17: Chapter 17: Increased Weight, Time to Pay Salaries

...

On the outskirts of Coastal Sea, the night was as thick as a giant black cloth. Suddenly, a light flickered on in the middle room on the second floor of a villa.

I'm back!

Lin Fang sat back in front of his computer, his eyes filled with an indescribable joy. He had confirmed that the world was indeed the Venom Dimension. On the Black Star's dial, the shadow over the trial dimension icon had disappeared.

A terrifying monster with bulging black muscles, hideous eye contours, jagged fangs, and an incredibly long tongue coated in slime gradually emerged.

It was the little cutie, Venom.

【Successful evacuation from Venom Dimension. Acquired supplies: craigvault server】

【Venom Dimension weight increased. Current weight: 5%】

【Warehouse function unlocked】

...

Looking at the string of notifications popping up on the Black Star, Lin Fang suppressed the urge to investigate immediately. He realized he had been a bit impulsive and reckless when he discovered he could enter the dimension exploration.

He didn't know if any trouble had occurred during the past day, but seeing that his body's position hadn't changed, it meant things were still under control.

"Xiao Hei, did anything happen?"

The little black cat, who had been jumping up and down happily on the screen, stopped moving.

【Zhou Hui exhibited abnormal behavior】

That sentence made Lin Fang narrow his eyes. He motioned for Xiao Hei to show him.

In the surveillance footage, Zhou Hui walked up to the second floor and lingered outside this door for a moment, but in the end, he stopped himself from knocking.

Lin Fang breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the possibility of exposure was slim due to the Black Star's properties, he had to be on guard. Especially as he gradually understood its function, Lin Fang would never allow anyone to know of the Black Star's existence.

It's not safe enough,

In a ramshackle house like this, the probability of someone breaking in was too high. Just like yesterday, if Zhou Hui had forced his way in, Xiao Hei would have had no way to stop him. Under current conditions, it lacked physical means and couldn't do much.

Not long ago, Lin Fang had given Xiao Hei two commands, which could be summarized as follows:

Command 1: Prevent anything from disturbing Lin Fang while he is in the "Exploration State."

Command 2: What it should do if Lin Fang never wakes up again.

Lin Fang thought about it for a moment and then let it go. He wasn't a paranoid person. He hadn't stopped for a month, and yesterday Xiao Hei had impersonated Lin Fang to tell Zhou Hui to stop training; it was normal for the man to become suspicious.

Besides, he hadn't done anything out of line.

"Where's my dad?"

Lin Fang thought of Boss Xiong, whom he hadn't seen in a long time. Using the excuse of special training for a competition, he hadn't been home for over a month.

【The owner's father is staying overnight at this location】

Xiao Hei brought up a surveillance feed:

A middle-aged man with thick eyebrows and large eyes walked sternly through the doors of a place called Crimson Wellness Club.

Uh...

Seeing this, Lin Fang skipped over him as well. That old man certainly knew how to treat himself. To be honest, it was quite surprising he hadn't found Lin Fang a stepmother after all this time.

...

Two cartons of milk, a few packs of biscuits,

Lin Fang began to wolf them down. Hunger was the first sensation he felt upon returning, but it was much better than the agonizing pain he had endured.

Once he was full and had regained some strength,

Lin Fang stood shirtless in front of the mirror, examining himself. A month of training had brought changes to his body. His originally somewhat thin shoulders had broadened slightly, looking tougher, and the lines of his muscles were faintly visible.

Aside from that,

There were the scars from his training.

Lin Fang touched them, an inexplicable light in his eyes. These weren't the fake bodies from the dimension exploration; this was his own body.

He wasn't being narcissistic; he was telling himself that only one's own strength is true strength! This successful exploration had given Lin Fang so much information that he couldn't suppress his smile.

"Wealth," "Power," "Strength."

Lin Fang muttered to himself in the mirror. These three are the driving forces of human growth, the things people pursue their entire lives, and he was no exception. Which one did he need most right now? Lin Fang pondered his development plan.

Without a doubt, the most important was strength.

What about the other two?

Looking at the calm-eyed young man in the reflection, Lin Fang quickly reached a decision. "While developing strength, I'll take wealth and power along with it."

"I want it all."

——

There were three commands in the Spacetime Package: Sell, Manifest, and Save.

【Black Star is at your service】

【Please confirm the transaction. Selling the craigvault server will yield 328 plunder points】

Lin Fang looked at the price given by the Black Star with dissatisfaction. This was a total rip-off; a server containing so much precious data was only worth 328 plunder points.

Selling it as scrap metal would probably fetch 2,000 yuan.

By comparison, Lin Fang now realized what a massive fortune those 20,000 plunder points had been, yet he had squandered them all so arrogantly.

Lin Fang turned to look at the newly unlocked function on the Black Star: Warehouse.

Its function was simple: it could store materials brought out, but they couldn't be stored a second time.

Meaning, once taken out, it couldn't be put back in.

After some thought, Lin Fang chose to save the craigvault server for now. He was quite curious about what was inside.

Didn't this villa have a basement? Lin Fang recalled the real estate agent's introduction from that day; it would be the perfect place to put this server.

But before placing it, he needed to renovate the villa a bit.

——

The next day, Zhou Hui saw the young man eating breakfast and visibly relaxed, stepping forward. "Boss, I thought you'd run off without paying my salary."

Lin Fang burst into laughter. Counting the days, it was indeed time for payday.

"The training funds are still with you, aren't they? Why would you worry?"

"Haha, Boss, those are two different things..."

Zhou Hui secretly observed Lin Fang, feeling inwardly surprised.

For some reason, after just this one day, he felt that the Lin Fang before him was different.

It was as if... as if he had actually gone out and killed someone?