Chapter 211 - 210: This Trip Was Worth It

Chapter 211: Chapter 210: This Trip Was Worth It

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After giving her instructions, Li Li picked up her half-full glass and left without a backward glance.

The way she walked was as clean and sharp as her face without makeup. Her black bob cut swung in an arc under the bar’s dim lights, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished into the crowd.

Behind the bar, Peter, who was wiping a glass, glanced up for a moment before lowering his head to continue his work as if nothing had happened.

Only after she was long gone did Gu Su lean closer to Yuan Guang and ask in a hushed voice, "Bro, what’s the deal? Is this going to be a problem?"

He asked in all seriousness, his brow furrowed slightly and his fingers tapping unconsciously on the tabletop.

A girl he’d known for less than half a day—and the daughter of a major player, no less—had just tossed him the promise of a white Golden Finger and told him to be some kind of "nail." No matter how he thought about it, something felt off.

’There’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ He understood that better than anyone.

Yuan Guang burst out laughing when he heard this.

He laughed so loudly that people at the surrounding tables turned to look.

Finally, he waved his hand dismissively and clapped Gu Su on the shoulder. "I’m telling you, my friend, you’re overthinking it."

"You think she’s taken a liking to you or something?"

Gu Su froze for a second, then quickly shook his head. "That’s not what I meant. I just think..."

"You think, why would she pick you?" Yuan Guang cut in, slamming his glass on the table. "She just wants to find a nail to prove to her old man that she’s not useless."

"It’s that simple." 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Gu Su still didn’t quite get it. "But she’s going to all this trouble just to send ten players into a new game. That..."

"Who told you you’re the only nail?" Yuan Guang interrupted him, tracing a circle on the tabletop as if sketching out some grand scene. "My friend, you need to think bigger."

"When has Sister Li ever launched an operation with anything less than a thousand-man legion?"

"She’ll need at least a hundred nails. You’re just one of them."

As he spoke, his tone was laced with unconcealable envy.

How could he not be envious?

His Leaking Oil Undead Guild only had a few dozen members in total, not even a fraction of the forces Li Li could mobilize for a single operation.

The gap between people was sometimes just that starkly real.

Seeing the expression on Yuan Guang’s face, Gu Su began to understand.

In the Game World, having a family background and not having one were truly two completely different ways of life.

People like her could deploy a thousand-man legion and a hundred nails at a moment’s notice, while he had to risk his life just to get his hands on a single Golden Finger.

But there was still one thing he couldn’t figure out.

"But she’s offering a Golden Finger as a reward," Gu Su said, pushing his glass aside and looking at Yuan Guang seriously. "A Golden Finger, even if it’s just a white one, is still a Golden Finger."

"She can just give them away like that?"

Hearing this, Yuan Guang’s expression turned a little strange.

He took a large gulp from his glass, wiped his mouth, and then spoke slowly.

"Actually, Golden Fingers aren’t that expensive."

Gu Su was stunned.

"There’s a place in Ring Moon that specializes in selling Golden Fingers," Yuan Guang continued. "The only catch is the entry requirement: you have to own a Golden Finger yourself before you can buy one."

"And you can only use it yourself, so for Game Workers, that place might as well not exist."

To Gu Su, it was like listening to a foreign language.

He opened his mouth, and it took him a long moment before he could ask, "Why?"

Yuan Guang shook his head. "I don’t know either."

"Those are just the rules. You ask me why, but who am I supposed to ask?"

"You just need to know that ordinary Golden Fingers aren’t actually that expensive."

Gu Su was silent for a long while.

He looked down at his own hands, his mind in turmoil.

He remembered all the times he’d been scammed, all the places he’d run to, and all the money he’d scraped together just to get a Golden Finger.

And what he ended up with was a gray, bargain-bin piece of junk that had nearly cost him his life.

Back then, he thought a Golden Finger was the most precious thing in the world—the key to changing his fate, the very foundation of his survival.

But now, someone was telling him there was a place in Ring Moon that specialized in selling them, and they weren’t even expensive.

"Heh." He couldn’t help but let out a short laugh, a sound filled with an indescribable mix of feelings.

There was self-mockery, helplessness, and a touch of ineffable disappointment.

’So the thing I risked my life for is basically worthless to others.’

Yuan Guang saw the look on his face and could probably guess what he was thinking.

He reached out and patted Gu Su’s shoulder, his tone softening. "Don’t dwell on it. Ring Moon is actually pretty fair about this; that rule applies to everyone without exception."

"The rich and the children of the elite might have someone footing the bill, so the Golden Fingers they get aren’t some used-up junk that’s passed through seven or eight hands and is full of problems."

"But in other respects, they’re no different from us."

Gu Su didn’t say anything. He didn’t know if Yuan Guang was telling the truth, but he knew Yuan Guang was trying to comfort him.

He took a deep breath, pushing down the chaotic thoughts.

’What’s the use of thinking so much?’

’Life goes on. The Graveyard Demon still needs to be cultivated, and in three days, I still have to go be a nail.’

Instead of dwelling on how much he’d lost out, he should focus on how to do the job at hand.

He put away the two items Li Li had given him, tucking the insignia into his inner pocket and keeping the room key and design schematics close to his body.

One of them represented the mission in three days; the other, the tavern with ten beds.

Seeing him put everything away, Yuan Guang patted his shoulder again, his tone lightening. "Let’s go. Time to go out and relax today."

"I’ll take you back tomorrow."

Gu Su looked up at Yuan Guang’s face, flushed slightly from the alcohol, and asked, "Are you still okay to go?"

Yuan Guang roared with laughter. He stood up, brushed off the non-existent dust from his charcoal-gray trench coat, and stretched his arms, looking like he was brimming with excess energy.

"I’m more than okay right now!" He held up a finger and wagged it in front of Gu Su. "Let me tell you, those materials of yours are incredibly useful."

"I’ve still got energy to spare. That stuff is potent, don’t sell it cheap!"

Gu Su paused for a second, then realized what Yuan Guang meant by "energy to spare."

The aphrodisiac effect of the Dragon Blood Mushroom, the restorative properties of the chicken blood, and the potent venom of the Pure Yang Poisonous Insect... all these things were probably already taking effect on Yuan Guang.

He couldn’t help but chuckle, and most of the gloom in his heart dissipated.

Yuan Guang grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the exit, muttering, "Come on, I’ll take you somewhere good."

"You must be going stir-crazy after all those days on the front line, right?"

"You need to properly unwind."

Gu Su let himself be dragged along, stumbling a little but not bothering to pull away. He glanced back at Peter, who was still wiping glasses behind the bar. Peter gave him a nod, a silent farewell.

The din in the bar was unchanged. The people playing dice in the corner were still shouting, the braggarts at the next table had moved on to a new topic, and the drunk slumped over the bar had been carried away at some point.

Nothing was different from when he had first arrived.

Stepping out of the bar, the air outside was much cooler.

The never-setting sun on the horizon stained the entire city a rust-red. People came and went on the streets—some hurried, some meandered, and some were squatting by the roadside, trading who-knows-what.

Gu Su watched it all as he walked, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turning up again.

In any case, this trip hadn’t been for nothing.