Jiang Han was absolutely certain now—the epic-grade item her mother had spent an enormous sum of money to buy was exactly the same food Ma Jun roasted every day in the castle!
For a moment, her emotions became extremely complicated.
An epic-grade item… and Ma Jun was actually eating it as a daily meal?
Back then, she hadn't noticed anything precious about it at all.
Sometimes, when Ma Jun couldn't finish eating, he would casually hand the leftovers to the female ghosts in the castle.
If she had shamelessly asked him for a piece back then, Ma Jun might very well have given her some.
No—she wouldn't have done something like that.
Jiang Han quickly affirmed this. Even if she had known in advance that it was an epic-grade item, she still wouldn't have asked Ma Jun for it.
This was her pride—the pride she had worked hard to uphold since childhood.
It was just that Ma Jun… was far too extravagant!
This was an epic-grade item! A single piece was worth 5,500 gold coins—an unimaginably precious treasure given her background.
She had cleared a nightmare-level dungeon with a C-rank evaluation and earned only 500 gold coins.
To obtain an item like this, she would have to clear at least eleven dungeons!
A bitter smile appeared on her face.
She had once thought that if she worked hard enough—risked her life—she might still have a chance to stand beside Ma Jun.
But now it seemed that the distance between them was even greater than she had imagined.
Rongcheng City, Horror Control Bureau.
Two staff members finished their work for the day and returned to the office.
The younger staffer brewed himself a cup of tea and started scrolling through short videos.
He felt quite relaxed; the events of the day had already been tossed to the back of his mind.
Just a small episode, nothing more.
He was very satisfied with this job—good pay, not too demanding. With the spare time, he could enjoy watching short videos full of pretty girls. Life was pleasant.
Thud.
A stack of documents was dropped in front of him.
"Stop scrolling for now. These are reports of players with noteworthy potential that were just submitted. Register them," his stone-faced superior said curtly before walking away.
The young staffer hurriedly put on a smile and took the files. "Alright, alright, I'll get to it right away."
After his boss left, he curled his lips.
"Hmph. He sits in the office all day watching panda-girl livestreams, yet all he knows how to do is bark orders at us."
Complaining aside, work still had to be done.
He turned on the computer and began filing the documents one by one.
"Only the first round of the horror game—what kind of 'potential players' could there be?"
"What a joke."
"You'd think talent just grows on trees?"
He muttered as he worked.
"Huh?"
When he saw one particular file, his eyes widened in surprise.
"These two are pretty impressive."
"Mu Chen… Jiang Han…"
"As expected of seeds from the Southwestern Military District. They're strong—level three after just one dungeon."
"The big military districts really are something else."
"It's a pity that data from clans and noble families usually isn't reported. You don't get to see the truly terrifying figures over there."
His hands moved quickly, already well-practiced.
After entering a few more files, his movements suddenly stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
"Suspected genius… no way, right?"
"Who is this… Ma Jun?"
"Information incomplete, name under review? Damn, I got excited for nothing."
"Barely any data, just a name, and they dared submit it? How does the Southwestern Military District even get things done?"
He curled his lips, ready to continue.
Suddenly, his movements froze.
The events from earlier that day flashed through his mind.
That boy—so casually—had told him he'd already reached level seven…
He hurriedly pulled up the files he had registered earlier.
Name: Ma Jun!
His hands began to tremble.
"No… no way…"
"Could it really be him?"
"No, impossible. Absolutely impossible. It must be a coincidence."
The young staffer shook his head.
"Something this absurd has to be a coincidence."
"A genius that strong—how could he possibly live in the old city district?"
"I must've been watching too many weird short videos lately, always letting my imagination run wild."
"Looks like I need to cut back."
He silently made up his mind.
After eating, Ma Jun had nothing to do and returned to the player space.
Aside from entering horror game dungeons, players were free to travel between the player space and reality.
The moment he entered the space, he noticed a flashing light at the mailbox.
"Hm?"
Opening it, he found that it was a message from the Player Trading House!
"It sold that fast?"
Ma Jun felt quite pleased. Such smooth sales channels!
Not bad at all.
The two epic-grade items, after deducting transaction tax, brought him a total of 7,125 gold coins in income.
His savings had grown substantially.
With money in hand, it was time to go shopping.
Ma Jun immediately opened the trading house and began browsing items and equipment—
Preparing for the next dungeon.
As he scrolled through the listings, just two minutes later his eyes were already spinning.
There was simply too much stuff!
A vast sea of goods!
All kinds of strange and bizarre items—he could browse nonstop for a whole month and still not finish before the next dungeon began.
After thinking for a moment, he directly enabled the quality filter.
With his wallet full, his confidence swelled.
If he was going to buy something—
He'd buy the best!
Anything below epic-grade wasn't even worth looking at.
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