Tong Jing, twenty-three years old, with delicate features, is a real estate agent in Jiang City.
At this moment, she is wearing a helmet, riding a second-hand electric scooter, bumping along a very pothole-ridden road full of weeds.
These days, changes are happening rapidly. The sudden invasion of the Spirit Realm has burst the already fragile real estate bubble, and people began to frantically sell off their real estate to exchange for cash to cope with the changes in the situation.
The number of properties listed for sale skyrocketed.
Yet, the prices plummeted absurdly.
There's nothing to be done; a house is just a pile of reinforced concrete. It can't be eaten or drunk, and at critical times, it doesn't provide as much security as a kitchen knife does.
Many people once laid out floor seedlings to queue up for lottery numbers to buy houses, many families emptied out "six wallets" to bear decades of debt just for a house, and many young people once remarked that just because they graduated two years later, they have to strive twenty more years than others to own a house.
Now, looking at the plummeting property prices, it's like taking ten packs of laxatives—unstoppable.
This industry probably won't last long, as her colleagues are starting to resign one after another.
Even the once-glorious real estate of the Great Celestial Dynasty has come to this?
Clicking her tongue, truly the wheel of fortune turns!
Tong Jing felt she needed to find another way soon; otherwise, she might not even be able to pay the rent in the future. She thought of her friend, who was poached by a big company with a million annual salary due to a talent skill from the Spirit Realm—an overnight success envied by many.
She wasn't that lucky.
Still trudging through arduous work now.
But, oddly enough, when real estate had become a hot potato, with those owning houses desperately selling to cut losses, and those without houses started hesitating instead, someone came to see a house at this critical moment.
Here we are!
Tong Jing arrived at the place she had agreed upon with her client.
As she took off her helmet and looked around, she was instantly stunned.
What kind of place is this?
Why did I come here?
Am I hallucinating?
The place was originally an old neighborhood on the outskirts of Jiang City, akin to an urban village, called "Cyan Dragon Alley Community," with buildings in Cyan Dragon Alley at least decades old, not only old and dilapidated but also entirely unplanned.
This area, at this moment, was deeply overgrown with weeds, completely unrecognizable.
Though there were weeds, vines, moss, and the like everywhere else as well, they didn't significantly affect the buildings overall. However, here, many weeds had grown over half a person in height.
Several trees whose names couldn't be recalled had shot up from the ground, already several meters tall.
Making the already narrow roads entirely blocked.
Frogs and insects called incessantly, and animal-like wild hares darted through the dense grass, utterly unrestrained!
This was not what one would expect in a big city!
It was more like a ruin abandoned for a hundred years!
Tong Jing knew that since the Spirit Realm's invasion, the real world had undergone massive changes, with a large number of flora and fauna from the Spirit Realm appearing in cities, and the situations varied greatly in different areas.
This place was undoubtedly a severely deteriorated area.
"Hello, I'm Hang Yu, here to look at the house."
Tong Jing turned around to see a very young, fair-complexioned, delicate-looking person standing behind her, probably a year or two younger than she was, politely greeting her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't expect this place to become like this. Are you sure you still want to look at the houses in Cyan Dragon Alley?" Tong Jing, not underestimating her because of her youth, said, "Our company still has many properties; surely we can find one cheaper and in better condition."
"No, no, I like returning to nature, I want a house here."
Tong Jing was baffled; she wanted to ask, are you kidding me?
Going inside, determined it's returning to nature?
That's basically surviving in the wilderness!
But the customer is king.
She couldn't say anything against it.
"You're right, it's quiet here, and the air is especially good. Walk out and you're in the city; there's a metro and bus not far away, peaceful amidst the chaos, convenient for living. I'll take you to see the house now."
The humidity in Jiang City is relatively high; January should have been cold.
Since vegetation throughout the city started growing crazily, along with various flora and fauna constantly appearing, even the temperature rose to levels typical of May or June in just a few days.
Tong Jing led Hang Yu through the dense grass; before long, they were both drenched with sweat, while an intense sense of incongruity, unreality, and absurdity developed.
Who am I, where am I, what am I doing?
Is this really Jiang City, and not some mountain wilderness?
Am I really showing a client a house, and not on a countryside adventure?
The Cyan Dragon Alley Community is similar to an urban village, with a high vacancy rate. Only migrant workers, university graduates with unstable new jobs, and relatively impoverished old Jiang City residents live here.
Hang Yu looked at two houses, neither of which was very satisfying. "I need a bigger one, preferably with a courtyard, the bigger the better."
An unusual request indeed...
"Such houses are rare; only one old house fits your needs, just a little way ahead, let's go and have a look."
As Tong Jing was speaking, she suddenly noticed with shock that a long blade appeared in Hang Yu's hand, glowing with a faint white light.
She was startled.
What's this guy planning to do?
He wouldn't be thinking of doing something bad, would he!
Tong Jing immediately envisioned a crime show segment where the suspect uses house viewing as a pretext to lure a young, pretty real estate agent, with intentions of committing a crime.
A gleam of cold light flashed.
The wild grass around them was cut in patches.
Only at this point did Tong Jing notice a snake on the ground that had been cut open. The snake was entirely greenish-blue, about as thick as a thumb, and had been sliced in two.
Hang Yu gave her a smile, his expression very friendly, and said in a low voice, "Be careful, there are lots of snakes around here, snakes transferred from the Spirit Realm, and they should all be poisonous."
Tong Jing's face turned pale; she had come from the countryside and had always feared poisonous snakes since childhood. She hadn't expected to encounter such terrifying things even after coming to the big city.
"This... this place is way too dangerous!"
"Don't worry, these snakes generally don't attack people actively, and with me here, they won't get close."
Tong Jing swallowed with difficulty, her gaze falling once more on the long blade Hang Yu had suddenly manifested, "Is that blade a Spirit Realm weapon?"
"Yes."
"Impressive, lots of big companies are offering high prices for Spirit Realm weapons; this blade doesn't look bad, it could probably be swapped for a house."
What nonsense.
This is a White Equipment blade, you know!
Jiang City is so big, with a population of ten million, yet there are only a few white weapons. As the saying goes, rarity increases value; if Hang Yu wanted to, swapping for a villa wouldn't be a problem at all.
Tong Jing nervously moved through the grass, shrieking several times in fright at the poisonous snakes along the way, but under Hang Yu's protection, she finally saw the old mansion Tong Jing had mentioned.
A two-entry courtyard with a sturdy brick structure.
The land area was 789 square meters.
Building area was 410 square meters.
Despite being over fifty years old, it was still very solid.
Tong Jing found the plant overgrowth in the old mansion particularly severe; originally, the potted decorative plants in the courtyard now looked like they had mutated, each reaching five to six meters high.
The branches and leaves were monstrous, totally exaggerated, probably very eerie at night.
Living here alone would be terrifying!
The courtyard's tiles were completely destroyed by plants, and the wild grass could grow as tall as a person, much more exaggerated than outside; you could even play hide-and-seek here, meeting up with a girl for a secret outing in the center, absolutely hidden and would not be found.
The surrounding brick walls were covered in thorny vines.
The interior had varying degrees of erosion damage.
Hang Yu inspected around briefly.
The main structure of the building was fine, not damaged, and the power supply was okay for now, but just in case, he'd have to buy a generator in the future.
Tong Jing was somewhat uncertain, "Looking at the situation here..."
"Very good, very good, I'm very satisfied!" Hang Yu sat down on a stone stool in the courtyard, "It's like returning to nature, being one with the universe!"
Tong Jing was too exhausted to retort, "You really don't want to reconsider?"
"No need for reconsideration, I'm very satisfied, it's settled!"
What kind of person is this!
But Tong Jing just wanted to leave quickly now; she immediately said, "The owner of this mansion isn't in Jiang City, moved to Shanghai two years ago, but authorized through notarization and entrusted us to handle..."
Even though this place is quite remote.
Even though it's very old and shabby.
But the mansion's area is very large, the price certainly isn't cheap, if someone came to buy it a week ago, they wouldn't even dare to think about it for less than ten million.
The situation's different now, the owner wants to sell quickly too.
Ultimately, it was sold for four million eight hundred thousand.
Hang Yu signed the contract cheerfully.
Tong Jing still had a face full of disbelief, never imagining in today's economy she could actually make a sale, the other party spending a fortune to buy such a house without batting an eyelid.
Hang Yu stood up and shook hands with Tong Jing, "Thanks for your hard work, here's a final piece of advice."
Tong Jing was taken aback, "What?"
"Pay more attention to areas in the city where plants are growing crazily; I think in the future, these places' real estate will surely be very valuable."
"Why?"
"Hehe, I'll say this much, believe it or not, it's up to you."
At this point, Tong Jing still couldn't realize the kind of information and value hidden within Hang Yu's seemingly casual words.