150: Metaverse dog walking becomes a hit, Duoyu Pet Hotel suffers a setback.

Wang Duoyu's sky restaurant had just cooled off when he made a big scene early the next morning—holding a press conference at Xihong City's most luxurious hotel. Holding a diamond-encrusted dog collar, he shouted with spit flying, "I'm going to build the 'Xihong City Top Pet Hotel'! The budget is one hundred million! Every pet will stay in a presidential suite, equipped with a private nutritionist and masseuse, pure gold dog bowls, and silk cat beds. I'll make pets live more comfortably than people! Xie Hui, do you dare to follow?"

When the news reached Xie Hui's ears, he was busy with Xia Zhu in the parent-child DIY area of the food street—the fifty stalls added the day before had just been set up. A group of kids surrounded them making lava tofu, their faces covered in flour, laughing joyfully. Xia Zhu finished reading the news on her tablet and frowned, "One hundred million? He's really smashing the pot now that it's broken. Should we follow?"

Xie Hui helped a kid wipe the flour off their face and smiled without looking up, "Follow? Of course we follow. But we won't compete with him in extravagance; we need to play something fresh." He put down his tools, pulled Xia Zhu to a deserted corner, and silently thought, "Time Stop"—the surrounding laughter and the sizzle of oil pans stopped instantly, and even the flour floating in the air froze mid-flight.

"Come on, let's go check out Wang Duoyu's pet hotel preparation office." Xie Hui pulled Xia Zhu, quickly walking through the frozen crowd, heading straight for the abandoned factory Wang Duoyu had rented. Just as they reached the entrance, they saw Zhuang Qiang directing workers to move things. A pile of rusty iron cages was stacked on the ground, and the bags next to them were printed with "Expired Pet Feed," with the labels not even torn off.

"As expected, he didn't disappoint." Xie Hui took out his mobile phone to take a photo and flipped through the nearby purchase orders—the so-called "pure gold dog bowls" were actually gold-plated, and the "silk cat beds" used synthetic fiber cloth, costing less than a tenth of the listed price. He noted down the phone numbers of the suppliers he liked, deactivated Time Stop, and by the time they returned to the food street, Xia Zhu was still in a daze: "Just now... it felt like I just blinked. How did we get back?"

"It's a secret." Xie Hui smiled and flicked her nose. "We're going to create a 'Metaverse Dog Walking APP' right now, and then build a stray animal rescue station. It spends money and builds merit, which is much better than Wang Duoyu's pet-scamming hotel."

The two of them got straight to work. Xie Hui first contacted the programmer team from the previous AI fortune-telling project: "I'll give you ten million to make the 'Metaverse Dog Walking APP' within a week—users can raise virtual dogs on their mobile phones, walk them by wearing VR glasses, and even buy virtual clothes and snacks for them. The flashier the better. If you need more money, just ask."

When the programmers heard there was work and that he was so generous, they immediately patted their chests and guaranteed, "Don't worry, CEO Xie! Forget a week, we can get it done in five days!"

Just as the APP development was finalized, Xie Hui took Xia Zhu to a vacant lot on the outskirts of the city—he rented a piece of wasteland, spent five million to build a stray animal rescue station, hired twenty veterinarians and thirty caregivers with a monthly salary of ten thousand each; then he bought one hundred thousand catties of imported pet food, two thousand constant-temperature dog beds, and a bunch of pet toys and medicine. It added up to another ten million.

Xia Zhu followed Xie Hui around the vacant lot. Watching the workers start to set up sheds, she couldn't help but say, "Why did you suddenly want to build a rescue station? You didn't mention it before."

"Yesterday at the food street, I saw a stray dog looking longingly at the kids eating tofu. It was quite pitiful." Xie Hui crouched down and stroked a stray dog that had wandered over. "Wang Duoyu uses pets as a gimmick to make money; we'll truly help pets. Spending money this way makes me feel at peace."

Looking at his serious profile, Xia Zhu felt a sudden warmth in her heart—though Xie Hui loved to joke and spent money ridiculously, he always showed kindness in the details, unlike Wang Duoyu who only knew how to put on airs. She crouched down to pet the dog with Xie Hui and whispered, "I'll come help feed the dogs every day from now on. I'll just leave the accounting to my assistant."

"I couldn't ask for more." Xie Hui smiled and handed her a ham sausage. The two of them crouched on the ground feeding the dogs, the sunlight bathing them, making even the air feel warm and cozy.

While Xie Hui's project was in full swing, Wang Duoyu's pet hotel was also being prepared intensely. He invited a bunch of influencers to film promotional videos. In the footage, the dog beds were glittering with gold, and nutritionists held test tubes of "Advanced feed," making netizens exclaim that "people live worse than dogs." But within a few days, something went wrong—a customer sent their dog there, and the next day it had vomiting and diarrhea. A check-up at the pet hospital revealed it had eaten expired feed, and the rusty iron cages had cut the dog's paws.

The topic "Wang Duoyu Scams Pets!" immediately trended. Customers blocked the entrance of the pet hotel demanding an explanation. Wang Duoyu hid inside, not daring to come out, and sent Zhuang Qiang to deal with it. As soon as Zhuang Qiang walked to the door, an angry Samoyed pounced on him, tearing his floral shirt. Before he could react, a stray cat darted out from the side and scratched three bloody marks onto the back of his hand—along with the previous bird droppings and paint, it completed his "Unlucky Trio."

"Brother Qiang, you need to treat that hand quickly so it doesn't get infected!" Xie Hui happened to be bringing a veterinarian to save stray animals nearby. Seeing Zhuang Qiang's miserable state, he handed him a bottle of iodine.

Zhuang Qiang looked at Xie Hui, both angry and aggrieved: "Xie Hui, did you know long ago that Brother Duoyu was using low-quality feed? Why didn't you warn me?"

"Warn you?" Xie Hui raised an eyebrow. "I told you at the food street last time not to mess around with Wang Duoyu, but you didn't listen. Besides, pets are like people; you have to treat them with heart. What's the use of just relying on gold-plated dog bowls to keep up appearances?"

The surrounding customers heard this and chimed in: "CEO Xie is right! We're not sending our pets to Wang Duoyu's place anymore. CEO Xie, does your rescue station take pet boarding? We're willing to pay!"

Xie Hui smiled and nodded: "We do! Our rescue station can not only do boarding but also pet check-ups and grooming. The prices are fair, and we absolutely don't use expired feed!"

Hearing this, the customers immediately followed Xie Hui to the rescue station. Wang Duoyu's pet hotel was completely deserted, with only a few influencers left at the door packing their equipment, muttering, "Our wages haven't even been paid yet."

At the same time, Xie Hui's "Metaverse Dog Walking APP" went online. He set up an offline experience area at the food street with twenty VR devices, and anyone passing by could try it for free. A child put on the glasses and shouted excitedly, "I see my virtual dog! It can even do breakdancing!"

Within a few days, the APP became a hit. Young people were showing off their virtual dogs; some spent hundreds of dollars to buy "limited edition clothes" for their virtual dogs, and others formed teams for online "dog walking competitions." The programmer team approached Xie Hui to apply for additional investment: "CEO Xie, there are too many users, the servers aren't enough. We need to add features, like virtual dog weddings and puppies. It'll definitely be even more popular!"

"Invest! Invest another twenty million!" Xie Hui waved his hand grandly. "Get the best servers and the most complete features. It doesn't matter if we lose money, as long as the users are happy!"

Xia Zhu looked at the backend data, unable to stop smiling: "Our APP has been online for three days and has already spent over thirty million, and no one is making money yet. Wang Duoyu's side is probably going to be fuming."

"I don't know if he's fuming, but I know he's running out of money." Xie Hui opened his phone and scrolled to Wang Duoyu's latest update—he had sold his limited edition sports car and mortgaged his house to scrape together twenty million, saying he was going to build the "Largest Amusement Park in Xihong City."

"Amusement Park?" Xie Hui sneered. "He's out of tricks and wants to rely on scale to crush me. But it's okay, we have a better move." He leaned into Xia Zhu's ear and whispered a plan. After hearing it, Xia Zhu's eyes instantly lit up: "That move is brilliant! Wang Duoyu definitely won't see it coming!"

In the evening, Xie Hui drove Xia Zhu home. As they passed the rescue station, the lights were still on, and the veterinarians and caregivers were feeding the stray dogs. Xia Zhu leaned against the car window and whispered, "It would be great if it could always be like this—spending money with you every day and helping these little animals together."

Xie Hui's heart stirred, and he turned to look at her: "In the future, when we go to other places, it can be like this too."

Xia Zhu was stunned for a moment, realizing he was referring to "Transmigration." Her face instantly turned red, and she lowered her head, whispering, "Okay."

The car stopped downstairs at Xia Zhu's home. Before getting out, she suddenly turned and hugged Xie Hui briefly, then quickly let go: "Thank you for today, for helping me avoid Wang Duoyu's trouble and for letting me help the little animals with you."

Xie Hui stood frozen in place, touching the shoulder she had hugged. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up—this money-spending war in Xihong City was not only bringing him closer to winning the bet but also giving him unexpected warmth. Watching Xia Zhu's silhouette run into the hallway, he secretly decided: he must win the bet and take Xia Zhu with him to more interesting worlds.

Meanwhile, Wang Duoyu was still slamming the table over the design plans for the Amusement Park, unaware that he was about to fall into another pit dug by Xie Hui. The days ahead would only get more lively and exciting.