Dragon Raja: Dragon Slaying Begins with System Hosting

Page 162

By 2008, most rural areas in China had lost their enthusiasm for urban household registration. As the tide of the times rolls forward, some things will always change or be changed.

But places like the capital are different; countless people still struggle to get in.

The system glanced at the large courtyard and said, "These courtyard houses are hard to sell, aren't they? The ownership is too complicated."

Xia Mi nodded and said, "It's indeed hard to sell. Land prices in the capital are still high. The ownership of one square meter means tens of thousands of yuan. The ownership of some public areas is enough to cause a lot of arguments among the residents."

Who would miss an opportunity to earn tens of thousands of yuan just by arguing and bickering?

Arriving at a very old residential area, Xia Mi said somewhat embarrassedly, "The single room I'm staying in was converted from the old community's power distribution room. It's a bit small and simple. Boss Lu, please don't laugh when you see it."

This residential complex has a distinct tenement building style, with exposed red brick exterior walls, cement balconies, green-painted wooden windows, and is likely a product of the Soviet Union's aid construction period, emphasizing practicality.

The living facilities are very basic. There are only a few trees in the community, and nothing else. There are no lawns, shrubs, or bushes.

On the other side of this old, run-down neighborhood stand modern high-rise buildings...

Lu Mingfei got in, and shook his head slightly, not finding it funny to be staying in a cheap single room.

"What's so funny? There are people who live in basements and sleep on the floor."

As his strength and vision broadened, he began to see things he would never have paid attention to before, since those things were irrelevant to him.

But things are different now. Business statistics require data on the wealth of a certain region, and computers can't be placed in a small outhouse, so such regions are not suitable for company websites.

"Sleeping in a basement and taking a sleeper berth used to be quite common."

Xia Mi said, "Compared to the housing prices in the capital in the past, they are now incredibly cheap. You could really buy a house by just gritting your teeth and working hard and saving money. But unfortunately, in the past, people were very hesitant about taking out loans. Only adults could afford to buy a house outright. They were more cautious and would observe for a long time, and then they would just watch the housing prices rise."

"On the contrary, young people, once they get excited, immediately make a down payment and take out a loan to buy a house. A few years later, those who dared to buy a house are all rich."

She smiled as she said this, because she was the kind of person who would go all in to buy a house. Back then, she bought a single room for 20,000 yuan, and it has increased several times in just a few years.

Moreover, she's not just any young person; she's still a child! To dare to go all in at such a young age is truly commendable.

However, it was normal for people to be cautious back then. An ordinary worker's monthly salary was only a few hundred yuan, so how could they dare to buy a house that cost one or two thousand yuan per square meter, let alone take on a loan of two or three hundred thousand yuan? The thought of being burdened with two or three hundred thousand yuan in debt would probably feel like the sky had fallen for the older generation.

Stepping over the creaking, withered leaves, the two entered a building. The thin staircase and the brick and cement handrail were cracked. Looking up, they could see the steel bars inside, some even with patches of rust.

On the stairwell walls, which were already gray and peeling, various small advertisements for locksmiths and leak repairs were plastered all over the place.

Arriving at a red wooden door, Xia Mi took out her key and opened the door, revealing the scene inside the room to Lu Mingfei.

This is a very simple little single room. As soon as you open the door, you can see the back of the room—a huge floor-to-ceiling window! Moonlight shines through the window, illuminating the room.

However, it's not a single piece of glass, but rather pieced together from individual panes of glass. The metal window frame shows obvious signs of rust, making it look as brittle as iron found on the beach.

Inside the room, a simple table was placed in the middle, covered with a blue dust cover. On one side of the table were a stove and a rice cooker, next to which were a gas cylinder and an old refrigerator, clearly used for cooking.

On the other side of the wall was a cabinet, a bamboo single bed covered with a mosquito net, and a yoga mat that had been rolled up and placed to the side. There wasn't even a toilet in this room.

However, according to Lu Mingfei's understanding, people in these tenement buildings are very likely to use shared toilets, and there are basically no private toilets provided.

"It's very basic, isn't it?" Xia Mi reached into the wall and turned on the light.

The room, which was already illuminated by moonlight, became even clearer.

"It is indeed quite basic, but the configuration of a single room is quite reasonable." Lu Mingfei nodded.

"Please sit down, I'll make you a cup of tea." Xia Mi placed a chair in front of the table for Lu Mingfei to sit down, and then went to the stove to fiddle with the tin kettle.

"After you got rich, it seems you didn't do any renovations here?" Lu Mingfei asked as he sat down.

"I knew I would move away from here when I had money, so I didn't make any changes," Xia Mi said while boiling water. "Wouldn't that be a waste of money?"

“Indeed.” Lu Mingfei nodded.

"It seems there aren't any disposable cups!" Xia Mi scratched her head. "You can use my cup."

She took out a classic old cup with a red star printed on it and washed it clean.

"Aren't you going to put curtains on these floor-to-ceiling windows?" Lu Mingfei asked. "It's fine at night, but won't it be too bright when I take a nap at noon?"

Xia Mi said matter-of-factly, "Why waste money? If it's too bright, just cover your eyes with a towel. Buying a big curtain is too expensive!"

That makes a lot of sense. You can tell whether a large curtain or a towel is more expensive even with your eyes closed.

Lu Mingfei vaguely understood why Xia Mi was so happy when she received a few hundred yuan.

Chapter 193 Xia Mi: Rumors Will Be Flying Tomorrow

The lid of the old-fashioned gas kettle made a popping sound as Xia Mi took out a packet of tea leaves and brewed them for Lu Mingfei.

“Isn’t this tea from our company?” Lu Mingfei recognized the tea’s packaging.

"Every time I drink it, I refresh the page. I thought it was a company perk!"

Xia Mi grinned, showing no remorse whatsoever for taking a few packets of tea from the company.

Lu Mingfei didn't bother with such details. Xia Mi was a senior executive in the company, so it was time to take care of her benefits.

The system hadn't expected that a trip to Japan would bring in thousands of people. The company's workforce grew several hundred times from just a few. There were plans for benefits, but the sudden windfall made the existing benefits insufficient.

"You should redesign the company's welfare system later," Lu Mingfei casually assigned Xia Mi a task.

Upon hearing this, Xia Mi immediately stopped giggling and rolled her eyes: "Heartless boss, assigning work tasks so late at night."

Then she glanced at Lu Mingfei, whose expression remained unchanged as he spoke, and pondered, "Boss, how long have you been rich? You've already awakened to the capitalist nature within you. It seems that capitalism really can alienate a person."

That's because you have the ability.

Lu Mingfei, without blushing or panting, looked at the system analysis and said, "With great power comes great responsibility. It's precisely because you have the ability that I'm assigning you tasks. I'm training you, and it's not like I'm not going to give you a bonus."

The real ruthless capitalist is the system, and the system is somewhat self-taught; it can come up with any words to exploit its subordinates without even being taught.

"That makes sense, but the reasoning is a bit strange." Xia Mi handed Lu Mingfei a cup of tea she had just brewed and asked, "Why are you suddenly preparing to target the Three Gorges again?"

"Before we had the Philosopher's Stone, you couldn't help much and were helpless against that dragon. Now that we have the Philosopher's Stone, it's a good opportunity to hone our team. Otherwise, they've been running around doing company business for them all the time, and they've almost forgotten what they're supposed to be doing."

The staff has been deployed to the area for some time now, but they are busy with the company's regular business. This level of workload is a piece of cake for mixed-race people. Even if they haven't received any prior knowledge in this area, it's not a difficult task for them.

Setting up outlets, contacting stores, adding online menus, and promoting... they have already begun to conquer the four major first-tier cities and have started to launch large-scale advertising campaigns to attract people's attention.

Xia Mi clapped her hands and said, "Oh, I see. Some of the companies' operations have expanded, so they don't need as many people anymore, and they can get down to business, right?"

Once the company's business expands, the remaining staff will have less work to do. Wouldn't it be a waste of manpower not to give them some tasks to do?

"Don't think of me as so negatively."

Now it was Lu Mingfei's turn to roll his eyes and say, "It's just that Odin's Nibelungen makes me a little anxious, so I want to increase my strength as soon as possible, and the fastest way is that dragon's bronze city, where I can probably quickly obtain a lot of dragon script information."

"After all, Odin's Nibelungs and we can't break in. Even if we did, we'd most likely be slaughtered by Odin. If the Dragon King wasn't strong, how could he hold onto his position?"

Xia Mi thought for a moment and said, "Then do you think it's possible that the dragon in Bronze City is also a Dragon King? If so, then you, boss, would have the power to fight a Dragon King!"

“What kind of Dragon King can be suppressed by me with ordinary words of power?” Lu Mingfei shook his head.

He wasn't unfamiliar with the power of words; he had carefully analyzed it using the word-based analysis system given to him by the little devil.

Words of power cannot usually be canceled, even ordinary dragon kings cannot do that. However, words of power can clash. Elements are limited, and a dragon king can usually suppress all elements within his domain.

His incantations may seem menacing, but when it comes to the Dragon King's control over the elements, he has no chance of suppressing the corresponding elemental turmoil.

“That’s true. He couldn’t use his Word of Power to fight you the whole time. He’s obviously not a strong dragon…” Xia Mi glanced at Lu Mingfei and said, “Boss, when will you open up the alchemical matrix on your body to us? I also want to have a set of Word of Power, like Chu Zihang. I dream about it all the time.”

“Even Chu Zihang himself couldn’t withstand so many alchemical matrices…” Lu Mingfei shook his head.

The system knew what Chu Zihang was thinking, but this henchman's body was uncooperative. After applying a set of body enhancement alchemy matrices, he could no longer insert the Word Spirit alchemy matrices.

Without strengthening the body with the alchemical matrix, one cannot sustain the consumption of so many Word Spirits. Activating Word Spirits is very physically demanding.

Without enhancement, it would be difficult for Chu Zihang to fully unleash the three "Monarch Flames," which shows how much the power of words consumes the body.

Moreover, this system is also used to keep the people below them engaged, otherwise what if they don't work hard? Those dangerous hybrids are still queuing up to have the Blood Control Alchemy Matrix implanted, and it's not permanent. It can only last for a maximum of 5 years, and it needs maintenance about once every three years.

The system was ruthless, but Lu Mingfei didn't see anything wrong with it. This treatment technique was something others would beg for.

Given the choice between an isolated island, prison, working, or dying, even a fool would know which to choose.

"The technology isn't strong enough." Xia Mi thought for a moment and asked, "So, boss, you want to go to Bronze City and see if you can salvage something? But what if there's nothing you want in Bronze City?"

"If we have nothing else, let's see if we can kill that dragon. Philosopher's Stones are extracted from Dragonbone Crosses. I wonder how many Philosopher's Stones can be extracted from one Dragonbone Cross."

Lu Mingfei pondered and said, "The dragon bone cross is that big, so we should be able to refine quite a few, right? Anyway, as long as we can kill that dragon, this trip will definitely not be a loss."

Xia Mi was somewhat surprised to hear his words. Really killing? Did that dragon have a grudge against Norton?

As long as the Philosopher's Stone in her hands is genuine, she guarantees she can kill that dragon with a single blow.

She had previously suspected that the dragon was one of Norton's henchmen, hired to perform a double act.

What should I do if I don't quite understand Lu Mingfei's actions?

After finishing his tea, Lu Mingfei asked, "Want to go out for a late-night snack?"

“You can go out if you want to eat,” Xia Mi said. “There are still some late-night food stalls open at this time, but if you want something really good, there might not be that many. It’s different in the North than in the South; people go to bed earlier.”

"Just grab something to eat." Lu Mingfei stood up.

Then the two discovered that the gate to the residential complex was closed...

Xia Mi didn't even need to look around. She had lived there for several years, so how could she not know if there were cameras? She simply jumped over the wall, and Lu Mingfei followed suit.

"I remember there's a barbecue stall around here that stays open quite late at night, and it's pretty cheap." Xia Mi led Lu Mingfei through the alley, and as soon as they came out, they saw the barbecue stall she had mentioned.

"Xia Mi." The barbecue restaurant owner smiled when he saw Xia Mi.

Xia Mi is so beautiful. She has lived in this area for many years, and many of the locals know her. After all, she is so beautiful that it is hard to ignore her.

And Lu Mingfei was with Xia Mi...

The barbecue restaurant owner smiled and said, "Is this your boyfriend? He looks unfamiliar. Doesn't he live around here?"

This made Lu Mingfei feel embarrassed. "What boyfriend? Why did you just say it outright? Xia Mi isn't even a fish in my pond yet."

"No, classmate," Xia Mi said without any sign of surprise, "Give me two servings of barbecue."

"Okay, please have a seat." The barbecue restaurant owner said as he brought out the food to grill, "Didn't you go to study in Jiang Province? Is this your classmate from Jiang Province?"

“Yes, I came back from school on holiday, and he came to Beijing to play. I can be his tour guide.” Xia Mi said it off the cuff without the slightest hesitation.

"When friends and relatives come to Beijing, I act as their tour guide..." The boss smiled and didn't say much more.

Which Beijing resident doesn't have a similar history? Especially those who come to work in Beijing, they feel obligated to show their relatives and friends around the city when they visit...

Lu Mingfei said, "You seem to know this shop owner quite well. Do you often come here to buy barbecue?"