CHAPTER 112: CHAPTER 112 YEN

In a male dormitory, no matter how thoroughly it was cleaned or maintained, the air was always filled with a mixed odor of sweat, garbage, and feet.

Li Ang walked slowly along the dormitory’s narrow corridor, absently flipping through a ComicMarket art collection he had found in a storage box, still sealed in its plastic bag. He had a smattering of Japanese, and with the System’s translation, he could understand it.

Hmm... The quality of the color pages is pretty high this time, he thought.

Chai Cuiqiao’s head popped out from his chest, wanting to take a look at the art collection, but Li Ang immediately pushed her back. "Kids shouldn’t read comics."

Since entering this scenario, he hadn’t let Miss Chai show her face. This was mainly to guard against the two teammates they had encountered this time. If they discovered Miss Chai’s existence and traced things back in the real world, they could very well link "Li Rising" with "Li Ang."

The man and the ghost searched floor by floor, moving upwards through the male dormitory. Soon, on the seventh floor (the high school section), they discovered an anomaly.

On the floor of this corridor lay one yen banknote after another, in denominations of 10,000, 5,000, and 1,000. However, the people depicted on them were not Noguchi Hideo, Higuchi Ichiyo, or Fukuzawa Yukichi, but various students from the Japan Islands: a suntanned delinquent girl, an ordinary male high school student with messy hair, a materialistic girl fond of phones, shoes, and handbags... Their genders, ages, and appearances varied, but they all shared a common expression of despair and regret.

With Li Ang’s arrival, the banknotes began to tremble slightly, and the figures on them started to move.

"SOB SOB SOB..."

They cried softly, their plaintive, disordered sobs echoing through the corridor.

Li Ang pulled out his thick, long steel rod, calmly watching everything unfold. He mentally asked Chai Cuiqiao, "Found anything?"

Miss Chai focused intently on the ghostly energy fluctuations around them, then suddenly shouted, "Above your head!"

Almost instantly, Li Ang kicked off the ground. As he fell backward, he forcefully jabbed the steel rod upwards.

A pale arm, utterly devoid of blood, drilled out from the corridor ceiling, clutching the tip of the steel rod. No matter how much the Ripple Energy scorched its palm, causing green smoke to billow, it refused to let go.

Li Ang’s expression didn’t change. Just as he was about to unleash his Ripple Energy again, he heard a teenager’s voice from the ceiling, "Six million yen."

Hmm?

Li Ang immediately abandoned the thought of unleashing his Ripple Energy again. Holding his posture, he looked up at the ceiling and said, "What do you mean?"

Based on his previous judgment of the "instant death" nature of this scenario’s challenges, each supernatural event very likely had a safe path, a way to get through without resorting to violence.

As he was rapidly pondering, a high school student from the Japan Islands, wearing an Ibaraki Middle School uniform, "dropped" from the ceiling. Compared to the previous headache-inducing middle schooler and the cross-dressing middle-aged man, this high schooler looked much more normal. The only peculiarity was his livid, bluish complexion, a wire wrapped around his neck, and the deep bruises marking his throat.

Hanged himself, huh... Li Ang thought.

Li Ang’s mind raced. He saw the high school student, moving with inconceivable speed, quickly grasp his wrist.

In that instant, Li Ang felt an extreme chill surge through his wrist. His entire arm immediately turned an unhealthy blue-purple—matching the high school student’s own complexion. Li Ang instinctively tried to swing his arm, only to discover he couldn’t feel it at all.

Miss Chai, who had been hidden within Li Ang, immediately emerged. Her fingernails, sharp as daggers on all ten fingers, stabbed toward the Fierce Ghost before her. However, before her nails could reach their target, the yen banknotes scattered on the corridor floor were swept up by an eerie, cold gust of wind, forming a thick Shield in front of the young man.

The high school student waved his hand, dispersing the Shield of banknotes. He stared fixedly at Li Ang with a bleak gaze and said, "Bring me seven million yen within five minutes."

Hey, hey, wasn’t it six million yen just a moment ago? How did it suddenly jump by a million? Even loan sharks aren’t this extortionate! Li Ang complained endlessly in his mind, but he still relaxed somewhat. Securing seven million yen within five minutes is probably the escape route for this supernatural incident,

he concluded.

Without wasting words, he pulled a suitcase filled with gold bars and US Dollars from his backpack slot with one hand and opened it in front of the high school student. The gold bars sparkled dazzlingly, and the stacks of green US Dollar bills were mesmerizing. These were just a small part of the treasures from Tama Riyadi’s safe house. At the standard exchange rate, their value far exceeded seven million yen (equivalent to about 440,000 RMB).

Using a whole briefcase to bribe a Ghost... it only stings a little, Li Ang mused. Maybe.

Unexpectedly, the male high school student was unmoved. He merely glanced at the briefcase, then raised his head and continued to gaze at Li Ang with eyes as still as an ancient well. "I want eight million yen. In banknotes. You have four and a half minutes left."

The price went up again... Li Ang thought.

Li Ang’s gaze also darkened. "If I don’t give it to you, will you take my arm?"

The student nodded.

It might have been an illusion, Li Ang thought, but the faces on those floating banknotes seemed to flash greedy smiles, eyeing various parts of his body.

If a player doesn’t carry enough yen banknotes, they’ll have to collect them from inside the school. And the only place to get a large amount of banknotes at once would be the school’s ’slush fund.’ But without a detailed map, finding this slush fund is easier said than done, let alone making a round trip within four minutes.

After a rough calculation of the distance and time, Li Ang realized he wouldn’t make it. Instead of rushing off, he began to observe the young man before him and the figures on the banknotes. He noticed that the people depicted on the currency always seemed to possess one or two items significantly more expensive than their other belongings—for example, the latest smartphones, designer bags, expensive shoes, watches, headphones, road bikes, or dresses.

After a moment of thought, Li Ang hesitantly asked, "You... are you also a victim of campus loans?"

Also? The high school student in front of him blinked, a seemingly subconscious reaction, but said nothing.

Li Ang’s heart settled. He immediately adopted a look of shared sorrow and remembrance, heaved a long sigh, and gently patted the young man’s shoulder. "Ah, my friend, we are fellow sufferers in this harsh world," he said. "Young brother, we’re practically true brothers from different parents!"