Chapter 2

In the capital of the Saint Luce Empire, a mysterious wealthy man has become a hot topic recently.

At the highly anticipated Elf Auction, his contributions accounted for the majority of the total items.

"I bet he must be a descendant of some ancient hidden family. Otherwise, how could he have so many rare treasures? He is the one who supports most of the auction. He is really generous!"

"Oh, I don't think those families would tolerate their members doing this. It's really too cheap, isn't it? He must be a spendthrift from a ruined family."

"My God, you look so jealous! I guess he's a businessman who inherited his family business. Maybe the things he brought to the auction were all junk that he didn't like."

"Oh, a merchant? But he looks totally different from those merchants... I guess he's a warlock!"

"Excuse me, what are you discussing..."

"Mr. Lanno!"

The girl who was gathered with her friends raised her voice and called out to the person who was walking diagonally in front of her.

He has dark hair as dark as the night, pale skin, delicate features, and narrow black eyes that occasionally reveal arrogance and indifference, which reminds people of the mysterious and noble sorcerer in the poems and miscellanies.

The girl hurried forward and said, "Mr. Lannuo, what are you doing..." She noticed that he was carrying a brown leather suitcase.

"I plan to travel around the capital." The young man nodded at her.

His voice was cold, yet had a somewhat elegant tone, which was completely different from those snotty-nosed kids in the neighborhood who played in the mud.

"Ah..." The girl was a little frustrated and wanted to say something, but when she came to her senses, she only saw his tall back.

Three months ago, Jiang Zhulang dropped out of school and embarked on a journey to find the treasure key. This key was the legacy of a warlock. His family was extremely wealthy, but he had few relatives. He died alone in a deserted cave. It was not until the protagonist Lan Nuo accidentally entered the cave during an adventure that he accidentally obtained the key to unlock the property stored in the Elf Bank.

Of course, as the author of the script, Jiang Zhulang's experience of getting the key can be described as boring:

He sold the school uniform of the Warlock Academy, and the good fabric and tailoring brought him a "high price" of 1 silver coin and 80 coppers. Jiang Zhulang took the car all the way and arrived at his destination leisurely. Except for a slip and fall before entering the cave, there were no setbacks.

In the original novel, Lanno followed the instructions in the will and went to the Elf Bank in the capital of the Saint Luce Empire, which was known as the safest place in the entire continent, and took away this astonishing amount of property.

When Lan Nuo saw the gold coins piled up in a room as big as three classrooms, she was not surprised but burst into tears.

At that time, he had activated his bloodline, but could only barely keep himself warm and full. The dream he and his friends had once had, to become a powerful warlock and have more money than they could spend in their lifetime, had long gone, but it suddenly came true at this moment, many years later.

Ever since he could remember, Lan Nuo had become a partner with the kids from the neighborhood, climbing trees to pick eggs and going to the river to catch fish.

Influenced by poetry, miscellany and magic novels, they dreamed of becoming such great figures, and at the age of fifteen, they secretly ran away from home and went to the Magic Academy together.

The two ignorant border townspeople didn't know that the famous academy in the mainland only accepted talented people.

Most of the gifted people were born in aristocratic families. Even if there were a few commoners, they were mostly in the main cities and counties. In a remote place like theirs, the possibility of a gifted person appearing was almost zero.

In order to create sentimentality, Jiang Zhulang arranged a team of bandits when they were about to arrive at the academy.

The unarmed friend held off the bandit by himself, and at the cost of his own blood, Lannuo escaped.

What a perfect design! Jiang Zhulang believed that after this episode was published, it would receive countless comments, and people would cry for the friendship between Lan Nuo and his friends.

As a result, the few comments on the comics forum were all full of angry insults.

He clicked his tongue.

Jiang Zhulang used three storage rings to store the warlock's legacy. There was no place to put the various ornaments and artifacts scattered in the corners of the room, so he simply asked the Elf Auction House to sell them and make some money.

After all, no one would complain about having too much money.

When he entered the Elf Bank, he was still a poor man wearing tattered linen clothes, but when he came out, he had become a wealthy man with amazing wealth.

Jiang Zhulang walked towards the largest clothing store in the capital: "Take out your most expensive clothes."

Despite the clerk's look of looking at him as a nouveau riche, he happily changed into the most expensive garment in the store, which was worth half a million gold coins, inlaid with gemstones and woven with gold threads.

——It’s so bright that it can blind people.

Even though he has a beautiful face that can fully handle such ostentatious and vulgar clothes, but——

It's really too eye-catching!

The clerk covered his eyes painfully, which were dazzled by the reflection of the gemstone, and praised him against his conscience: "It is really... very suitable for you, customer!"

Jiang Zhulang nodded and bought the treasure of the store, along with a few sorcerer robes that were highly recommended by the conscientious clerk.

Walking out of the store, he looked at the almost unchanged balance with annoyance and sighed, "There's just too much money to spend."

In the following days, Jiang Zhulang adhered to the principle of buying expensive things instead of buying the right things. He tried all kinds of spicy, fragrant, rare and precious things, and successfully left a reputation of being rich and powerful in the royal capital. There were many speculations about his identity.

After a period of relaxation, Jiang Zhulang returned to normal.

Although I don't know why this dream is too long, even the details are so real, it's as if the comic world he constructed has come to life.

——He even suspected that he had traveled through time.

Jiang Zhulang asked the system: "Is this really just a dream? Can I wake up and return to reality?"

"Of course, when the time comes for the host to wake up, he will wake up naturally."

What the system said was as good as nothing, and Jiang Zhulang still felt a little relieved.

Just think of it as an adventure.

He decided to leave the capital and visit other towns.

Sitting in the slightly swaying wide carriage, Jiang Zhulang took a sip of black tea, feeling quite leisurely.

He lifted the car curtain, but before he could see where he was going, the car began to shake violently.

From the driver's panicked shouting and the horses' high-pitched neighing, it was not difficult to guess that there was a problem on the road ahead.

"Bang——" was the sound of the driver rolling down.

Jiang Zhulang put his right hand behind his back, tightly gripping the knife, and stared at the car door intently.

A slender, bony hand with pink joints pushed open the car door.

At the same time, Jiang Zhulang stabbed the man with the knife, and his eyes widened when he saw his face.

The long curly light blond hair was stained with dirt and blood, and stuck to the face in clumps, but it did not look ferocious. The visitor had a gorgeous and decadent face, with narrow and upturned eyes, and a fierce look, like a thorny rose.

——His comic book villain, Cross.

Jiang Zhulang, who was powerless, was no match for him at all: he twisted, pushed, and stabbed.

“Puff——”

The blade entered the throat, killing him in one move.

"Host!--&@#……"

Eyes all red, limbs numb.

The thin and sharp knife cut across the throat, and it felt cold and stinging, and then the sweet and fishy taste, and then the blood spurted out, and the heat in the body flowed away with the life, and the sound of blood dripping could be heard in the ears. Even the movement of shaking a finger was soft and laborious.

Am I going to die?

I should have sewed an extra gem on the button of my coat...

Jiang Zhulang lost consciousness.

"! Ugh..."

Jiang Zhulang jumped up suddenly, still not recovering from the feeling of his throat being cut. He covered his throat and opened his mouth slightly, as if there was still blood foam stuck in his throat.

He looked around, all he saw was white, with flu prevention leaflets hanging on the wall. He found himself lying on a hospital bed.

Jiang Zhulang stroked the cold bed rails, which were uneven and covered with rust marks, and were a bit rubbing to his hands. He couldn't help but recall the awful smell of rust again.

It’s very real, as real as in a dream.

No, it should be said that dreams are as real as reality, terrifyingly real.

Why did he have such a dream?

Before waking up, Jiang Zhulang guessed that he had traveled to the comic world, but in fact, this was not the case.

Jiang Zhulang turned on and off his broken-screen phone over and over again. The huge gap made him a little anxious.

He whispered into the air: "System?"

All was quiet.

"The patient in bed 302 is awake!" The nurse's shout brought him back to his senses.

Soon, there were footsteps and Jiang Zhulang saw a middle-aged man in a white coat approaching. From the tone of his voice, he seemed to be his attending physician.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

The more you talk, the more mistakes you make. Jiang Zhulang was a little confused about the current situation. He shook his head in silence.

I clearly fell asleep on the bus, so why did I find myself in the hospital when I woke up?

A young man said in surprise: "Do you know that you slept for three whole hours! No matter how we shouted or tapped you, you didn't respond. The driver called an ambulance for you." There was a school badge on his uniform, so he must be an intern at the medical school.

"Three hours...?"

The middle-aged man pushed up his glasses and said, "Mr. Jiang, do you have any family history of genetic diseases? I suggest you be hospitalized for a systemic examination. This situation is not common."

Jiang Zhulang refused outright: "No, I was just too tired, so I slept soundly."

Even so, he still had to do a blood test, and after paying for the ambulance and the test, he found that his balance was only in the low two digits. He had just received his salary, but he had already spent it before he could even warm it up.

After a long day of hard work, I returned home at dawn.

Jiang Zhulang closed his eyes and thought, the face that looked even more beautiful in the blood splattering appeared in his mind.

Cross...

An urgent inspiration arises and needs to be released urgently.

Without any pause, Jiang Zhulang activated the digital tablet. The Warlock Academy, the continent of Nidos, the capital of Saint Russ... the scenes he had experienced over the past three months flashed back one by one, and finally focused on that one scene with rich colors: the white light piercing out from the narrow space.

Jiang Zhulang painted quickly, he had never experienced such a smooth experience before.

Smooth, refreshing, and hearty.

He did not add any color or details, but only made a wild black and white draft, roughly adding two points to it, depicting the dream experience as much as possible, and stopping abruptly where Lanno fell to the ground.

"call……"

He saved it out of habit and wanted to publish it, but then he remembered that his comic had already been finished.

A feeling of emptiness swept over his body, and Jiang Zhulang lay on the back of the chair.

He is very short of money.

Maybe I should give up my dream of becoming a cartoonist and find a job as an original artist for a game company?

When Jiang Zhulang was in college, he received offers from several companies who were interested in his painting skills and wanted to recruit him. However, he thought that if he became an original artist, he would not be able to draw what he wanted to draw, so he decisively rejected the invitations.

Looking back now, my persistence in my ideals back then was ridiculous.

He curled his lips, logged into the comic website as an author, cleared all unread messages with one click, and clicked on the cancellation button.

When signing the contract, the terms clearly stated the ownership of the copyright. If he did not terminate the contract, he would not be able to participate in any painting work and could only do odd jobs.

He can't do odd jobs all his life.

Recalling the anticipation and excitement he felt when signing the contract, Jiang Zhulang's index finger trembled slightly. After a long time, he moved the cursor and clicked on the line of bright red words: Application for termination of contract.

Sorry, you do not meet the conditions for termination. Please apply for a rejection.

Are there any conditions for termination?

Jiang Zhulang clicked on the prompt and found that he had to publish a new comic and participate in website activities, otherwise he would have to pay a high penalty.

Glancing at the unread messages in the background, he pursed his lips. In his current situation, publishing a new work would be a nuisance, but if he didn't terminate the contract, he would have to continue doing odd jobs.

Thinking of this, he logged into Penguin, opened the dialog box of editor Brother Li, and explained the situation.

Jiang Zhulang discovered that the editor replaced the 2D profile picture with a photo of his daughter.

I thought it would take a while to get a reply, but unexpectedly, Li Ge replied immediately: "Why do you want to terminate the contract?"

"I've checked it out, and I don't have the authority to terminate your contract. The contract will automatically renew after three years. After the renewal, you need to complete a new work and get ten likes. Why do you want to terminate the contract? Is it because of the recent comments on the Internet? Don't take the words of strangers to heart. I have always admired you. With your painting skills, you will definitely be successful one day. Why don't you persist?"

Jiang Zhulang sighed: "It's not a question of whether I care or not. I've been on the website for so long, but the money I earn is not enough to eat."

"Ah..." Brother Li's chat box kept showing that he was typing. After a while, he said, "I remembered that if the author's account has been signed for three years, he can link it to his ID card to open a pseudonym. You have just passed three years. This is easy. If you really want to cancel your account, I will help you apply for a pseudonym and we will deal with it later."

With the help of the editor, the pseudonym account was quickly applied for. After obtaining the initial account number and password, Jiang Zhulang thanked Brother Li and logged in.

It was empty inside, there was nothing.

He randomly clicked on an activity, checked the rules, and named his short story:

I'm going to cancel my account. Just ten likes are enough.

Save and submit, all in one go.