31: Chapter 31 Running Out of In-App Purchase Points, Finding an Alternative Solution
The feverish energy brought about by Lin Zhan and Wang Pingan's breakthroughs still permeated the base.
Everyone was training like they were on stimulants, working themselves to the bone.
Wang Pingan was the same.
No.
He was more fanatical than anyone.
Returning to his single dormitory, he double-locked the door, flopped onto the bed, and let out a long sigh of relief.
Refreshing.
It felt so damn good.
Feeling the surging blood qi within him that was almost bursting through his skin, he was so comfortable he nearly groaned aloud.
Peak mid-stage Second-Rank.
blood qi value: 430 cal.
This power, this speed—the feeling of every cell in his body jumping for joy.
It was more addictive than the legendary opium.
He contentedly pulled up his system panel.
He prepared to admire the fruits of his labor, which he considered a work of art.
And then.
The smile on his face froze.
[pay-to-win points: 205]
Two hundred and five.
That number hung there all alone in the corner of the panel.
Like a scumbag who leaves as soon as he's done with you, it seemed to have a mocking smile on its face.
Wang Pingan felt like his heart had been struck hard by a block of ice.
Chilled to the core.
One second, he was a wealthy tycoon sitting on a gold mountain, spending money like water.
The next second, he was a pauper with pockets cleaner than his face.
These ups and downs of life came far too quickly.
Exhilarating.
He sat up cross-legged, staring at that number for a long time without moving.
Two hundred and five points.
It sounded like a lot.
But what were the current market rates?
He was already a Second-Rank Martial Artist.
The system, that black-hearted merchant, had long since hiked up the prices.
One point of Strength or one point of Speed cost a full thirty pay-to-win points.
His meager savings, even if broken down and calculated carefully, were only enough for six or seven upgrades; according to the Barrel Principle, once he distributed them across attributes, his blood qi would only increase by about 10 cal.
What was such a small increase good for?
It wouldn't even make a sound if dropped on his body.
Wang Pingan scratched his hair irritably.
Life without money really wasn't fit for a human.
Especially after experiencing the pleasure of leveling up like a rocket, making him go back to meditating bit by bit and absorbing spirit crystals like everyone else felt worse than killing him.
It's easy to go from poverty to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to poverty.
The words of the ancestors were truly pearls of wisdom.
So what should he do?
Go to the scrapyard again?
Wang Pingan immediately thought of his 'wealth code'.
But quickly, he snuffed out that thought.
No.
He'd been going too frequently.
Although Zhao Dahai, the foreman, looked simple-minded, he wasn't actually stupid.
Once or twice could be called luck; three or four times was a coincidence.
He'd almost plucked them bald; if they still didn't notice a problem, then the public security of Shen City would be questionable.
And most importantly.
The bits and pieces of 'high-value trash' in the scrapyard were becoming fewer and fewer.
It was barely enough to meet his consumption when he was First-Rank.
But now, the appetite of this money-shredding machine was getting larger.
Relying on those 'loose silver bits' was simply a drop in the bucket.
He had to find another way.
A way that could solve the problem once and for all, or allow him to find a new vein of ore.
Wang Pingan's gaze fell upon the system panel once more.
His eyes slowly moved away from the attribute columns representing Strength and Speed.
Finally, they stopped on the auxiliary functions column.
On a dusty, inconspicuous eye-shaped icon.
[Eye of Truth]
Activation Condition: Spirit attribute reaches 50.0.
Wang Pingan's heart skipped a beat for no reason.
He glanced at his Spirit attribute.
[Spirit: 46.7]
Still 3.3 short.
A thought—an incredibly bold, even somewhat crazy thought—suddenly popped into his head.
Should I...?
Take a gamble?
No adding Strength, no adding Speed.
Dump all his remaining assets into Spirit?
As soon as this idea appeared, it grew wildly in his heart like vines.
He admitted this was very risky.
Spirit was something invisible and intangible.
Unlike Strength and Speed, where an increase showed immediate results.
Smashing his precious pay-to-win points into this would not provide a direct boost to his combat power in the short term.
But...
He stared intently at the small line of text beneath [Eye of Truth].
"Analyze the composition of all energy, see through falsehoods, and perceive the essence."
These words were too tempting.
This was practically a cheat within a super cheat!
With this thing, would he still need to go treasure hunting in trash heaps like a pauper?
He would be able to see at a glance where there was energy and where it was most pure.
Wouldn't this be way more badass than some energy scanner?
This was a damn human-shaped walking treasure detector!
Especially that blood-colored forbidden zone deep in the scrapyard that even the system couldn't analyze.
Perhaps with these 'eyes', he could see through that layer of mist and discover the real treasure inside.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Instead of using his last bit of money to buy two small dried fish to satisfy a craving...
He might as well use it to get himself a fishing rod that could catch a whale!
Let's do it!
Wang Pingan's gaze instantly became incredibly determined.
He began to calculate rapidly in his head.
To raise the Spirit attribute from 46.7 to 50.0.
He needed 3.3.
Which was thirty-three increments of 0.1.
For a Second-Rank Martial Artist, every 0.1 attribute increase required three pay-to-win points.
Thirty-three times... he needed a total of ninety-nine pay-to-win points.
He currently had two hundred and five points.
It was enough!
More than enough!
When the final number was calculated in his mind.
Wang Pingan no longer had any hesitation.
He knew he was once again standing at a crossroads of fate.
To the left was safety.
Continuing to move slowly along the established path.
To the right was a grand gamble.
Using the present to bet on a more glorious tomorrow.
He, Wang Pingan, having lived two lives, was least afraid of gambling.
Because he knew he couldn't afford to lose.
Therefore, he had to win.