"This is really strange. Why is everything updating so slowly today!" A teenager of sixteen or seventeen kept refreshing several web pages, the screen flickering constantly. His furrowed brows were prominent on his thin face, revealing deep impatience. The cheap courier uniform he was wearing was spotless though.

This year, Zhao Dong is seventeen years old. He attends Qingping No. 1 High School, which is the best high school in Qingping City. To be admitted to this school, one has to be an outstanding student. Even during junior high, Zhao Dong was indeed an excellent student. After entering No. 1 High School, he could still rank among the top fifty students. Not to mention Tsinghua and Peking University, but getting into a key university would be no problem at all.

But ever since Zhao Dong's parents divorced in his second year of high school, his attitude towards studying changed drastically. He stopped paying attention in class every day, skipping school became commonplace, and internet cafes became his most frequented place. Naturally, his grades plummeted as well.

At this time, Zhao Dong was not playing games, but reading novels. He was a novel enthusiast, or rather, an online novel enthusiast. He especially liked urban fantasy novels. The protagonists in these books often obtained some special abilities and showed off their skills at school or in the city. They could have money whenever they wanted, which made Zhao Dong fantasize that he was the protagonist in those books, living a carefree, cool, and awesome life.

Reading these kinds of novels every day has become an indispensable part of his life. However, Zhao Dong always reads pirated versions. Nowadays, there are tons of pirated websites available, and you don't have to spend any money. The only drawback is that you have to wait for a while after the official website updates before you can see the latest chapters on pirated websites.

Usually, after an official update, it takes a few minutes for pirated versions to appear. But today, even after ten minutes, the pirated version hasn't come out yet. Especially since the previous chapter ended on a cliffhanger, not being able to see the update in time made Zhao Dongxin impatient. The longer he waited, the more anxious he became. He gritted his teeth and muttered angrily in his heart: "Damn it, what kind of crap is this? I can't wait any longer, today I'm also going all out as a supporter of the official version."

He took out a fifty yuan bill from his pocket with great reluctance. Then he put it back, this was his weekly allowance! Spending it all meant no lunch money for the rest of the week and no internet access either. How could he bear to use it all just to watch the VIP updates immediately? But not seeing it now felt even more urgent.

"If it were to update now, I wouldn't have wasted my recharge. " He refreshed the webpage, but there was still no new update. He had to take out his crumpled fifty yuan again and swipe the webpage once more, grumbling in his heart. He then shouted, "Net manager, give me a fifty yuan grand point card!"

Having received his point card, Zhao Dong still couldn't resist refreshing the page twice more. This time, he finally gave up. Several well-known piracy websites hadn't updated at all, so he had to go to the official Qidian Chinese website and top up his account which he had registered years ago.

"Fifty bucks, Author Big Brother, you have to update more often in the future, or you'll disappoint me." Zhao Dong walked step by step, his heart aching, and muttered to himself.

Sitting to Zhao Dong's left was a boy with freckles on his face, about in his twenties. He was wearing headphones and watching a TV drama. Zhao Dong's shouts had obviously disturbed him, so he turned his head and gave Zhao Dong a white eye. Zhao Dong immediately returned the stare and said, "What are you looking at? Never seen a handsome guy before?"

That kid rolled his eyes at that moment, thinking to himself that the guy next to him still thought he was a handsome fella. He was wearing a bunch of cheap clothes from a flea market and had a buzz cut – not a single bit of style. There was nothing handsome about him at all. He mumbled something under his breath and decided it wasn't worth bothering with Zhao Dong.

Finally, following the steps to the last step, Zhao Dong was a little impatient. However, when he clicked the button, the webpage suddenly switched to a new page. This page was very beautiful, even festive. The two rows of Chinese characters were particularly eye-catching.

Thank you for supporting our authors, and congratulations on being the 30 millionth VIP user of Qidian Chinese Network!

"Thirty million? So many people supporting the author!" Zhao Dong muttered. He thought this was something every recharge user had, so he didn't think much of it and just clicked the "Confirm" button in the middle.

You will have the chance to receive a special gift. Will you accept?

"There's still a present! Zhao Dong couldn't help but his eyes lit up. No matter what the gift was, it was free to take, and he immediately clicked "Yes".

The page changed again, and a disc appeared on the screen. Around the disc were labels indicating various things.

"50,000 starting coins, high-level VIP, unlimited bookshelf, 50,000 points..."

These four were still relatively normal, but the things sandwiched in between them were enough to make Zhao Dong gape in astonishment.

"Soul Return Gloves, Golden Left Hand, Glasses, Storage Ring…" Some graphic annotations are famous names.

"What kind of plane is this, aren't these things just from novels? Could this be a new game?" Zhao Dong muttered, seeing a start button on the page. He moved his mouse over it.

The needle on the board spun rapidly, like a fleeting shadow, showing no sign of stopping. Zhao Dong took this opportunity to examine the board closely. Different items occupied varying areas. For example, starting coins and high-level VIPs took up large spaces, indicating they were easier to win. On the other hand, some items had very small areas, particularly the Golden Left Hand, glasses, etc. These were barely noticeable. The divine ring even occupied a mere speck of space.

Anyone familiar with the game knows that smaller items have a lower probability of being selected, and therefore a higher value. Larger items are easier to hit, making them cheaper. For example, in this game, an item starting at 50,000 units is equivalent to 500 RMB, yet it occupies such a large area. Could the remaining gloves, rings, and other items be even more valuable?

At this time, the spinning pointer on the dial gradually slowed down, filling Zhao Dong's heart with anticipation. He stared intently at the pointer as it continued to move slowly.

Senior VIP...Golden Left Hand...50,000 points...Glasses...Starting 50,000 coins...

When the needle reached the starting point coin, its speed noticeably slowed down again, seeming to be about to stop. And with the area of those 50,000 starting point coins being so large, it's estimated that at the needle's current speed, it wouldn't be able to move past them.

Originally, 50,000 starting points were already quite good for Zhao Dong. At the very least, they would allow him to read almost a year's worth of books. However, at this moment, there was an indescribable feeling of loss in his heart. He didn't know what those strange and unusual things were, and without understanding them, he inevitably felt some regret.

But the needle, although it seemed to have stopped, had not completely come to a halt. It was moving forward ever so slowly, just a little bit...a little bit...almost imperceptible to the eye. But Zhao Dong could feel that the needle was still moving. This gave Zhao Dong a sudden surge of anticipation, because in the next grid after the starting point coin, was the… storage ring with the largest area.

Watching the needle inch forward, Zhao Dong's heart seemed to rise with it. His eyes were fixed on the needle, his breath held captive.

Finally... after passing the starting coin, the needle seemed to have run out of all its strength and stopped at the symbol of the divine ring. Then a line of text appeared on the screen, “Congratulations, you have obtained one Storage Ring. Do you wish to receive it?”

"Yes!" Zhao Dong's heart suddenly skipped a beat. His hand holding the mouse trembled slightly, and he nervously clicked the mouse, eagerly awaiting the next prompt.

But the webpage jumped directly to the homepage of Qidian Chinese Network without any prompt.

"Ugh! What a scam!" Zhao Dong's hopes all vanished in an instant, but he quickly laughed at himself. "Well, I'm such an idiot. There are so many scams online, how could I still believe this?"

As soon as I understood, the urge to read the new chapter immediately took over and I forgot all about that other matter.

Finally, he finished reading the latest chapter and left a comment in the book review section. Looking at his profile displaying the "Junior VIP" label, he felt a surge of pride. He used to feel embarrassed commenting on books as a regular user; he thought it was inappropriate not to support authors when reading for free, and other VIP readers looked down on him for it.

"Now I have money, I can say whatever I want, hehe... Now I feel at ease when leaving comments in the book review area."

"Eh…" Zhao Dong suddenly found something extra on his computer desk, a yellow, plump ring.

Zhao Dong went to the internet cafe. Besides buying some game cards, he wanted to get something else. Before sitting down, he also looked at the desktop, and there wasn't that thing on it. It seemed kind of familiar, like he had seen it somewhere before.

A jolt ran through Zhao Dong's mind. He suddenly remembered the dish from earlier. He hurriedly picked up the ring and examined it carefully. It was yellow, resembling both gold and brass. Its surface was engraved with some irregular patterns that extended to the inside of the ring. There were no other decorations. It was exactly like the ring holder on the dish.

“No way, is this the ring?” Zhao Dongjue felt his own heart beating intensely, his hands trembling. Logically, he knew this couldn't be true, but a glimmer of hope still lingered in his mind. With a mixture of anticipation and excitement, Zhao Dong slowly slipped the ring onto his left ring finger.

The ring size seemed to be designed perfectly for his finger. It slipped on easily, but once it was on, it fit snugly against his skin.

The ring felt warm on his hand, incredibly comfortable. Zhao Dong immediately liked it, regardless of whether it was a storage ring or not. It seemed like a pretty good decorative piece anyway.

"Is this thing really real? If it's a storage ring, then it should be able to store other things like in the novels, right?" Zhao Dong pondered as he gently traced the ring with his finger, searching for something special about it.

But the ring, apart from its intricate patterns, didn't seem particularly remarkable to him. This left Zhao Dong feeling a bit frustrated. He shook his head and looked at the display in front of him, an unexpected thought popping into his mind.

And just then, the display in front of him suddenly vanished. "Bang!" A loud noise came from behind the computer desk, and a boy who had been sitting to Zhao Dong's left let out a scream, pointing at Zhao Dong's computer desk, unable to speak.

And Zhao Dong was completely dumbfounded at this moment. Because on the computer desk in front of him, that 17-inch LCD... such a conspicuous thing, had just vanished into thin air. He hadn't even seen the process of it disappearing, only a circular stain on the desktop where the display base had been…

(Editor in charge:romance novel)