July 21st,
Lu City.
The humid air was so thick you could practically "wring" out droplets of water!
An old, yellowed air conditioner hummed incessantly. Lin Shan, seated in front of his computer in the bedroom, wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead.
Lin Shan, focused on the screen, was diligently operating his five accounts, frantically clearing maps in the "Little Thunder Sound Temple" in the game.
He wasn't just trying to catch rare Great Force Jin Gangs, his five characters' "Empty Hands" skill had also reached level 10.
With good luck, the Mist Fairy cards and Spirit Crane cards he could collect each day would be enough for a small profit.
As he entered another battle, Lin Shan finally encountered his first Great Force Jin Gang of the day!
Usually, it took him three to four hours to find one. He couldn't believe his luck, it was only 1 hour and 45 minutes into the day and he had already hit the jackpot!
But just as Lin Shan, overjoyed, pressed alt+G to capture it!
Suddenly!
The screen in front of Lin Shan went black!
It was the eighth power outage of the month!
With the humming of the air conditioner ceasing,
The already stuffy room instantly transformed into a furnace.
"Damn it! My Great Force Jin Gang!"
Enraged, Lin Shan was about to grab his phone and call the property manager,
But his father's call came in first.
"Shanzi, how are you? Is it hot where you are?"
It was rare for his usually quiet father to proactively care for him.
His father lived in their hometown and made a living farming and doing odd jobs. He had guaranteed a loan for his younger brother, Lin Shan's uncle, years ago.
But the uncle's business had failed, and he ran away, leaving his wife and children behind.
Even though Lin Shan's father tried everything he could, he was ultimately left with the 650,000 yuan debt as the guarantor!
"Dad!"
"I'm fine, you take care of yourself. Don't be stingy and spend some money. This debt won't be paid off overnight. You have to take care of your health!"
"I've already transferred the bank payment for next month to your account!"
Lin Shan knew his father loved him dearly. Although he rarely called Lin Shan, Lin Shan often heard from his mother that his father worked tirelessly to make ends meet and pay off the debt that wasn't even his own.
"I know, just send 3,000 yuan next month,"
"I found a high-paying odd job,"
"Keep some money for yourself too, it's time you found a girlfriend."
27-year-old Lin Shan had been assigned to a large factory after graduating from college.
Although his income was decent in the city, the cost of living was also significantly higher than in his hometown.
In order to make extra money to help his father repay the debt in his free time,
Lin Shan would use his five accounts to clear maps, catch Great Force Jin Gangs, catch Chi Guos whenever he had time.
He had also maxed out the "Empty Hands" skill on all five accounts.
Mist Fairy cards, Flame Demon God cards, Spirit Crane cards...
Almost all of the card production in the server was done by Lin Shan's five accounts!
He even had quite a few loyal customers in the server.
Every little bit helps. While it was hard work, it was still a decent income.
He would play the game and sell Chi Guos, Great Force Jin Gangs, and transformation cards while he was at work.
After work, he would start "clearing maps" and continue until midnight!
While his colleagues were out clubbing and drinking with girls,
Lin Shan would be alone in his stuffy bedroom, blowing on his not-very-cold air conditioner,
drinking a huge bucket of "Ice Red Tea" that only cost 3 yuan,
continuing to "strive" in the map scenes of Fantasy Westward Journey!
A bottle of liquor at a club might cost the same as a month's worth of catching Great Force Jin Gangs and Chi Guos and stealing transformation cards!
But for the sake of paying off the debt, Lin Shan had no choice. He couldn't bear to see his father sent to jail!
He couldn't bear to see the house they had lived in for a lifetime taken away as collateral and auctioned off!
He couldn't bear to see his parents homeless!
As these thoughts came to him, the helpless expression on Lin Shan's face seemed to lessen.
Perhaps this was his destiny.
"I know! You take care of yourself. I'm hanging up!"
After just a few words, Lin Shan hung up the phone.
He tossed his phone aside and was about to get up and take a cold shower.
Suddenly, "hum, hum, hum!"
The air conditioner hummed back to life.
The power was back on!
This old apartment was a 560 yuan monthly rental,
one of the cheapest in the "village in the city."
For such a cheap place, of course "luxury items" like air conditioners wouldn't be included.
This humming contraption on the wall was a 280 yuan second-hand purchase from the used goods market.
So Lin Shan sat back down at the screen and restarted his computer.
He glanced at the time,
10:45 pm!
There was still over an hour until midnight.
Although he had unfortunately missed the first Great Force Jin Gang of the day due to the power outage,
He still had time.
If he wanted to make up for the loss, Lin Shan needed to step up his pace!
So Lin Shan quickly logged into his characters, without a moment's hesitation.
His five-member team of Great Force Jin Gang catchers and card stealers quickly assembled.
But as Lin Shan controlled his characters and entered battle once again,
The system message that appeared before him shocked him.
His tightly furrowed brow and focused eyes instantly widened!
Even though the room was sweltering hot, Lin Shan shivered uncontrollably as he saw the system message, goosebumps even rising on his skin!
"Miao Shou Shen Tou system activated successfully!"
"Empty Hands skill use count 10000/10000!"
"Empty Hands skill successfully evolved into Miao Shou Shen Tou."
"Note: Mission reset successful."
"Note: Miao Shou Shen Tou use count 0/50000, will evolve again!"
An excited Lin Shan immediately leaned his sweat-drenched face close to the screen,
carefully reading every word in red font!
"Me? I've been bound by a system?"
"Miao Shou Shen Tou can be used on NPCs, and will yield unexpected results!"
Although everything happened so suddenly, Lin Shan's mind was still in a daze.
But seeing the words "unexpected results" in the system description,
Lin Shan's heart skipped a beat!
Empty Hands had turned into "Miao Shou Shen Tou?"
Did this mean I'm about to cause some chaos in the Three Realms of this game?