Chapter 76: Conditions
Everyone harbors a sense of wishful thinking.
Li Miao was no exception.
Even though he was convinced that the fifty lucky winners had already been predetermined and that he could never be one of them, he still clung to a sliver of hope.
As the countdown displayed “0” and the list was about to be refreshed, he felt an uncontrollable surge of nervousness.
“If my name is on the list, I’ll… I’ll jump into the Han River!” he swore fiercely in his heart.
Finally, the list appeared.
Li Miao clenched his fists and scanned it one by one.
The winner list showed the registered nickname, real name, and ID number of each person. Of course, the latter two only revealed partial information.
The first was “Mr. Qiao’s Little Sweetheart,” named Li *Yan, ID number 3422****1314.
Pathetic sycophant!
Li Miao thought with disdain.
The second nickname was “Sleep Talker Y’s Pursuit.”
He didn’t bother with the other details, muttering quietly, “What a baffling name,” then moved to the next.
“Just Want to Be a Salted Fish…” Li Miao shook his head internally, “Probably comes from a wealthy family. No ambition at all.”
He continued down the list.
For every nickname, he made a snide remark. It helped him feel balanced.
He believed most of these people must have connections.
He kept scrolling until the twelfth entry…
“137**0027, which idiot uses their phone number as a nickname…”
He had just finished speaking when a strange feeling crept over him.
He looked again at the phone number, his eyes widening like Er Kang spying on Little Swallow bathing, his whole body trembling slightly.
No… it couldn’t be?
He clenched his fists, staring unblinkingly at the following information.
Name: Li *Miao.
ID number: 6102***131x.
From start to finish, nickname to ID number.
He checked again and again, back and forth.
Then, with trembling hands, he refreshed the page and reread every word.
No mistake!
That idiot was actually himself!
Li Miao threw his head back and howled, letting out a wild, dog-like cry.
“I can’t believe the luck god possessed me!”
His face flushed, the corners of his mouth split in a grin, as delighted as a stray dog who’d found a meaty bone in a trash bin.
At that moment, he remembered his earlier oath.
If he won, he’d jump into the Han River.
He glanced sideways at the river.
The surface was calm, ripples gliding across.
Li Miao gritted his teeth.
“If something as fantastical as the Fantasy Park can exist, there must be gods in this world.”
“Maybe a deity heard my words… Screw it!”
He pulled out his phone, keys, and wallet, slapped them down on the stone table, and strode toward the river.
…
A few tourists from out of town were taking photos by the riverside.
Someone suddenly noticed Li Miao running toward the riverbank.
“There’s someone about to jump in!” cried one.
“Damn, he’s trying to kill himself, hurry and save him!” shouted another.
“No, he’s swimming back ashore,” someone else said.
Under a barrage of puzzled looks, Li Miao leapt into the Han River, then swam at lightning speed back to the bank.
Climbing ashore, he immediately tore off his T-shirt.
After wringing it dry, he slung it over his shoulder, humming a tune as he staggered back to his stone table.
The watching tourists exchanged bewildered glances.
“Is this guy an idiot?” someone whispered.
A young woman who lived nearby and often visited the park chimed in, “I heard he writes novels. Last time, his friend came over and they chatted about it.”
“Writing novels has made him stupid!” someone said incredulously.
“Of course. Writing novels is a dead end,” the young woman shook her head, gazing at Li Miao’s retreating figure with pity.
Returning to his stone table, Li Miao noticed several missed calls on his phone.
He was a bit puzzled.
The number he used to register the account was from his college days, long deactivated. Could someone have traced his identity from that number?
He ignored these, wiped his hands with his shirt, and called his mother first.
When she heard he’d won the chance to enter the Fantasy Park, she didn’t believe him at first. Only after Li Miao repeatedly assured her did she joyfully say she’d go share the news with his father, who was working in the fields.
Li Miao then called his father.
His usually strict and reserved father was equally delighted, uttering several “good”s in succession, urging him to finish up quickly and come home to pay respects at the ancestral graves.
He was about to inform his only local friend, the rugged guy who once tricked him with a female account, when his phone rang.
A strange number.
Li Miao picked up, suspicious.
After a while, he hung up, his expression growing odd.
The caller claimed to be from a certain department in Rabbit Country, having learned his basic information and progress in martial arts training. They asked if he’d be willing to join the department, offering either to relinquish his entry opportunity for a generous resettlement house, or to enter and obtain specific items to share with the nation.
Li Miao replied he’d consider it and hung up.
Though the offer was tempting, he decided to wait and see.
Within two minutes, another unfamiliar call came in.
Three minutes later, Li Miao hung up.
His expression was even stranger.
This time, the caller was a famous rich heir from the internet.
The man generously tried to buy his entry pass for two hundred million.
Li Miao didn’t immediately agree either.
The third call came from an employee of Beast Insurance.
According to them, Beast Insurance had launched a personal loan service specifically for the Fantasy Park.
There were two options: one, receive a five million loan fund, but all items acquired inside must be split fifty-fifty with the company; two, get tens of millions to over a hundred million in special funds, to purchase martial arts in the Scripture Pavilion, then transcribe them for Beast Insurance upon exiting.
Though privately sharing martial arts from the Scripture Pavilion violated park rules, the penalty was merely losing future entry privileges.
Li Miao politely said he’d consider it.
He’d already crossed this off his list.
Secretly passing on martial arts from the Scripture Pavilion…
Not only was he utterly untalented in martial arts, having cultivated for days without producing a trace of internal energy, even if he could memorize the techniques, he wouldn’t dare recklessly spread them.
Though the rule only stripped future entry, who knew if there were hidden punishments?
He wasn’t about to take that risk.
Over the next few hours, his phone rang nonstop.
The callers weren’t just big shots he’d heard about in the news, but also world-class companies, or various national departments.
Even a famous monastery called.
Their offers were wildly varied.
The big shots mostly wanted to buy his entry pass for huge sums. The highest bid reached three hundred million after taxes!
Those companies and departments, like Beast Insurance, wanted to invest in him personally, requesting he acquire certain items or simply recruit him as a high-level operative.
Li Miao fell into deep thought.