In a frigid apocalypse, I went on a shopping spree with the reborn.

"Ready, three, two, one!"

[Congratulations to Jiang Qingyue of "Jiang Qingyue's Little Nest" for becoming the first person in the Eighth Experimental Zone to upgrade their quantum computer to Level 4. A reward of 20 million Transaction Coins and a special item—the Time Stopper—is hereby given.]

[Congratulations to Long Jiuxing of "Jiang Qingyue's Little Nest" for becoming the first person in the Eighth Experimental Zone to upgrade their quantum computer to Level 4. A reward of 20 million Transaction Coins and the special item—Child of Divine Retribution—is hereby given.]

This result is neither good nor bad.

When Jiang Qingyue received the item, she analyzed it and said, "It seems that this time-stopping device is the real reward for upgrading the quantum computer to level four."

Their exploit of the bug resulted in an extra reward for the God of Eternal Winter.

But this God of Eternal Winter is also stingy. He gave her the trading coins, but he was reluctant to part with the special items. He also played a trick on her and gave her the Child of Divine Punishment.

She had a lucky streak, so the time-stopping device was given to her. Long Jiuxing didn't have any luck bonus and was simply dealt with as a cursed child.

Jiang Qingyue's lips twitched as she took out two more orange orbs from her spatial storage and placed them together with the newly awarded orange orb. All three orange orbs were exactly the same size and were all Chosen Ones of Divine Punishment.

One was what she dug up back then, another was what was in Wang Dawei's spatial backpack after she killed him, plus this one as a reward for this upgrade.

The serial numbers are 8131, 8933, and 8631.

Three Chosen Ones were deployed in the entire Eighth District, and now they're all in her hands.

"No, is that right?"

This made Jiang Qingyue question her life. She was the luckiest person in the world, but she ended up getting three of the most useless special items.

Is this how you use good luck?

Shouldn't we give her the three best special items in the entire Eighth District?

Compared to Jiang Qingyue, Long Jiuxing was quite calm. He thought it was pretty good that the Eternal Winter God would give him 20 million trading coins.

As for luck, she had never had it. She was someone who was not favored by the heavens, and she didn't expect to gain the favor of the Eternal Winter God.

If she had to name a lucky charm, her lucky stars would be Sister Xiaoyue and her son, Zai Zai.

"Sister Xiaoyue, quickly take a look at that time-stopping device."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot." Jiang Qingyue quickly took out the time-stopping device.

[Time Stopper, Special Item, Serial Number 8151.]

[8, from the Eighth Experimental Zone.]

[1. Pause time is 1 second, limited to once per day.]

[5. A total of five were deployed in the entire eighth district.]

[1. You are the first person to receive this.]

"Five!" Jiang Qingyue exclaimed in surprise.

I thought the time stop device was a very high-tech thing, since anything involving time and space is powerful, and I thought it would be quite rare. But it turns out there are five of them, more than the useless Chosen Ones.

The one she received could only pause for one second. As Xiaoyi had mentioned before, the smallest number in the serial number was 1. In other words, among these five time-pausing devices, the one that the Eternal Winter God gave her was the worst one.

"We've been targeted." Jiang Qingyue shook her head. "We've definitely been targeted."

Before she found a loophole to fleece the main god, the items she obtained were basically the best.

Ever since I learned how to exploit bugs, I haven't gotten anything good. Even the reward for upgrading my computer this time was the worst I could get.

Jiang Qingyue even suspected that there was only one Son of Heavenly Punishment left, otherwise this dog god might have replaced the time stopper with the Son of Heavenly Punishment.

"One second?" Long Jiuxing narrowed his eyes. "That's enough."

"Indeed." Jiang Qingyue agreed. At her current speed, one second was enough to shoot three arrows.

If time were to pause for one second, it would be enough for her to shoot down three formidable enemies.

"Use this to maximize your benefits. I'll give it back to you next time you get something." This time, Jiang Qingyue didn't refuse but took the initiative to use it. In the shelter, she was the fastest and could provide remote support to any side. The time stop device could be used to its fullest potential in her hands.

"Will this increase our combat power?" Jiang Qingyue opened the combat power ranking after using the time stopper.

I'm curious if pausing time for one second would allow her combat power to exceed 200,000.

Well, she was overthinking it after all. Her combat power remained at 200,000, unchanged.

"How is that calculated?" she wondered. Even though she could only use time pause once a day, and each time it was only for one second, in that one second, she was invincible.

"Forget it, if I can't figure it out, I won't think about it."

After experiencing all sorts of bizarre hidden missions, Jiang Qingyue no longer regards the Eternal Winter God as a normal person.

The other party isn't even human; it's perfectly normal for them to do inhuman things.

She collected all the trading currency, adding it to her original balance of over 40 million, and became rich overnight.

Indeed, selling myself was the right thing to do; otherwise, how could I have gotten so much money?

Looking at the upgrade requirements for the quantum computer, it costs 100 million to upgrade from level four to level five.

If you want to exploit the bug, two people together would need 200 million transaction coins.

From this perspective, we are still short 160 million.

Jiang Qingyue clicked her tongue, but her newfound wealth and the mindset of a poor person lasted less than two seconds before being brought back to reality.

The shortfall is getting bigger and bigger, it's 160 million!

Even with official cooperation, acquiring that many trading tokens is not an easy task.

As for others, it's even more impossible. People like Liu Yuyao are all focused on upgrading their quantum computers, so there's no way they would spend their trading coins.

She looked at her friends helplessly: "It seems impossible to reach level five anytime soon."

"Let's think of a way to get crystal cores and research the power of ice and snow, and first get our combat power to 300,000."

"From now on, we'll have to go to the trading area every month. Longlong and I will go together, and we'll fill the shelves every time to try and get as many trading coins as possible."

Before shutting down his personal terminal, Jiang Qingyue glanced at the world channel, where countless people were spamming the four words: "Jiang God is awesome."

Huacheng, Yueyue Base.

Zhao Mingyue turned off the personal terminal, her face extremely pale.

They occupied what was originally the headquarters of a large corporation, and the spacious conference room was filled with senior executives from the Yueyue Base.

Among these people were many powerful individuals with combat strength of 100,000, and none of them dared to breathe too loudly. Zhao Mingyue was usually unpredictable, and now that Jiang Qingyue had taken the upgrade reward, she might be driven mad by it.

When this guy goes berserk, he doesn't care whether you're his left or right arm; he'll kill you without hesitation.

No one dared to offer any advice; the last person who dared to step forward had already been devoured by the zombies.

After a long silence, Zhao Mingyue uttered a single word: "Get lost."

"Yes." Everyone stood up instantly, like machines, quickly forming two rows, turning towards the door, and jogging out.

"Bang!"

Before the conference room door was even closed, Zhao Mingyue kicked it, and the entire conference table cracked from top to bottom, eventually collapsing under the weight and shattering on the floor.

She pulled the pendant hanging around her neck out of her clothes. It was a hand-woven necklace with a small crescent moon carved from mahogany on the pendant, resembling a small, curved boat with the character "越" (yue) sitting on it.

The pendant is polished very smoothly and has become shiny due to frequent handling.

"Sister Xiaoyue," Zhao Mingyue murmured softly, her voice filled with barely suppressed pain, "Why is it her again? What has Long Jiuxing done to deserve this?"

"It was the same in my past life, and now I'm doing it again. I've been fast enough, so why is she already by my side so soon?"

……

Overlord Base.

Liu Yuyao stared at the announcement on her personal terminal, frozen in place for a long time.

When Jiang Qingyue sold herself, she knew that this person was going to upgrade his personal computer.

Knowing this was one thing, but when the reward for upgrading the quantum computer was a full 40 million trading coins, plus the appearance of that time-stopping device, she still felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

"Forty million." Chen San was dumbfounded: "Jiang Qingyue has really figured out how to exploit loopholes."

He felt a pang of envy, especially when he thought about how Jiang Qingyue was able to raise enough money for the upgrade, and how their Overlord Base had contributed to that.

"If we had known, we wouldn't have bought her opportunity to make a move."

Liu Yuyao rolled her eyes at him: "Just because we don't buy it doesn't mean others won't buy it either?"

Chen Sanyang was speechless, scratched his head awkwardly, and thought, "That's true, isn't it?"

His eyes darted around, and he approached Liu Yuyao with a fawning smile: "Boss, she's the number one expert. You may not be number one, but you're still near the top of the list, with the same combat power of 200,000. Why don't you sell yourself out too?"

The first kill reward was claimed, but upgrading the quantum computer to level four would grant even greater privileges. Besides, if they failed to secure it this time, what about level five?

To upgrade to a Level 5 quantum computer, you must first upgrade to Level 4. Naturally, the more trading coins you have, the better.

Liu Yuyao delivered an elbow strike.

"Ah~" Chen Sanyang exaggeratedly clutched his chest: "Serving a ruler is indeed like serving a tiger. I was just offering a suggestion, and you actually wanted to kill me, you tyrant."

Liu Yuyao helplessly covered her eyes with her hand: "You're the vice captain, after all. Pay attention to your image."

"You can't put food on the table." Chen Sanyang dragged over the chair next to her. "I'm serious. Although we can't beat Jiang Qingyue individually, we have a lot of strong people in our Overlord Base."

"Now that you have 200,000, it won't be long before all of us vice-captains can reach 200,000. That will make us look very impressive."

"Let's not charge too much. Jiang Qingyue is charging 1.6 million, we'll just charge 1 million."

Liu Yuyao stood up and walked outside, saying to another deputy captain, "Zhang Yuan, explain this to your brother Chen."

Chen Sanyang: "No, boss, what are you explaining? Where are you going?"

Liu Yuyao ignored him.

Chen Sanyang scratched his head, looking awkwardly at Zhang Yuan: "Wait, what does she mean?"

Zhang Yuan was even more helpless than him: "Brother Chen, although the captain and Jiang Shen both have 200,000 combat power, the actual situation cannot be generalized."

"Yeah, I know. We can't compete with them, so we won't charge that much. One million will do. It's not like the boss is doing something for less than a million, is it?"

"It's not a question of whether it's worth it or not," Zhang Yuan said. "First of all, Jiang Shen has already squeezed every last penny out of everyone's pockets."

"Those who can afford more than a million are all captains of major forces. They have a large amount of trading currency, but they also need to use it to upgrade their quantum computers, so they can't possibly take it all out. What they can take out has already gone into Jiang Shen's pocket."

"Secondly, spending money to buy life is like having a trump card to save your life, similar to the essence of a plant doctor. Having one in hand can play a crucial role at critical moments, and that's enough."

"Another point is that people are willing to pay for the opportunity to have Jiang Shen make a move because 'Jiang Qingyue's Little Nest' is a very special existence."

"What's so special about it?" Chen Sanyang understood some of it, but not all of it.

Zhang Yuan sighed helplessly. This kind of person was lucky to have followed Liu Yuyao for a long time; otherwise, he would never have been able to become the vice captain.

"Brother Chen, think about it. Whether it's us or other bases, they almost all have a large number of people, ranging from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands."

"Everyone is in competition for territory, resources, and even population. There are bound to be some friction between the major powers."

"Jiang Qingyue's Little Nest is different. Her team only consists of herself and Long Jiuxing, and she has never taken in anyone else, which shows that she has no ambition to become a powerful figure. You can think of her as a reclusive master."

"She's strong enough that everyone believes she can save herself. She's not ambitious, and while she has good relationships with all the major bases, she doesn't have deep connections with any of them. This makes everyone believe she can remain neutral, fair, and impartial."

"Otherwise, do you think everyone would be so quick to pay?"

"It's all because of trust. Everyone believes that if Jiang Qingyue says something, she will definitely do it."

"But if it were our boss," Zhang Yuan paused, considering for a moment, "our boss is naturally strong enough."

"But our Overlord Base has very tense relations with the Frost Squad I was in before, as well as several surrounding forces. And the relationship between these people and their surrounding bases is even more complicated."

In other words, they dare not gamble.

"For example, would the Snail Base, which has always had a good relationship with the Ice Squad, dare to buy the opportunity for their leader to make a move?"

"He bought them, but what if when the rescue is needed, the boss takes his anger out on the Ice Squad and deliberately doesn't send reinforcements, or deliberately delays their rescue efforts? Wouldn't their money have been wasted?"

"Only someone as strong as Jiang Shen, who has no ties with others, can use his reputation as collateral to quickly obtain a large amount of trading currency from various forces."

"It would be difficult for anyone else to do that."

Upon hearing this, Chen Sanyang felt a chill run down his spine.

He wondered why the boss had been looking at him like he was an idiot.

After all this time, there are so many twists and turns in this whole thing. He thought that as long as someone was strong, they could just issue a bounty and turn themselves into money.

"So, besides Jiang Qingyue, no one else can do this?"

Zhang Yuan thought for a moment: "Actually, there are some."

"Who?"

"Wang Defa, captain of 'The Palace of Emperor Gou'".

"The other person often makes jokes in the world channel, seemingly unreliable, but in reality, they maintain friendly relations with all parties and are the kind of person who doesn't offend anyone, so they are very popular."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that he's never been number one on the leaderboard; he's never fallen behind, and his combat strength is basically on par with the top three powerhouses."

"If he has enough ability and good connections, he can get trading tokens if he's willing to use his reputation as collateral."

"Him?" Chen Sanyang curled his lip. "He's as cowardly as can be. Look at the name he gave his faction; it's a name that suggests he's afraid of death. He probably hides in his shelter every day and doesn't dare to go anywhere. Getting him to go out and do rescues or take risks is simply impossible."

Zhang Yuan smiled but didn't reply.

He felt that Chen Sanyang had underestimated Wang Defa.

Their captain, who possessed Wang Dawei's notebook, was essentially a reincarnated individual. Wang Defa had consistently kept pace with the powerful figures like Liu Yuyao, never falling behind.

From this point of view alone, the other party could not possibly be someone who is afraid of death.

Staying put means either you can become stronger without going out, it's a deliberately faked persona, or you're just simply too lazy to move.

But it's definitely not because of fear of death, as Chen Sanyang said.

Because someone who only knows how to hide in a shelter and wait to die cannot possibly obtain so many crystal cores to accumulate a combat power of 200,000.