In the blink of an eye, several days passed, and it was Friday. After staying in the hospital for nearly five days, Jiang Yuan was finally told by the doctor that he could go through the discharge procedures and prepare to leave!
Overjoyed at the news, Jiang Yuan immediately stripped off his hospital gown and changed into his torn and tattered hoodie. He went to the hospital front desk to handle the discharge formalities.
Since that day happened to be the weekly maintenance and update day for *Myriad Worlds*, Jiang Yuan didn’t rush back to the dorm after leaving the hospital. Instead, he went to a clothing store, replaced his entire outfit from head to toe, and then, carrying bags of new clothes, found a bathhouse and headed straight inside.
In the men’s changing room, Jiang Yuan stuffed his new clothes and discarded old ones into a locker, shut the door stark naked, slipped the wristband with the locker key onto his elbow, grabbed a towel, and made a beeline for the bath.
“Ahh! This feels amazing!”
Jiang Yuan sank his entire body into the bath, enjoying the massage from the water jets hidden in the pool walls against his back. He tilted his head back, a look of pure contentment on his face.
Slowly, he closed his eyes, and scenes from the dinner at Jinsongling Hotel up to the present moment flashed through his mind like a lantern show.
“Aside from the Aoshi Dragon Emperor, who I clashed with in the game, I really can’t think of anyone else I’ve offended. But since the target was me, why did they go after Heng Yuwei?”
Jiang Yuan mulled it over and over, and before he knew it, he dozed off, leaning against the edge of the bath.
He had a dream. In it, the game had introduced a marriage feature. He and Hamster Pudding, dressed in traditional Chinese wedding attire, slowly entered the bridal chamber amid the blessings of the members of the Chuangshi, Yunqi, and Baihua Palace guilds.
“Hehe!”
A goofy grin spread across Jiang Yuan’s face, and his body began to slide down involuntarily.
“Glub glub!”
Still lost in his sweet dream, Jiang Yuan slipped entirely into the pool, swallowing several big mouthfuls of bathwater before jolting awake. He realized it had all been just a dream.
“Ptoo! Ptoo!”
He climbed out of the bath, spat out a few mouthfuls of water mixed with bathwater, found a scrubber, and handed over his wristband.
After finishing his bath, Jiang Yuan dried off and returned to the changing room. He opened his locker, pulled out his phone from his pants pocket, and checked the time—it was exactly lunchtime.
Changing into the casual pajamas handed to him by an attendant, Jiang Yuan shuffled in slippers to the second floor, where the bathhouse’s buffet restaurant was located. Already, many men and women in the same style of pajamas were carrying trays, browsing the array of food on display.
Jiang Yuan scanned the area and found the selection incredibly diverse. There were Western dishes like steak, coffee, and pasta, as well as Chinese stir-fries, braised dishes, rice, and even steamed buns, stuffed buns, and noodles.
He picked two dishes, added a bowl of rice and a bowl of shredded pork and pickled mustard soup, then grabbed some watermelon, cantaloupe, and dragon fruit from the fruit section. Finding an empty seat, he sat down and began wolfing it all down.
Before long, Jiang Yuan, letting out a few burps, slowly walked back downstairs, re-entered the men’s bath, opened his locker, and started getting dressed.
Ten-plus minutes later, when Jiang Yuan stepped out of the men’s section and approached the bathhouse front desk, even the female cashier was stunned!
He wore a white T-shirt underneath, paired with a black zippered leather jacket, jeans, and brand-new Adidas sneakers. His hair, blow-dried into a middle part, combined with his naturally handsome face, instantly gave him the aura of a celebrity!
“Excuse me, I’d like to settle the bill.”
Seeing the cashier staring at him with a lovesick expression, Jiang Yuan gave a slight cough and spoke.
“Oh, oh, sorry, sir. Your total comes to 288 Longguo dollars.”
The young woman snapped back to reality, quickly took the wristband Jiang Yuan handed over, a faint blush appearing on her face. She did a quick calculation and told him the amount.
Leaving the bathhouse, Jiang Yuan tossed the bag containing his old clothes and shoes into a roadside trash can. He hailed a maglev taxi and returned to his long-missed university dormitory.
Eagerly, he turned on his newly assembled computer. Two beams of blue light projected out, forming a blue screen above his head. Jiang Yuan opened the *Myriad Worlds* game client, which began auto-updating, while simultaneously logging into the *Myriad Worlds* official website to check the update details.
The update package was small, less than 1 GB, with minimal content. The main addition was a new feature called “Home Plane,” where players could auction land plots at their guild’s capital from the “Ministry of Works Officer” NPC and then build homes. Additionally, the update introduced an “Equipment Exchange” function, allowing players to trade a currency called “Heavenly Martial Coins” at their class’s Trial Envoy for epic-grade equipment of different levels!
There were three ways to obtain Heavenly Martial Coins: completing main quests, farming dungeons, or participating in the weekly guild raid battles. To help players quickly exchange for their desired gear, *Myriad Worlds* would retroactively issue a certain number of Heavenly Martial Coins based on players’ dungeon completion rates from previous weeks, sent via in-game mail.
Jiang Yuan finished the update quickly, opened the *Myriad Worlds* client, and entered his account and password.
“Ding! Honorable warrior, welcome to the Great World of Huaxia. Loading your map, please wait...”
A few seconds later, Jiang Yuan appeared in the council hall of the Hanjiang City guild’s capital, Shangjing.
Stepping out of the council hall, he made his way to the central area of Shangjing’s main city, where a massive building housed all the functional NPCs.
Soon, Jiang Yuan reached the location of the NPC “Minister of Works,” which was already crowded with Hanjiang City players.
After conversing with the “Ministry of Works Officer” NPC, Jiang Yuan roughly understood the rules for land auctions.
Land was divided into two types based on location: Great World land and Plane land. Great World land was tied to guilds—players from different guilds could only auction land within their guild’s territory. For example, players from the Emperor’s Continent could only bid on land in Zhongzhou, Bingzhou, and Jingchu. Plane land, however, had no guild restrictions. Even a Hanjiang City player could auction land within the Emperor’s Continent guild’s territory. Plane land functioned like a “world within a world,” unaffected by external factors.
Opening the auction list, Jiang Yuan noticed that Great World land prices were several times higher than Plane land prices. He pulled aside a Hanjiang City player to ask why and learned that Great World land could be resold, while Plane land, once purchased, could not be traded again.
“I’ll check what land is available for auction before deciding!”
Jiang Yuan muttered to himself and began carefully browsing the auction list.