The haunted house auction came to a close.
Just as Yuan Guang and Shi Qian were hanging their heads in dismay, they heard an unbelievable number: “The starting bid for this property is 300,000.”
The two suddenly looked up at the auction stage. Bai Liu and his group, upon hearing this price, also looked over with interest.
The auctioneer, flipping through the catalog with his head down, read the description without a trace of emotion: “—This is a 2.45-square-meter custom-built house on the 18th floor. It is located on the outskirts of Sunshine City and is one of the supporting facilities for District E. After allocating the shared public area, the actual usable area is about 2 square meters. It has no toilet or kitchen, no access to water, electricity, gas, or the internet, and no hospitals, supermarkets, or transportation stations nearby. It is suitable for one person to live in.”
“The previous mortgage slave died suddenly at his workstation, so it has been repossessed for auction.”
The auctioneer raised his head, his tone indifferent: “Starting bid is 300,000—”
Yuan Guang nervously held up a placard showing 310,000, looking around to see if anyone would fight him for it. But unexpectedly, very few people raised their placards for such a cheap house, a stark contrast to the earlier scenes of people almost coming to blows over properties. Moreover, even the few who did raise their placards had obvious fear and hesitation written on their faces:
“305,000.”
“306,000…”
“Three hundred and… Sorry, I’m not bidding anymore. Just pretend I didn’t say anything, sorry.”
Yuan Guang and Shi Qian exchanged a confused look. After confirming that they would very likely win the bid for this house, they began to discuss in low voices:
“Why isn’t anyone bidding on this one? It’s so cheap, only 300,000.”
“Is it because it’s too small and doesn’t have water, electricity, or gas, so it’s really unlivable?”
“That can’t be it. Earlier there was a District B house that was only slightly bigger than this, 3 square meters, a basement, and also didn’t have electricity or gas. The starting bid was 470,000, and people went crazy fighting over it.”
“Is the location too bad?”
“They’re all here to bid on haunted houses. I don’t feel like they’re the type to care about location…”
The more Shi Qian looked, the more she felt something was wrong: “I feel like they’re afraid of this house.”
Yuan Guang became even more confused: “These people are all here bidding on haunted houses. What kind of house could possibly make them afraid?”
Yuan Guang and Shi Qian tried to ask the people around them what exactly was wrong with this house, but these people were all tight-lipped and refused to go into detail. Only the person who had spoken to them earlier kindly advised them: “Don’t bid. Living in this house will really get you killed.”
“Which house here doesn’t get you killed if you live in it?” Shi Qian asked in genuine confusion.
The person waved his hand, looked around, and leaned close to Shi Qian’s ear to whisper: “Living in a haunted house might get you killed, but living in this house will definitely get you killed. Don’t bid!”
But if they didn’t bid…
Yuan Guang hesitated for a moment. Then they wouldn’t have won a single bid today. Just as the two were considering it, a deep male voice came from behind them:
“320,000.”
Yuan Guang and Shi Qian subconsciously turned their heads. When they saw that the person holding the placard was the tall and burly Tang Erda, they instantly gasped, shrank their heads, turned around, and swiftly dove into the crowd. They used their sun-protection cloths to doubly conceal themselves, not daring to even breathe heavily.
“Are we still bidding, Shi Qian?” Yuan Guang asked softly.
“Bid my ass! Bai Liu’s team is here. If we win the bid, they’ll definitely see us!” Shi Qian said in frustration. “We can only let them have this house for now.”
The auctioneer, as if afraid Tang Erda would regret it, quickly slammed the gavel to seal the deal: “Please come up, sir, to claim this house valued at 320,000!”
Tang Erda stepped forward with a tense expression. With a cold face, he swiped the recruiter’s ID card to pay the 320,000, then quickly took the property deed and left with Bai Liu and his group. Looking from behind, there was a faint sense of the hurried panic and unnaturalness of someone being a thief for the first time.
Yuan Guang, hiding in the crowd, exchanged a knowing look with Shi Qian and asked quietly, “Where do you think their money came from?”
“If I’m guessing correctly…” Before Shi Qian could finish her sentence, the auctioneer had already let out a scream, pointing in the direction Tang Erda had left: “Patrol squad! Quickly catch the person who just swiped the card! He stole someone else’s card!”
Yuan Guang and Shi Qian: “…”
Ah, just as expected.
“Good thing we directly forced those recruiters to write checks…” Yuan Guang patted his chest in lingering fear. “That was close, so close. Otherwise, we would’ve been caught too.”
Shi Qian gazed in the direction Bai Liu had left, slowly frowning: “What exactly is going on with that 320,000 house in District E?”
District E.
Bai Liu and his group cleanly shook off the pursuing patrol squad after a few turns and headed straight for the address written on the District E property deed.
“…Street 18, Road 444…” Mu Sicheng complained as he read the address on the deed. “Isn’t this road number too unlucky? No wonder it’s so cheap.”
Liu Jiayi gave Mu Sicheng a look. “I don’t think things like whether a road number is lucky or not would affect the housing prices in Sunshine City.”
“The people here probably don’t care about that kind of thing anymore,” Tang Erda said solemnly, surveying the surroundings. “As long as they can survive, they’d probably be willing to live anywhere.”
Mu Ke frowned and asked, “But they’d rather live in haunted houses than live here. For such a cheap house, there were fewer than five people holding up placards just now. Why?”
Bai Liu, however, was unhurried. “We’ll know when we get there.”
Compared to the city center, which was poured from reinforced concrete, District E was in a remote location on the outskirts of the city. The roads were potholed and filled with mud after the rain. The recreational facilities in the residential area, like the elliptical machines and slides, were either rusted or collapsed, unmaintained just like the roads.
Although the buildings in the residential area were also high-rises, a quick glance showed that the walls were very old. Paint, putty, and tiles had peeled off to varying degrees, and some were even covered in green creeping vines. It was obvious that these were old buildings with some history.
A pervasive scent of senility and decay hung over the entirety of District E.
The people living in these old buildings were mostly quite old as well. Those sticking their heads out of the windows to hang out clothes were grandpas and grandmas with full heads of white hair, showing every sign of old age, with obvious sickly complexions. The clothes they hung out were mostly work uniforms washed until they were faded and white, with more or less a few patches sewn on.
The buildings were built very similarly, without any landmark structures. Even the style of each apartment and the clothes hanging on the balconies were mostly the same. Soon, Mu Sicheng was completely turned around: “Why does everything look the same here? How do we get to Road 444?”
“Let’s ask for directions,” Tang Erda said, holding the property deed and looking around. He spotted an elderly couple slowly stepping down from an elliptical machine, supporting each other. “Hello, could you tell me how to get to Road 444 in District E?”
Hearing Tang Erda asking for directions, the elderly couple looked up at him. When he clearly saw the faces of the two elders, Tang Erda’s gaze paused for a moment.
The elderly man and woman had cloudy, dead-gray eyes. From the edges of their lips to the soft bridges of their noses, they were covered in dense age spots that looked like small bugs. Every breath they took carried the stench of rotting organs. A yellowish-green, reddish blood-pus flowed from their ears and nasal cavities, dripping onto the ground drop by drop and disappearing, absorbed by the soil.
These two elders had aged to the absolute extreme of the adjective “old” that a normal person could imagine, even making people feel as if they were… two moving corpses.
“Are you…” Tang Erda glanced at the elliptical machine.
The old grandpa answered shakily, “I’m sick, I was just exercising with my wife.”
“Since you’re sick, old man, you should rest well,” Tang Erda reached out and firmly supported the couple, frowning as he asked, “Where are your children?”
The old grandma next to him shook her head, “We can’t rest, we still have to go to work.”
“Work?!” Mu Sicheng helped support the old grandma, asking in utter disbelief, “Grandma, you’re at such an advanced age, and you still have to work?”
The old grandma gave Mu Sicheng a strange look. “Yes, if we don’t work, we don’t get paid.”
The old man next to her nodded in strong agreement. “My wife and I still have to pay our mortgage.”
For a moment, everyone fell silent. Only Bai Liu slowly stepped forward to take over, supporting the old man from Tang Erda’s hands. “How many years did you take out a loan for?”
With a trembling hand, the old man held up seven fingers. “My wife and I took it out together, a seventy-year loan. I started working when I was fifteen, and now I only have ten years left before the loan is paid off.”
“We must exercise well so we can continue working and continue paying off the loan,” the old man patted Bai Liu’s supporting hand as if educating a young person. “Don’t avoid work just because you’re sick. That’s wrong. You see, I’ve worked hard for sixty years, and I’ll finally have my own house soon.”
The old grandma sighed, “It’s a pity that there’s nothing left in District E now. In the early years, when District E was full of young people, it was also prosperous and had high housing prices like District A. Unfortunately, now only old things like us live here.”
“We’re old, our energy isn’t what it used to be. We can’t work seven or eight jobs a day like when we were young, so we can’t earn much money. High-consumption places like hospitals and schools couldn’t stay open and moved away a few years ago. In recent years, there aren’t even many restaurants left around here,” the old grandpa shook his head.
“Places like hospitals and schools also move away?” Mu Sicheng asked in astonishment. “Renting isn’t allowed here, so they must have bought the storefronts to run the hospitals and schools, right? How could they move?”
The old man nodded. “If they can’t keep operating, of course they have to move. Although these people running hospitals and schools charge very high fees, it’s not that we can’t understand. The mortgages for buying storefronts to do business are very, very high. The people in the hospitals and schools also have a hard time. Out of fifty dollars they earn, forty-eight has to go towards paying the mortgage.”
“It’s the same for restaurants. For a dish that costs seventy dollars, sixty-five goes towards paying the mortgage. Doing business is hard, so hard,” the old grandma shook her head in agreement. “Everyone is just earning a little hard-earned money. If they really can’t keep going and can’t pay the mortgage, they can only die. After they die, the real estate is repossessed. Isn’t that the same as moving away?”
Mu Sicheng opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately couldn’t utter a word.
The old man quickly perked up again. “But although the supporting facilities in District E aren’t very good right now, there is one very good thing about the houses in District E.”
A smile of relief also appeared on the old grandma’s face. “Fortunately, we bought early, otherwise we would have to be ‘gnawing on the young’ now.”
The old man also nodded solemnly and commented with utter disdain, his beard trembling with anger on both sides: “Yes, this current batch of young people, they do nothing, yet they want to live well and want good houses. They don’t fight or strive, they only know how to ‘gnaw’ on the next generation. It’s truly despicable!”
“What does ‘gnawing on the young’ mean?” Mu Sicheng was a bit dizzy from listening. “What next generation?”
The old man glanced at this young person who knew nothing and explained good-naturedly, “It’s the property rights term.”
“Houses in District E were bought early, so the property rights term was given for a hundred years, which means you can live in this house for almost a hundred years. So we were able to get a loan for seventy years. But now the real estate developers are unwilling to give such long property rights terms.”
“Yes,” the old grandma nodded. “I remember it’s only a 20-year property rights term now. After 20 years, the developer will repossess it, so the loan must be paid off within 20 years. Spread over the monthly mortgage, it’s very high. Many young people simply can’t afford it without ‘gnawing on the young’.”
Tang Erda frowned as he listened. “What is ‘gnawing on the young’?”
He had only heard of “gnawing on the old” (relying on one’s parents), never “gnawing on the young.”
The old man looked at this group of young people who knew nothing, hesitated for a moment, and finally spoke, “It means taking an advance on the future, making your future children help you pay off the loan. It’s a new mortgage repayment model developed by the Five Great Developers.”
“If you’re interested, a new real estate project opened in District C today. You can go there and ask.”
The new real estate project in District C.
As soon as the magnificent real estate sales center landed three days ago, countless people came to inquire. Now that it was finally open, a crowd of people swarmed in madly, like starving men who hadn’t eaten in over ten days smelling a grand feast.
Fierce-looking patrol squads, armed with firearms, high-voltage stun batons, and steel pitchforks, stood on both sides of the entrance to maintain order.
Yuan Guang and Shi Qian were completely swept in by the surging crowd. After getting inside, they were squeezed so hard their heads spun for a few seconds before they finally came to their senses.
There were simply too many people at the new project, far exceeding Yuan Guang and Shi Qian’s expectations. They had originally just heard the news and planned to come and take a look. After all, the prices of the new project were too terrifying; they simply couldn’t afford it with only the sixty million they had gathered.
However… compared to auctioning haunted houses one by one, where they might not even win every property in a building, buying a new project should be the most steady, accurate, and ruthless way to clear this game.
Originally, Yuan Guang and Shi Qian thought that for such an expensive new project, not many people would come to see it because they simply couldn’t afford it. As a result, when they arrived, a long line had already formed at the entrance of the sales center before it even opened.
The people in line were a mixed bag. There were well-dressed individuals who clearly looked like upper-class first-class citizens, there were sallow-faced, tottering mortgage slaves, and there were also temporary residents wearing little clothing with resumes hung around their necks.
This extremely mixed demographic made Yuan Guang and the others even more confused.
First-class citizens had already bought houses, why were they buying more? Weren’t mortgage slaves currently paying off loans, why were they coming to a new project? Could they afford it? Temporary residents had no ability to pay loans and couldn’t even scrape together a down payment, why were they coming to look?
Before they could recover their senses after being swept in by the crowd, an enthusiastic real estate salesperson helped them up, asking politely with a beaming smile, “Hello, are you here to buy a house?”
Yuan Guang was almost flattered when he was helped up. “Y-Yes.”
The NPCs related to real estate here were all incredibly arrogant and haughty. If they saw your clothes and decided you couldn’t afford the cost of buying a house, they would look down their noses at you and wave you away impatiently like shooing away a fly. Yuan Guang thought the sales NPCs at the sales office would be even more snobbish, and he didn’t expect the attitude to be this good.
“The real estate market hasn’t officially opened today. Would you like to look at the sectors and locations first? I am Salesperson Xiaodong, number 1534 in District C. You can ask me anything,” Xiaodong smiled sweetly, her hands moving swiftly to help Shi Qian and Yuan Guang sit down. “What kind of beverage or tea would you like to drink?”
Yuan Guang asked warily, “Cola, do you have that?”
Shi Qian: “Chrysanthemum tea is fine, thank you.”
Xiaodong smiled and nodded, touching the microphone by her ear. “Please prepare a cola and a chrysanthemum tea for me. Okay, I’ll go get it for you, please wait a moment.”
Watching Xiaodong’s retreating back, Shi Qian and Yuan Guang quickly surveyed the surroundings. They noticed that all the salespeople were extremely enthusiastic towards homeowners, mortgage slaves, and temporary residents alike, as if they were all potential customers and everyone could afford to buy a house.
Shi Qian said calmly, “Being this enthusiastic, there must be a catch when things are this abnormal. We’ll ask in detail later.”
Yuan Guang nodded heavily.
Xiaodong quickly returned with a tray. She handed the cola and chrysanthemum tea to Shi Qian and Yuan Guang respectively, opened the map of the real estate project, and introduced it to them: “What style of house are you looking for this time?”
“We have small units here, 12-16 square meters, which are very suitable for a family. After deducting the shared area, you still have over 11 square meters left. It’s the choice for many families of three.”
“Of course, if you have the need to raise more children, units like 20-25 square meters are also highly recommended. Even after taking off the shared area, you still have 20+ square meters, which is fully capable of housing three to four siblings.”
“For example, with this unit layout, when doing renovations, you can design it to nest two folding beds and a hidden bed. Also, this large bookcase blocking the front of the parents’ and children’s beds means you can only see each other’s feet, not each other’s heads. There’s privacy between each other.”
At this point, Xiaodong revealed a slightly teasing smile. “And this way, it won’t affect your marital life.”
Yuan Guang and Shi Qian stared blankly at the small 20-something square meter house. With just a large bookcase forcefully stuffed between the parents and the children, and still being able to see each other’s feet, engaging in marital life under these circumstances…
Moreover, there was a man and woman looking at this exact layout next to Yuan Guang and Shi Qian. Hearing this, they nodded in strong agreement. “Yes, this way we have much more privacy. Our previous unit was 12 square meters. The three kids could only sit on the floor and watch us get under the covers. Both my wife and I couldn’t quite take it.”
Hearing this, Shi Qian, who was drinking water nearby, almost spat it out.
Bro, if three kids are watching you, and you can still do it with your wife, do you have some serious mental illness?!
The salesperson, however, had her eyes light up upon hearing this. “Your family has three children?”
The man nodded slightly reservedly. “Yes, we came this time precisely because of the children…”
The salesperson’s smile became even more affable. “Since you have three children, you can consider this large 28-square-meter unit…”
As the two groups chatted, they walked further away. Shi Qian looked around with a hint of doubt, and finally discovered what was wrong—
—Most of the people coming to buy houses were men and women, and many brought several children with them. It was rare to see one or two children. And the focus of most of the salespeople’s introductions to the layouts was also on being able to house children.
It was a bit… strange.
In Sunshine City, Shi Qian asked herself honestly, she definitely wouldn’t be willing to get married and have children. But the willingness to have children here was quite high, which could be seen from the most popular layouts—most people asked for units around 25 square meters that could house three children right off the bat.
After Xiaodong introduced all the layouts, her gaze swept back and forth between Yuan Guang and Shi Qian. “Are you two not planning to get married and have children yet?”
Yuan Guang and Shi Qian were both taken aback. They had been colleagues for many years. In reality, because they were overworked corporate slaves, and had encountered the unfinished building and the game incidents, they had long seen through the material world and had no such worldly desires toward the opposite sex.
No matter how good their relationship was, if their feelings changed, it would just be jumping from friends to family. Because they had never considered this question, being suddenly asked this left them a bit bewildered.
Just as Yuan Guang was about to say no, Shi Qian quickly covered his mouth to stop him. She had already realized that the problem lay with the children, so she looked up at the salesperson, pretending to be shy: “…We are. I plan to give him three children.”
Next to her, Yuan Guang, who had just finished a whole can of cola, widened his eyes and let out a long burp in absolute terror.
Xiaodong understood immediately. “Since you two plan to have children, then let me introduce to you a brand new loan service launched by our Sunshine City Real Estate to facilitate buying a house—the Sunshine Seedling Loan.”
Shi Qian withdrew her hand, focusing her attention to press further. “What kind of loan is this?”
“Many people living in Sunshine City can’t earn enough for a down payment on a house in their entire lifetime. For example, for this 25-square-meter unit, based on the current average price of 320,000 per square meter, it would cost eight million. The Sunshine Seedling Loan requires a minimum down payment of 50%, which is four million. The remaining balance must be paid off over twenty years. Excluding interest, the monthly payment would be sixteen thousand, which most families can afford, allowing them to buy a house.”
Shi Qian couldn’t help but retort, “How can a loan not have interest?”
Xiaodong smiled. “The Sunshine Seedling Loan promoted by our company does not require interest from you two.”
Yuan Guang shook his head. “Even without interest, it won’t work. A four million down payment is too high. How many people can afford that?”
“This is the brilliance of the Sunshine Loan,” Xiaodong’s enthusiastic smile deepened. “The Sunshine Seedling Loan offers a service that accepts an advance mortgage loan using children.”
Yuan Guang didn’t react for a moment. “What kind of mortgage loan?”
“Children,” Xiaodong repeated with perfect articulation. She brought out a contract and introduced it with a smile, “It works like this: assuming you can only pay a one million down payment, for the remaining three million, you can have your children sign a labor contract with our real estate company, letting them use their future labor as a mortgage. For example, if you have three children, each of them only needs to mortgage one million in salary.”
Yuan Guang looked down at the labor contract Xiaodong handed him:
[…Party A promises that when their offspring reach the age of sixteen and possess the capacity to work, they will enter Party B’s company to work twelve hours a day. Party B promises to pay a monthly salary of 4,500 (average wage level), while deducting 80% every month to repay Party A’s offspring’s mortgage, until Party A’s offspring has paid off Party A’s mortgaged debt.]
A chill ran down Yuan Guang’s spine. He slowly raised his head, his mind dizzy for a moment. “Eighty percent of the salary is deducted to repay the loan, and they still have to work twelve hours a day with no rest time. How is this child supposed to live?”
“That’s not a problem you need to worry about,” Xiaodong said with a faint, unconcerned smile. “Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. As parents, don’t you give birth to them just so they can help you pay for your house and let you enjoy life?”
“Besides, if you’re worried your child will have a tiring life, they can just have children of their own in the future to enjoy life as well.”
