As soon as these words were spoken, the entire bus of elderly men and women erupted, their gazes on the man in the suit growing heated.
In a second-tier city like Qingyun City, a monthly salary of two points was definitely considered high income. Many of the seniors had already begun sizing him up.
"Young man, how old are you?"
"Young man, are you married?"
"Young man, where do you live?"
A monthly salary of two points! To put it in perspective, Xia Liang probably wouldn't even bother to bend over and pick up one-tenth of a currency unit if it fell on the ground. As for one or two-point denominations, he had only ever seen those in WeChat red envelopes.
A prank? The thought surfaced instantly. It was no surprise; in an age of endless entertainment, Xia Liang had often seen similar scenarios online. But a quick scan of the bus revealed no cameras. Turning back to the group of Oscar-worthy elderly actors, his confusion deepened. Even a prank should have some flaws, right? I've been looking for ages and found none.
As Xia Liang pondered, the bus driver grew impatient. "Hey, kid, are you getting on or not? If you don't have the fare, get off."
"What the hell!"
Xia Liang was about to lose his mind. What on earth was going on?
Forget it. Xia Liang sighed. Even without seeing a camera, he subconsciously assumed it was a prank. Unwilling to be made a spectacle of, he prepared to get off the bus.
Seeing Xia Liang turn to leave, the man in the suit's mockery intensified.
"Oh? Leaving so soon, young man? Weren't you just talking big about having a few Yuan? What's the matter? Can't even scrounge up the bus fare now?"
Hearing the thick taunt in his voice, Xia Liang stopped in his tracks. He turned his head, staring at the man with an unfriendly gaze, no longer caring if it was a prank or not.
"And what if I can produce one Yuan right now? What will you do?"
"Hahaha!" The man in the suit roared with laughter at Xia Liang's expression. "One Yuan? Go on then, show us! If you can produce it, I'll get on my knees right here and call you Dad. How about that? But…" He paused, a playful glint in his eyes. "If you can't, you…"
Before he could finish, Xia Liang cut in. "I know what you're going to say. Let's change the terms. If I can't, I'll slap myself twice and admit to everyone here that I'm a liar."
The man in the suit was taken aback for a moment, then a grin spread across his face. "Alright. Everyone here heard that. No backing out."
The other passengers immediately chimed in.
"We heard it! We can be witnesses."
"These youngsters who are obsessed with the Virtual World need to be taught a lesson."
"The young man looks decent enough, he's just not very bright."
"Hopefully, he'll learn his lesson this time."
...
Hearing the crowd's murmurs, the man in the suit shot Xia Liang a triumphant look. "Well? Take it out! Don't be scared, everyone here will be your witness."
Clearly, he didn't believe Xia Liang could produce a single Yuan. After all, it was a whole Yuan.
"Hmph!" Xia Liang wasn't worried. The RMB was the only currency in Dragon Country. Although he had no clue what these people were up to, they couldn't possibly refuse to recognize their own country's money, could they?
With this thought, he pulled his hand out of his pocket, revealing four coins. Xia Liang held them in his palm, tossed them into the air, and caught them with a satisfying clang.
"This is what you want, right? One Yuan?"
As they watched Xia Liang toss the coins, everyone on the bus froze. Then, as if gazing upon a peerless beauty, they all flushed beet-red.
"Holy shit! This kid!"
"It's really one Yuan!"
"He has four of them! That's four Yuan!"
"That luster! That texture! It's definitely a real one Yuan coin!"
...
The man in the suit also stared in disbelief at the four Yuan in Xia Liang's hand, shaking his head repeatedly. "Impossible! How can that be? That's four Yuan! How could you just take them out so casually?"
Evidently, the sight of Xia Liang effortlessly producing four Yuan was too much for the man to accept.
Though Xia Liang didn't understand their extreme reactions, it was clear they recognized his money. At any rate, he'd managed to vent some frustration. Tossing the coins in his hand, he looked at the man in the suit with a teasing smile.
"Heh. So? They're not fake, are they?"
However, Xia Liang failed to notice that no one was listening to him. Every eye on the bus was glued to the coins rising and falling in his hand.
They knew that four Yuan in this era was equivalent to four million from his original world.
Imagine someone casually juggling four million dollars without a care in the world.
The sight sent everyone's hearts on a roller-coaster ride, leaving them breathless, as if they were suffocating. Some even felt the urge to strangle him. What kind of prodigal son was this?! That was four Yuan! Four whole Yuan! What if he dropped them and they got scratched or dented? Even worse, what if they slipped from his grasp and fell into a storm drain?
Seeing everyone's expressions, as if they had eaten something horrible, Xia Liang grew even more puzzled. This is taking the act way too far! That uncle on the left! Can you please wipe the drool from your mouth? And the auntie on the right! Why are you looking at me like you want to eat me? And you, the eight-year-old little girl! You're just a kid! I'm not a lollipop, so why are you licking your lips?
Just as Xia Liang was completely bewildered, a bright light flashed across his face.
"Hmm?"
He froze. What's so dazzling?
He instinctively looked down and saw the light was coming from his own hand. Taking a closer look, Xia Liang's eyes flew wide open.
"What the hell is this!"
He raised the coins that had landed in his palm, bringing them close to his eyes. They were nothing like he remembered. They were a solid, translucent green, as if crafted from jade.
The front of the Jade Coin featured a lifelike dragon, and in the upper right corner, a '1' was engraved. Under the sunlight, the dragon seemed to cast an illusory shadow.
What the heck? How did my coins turn into this? Could this be the new version of the one Yuan coin? But... this... this looks like it's made of jade, doesn't it? And a very fine quality of jade at that. My goodness, isn't that an outrageous waste? The production cost for a new coin like this must be astronomical! And the craziest part is that I was just tossing them around for fun. If they got scratched or dented, wouldn't their value plummet instantly? Wait! Let me catch my breath!
Even with his System, Xia Liang felt his mind struggling to process everything. From the alteration of the one Yuan coin to everyone's reaction upon seeing it, something about the world had clearly changed. Everything was perfectly normal yesterday!
Right! The System! The System upgraded yesterday!
Xia Liang suddenly remembered. If his guess was correct, all of this had to be related to the System's upgrade.