Title: Good Person
After sitting still for a short while, Shen Nianxiang grew restless. He got up and began tidying the kitchen, washing dishes, scrubbing pots, and mopping the floor.
Once the wind stopped, he still had a shift to take over. It was best to finish the chores while he had time.
Seeing Shen Nianxiang so busy, Li Chuan couldn’t just sit there. He got up to help wash the dishes.
But his recently modified body was more than ten times stronger than his previously frail one. He hadn’t adjusted to the sudden surge in strength yet. With one careless move, he broke a bowl.
Li Chuan: “…”
Shen Nianxiang sighed softly. “You’d better rest.”
“Oh.” Li Chuan sat back down.
While Shen Nianxiang was cleaning the kitchen, Li Chuan took the chance to observe the house. It was a cozy two-bedroom, one-living-room home, about 60 square meters in size. The apartment itself wasn’t bad, but the furnishings all looked like they had been picked up from a scrap yard.
The sofa was patched in many places, the table corners were badly worn, and even the bowl Li Chuan had just broken already had a chip.
Shen Nianxiang’s home could be described as bare-bones.
Li Chuan combed through his newly restored memories and recalled that Fuyou Academy had mentioned that students assigned to the All-Heavens Realm would be given a single dorm room of about 20 square meters. Most people in the Human Main City lived in such dorms. Only married people lived in standard apartments like this.
“Are you married?” Li Chuan asked.
Shen Nianxiang replied while scrubbing the floor, “No. This place was left to me by my parents.”
Li Chuan frowned. “I remember the rule in the Main City is that unless you buy your own place, single people have to stay in the dorms. Did your parents buy this house back then? Why would they buy property here?”
Unlike the Human Realm, the All-Heavens Realm wasn’t a place people stayed in permanently. Few would ever purchase property here.
Everyone in the Main City wanted to go home. They saved up merit points and All-Heavens currency to return to the Human Realm. Why would anyone waste their money buying a house?
“My mom was pregnant and didn’t want to stay in the dorms anymore,” Shen Nianxiang replied.
“But the rules state that married warriors in the Main City are eligible for housing allocation,” Li Chuan said.
Shen Nianxiang paused his cleaning and looked at him. “You’ve memorized the rules well. Then you should know that clause only applies when ‘housing supply is sufficient.’ If there aren’t enough public units, but warriors still want to build families, they have to buy housing themselves.”
“The rules also say the Main City builds housing according to population, ensuring the quality of life for All-Heavens defenders,” Li Chuan said.
Shen Nianxiang replied, “Rules are one thing. Reality is another. A building can be marked as condemned as long as management wants it that way. If the inspection department says there are cracks that can’t withstand the extreme heat winds, then the place is declared uninhabitable.
“In short, no matter how many empty homes there are, if they don’t want you to live in them, they won’t count. You’ll have to pay for your own place. My parents still hadn’t paid off the house and their medical debts before they passed. Now I’m the one repaying them.”
Li Chuan wanted to say that the rules guaranteed full medical treatment for injuries, but just like Shen Nianxiang said, rules always had loopholes.
The Humanworld Main City wasn’t what he had imagined.
Seeing Li Chuan silent, Shen Nianxiang worried he’d scared the new arrival. He softened his tone and comforted him gently, “It’s not as bad as it sounds. For the most part, things work the way they should. Only a few unlucky ones live as poorly as I do.”
Li Chuan thought back to the name “Shen Nianxiang” and couldn’t help asking, “Your name… which world are you missing?”
[1] the chinese character in his name here refers to ‘missing’ or ‘thinking of’
“Humanworld,” Shen Nianxiang replied. “My parents married in the All-Heavens Realm, and I was born here. I’ve never been to the Human world. They named me this, but I’ve never seen that place myself.”
“Why haven’t you been back?” Li Chuan asked.
Shen Nianxiang said, “You need 1000 merit points to return. I’ve earned enough as part of the City Defense Force, but I still have outstanding debt. I can’t go back until I finish paying it off.”
No wonder Shen Nianxiang was so short on money—even willing to sell his own name.
“How much do you still owe?” Li Chuan asked.
Shen Nianxiang said, “Originally 9000 All-Heavens coins. I started repaying it at eighteen, 100 coins per month. It’s been 70 months, so I’ve paid back 7000. I still owe 6000.
“I just made 2800 off you. Once you give me the remaining 1000, I’ll use all of it to pay down the debt. That’ll bring it down to 4000.”
Mentioning his shrinking debt, Shen Nianxiang smiled happily.
Li Chuan frowned. “That math doesn’t quite add up.”
Paying 100 coins for 70 months would be 7000. If the debt was only 9000, he should have just 2000 left—not 6000.
“There’s also interest,” Shen Nianxiang said.
Li Chuan couldn’t help but feel Shen Nianxiang had it rough. He wanted to help—but had no way to.
Even though he’d regained his memory, the All-Heavens Ring didn’t acknowledge it. His intelligence points were still at 150 innate plus 30 acquired, and there were 100 locked acquired points that he couldn’t use.
Maybe the system didn’t allow reused exchanges after his reset.
