The person on the other end hung up the phone in a hurry.

Qian Rui immediately called Zhao Yu's private number, but no one answered.

Just as she was considering whether to go to the Black Mountain base herself, another friend from the past invited her to make a phone call.

"Sun Can is dead."

"What? What did you just say?"

Sun Can is a mutual friend of Qian Rui and Zhao Yu, and also the owner of another weapons shop. Privately, Sun Can and Zhao Yu are closer.

When Qian Rui first learned of Sun Can's death, he instinctively doubted that he had misheard.

"Zhao Yu, a few days ago, went to find Sun Can to run a dungeon, but Sun Can died in the dungeon."

From his friend's fragmented account, Qian Rui pieced together the truth of the matter.

In recent months, Zhao Yu had become obsessed with a drug called Bru. To buy it, he not only spent his savings of many years but also used up all the money he had saved for his shop. Without money, the shop couldn't operate, so Zhao Yu sold it at a low price.

Therefore, the accounts on paper are all false.

So the new shop owner was stammering because he had gotten a great deal.

Therefore, in order to make money, Zhao Yu betrayed his former friends and only dragged along his best friend Sun Can to risk going into the dungeon.

Zhao Yu had been taking Brutus for a long time, maintaining a state of happiness and tranquility. When danger struck, he even sat calmly on the ground, watching the monster tear Sun Can apart without doing anything.

According to those who went to the instance with him, Sun Can shouted Zhao Yu's name before he died, but Zhao Yu was lost in his own world with a mysterious smile on his face.

“I’d like to hold a simple memorial service for Sun Can, you…”

Before his friend could finish speaking, Qian Rui immediately agreed: "I will be there."

She will be there in person to bid farewell to Sun Can.

She wanted to see the people who had gone on the dungeon with Zhao Yu, find out where Zhao Yu was, and figure out why he had betrayed his friends.

...

"Give me Singapore dollars." The girl, with messy hair and large bags under her eyes, weakly reached out to her friend for money.

"Xiaofeng, we don't have many coins left, so please use them sparingly, okay?" The girl with her ponytail wiped the few pieces of furniture she had, and then took out a new one-hundred-yuan note from her pocket.

Li Feng didn't take it, leaning against the wall like he had no bones: "Not enough, I want more."

Li Rong didn't stop, rubbing the rag repeatedly on the already clean tabletop: "Are you going to buy candy again?"

"I need it, I need it to activate my superpowers."

Li Feng's superpower is related to music; whenever she creates a new piece of music, her superpower becomes even stronger.

Creating is not an easy thing, but Blue can help her get into the zone faster and generate more inspiration.

Li Rong finally stopped and looked at Li Feng: "But we are not in danger now."

Li Feng's eyes were unfocused as he muttered to himself, "Give me new coins, I need them, give me new coins, I need them..."

She repeated it over and over, like a madwoman, like a fool.

Tears welled up in Li Rong's eyes, and she relented: "Okay, go wash up and get yourself clean, then I'll give you new coins."

Upon hearing Li Rong's words, Li Feng curled his lips and turned to enter the bathroom.

Li Rong sat helplessly on a small stool, tears falling onto the freshly wiped table. She couldn't understand how things had turned out this way.

Li Rong and Li Feng are artificial humans who grew up together in an orphanage. They are not related by blood, but they are closer than family. They are relatives, friends, and the best partners.

They ran dungeons together, earned points, and then paid them back to the childcare center. The points owed to the childcare center were a huge sum, so huge that it was despairing and made one's future seem bleak.

One day, in a dungeon, Li Feng composed a new piece of music, a piece that could make the listener grow wings and fly.

Li Rong hovered around Li Feng: "I like to fly. I feel so powerful that I can flap my wings and blow away all the things I hate."

Li Feng gazed at Li Rong, at her broad, white wings, and vaguely saw a halo around her.

"Is this what the angels in the stories look like?" Li Feng thought with a smile.

"Let's run away!" Li Feng said.

"Escape? Escape to where?" Li Rong didn't ask such pointless questions as why they wanted to escape.

The escape was, of course, to escape debt. They had already paid enormous sums to the nursery, the points they'd invested far exceeding the cost of conceiving and raising two children. Staying at the base would only leave them burdened by debt until they died of old age.

As long as you're in a base, no matter which base, the debt will always exist. And the wasteland outside the base is dangerous, full of mutated beasts and a chaotic world where the strong prey on the weak.

Li Feng smiled and said, "I heard there's a trading market on the edge of the sea that's doing very well. It's safe there, orderly, and everyone is equal."

“Okay, let’s go.” Li Rong said without any hesitation.

With their meager points, the two embarked on a pleasant escape.

The points were exchanged for new currency at the exchange, and after completing some necessary procedures and tasks, the two settled in the Cape Exchange.

Run a few dungeons, exchange resources for new currency, then use that to buy a small house, and gradually add inexpensive but practical furniture. Turn the floor mat into a bed, stones and planks into a table, and broken chests into a wardrobe…

The small house slowly became a home.

Everything is getting better.

Li Rong has almost touched a corner of a bright future.

Until one day, Li Feng came back from buying things outside.

She hummed a tune as she tidied her things, changed into a nice outfit she had been reluctant to wear, and solicitously pushed Li Rong to the table, setting out the delicious food and drinks she had bought, while playing a lighthearted tune.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!