The Tycoons
Late at night, in a capsule hotel near the Federal Medical University of Central Star, a middle-aged man with a severed arm suddenly opened his eyes from deep sleep. Faintly visible in his eyes was a dark red vertical pupil.
Xi Guican took in every detail of this small room, one meter high, one meter wide, and one meter eight long. It reminded him of the dim underground basement he had once inhabited — both similarly enclosed and cramped.
Despite this capsule room being white in color and equipped with temperature controls, it couldn’t hide the fact that it was just slightly larger than a gaming pod.
This was Xi Guican’s first time staying in such… cramped quarters.
Even sitting upright was difficult; one wrong move and his head would hit the ceiling. If it were his own body, he would probably have to curl up, as his long legs had nowhere to stretch out.
After accessing Xuan Wulian’s memories, Xi Guican understood that he was staying in a capsule hotel near the university.
Every year on the freshmen’s enrollment day, there would be an astonishing number of parents accompanying their children to the Federal University District. Central Star’s universities were among the top in the Federation, and for most parents, being able to walk their offspring into the campus was their greatest happiness.
However, there arose a problem during this time. Some students came from remote planets, and their parents couldn’t afford the high hotel accommodation fees. In Central Star, even the cheapest single room cost five hundred stars per night. Opting for cheaper options meant risking unsafe lodgings in disorderly outer districts, where one had to mentally prepare for potential robbery or even murder in the middle of the night.
To save money, these parents chose the cheapest standing positions on interstellar spaceships, enduring journeys of seven hours or more just to accompany their children to campus and hastily return to catch the last shuttle, ensuring they didn’t miss their way back.
In response to this situation, capsule hotels sprang up near the university —
“Only fifty stars per night! Plus shared bathrooms! Half price with student ID~”
The only downside to capsule hotels was their small space. As for why they were designed so small, besides cost-cutting, it was speculated that it prevented university students from using them for undesired activities.
Xuan Wulian had traveled from Star Fifteen to Central Star this time to visit his offspring — although his child had grown up, in his heart, Xuan Wulian still saw him as an infant. An infant who needed his care.
The mechanical arm he received as a game reward was comparable to the Federation’s highest-grade mechanical arms, complete with lifelike skin and a connection to his mental consciousness, enabling Xuan Wulian to control it flexibly. No one could tell it was a prosthetic just by looking at it.
Xuan Wulian wanted to use the mechanical arm to cook a meal for his offspring, to wash clothes for him.
His culinary skills were actually not bad, and he washed clothes quite cleanly. However, losing his arm meant he couldn’t manage many simple tasks.
His child had been drinking nutrient fluid for years, always going to school in clothes that weren’t properly cleaned…
He was an irresponsible father. Xuan Wulian thought to himself with self-reproach.
And soon it would be Xuan Wulian’s fiftieth birthday. This year, he wanted to celebrate it with his offspring.
To surprise his child, Xuan Wulian hadn’t told him about his visit. It was already late when he arrived on the interstellar spaceship, so he checked into a capsule hotel, planning to get up early the next day to prepare ingredients.
Thus, when Xi Guican read Xuan Wulian’s memories, he discovered that Xuan Wulian’s thoughts were focused on various ingredients and recipes.
“…I don’t want to know about these.” Xi Guican thought expressionlessly.
As he thought about it, the face of He Ruge suddenly appeared in his mind.
If the plan to “go to the best restaurant for a date” was disrupted, then cooking a home-cooked meal himself was actually not a bad choice.
He nodded in satisfaction, accidentally knocking his head against the cramped capsule room.
“Keep it down! Do you want to disturb people’s sleep in the middle of the night?!”
The next-door guest had a bad temper and hammered on the capsule room forcefully.
Matching the low price was extremely poor soundproofing.
Xi Guican’s face darkened again. He opened the small round door of the capsule room, put on his shoes, thought for a moment, then removed the mechanical arm and left it inside the capsule room before walking out of the hotel.
With empty sleeves swaying, Xi Guican felt uncomfortable. Initially, he had donated nearly five thousand stars to Xuan Wulian in the virtual arena.
Xuan Wulian gave a thousand stars to his child as living expenses and saved the remaining four thousand, planning to save more money. Once the Seventeen Stars allowed resettlement, he would use this money to buy a house on Seventeen Stars.
Ten thousand stars could buy a decent two-story building on Seventeen Stars. Xi Guican had helped Xuan Wulian enter the Three-Star Arena in the past, so Xuan Wulian earned money through matches at the Three-Star Arena.
Even though he lost ninety-nine percent of his matches in recent days, he still managed to earn a substantial amount of ticket money. Coupled with the fact that failure didn’t lead to demotion, Xuan Wulian could still stay in the Three-Star Arena no matter what.
The One-Star Arena didn’t charge ticket fees, the Two-Star Arena charged one star per match, and the Three-Star Arena charged ten stars per match. The platform took half of the money, with the remaining half divided between the loser and the winner in a thirty-seven split.
To earn money, Xuan Wulian spent all day in the Three-Star Arena, enduring beatings like a human punching bag. However, he never tired of it, grateful to Xi Guican every day for giving him a job that paid much higher than a courier.
Teaching a person to fish was better than giving a person a fish, and Xi Guican gave him both money and “work.”
Therefore, when Xi Guican used the possession technique again, Xuan Wulian had no resistance at all.
It would take a long time to walk from the capsule hotel to the square, and Star Light Park was closer in comparison. Shang Zhaoqi told Xi Guican that they had installed an Good and Evil Meter in some public places, and Star Light Park was one of them.
Xi Guican walked to Star Light Park, his empty sleeves swaying slightly as he walked, attached to Xuan Wulian’s body. Xi Guican’s thoughts were influenced by Xuan Wulian, such as the elderly father’s care.
When the night wind blew on his face, Xuan Wulian, who was asleep, wondered if his offspring would catch a cold.
This was a father, who loved his offspring unconditionally and without seeking anything in return.
Xi Guican couldn’t quite understand this complex yet pure emotion. However, he suddenly remembered how He Ruge in the game had shown him “paternal love as solid as a mountain.” Was this how He Ruge had cared for him in the past?
… Such paternal love seemed not bad at all.
A man who triggered a crazy Good and Evil Meter alarm stood under the starry sky, revealing a faint smile.
Upon awakening, He Ruge found Zhi Zhi, who knows when he crawled out of his pocket and slept soundly on his chest.
This made He Ruge dare not move randomly for a while, so he simply lay on the bed and activated his brainlight. Xi Guican had previously told him that the target he possessed in the last game task was a person from Star Fifteen.
If Xi Guican attached to him yesterday and spent most of the day traveling from Star Fifteen to Central Star, then was Guican just arriving at Central Star now?
He Ruge couldn’t imagine that Xuan Wulian just went to Central Star to see his offspring who was attending university, and Xi Guican attached to Xuan Wulian was taken away overnight by the Grey Pigeon Group.
“Zhi Zhi~” The little treasure mouse cub lying on his chest didn’t know when it woke up.
“Good morning, Zhi Zhi.”
He Ruge gently touched the fluffy treasure mouse ball with his fingertips, and much of his worry dissipated as he stroked its fur.
After breakfast, he held Zhi Zhi and looked at the scenery at the top of the Eternal Tower. The Eternal Tower, floating in the air, was surrounded by clouds and mist. Looking around, it seemed as if he could see a vast sea of surging clouds.
In the middle of the cloud sea, a golden light appeared, as if the rising sun had broken through the clouds. However, as the golden light approached, He Ruge realized that it was a spaceship in golden livery.
The spaceship landed near the Eternal Tower, and a treasure-hunting mouse with a lavish attitude, dressed in gold and silver, came down from the ship. At the same time, Jin Wangcai, a dovish congressman with ten fingers adorned with gold rings and a neck draped with a gold necklace, stood in the lobby of the Eternal Tower to greet this treasure-hunting mouse.
“Remember this Jin Wangcai? He’s the one who discussed He Ruge’s money leopards.”
The two of them stood in the Eternal Tower, like two tycoons without humanity, discussing deals worth tens of millions of credits in minutes. After the discussion, these two glittering tycoons ascended to the top of the Eternal Tower and knocked on He Ruge’s door.
He Ruge opened the door to see guests dressed in gold. Before he could greet them, Zhi Zhi in the palm of his hand wagged its golden tail and looked brightly at the gem set in the treasure-hunting mouse’s neck, shining like melted gold and a diminished sun.
Treasure has a wonderful attraction for treasure-hunting mice, and the necklace that Zhi Zhi stared at without turning was definitely a very rare treasure.
The owner of the necklace is a rich bald old man.
When he saw Zhi Zhi’s golden tail, the cloudy eyes that had aged suddenly burst into brilliant light, “This is a talent of the highest level!”
The old treasure-hunting mouse was so excited that he turned red in the face and reached out to grab Zhi Zhi.
The money leopard explained beside him, “Good morning, Mr. He Ruge, I am Congressman Jin Wangcai of the Dovish Party. This is Fu Xi, the elder of the treasure-hunting mouse clan, the largest jeweler in the entire interstellar realm. After receiving news of the discovery of the treasure-hunting mouse cub last night, he rushed here immediately from another planet.”
It’s Zhi Zhi’s family…
Looks like they’re rich, well the treasure-hunting mouse family has always been rich.
Zhi Zhi’s high talents are so high, it is certainly possible to be well taken care of when he returns to the family, and he will become a small rich man in the future.
Although a little reluctant, He Ruge knew from the beginning that Zhi Zhi would leave, he just took care of Zhi Zhi temporarily, so now he can calmly hand Zhi Zhi over to the other party.
“Zhi Zhi, you can go home now.” He Ruge touched the fluffy fur reluctantly and said softly.
However, what no one expected was that Zhi Zhi suddenly jumped down from He Ruge’s palm, and in Fu Xi’s exclamation, Zhi Zhi agilely jumped into He Ruge’s pocket, and the golden tail drew a brilliant curve in the air.
“Snap”, this is the sound of Zhi Zhi falling into the pocket.
“Zila”, this was the sound of Zhi Zhi pulling up the zipper.
“Click”, this was the sound of Zhi Zhi quietly gnawing on the reserve food in the pocket.
In such a short time, Zhi Zhi, who completed a set of high-difficulty movements, must have been nervous. Fortunately, he could gnaw on the reserve food to calm down.
The adults present looked at each other, because they found that —
Little treasure mouse Zhi Zhi was not going to return to the golden nest, and he was reluctant to leave He Ruge’s pocket.
