In the past few days, Ren Zhong worked tirelessly day and night, always pushing his body and mental state to extreme exhaustion, yet managing to hold on.
His hard work paid off handsomely.
On the eighth day, his daily income from slacking off during the day for hunting and stock trading at night, combined with harvesting Ruined Beasts, was nearly 220 points.
Every day afterward, the income from daytime hunting and nighttime gleaning remained relatively stable.
However, as his initial capital climbed back up from the previous low of 17.78 points, his stock market snowball grew larger and larger.
Ren Zhong no longer limited himself to short-term stock market gains on the top performers of the day, but expanded his range, pursuing absolute profit values instead of the highest margins.
For instance, if he had just 200 on hand and bought stock costing 150 points per share, even doubling would only yield about 150 points in profit.
But if he bought stock costing exactly 200 points per share, an 80% increase would net him nearly 160 points, outperforming the former by 10 points.
Ren Zhong aimed to mobilize all his available funds with every move he made, engaging in full-capacity risk operations.
For him, who had mastered the stock market’s secret to wealth, letting money idle in his pocket was, in a way, a crime.
After five continuous days, Ren Zhong netted a total of 1630 points, with daily expenses costing 70 points, reaching a peak wealth value of 1739.58 points.
This afternoon, after liquidating his recent portfolio, he entered buying spree mode again, heading to the Military Weapon Store, and asked Ju Qingmeng to upgrade his First Level Basic Exoskeleton thoroughly, much as before, with twelve parts replaced or added.
The upgrade cost a whopping 800 points, a typical case of the skin costing more than the hero.
However, Ju Qingmeng not only didn’t profit off him but even provided numerous free materials from her own lab.
She sacrificed at least 100 points.
But, being well-off, she didn’t mind.
Ren Zhong then spent 200 points from his own pocket to purchase a heavy Arc Light Saber.
In total, he spent 1000 points, leaving his balance at 739.58.
Before setting off, Ren Zhong dived into the stock market once more, purchasing two lots of new shares at a total cost of 710.18 points, each share costing 3.55.
He planned to close at 8 p.m. tomorrow after a 37.66% gain, returning 975.19 points, and making a profit of 265.01 points.
His pocket was once again left with only 29.4 points.
He returned to a state of utter poverty.
And due to the heavy costs of upgrading, his earnings from the stock market were suppressed, but he didn’t regret it; the money was well spent.
Now, his armor’s instantaneous maximum power surged back to 310 kW, an extraordinary figure, even surpassing the upper limit of a typical Second Level Exoskeleton.
Considering the progress from combat techniques and accumulated experience, Ren Zhong’s real combat power had exceeded the peak state he had when he assaulted Lin Wang’s manor last time.
His hit list for tonight was filled with names and coordinates.
A total of ten Second Level Ruined Beasts were about to experience the brutality of the world.
At 9:50 p.m., the Thunderbolt Car drove out of the town’s tall gate.
The night passed in silence.
Dragging his exhausted body, Ren Zhong arrived punctually at Starfire Resources square at 7:01 a.m.
"Hi, beautiful. Your milk tea."
Ren Zhong directly headed to the middle of the three platforms.
The person in charge was a plain-looking female staff member with a shapely figure.
He handed over the high-end luxury pearl milk tea, which he had just heated with the car’s microwave, worth 2 Contribution Points.
By now, Ren Zhong had been forced to abandon his bookworm-like focus, becoming a well-versed jack-of-all-trades navigating smoothly among the circles in Starfire Town.
The world, after all, is about human interactions, not fights and slaughters.
The woman across from him rolled her eyes, "Mr. Ren, you just can’t break the habit, always coming early in the morning, can’t you come after 8 p.m. before I get off work? Don’t let people slack off, it’s really annoying. Who needs your milk tea, really?"
Despite her verbal complaints, her body was honest, happily accepting the milk tea and slurping a big sip, letting out an involuntary moan.
Sweet to the point of sadness, intoxicating.
The robotic arms on the platform extended again, quickly unloading various goods from the Thunderbolt Car’s trunk.
Ever since getting the Thunderbolt Car, Ren Zhong no longer wasted corpses.
Some of the lower-level scavengers in the town felt dismayed by the disappearance of such supernatural occurrences.
The good days of picking up free corpses didn’t last long, and the benevolent ghost who killed without burying vanished into thin air.
The other two staff members on the adjacent platforms watched from a distance, showing extreme disdain for the woman holding the milk tea.