He didn’t want to let filthy lucre blind his eyes either, but the cost of living in New Eridu was absurd.
Two thousand Dennies for a single box of eggplant and minced pork over rice—how was anyone supposed to survive?
One hundred thousand Dennies might not be a fortune, but it was certainly a substantial sum.
Jiang Yu stuffed the last piece of steamed bun into his mouth and mumbled around it, “For a hundred thousand Dennies, I guarantee you incredible value for your money.
Even if you want to eat an Ethereal, I’ll catch one and roast it for you.” The suited man couldn’t quite understand the mumbled words, so he offered a sheepish chuckle and introduced himself.
“Hello.
Friends in the trade call me Shepherd.
You may call me that as well.” Jiang Yu stared at the glasses on his nose, which had only one lens remaining.
*Timid as a mouse, but speaks like a big shot.* *Why does this guy feel so punchable?
Shepherd?
Why not call yourself a German Shepherd?* Jiang Yu grumbled inwardly, though his face remained unreadable.
He extended his hand and shook Shepherd’s.
“Hello, Ger—Mr.
Shepherd.
I’m Jiang Yu.
Brothers on the street call me Add-Money Bro.
You can call me that too.” *Add-Money Bro?
What an odd alias.* Shepherd had seen all sorts of bizarre codenames, but this was the first time he’d encountered one so straightforward.
*Is he going to demand extra payment halfway through?* Shepherd smiled and shook Jiang Yu’s hand, leaving their mutual understanding unspoken.
With a non-combatant in tow, Jiang Yu’s pace slowed considerably.
Unsure of how large this Companion Hollow was, he headed toward a plaza he remembered from before.
Plazas had high foot traffic, meaning the chances of finding a rescue team there were higher.
If he managed to encounter a wild Proxy or some friendly Hollow Raiders along the way, that would be even better.
As he was thinking, two weirdos wearing menacing spherical helmets suddenly emerged on the road ahead.
Various bottles and jars dangled from their bodies.
Were it not for the ominous red spherical helmets on their heads, an outsider might have mistaken them for scavengers collecting junk.
*Talk about a blessing in disguise!* These two weirdos were none other than Hollow Raiders, who roamed the Hollows committing crimes.
Gangs like theirs were usually equipped with time-sensitive Carrots—in other words, the coordinates to a Hollow exit.
“Oi!
You two, where do you think you’re going?” one of the weirdos called out, stepping forward.
“Where to?!
Where to?!” the other chimed in.
Shepherd quietly took two steps back, gripping his briefcase tightly with both hands, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.
“This road is our turf!
Wherever you’re going, you gotta pay the toll!
Pay the toll, and we’re super big friends!” “Friends!
Friends!” “And friends get to drink together!” “Drink!
Drink!” Jiang Yu stepped forward, resting the heavy metal shotgun against the ground, a light smile on his face.
“And what if I don’t have any money?” The raider took a step forward, pointing a glass liquor bottle filled with liquid at him with supreme arrogance.
“No money?
Then you’re enemies!
What do we do with enemies?” The raider turned to his companion, who caught on instantly and pulled out a bottle of his own.
“If they’re enemies, we treat their heads to a drink!” Shepherd took another step back.
These two were entirely different beasts compared to the common thug from earlier.
Hollow Raiders frequented Hollows and regularly fought Ethereals; their combat capability was not to be underestimated.
He couldn’t help but wonder if his hastily hired bodyguard would actually hold up.
If he lost the documents inside his briefcase, he would be in deep trouble.
Just as Shepherd was hesitating over whether to run, a loud roar cut through the air.
“Then let’s treat his head to a drink!” Looking up, Shepherd saw the leading Hollow Raider swing the glass bottle high, aiming straight for Jiang Yu’s head.
The other raider ignited his Molotov cocktail and prepared to hurl it.
Shepherd took another step back.
He had heard of the notorious reputation of Arsonists—they were a bunch of lunatics whose makeshift firebombs packed a terrifying punch.
Getting hit by one of those meant losing a layer of skin!
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Yu gripped the barrel of All Men Are Equal and swung it like a club.
The metal stock whistled through the air and smashed violently against the nearest raider’s spherical helmet.
The helmet shattered on impact, accompanied by a sharp crack that sounded suspiciously like a fracturing skull.
The weirdo’s head whipped violently sideways as he crashed straight to the ground.
Jiang Yu ducked to dodge the incoming firebomb, then raised his shotgun and fired point-blank at the second raider.
*BANG!* The shotgun blast tore through the raider’s body, the massive momentum knocking him back several meters.
Bleeding profusely, he was dead before he hit the ground.
*Clean!
So clean!* Shepherd marveled silently, stunned by the martial prowess Jiang Yu had displayed.
Jiang Yu walked over to the raider whose helmet had been smashed.
Half of the man’s face was a bloody mess, and he was completely unconscious.
Bending down, he searched the raider’s body and pulled out a cheap-looking Carrot.
“Let me guess, Mr.
Shepherd: you’d like to get out of this Hollow as soon as possible too.
Let me lead the way.” Snapping back to reality, Shepherd glanced at the two bodies on the ground and hurried to keep up with Jiang Yu.
Inside a Hollow, nobody cared about the rule of law or morality.
The strong survived, and the weak died—that was the simplest law of the Hollow.
By extension, it was the fundamental law of this world.
[Spent 10,000 Dennies.
Unlocked the item’s first affix slot.] [Remaining Dennies: 10,500] Holding the Carrot, Jiang Yu unhesitatingly unlocked its affix slot on the system interface.
This was his cheat—his capital for surviving in a world no different from an apocalypse.
The Affix System.
It allowed him to bestow affixes upon himself and non-living objects he came into contact with.
Affixes were categorized into tiers, ranging from common to exceptionally rare: White, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Gold, and Rainbow.
However, the greedy system required spending money just to unlock an affix slot before spending more money to roll for affixes.
Currently, the system had unlocked an All-In Pity feature: consume all remaining Dennies to guarantee a pity affix.
As for how high the affix quality would be, that depended on his luck.
Jiang Yu was quite confident in his face—after all, it was handsome enough to hit the ceiling in the male modeling world.
As long as he had money, he could endlessly farm affixes.
And as long as he had affixes, he could grow stronger.
Only by growing stronger could he survive this post-apocalyptic world ravaged by Hollow disasters.
Therefore, his biggest goal right now was to find ways to make money!
It wasn’t that he was greedy, but that he was genuinely broke!
*Now that things have come to this, let’s go all-in first.* [Spent: 10,000 Dennies] [Remaining Dennies: 500] – [Choose one of the three affixes below:] 1.
[Name]: Rock-Solid (White) [Effect]: Hard as a rock.
2.
[Name]: Agile (White) [Effect]: Increases attack speed by 5%.
3.
[Name]: Double-Headed Dragon (Green) [Effect]: Marks coordinates between the Hollow and the outside world for two-way travel.
Uses: 1/1 – Going all-in was a work of pure wisdom!