Only two weeks left!
By then, the world will undergo enormous changes.
When the monsters descend, any tall building will be reduced to rubble under their attacks!
Let alone residential houses.
So, why wait when it's the right time to sell?
Lin Chen's house is located in a prime school district in Longhai, a second-tier city.
The housing prices here are not cheap either.
Lin Chen immediately went to find a real estate agent.
Upon hearing that a house in the school district was for sale, the agents became excited.
A school district house in Longhai City!
It was highly sought after.
As soon as the news about the house went public, several inquiries came in, and someone quickly offered a price that satisfied Lin Chen.
Three million!
This price was entirely acceptable in Longhai City.
Moreover, the buyer was in a hurry.
It was said to be for the buyer's daughter, who would attend a school across the street next semester.
The buyer was paying in full.
However, certain formalities and procedures, including agency fees and property transfer, needed to be settled in a contract, and the transaction would take at least until tomorrow. Lin Chen wasn't in a hurry for it to happen today.
Because...
He had many things to do!
Firstly, he needed a loan!
The house was still in Lin Chen's possession.
He entered the homeowner's information, including his personal details.
Soon, several mobile apps offered him loan amounts.
He immediately managed to borrow over one million!
But it was still not enough!
He couldn't get more loans on his phone?
No worries!
Lin Chen had another option.
He took a taxi and arrived at a dimly lit alley.
This place in Longhai City was a haven for all sorts of shady characters.
One of them, known as Brother Hu, had a storefront here.
From the outside, it looked like a supermarket, but inside, it was a small gambling den.
Brother Hu's main business was lending money to people.
Being a local and owning a house, Lin Chen naturally got to meet Brother Hu quickly.
"How much do you want to borrow?"
Brother Hu was straightforward, staring directly at Lin Chen, examining him.
He was an experienced man.
People who did business like him weren't indiscriminate with their loans.
They weren't afraid of those who seemed unable to repay the money.
They were afraid that the borrower might end up dead.
Killing the debtor wouldn't help if they couldn't repay the debt in the end.
It would only lead to more trouble.
However, it was evident that Lin Chen was not someone like that.
Moreover, Lin Chen owned a house!
A school district house in Longhai City!
A highly valuable asset.
"Two million?"
Brother Hu was shocked when he heard the request.
Who the hell asks for two million right away?
"I have a house in Jia Ning District, and it's a school district house," Lin Chen said.
This time, Brother Hu's eyes lit up, but he quickly frowned, "Kid, don't you know the rules? For using a house as collateral, your parents should come."
"My parents are no longer alive, and I am the only one on the household registration," Lin Chen replied, taking out his household registration book.
Seeing it, Brother Hu paused for a moment.
Then, he looked at the people around him.
One of his henchmen came over and took the household registration book to the computer.
He came back quickly and nodded to Brother Hu, indicating there were no problems.
Brother Hu handed the book back to Lin Chen.
But his action didn't mean refusal.
And Lin Chen wasn't nervous either.
He knew Brother Hu's reputation.
In the entire Longhai City, he was a well-known bully.
Moreover, when borrowing from him, he never asked for any collateral.
For instance, he didn't require documents for cars or property.
He only asked if you could prove that those things truly belonged to you!
Brother Hu had a famous saying: "I'm not afraid you won't pay me back or won't offer anything as collateral!"
He was that confident!
Lin Chen's household registration was in Longhai.
Besides, he was still a student, so there was no fear of him running away.
Lin Chen also had something of significant value in his hands.
So, Brother Hu could lend him the money.
But...
"One million six hundred thousand."
Brother Hu immediately lowered the price, "For the first two months, I won't charge any interest. After three months, you directly repay two million. If you can't, I'll take your house and the deal is done. If it works for you, I'll transfer the money right away!"
"Do we need to draft a formal contract?" Lin Chen was a little surprised.
"Contract?"
Brother Hu smiled coldly, "I don't even need your property certificate. Is that even useful? But... kid, don't even think about any tricks. Everyone in Longhai knows my name as Brother Hu. If you dare to default on the loan, be prepared to have your household registration book empty!"
"But I need two million..." Lin Chen seemed somewhat hesitant, but under Brother Hu's cold gaze, he had to pretend to compromise, saying, "Fine, one million six hundred thousand it is! I'll repay you after three months!"
...
Leaving Brother Hu's place, Lin Chen couldn't believe how smoothly it had gone.
On his phone, Brother Hu had just transferred a sum of money.
One million six hundred thousand!
Borrowing for three months and having to repay two million later!
That was quite harsh.
But Lin Chen didn't mind.
Three months?
Heh...
In half a month, those funds would probably be untraceable.
With no psychological pressure, Lin Chen took a taxi straight home.
As he got off on the side of the neighborhood, Lin Chen frowned.
A white van had been following him all the way.
When Lin Chen looked back, they didn't hide and even rolled down the window to wave at him.
Lin Chen recognized one of them...
He was indeed Brother Hu's henchman!
What a clever scheme.
No wonder Brother Hu didn't need any collateral or documents from borrowers.
So, he lent money, and then his henchmen followed them around?
Lin Chen ignored them.
Back in his room, Lin Chen didn't immediately start playing the game.
He made a call first.
Ring, ring, ring.
The call connected.
"Hello? Lin Chen, what's up?"
In his phone, Lin Chen heard the voice of his classmate, Zhang Chunlin.
The sound of typing on a keyboard could also be heard.
Lin Chen smiled and said, "Chubby Zhang, you must be swamped these days, right? As a veteran player of 'New World,' your business must be crazy busy. I'm telling you, you can only describe it as 'overwhelming'! It must be tough!"
He and Zhang Chunlin were both third-year college students now.
However, Zhang Chunlin was quite capable.
In their freshman year, he was just like Lin Chen, a newcomer in the game 'New World.' But in the second semester of the freshman year, Zhang Chunlin became a professional merchant in the game.
He even opened the biggest shop in 'New World.'
His business covered almost all aspects of the game!
And thanks to the game, Zhang Chunlin had accumulated millions in wealth in just about two years.
But this time, Zhang Chunlin had hit a snag.
With the announcement of 'New World' shutting down, the prices of all in-game items plummeted!
As a game merchant like Zhang Chunlin, he had stored goods in hundreds of warehouses, and now he would probably have to sell them all...
A total loss!
Although selling everything now wouldn't result in heavy debt, he would have to start all over again.
"Chubby Zhang, I won't beat around the bush. I came to find you to suggest you cut your losses. Can you get your hands on a billion gold coins? At the current market price, I can buy them all from you," Lin Chen said directly.
"What? A billion gold coins? Are you serious?" Zhang Chunlin immediately became interested.
"Dead serious!"
"Why though?" Zhang Chunlin was puzzled. "Now everyone's selling everything. Why do you want to buy?"
"You know, I have a CP in the game. Initially, I planned to sell the account, but she insists on keeping the game as her memory and wants to play it till the very end... Even the places she hasn't visited yet, she wants to see them too," Lin Chen explained, drawing from the experience on the forum last night. He didn't want to play the good guy anymore. "So, I decided not to sell the account. Instead, I want to buy things for her in the game. Besides, we've been playing for a long time, and it's impossible not to have any emotional attachment. Plus, now that prices have crashed, all those rare equipment and pet eggs that were previously unattainable can be bought with just a bit of money. I also want to experience what it's like to be one of the top spenders and, at the very least, not regret anything."
"Well, that makes sense," Zhang Chunlin agreed.
Now that 'New World' was ending, many players indeed had a sense of nostalgia and emotional attachment to the game. Even Zhang Chunlin himself was somewhat moved.
"That's right. You have a point. It's a mix of love and regret," Zhang Chunlin chuckled. "So, you need gold coins now?"
"Equipment is fine too, along with rare pet eggs and golden pet eggs... By the way, I remember you also deal in fashion, right? Are fashion items also crashing in price now?" Lin Chen asked.
"Fashion!"
In 'New World,' there were various beautiful fashion items that mainly attracted female players to spend. They didn't offer any attribute bonuses but were purely for aesthetic purposes.
And Lin Chen wanted to buy all the fashion items too.
"Why not? You're right, these fashion items weren't expensive before. With 'New World' shutting down, the prices are now dirt cheap, and many are practically being given away," Zhang Chunlin replied.
Perfect!
Lin Chen thought to himself. He wanted to buy all the fashion items as well.
First of all, their prices used to be quite low.
And after the announcement of the game shutting down, many players were selling them for next to nothing.
Moreover, these fashion items had a unique characteristic... They didn't wear out!
What did that mean?
Let's say you encountered a fire mage, and they hit you with a fireball. Your equipment might get damaged and lose durability, even to the point of being unusable... Although you could get it repaired later, it was still embarrassing during the battle.
But fashion items wouldn't have that problem!
When the game invaded reality, everything in the game would also be brought to the real world.
In other words, these never-wearing-out fashion items would continue to retain this attribute in reality.
That would make them incredibly valuable!
You'd never have to worry about your clothes suddenly getting ruined in a real-life fight.
(End of this chapter)