1: Chapter 1: Three Months Without Rent

The July sun was malicious, as if it had a vendetta against everyone, baking the asphalt road until it smoked.

Chen Ergou squatted under the old locust tree at the entrance of the alley in the urban village, clutching a crumpled bill, turning it over and over as if it were a priceless treasure.

Wait, this wasn't a hundred-yuan bill.

He looked closely; it was fifty.

He had fifty-two yuan in total in his pocket.

Fifty-two yuan.

Chen Ergou, real name Chen Yi, twenty-three this year, had been graduated for exactly two months from that third-tier college in the provincial capital. Logically, a college student is the pride of heaven, with a limitless future. But reality is like your mother beating you—it never reasons with you.

Sent out thirty-seven resumes.

Yes, thirty-seven, he had counted them.

Sales manager, administrative assistant, new media operations, clerk, receptionist, even a "High-paying urgent hire: Food runner"—they thought his education was too high and were afraid he would run off after two days.

The most ridiculous one was last week when he went to interview for a "Management Trainee" position at a company. The interviewer was a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, who asked him with a smile: "Little Chen, what is your career plan for the next three to five years?"

Chen Ergou's brain short-circuited at that moment, and he said: "Survive until next month first."

The interviewer's smile froze instantly.

Then he received the thirty-eighth rejection letter of his life. Although this one wasn't officially submitted, it still counted as being rejected once, to make it a round number.

"Chen Yi! Chen Yi, get out here!"

A roar full of vigor came from the depths of the alley. Chen Ergou shuddered all over, and the fifty yuan in his hand almost fell to the ground.

It was here.

Landlady Auntie Liu.

Auntie Liu was fifty-three this year, sturdy in build, with a loud voice, and was a notoriously formidable character in this urban village area. It was said that when she was young, she sold pork in the vegetable market, wielding a bone-chopping knife with such vigor that local thugs within a three-mile radius had to take a detour when they saw her.

But Chen Ergou knew that this old lady was actually very soft-hearted. Last winter when he had a fever, Auntie Liu brought over a pot of ginger soup, scolding him with "You dead child, don't you know how to take care of yourself?" while having already bought all the medicine for him.

However, soft-hearted was one thing, but Auntie Liu didn't mess around when it came to rent.

Chen Ergou stood up from under the tree sluggishly, putting on a smile that looked worse than crying: "Auntie Liu, what are you looking for me for?"

Auntie Liu stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, her eyes widened like copper bells: "What for? You ask me what for? Three months! You haven't paid rent for three months! Do you think my house is a charity?"

"Auntie Liu, let me explain…"

"Explain what! Last month you said 'I'll definitely pay next month,' and the month before you also said 'I'll definitely pay next month.' Just which month is your 'next month'?"

Chen Ergou scratched his head sheepishly: "It's not… money has been tight lately."

"Money tight?" Auntie Liu grabbed him by the collar, "I saw those fifty-two yuan of yours, stop pretending to be poor with me. Hurry up, you must give me a firm answer today—when will you pay the rent?"

Chen Ergou's heart skipped a beat.

This old lady's eyes were too sharp; she could even count fifty-two yuan?

"Auntie Liu, I promise, I will gather it for you before the end of the month!"

"End of the month? What date is it today? The ninth! You have twenty-one days left! What if you can't gather it?"

"If I can't gather it…" Chen Ergou swallowed, "If I can't, you can just kick me out."

Auntie Liu glared at him, let go of her hand, and snorted: "Kick you out? If I kick you out, you'll sleep on the street? Is that the kind of person I, Liu Guihua, am?"

After speaking, she turned and walked away, then turned back after two steps: "End of the month! If you can't pay the rent by the end of the month, you go to the vegetable market and help me carry pork to pay off the debt! Hear me?"

"Heard you, heard you!" Chen Ergou nodded repeatedly.

After Auntie Liu walked away, Chen Ergou let out a long sigh and sat back down under the tree.

Carrying pork.

At least it counts as an employment direction.

He took out his phone, the screen cracked, broken when he was squeezed on the bus last month and it fell. Opening the recruitment app, it was another screen full of "Read but not replied" and "Not suitable."

Chen Ergou shoved his phone into his pocket and looked up at the leaves of the old locust tree, dazed.

When he graduated, the counselor patted his shoulder and said: "Chen Yi, you have a quick mind, you'll definitely be able to make it in society."

Make it?

Can someone who owes three months of rent make it?

Can someone with only fifty-two yuan in their pocket make it?

Can someone who gets scolded like a grandson by the landlady while being grabbed by the collar make it?

"Ergou! Ergou, are you here?"

A deep voice came from the entrance of the alley, accompanied by the sound of "thump, thump, thump" footsteps, and the ground trembled slightly.

The person who came was a huge young man, 1.85 meters tall, weighing an estimated two hundred jin, his round face full of flesh, his eyes squinting into slits when he smiled. He was wearing a faded T-shirt that said "I'm fat, who am I afraid of."

Wang Dazhuang, nicknamed Fatty.

Chen Ergou's childhood friend, a buddy since they wore split-crotch pants. The two of them, one thin as a bamboo pole, the other fat as a meatball, walking together looked exactly like a "number 1" and a "number 0."

"Fatty, why are you here?" Chen Ergou raised his hand weakly.

Fatty sat down next to him, and the old locust tree let out a groan of unbearable weight.

"I was thinking you probably didn't eat today, so I brought you two buns." Fatty took a plastic bag out of his pocket, which contained two meat buns, still hot.

Chen Ergou took the buns, took a big bite, and mumbled: "Fatty, you are truly my own brother."

"Cut it out." Fatty rolled his eyes at him, "If you eat my buns, you have to do me a favor."

"What favor?"

Fatty took something else out of his pocket—a silver-white VR helmet, with a sci-fi look, and the four big characters "world descent" printed on it.

Chen Ergou stopped chewing the bun.

"You want me to play games?"

"Not play games!" Fatty said seriously, "It's to make money!"

"Ah?"

Fatty leaned closer to him, lowered his voice, looking mysterious: "Ergou, have you heard? 'world descent,' that first global 100% realistic VR online game, do you know it?"

"I know, what about it?"

"Do you know that the gold coins in that game can be exchanged for RMB?"

Chen Ergou almost spat out the bun: "What?!"

"For real!" Fatty took out his phone to show him the news, "Look, the official announcement, the exchange rate between game gold coins and RMB is 100 to 1, 100 gold coins for 1 yuan. Now a single copper coin in the game can sell for several cents!"

Chen Ergou took the phone and looked, it really was the official announcement.

He frowned: "Then how many gold coins do I have to earn to pay the rent?"

"Let me finish!" Fatty slapped his thigh, "The game has only been open for three days, prices are still rising, and many players are buying various props and materials at high prices. Think about it, if you find some way to make money in the game, earning eighty or a hundred yuan a day won't be a problem!"

"Eighty or a hundred a day?" Chen Ergou's eyes lit up, but they quickly dimmed again, "Stop kidding, I don't know how to play games."

"I can teach you if you don't know! Besides, this game isn't just about killing monsters and leveling up, there are many ways to play—life skills, stall trading, doing quests, there's always one that suits you."

Chen Ergou fell silent.

To be honest, he had no interest in games. When he was in school, others were playing games in internet cafes all night, while he was in the Library gnawing on professional courses—although he didn't achieve anything in the end.

However.

Fifty-two yuan.

Need to pay three months of rent before the end of the month.

Thirty-seven resumes gone without a trace.

Carrying pork at the vegetable market.

Chen Ergou looked at the half-eaten bun in his hand, then at the VR helmet Fatty handed over, and gritted his teeth.

"How much is this thing?"

"The helmet is free from the game company, just need a first charge of six yuan." Fatty grinned, "I've already topped it up for you."

"You…"

"Don't talk nonsense, hurry up, go back and put it on to try. I'm already level five in this game, I'll take you easily."

Chen Ergou stared at the silver-white helmet for a long time.

Fifty-two yuan.

Minus six yuan first charge.

Still forty-six yuan left.

Forty-six yuan, twenty-one days.

He took a deep breath, stuffed the last bite of the bun into his mouth, stood up, and patted the dust off his bottom.

"Fine, I'll give it a try."

Fatty was happy, put his arm around his shoulder: "That's right! Let's go, go back to the room, brother will teach you!"

The two, one fat and one thin, walked swayingly toward the rental house.

The setting sun stretched their shadows long, one like a chopstick, the other like a small hill.

Chen Ergou looked back at the old locust tree at the entrance of the alley and said silently in his heart: God, give me a way to survive.

Of course, God didn't pay attention to him.

God never cared about the affairs of the poor.

But the system did.

But that's a story for later.