Shi Tian never knew the reason why there was a vacant room available for so long and had only been making educated guesses. Not to mention, he preferred to keep things to himself, even when there were doubts in his mind unless he had no other choice.
After all, his trust in people had been pathetically low, recounting his past experience with them.
Even now, Shi Tian still had some reserve for Isaac Aaronax despite calling him Master. That was just how difficult it was for him to place his trust in others.
“So what do you think of this room? It has every necessity a person could ever wish for, and at quite a cheap price too.” Old Man Chao spread his arms and praised the room.
Although it seemed like an exaggeration, Shi Tian had to agree with Old Man Chao. There was even an air purifier equipped in each corner of the room, providing the best air quality. 𝓫𝓭𝓸𝓋𝓁．𝓬𝓸𝓂
“Yep, this is a good place.” Shi Tian nodded his head and gave his approval.
“Fantastic, now let’s head back downstairs and finish up the process. Also, a kind reminder; never act haughty or arrogant when you’re within the vicinity of this apartment complex. The Crimson Mage has eyes everywhere and you are constantly being watched.” Old Man Chao said, rubbing his hands together as if he was doing something sinister.
Sometime later, the two of them exited the room and took the elevator down to finish up the remaining process. And during this process, Shi Tian coughed up his final income, paying the down payment which was a requirement to start living here.
‘Sigh, now I’m truly penniless.’ Shi Tian made a quick calculation in his mind and deduced that he would be starving after a week or so. His money was sponsored by Yolanda and Benmos, so now the true challenge was starting to begin.
If he still can’t find a job or something that could earn him money, then his current status would soon be brought back down to the slum area. As for the thought of attempting to not pay the Crimson Mage, that was thrown out of the window.
“Alright, here’s your room key and lean close to this machine so that we can register your pupil for a scan.” The security guard confirmed the payment and instructed.
Shi Tian followed the instruction and walked toward the machine, leaning close to it with his eyes. The machine made a few beeping sounds as some green UV lights scanned through the pupil of his eyes.
There was some discomfort when the green UV light scanned through his pupils, but it was just for those slight seconds.
He blinked his eyes a few times once the security guard said it was completed.
“Okay, the scanning is done, and here’s your exclusive key that’s attached to you. The key that Old Man Chao used is merely a one-time usage and a guest key whereas this one is the master key. Of course, other than the Crimson Mage herself, no one else could enter your room aside from you.” The security guard then informed, letting Shi Tian know that only two people are authorized to access his room.
“Thank you for your help,” Shi Tian smiled briefly and gave his thanks. Considering the security guard was going to be the one monitoring the apartment complex on behalf of the Crimson Mage, building a decent relationship with him wasn’t a bad idea.
A few minutes later, Shi Tian and Old Man Chao bid farewell to the security guard.
“Heh, now shouldn’t it be time for you to pay for my service,” Old Man Chao quickly said the moment they were outside, his expression hinting at extreme greed.
“Relax, I won’t renege on your payment.” Shi Tian rolled his eyes, retrieved the said amount of Source Crystals, and gave it to him. He had already slashed the price by quite a margin, so there wasn’t a point for him to stall the payment.
Not to mention, Old Man Chao indeed did a fantastic job in finding him a great place to reside in. Of course, the danger was still plausible considering the shaky relationship the Crimson Mage had with the military, but that was something he didn’t need to care for now.
To others, he was just a small little fry or ant. So long as he made sure of his conduct and did not offend others, he was going to be fine.
“Although this payment was still small, it’s doable.” Old Man Chao counted the Source Crystal in joy.
With that said and done, Old Man Chao was ready to leave the vicinity. His job as the broker was completed the moment he received the payment and his client was pleased with the result.
“Wait a minute, Old Man Chao.” Shi Tian halted him when he saw he was ready to leave.
“Do you know a fast method to earn money?” He then asked.
Normally, he would have kept it to himself, but time and situation were against him this time. He needed to search for a way to gain money to sustain his living. Not to mention, it wasn’t like he could continuously go ahead and kill people for their loot.
“A fast method?” Old Man Chao raised an eyebrow, turning around and looking at Shi Tian confusingly.
“There’s only one fast method to earn in Gearits City, but it is also the most dangerous occupation. And that is to register as a mercenary and complete the mission or eradication of nearby mutated monsters that roamed outside Gearits City.” Old Man Chao proceeded to say as if it was common sense.
After that, Old Man Chao left the vicinity without waiting for Shi Tian’s response.
Who knows what he was up to this time?
And the truth was, he was afraid Shi Tian might scam him a bit more.
‘Am I really that scary? All I did was slash the price and nothing much.’ Shi Tian scratched his head when he saw Old Man Chao fleeing the scene as if he was some cold-blooded killer.