

The Public Zone bar was essentially the combined hub of all Public Zone functions.

It had a spacious main hall for ordinary players to chat and exchange information, and luxury private rooms upstairs for high-level players to conduct business negotiations.

Any hotspot within the Deep Abyss Game, once announced, would be discussed in the Public Zone bar within half an hour.

The hottest topic right now was undoubtedly the new speed-clear record for a C-rank instance.

Eighty percent of the bar's patrons were discussing this record.

Not only did ordinary players care, but all factions paid close attention.

For instance, the TV wall in the bar was broadcasting "Hot Topics of the Week," whose cover this episode featured the C-rank instance speed-clear record.

It was an information roundup show, originally founded by several celebrity players, summarizing recent developments in the Wasteland Realm and revealing explosive but harmless or expired confidential details.

The show gained massive popularity; through advertising and product placement, the lone-wolf founders established a company called United Information, ranking among the top of the third-tier factions.

Later, due to the show's overwhelming success, the Seven Major Organizations of Blue Star gradually invested, turning it into a semi-official program.

Beyond entertainment and gossip, it also served as a channel for major organizations to express demands to solo players.

After all, not all players checked the bounty board, but few players missed "Hot Topics of the Week." Today's hosts were heavyweight figures: Divine Tongue, ranked eighth among the most popular players, and Killing Wave, ranked fifteenth.

Divine Tongue wore a pristine white chef's uniform, with a neat, trimmed mustache; without saying a word, just standing there, he looked like an executive chef.

Killing Wave was the opposite: wearing a sleeveless fighting outfit, greasy hair, and a scruffy beard, radiating pure decadence.

In this outfit, if he covered himself with a blanket under a bridge, you'd find a few steamed buns or two packs of instant noodles beside him the next day.

As internet celebrities, they were top-tier; as players, they were among the strongest in the Wasteland Realm, both having reached the Wasteland Realm's level cap of 30.

Divine Tongue pulled out two bottles of beer, displaying their logos, and said: "Soulburn Beer—burns the soul, awakens energy. One bottle increases temporary Will by 5 and temporary Stamina by 5—the perfect choice for tackling high-difficulty instances. Now added to the Little Green Cart—buy now while stock lasts."

After downing the entire can in one gulp, accompanied by a satisfied groan, Divine Tongue's chef outfit exploded into fragments, revealing a muscular physique.

After their daily product placement and clothing explosion, the two began today's episode.

First, they reviewed several instances whose danger levels had recently spiked, warning players to be extra cautious.

Besides advising players to adjust strategies and prioritize self-preservation, they recommended gathering more intelligence and noting which organizations were paying high prices for specific instance information.

After the instance review came gossip about celebrity players and some post-mortems of instances whose confidentiality periods had expired.

Of course, they only gave the beginnings of the instance post-mortems—stopping just before the real substance.

Below the screen appeared a link: copying it would redirect to their online course titled "Overcoming Impossible Odds in High-Difficulty Instances—How I'm Just a Few Details Away from a God-Level Breakthrough."

Three lessons total, with a tuition fee of 5,000 Rotten Silver Coins—sold out seven or eight hundred copies in an instant.

They easily earned several million in sales.

This efficiency made Wu Chang stare in disbelief—success theory truly worked anywhere for making money.

The show quickly reached its end.

Divine Tongue: "Next up, everyone's most anticipated topic—the hottest recent subject. Blood Thorn, did you see last night's speedrun leaderboard update?"

"I didn't look, but at least thirty old friends forwarded me the leaderboard the moment it dropped," Blood Thorn said, shrugging with a hint of resignation.

Divine Tongue sighed, "Forty-five minutes to clear a Class-C dungeon—and broke the record for the lowest-rank clearance of a Class-C dungeon. I really wonder if that guy's playing on a private server."

"What were we doing when we were levels 8 and 9?"

Blood Thorn thought for a moment, then sighed, "I remember I entered a desert-themed dungeon back then and got lost for five full days. Forty-five minutes? I'd still be struggling to complete the main quest."

Divine Tongue said, "Same here. At that time, I was still grinding Class-D dungeons, each entry filled with thoughts of how to survive longer. But for some people, when they enter a dungeon, it's the boss who has to wonder how to stay alive."

The two raised their cups, clinked them, and exchanged looks of disbelief at the record.

In the public bar on-screen, nearly every player took a sip, then let out a long sigh.

Comparing people leads to death; comparing goods leads to discard.

It's like playing the same game—some are still stuck at the beginning, suffering, while others have cleared the first run and are thinking about speedrunning.

If this were just a game, it'd be fine—you have your techniques and awareness, I have my Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, we each play our own way, and everyone has a bright future.

But of all things, they're playing an MMORPG, all of us on the same Abyss Game server—this is painfully hard to swallow.

The only silver lining is that the big shots on-screen all admit defeat; us small fry don't even need to worry about competing with that guy.

Near the end, Blood Thorn said, "The one who broke the Class-C record—barring surprises—is almost certainly the most valuable mystery newcomer right now. As far as I know, no faction has yet contacted that mystery newcomer."

Divine Tongue added, "Looks like he's going solo. As former solos ourselves, we should warn him—this path isn't easy."

Blood Thorn cleared his throat, speaking as if casually:

"We've witnessed many geniuses on our show, but never before has my intuition been this strong—I feel he might soar to the heavens, shatter this Abyss."

"Not just for him, but for all other talented solos who refuse to be bound—we have some experience to share."

"In the Abyss Game, no one knows each other; reputation is the least valuable thing. Don't cling to that ridiculous 'hero's pride.' Look at us—fame isn't meant to be hidden, it's meant to be monetized. Top spots on the leaderboard fetch high advertising fees."

Hearing this, Wu Chang froze for a moment, then quickly realized and whispered:

"Brilliant!"

Ten minutes later, the top nicknames on both the Class-C and Class-B speedrun leaderboards were no longer hidden—they became visible.

The player nickname displayed was:

Advertising space for rent: 20,000 per campaign. Send collaboration agreements to Temporary Inbox X44.

(End of Chapter)