Chapter 4: A Treasure

Most ordinary people in the Upper City District had no savings at all. Not being in debt was already considered good enough.

Even Sentinels and Guides in the Upper City District rarely had much in savings.

Compared to them, Ying Li could already be considered wealthy. Right now, his account held two hundred fifty thousand Credit Points.

One hundred fifty thousand of that was from his previous savings, and another hundred thousand was what he’d just earned.

After becoming a B-Rank Sentinel, not only did he kill the B-Rank Mutant Beast that had cornered him, but he also killed several C-Rank Mutant Beasts.

Upon returning to the city, he handed over a portion of his spoils, then sold the C-Rank Crystal Cores and the valuable parts of those beasts. The total sale brought in a hundred sixty thousand. From this amount, he’d spent sixty thousand on medicine, daily necessities, and renting a house. One hundred thousand remained.

Two hundred fifty thousand Credit Points was a sizable sum for someone in the Upper City District, but to Ying Li, who had returned from ten years in the future, it was extremely small.

He sold the B-Rank Crystal Core he had on hand for another hundred thousand Credit Points. Thus, his savings now totaled three hundred fifty thousand.

But even this much money wasn’t enough to buy a decent off-road vehicle capable of being driven outside the city.

The good news was that this money was enough to buy him a decent motorcycle.

Ying Li planned to buy one the next time he left the city.

He had always rented vehicles to go outside the city in the past. But rented vehicles all had Dashcams installed, and the rental companies had the right to access the footage. It was very inconvenient for him.

As for why he’d wait until he was leaving the city to buy it… The underground city was extremely crowded. Vehicles meant for wilderness use were all sold at the Surface Exchange located above Starlight City.

Sentinels who bought them also wouldn’t drive the vehicles back into the underground city; they parked them permanently on the surface.

Putting aside the money for the vehicle, Ying Li calculated his remaining funds and headed towards the food market.

The food market was right next to the mall. A strong, sour smell of decaying organic matter wafted from within.

Finished Nutrient Paste in various flavors could be easily bought from any vending machine. What was sold here was mostly fresh, natural food.

And the most common items were various types of fungi.

Nutrient Paste was processed from fungi, but its price was actually cheaper than buying the fungi directly. After all, the fungi used for Nutrient Paste were lower quality, and various other scraps were mixed in.

The food market wasn’t large, but it was crowded. After all, in the entire Upper City District, this was the only place where fresh ingredients were sold.

Ying Li followed the flow of people inside and found that those coming and going to buy ingredients were mostly Sentinels and Guides.

That was normal. Ordinary people’s households didn’t even have a place to cook.

Even he hadn’t had a place to cook before.

After graduating from the Sentinel Academy, he rented a small single room of less than ten square meters.

That place was so small, it had only a bedroom; naturally, it was impossible to cook there.

However, he had changed residences a few days ago.

For the past two years, things had been going well between him and Wu Nian. Thinking Wu Nian would definitely accept his confession, he had prematurely rented a small two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment.

This place was only about thirty square meters total, but it had a kitchen and a bathroom. In the Upper City District, this was already a very good residence.

Ying Li slowly moved forward with the crowd.

He bought several types of nutrient-rich fungi, then a large bag of potatoes, two whole chickens, and a large cut of pork.

These items cost him five thousand Credit Points overall, very expensive, but still much more cost-effective than eating at the restaurants on the commercial street.

Carrying his many ingredients, Ying Li went up to the top floor.

The rooftops of those ten-meter-high buildings were all connected, forming wide, level roads. And the public transport vehicles of the underground city traveled across these rooftops.

He used his Communication Terminal to summon a single-person vehicle. Shortly, a small vehicle, with just a rudimentary seat and looking something like a pre-Cataclysm wheelchair, stopped in front of him. After he got on, it accurately delivered him to his destination.

Getting off at the building where he lived, Ying Li checked the address on his Communication Terminal and spent some time before finding his specific apartment.

A Sentinel’s memory was excellent. Even though he’d only lived in this apartment for a few months in his previous life, he still clearly remembered the layout and furnishings. But this building had thousands of identical apartments, and the corridors twisted and turned. He feared he might get it wrong.

Entering his home, the first thing that greeted Ying Li was the small dining room connected to the kitchen.

The apartment was tidied up very cleanly. The furniture and appliances were fully furnished. But it was different from his memory.

After all, in his previous life, after Wu Nian moved in, he’d found fault with everything, making Ying Li replace many things.

At that time, the thirty thousand a month Ying Li gave Wu Nian was merely Wu Nian’s personal allowance. The major expenses for the household were still paid by Ying Li.

In his memory, the following days were all spent with Wu Nian buying things, decorating “their home.”

He’d thought they would live there for at least a few years. In the end, they lived there less than half a year, and the actual days he’d spent in this apartment didn’t even amount to one month.

Of the two bedrooms, he’d also always slept in the smaller one.

Back then, he’d decorated the bedroom Wu Nian lived in to be warm and comfortable, yet, to save money, he hadn’t altered his own bedroom in the slightest. Just thinking about it made him feel deeply shortchanged.

Yet at the time, he had been somewhat lonely. Wu Nian genuinely liked him, so he had tried his best to treat Wu Nian well.

Putting the ingredients he bought into the refrigerator, Ying Li went into the larger bedroom. He spread the bedding he’d brought onto the bed that came with the rental, lay down, and went to sleep.

It hadn’t been long since he advanced to B-Rank. Before advancing, he’d also been severely injured. After returning to the city, he should have focused on recovery, but there had been a pile of miscellaneous matters to handle.

His current physical condition actually wasn’t very good.

In his previous life, he hadn’t cared. But in this life, he was determined to rest properly.

Once his body was fully healed, he still needed to leave the city again and visit the place where he’d advanced.

For the next several days, Ying Li didn’t go out at all. He stayed at home the entire time, doing nothing but sleeping and eating.

The injuries he’d sustained before were very serious; his bones had even been broken. However, a Sentinel’s recovery ability was far beyond that of ordinary people. So even without going to the hospital, he could recover.

After lying around for four days, the wounds on Ying Li’s body were mostly healed. The natural food he’d previously purchased was now down to just a tiny bit.

A Sentinel’s appetite was massive. Over these days, Ying Li had actually mixed his Nutrient Paste with natural food to eat, and today was the same.

Throwing the last of the potatoes and pork into a pot, adding a pack of concentrated broth base and stewing it all together, then pouring the result over some Nutrient Paste—that became Ying Li’s breakfast.

After eating, he slung his backpack—already packed while cooking—over his shoulders and headed out.

In his previous life, he had left the city on this very day. This life would be the same.

But his condition between the two times was different.

In his previous life, he hadn’t taken his injuries seriously and hadn’t rested properly, spending his time keeping Wu Nian company while they decorated their new home.

When he left the city then, the injuries on his body hadn’t even fully healed.

This life was different. Because he’d eaten well and slept well, the injuries on his body had completely healed.

He had enough money on hand, and he could also buy his very first off-road motorcycle.

Only Sentinels could leave the underground city. And to exit the underground city, a Sentinel needed to pass through several gates.

Emerging from the underground city, Ying Li directly entered the massive Surface Exchange.

There were all sorts of stalls here. Some Sentinels who were physically disabled or of low rank tended these stalls. Seeing Ying Li, they called out to him.

Ying Li looked straight ahead and went directly to a vendor he was familiar with to purchase dry rations and water.

The flora and fauna in the wild were all inedible, so Sentinels leaving the city to hunt had to bring enough food and water with them.

Before turning twenty, he had never consumed wild water or food. The first time he did so was the last time, when he advanced to B-Rank Sentinel.

At that time, he’d been trapped in that crevice, with a B-Rank Mutant Beast eyeing him hungrily from outside and his own body severely injured. There seemed to be almost no way out.

He’d reflected on his entire life over and over then.

His emotional bond with his parents and siblings hadn’t been deep. In his childhood, when his older brothers and sisters stole his food, his parents turned a blind eye. Moreover, ever since he Awakened as a Sentinel, his family had constantly schemed to get benefits from him.

His life had been no better than an orphan’s.

So at that time, the person he thought about the most was Wu Nian.

The young Wu Nian, though he liked to compare himself with others and had some minor flaws, had genuinely liked him.

At that moment, he thought, if he could survive this, he absolutely had to build a happy family with Wu Nian.

Because he felt he wouldn’t survive, he drank the water from the rock wall and ate the small bugs on it.

The result? He didn’t die, and he advanced in rank.

At that moment, he knew that what he’d consumed had special properties.

After killing that B-Rank Mutant Beast and leaving that Beast’s cave, he’d immediately sealed the cave entrance, deciding to go back and investigate further another time.

Furthermore, regarding the matter of his advancement, he fabricated a story.

He told the personnel at the rank registration office that his initial Awakening state had been unstable, which was why he only tested as D-Rank. He claimed he had actually been C-Rank from the start, and that was why he could advance to B-Rank at the age of twenty.

He was extremely cautious. So in his previous life, he wasn’t targeted or noticed by various factions until he became an A-Rank Sentinel.

However, by then, his body already had significant deficits, so those people hadn’t paid him much attention.

In this life, he would be even more careful.

He would also make good use of the thing inside that cave.

Ying Li spent two hundred thousand Credit Points to buy a cost-effective off-road motorcycle. He also paid to have a rack installed on the back of the motorcycle so he could transport more supplies.

In the past, Ying Li had always gone outside the city in a group, including last time.

It was just that last time, they’d encountered Mutant Beasts and gotten separated.

But this time, he would go alone.

After completing all his preparations, it was already noon.

Ying Li ate lunch at the Surface Exchange, then rode his off-road motorcycle towards the wilderness.

Inside that crevice was a treasure. His ability to advance in rank was thanks to that thing.

Wu Nian’s ability to advance was also thanks to that item.

In his previous life, his knowledge was limited, and he lacked a clear understanding of just how precious that thing was. Moreover, being in the throes of a passionate romance with Wu Nian and worried that Wu Nian’s low rank would make it difficult for him to provide Mental Guidance, he had split the item, giving half to Wu Nian.

In this life, he intended to keep it all for himself.

Thinking of Wu Nian, Ying Li couldn’t help but sigh again.

Actually, by the time he advanced to A-Rank at twenty-five, he had already realized that he and Wu Nian were incompatible.

But he had already invested so much. The sunk cost was too great, and he couldn’t bear to break up.

After all, many Sentinels were just like him, making do with their Guides and muddling through.

In this life, without any sunk costs, things were truly better.