"Yuhua Road’s Lin Zhiling’er speaking. Who’s this?"
The call connected quickly, and Ma Siyu’s lazy voice came through.
Wu Jun said, "This is Guo Fucheng from the Tianyuan Complex."
Ma Siyu said, "Spit it out. But if you’re just gonna fart, please don’t do it into the phone. I’m allergic. Stink-rejected!"
Wu Jun paused, then said, "Auntie..."
"Hm?" Ma Siyu said impatiently. "Out with it. How much? The second you call me ’Auntie,’ I know my wallet is about to get its period."
Wu Jun couldn’t be bothered with pleasantries either and got straight to the point. "Whatever you’ve got. The more, the better. The sooner, the better. It’s an emergency."
"’An emergency’ again?" Ma Siyu asked. "Did you knock someone up? You couldn’t hold it in after I left that night?"
"I held it in. It’s not that," Wu Jun said, looking embarrassed. "Just hurry up. No more nonsense, I need it now."
With that, Wu Jun hung up.
Two minutes later, his phone chimed with a transfer notification.
The goofball had sent him every last cent, down to the decimal point: 32,158.6.
Wu Jun transferred 2,000 back to her with a message: "Keep some for food money. You’ll have to wait a few more months before you can start living on air."
Ma Siyu didn’t accept the transfer and replied: "Ever heard of ’so beautiful you could eat her up’? When I get hungry, I just look in the mirror and I’m full."
Wu Jun texted back: "Because you got nauseous?"
Ma Siyu sent back an angry emoji, followed immediately by a notification that she had accepted the transfer.
After their daily bout of friendly insults, Wu Jun put away his personal phone and picked up the one linked to Resource Tycoon. He converted the 30,000 RMB into 300 Game Coins.
In the game, he still had one Farmer named Little Red. With these 300 Gold Coins, he could purchase two acres of rice paddies and recruit another Farmer, boosting his in-game production to two tons per day.
It was a drop in the bucket, but it was better than nothing.
The top-up was successful.
He tapped [Purchase Farmland].
Two large words appeared on his phone screen: Operation Failed!
Wu Jun stared, dumbfounded.
Then, another line of text appeared: [Main City destruction has reached 99%. Please repair the Main City before proceeding with other operations.]
Wu Jun went back to the Main City page to check. What was once a small thatched hut was now just a single, lonely piece of straw sticking out of the ground. It was a pathetic sight.
’It makes sense that I need to repair the Main City first. I can understand that. No problem.’
He tapped [Repair Main City]!
Game prompt: [Operation failed. Repairing the Main City requires 10,000 Gold Coins. You have insufficient Gold Coins. Please top up!]
Seeing this prompt, Wu Jun was dumbfounded. The price was incomprehensible!
’Repairing a tiny thatched hut costs 10,000 Gold Coins!’
’That’s the equivalent of one million RMB! Not even real estate in Beijing is that expensive!’
’This is a total cash-grab game. Confirmed!’
He had thought 500,000 would be enough, but the cost had instantly tripled to 1.5 million. Not even the domestic real estate market saw price hikes that insane!
If he couldn’t get the in-game production up to 25 tons a day on the very first day, the required daily output would only increase as the deadline got closer.
To produce 125 tons of rice in five days, he needed to get the in-game production capacity up to 25 tons per day.
To do it in four days, daily production would need to be over 30 tons, which would cost at least 600,000.
To get it done in three days, he’d need to boost production to over 40 tons, which would mean topping up over 800,000!
The math was simple: the sooner he could scrape together the one million needed to repair the Main City, the better.
’But where am I supposed to borrow more than a million RMB!’
A month ago, he was stressing over a mere 80,000 for his father’s surgery.
The surgery was over, and his dad was awake. He’d thought the worst was behind him, but now, just a day later, he had to find a way to borrow more than a million.
He’d already hit up all his relatives for his dad’s surgery fees, and so far, he had only managed to pay back the 50,000 to his uncle’s family.
’If I ask them again, they probably couldn’t come up with the money even if they sold everything they own.’
’But I have to pay this "tuition fee." If I can’t bring myself to spend this one million, Resource Tycoon will be a complete waste.’
’Someone who could cough up more than a million just like that...’
An image floated into Wu Jun’s mind: a figure in a security guard’s uniform, "brandishing his brush" with a can of spray paint on a car window. Old Luo.
Wu Jun remembered how, during dinner a couple of days ago, Old Luo had offhandedly said he could lend him a million or so.
He found Old Luo’s number and was about to dial, but then he glanced at the time on his phone. It was nearly one in the morning. In the end, his finger tapped the back button.
’It’s not right to disturb someone so late at night while they’re sleeping.’
’The matter is urgent, but my eyebrows aren’t on fire just yet. I’ll wait and contact him tomorrow.’
He had a good relationship with Old Luo, but it was nothing compared to his friendship with Ma Siyu.
Besides, if you’re going to ask for over a million, it’s better to do it in person and write up an IOU on the spot.
No one would feel comfortable lending that much money over the phone based on a verbal promise alone.
He put away the phone linked to Resource Tycoon.
Wu Jun lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
He had thought he was about to become a millionaire. Instead, he’d become a "million-debt-aire."
The difference of a single word, but the change was too drastic. It felt like he’d plummeted from the white clouds into the black soil below.
He tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. His mind raced with one thought: if Old Luo turned him down, where else could he possibly borrow that much money?
’I’ve only known Old Luo for less than a month. Was he just being polite, or would he actually lend me over a million, just like that?’ Wu Jun couldn’t be sure.
「Five in the morning.」
The moment Xu Fei walked into the supermarket, she was startled by the sight of Wu Jun emerging from the bedroom, walking stiffly with dark circles under his eyes.
"Wu Jun, did you not sleep well? You have such terrible dark circles." Xu Fei came forward, took his arm, and started pushing him back toward the room. "Did I wake you when I came in? It’s still early. Go back and get some more sleep."
Wu Jun, weak from a sleepless night, said, "Xu Fei, I’m hungry."
"You go lie down for a bit, then. I’ll go make breakfast right away." Xu Fei pushed Wu Jun into the room, gently closed the door, and headed for the kitchen.
Less than half an hour later, breakfast was ready. Xu Fei served the food, set out the bowls and chopsticks, and called Wu Jun to come eat.
After the meal, Xu Fei started washing the dishes while Wu Jun headed to the bathroom.
He washed his face and stared at his own awful, defeated reflection in the mirror. He scrubbed his face vigorously with a towel for a moment. When he lowered it, the look of dejection was gone.
Wu Jun said to his reflection, "No one’s going to pity you just because you look miserable. If you can’t even handle a little difficulty like this, you might as well just delete the account and quit the game. Go back to just running this little supermarket and scraping by."
"You can do this, man." Wu Jun encouraged his reflection, then turned and walked out of the bathroom.
Before, when he was borrowing money for his dad’s surgery, he had lacked confidence because he didn’t know when—or even if—he’d be able to pay it back.
This was completely different. It was a whole other story.
As long as he got the loan and overcame this current hurdle, he could pay it all back within a few days.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank deal alone would bring in 1.25 million. Could this even be called borrowing? ’This is financing.’
’That’s right. Financing.’
By the time he came out of the bathroom, Wu Jun had completely shaken off his gloomy mood.