The Great Thief

“Young man, I’m quite surprised, but there will be additional follow up costs. These additional costs will determine the extent to which your sister is healed.”

The old doctor was finally considering Lu Li seriously as he discussed the costs of treatment. However, he still wasn’t convinced that Lu Li had enough money to completely cure his sister.

What he underestimated was Lu Li’s determination.

“A month ago, my sister and I lived in the Common District, in a small, leaky, one-story house. Now, not only have we moved to the University Villa area, but I’ve also made $1 million.”

Lu Li didn’t need to raise his voice; he was merely stating the facts.

With this simple statement and the proof of his money, the doctor had no further objections.

“Alright, I guess I’m getting old and my perspective is becoming narrower. Let’s just talk about the general plan of the treatment,” said the doctor.

“Do as you please. I only have one family member.”

Lu Li chose to believe in this respectable gentleman, who in his past life was very patient.

“The medical examination is actually quite superficial. The patient must now come in to the hospital for a more thorough inspection. I will then organise some experts for consultation. These experts won’t only come from this hospital…”

From the doctor’s description and explanation of the treatment, the $1 million cost didn’t appear to be without reason.

After a morning of conversation, a brief medical plan was written up. Lu Li invited the doctor out for lunch, but was rejected.

He had a good impression of Lu Li and his sister, and promised to follow up on this case as much as he could. He also promised to use his personal connections to find an appropriate donor.

Lu Li then returned to the school and stood outside the classroom window, watching her sister.

One of her classmates whispered something in her ear, which caused her to dance with joy and gently smile. Lu Li had never seen her from this outside-observer angle before.

The sun shone through the glass window and reflected off her skin, making it glisten like jade.

She was growing up and was no longer the dependent, little girl that Lu Li had the impression of.

Feeling as though she was being watched, she turned her head and saw her brother standing on the edge of the flower bed. He was wearing cheap clothes and a funny hat…

The September roses had also bloomed and were a deep, blood red.

“Brother!”

Lu Xin’s eyes instantly lit up. She happily stomped towards him and jumped into his arms.

“I just got back from the hospital and wanted to check in on you. Have you eaten?”

After hugging her, Lu Li was reluctant to let go.

“Yep, Huan Huan is a really good cook. I helped her to wash the bowls,” Lu Xin replied.

“Go back to class now. I have something I want to tell you tonight.”

Lu Li saw that some of the other students were wanting to leave the classroom as well. He helplessly touched his sister’s hair, before letting her return.

When he arrived back home, Lu Li immediately logged back into the game.

This had nothing to do with his mood, nor was it about his addiction to the game. Rather, he had placed all of his hope in Dawn; he needed to work hard to make money for his sister.

“You’re finally on. Drizzle Court is asking us to do an Instance Dungeon and I hear you only asked for 200 gold,” Wandering complained, the instant that Lu Li appeared in the tavern.

“200 gold is already quite a bit…” Azure Sea Breeze whispered.

“Shut up. and look at the prospects,” Wandering said before beginning his analysis, “… There are hundreds of Unions in Dawn and none of them have been able to clear the Death Mines. Do you know what it means to a Union for them to complete the Death Mines?!”

The other members sat and listened respectfully, like well-trained elementary school children.

“If you and Water Fairy are somehow together, the fact that we picked them is already special treatment. However, we cannot make concessions about the price; we are here to make money.”

“Yes, we want to make money!” Hachi Chan waved her fist, but upon seeing that no one else joined in, she quickly dropped it.

“I was just going to let Sea Breeze take the earnings. Do you guys want to split it?” Lu Li was hesitant in asking this question. He thought that Azure Sea Breeze was going to do it alone, while the rest of them would remain unaffected.

Being a party with such strong DPS and Healing, they would be able to clear Elite Instance Dungeons with a single, conventional Main Tank like Wandering.

“Of course we want to split it.” Wandering no intention of letting his rival gain a free advantage. “He can keep half of it and the other half can be split among us. This can be the way we do it in future as well – there should be no personal ventures.”

“I don’t mind,” Azure Sea Breeze immediately said.

“No one asked you. You won’t take Main Tank equipment, even if it suits you. You’re too nice. Next time, ask me before dealing in business matters. I wanted to charge them at least 500 gold but I can’t anymore.”

Wandering’s calculations had revealed his true nature.

Popularity doesn’t enable you to place yourself above everyone else, right?

Lu Li didn’t reject what Wandering had said, but instead presented an alternative view. One hundred gold split between seven people was just a dozen gold per person.

He displayed some of the things that he was carrying and beckoned at the others to take them.

“And so on…”

Wandering stopped and impatiently snapped at Azure Sea Breeze, “This isn’t equipment that has been acquired as a party, so we can’t just take it. We have to pay for it.”

Of course, internal prices would be a lot lower than what would be found in the Exchange Hall.

The others thought that this was reasonable point so they didn’t object. Lu Li didn’t mind either way, but also agreed. Perhaps this was how a formal team should be conducted.

The equipment was organized into piles, with the first containing equipment dropped by the players in Lu Li’s Profession Upgrade Quest. The next pile was what he had obtained from killing Rennsak. After this, there was pile from killing Imperial Secret Service players and another from the Warsong Canyon…

All in all, there were 19 Steel-grade items.

Upon hearing that they had to pay, none of them retracted their hands. In fact, they had actually become more emboldened to buy the items. Lonesome Flower bought shoes that gave him 3% Movement Speed, which were valued by Wandering at 5 gold. This would be cheaper than buying them in the Exchange Hall, if they could be found there at all.

Lu Li’s Swift Leather Boots were taken by Remnant Dream. The swiftness effect was quite powerful, so Wandering wanted to value them at 20 gold. However, Lu Li always personally looked out for the littler hunter and only took 5 gold for them.

The others also picked up equipment that they were satisfied with.

Although Wandering had always played with random parties, he was quite savvy with equipment and hence, was well-equipped. There weren’t many Main Tank choices and he didn’t find anything that particularly caught his eye.

Sesame Rice Ball’s current equipment was the most common. He had returned the equipment given to him by Seventh Heaven, so what he was currently wearing was publicly available in the Exchange Hall. He managed to find quite a few upgrades from Lu Li’s piles.

Hachi Chan looked through them excitedly for a long time, but didn’t find anything. Her equipment was simply too good already.

The equipment dropped from chain quests was quite similar to what was dropped from Instance Dungeons. As long as the player had a good level of analytical skill and could endure the tedious nature of the quests, they would succeed.

“Oh yeah, there’s also this ring.” Lu Li took out the Wind Ring.

It was Silver-grade and had very strong attributes.

“Dammit, we have to recruit a Shaman. If someone got this, they wouldn’t need friends anymore,” Azure Sea Breeze cried out.

“Speaking of recruitment, we have to talk about something.”

Wandering was shocked by the ring as well, but he was more concerned as to when a new Shaman would join them.