Chapter 83: Paid Video

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Paid Video

After leaving the lab and having a nice, big meal, Chen Qi reconnected with the outside world again.

Everything in the Lanyu Kingdom was as harmonious as ever, and the appointment of a new Prime Minister was still at a standstill.

It was, one could say, completely unsurprising and offered no excitement.

The only news that managed to pique Chen Qi’s interest was about his good friend, Westin Kuta.

He was already on his way back, and if all went smoothly, he would certainly make landfall within two months.

It had to be said that Westin was a truly loyal friend. If it weren’t for getting his hands on a higher-model Life Radar, he wouldn’t have needed to go out to sea at all.

Westin had also sent a cryptic message, saying he had gotten a "big surprise" this time and that Chen Qi should wait and see.

He just hoped it wasn’t anything too weird. After integrating into the circle of the wealthy, Chen Qi had truly seen it all.

For the next week, Chen Qi planned to get some proper rest.

’Before my Life Magnet Field recovers, I’m going to be really weak. What if I accidentally overexert myself and catch a cold?’

’Reading a book now and then, watching some "paid videos"... isn’t that the life?’

...

After his Spirit Awakening, Chen Qi reviewed the 15 ancient scripts once more.

It was like reuniting with old friends, and his connection to them had deepened considerably.

This was especially true for the Divination Text, the Rope Text, and Doumu’s Spiral. He never tired of studying them; the more he looked, the more profound they seemed.

Frustratingly, the Tadpole script had "turned its back on him." After Chen Qi’s Spirit Awakening, he found he could no longer understand the script.

Or rather, in Chen Qi’s eyes, they no longer held any sense of mystery; they were just a pile of ink marks.

The door that had once been open to Chen Qi had closed again.

This left Chen Qi quite disappointed. His path of study was completely cut off.

Jomoya Chris’s textbook only covered the period before Spirit Awakening. It didn’t mention a single word about how to practice Cultivation after becoming an Awakened.

Chen Qi did know that he needed to sign a contract with the Four Symbols Book to obtain Magic Power.

But let’s not even get into the fact that the textbook didn’t contain the signing ritual. Even if it did, the Source Ore had been chewed down to half its size. Where was Chen Qi supposed to find the other half?

After witnessing the "wonders" of the Spirit Realm Declaration, Chen Qi was now particularly resistant to signing any kind of pact.

There had to be a reason why those ancient Extraordinary paths were suppressed by the P5 and the world government.

There was probably some huge trap hidden within them.

Chen Qi’s current situation was awkward. He possessed Spirituality, but no Spiritual Energy.

His Spirituality could sense something in the space around him that was drawn to him, yet he couldn’t perceive or capture it more clearly.

Chen Qi believed that "something" was definitely Spiritual Energy.

...

Actually, strictly speaking, Chen Qi did have some Spiritual Energy—the spiritual energy points in the King’s Game.

Unfortunately, whenever he tried to extract the spiritual energy points from the Card, the Red Heart 7 would get upset. It was very protective of its food!

Chen Qi suspected that if he tried to force the issue, the Card would definitely reactivate and fight him for three hundred rounds.

He had just barely managed to clean up the two glitches; his own energy hadn’t even recovered yet. Why would he pick a fight with the Card over a few points of Spiritual Energy?

Chen Qi’s original plan was to complete his skill advancement immediately after his Awakening, but that had also been postponed.

...

「Inside the president’s office of the Chris Group.」

Chen Qi sat calmly, his eyes gazing into the distance.

In his line of sight, there was nothing but empty space in the physical world. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

But on another plane of existence, a bronze die was playing a short video.

It was a funny thing. After Chen Qi had dealt with the two glitches, he had decided to Summon the bronze die to see if anything had changed.

Unfortunately, It was not very cooperative. The blurry patterns on the die hadn’t become any clearer.

Chen Qi had thought that with his enhanced Spirituality, he would be able to read the messages on the die’s faces. As it turned out, he was thinking too much.

He still couldn’t understand the messages and could only stare helplessly.

Out of curiosity and a refusal to give up, Chen Qi infused his Spirituality into the bronze die.

He originally thought he wouldn’t be able to affect the bronze die at all, but to his surprise, his Spirituality was devoured by it.

Only after it had Devoured a full half of his Spirituality did the bronze die finally relent.

Then, it actually started to spin again.

In that moment, Chen Qi’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

’Did I accidentally trigger another mechanism for making a Wish?’

Chen Qi stared at the spinning die with fiery eyes, his mind screaming for a 20.

The moment the die stopped, the number 4 kindly greeted him once again.

Chen Qi’s heart shattered.

Fortunately, he didn’t fall into an abyss of despair. The face with the number 4 flashed with light and actually played a short video.

’So this isn’t a Wish!’

His emotions having gone on a rollercoaster, a now-calm Chen Qi watched the video with curiosity.

The scene in the video was a vast, arid desert. A humanoid creature with a lizard’s head was kneeling in the sand, kowtowing repeatedly.

It seemed to say something, but unfortunately, there was no audio.

The next moment, a torrential downpour fell from the sky.

In the blink of an eye, a small lake had formed in the desert.

At the end of the clip, Chen Qi could only see the lizard-person flailing in the lake. He couldn’t tell if it had drowned or not.

At first, Chen Qi was baffled and couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

But he soon realized what it was: a recording of a previous Wisher’s wish.

The wish the other party had made must have also been worth 4 points.

That lizard-headed fellow was actually another form of intelligent life.

’This world is truly strange.’

Of course, what was even stranger was the bronze die. To think that such an ancient object actually had a "pay-per-view" feature.

...

Although his heart burned with the desire to watch another one, the ever-cautious Chen Qi forced himself to endure.

’Completely exhausting my Spirituality would be irresponsible. What if some emergency comes up?’

As for the consumed Spirituality, what was essentially lost was the mysterious power within it.

As long as his awareness remained, it would recover quickly.

Chen Qi calculated the time. It would take about three hours for him to recover half of his Spirituality.

In other words, he could watch another video in three hours.

During his recent days of recuperation, this had become Chen Qi’s greatest source of entertainment.

If nothing else, it at least broadened his horizons.

Just in terms of strange and bizarre intelligent life forms, Chen Qi had already seen five different kinds.

Based on his viewing experience, Chen Qi concluded that the videos were chosen randomly, but every Wisher’s wish was worth 4 points.

Or rather, Chen Qi’s viewing privileges were limited to 4-point wishes, which was undoubtedly related to the number he rolled on his last Wish.

Perhaps his viewing privileges would change after his next Wish.

Chen Qi felt that his life was going pretty well recently. He still had room to strive on his own, so he wouldn’t be bothering the bronze die.

Although watching others make a Wish was an interesting affair, it would be quite embarrassing if, one day, someone else saw a recording of his own Wish.

Chen Qi recalled the scene of his own Wish; there didn’t seem to be anything too embarrassing.

’Looks like I’ll need to pay attention to my appearance and attire next time I make a Wish.’

It would be even better if he could delete the recording of the wish, but Chen Qi was definitely not willing to use up his last wish to do so.

...

"Boss, there’s a lady outside looking for you!"

His secretary, Sam, appeared at the door, bringing the leisurely Chen Qi a piece of not-so-good news.

’No need to guess. It’s almost certainly Mu Wanqing!’

Yu Hongwu had vanished without a trace, and the disciples of the Red Falcon Sect were finally getting restless.