The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

The next morning, "Xina" walked into the Canaan City New Town Housing Rental Center with the 35,000 Federal Dollars she had earned from "selling scrap".

In the lobby, property listings are projected onto a large screen, with round, white robots moving around among them.

After Moran swiped her ID, a round robot approached her.

Good morning, young lady!

An exaggerated smiley face appeared on the robot's screen: "I am your personal rental consultant 117. What kind of housing do you need?"

“I want to rent a small, safe apartment, with a budget of around 1,500,” Moran said.

The robot immediately displayed a series of options on its screen: "These houses all meet your requirements! Please have a seat, and I will introduce them to you one by one!"

Moran had been staying at Colt's house for a long time and was quite familiar with the neighborhood. It was conveniently located, comfortable, and cost-effective. After looking around, she decided that the house there was the most suitable for her.

Living there also made it convenient for her to occasionally go to Colt to check if anyone had checked "Xina's" identity file.

“Let’s go with the top floor of Building 13 in Yuanmeng Community!” She pointed to the unit with a small balcony on the robot’s screen and added, “But I don’t need a housekeeping robot.”

The robot's display screen immediately transformed into a calculation interface: "The rent for the top floor of Building 13 in the Dream Community is 1500 Federal Dollars per month, which includes 200 Federal Dollars for the service and maintenance of the household robot."

It announced in an exaggeratedly cheerful tone, "If you don't need a household robot, you only need to pay 1300 Federal Dollars per month!"

Just as Moran was about to nod, the robot suddenly played a jarring notification sound: "Friendly reminder~ All apartments in Yuanmeng Community require a one-month deposit and one-month rent in advance!"

Its display showed a number that made Moran's pupils shrink slightly: "The total rent for one year plus a deposit of the same amount is 33800 Federal Dollars. Are you sure you want to rent this house?"

Moran almost laughed out of anger at this absurd payment method. A year at Dream World is thirteen months, and the so-called "one month's rent as deposit and one month's rent in advance" actually means paying twenty-six months' rent in advance.

Who pays a deposit and rent in installments on a yearly basis?

She secretly rejoiced that she had extorted an extra 5,000 federal dollars from old Rove, otherwise the money in her account would not be enough.

Fortunately, making money becomes much easier once you enter the dream world.

"This is it," she said through gritted teeth, already planning to go to the dream world to collect some local specialties and materials to make cards for the Book of Cards and then materialize them in the real world to earn Federal Currency.

Bubble immediately played some cheerful music: "Okay~ Please scan the chip to pay!"

Its round body pops out a payment terminal that flashes blue light.

Moran placed her left wrist on the cool scanning area, and her account information immediately appeared on the screen.

The moment the fingertip swiped to confirm the payment, the account balance instantly plummeted from 35000 Federal Dollars to 1200.

This number made her temples throb. In the new district of Canaan City, this amount of money could only buy an old-fashioned second-hand communication watch.

"Payment complete!" A barrage of virtual ribbons exploded on the robot's screen: "Your identity information has been entered into the Yuanmeng Community access control system. Simply scan the chip to move in!"

It made a comical bowing gesture, "Need Bubble to recommend furniture rental and moving services? Newcomers to Dream World get up to 30% off!"

"No need." Moran turned and headed towards the exit decisively. If she stayed any longer, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to resist going to Old Rove to sell some more Dream Stones.

"Transaction complete!"

The robot slid swiftly to the exit, and the display screen suddenly switched to a rating interface: "Are you satisfied with service number 117?"

Five blank stars twinkled eagerly on the screen, "If you're satisfied, please give me a five-star review!"

Moran stared at the round robot, and finally reached out and tapped the screen five times.

Each tap produces a "ding" sound from the robot, and when all five stars light up, a large smiley face appears on its screen: "Thank you for your review! Have a nice day!"

The robot spun happily back to the center of the hall. Moran pushed open the door and walked out without looking back.

But in his heart he was thinking, "Before I leave the Dream World, I must buy all these electrical technology creations from the real world and feed them to my Card Book as materials!"

In her view, these electric robots are more convenient than alchemical golems in some ways.

"Oh right! And tourmaline!"

As she recounted the specialties of the real world in the Dream World, she walked toward the nearest second-hand electricity store.

Rent was over budget, so Moran had to cut back on the money she was going to spend on a smartwatch.

I was hoping to buy the latest model, but now I can only buy a used one.

Only with a communication watch can you access the Dream World network.

Online shopping, online payment, information retrieval, online transactions, and so on all rely on it.

With a creak, Moran pushed open the wooden door of the secondhand watch store and went inside.

The store was cramped, with various second-hand electronic devices piled up on metal shelves, and the air was filled with a mixture of smells from cheap cleaning agents and burnt circuit boards.

A bald old man wearing magnifying glasses looked up from behind the counter, the lenses reflecting the flickering light strips on the ceiling.

"What do you want?" The old man's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing together, as his fingers tapped on the holographic keyboard projected from his watch.

Moran's gaze swept over the various communication watches hanging on the wall.

The latest "Dream X-7" is priced at 9800 Federal Dollars, which is 500 Federal Dollars lower than the price on the roadside billboard, but unfortunately she can't afford it.

She looked at the old shop owner: "What's the cheapest secondhand smartwatch with internet access?"

The old man chuckled and pulled a basket from under the counter, which contained a dozen or so old watches of various styles piled up haphazardly.

“These are all usable,” he said, fiddling with his stubby fingers. “They range from 500 to 1000 federal dollars.”

Some watch dials were cracked into a spiderweb pattern, and some watch straps were covered in stains.

Moran spent a long time picking and choosing before finally selecting a silver communication watch that was in relatively good condition.

The director of the welfare home uses this model. She remembers it being called "Dream 3rd Generation." It's a mid-range model from three years ago, a bit outdated, but the configuration is still pretty good, and it has all the necessary functions.

"How much is this?"

The old man glanced at it: "1000 yuan, no bargaining."

“Okay! This one will do!” Moran said. “But I need to check if it works properly.”

Anyway, she doesn't plan to use it for long, and she'll still have 200 yuan left for internet access after buying it.

"Check it as you please!" the old man said.

Following the memory of the orphanage director, Moran put the watch on her left wrist.

After pressing the start button on the side, the watch automatically detected her identity chip and completed the login process for her online account. (End of Chapter)