[Twenty-Four Bridges Under the Moonlight]: Increases the user's Strength by +3 (one-time use only).
Price: 5,000 gold coins.
[Potent Ogre Potion]: Increases the user's Strength by +5 for thirty minutes.
Price: 3,000 gold coins.
[Remnant of the Merman King]: Increases the user's Spirit by +4 (one-time use only).
Price: 6,500 gold coins.
[Ghost General–Grade Yin Core]: Increases the user's Spirit by +1.
Price: 2,000 gold coins.
A dense array of epic-grade buff items filled the listings, making Ma Jun's eyes spin.
And none of them were cheap!
An item like [Twenty-Four Bridges Under the Moonlight], whose effect was roughly on par with [Exotic Fragrant Pork Chop], could actually sell for 5,000 gold coins apiece.
He had six [Exotic Fragrant Pork Chops] on hand. If he sold them all, that would be 30,000 gold coins in one go!
Meanwhile, items similar to [Charcoal-Grilled Dragonfish], such as [Ghost General–Grade Yin Core], sold for 2,000 gold coins each.
And Ma Jun had over forty of those!
All told, the numbers matched his expectations pretty closely.
Five dragonfish were worth about the same as two pork chops.
Which meant that if he dumped all his items into the trading house at once, he could easily make 100,000 gold coins!
One hundred thousand gold coins!
That was equivalent to one hundred Purple Crystals.
At that point, opening a 30,000-gold training room would be as easy as breathing.
He couldn't help but sigh again—
the Vampire Lady's Castle truly was a land of fortune.
Of course, he wasn't going to sell everything at once.
Flooding the market would only drive down prices for the same item.
Besides, he didn't yet fully understand the market capacity of the Horror Game's trading house.
And he planned to keep a portion of the items anyway—
to sell later when prices fluctuated, or to bring into future instances. They might even yield unexpected benefits when interacting with instance NPCs.
After some thought, Ma Jun carefully reviewed the items again.
That's when he noticed something interesting.
Items that increased Constitution were noticeably more expensive than items boosting other attributes.
Among items with identical rarity and effects, Constitution boosters were about 10% pricier.
He didn't fully understand why, but prices didn't lie.
Expensive things were expensive for a reason.
So he listed one [Exotic Fragrant Pork Chop] and one [Charcoal-Grilled Dragonfish] in the trading house.
He priced the pork chop at 5,500 gold coins, and the dragonfish at 2,000 gold coins.
In his view, those were very reasonable prices.
After listing them, he logged off.
He planned to wait until the money came in, then go shopping for more items—
things like equipment and cultivation techniques.
…
When he opened his eyes again, Ma Jun found himself back in the familiar room.
Turning his head, he saw the family photo of three people still neatly placed where it had always been.
Everything looked the same—
except there was now a thin layer of dust on the furniture.
He had spent nearly half a month inside the instance, which translated to just five days in the real world.
Being home felt great.
Ma Jun smiled and casually swung his arm.
Seeing the afterimages trailing his movement, the smile on his face deepened.
Aside from items, everything else gained in the game could be brought back to reality.
A superhuman in the game—
just as much a superhuman in real life.
After just one run, he had already grown to this extent. The future filled him with anticipation.
He poured himself a glass of water, then plugged in his phone, which had long since run out of battery.
The moment it powered on, countless notifications flooded in like snowflakes, nearly drowning him.
"Ma Jun, where did you go?!"
"You didn't… enter the Horror Game, did you?"
"Hahaha, don't scare Auntie like that."
"When are you coming to see big sis? I bought a really sexy swimsuit."
"Ma Jun, I told you—I only want to be with you. I don't care about anything else!"
…
Ma Jun casually deleted the unimportant messages, then selectively replied to a few.
"Good news: I entered the game.
Bad news: I'm still alive."
"I don't like you wearing swimsuits—you're too flat."
"There are too many people who want to be with me. Sorry, you'll have to queue."
He replied jokingly, but when he reached one particular message, he paused.
It was from Su Ling, the school beauty.
"Ma Jun, I entered the Horror Game."
"Did you go in too? Why haven't you come out yet?"
"You'll be fine… right? Please—nothing must happen to you!"
Ma Jun's eyes lit up.
Huh?
Su Ling entered the Horror Game too?!
And… she was worried about him?
It wasn't often that he received concern from a girl his own age. Despite himself, he felt genuinely moved.
Just as he was about to reply, he noticed the last line.
"If something happens to you… what am I supposed to do, then?!"
Ma Jun's fingers froze over the screen.
Without hesitation, he swiped right and deleted the message.
Sigh.
His eyes took on a lonely look.
Life really was as desolate as snow.
Just then—
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone was pounding on his door.
Ma Jun frowned slightly. Who would come looking for him at home?
Those older sisters and aunties?
No—that didn't make sense. He never let them come to his place; they always met outside.
He moved cautiously to the door and peeked through the peephole.
Two adult men stood outside.
They were dressed in black uniforms, their expressions calm and restrained.
Ma Jun instantly understood.
These were people from the Surveillance Bureau.
Officially known as—
The Horror Game Player Administration Bureau.
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