Fight the monsters before 8 am

"There are drinks in the freezer above the refrigerator, but that's all there is. If you want a drink, go get it yourself. I'm going to be out for a while and will be back soon."

With one more word, Xing and Yue left the common room.

It is autumn now. Although it is still a bit hot during the day, it becomes cooler at night.

Xing and Yue first returned to their room and put on the coat that Rukia had taken off earlier, then left the second floor and went to the backyard along the iron staircase.

The extremely heavy express box was still in the yard, but Xing and Yue planned to move it up there when they came back.

He opened the gate, left the yard and went outside.

Coming out of the small courtyard is a long and narrow alley. This alley is only for pedestrians and bicycles. It is difficult for tricycles to pass through here, not to mention cars. Even small electric cars are at risk of getting stuck when passing through here.

There were no lights in the alley. Apart from the moon in the sky, the only remaining light source was the light coming through the windows of the residents' homes on both sides of the alley.

Fortunately, the residents nearby have repaved the alley with large old-fashioned slabs of colorful flagstones, creating a smooth road that won't cause people traveling in the dark to stumble.

Xing and Yue closed the gate and walked towards the north.

Although they were all under the same night sky, the alley was too dark, which made it seem bright outside when looking toward the north entrance of the alley.

The house where Xing and Yue live is surrounded by old residential quarters. There are many people here, so it is very lively.

The old city has many bad things. For example, due to the chaotic planning, there are small buildings with storefronts like the one where Xing and Yue live, low-rise buildings of about ten stories that used to be the affiliated residential quarters of a factory, and high-rise buildings that were newly built.

These buildings, which belong to different periods and have distinct characteristics, are like the intricate cables above the streets of the old city, entangled in this area without any planning.

Chapter 6 This is a chess stall, not a place to earn gold

The old town is messy, crowded, and sometimes a bit disorderly.

But because there are so many people living here, it is very lively and has a strong sense of city life, and it is very convenient to live here.

Once you get familiar with the neighbors here, you can experience something called "human touch" in these streets and alleys.

This is also an advantage of the old town.

Coming out of the alley, the view suddenly opens up.

The road outside is still not considered a main road, but it is almost as wide as a main road.

There are stalls on both sides and in the middle of the road, selling all kinds of things. The lights on the stalls are connected together to form three light bands decorating the road.

There are not only many stalls here, but also many passers-by strolling here, either in groups of three or five or alone. They all stroll slowly and even if they don't buy anything, they will linger in front of the various stalls.

Even when restrictions on roadside stalls were most stringent in the past few years, the night market stalls here were not affected much.

Many of the people setting up stalls here are nearby residents, uncles, aunts, or even grandparents.

When the staff come here, there is a high chance that they will run into the neighbors who watched them grow up.

Not to mention the ways of the world, this street is so busy, but the sanitation is surprisingly good. The road is quite clean. Although it is messy, it is not dirty.

And the chaos here depends on who you compare it with. Compared with other night markets, this place is much more orderly.

It is also because of these reasons that the staff turn a blind eye to the night market stalls here.

Xing and Yue were walking on the street, and their destination was not the roadside stalls. Although there were stalls selling clothes, those stalls generally sold outerwear, not underwear.

He walked eastward along the east-west night market street, and when he came to a fork, he continued walking in the north-east direction.

Not long after, he came to another three-way intersection. The road on the east side could be considered a shopping street. There were shops on both sides of the road. There were also people setting up stalls here, but there were far fewer stalls than on the night market street. However, this side was also quite lively.

There is a large shopping mall inside the shopping street that sells underwear.

In addition to comprehensive shopping malls, there are also places in the shopping streets that specialize in selling underwear.

So Xing and Yue thought that buying underwear that Rukia could wear should be a very simple thing.

But soon after, Xing and Yue realized that they had thought things too simply.

It was the first time for him to know that women's underwear came in so many types and sizes. He thought buying underwear for girls was as easy as buying underwear for himself.

Xing and Yue were standing in a women's lingerie store in a large shopping mall, scanning the merchandise hanging on the shelves.

The salesgirl next to them looked at Xing Heyue for a long time and confirmed that he was a handsome boy rather than a heroic girl before she stepped forward to talk to him.

"Hello, sir. Are you buying underwear for someone else? What size is it and do you have any other requirements?" the salesgirl asked politely.

Xing and Yue thought about Rukia's appearance. She looked like a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old. Her figure was about the same as that of a boy.

He told the salesgirl what he had thought.

After listening to Xing and Yue's words, the shopping guide guessed that the boy was buying underwear for his younger sister.

"I prefer bras without underwires, or this kind of children's vest, or this kind of sports vest. All three are made of pure cotton and are quite breathable," the shopping guide recommended.

Xing and Yue took note of the salesgirl's words. Now the type and size were no longer a problem, but a new problem arose.

That is, he doesn't have enough money.

After withdrawing 100 yuan in the afternoon, there were only 103.12 yuan left on the bank card. Then he went to pick up a courier and paid the shipping fee. Now his total net worth is less than 50 yuan.

And the underwear in this store is not less than one hundred yuan.

There is a small sign inside the store that says "All products in this store start from NT$99.9", which means that nothing is priced below NT$.

After saying sorry to the salesgirl, who had been so enthusiastic in introducing the products to them, Xing and Yue left the shopping mall.

There were several lingerie and children's clothing stores on the shopping street, and he wanted to see if there were any cheaper ones.

He felt that no matter how cheap it was, he would not have much money left after buying the underwear, so he decided not to buy food outside and just go back to cook shredded pork noodles for Rukia.

After a while, Xing and Yue came out of the last lingerie store.

"Oh." While sighing, he also scratched his head helplessly.

This young member of the Ultraman tribe once again realized the importance of money in human society.

After thinking for a while, Xingheyue took out his mobile phone and sent a message to his roommate.

Although it is embarrassing to ask roommates to borrow money, it is also a relatively easy way to do it now.

It has been a long time since Xingheyue sent the message, but no one has replied.

"What should we do?" Xing and Yue didn't know what to do.

Maybe I could take my own clothes, alter them a bit, and give them to Rukia.

It saves a lot of money, but you need to learn some cutting and sewing skills.

Before, my roommate was watching a live broadcast in the dormitory. The host was playing a stand-alone game about his working life.

When you have no money in the early stage of the game, you can find an old man to play chess with. As long as you win, you can get a considerable amount of money in the early stage of the game, and you can also win money from this old man every day.

At that time, the roommate who was watching the live broadcast said, how could there really be an old man like this who was obviously giving away money in real life.

Generally, the old men in the park who set up a card table or chess table usually don't play with money. Even if they do, they only play with a few dollars. If they lose too much, they will cheat and then stop playing.

How could there be an old man who would pay the money honestly after losing so much money and then continue to wait for others to kill him the next day?

"Sure enough, such people don't exist." Xing Heyue said. Just like what his roommate said, this old man who sets up a chess stall and gives people money will only appear in the game, providing funds to game players to reduce the difficulty.

Just as he finished speaking, he looked up and found that among the stalls on the roadside, there was an old man setting up a chess stall in front of him.

The chess stall is located under the street light. It is made of several stone slabs with a chessboard on top and a chess endgame on it.

The old man moved a stool and sat next to the chessboard. Behind him, there was a blackboard hanging on the street lamp. On it was written in chalk: "Five yuan per play, win two hundred yuan, draw is loss. Transfer money on the spot, no default, no cheating."

The old man was wearing a white cross-bar vest, black, very loose beach shorts, dark blue slippers, and a large palm-leaf fan in his hand.

Just looking at his outfit, you would think that this old man is no different from an ordinary old man who goes out for a walk.

But looking at the old man's appearance, he had long silver hair and a pair of blue eyes that seemed to glow hidden behind half-moon shaped glasses. Under the glasses was a nose that was longer than that of ordinary people and a little crooked. Under the nose was a thick silver beard, and his mouth was hidden by the beard and could not be seen.

Although they couldn't see the mouth, Xing and Yue felt that the old man was smiling. This was probably because his eyes were more lively than those of ordinary elderly people.

Such an old man and such a chess stall, squeezed together with other stalls on this street, seem very out of place.

Xing and Yue suddenly felt something strange. Such a very abrupt stall, and it was right under a street light. It should have been very conspicuous, but they had just walked from the beginning to the end of this street without noticing this stall.

But Xing and Yue just felt strange. They guessed that they had ignored the stall because they were thinking about other things and didn't think too much about it.

Just then, the old man who was setting up the chess stall smiled and waved in the direction of Xing and Yue.

Xing and Yue looked around and found that, except for themselves, no one else was standing in the direction the old man was looking, and no one was even looking in the direction the old man was looking.

"Old man, are you calling me?" Xing Heyue pointed at themselves.

The old man who was running the chess stall nodded and said, "I see you've been lingering in front of my stall for a while. You want to play a game, right? Come over here."

Xing and Yue came to the stall. There was an empty stool opposite the old man. He didn't notice the stool when he was looking at the stall just now.

Xing Heyue thought to herself, am I really so absent-minded today?

"Let's play the next game. I've been sitting here for a long time and no one has come. One game is only five dollars. If you win, you can get two hundred dollars. It's a lot of money." The old man reached out and patted the blackboard behind him.

If you don't look at the old man's clothes, he looks like a hermit. But the grimacing expression on his face and the slick voice completely shattered that image.

Xing Heyue swallowed and sat down on the stool. They really needed the money.

"Are you interested?" The old man winked at Xing and Yue, "But before that..."

The old man reached his hand into his thick silver-white beard and pulled out a badge with a blue rope. There was a QR code with a blue border on the front and a QR code with a green border on the back.

"Pay the five dollar entrance fee first."

Xing Heyue took out his mobile phone, scanned the QR code, and transferred five yuan to the old man.

"Okay, I got the money," the old man stuffed the badge back into his beard, "Do you want to play the game I set up, or start a new one?"

"It's all fine. It depends on what you think, old man." Xing Heyue said.

He knew how to play chess but had never played it.

Even the gameplay was taught to him by his roommate when he watched a live broadcast of that single-player game.

However, he also has his own advantages. As a member of the Ultra clan, his computing ability far exceeds that of humans.

"Let's start a new game. I've been waiting for you for a long time, so you have to play well. Also, don't call me old sir, you can call me grandpa, old man or uncle." said the old man, and then he began to rearrange the chessboard.

Seeing Xing and Yue staring blankly, the old man said bluntly, "Don't stare blankly, move together."

After hearing what the old man said, Xing and Yue quickly set up the chessboard.

Seeing Xing and Yue fumbling around with the chessboard, the old man asked in confusion, "Young man, do you know how to play chess? Are you here to give me money?"

"A little bit..." Xing Heyue said while scratching his head, but he didn't look confident.

The chessboard was rearranged, and the old man sat with his arms and legs spread out, looking ready to play a good game.

He took the red piece first, slammed it hard on the board, and shouted, "Head cannon!"

The old man's aura was really scary. In comparison, Xingheyue was not so confident. He picked up a chess piece, placed it gently on the board, and made a move.

The old man and the young boy started playing chess on the street, but no one around them seemed to notice them.

Soon, the game was over.

"I...I won?" Xing and Yue looked up at the old man.

"You won, why are you still asking questions?" The old man said with a glare and a look of dissatisfaction. "Okay, kid, you are playing dumb, right? Play another round with me, an old man."

"Why not just forget it?" Xing Heyue didn't intend to get rich from this, he just wanted to get some emergency money.

And using his calculation ability to play chess feels a bit like bullying the old man.

"Are you afraid that I won't pay you?"

As he spoke, the old man took out his mobile phone and found the message in the app that Xing Heyue had just transferred money to him. He clicked on Xing Heyue's account and transferred one hundred and ninety-five yuan to him.

"I only transferred one hundred and ninety-five dollars to you. The five dollars for the ticket has already been deducted. Hurry and kill another round."

The old man put down his phone and started setting up the chessboard again, not giving Xing and Yue any chance to refuse.

Next, Xing and Yue were forced by the old man to play two games in a row. As expected, the old man lost both times.

The old man kept his promise and transferred money to Xingheyue every time he lost a game.

But Xing and Yue did not take the subsequent two payments from the old man. He only took the first 195 yuan for emergency use.

"Take all the money! There's a saying here called 'admit defeat if you gamble'. Now that I've put up this sign, I will definitely not go back on my word, otherwise it would just destroy my reputation." Although the old man looked like he was furious with defeat, he still said it generously.

I don't know if this is the truth or just an exaggeration.

"Grandpa, let me tell you the truth. When I sat down to play chess with you, I was already sure I could beat you. I accepted the first transfer because I really needed the money, but I would have felt bad if I had accepted the rest." Xing Heyue said, the expression on his face like a child who felt guilty for doing something bad.

It's not wrong to say that his mentality is pretentious, but he really thinks so in his heart. It's enough for him to win the old man in chess for the first time and win back some emergency money. Continuing to win the old man will make him feel like he is deliberately bullying others. After all, he is an alien, and this game was unfair from the beginning.