Lin Dongsheng closed his eyes, thinking he probably wouldn't make it through the winter.
Just then, a crisp chime rang out in his head.
It was so loud that his skull buzzed.
[Coin System activated: One copper coin grants a hundred years of cultivation power.]
Lin Dongsheng opened his eyes in a flash, his cloudy gaze darting around the pitch-black ruined temple.
Nobody was there.
Only the cracked clay face of a statue, half of it missing, looked especially terrifying in the moonlight.
"Am I hallucinating from hunger?"
Lin Dongsheng muttered, raising a hand as dry as bark to slap himself across his old face.
Smack!
It wasn't a hard hit, but his cheek stung.
Then another chime rang out in his head.
[Host, please do not harm yourself. This System is honest and fair: one copper coin can be exchanged for a hundred years of Cultivation power.]
Lin Dongsheng froze, his breathing suddenly growing heavy.
It wasn't a hallucination!
In this city, where ordinary lives were as worthless as grass, he'd heard the teahouse storytellers talk about people chosen by immortals who received some kind of "immortal destiny" or "shell." Could it be that, at eighty years old and without even enough money for his coffin, Heaven had finally opened its eyes to him?
He swallowed and tentatively asked in his mind, "Um... Great System Lord? Could you lend me one copper coin to get started? Once I have some strength, I'll pay you back with interest!"
[The System does not provide start-up funds. Host, please earn money on your own.]
The icy voice shattered all his plans.
"So stingy..."
Excellent, commendable.
The leader is a man of his word; if he says he wants copper coins, he wants copper coins. What will happen after I ascend to immortality? 😏 Exchanging money won't be convenient.