Lin Chuan listened to the voice in his mind, his eyebrows raising.
System Panel:
[Work: "Last Week's Antique".]
[Status: Listed.]
[Current Popularity Value (Average Subscription): 20048/20000.]
From last night's 5676 average subscriptions to the current 20048, it's been about 24 hours, an increase of 14372 average subscriptions.
In a day and a night, ten thousand subscriptions!
This speed was faster than any previous increase in average subscriptions, so fast that Lin Chuan was surprised.
He knew that this time breaking twenty thousand average subscriptions should be no problem, but he didn't expect it to be so quick.
An average subscription of fifteen thousand could secure a recommendation slot for film and television adaptation.
The key point is that the average subscription for "Last Week's Antique" would continue to rise afterwards.
Generally speaking, the higher the average subscription, the greater the potential for copyright development. Besides, the antique theme is a relatively popular subject for film and television adaptations, so the chances for adaptation were quite high.
Once it succeeded,
having "All-In" on one hand and "Last Week's Antique" on the other, with the adaptations broadcasted, Lin Chuan's personal IP would have its initial shape.
Not bad at all.
A smile appeared on Lin Chuan's face, but now the Little Landlady was at his side, even hanging on him. If she whimsically decided to meddle with him while his consciousness was in the Virtual World, this division of focus would affect his performance.
Ahem, it would affect both sides.
"Hmm, what time is it, Chairman?"
The Little Landlady clung to Lin Chuan softly, moving slightly on his chest.
Lin Chuan looked at the phone on the bedside table: "Eight in the evening, are you hungry?"
"Mm, I'm hungry."
The Little Landlady lifted her small face and blinked her eyes.
"I'll go make some noodles for you," Lin Chuan said, about to get up.
"Okay."
The Little Landlady hugged Lin Chuan tightly as they entered the kitchen.
Boiling noodles, eating dinner.
The bright moon was high in the sky, its pale light blocked by the curtains, reflecting off the river surface, revealing sparkling ripples. Sparse lights along the river flickered like distant stars in the night sky.
The night grew deeper.
The Little Landlady was too tired. With Lin Chuan's coaxing, she fell deeply asleep.
Lin Chuan still had some energy and was ready to take care of another important matter!
"System, come out!"
In his mind, Lin Chuan called for the system.
[Host, are you ready now to start experiencing a new profession and to begin a new life?]—The system replied programmatically.
"I'm ready, let's start," Lin Chuan said earnestly, taking a deep breath.
Every new profession signified a new chapter in life, and it also meant that Lin Chuan would have an opportunity to acquire a new skill.
Experience had proven that having many skills was an advantage.
So far, Lin Chuan had mastered skills like 'theft', 'cheating techniques', 'firearms', 'combat fighting', 'hacker', 'fraud', 'antique forgery', and more.
Lin Chuan knew that it was because he mastered these skills that he was able to hook up with the little rich lady, Zhang Xinxin.
Ahem, sorry, System.
You gave me these skills, and I used them to cling to a little rich lady.
The current situation also proved:
—Little rich ladies are truly delightful.
The 720 company, the Antique Shop, the large flat house with the river view, her, which one wasn't wonderfully enticing?
Although Lin Chuan wasn't too fond of living off a woman, she was just too appetizing!
Of course, Lin Chuan was also striving.
Right now, he was about to experience a new life, to begin his struggle in the Virtual World!
[Your new professional life is about to begin, please prepare yourself, Host.]—The system's electronic voice reminded him warmly.
At this moment.
The 'cozy bedroom', the 'river view outside the window', the 'hazy night' in Lin Chuan's vision gradually blurred, and the delicate, rhythmic breathing of the Little Landlady also grew distant.
His consciousness entered a new space.
For the time being, there was no one else here.
Only the system's voice echoed—
[Please pay attention, Host.]
[Each experience is a beautiful memory for you.]
[This system will preserve this memory in the form of a novel.]
[Your upcoming profession for the experience is being randomly allocated.]
[Please wait...]
"A profession..."
Lin Chuan murmured softly, "Anything will do, after all these crime-related professions, I've managed to get through. Even if the system plays a prank on me and assigns a few more crime-type professions, I'll withstand it. Bring it on, system!"
As the saying goes in games, there are no useless heroes, only incompetent summoners.
Profession skills are the same, it all depends on how they're used!
[Host, your understanding is getting higher.]
[Congratulations, the profession you will experience this time is...]
[Touch Gold Captain!]
[Congratulations, you have acquired the 'Touching Gold Secret Skill'.]
[We hope you are satisfied!]
Lin Chuan immediately shut his mouth and silently cursed the system.
Did it really give me a crime-related profession?
Touch Gold Captain originated during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms Period, when Cao Cao, in order to compensate for insufficient military funds, established military ranks such as 'Touch Gold Captain' and 'Central General of Prosperity' to rob tombs for wealth to subsidize the military expenses.
Later on, Touch Gold Captain became synonymous with tomb robbers.
Within the Martial World, there is a complete set of traditional rules for a total of seventy-two professions.
Tomb Robbing is one of the Eight Outer Industries.
The Eight Outer Industries are not legitimate professions and include fortune tellers, beggars, bandits, thieves, Tomb Raiders, fugitives, fire leaders, and water fetchers.
A fortune teller is a diviner, a bandit is a highway robber, and Tomb Raider refers to the Touch Gold Captain.
The Touch Gold Captain profession, which involves profiting from the dead and scattering their wealth, requires techniques, knowledge, and courage that are unmatched by other trades.
Hence, there's a saying in the Martial World.
Out of the seventy-two trades, Touching Gold reigns supreme.
As a web novel writer, Lin Chuan was somewhat familiar with tomb-robbing novels.
In novels, tomb robbers are often divided into four schools: Touching Gold, Move Mountain, Hill-Unloading, and Discover Tomb, with sayings like 'Discover Tomb with seals, Touching Gold with talismans, Move Mountain with techniques, Hill-Unloading with armor'.
However, these are probably the creations of novelists.
In fact, due to differences in climate and terrain between the north and south, burials also differ, so tomb robbing is broadly divided into southern and northern schools.
However, Lin Chuan froze.
System, why are you giving me the "Touching Gold Secret Skill" now? What can I actually do with it?
Nowadays, tomb robbing would land me in jail!
If you go down into a tomb and take a couple of items, there are generally two outcomes.
You go in and never come out.
You go in, come out, get caught, and end up shot.
The "Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel" from the Western Zhou Dynasty that Old Bai forged last time would start its prison term in the Spring and Autumn period if it was freshly plundered from a tomb.
The quickest punishment would be to literally swallow a nuclear weapon.
Who could possibly bear that?
In the real world, beneath the high-hanging bright moon, one could see the open river below through the window, as well as the continuous mountains in the distance, faintly visible under the cover of nightfall.
The cool evening breeze slipped through the gaps in the window, stirring the curtains, and gently patted Lin Chuan's face, calming his mind gradually.
"Forget it, let's just touch gold in the virtual world," he decided.
Lin Chuan was quite interested in the culture of tomb robbing, and touching gold could at least satisfy his craving.
It should be pretty exciting too.
At this moment.
The system's voice rang out again—
[Host, due to the special nature of the Touch Gold Captain occupation, please draw your first experience instance at random.]
Lin Chuan's eyebrows wrinkled slightly, "There's a second experience instance?"
[Yes, but to unlock the second experience instance, the novel generated from the previous instance needs to achieve a certain goal.]
The system replied.
"It's getting harder," Lin Chuan understood.
In other words, the Touch Gold Captain occupation isn't a one-time experience but is divided into several instances. To unlock the second one, I need to fulfill certain conditions with the novel formed by the first instance, and so on.
"Okay, draw the experience instance," Lin Chuan agreed with a nod.
[Drawing your first experience instance now.]
[Drawing successful.]
[Your first occupation life experience instance as 'Touch Gold Captain' is: Seven Stars Lu King Palace.]
[Generating a new world for you with 'Virtual Reality' technology.]
[Please be prepared.]
The system instructed.
"Seven Stars Lu King Palace." Lin Chuan nodded, as his consciousness sank into the newly generated virtual world along with the system.
In the new world.
Lin Chuan's vision slowly became clear, and looking around, he found himself in an antique shop, arranged similarly to Goldstone Edge Antique Shop, a small store with various kinds of antiques and curios, but it wasn't particularly popular.
There were no customers in the shop, only an assistant.
The assistant was thin, with a somewhat deep voice, dressed in black clothes, and quite good-looking. Though not as handsome as Lin Chuan, he had a distinctly different aura.
At this time, Lin Chuan took the opportunity to understand his current identity.
He was born into a family of tomb raiders.
Tomb Raider, a jargon term in the industry, also meant tomb robbing.
Ancient tombs are mostly pyramid-shaped, like a huge "dou," and 'Tomb Raider' means flipping this tomb open, essentially, engaging in tomb robbing.
His grandfather was a skilled tomb robber who, 50 years ago, stole a Silk Manuscript from the Warring States period, noted it down, and left it to him.
Currently, Lin Chuan was the young owner of an antique shop.
"This is quite similar to reality," Lin Chuan mumbled to himself.
"Young man, do you have any rubbings of Warring States Silk Manuscripts here?" An old man with gold teeth walked into the shop and asked Lin Chuan directly.
"No."
Lin Chuan replied bluntly.
"A friend recommended me; I was looking to see your grandfather," the old man with the big gold teeth said with a corner of his mouth spread in a smile.
"What do you want with my grandfather?"
Lin Chuan's eyebrows furrowed.
At the moment, Lin Chuan was still learning about the Touching Gold Secret Skill.
The Touching Gold Secret Skill, that is, Tomb Robbing Skill, includes skills such as Observation, Listening, Inquiry, Pulse Taking, Feng Shui Divination Skill, Seeking Dragon and Dividing Gold to Determine the Burial Site, Tomb Mechanism Technique, and so on.
Take, for example, the Skill of Seeking Dragon and Dividing Gold to Determine the Burial Site.
'When seeking dragons, you must observe the winding mountains, where each winding represents a barrier, and where barriers guard as if a thousand locks, there must dwell nobleman and lords.'
The old man with the big gold teeth grinned, "Your grandfather stole a Warring States Silk Manuscript back then, he must have kept a few rubbings. I want one to compare with the rubbing I have to see if they are the same."
"Not a chance."
Through multiple virtual occupation life experiences, Lin Chuan knew that the rubbing of a Warring States Silk Manuscript was significant.
How significant, Lin Chuan hadn't figured out yet.
"Hold on, young man, help me take a look at this. Is it the same as the Warring States Silk Manuscript your grandfather had?" The old man with the big gold teeth pulled out a piece of white paper.
"Looking at things is fine."
In terms of appraisal, Lin Chuan was a grandmaster-level figure.
The old man with the big gold teeth handed over the piece of white paper.
On the paper was a picture of the Warring States Silk Manuscript.
Lin Chuan only glanced at it for a moment before realizing that the Silk Manuscript in the picture was a fake.
He reported his findings truthfully.
Upon hearing this, the old man with the big gold teeth left immediately, in a hurry.
That evening.
Third Uncle sent Lin Chuan a message about "Dragon's Ridge."
"Dragon's Ridge," code for something valuable.
But Lin Chuan was a step too late; the Ancient Black Gold Saber, referred to as "Dragon's Ridge," was taken by a young man.
In the virtual world.
Although this was a tomb-robbing family, Lin Chuan's father and Lin Chuan himself had never entered a tomb or been involved in tomb-robbing activities.
However, Third Uncle was quite a figure in the tomb-robbing industry.
Therefore, if Lin Chuan wanted to complete the "Seven Stars Lu King Palace" instance, he might need Third Uncle's help.
He didn't even know where the Seven Stars Lu King Palace was.
Could it be related to that "Warring States Silk Manuscript"?
The system wouldn't provide something useless; there must be a mystery to this manuscript.
After thinking it over, Lin Chuan printed a photo of the Warring States Silk Manuscript and gave it to Third Uncle to check.
Third Uncle immediately broke the mystery, "This is a map."
"A map?"
Lin Chuan's eyebrows furrowed and he paused momentarily, "What kind of map?"
"It's the map of a tomb." Third Uncle continued, staring at the manuscript, "This tomb must be from the Warring States period belonging to a noble of the State of Lu. Are you considering taking a look inside the tomb?"
"Yes," Lin Chuan raised an eyebrow.
Hearing about the State of Lu from the Warring States period, he couldn't help but think of the "Seven Stars Lu King Palace."
First, he had to explore the "Seven Stars Lu King Palace"!

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