Chapter 3

Once home, Tong Yu wasted no time diving into the virtual world.

According to the store clerk, this virtual world could only be accessed by those with a Mental Power level of E or above. Once inside, it was almost indistinguishable from the real world. Everything in the virtual world was constructed using the user's Mental Power, and the stronger one's imagination, the more Mental Power it consumed. As a result, the buildings in the virtual world were often more unique and personalized than those in reality.

Tong Yu saw a flash of white light before finding himself in a room with a familiar setup. He was startled by the photos on the wall. A large photo hung on the wall opposite him, depicting two men nestled together—Sheng Jing and the original owner. Sheng Jing's eyes were gentle as he looked down at the original owner, his face unable to hide his affection. The original owner gazed up playfully, a sweet smile on his lips.

Were the original owner and Sheng Jing really so in love? How did it come to divorce and suicide?

Then Tong Yu realized why the room felt familiar: it was identical to the original owner's real-world home, except for the photo on the wall.

How much did the original owner love his real-world home to recreate it exactly in the virtual world? What happened to using imagination?

"Master, you have a call," a robot identical to Little Fatty slid out from the corner.

Even the robot was the same! I won't comment on the house decor, but why replicate Little Fatty's barrel-shaped body?

"Who's calling?" Tong Yu asked.

"Mr. Li Zong."

"Don't answer," Tong Yu declined without hesitation. He wasn't the original owner and had none of his memories. For now, he wanted to avoid contact with anyone connected to the original owner, except for unavoidable interactions with Sheng Jing. Fortunately, Sheng Jing didn't seem eager to interact with him either.

With the house mirroring the real world, Tong Yu lost interest in exploring and decisively stepped outside to go shopping. Initially, he was enthusiastic, but soon found it dull.

Shopping was just about food, drinks, and clothes. After a round, he found the interstellar era's food hard to appreciate. He finally understood why the original owner's mother's cooking was so poor—apparently, culinary skills in the interstellar era were lacking.

"Didn't they bring recipes when they immigrated from Earth?" Tong Yu muttered.

"All the documentation was brought, but much was destroyed during the Dark Period," replied the snack shop owner, as Tong Yu stood at the entrance.

The Dark Period was when Water Blue Star was invaded and enslaved by alien civilizations, something Tong Yu had read about.

"All destroyed?!"

"You clearly didn't study Water Blue Star's history well. When the alien civilizations invaded, the first thing they did was destroy our documentation," the owner explained.

"How insidious," Tong Yu remarked. A civilization without history isn't a civilization, making it easier to enslave.

"Exactly. Now we can only hope our scientists can build spaceships capable of traversing galactic storms and black holes, so one day we can return to Earth and reclaim our civilization."

Tong Yu's interest was piqued. "We can return to Earth?"

"Of course. Earth is still there. Over a thousand years have passed, and the ice should have melted. But the galactic storms are too fierce for ordinary ships to return," the stinky tofu shop owner said. "I really want to return to Earth to see if my stinky tofu is authentic."

"I can tell you without going to Earth, it's not authentic at all. It's just stinky, with no relation to stinky tofu," Tong Yu said, recalling how he had been drawn by the smell, bought a bowl, and then regretted it. Authentic stinky tofu should smell bad but taste good. This one smelled bad and tasted worse, like eating something unspeakable.

"How do you know?" the owner asked, unconvinced.

"Brother, stinky tofu is an Earth delicacy. Do you consider what you made a delicacy?"

"..." The owner stubbornly replied, "Then I'll see if the stink is authentic."

"Your stink definitely takes the cake," Tong Yu conceded. If that's the comparison, then yes, it wins.

The owner was pleased and asked Tong Yu, "Where's your shop? I'll visit when I have time."

"I haven't opened one yet, just scouting the market to see what kind of shop would be profitable," Tong Yu said, knowing that shops could be opened in the virtual world, and he had plans to do so.

The original owner had no job, and even if he did, Tong Yu might not be able to do it. But he needed to earn money. He didn't dare look for work in the real world, so opening a shop in the virtual world was the best option. Fortunately, his marriage contract with Sheng Jing still had a year left, giving him time to find a way to make money.

"You should ask me. I know," the owner offered.

"Is your stinky tofu shop very profitable?" Tong Yu asked.

"Profitable? I lose 1,000 star coins a month. I keep it open purely to consume Mental Power," the shop owner admitted.

Tong Yu breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it wasn't profitable, or he'd think interstellar people loved eating something unspeakable.

"In both the virtual and real worlds, two things are most profitable: ancient civilization heritage and Mental Power consumption," the shop owner explained. "If you have stories from the Earth era passed down from your ancestors, write them down. Set the price at 1 star coin per book, and you could earn at least 100,000 a month. If you're lucky and the National Museum collects it, you'll get an extra bonus."

Tong Yu was excited. He had that! Although he wasn't a bookworm, he was a genuine Earthling. He could write a few stories, maybe not as grand as 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio,' but he could manage a few.

"But you can't just make things up. If you write nonsense and can't prove it's from ancient civilization, you'll be penalized," the shop owner cautioned.

Tong Yu was taken aback. "How do you prove it? Isn't ancient civilization all lost?"

"Five hundred years ago, Water Blue Star collected folk stories. So your story must be proven to have been told to you by someone from five hundred years ago. For example, if your ancestor from five hundred years ago left you a book or video, which you recently discovered," the shop owner explained.

That's even more absurd than proving my mom is my mom.

"Tell me about Mental Power," Tong Yu said, giving up.

"That's simple. Just find ways to make customers consume Mental Power. For example, my stinky tofu also consumes some Mental Power when eaten."

"Your stinky tofu has that effect?!" Tong Yu was shocked.

"Of course! My stall rent is 10,000 star coins a month. If the stinky tofu was useless, I'd lose even more," the owner said.

This thing can sell for 9,000 star coins a month?!!!

"According to the latest data from the Academy of Sciences, besides creativity, the more something stimulates the brain, the more Mental Power it consumes. Human creativity has limits. Once you hit a creative bottleneck, Mental Power consumption decreases, and that's when you need something stimulating. Look at the rankings. The top ten are all combat games—the bloodier and scarier, the higher they rank. Horror movies also have the highest viewership," the owner explained.

Horror?!

Games?!

Stimulation?!

Combine these three words, and isn't that an escape room?

As someone who spent years as a wandering spirit on Earth, bored enough to play NPC in escape rooms, no one knew escape rooms better than him! Why not open one to test the waters?

"I know what kind of shop to open!" Tong Yu exclaimed excitedly.

"You already have an idea?"

"Yes, let's exchange contact information. When my escape room opens, you'll be the first to experience it," Tong Yu said.

"You're selling peaches? They've already been cultivated in the real world. You'll need to add some flair to sell them," the owner suggested while exchanging contact info with Tong Yu.

Tong Yu didn't bother explaining that this escape room wasn't a peach shop. After a quick farewell, he headed home.

Back home, Tong Yu spent about half an hour understanding the process and procedures for opening a shop, only to be surprised to find that the original owner had also opened a snack shop in the virtual world, selling boiled fish. However, the business wasn't good and quickly closed.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that he didn't need to spend time and money applying for a shop. He just needed to remodel the existing one. Remodeling was simple, as it could be done directly with Mental Power.

What kind of escape room should he build?

It took Tong Yu only three seconds to decide on the first escape room theme: Chinese horror, Ghost Bride.

This theme was one of the most popular in the escape room he "worked" in, and it didn't require a large space, making it cost-effective. Most importantly, all the scenes were in his mind, so he didn't need to rack his brain to come up with them.

With his mind made up, Tong Yu got to work.

First, he created a three-entry, three-exit Chinese courtyard.

Imagining the mansion, the surrounding space automatically transformed, completing the construction in moments, exactly as he had envisioned. The whole process felt like magic.

Amazing!

Tong Yu marveled, then continued building the scene.

With a bride, there had to be a wedding scene. An ancient wedding required the whole place to be draped in red.

Imagining the scene, red silk hung from the gate to the bridal chamber, along with red lanterns. As Tong Yu was about to construct the lanterns, a sudden pain shot through his head.

"Your Mental Power is insufficient. A contract partner has been detected. Would you like to open the Mental Power channel? If not opened, you will be forcibly logged out in thirty seconds. 30, 29…"

Insufficient Mental Power?

Only then did Tong Yu realize he was just an ordinary person without awakened Mental Power.

He had only outlined the scene and was already out of Mental Power. How much would it take to complete the entire Ghost Bride scenario? With his meager Mental Power, it would take a month.

Would he have to ask Sheng Jing again?

Tong Yu hesitated. After all, he had just borrowed 80,000 star coins an hour ago, and now he needed to borrow Mental Power… Wait, he was borrowing Mental Power. The Awakened had an excess of volatile Mental Power in their Mental Sea, eager to expend it. He was doing a good deed, helping him out.

With this thought, Tong Yu felt no guilt and decisively opened the control panel to activate the Mental Power channel.

In an instant, a surge of Mental Power flowed in, halting the virtual helmet's countdown. Tong Yu, like a contractor with unlimited funds, began constructing with abandon.

Hanging lanterns was nothing; he was going to lay carpets…

Meanwhile, at the Research Institute.

Sheng Jing was in the medical room's hibernation chamber. He had been tackling a research problem for days, and his Mental Sea's Mental Power was once again in turmoil due to prolonged lack of relief. Without a Contractor's assistance, Sheng Jing could only rely on his Mental Sea to recover, and the most effective way was through sleep. The hibernation chamber was designed to help Awakened individuals fall asleep.

Suddenly, Sheng Jing's eyes snapped open, and he sat up in the hibernation chamber.

"What's wrong?" The doctor in charge of his treatment approached with concern.

Sheng Jing didn't speak, instead tearing off the mental connector behind his ear.

Just moments ago, he felt a portion of his Mental Power being drawn away, and the only person who could do that was Tong Yu.

An hour ago, he had asked for money to buy a virtual helmet. An hour later, he was helping relieve his Mental Power. In a few hours, would he resort to moral blackmail?

Sheng Jing didn't want to repeat past mistakes.

The doctor glanced at the monitoring data. "Your Mental Power just decreased significantly. Is your Contractor helping relieve your Mental Power? That's a good thing. Why remove the connector?"

"Doctor Choi, we've already decided to terminate the contract," Sheng Jing replied calmly.

Doctor Choi wasn't surprised. Sheng Jing's relationship with his Contractor was clearly strained. If it were good, his Mental Power wouldn't be in such a dire state. But wasn't the Contractor now willing to help relieve his Mental Power?

"As long as the contract isn't terminated, he has an obligation to help relieve your Mental Power," Doctor Choi said. "Put the connector back on."

"I don't need it," Sheng Jing insisted stubbornly.

"Sheng Jing, you can only maintain mental stability for four hours a day. The remaining twenty hours are spent calming your Mental Power. If this continues, soon you'll only have three hours, then two, and eventually, you won't be able to work at all," Doctor Choi said sternly. "The development of the battleship is urgent. You know we don't have time to waste."

Sheng Jing fell silent. Although Water Blue Star had temporary peace under the Interstellar Alliance's treaty, its technology was the most backward in the entire alliance. The Research Institute's goal of developing a battleship wasn't just to return to Earth, but also because Water Blue Star's current battleships couldn't even reach the Interstellar Alliance's headquarters. Every time the planet's leader attended an alliance meeting, they needed the alliance to send a battleship to pick them up.

Being backward meant being vulnerable. If one day, people from other planets decided to attack Water Blue Star, they wouldn't even have a battleship to reach the enemy's planet. How ironic would that be?

Sheng Jing clenched his fist and reluctantly placed the connector back behind his ear.

Fine, endure for another year.

Sheng Jing lay back in the hibernation chamber. Even though Tong Yu was helping relieve his Mental Power, it wasn't enough. He still needed to sleep to calm his Mental Sea.

Doctor Choi returned to the instruments, monitoring Sheng Jing's Mental Power changes. Suddenly, his eyes widened as the Mental Power curve on the screen began to plummet.

What happened? What was Sheng Jing's Contractor doing?!

He rushed to check on Sheng Jing, only to find that the man, who usually took three to four hours to barely fall asleep, was now breathing evenly.

Meanwhile, Tong Yu was tirelessly constructing the Ghost Bride's setting, meticulously crafting even the garden's flowers and plants. As for the brief disconnection of Mental Power earlier, he didn't pay much attention, assuming it was just a network glitch.