CHAPTER 266: CHAPTER 266: THE PRICE OF DESTINY’S GIFT

"What’s happening?" Jiang Yuan perked up instantly upon hearing the news. Great, he finally had a chance to extend his life!

Ding Xiaoxiao shrugged with a smile, "I don’t know either. We can’t get into the detention center, so we’re just waiting outside. We don’t know what’s really going on inside. Just when it was about to get dark, an ambulance suddenly rushed in and came out before long, with Liu Qiang inside, tied up.

We didn’t dare to get too close to the police officers, so we’re not sure what they were whispering about. But that scumbag got sent to a psychiatric hospital just like that. He seems to be injured, but it’s not serious. The doctor gave him a sedative, and he’s sleeping. So I rushed over to inform you."

"Will you be able to interrogate him after he wakes up?" Jiang Yuan urged, "Make sure you seize the time to question him about the other Origin locations! Those seals must be like his ancestral home; if left untouched for long, the Evil Energy will spread, and ordinary people living nearby will be in trouble."

"Alright! We’ll do our best to interrogate him quickly and thoroughly!"

Chuci was very receptive to advice and knew that constantly applying ointment wasn’t good for his health. Since he was staying over at Jiang Yuan’s place, he quit using it and so couldn’t see Ding Xiaoxiao. Hearing this, he hurriedly made a phone call.

Not long after, he returned, grinning, "It wasn’t exactly a secret. I found out with one phone call. That old guy probably heard that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. At most, he would be detained for a month, so he got anxious and tried to assault a police officer.

During the interrogation this afternoon, he completely denied everything, claiming he read about the incidents on internet forums and that he didn’t kill anyone, just talked big. He even taunted the officers, saying if they were capable, they should punch him.

This made the investigators grind their teeth in anger, but they couldn’t do anything about it. When being escorted back to his cell via the second-floor corridor, Liu Qiang, who had been cooperative all along, suddenly acted out and tried to push the guards off!

But he clearly overestimated his strength and underestimated the guards’ reflexes in the detention center.

Since it turned out he has mental issues and suicidal tendencies, the task force had assigned experienced guards familiar with all sorts of suspects to watch over him, and his little stunt got easily dodged. Liu Qiang ended up breaking two ribs and spraining his foot.

Later, the task force discussed how they hadn’t found any evidence, and the old nut had a violent streak and hurt himself. So they just sent him to a designated mental hospital. One, to treat his injuries; two, to buy some time and see if there are any breakthrough leads on unresolved cases."

"So that’s what happened, huh? The scumbag got what he deserved, ha-ha-ha-ha!" Ding Xiaoxiao’s red dress fluttered as she laughed a bit eerily. "Doesn’t he know that mentally ill people aren’t held accountable for assault?"

Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow, "Could Liu Qiang not actually know he has a mental illness? Would they inform him of the assessment results?"

He pondered whether the so-called intermittent mental illness might be related to splintered Origin?

The official mental evaluation results haven’t been released yet, so only the investigators know the inside story; Liu Qiang hasn’t been informed," Chuci explained, "He probably doesn’t know he has mental problems. They say professional evaluations take about half a month to a month to produce a written report, and in severe cases, it might take two to three months. Liu Qiang’s bad luck isn’t ending anytime soon."

After a two-second pause, he sighed sincerely, "Bro, I don’t have that much capability, or else I’d arrange you over to Little Country or Beautiful Country. Tsk-tsk, if you work hard enough, maybe you could knock them all down."

Jiang Yuan: ...

"Oh, give it a rest. Even slightly resilient big companies don’t want me. Didn’t the Orchid Valley headquarters struggle to get me in for ages? So, I say, many times, it’s all coincidence. Maybe it’s just that its luck ran out, right as I showed up."

Chuci thought about it and realized he might be right; otherwise, with so many connections, he shouldn’t have been stuck at the background check phase.

"You all take it easy, then. We might be starting the interrogation soon, and I’ll let you know when there’s news!" Ding Xiaoxiao didn’t understand what they were talking about regarding withered valleys, so she sneakily peeked at the adorable little bundle sleeping in the cloakroom, waved her hand, and was ready to leave just when she heard Yang Hongye knock on the door, "Jiang Yuan, is Chuci there with you?"

She slipped out the window in a flash, then peeked her head in, hiding behind the curtains to spy.

Chuci opened the door, and Yang Hongye playfully jumped in, "Hey hey, Chuci, spill the tea on the Orchid Valley gossip! I saw all sorts of speculation online; is Orchid Valley really on the run?"

"Your friend is quite the looker, right here and ready to pounce, Jiang Yuan, go for it!" Ding Xiaoxiao finally met the ’friend’ living under the same roof and mischievously made a face at him before disappearing from the window.

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes before getting up to pour tea.

Chuci cleared his throat with a chuckle, "I actually heard this from my dad. A few years back, Orchid Valley hitched a ride with a big internet celebrity, didn’t they blow up as the pride of domestic products nationwide? I heard the relevant departments gave them lots of preferential policies through a green channel to boost the economy.

The intention was for Orchid Valley to make money and invest more in development, but they funneled the funds abroad. That’s quite the slap in the face, isn’t it? But as long as Orchid Valley doesn’t crash, no one can do anything; they just have to pinch their noses and endure.

Then Muxi Xiaoba stirred up public anger during a live broadcast, prompting a swift investigation. It’s because their insatiable greed made them lose their backing. They yanked out the culprits from Orchid Valley who’d been biting the hand that fed them. Otherwise, why were they hastily trying to sell the factory and cash out to run away? But they didn’t get away and have been caught, with a high probability that their overseas assets will be retrieved."

"Oh wow, so Muxi Xiaoba’s whole act was like self-destructive altruism?" Yang Hongye laughed heartily.

Jiang Yuan thought to himself that there was so much going on behind the scenes?

If it really was my influence, then I’ve done a good deed, right?

Too bad the system doesn’t seem to care about the real world here. If it did on both sides, wouldn’t that be awesome?

He thought about it as he idly scrolled through his personal panel. To be honest, finding out how short his lifespan was had quite the impact, to the point where he didn’t want to look at the panel to avoid the irritation of seeing the price of time so clearly listed.

Now that it was confirmed Liu Qiang was out of the detention center, and seeing the glimmer of extended life, checking the panel didn’t seem so anxiety-inducing. Then, Jiang Yuan noticed a line of small print between the lifespan and life bar that he hadn’t paid attention to before: Current exchange rate 1:20.

What exchange rate?

A sense of foreboding suddenly came over him, and he quickly clicked for more details.

[Using a mortal body to enter the game world and obtain strange arts for cross-border use requires the consumption of real-world lifespan. One year in the real world can be exchanged for one day in the game world. Due to accumulating many virtuous acts, the system provides an exchange rate, converting lifespan consumed into life value. Every day passed in the game world currently increases life value by 20 points. Additionally: Lifespan can be obtained in both the real world and the game world, please continue to do good deeds and accumulate virtue, to gain more lifespan and exchange rate.]

[After the lifespan counter is activated, the current remaining lifespan will follow the time flow of the game world.]

Damn it!

Jiang Yuan gritted his teeth to keep himself from cursing out loud, took a sip of tea, and calmed down to carefully think through it all.

The Wilderness World has already seen two months pass, which translates to having wasted sixty years of life! Meaning, if I weren’t bound to travel to the Otherworld, I could live up to 71 years old.

Turns out there’s no such thing as a free lunch; this system is really conniving!

It should have warned me upfront about consuming lifespan.I...

As he thought it through, his anger dissipated. Back then, he had no money, no job, and couldn’t even afford to add meat to his noodles, so knowing there was a chance to change his fate, he’d definitely still give it a shot, even if it meant betting his life.

It just goes to show that every gift of fate comes with a hidden price tag.

He still had to hurry and figure out a way to extend his life, whether in reality or in the Wilderness, to accumulate more lifespan and live longer, grow stronger! But, why is the exchange rate just 20? It seemed to him that this number matched the number of companies officially thrown into bankruptcy since he joined...

Oh? Wait a minute! Jiang Yuan’s gaze turned back to the last line of additional notes, Wilderness World remaining time two years and four months?

Did I really hit the jackpot?!

Hold on, I’m suddenly a bit confused. Let me calculate again!