The Great Thief

“That’s right.” Lu Li didn’t feel as though there was anything wrong with this. If he was still living in poverty, he might feel a bit ashamed. However, after earning over $40,000 in 2 days, he felt more confident than anyone else.

Those who were truly confident in themselves could face reality head-on.

“You don’t look like you’re a student. Where are you working now? Do you have any proof of your income?” Huan Huan and the other girls looked at the calm Lu Li. Could he really have found a good job?

“I’m a professional player.” Lu Li thought for a moment, and decided that the most suitable job title for him would be a ‘professional player’. His status as a member of the Gold Collection Unit had ceased the moment he had decided to leave the Star Moon Union.

“Professional player!” the three girls said at the same time with a strange look on their faces.

“So you’re a professional player. What game do you play?” The kawaii girl Dou Dou curled her lip as she asked, “Are you sure you can earn enough money?”

“Dawn.”

“Ah, so you play Dawn as well. What level are you?” Huan Huan seemed a bit more awake.

“LV5.”

“Huh, LV5. Not bad, Dou Dou’s also LV5.” Huan Huan thought for a while before asking, “It’s been 2 days since the game opened; how are you so confident that you’ll be able to earn enough money? How many gold coins do you have?”

“I’ve only got 10 or so gold coins now; I’ve exchanged most of it into real money,” Lu Li truthfully answered.

The kawaii girl leapt up and said, “Big sis Huan Huan, don’t listen to him. It’s super hard to earn money in Dawn. How can he already have 10 gold coins?!”

“You seem to have sold a lot of things,” Yi Yi said in a small voice.

She was completely right - not only did he have 10 or so gold coins, but he had sold A LOT in the past few days.

“How much did you earn from selling your things?” Huan Huan was doubtful. Although she hadn’t played this game, she had heard Dou Dou yelling quite a bit about how difficult it was to play and earn money. She even had to borrow money to repair equipment.

“About 40 gold coins. I sold them for about $45,000.” In order to convince them to let him rent a room here, he had to show that he had money in the game and also in real life.

He didn’t know that he had just poked a hornet’s nest.

“Impossible, impossible!” Dou Dou was tearing at her hair as she rolled around on the sofa, as if her mind was on the verge of collapse.

“Mister,” Huan Huan calmed down and said, “It’s not that we don’t believe you, but to earn $45,000 in real money in just 2 days is inconceivable. What proof do you have?”

“I can show you the screenshots of my trades and exchanges. One exchange was with the Star Moon Union: I sold them a Skill Book for $25,000. The other was with Water Fairy: I got $20,000 from that,” Lu Li explained.

“Wait, you sold that Skill Book to the Star Moon Union? And Water Fairy? Are you... are you… that Lu Li?” Dou Dou yelled out as she stopped rolling around.

“Madman, Dou Dou has been calling you a madman for the past few days,” Yi Yi added softly.

This girl was incredibly beautiful and looked harmless, but she liked to hit those who were down.

“Be quiet, you,” Dou Dou and Huan Huan said at the same time.

Yi Yi curled up into a ball, her eyes glimmering as if she had been wronged. She looked extremely pitiful.

“Can you tell us how you earnt so much money?” Huan Huan climbed up from the sofa and ran over to sit down next to Lu Li, while Dou Dou sat on his other side. The two girls sandwiched Lu Li in between them and stared at him intently.

“Ahem, these screenshots should be enough to prove that I’m able to pay the rent, right?” This was the first time he had been so close to 2 young, beautiful women, and he felt quite a bit of pressure.

“Of course, of course,” Huan Huan quickly nodded, “Now can you tell us?”

“I don’t really know what you mean… I’m just here to find a place to stay,” Lu Li felt that there was something not quite right about these women.

“Alright, I’ll tell you why we want to know so badly…” Huan Huan’s face fell and she started to explain to Lu Li.

They had rented this house in the first half of the year. Seven university students had formed a game studio in order to do well in the game ‘New World’.

It was a pity that things did not go as planned. 6 months after New World was released, many players moved to Dawn. As such, the girls’ investments in New World and the villa had all gone down the drain.

The passion they felt for the game quickly disappeared and everyone else left. Soon, it was just these 3 girls.

Huan Huan’s surname was Zhou and was the boss of the studio. She had invested the most money, but when the others had left, she had given back some of what they had invested. She had taken the biggest loss.

Yi Yi’s surname was Yang and her real name was Yang Liu; Yi Yi was her nickname. She had been close friends with Huan Huan since they were young, so naturally, she hadn’t left.

As for Dou Dou, her name real name was Dou Jing Jing. However, she didn’t like her name at all. This was because her name (Jing Jing) meant ‘to calm down’. Whenever someone said they needed ‘to calm down’, she would always be made fun of. As such, everyone called her Dou Dou, since it sounded much cuter.

After what had happened, it was only natural for them to feel dejected and low-spirited. Huan Huan and Yi Yi didn’t even want to play Dawn. Only the heartless Dou Dou entered the game, but she hadn’t done well for herself.

“Back then, we were completely confident and signed a 3 year lease on the house. Now, we can only sub-lease to minimise our losses,” Huan Huan grudgingly said as she told Lu Li the reason why they were renting out the rooms.

Rich, filthy rich. This was an awesome villa in an awesome location. It was large, and had its own garden, swimming pool and balcony. It was probably worth at least $100,000 per month and yet they had leased it for 3 years. Lu Li felt like his head was about to explode.

He quickly comforted the 3 girls who were grasping at straws, “Let’s talk about the rental terms first, then game matters. I’ll definitely help you all, but don’t expect too much - I’m just a normal player.”

“Mmm got it, got it, that’s what all experts say,” Dou Dou rapidly nodded.

Lu Li didn’t know what to say. Lu Xin suddenly realised just how powerful her big brother had become and a look of worship appeared in her eyes.

“There are 3 rooms in total, 2 big and 1 small. The big ones are $12,000 per month and the small one is $8,000 per month. If you can teach us how to play Dawn, we can reduce the rent by $2,000.” After gathering together for a while, the 3 girls made a decision.

The rooms were all very large: even the smallest one was twice as big as the entire unit the Lu brother and sister had occupied in the Slum District.

“Big brother, let’s share the smaller one,” Lu Xin suggested in a small voice. She had never seen such luxurious rooms before and felt like she was dreaming.

“No way.” The first person to reject this was actually Dou Dou. She furiously pointed at Lu Li as she yelled, “How can you do this, you pervert? Your little sister’s already so big, but you still sleep with her, you pervert.”

She was clearly had a hyperactive imagination. Lu Li was speechless and the other 2 girls pretended that they didn’t know her.

After ranting for a bit, before convincing Lu Li to rent 2 separate rooms, she finally calmed down.

“We’ll charge you $15,000 per month for the 2 rooms. Yi Yi and I will join the game next week. When that time comes, you need to give us some basic equipment and tell us what we should do.” These students were all very rich; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to rent such a place. After finding out that their studio had failed because they chose the wrong game and discovering a new hope in the form of Lu Li, they were willing to give him a sizeable discount.

“If you join our studio, we can let you guys stay here for free,” Yi Yi said in a small voice.