Chapter 21: Investment—False Savings and Real Investment

The third NPC Tang Danqing encountered came leaping down from a beam in the ruined building.

She clutched a sharpened dagger, its blade flashing coldly as she dove straight at Tang Danqing.

If anyone else had taken that blow, the dagger would have gone through their skull. They might not have survived.

Fortunately, Tang Danqing rolled into a Tiger-Tail Sweep Kick and turned the tables at once.

Her kick slammed into the NPC’s back, sending her crashing to the ground in a fit of coughing. She was just trying to get up when the crisp click of a gun’s safety rang out. A dark muzzle appeared in front of her face.

The NPC froze, both hands planted on the ground.

“…”

“Don’t move if you don’t want to die,” Tang Danqing warned.

An angry symbol appeared over the NPC’s tousled black hair.

Her mouth was a little upside-down triangle—“^”—and she glared at Tang Danqing in obvious displeasure.

Her right cheek was swollen and marked with a red scrape. In the sudden quiet, Tang Danqing heard a fire crackling somewhere among the ruins.

No wonder it was a little warmer in here. This must have been the NPC’s shelter.

Oops. I’ve barged into her home.

Tang Danqing explained, “I was just looking around to see if anyone nearby was still alive.”

“Everyone’s dead!” the NPC snapped.

“…You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

She glared at Tang Danqing with a nasty scowl. “You’re about to shoot me. Then everyone really will be dead!”

A little angry symbol appeared over the small black fist she clenched.

What a little firecracker.

Tang Danqing glanced at the AK in her hand. “I’m not here to wipe everyone out. This is just for self-defense. If you don’t attack me, I won’t shoot.”

The air fell silent for two seconds before Tang Danqing asked, “What’s your name?”

The little firecracker NPC was still full of fight. “What good will knowing my name do you? My dad, my mom, my grandma, my grandpa, and my sister are all dead. If you’re looking for my family to get revenge, you won’t find them!”

Tang Danqing furrowed her brow.

“…”

“Why am I even wasting my breath on you?” the little firecracker snapped at herself. “What a waste of saliva. I’m going to die anyway!”

She wasn’t cute at all.

Tang Danqing had barely barked, “Your name!” when the NPC promptly passed out, sprawled on the ground with her head lolling to one side. Her eyes had turned into X’s, and the tip of her tongue stuck out.

Little Firecracker: 【XoX】

She had a fever, likely from an old wound the size of a fist on her abdomen that had become infected. Tang Danqing discovered this only after realizing how hard it was to find anyone and swallowing her irritation long enough to carry the NPC over to the fire and examine her.

Some discarded furniture beside the fire concealed a stash of food. No wonder the NPC had been so wary of intruders.

After a moment’s hesitation, Tang Danqing gave her some medicine and water. She left the antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medication, and fever reducers she’d bought in the NPC’s inventory, along with tweezers, a small knife, alcohol, iodine solution, gauze, and other basic supplies for cleaning and dressing a wound. She placed everything beside the food, then left a bucket of clean bottled water as well.

Unfortunately, Tang Danqing was nearly out of time before logging off and couldn’t wait for the NPC to wake up. So she left a note.

【My name is Shan Qing.】

As soon as she put the note down, her quest progress reached “3/3.” Just like that, she and the NPC had made their acquaintance—one-sidedly, at least.

Tang Danqing left without hesitation.

The carefree days never lasted long.

The first scene of the film was being shot at the city’s film studio, and it was a night shoot. Tang Danqing was in it.

She’d adjusted her sleep schedule and gotten enough rest, but by the time night came, she was keeping herself going with coffee.

After filming a fight scene on a rooftop, she was free while the crew shot someone else’s scene. She stepped outside for a break, letting the cool three-in-the-morning breeze wash over her.

Huddled in her wool coat, Tang Danqing wandered around the film studio and spotted a friend shooting on another set.

She watched a bit of the production. It was over-the-top and fun. When her friend came out for a break and saw her, the two walked along together, commiserating.

“Your crew is pulling all-nighters too? Great! Knowing I have a friend suffering alongside me makes me feel so much better. Brr—” Her friend sucked in a breath as the icy wind hit them head-on, then hurriedly flipped up the collar of her coat.

“It wouldn’t have been so bad working nights here last February, but this year it’s freezing. Why hasn’t it warmed up yet? It’s cold enough to kill you at night!”

“Just keep moving and you won’t be cold,” Tang Danqing said. “You looked pretty fired up while you were filming.”

“Don’t say another word. If we weren’t shooting nights, I’d be at home under a warm blanket with the air conditioner on.”

“Why is it still so cold lately…” her friend grumbled. “When is it finally going to warm up?”

Tang Danqing took a sip of coffee and murmured, “This isn’t even that cold…”

The temperatures in Extreme Cold Apocalypse were the kind that could freeze the world solid. After experiencing those, Tang Danqing found winter back here almost pleasant.

At least it wasn’t that bad.

“Not everyone’s like you. I’m not in as good shape.” Her friend glanced toward a brightly lit vehicle and suddenly lit up. “Danqing, is that your crew’s catering truck?”

Tang Danqing followed her gaze.

Technically, it belonged to Executive Producer Feng Shiyi, and she’d provided it for Tang Danqing’s film crew. A red banner bearing the film’s title hung from it.

The truck was spacious, with hot drinks, snacks, seats, and air conditioning. Any member of the film’s cast or crew could drop by to rest and grab something to eat between shifts. It was one of Feng Shiyi’s work perks for the crew.

“Yeah. It’s the executive producer’s.”

Her friend clicked her tongue. “Your crew is loaded. Film crews have it so good. Having a big shot offer perks like that must be nice. We’re not so lucky shooting these little web dramas. Forget it—we’re all workhorses, filming late into the night to meet deadlines and cut costs…” She clenched her teeth. “The boss won’t even buy us milk tea!”

Tang Danqing laughed. “I’ll buy you some, then. What do you want?”

“No, I was joking. I’m trying to stay in shape so I can land a proper TV series someday. Wait, why did you buy coffee outside? Why not get some for free from your crew’s truck?”

Her friend glanced at the coffee cup in Tang Danqing’s hand, then finally caught on.

Tang Danqing picked out two words to answer her. “Not going.”

She shouldn’t go to Feng Shiyi’s catering truck. She and Feng Shiyi both understood that without having to say it.

Her friend, who didn’t know the story, looked heartbroken. “That coffee must’ve cost at least thirty yuan. If you’d had a free one, you could’ve saved thirty! And why didn’t you go to that banquet I told you about last time? You could’ve made money just by showing up for a meal!”

It had been a great opportunity. An actress at Tang Danqing’s level could have attended a wealthy family’s son’s school banquet, made an appearance, and earned 400,000 yuan. It was the sort of job that paid a fortune for almost no work, and her friend had told her about it right away.

It had only been a week ago. Tang Danqing thought back and said, “Sorry. I didn’t feel like going at the time, so I went home to rest.”

“What do you do at home all day? You’re such a homebody. You should take more outside gigs. That’s how you make more money.”

“I wanted to rest. I played a game for a while.”

“What kind of game is so fun?” Her friend couldn’t understand. How could playing a game possibly beat the easy 400,000 yuan she could’ve made just by showing up?

She insisted on getting to the bottom of it. By the time she found out Tang Danqing had spent 1.7 million yuan on a full-dive gaming pod and another 300,000 topping up her game account, she was convinced Tang Danqing had lost her mind.

“It’s a building game,” Tang Danqing said. “But it’s fully immersive, so it’s really relaxing. I think playing it is good for my mental health.”

“No, now that I’ve heard that, I don’t think my mental health is doing so well.” Her friend shook her head repeatedly and took a deep breath. “Tang Danqing, I’m genuinely worried about you. It’s one thing for someone like me, who does mostly dialogue scenes, but you’re filming action movies all the time. Your body is your livelihood, and you only get to be young once. If you don’t make as much money as you can now, what are you going to do later? You can’t keep doing high-intensity stunts at forty or fifty. When you get fewer roles and your popularity drops, you won’t be able to command those appearance fees. Don’t act like making money is easy. When you get a chance…”

Her friend kept chattering on, so Tang Danqing patiently told her, “Don’t worry. I have plenty of money. Enough to retire on.”

Her friend wasn’t just worried. She was so worried about Tang Danqing she was practically dizzy.

“Three hundred thousand could buy a lot of real things. If you’d bought gold with it last year, it’d be worth six hundred thousand now. Gold’s a safe investment, too. If something goes wrong, it holds its value. That’s still better than wasting money on data in some imaginary game, isn’t it?”

“But playing the game makes me happy.”

“Trust me, spending 300,000 yuan on anything would make you happy. In the future, spend it on something more useful. Like that catering truck your crew has…”

“With 300,000 yuan, you could rent one for years and show off on set.”

Oh. I see.

But Tang Danqing immediately thought of the nearly perfect snow vehicle she’d bought in the hyper-realistic game. She’d driven it herself and felt as if she were right there on the road—and the whole thing had only cost her 20,000 yuan.

“Actually, playing games is pretty cheap,” she couldn’t help saying.

“Honestly, I know you’ve made a lot over the past few years, Sister Danqing, but you really should think about the future. I was so worried when I heard you’d been injured last time. Wait…you really hurt your back and not your brain, right?” After Tang Danqing smacked the back of her head, her friend covered her mouth and waggled her eyebrows. “Hey, I’m just telling you the truth, even if it’s hard to hear. Your Majesty, you must save diligently and not waste your time on virtual games!”

“With salary caps and higher taxes, and then the pandemic shut everything down for a year two years ago—no work, no income. Nobody knows what kind of money people in our line of work will be able to make in the future. You need savings. You need them to protect yourself from unexpected setbacks…”

Tang Danqing wasn’t really listening. “Mm-hm…yeah…”

She gazed up at the pitch-black sky, wondering what the NPCs at home were doing today while she was offline.

It was late. Was Little Jelly asleep?

Would she keep going about her life normally if Tang Danqing didn’t log in for a few days?

See? Tang Danqing was still thinking about the game.

She and her friend were speaking entirely different languages.