28: Chapter 28 This cost is terrifying!

The two of them strolled along the mirror-like marble corridors of The MixC.

Zhang Qi kept thinking about the spending quota on his system panel.

He was still a gap of over a hundred thousand away from the one-million Physique point reward.

Although buying clothes, shoes, and bags also cost money, picking styles and checking sizes was simply too tedious.

His mind was currently occupied with how to quickly and efficiently dump the money in his card to exchange for the system's double cashback and Physique rewards.

As they walked, Zhang Qi's footsteps suddenly faltered.

His gaze landed on the storefront of a shop decorated in gold and jade.

A gold store.

A flash of inspiration instantly crossed Zhang Qi's mind.

He realized he seemed to have fallen into a cognitive trap previously.

Since he needed to spend money, and spend it quickly and in large amounts, what place in this mall could be more suitable than buying gold?

This stuff was sold by the gram!

Especially during this period, international gold prices were skyrocketing.

Just picking a few large items would easily spend over a hundred thousand.

The most crucial point was that buying clothes and bags was pure consumption; they depreciated once the season passed.

But gold was different; it was hard currency, and its value-preservation attributes were maxed out.

Using the system's money to buy gold was equivalent to getting double cashback for free, while also converting the money into another form to keep in his hands.

This was simply the perfect way to exploit a system bug.

Thinking of this, Zhang Qi didn't hesitate at all; he reached back, took hold of Sun Yiyao's soft little hand, and strode directly into the gold store.

The air conditioning inside the store was mixed with a faint, high-end fragrance, and the gold jewelry in the display cases shimmered under the spotlights with a luster that could instantly trigger primitive human greed.

A female shop assistant wearing a black professional suit immediately came up to greet them.

Those who worked in luxury sales had eyes as sharp as if they were equipped with radar.

The female assistant only glanced at the high-end custom suit Zhang Qi was wearing—which had no obvious logo but had an excellent texture—and the Vacheron Constantin watch on his wrist that refracted a cold metallic luster, and immediately labeled Zhang Qi as a top-tier, high-quality customer in her mind.

Then she looked at Sun Yiyao, who was holding his arm.

Her figure was graceful, her face charming; she was every bit a femme fatale level beauty.

A wealthy big shot bringing a beautiful female companion to browse a gold store—she was too familiar with this plot.

"Good afternoon, sir and madam, welcome."

The smile on the shop assistant's face was sweet and sincere, her body leaned forward slightly, and her attitude was respectful to the extreme. "Sir, are you looking to pick out some gold jewelry for your girlfriend? Our store just received a batch of new ancient-style gold bracelets and necklaces; the styles are very suitable for this lady's temperament."

Buying jewelry, especially coming to a gold store, nine out of ten times it was the man footing the bill to coax the woman into being happy.

In earlier years, one could still see some street toughs wearing thick gold chains around their necks, but now, with the normalization of anti-organized crime efforts, that kind of nouveau riche attire had long since disappeared. Now, men coming to the gold store were basically just tools accompanying the payment.

"No." Zhang Qi shook his head, his tone flat without a ripple. "I'm buying for myself. Recommend some suitable for men to wear."

If it were the Zhang Qi of the past, the pure love warrior, upon having spare money in his hands, his first reaction would definitely be to buy the most expensive jewelry for his girlfriend, even if he had to gnaw on steamed buns for a month, he would be willing.

But now, he was no longer that simp.

Money was only truly satisfying when spent on oneself.

Women were just a garnish in life; spending money on them was fine, but they must never overshadow the main event.

Sun Yiyao, holding Zhang Qi's arm, heard this and, far from being unhappy, instead leaned against him even more submissively.

She was an extremely smart woman who knew her place clearly.

Zhang Qi had already spent over forty thousand today to buy her the entire Apple family set; this treatment was enough to make those green tea besties in her social circle green with envy.

All she needed to do now was provide perfect emotional value and obediently be a vase.

As long as Zhang Qi was happy, whatever little things leaked out from between his fingers would be enough to stuff her full.

"Uh..." The shop assistant was stunned for half a second, but her professional training allowed her to react quickly. She made a gesture of invitation. "Then please follow me; over here is the section for rings and necklaces suitable for men."

Walking to the men's section, the items in the display cases were indeed not as dazzling as the women's side.

They were mostly tough-looking dragon-pattern rings, Nothingness Tablets, and rugged necklaces.

Zhang Qi swept his gaze around, and his eyes were suddenly locked onto an object at the very back of the display case.

It was a lump of gold displayed separately in a bulletproof glass case.

There was even an anti-theft alarm connected to the base.

It was shaped like a rectangular Nothingness Tablet, the size of a playing card, and the thickness was exaggeratedly reaching the level of a mahjong tile.

The surface had no complicated carvings, only simple ancient-style matte textures, exuding an oppressive feeling of extreme heaviness.

"How much for this?" Zhang Qi pointed at the glass case.

Sun Yiyao and the shop assistant looked over in the direction of his finger.

Sun Yiyao couldn't help but gasp.

Although she didn't know much about gold, just looking at its volume made it feel heavy and substantial in her hands; how much must this cost?

The expression on the shop assistant's face instantly became even more respectful, even carrying a hint of cautious awe.

"Sir, you have a great eye; this is the treasure of our shop. A Nothingness Tablet made of pure gold, 999 pure gold, a solid 968 grams. Including the craftsmanship fees for the ancient style, the total price is exactly one million!"

One million!

Sun Yiyao's little heart jumped violently, and her breathing became somewhat rapid.

Buying a lump of gold for one million to wear on one's body? She wouldn't even dare to dream of this amount of money, let alone spend it.

This had already exceeded the scope of her understanding of wealth.

Zhang Qi raised his eyebrows slightly.

One million, the price was just right; it could trigger the Physique point reward in one go.

He habitually calculated in his mind.

Just now, after buying the phone in the teahouse, the current balance in his card was a little over eight hundred and sixty thousand.

Not enough.

Still missing over a hundred thousand.

"Hmm, let me look some more." Zhang Qi's expression didn't change in the slightest, and his tone remained flat.

Hearing this, Sun Yiyao and the shop assistant simultaneously breathed a long sigh of relief in their hearts.

They didn't think Zhang Qi was showing off.

For an item worth one million, it was perfectly normal to not be able to afford it.

If he had really bought it without batting an eyelid, that would truly be terrifying.

After all, this thing placed here was just a gimmick to prop up the storefront; even the store manager didn't expect it to be sold.

Zhang Qi withdrew his gaze and continued to browse the display cases.

Since his balance wasn't enough, he would just buy some smaller items to make up for it, trigger the cashback, and then wouldn't he have enough money?

"Take this ancient-style heritage bracelet out for me to see." Zhang Qi pointed at a solid, plain-ring bracelet.

"Okay, sir, this one is 80 grams." The shop assistant put on white gloves and carefully took it out.

"And this dragon-pattern ring, it looks quite thick."

"Sir, this one is 40 grams."

"Also, get a Peace Buckle to make a set."

"Okay, the Peace Buckle is 20 grams."

Zhang Qi took these three items in his hand and weighed them; they were substantial, and the understated matte texture of the ancient-style gold was indeed nice.

"Just these three; calculate how much." Zhang Qi put the items back onto the tray lined with black velvet.

The shop assistant nimbly took out a calculator and clicked away rapidly.

"Sir, today's gold price is relatively high, and since these three pieces are all ancient-style craftsmanship, the labor costs are not low. An 80-gram bracelet, a 40-gram ring, a 20-gram Peace Buckle—that's 140 grams in total, totaling 200,160 yuan."

"Scan the code."

Zhang Qi skillfully took out his phone and brought up the payment code.

Beep.

The scanner at the checkout counter emitted a crisp prompt sound. Payment successful.

At this very moment, the mechanical voice that had been silent for some time in Zhang Qi's mind rang out like music to his ears.

[Ding! Detected that the host has spent 200,160 yuan on themselves, meeting the cashback conditions.]

[Double cashback triggered. 400,320 yuan has been transferred to the host's savings card ending in 9527. The source of funds is absolutely safe, please use with confidence.]

[Current cumulative spending: 1,019,265 yuan.]

[Ding! Detected that the host's cumulative spending has exceeded one million, triggering system rewards.]

[Physique +1 (automatically integrated).]

A strange warm current appeared out of thin air inside his body, spreading rapidly along his spine to all his limbs and bones.

Zhang Qi only felt as if an invisible hand were inside his body, gently sweeping over every inch of his muscles and bones.

The slight fatigue brought about by browsing the mall for half the day vanished instantly under the flushing of this warm current.

Even the faint lower back soreness left over from the high-intensity labor in the hotel last night disappeared completely.

He felt refreshed and invigorated, as if he had inexhaustible strength.

Zhang Qi clenched his fist, feeling the abundant energy in his body, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up wildly.

This Physique point addition had immediate effects.

The phone in his pocket vibrated.

Zhang Qi took out his phone and opened the bank text message he had just received.

"Your savings card account ending in 9527 has received 400,320.00 RMB. Current balance is 1,061,958.50 RMB."

The balance had officially broken the one-million mark!

Standing beside him, Sun Yiyao was completely numb.

Two hundred thousand, just spent so casually.

She felt that money in this man's eyes was simply a string of meaningless numbers.

It wasn't even noon yet, and he had already spent several hundred thousand.

This was just too terrifying.

Meanwhile, the shop assistant on the side had long been grinning from ear to ear.

For a big order of two hundred thousand, her commission would be significant; she had truly bumped into a real God of Wealth today.

She was just preparing to nimbly pack up the Peace Buckle for Zhang Qi, and incidentally offer a few auspicious words.

But she saw that Zhang Qi had no intention of leaving.

He turned around, his deep gaze once again landing on the lump of gold in the bulletproof glass case at the very back of the counter.

Zhang Qi raised his hand and tapped his index finger twice lightly on the glass case.

"That Nothingness Tablet I looked at just now."

Zhang Qi's tone was calm, as casual as if he were talking about what to eat for dinner tonight.

"I'll take it."