What can 1.3 units of World Essence do?
Chen Mo stared at the editor interface, deep in thought.
He was like a newly rich upstart who had just struck his first pot of gold—excited yet confused. He tried typing "World Essence exchange for currency" into the editor's search box.
The system interface flickered, and a line of cold gray text popped up: [Insufficient authority, this function is not available].
As expected.
Chen Mo sighed, completely giving up the idea of getting something for nothing. It seemed this thing couldn't be directly cashed out like game coins. It was more like a kind of... strategic resource.
It couldn't directly solve his financial crisis, but it could help him do bigger things. And bigger things might indirectly solve his financial problems.
A gnawing hunger pulled him back to reality from his wandering thoughts. He felt in his pocket, took out the few crumpled hundred-yuan bills—marked with the stamp of humiliation—and went downstairs, turning into a cheap noodle shop on the corner.
"Boss, a bowl of beef noodles, extra cilantro."
After eating the steaming noodles, his tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
The noodle shop was bustling with noise, and diners chatted excitedly, spittle flying as they spoke.
"Did you hear? That top-tier young celebrity got caught in another scandal—trending all day!"
"Hey, that's nothing. Have you seen that video of someone throwing objects from a high-rise? The whole internet is trying to find that person!"
"Social news is still the most interesting—more exciting than TV dramas..."
Chen Mo listened silently, but his movements of eating noodles gradually slowed down.
He ly realized a fact: in this information age, "popularity" itself is a kind of resource. It is traffic, it is attention, it is the collection of countless people's emotions.
A hot topic that can trigger a global sensation can maximize the harvesting of those invisible but real emotions.
Awe, curiosity, shock, fear... Aren't these all fertile ground for World Essence?
Selling small things will never make you rich.
You have to do wholesale!
A crazy idea, like a bolt of lightning, cut through his chaotic thoughts.
Back in the rental house—quiet as if cut off from the world—Chen Mo had just sat down when his phone pinged.
It was the last message from the landlord.
"Xiao Chen, if I don't receive the money by 12 noon tomorrow, I'll come directly to change the lock, and I'll throw all your things out. Don't say I didn't warn you."
This message became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
It completely shattered all the fluke and muddle-through thoughts in Chen Mo's heart.
Burn the bridges behind you.
Chen Mo's gaze changed—from a corporate slave passively dealing with troubles to a gambler ready to take the initiative. He took a deep breath, reopened the [Reality Editor], and began to carefully read through the [Help Document] that he had long ignored.
In a corner deep within the document, he found a line of text marked as "Advanced Technique":
"High-profile extraordinary events are the most fertile ground for World Essence."
This was it!
Chen Mo's heart raced. He closed the help document and directly opened the electronic map of Donghai City.
His gaze scanned the map like a high-speed scanner, frantically searching for a suitable location.
The city center was out of the question—too many people. If something went wrong, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Residential areas were also no good—same reason.
Too remote mountains and wilderness were out too. If no one found out, there would be no popularity, so what was the point of all his trouble?
He needed a place that: had a certain reputation to attract people, but whose core area was relatively isolated to make it easy to create anomalies without being immediately interfered with; preferably had mountains and water, conforming to the public's traditional imagination of a "fairyland" or "supernatural place"; and most importantly, had a perfect balance—one that could trigger public opinion while giving him enough buffer time.
Hours later, Chen Mo's eyes were bloodshot.
His mouse had glided over countless locations on the map, and finally, it slowly stopped on a green area in the western suburbs of the city.
"Yanguigui Lake Park."
This was a semi-open wetland park, covering a huge area. There was a natural lake in the center, and a small island in the middle of the lake. It was a popular place for citizens to relax and take walks on weekdays, but at night, it was almost deserted—only a few night anglers and adventurous couples would go there.
Perfect.
This was the place.
Chen Mo looked at the words "Yanguigui Lake" on the screen, his eyes shining with a complex light mixed with madness, anticipation, and unease.
A bold enough, crazy enough plan—one that would shock the entire Donghai City—sprouted in his heart like mushrooms after rain.
He was going to direct a... miracle here.
Chen Mo allocated all his remaining 1.3 units of World Essence to the preparation and consumption area, and began to build new rules for "Yanguigui Lake Park" in the editor.
Every click he made, every fine adjustment of parameters, was writing the first line of crazy and magnificent code for a world that was about to be completely subverted.
He didn't know, and couldn't predict, what terrifying chain reaction his plan—aimed at "once and for all" solving his rent problem—would trigger.