Click on the city where the building is located on the map to purchase it. I’m on a shopping spree—Tokyo, Bianliang, Cybertron, the Celestial Palace… they’re all mine.
Click on the city where the building is located on the map to purchase it. I’m on a shopping spree—Tokyo, Bianliang, Cybertron, the Celestial Palace… they’re all mine.
Chapter 1: The Map System of the Multiverse An electric tricycle was parked on the side of a bustling street, with “XX Express” spray-painted in blue on the right side. Qian Ruhai sat in the driver’s seat, staring blankly at his Huawei Honor phone. “Why is Tencent Maps gone?” “How am I supposed to deliver the package without map directions?” “This is the only package left, and there’s no free Wi-Fi around. I’ve run out of mobile data too! Am I going to go over my data limit again this month?” The Qian family lived in a rural village in Northwest China, toiling away in the yellow earth with their backs to the sky. A year’s hard work barely brought in enough to make ends meet, and their lives were constantly strained. Their greatest hope was that their son would make something of himself and earn a good income. Unfortunately, Qian Ruhai had spent money all the way through college; far from putting money in his pocket, he had instead accumulated a mountain of debt that he still hadn’t paid off. However, in the few months since graduation, he’d found a job as a delivery driver. As everyone knows, with the explosive growth of online shopping in recent years, delivery drivers’ wages have been quite high. Qian Ruhai could make 5,000 yuan a month, and with room for future growth, earning over 10,000 yuan a month wasn’t just a dream. By sending 3,000 yuan home every month, Qian Ruhai’s father’s dream of seeing money in his son’s pocket had been partially realized. Now, Qian Ruhai only has 2,000 yuan left to spend each month, after deducting 1,200 for rent, plus at least 700 to 800 for living expenses like food and phone bills. It’s safe to say that any overspending means he’ll be broke by the end of the month—which is exactly why he’s so torn. Qian Ruhai picked up the last package; it felt quite heavy, weighing at least ten or so pounds. Curious, he glanced at the note and discovered it contained silverware. The address on the package was unfamiliar, yet he had to deliver it, so he had no choice but to reinstall Tencent Maps. As his finger swiped across the phone screen looking for the browser icon, he suddenly spotted an extremely unfamiliar icon—a dynamic starry sky—with six characters below it: “Map of the Ten Thousand Realms.” “What on earth is this? I don’t remember installing it. Could it have come bundled with a game I downloaded yesterday?” Qian Ruhai guessed it was a game. Driven by curiosity, he tapped the icon anyway. Immediately, a dialog box popped up: “The Map of the Ten Thousand Realms is the most powerful mobile map in history. It will automatically replace Tencent Maps by default. If you wish to continue using Tencent Maps, please re-download it.” In the bottom right corner, there was a line of extremely small text: “You will be automatically logged into the Map of the Ten Thousand Realms system in three seconds.” Well, the time was too short; in fact, Qian Ruhai hadn’t even finished reading it before the dialog box vanished. A map appeared. “Yingchang, Longde, Fengxiang, Jiangning?! These all seem to be ancient place names.” Qian Ruhai muttered to himself as he looked at the map, then immediately understood upon noticing the seven characters “Water Margin Level 0 Map” labeled in the top right corner. “Damn it, I need a map of Magic City, and you give me a *Water Margin* map? What the hell is this?! And what about levels?” Qian Ruhai hoped to find a search function or something similar, but to no avail. It seemed there was only this one *Water Margin* map. And to call it the “Map of the Ten Thousand Realms”—talk about talking big without a care in the world! He exited the map and checked the games he’d installed yesterday, confirming they were clean and free of bundled software. That meant the “Map of the Ten Thousand Realms” had no connection to any game—but how did it end up on his phone? It was a complete mystery. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on the cause; delivering the package was the priority. He hurriedly opened his browser to download Tencent Maps. Watching the data usage slowly eat away at his plan, he winced a little. To distract himself, he picked up the package with a look of envy. Over ten pounds of silverware—the silver alone was worth twenty or thirty thousand. It would take him half a year of hard work to earn that much, and that didn’t even account for the added value of the craftsmanship; the total value was likely double that. Sigh! I wish I could be rich and carefree someday too! “Ding…” A China Unicom text message reminded him that his phone bill was due. Qian Ruhai sighed. His phone bill would likely exceed his budget this month, but he had to scrape together at least three thousand yuan to send home. He did the math: skipping lunch for the last three days of the month would save him enough money without delaying his family’s debt repayments or medicine purchases. Feeling somewhat relieved, he hurriedly paid the bill—as a courier, he had to keep his phone line open, or he wouldn’t be able to contact clients. “Beep… Silver items detected. Do you wish to convert them into silver coins and deposit them into the Map of the Ten Thousand Realms?” At first, Qian Ruhai thought the sound was a notification that Tencent Maps had finished downloading, but when he picked up his phone, he saw a dialog box had appeared. It was that mysterious app again. He had clearly closed it just a moment ago—was it running in the background? Judging by the interface, it looked like a game. He was in a hurry to deliver the package—he had no time to play games. He hurriedly tapped “No,” but his finger seemed to have a mind of its own and tapped “Yes” instead. A flash of white light appeared before his eyes, and the package filled with silver goods vanished. Qian Ruhai stood there with his mouth agape. He rubbed his eyes for a long moment to make sure it wasn’t a hallucination, but the package was indeed gone. Looking back at his phone screen, it displayed the Water Margin Map, and beneath the words “Water Margin Map” in the top right corner, a money button had appeared. After tapping it, it showed 100 taels of silver. Those silver items probably weighed about 100 taels in total. It seemed this “Map of the Ten Thousand Realms” system was really playing tricks on him. Qian Ruhai’s whole body trembled. What did this mean? As a fan of online novels, he understood all too well—this was clearly a deus ex machina! Although he still didn’t know how to use this map, living a life of wealth, recklessness, and freedom wouldn’t be difficult. The only question was how this system had ended up on his phone. Could it have something to do with charging it during last night’s thunderstorm? Qian Ruhai pondered this for a long time and decided the idea had some merit, though that wasn’t the main point. The main point was the Map of the Ten Thousand Realms. Recalling that Level 1 map from *Water Margin*, he reasoned that the “Ten Thousand Realms” likely referred to worlds from books—and perhaps even movies and anime. Since there was a Level 0, there might also be Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, or even higher-level maps. Though it seemed a bit far-fetched, given that *Water Margin* had already appeared, these speculations weren’t entirely impossible. Qian Ruhai experimented some more, but the system still showed no reaction. It seemed to lack any intelligence; he’d have to figure everything out on his own. But what exactly was the point of this map thing? And what role did silver—or rather, money—play in all this? Qian Ruhai rushed back to the delivery station as fast as he could, parked his electric tricycle, and ran back to his rented room nearby. He locked the door and began studying the system. He soon discovered that the map could be zoomed in and out. For example, clicking on Jiangning displayed numerous inns, restaurants, and residences—even the magistrate’s office was there. However, unlike satellite maps, these didn’t show actual buildings; they were merely names. He tested several locations, and the display was the same everywhere. By accident, he tapped on the name of an inn, and a dialog box immediately appeared: “Lu Family Inn is valued at 100 taels of silver. Do you wish to purchase it?” “Huh! So that’s how the silver is used?” Qian Ruhai thought to himself, casually tapping “Yes.” The next moment, a message appeared confirming the purchase, indicating he could now claim the Lu Family Inn. Qian Ruhai felt a surge of excitement. Did this mean he could actually travel to the world of *Water Margin*? Otherwise, what was the point of the word “claim”? It seemed this system was somewhat like the game Monopoly, where you use money to purchase various assets. He only hoped it wasn’t really a game and that he could actually travel to another world. As for spending money to buy assets once he got there? His gut told him it wouldn’t be that simple. After all, if his guess was correct, that would be a real world where anything could happen. Qian Ruhai was bold, but he wouldn’t let greed blind him. Accepting the Lu Family Inn was a must, but for safety’s sake, he needed to prepare before going. He turned and went into another room, quickly returning with a stun gun. Taking a deep breath, he confirmed the acceptance. The next moment, a flash of white light enveloped Qian Ruhai and vanished. He had truly traveled through time!
