Chapter 674: The Golden Age Ends (Part 2)

In his early twenties, he transformed his cultivation level. When he first joined the Night Whisper Legion, he was just an ordinary young man tightening screws in a factory on Blue Star.

After joining the legion, he not only received an extra 3,000 credits every month, but also solved his accommodation problem and was able to continuously accumulate merit points. He was already living better than most people on Earth.

It was only a matter of time before the upward mobility narrowed; he had long understood that no matter how much a territory expanded, resources were always limited.

Those who came first got the meat, those who came later got the soup, and those who came after that got the bones. He was lucky enough to get in at the end of the expansion period.

Even if I can't afford to upgrade to a second job later, so what?

He looked down at the iron merit token in his hand, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly. That was enough.

"Next."

The civil official's voice brought him back to his senses. Lin Yichuan stepped forward and handed over the Iron Merit Order.

"Convert all of them into Beacon Coins for me."

The civil official took the token, glanced at it, and then looked up at him: "Are you sure? Your merit points are 417."

Some items can only be redeemed with Merit Points. Once you exchange them for Beacon Coins, you can't exchange them back later.

Lin Yichuan nodded: "I'm sure."

The civil official glanced at him for two seconds, then stopped trying to persuade him. He lowered his head, made a mark on the booklet, swiped the Iron Merit Order on the machine on the corner of the table, and handed it back to Lin Yichuan.

Then he counted out four 1,000-yuan notes and one 100-yuan note from the drawer, and added some loose small bills, and pushed them in front of him.

"Four hundred and seventeen points, exchange for four thousand one hundred and seventy beacon fire coins, count them yourself."

Lin Yichuan took the stack of banknotes, pinching the edges with his fingertips as he flipped through them one by one.

The banknotes are made of thin paper, but they feel resilient to the touch. The surface is embossed with faint beacon patterns, and dark gold lines can be seen when held up to the light.

He counted the money twice to make sure it was correct, then put it into his inner pocket and nodded to the civil official: "Thank you."

The civil official waved his hand, bowed his head, and called out, "Next."

Lin Yichuan turned and left the exchange office. The night had completely fallen, and rows of lights lit up the walls of Hangu Pass, like a luminous dragon coiled in the wilderness.

He walked north along the main street and turned into the large dormitory in the military area. The sound of snoring rose and fell in the dormitory. Several night shift workers had not yet left, while the day shift workers had already gone to sleep.

He tiptoed to his bunk, picked up his pillow, shook it, flattened it again, stretched the corners of the bunk, and then lay down, closing his eyes and withdrawing his consciousness from the nightmare world.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already in his own bachelor apartment on Earth.

The room wasn't big, just one bedroom and one living room, and the furniture was old, but it was fairly clean.

He sat up in bed and first touched the stack of coins in his pocket. The coins were still there, the paper still slightly warm.

He spread the coins out on the bed, one by one, totaling four thousand one hundred and seventy yuan.

According to the official exchange rate, one Fire Coin equals ten Credits, which is 41,700 Credits.

Lin Yichuan looked at the banknotes and took a deep breath.

He pulled out his personal terminal from the drawer and skillfully opened an encrypted website.

The website has a simple interface, with black background and white text, and a large line of text at the top: "Beacon Coin Recycling, Instant Payment, Door-to-Door Pickup".

The exchange rate below is: one Fire Coin to twenty Credits.

His teammate had secretly told him about this website a while ago, saying that the exchange rate was as high as 1 to 20 and that they also offered door-to-door pickup.

He didn't dare to try it then, but yesterday his teammate sold 300 Beacon Coins and received 6,000 Credits, not a penny less.

He hesitated for a moment, but still placed the order.

Four 1,000-denomination Beacon Coin notes, totaling 4,000 Beacon Coins, can be exchanged for 80,000 Credits at this exchange rate.

Less than half an hour after I placed the order, the doorbell rang.

Lin Yichuan walked to the door, but did not open it immediately. He first looked out through the peephole.

A man stood outside the door, wearing a black baseball cap and a mask. He was rather thin, with only his eyes showing.

With his hands in his pockets and his head turning slightly from side to side, he seemed to be checking if anyone else was in the hallway.

Lin Yichuan's heart skipped a beat. Coming to collect Feng Huo coins in the middle of the night without even showing his face—could this be some kind of illegal transaction?

But then he thought that with his level 19 strength, if the other party dared not give him credits, he could subdue him with one punch and get the money back.

He turned the lock and opened the door a crack.

"Mr. Lin Yichuan?" the masked man outside the door spoke, his voice very low.

"It's me."

"I come to collect Fenghuo coins. Please tell me your card number."

Lin Yichuan recited a string of numbers, and the masked man quickly tapped a few times on his terminal before looking up and saying, "Okay, the money has been transferred. Please check."

Lin Yichuan looked down at his terminal. His balance had indeed changed. 85,000 credit points had been deposited into his account. The transfer note read "Information Consulting Fee." The payer was a local company he recognized, a cross-border e-commerce company.

His worries dissipated considerably, and he looked up to ask about the extra money.

The masked man spoke first: "The extra amount is tax; we're selling the price after tax here."

"You still pay taxes?" Lin Yichuan was a little surprised.

“Legitimate businesses pay taxes, of course.” The masked man said calmly. “Those who don’t pay taxes get arrested, while those who pay taxes are still doing it. It’s that simple.”

Lin Yichuan raised an eyebrow. So professional, they don't look like a makeshift operation.

He nodded, took out the four thousand-yuan coins from his backpack, and handed them over.

The masked man took the money, checked its authenticity against the corridor light one by one, then put it into his inner pocket, nodded to him, and turned to leave quickly.

The footsteps grew fainter and fainter in the corridor, and soon disappeared.

Lin Yichuan closed the door, locked it, then opened his personal terminal, looked at the string of numbers on the balance screen, and took a deep breath.

With 85,000 credits, he earned only a few thousand a month when he was working on Blue Star.

He currently has enough money in his account to live comfortably in this city for a year.

He walked to the window, drew back the curtains, and saw the city's night view outside.

Neon lights flashed in the distance, and traffic flowed along the elevated highway, forming a river of light.

He looked for a while, then turned around, grabbed his coat and keys, and went downstairs.

The idea of ​​revenge spending swirled in his mind, and finally he decided to go out for a nice meal first.

He had been eyeing that barbecue restaurant on the street corner for over half a year, but he couldn't bring himself to go in.

Although the food on Earth wasn't very filling, the taste was something that the free military rations provided by the territory simply couldn't replace.

When he reached the entrance of the barbecue restaurant, he paused, glanced down at the balance on his personal terminal, and then looked up at the bright signboard inside the restaurant.

Then he pushed open the door and strode inside.