145: The new house I just proposed!

After returning to the real world, Cheng Zhen first checked his message history.

The last instance was relatively quick and didn't take too long.

Although the points earned weren't many, the items he obtained were no less valuable than those from the previous two instances.

The Blazing Dominator had already been placed in his equipment slot, and Cheng Zhen immediately enjoyed its mana regeneration effect.

Additionally, while the title of Lie Detector was only blue-grade, its practicality was decent—

[Special Title: Lie Detector (Blue)]

[Wearing this title grants a stat boost: 10% increase in Perception, and grants active skill: XX is your lie!]

[XX is your lie!: After shouting the line, immediately judge a target's actions based on the line. If the target's actions do not conform, that target will continuously emit a perfume scent for 2 hours. Cooldown: 8 hours.]

[Remark: You have her perfume on you; it's my nose's sin~]

The Perception boost was somewhat interesting. Cheng Zhen tried switching titles to feel the different bonus effects and indeed noticed subtle differences, though the improvement was minor.

But the skill that followed was very fun; identifying lies was secondary, the negative effect was the truly interesting part.

Suppose a BOSS was chasing two groups of people, but one group was conspicuously emitting a scent…

There's an old, stale joke: you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun the other people.

However, it was a bit of a pity; it was only a blue-grade title, and its enhancement effect and skill practicality still couldn't compare to a purple title.

Because no matter how many titles one acquired, only one could be equipped, enjoying only that title's attribute bonus and skill effect.

Especially since the Snowman skill had been strengthened once, that effect definitely couldn't be replaced by a blue title.

Cheng Zhen looked at his rows of shining titles, which would make countless people outside drool with envy and hatred, yet now he had to agonize over which one to wear into the instance.

How awesome would it be if there was a way to wear all titles simultaneously!

Cheng Zhen fantasized for a moment, but in the end, he could only shake his head and continue wearing the Snowman title.

After all, that idea was too beautiful; if it could really be done, it would be like entering an instance with dozens of skills. Not to mention the New Talent Rankings, even the bigshots on other rankings and many guild leaders would be insanely jealous.

Cheng Zhen continued to sort his gains and opened this instance's clearance treasure chest.

This instance was relatively simple, the treasure chest was ★★★☆ grade, but Cheng Zhen was still lucky enough to open a blue weapon.

However, he had no use for that weapon, so he directly threw it and the replaced Rusty Tetanus Machete into the trading center for some points.

Speaking of points, after Cheng Zhen's points reached 1060, his ranking immediately entered the top ten of the New Talent Rankings. And this was only his fourth instance; it could be said that after he completed his fifth instance, he would undoubtedly surpass Huangfu Dong's current 1081 points, who was currently ranked first.

However, what made Cheng Zhen even happier than entering the top ten was that the advertising fees had increased!

After all, Cheng Zhen's previous ranking required a bit of scrolling to find, but now he was clearly displayed at the top, so advertising fees naturally rose, and the number of Party A Overlords (Party A bosses) also increased significantly.

Cheng Zhen happily set the advertising dates with several companies, collecting deposits to replenish his small treasury, which had just spent more than half.

"Playful Red Moon, Brain Platinum, Mrs. Smile Chicken Essence…"

After noting down the advertising slogans of the Party A bosses, Cheng Zhen comfortably lay back on his bed.

His wristband vibrated slightly, and another message came through. Cheng Zhen opened it; it was Men Hao.

It seemed that Director Men would contact him every time he exited an instance.

Could it be that the enrollment season was over, and Director Men was starting to slack off at work?

Cheng Zhen shook off the strange thought and answered Director Men's call.

"Cheng Zhen, congratulations."

Men Hao didn't rush to celebrate prematurely, only simply congratulated him on reaching the top ten, then brought him a second piece of good news—

"New students in the top 50 of the New Talent Rankings can all get a detached villa in the staff area, and now you can too!"

Men Hao chuckled, "I mentioned this before, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. If you want to move now, I can come over and help you. Anyway, all the houses over there have been cleaned with a single sweep by skill users, so they're very clean and ready for immediate occupancy."

With things said to this extent, could Cheng Zhen refuse?

Who would want to sleep in a sardine can when they could live in a big villa!

He hadn't brought many things out with him anyway; clothes and such were all stored in his item slot to cope with various instance climates, so he didn't need to pack much.

Cheng Zhen packed his things and sent a message to Men Hao.

"That quick?"

Men Hao opened the door and came in, seemingly not expecting Cheng Zhen to be done so soon.

"Mm." Cheng Zhen smiled, "If I had known I was moving, I would have decided to buy things after moving."

"Ha, you kid…"

Men Hao also laughed, then began to introduce him to the residential area.

"Among the new students in our school this year, including you, there are 5 students in the top fifty of the New Talent Rankings. Actually, there should have been two more, but they were secretly poached."

Thinking of this, Men Hao felt a bit fortunate. Luckily, he acted fast back then; otherwise, he might still be listening to the dean denounce other schools for their lack of martial ethics, and incidentally, criticize him for not being active enough in his work.

The two walked and chatted, and Men Hao didn't forget his duty as a teacher.

"When you enter an instance, all the professional course recordings are on the campus network; remember to watch them. Especially those courses marked with a star, they are all relatively important."

Cheng Zhen was quite interested in those courses, so he nodded in agreement.

"After the novice trial ends, many students choose to team up to clear instances. From a safety perspective, the school encourages mutual support among students, but does not enforce teaming up."

"I know you are a very opinionated person, so I won't arrange anything for you. But if you are interested in teaming up, you can directly submit an application, and the school will prioritize matching you with teammates who meet your requirements."

Men Hao's words still satisfied Cheng Zhen. When it came to teaming up, it would definitely involve the issue of profit distribution.

Just like Xiao Jiao and Wei Si, from each of their perspectives, how should the staff be divided?

Disagreement would certainly lead to conflict.

Cheng Zhen definitely still wanted to monopolize all the benefits.

And even if others agreed to listen to the bigshot on the rankings in the early stages, if they kept watching Cheng Zhen take all the best rewards, it would be strange if they could maintain their inner balance.

So, Cheng Zhen currently had no plans to team up, unless it was like his previous teammates—obediently paying money, following arrangements, and being freeloaders. Not causing trouble was the greatest help.

And the new students who just enrolled were probably all in a period of striving to improve, so they probably wouldn't be willing to be freeloaders.

While pondering, he followed Men Hao to his new residence.

A very bright and new-looking villa. Men Hao said that skill users were responsible for cleaning this area, and it was incredibly clean.

Cheng Zhen thanked Men Hao, registered his fingerprint, and then entered his new home to lie down.

Lying on the soft, large bed, his thoughts gradually drifted, slowly shedding the fatigue of mind and body…

Boom!!!

A loud bang from who knows where nearly made Cheng Zhen roll off the bed in surprise.

He quickly went downstairs to look, only to see a large hole blasted open in the wall of his new home. The stubborn bricks swayed twice, then fell to the ground, shattering into several pieces.

Cheng Zhen: "…"

My brand new house!