154: Chapter 154 contains a lot of information.

After running errands until five in the afternoon, Chen Sheng headed over to "A Small Shop Here." Once he finished reconciling the day's accounts with Mei Xue, Chen Sheng went straight home.

He stopped by the vegetable market on the way; it had been a while since he'd eaten dinner at home, so today he planned to show off his cooking skills.

Kelp, potatoes, lotus root, lettuce stems, prawns, hot pot noodles...

He sliced what needed slicing and washed what needed washing. First, he boiled a pot of water, and once it was boiling, he added the soul of the dish—the hot pot base. After letting it simmer for three to five minutes to fully release the aroma, he added the ingredients he had bought in the order of their cooking time.

Once all the ingredients were cooked, he added salt, chicken essence, vinegar, and other seasonings according to his personal taste. When the flavor was just right, he ladled it into a large bowl and sprinkled a handful of chopped green onions and cilantro on top. Just like that, a homemade version of maocai was ready.

It was absolutely delicious and went perfectly with rice.

And sure enough, not only did Chen Sheng polish off three big bowls of rice, but even An Xiaonuan couldn't help but go for a second helping.

The only downside was that it was a bit hard on the stomach.

After the meal, the two of them went downstairs together and strolled around the residential complex for half an hour before heading back home.

There was no helping it!

Whether it was the couple in Building 5 fighting and calling the police directly.

Or someone in Building 7 getting so obsessed with a novel that they ran out of the apartment building stark naked in the middle of the night.

Of course, there was also Yan He from Building 2, who apparently came to the complex to cause trouble every single day.

The stories, which were already quite dramatic, became even more legendary than local ghost tales after being embellished by the neighborhood aunties.

That's right!

"What kind of monsters and demons are living in this residential complex, for god's sake?" Even after returning home, Chen Sheng couldn't help but exclaim.

In the blink of an eye, it was Wednesday.

Before he knew it, it was already mid-August, but the tail end of summer was still sweltering enough to make people panic. Ever since the thought of quitting her job had crossed her mind, compounded by her pregnancy, An Xiaonuan felt more and more that this crappy job was meaningless.

Chen Sheng dropped her off downstairs at her company. An Xiaonuan, enjoying the air conditioning, lingered in the car for nearly ten minutes before getting out with a reluctant look on her face.

Watching An Xiaonuan walk into the building, Chen Sheng opened the system panel.

host: Chen Sheng

Level: 1

Upgrade Experience Points: 98 / 100

Unread Intelligence Reports: 3

Following the usual routine, he rubbed his hands together to warm them up. However, just as he pressed his palms together, a system prompt sounded in his mind.

【Ding! The required experience points for an upgrade have been reached. The system will undergo an upgrade and update on the 15th at 0:00. This update is expected to take 2,592,000 seconds.】

"What the hell?" Chen Sheng silently pulled out his phone and opened the built-in calculator. He entered 2,592,000, divided by 60 to get 43,200, divided by 60 again to get 720, and then divided by 24. Looking at the 30 remaining on the screen, Chen Sheng fell into silence.

"What kind of crappy system update takes thirty days? Tell me, system!"

However, this question was destined to be in vain; he wouldn't get an answer.

Nevertheless, Chen Sheng still centered his focus on the system and gave the big system, small system, and old system a piece of his mind. Once he had calmed down, he put the matter of the thirty-day system update behind him, quickly rubbed his hands together again, and clicked on today's unread intelligence reports.

【Intelligence Report 1: Early this morning, the Lehui High-End Seafood Store at the Tongzilin Aquatic Wholesale Market in Wuhou District purchased a batch of wild carp. Mixed in with this batch of wild carp is a five-jin-eight-liang yellow river great carp.】

【Note: The yellow river great carp is rich in nutrients, containing abundant protein and trace elements that can provide the human body with necessary nutrition and enhance physical fitness.

The vitamins and minerals it contains help improve human immunity and fight off diseases.

The unsaturated fatty acids in the yellow river great carp help promote intestinal motility and improve digestive function.

The Omega-3 fatty acids it contains are beneficial for cardiovascular health, can lower cholesterol, and prevent cardiovascular diseases.

The collagen in the yellow river great carp helps maintain skin elasticity, reduces wrinkles, and has beauty benefits.

It helps improve symptoms such as stomach pain, nausea, spleen and stomach weakness, loss of appetite, fatigue, and jaundice. It can effectively strengthen spleen and stomach function, promoting appetite and digestion.

It can be used to treat symptoms such as edema, diarrhea, difficulty urinating, coughing with adverse qi, and abdominal bloating. Its efficacy in lowering qi and promoting urination helps eliminate excess water from the body, alleviating edema and urinary problems.

It is suitable for women who have postpartum lactation blockage or insufficient breast milk secretion. When stewed with papaya, it can further promote the secretion of breast milk in postpartum women.】

Chen Sheng: "..."

After all that, it's still just a carp.

Chen Sheng speechlessy gave the middle finger to the air. Although the yellow river great carp was indeed very rare in Shu City, judging by the "high-end seafood" mentioned in the report, the items there wouldn't be cheap.

Therefore, Chen Sheng had reason and evidence to suspect that the system only gave him this piece of intelligence because it saw he had money.

However, he felt that with the loose change in his pocket, he hadn't reached the point of being luxurious enough to eat a yellow river great carp.

So...

Chen Sheng immediately shifted his gaze downwards to look at the second piece of intelligence for today.

【Intelligence Report 2: Today, at the stall at the very back of the second-hand goods street next to Wuhou Shrine, a blancpain fifty fathoms has appeared, with a market price of about 10,000 yuan.】

Alright! Once again reaching a blind spot in his knowledge, Chen Sheng conscientiously pulled out his phone, opened the built-in browser, and entered "blancpain fifty fathoms."

As the page loaded, Chen Sheng suddenly realized that the blancpain fifty fathoms was a watch; he had thought it was a gemstone.

Blancpain's then-CEO, Jean-Jacques Fiechter, based on his own experience and needs in diving, specially crafted a watch suitable for diving for himself. This watch was named "Fifty Fathoms" and became the world's first modern diving watch.

The blancpain fifty fathoms series of watches is also currently the undisputed king of diving watches.

"This is worth having." Chen Sheng decided to collect this watch.

They say the poor play with cars and the rich play with watches. He hadn't expected to skip the car-playing stage and jump straight to the watch-playing level.

【Intelligence Report 3: The Landlord, Lu Ruifeng, accidentally discovered that his girlfriend was pregnant. This afternoon, he intended to surprise her, but instead, he happened to catch her meeting with her lover. In a fit of rage, Lu Ruifeng immediately got into a fight with the lover.

During their struggle, the girlfriend, having stepped in to stop the fight, was caught in the crossfire, resulting in a heavy blow to her abdomen, causing vaginal bleeding and the loss of the fetus.】

Chen Sheng: "..."

After reading this intelligence report, his brain instantly turned into mush.

Numb, he was truly numb.

The Landlord, Lu Ruifeng, was the owner of the house he was currently renting. When he signed the rental agreement at the agency, Lu Ruifeng had appeared once; he was a wealthy, middle-aged man around 50 years old.

He was someone who owned several properties in Shu City.

The main point was, he had a wife... er, in all likelihood, he did.

After all, whenever there were any issues with the house, he would contact his "wife"—Auntie Ling—and it was Auntie Ling who would come over to resolve them.

Now that a girlfriend had suddenly popped up, one could only say that the amount of information here was quite substantial.

However, considering Auntie Ling's usual cool and stylish demeanor with a cigarette always in hand, and the fact that in all the time he'd been renting, Lu Ruifeng had only appeared once when signing the contract, it didn't seem so strange that he had a girlfriend.

But just based on the five words "girlfriend and lover," the amount of information here was also quite significant.

This inexplicably reminded him of his exclamation from last night: "What kind of monsters and demons are living in this residential complex?"

It was also at this moment that Chen Sheng, who had originally wanted to focus on developing his career first, suddenly had the urge to buy a house—to buy a house in a residential complex that was harmonious and free of monsters and demons.

After all, it was said that children were easily influenced by their environment.

He had to create a good growing environment for his child before they were born.

After letting his mind wander for a while, Chen Sheng finally reined in his thoughts, closed the system panel, started the car, and drove towards the Tongzilin Aquatic Wholesale Market.

That's right, the aquatic wholesale market. After all, the system had introduced the many benefits of the yellow river great carp; he had to go and take a look, didn't he?

However, when he arrived at the Lehui High-End Seafood Store, he immediately dismissed the idea of buying the yellow river great carp.

There was no other reason; in a pool full of wild carp over 5 jin, to Chen Sheng, other than their size, they all looked the same. He simply couldn't tell which one was the yellow river great carp.

The system was about to upgrade, and the intelligence after the upgrade would clearly be more valuable. He couldn't possibly use up future intelligence reports just to have the system label the items.

As for asking the owner for help, that was even more impossible. For him, a layman, to share information with an expert like the owner—that wasn't shopping, that was just waiting to be ripped off.

So, this yellow river great carp would be left for some lucky person.

He drove off towards Wuhou Shrine.