You'll become a god, you'll create Earth ONLINE

Chen Fei dropped the fruit knife in his hand, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

The old man snoring on the bed is none other than Grandpa Wang, the dorm supervisor in this No. 7 boys' dormitory building, who usually likes to check the rooms at night and confiscate their rice cookers and electric kettles!

"That lousy game designer...did they just outsource the NPC slots to the dorm manager?"

The fat man was dumbfounded, feeling that his worldview had been severely impacted.

Su Hao's lips twitched violently.

What kind of crazy thing is this?

The life-or-death struggle and carnage that had just taken place upstairs suddenly seemed like an absurd farce in front of this old man snoring in his shorts.

"Grandpa? Grandpa Wang?"

Zhao Lei tentatively took two steps forward and reached out to pat the bed railing.

"Snoring..."

Grandpa Wang rolled over, smacked his lips, scratched his belly, and didn't even open his eyes.

"The system says he's a tradable merchant. How do I trade? Do I talk to him?"

Chen Fei curiously leaned over and reached out to poke the line of green words above the old man's head.

Just as Chen Fei's finger was about to touch Grandpa Wang's nose.

Grandpa Wang, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly opened his eyes with a "whoosh".

Those old, originally cloudy eyes now emitted a sharp, faint blue light devoid of any human emotion!

He suddenly straightened up and sat on the edge of the bed in a strange and stiff posture, slamming the thermos cup in his hand onto the small table next to him with a "bang".

"Holy crap!"

Chen Fei was so frightened that he fell to the ground and scrambled back outside.

Grandpa Wang stared blankly at the four boys standing by the door.

Then, he mechanically forced a stiff smile and slowly spoke in his authentic Jiangcheng dialect:

"Young warriors."

"The night is full of danger; monsters lurk in the shadows."

"I see your faces are dark and bloodshot. You must have encountered setbacks on your path of fighting against evil."

"I have some precious treasures here that I unearthed from ancient ruins. Would you be interested in taking a look?"

A native dialect, coupled with the game NPC's perfectly enunciated and somewhat childish lines.

This extremely strong contrast almost made Su Hao and the others strain their backs.

"Uncle Wang...are you alright? Do you still recognize me? I'm Wang Qiang from room 404. I even offered you a Zhonghua cigarette last week."

Fatty Wang swallowed hard, trying to get closer to the person.

Grandpa Wang looked at him expressionlessly, his tone completely flat:

"Warrior, don't try to get close to me. This shop does not offer credit, does not accept WeChat or Alipay, only Source Power Gold Coins."

"To view the goods, open the transaction panel."

As he spoke, Grandpa Wang casually picked up a palm-leaf fan from the table and fanned himself idly. The green name above his head flashed twice, and a semi-transparent [Shop Interface] popped up.

"It's a damn store!"

The four of them immediately surrounded her, their eyes filled with excitement.

Encountering a mysterious merchant in the game is definitely a chance to strike it rich. Who knows, they might have some top-tier skill books or legendary artifacts; buying just one could propel you to new heights.

Four pairs of eyes eagerly fixed on the semi-transparent shop panel.

[Old Man Wang's Mysterious General Store]

【Item 1: The Dormitory Manager's Majesty (White Quality)】

【Price: 50 Source Energy Coins】

[Description: An extended pointer made from a discarded mop handle. It has a 20% additional deterrent effect on mutated student monsters (male only) within this building.]

【Product 2: Half-pack of moldy Hongtashan cigarettes (gray quality)】

【Price: 10 Source Energy Coins】

[Description: Old Wang's secret cigarettes hidden under the bed. Inhaling them temporarily reduces 5 sanity points in exchange for very brief pain immunity.]

【Product 3: Basic Quality Inspection Roll (Green Quality)】

【Price: 998 Source Energy Coins】

[Description: Capable of identifying items of unknown quality. Knowledge is money, my friend.]

【Item 4: Rusty Wire Master Key (No Quality)】

【Price: 20 Source Energy Coins】

[Description: Can forcibly open the locks of all dormitory doors in this building (only undisturbed regular locks). An essential tool for home, travel, looting, and treasure hunting.]

……

Looking at this shabby and outrageous product list.

The four of them fell into a long silence.

"no……"

Chen Fei pointed at the tattered pack of cigarettes priced at 10 gold coins, his hand trembling.

"Is this highway robbery?! A pack of moldy cigarettes for 10 gold coins?! A hundred rat teeth?!"

The fat man was even more heartbroken.

"Sir! I saw you smoking this cigarette last week. You clearly bought it for five yuan a pack from the convenience store downstairs! You're ripping me off!"

"And this preliminary appraisal scroll!"

Zhao Lei pointed to the item at the very bottom priced at 998, and his blood pressure shot up.

"998 gold coins! We couldn't even scrape together that much money if we sold all four of us! Did the developers fill out the price system with their feet?!"

Hearing the four people's complaints, Grandpa Wang, who had been expressionless, suddenly stopped fanning himself.

His blue-glowing eyes narrowed dangerously.

A cold, mechanical voice escaped his lips once more:

"Don't yell in the store, you poor bastard."

"Buy if you want, otherwise get out. You're affecting my business."

[System notification: Your team used disrespectful language towards the mysterious merchant.]

The hidden attribute "Regional Reputation" has decreased by 1 point.

[Warning: If your reputation drops into negative territory, all neutral NPCs in this area will refuse to trade with you and there is a very low chance they will initiate an attack.]

"Grass!"

The four gasped, quickly covering their mouths and swallowing back the profanities they were about to utter.

"I can't afford to mess with you, I'm still the boss." The fat man cowered behind Su Hao.

Su Hao looked at the product list. Although most of them were rip-offs, the "Rusty Wire Universal Key" caught his attention.

The entire building is in chaos right now. Many dormitory doors are locked from the inside, and there may be treasure chests or other useful supplies dropped by dead players inside.

With this key, they could easily launch a massive raid.

"Boss, let's chip in and save some money."

Su Hao lowered his voice

"Buy that universal key. It's an absolute godsend for clearing dungeons."

Zhao Lei nodded, and the group immediately rummaged through their pockets, gathering all the loose gold coins they had obtained from defeating the monsters.

After exchanging the bag of rat teeth in the fat man's hand at the supply station at the stairwell, they also took some with them.

I managed to scrape together 22 gold coins.

"Sir, we want to buy that key."

Su Hao placed 20 Source Energy Gold Coins on the table.

Grandpa Wang didn't even glance at the gold coins; the moment they touched the table, they turned into specks of light and disappeared.

Immediately afterwards, a simple, rusty wire that looked like it could break at any moment appeared out of thin air in Su Hao's hand.

"Cash on delivery. No returns or exchanges on items sold in this store."

Grandpa Wang yawned, lay back down on the bed, pulled the towel over his stomach, and looked like he was about to see his guest off.

Just as Su Hao and the others were preparing to leave this shady establishment and continue raiding the other rooms on the first floor...

Su Hao's gaze casually swept over the drawer under Grandpa Wang's bed that wasn't closed properly.

Because of the angle and the reflection from the flashlight, they hadn't noticed it until now.

A faint, yet undeniably powerful, purple light emanated from that drawer!

Purple!