Lu Li bought an unregistered SIM card from a street vendor and sed it into his phone.
He walked along Zhangzhong Rin West City. Just ahead was Zhonghai's famous Jinling Pedestrian Street.
The weather in Zhonghai was beautiful today, with a sky as clear and blue as a freshly washed canvas—just like Lu Li's mood...
In his four years of working life, his footsteps had always been rushed. Rarely had he ever felt so genuinely relaxed and at ease as he did now.
His eyes casually scanned the passersby around him…
Above their heads, strings of data floated into view:
Name: Zhang Wentao
Age: 35
Remaining Lifespan: 22 years 35 days 12 hours 56 minutes 18 seconds
Name: Zhang Xiao
Age: 27
Remaining Lifespan: 52 years 32 days 8 hours 16 minutes 27 seconds
Name: Zhu Lingli
Age: 24
Remaining Lifespan: ……
…
It was a surreal feeling—like he was some kind of reaper or god, holding the fates of all people in his hands.
Lu Li came to a stop, thinking deeply, trying to find the right word to describe how he felt at that moment.
Gratitude, excitement, superiority, ambition…
The countdown above everyone's head, representing their remaining lifespan, ticked down relentlessly—cold and merciless...
Lu Li resumed walking, stepping into Jinling Pedestrian Street, searching for his target client.
Even though this was entirely a voluntary transaction,
Lu Li still hoped that his first time seller would have a lifespan as long as possible.
In front of the Yongan Department Store, a figure caught Lu Li's attention—it was a young man, or more precisely, someone wearing a Kumamon mascot suit.
Lu Li looked at the data above his head:
Name: Zheng Bowen
Age: 21
Remaining Lifespan: 65 years 126 days 13 hours 49 minutes 17 seconds
Lu Li felt that he had found his first client.
First of all, he was young—his remaining lifespan would take him well into his mid-eighties.
Secondly, at age 21, if he were a student, he was likely still in college.
A college student taking a part-time mascot job meant his financial situation was likely modest—or at least that he had short-term financial needs.
If he wasn't a student, then doing such a job suggested limited education and relatively poor financial conditions.
Either way, he fit squarely into Lu Li's target demographic.
Lu Li stood quietly nearby, out of the spotlight, observing the Kumamon figure…
The entire morning, the young man in the mascot suit had barely stopped handing out flyers and striking cute poses.
Until 1:30 p.m.
Kumamon finally stopped working.
He took off the oversized headpiece, revealing a fair-skinned young face, with hair and cheeks soaked in sweat...
A middle-aged man—who looked like the department store manager—came over and handed him 200 yuan in wages.
Zheng Bowen took the money and gave a cheerful smile, expressing his thanks repeatedly.
He removed the mascot costume and left Yongan Department Store, planning to grab a quick meal before heading to his next part-time job at a KFC branch.
Zheng Bowen sat down in a budget noodle shop.
Just as he settled in, a young man sat down across the table from him.
Zheng Bowen looked up, smiling faintly.
That young man—was Lu Li.
"Hello,"
Lu Li greeted him.
At the same time, a thought arose in his mind.
"Please select the time multiplier."
"One hundred times."
The familiar message appeared in Lu Li's consciousness.
He chose one hundred times Time Acceleration—which, for now, was the upper limit he could reach. He wasn't capable of going beyond that yet.
Moreover, this time, Lu Li didn't just accelerate his own time flow—he expanded the Time Field, enveloping Zheng Bowen as well.
A mysterious atmosphere spread rapidly!
As the Time Field stabilized, the space containing Lu Li and Zheng Bowen was effectively isolated from the surrounding world.
In their eyes, all sound and motion outside had slowed to a crawl—a hundredfold slower.
Everything was virtually frozen in place!
Zheng Bowen quickly noticed something was wrong. He widened his eyes and looked around in alarm.
He saw that the customers nearby, the pedestrians outside—had all seemingly been paused!
Suddenly, he turned and stared wide-eyed at the calmly smiling Lu Li.
"Hello,"
Lu Li repeated, slowly and deliberately.
"What's going on?"
"Did you do this?"
"Who are you?!"
Zheng Bowen's composure was a bit beyond Lu Li's expectations. Although he was clearly shocked by the bizarre scene before him, and his body visibly tensed up, he still did his best to remain calm.
In fact, he quickly deduced that the strange phenomenon was very likely caused by this serene young man in front of him.
Lu Li was quite pleased with Zheng Bowen's reaction. The whole point of this elaborate display was to flex a bit of power, and establish exactly this kind of atmosphere.
Otherwise, he thought, if you just walked up to someone and said, "I want to buy your time (lifespan)," you'd probably be dismissed as a lunatic, a madman, or a fool.
"Allow me to introduce myself,"
Lu Li paused briefly, revealing a soft, polite smile. Then, unhurriedly, he said:
"You may call me…"
"The Time Merchant."
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。