My basement connects to another world.

Chapter 25 Postponed

……

old house.

When Jiang Yuan woke up, it was already bright outside the window.

He turned over; the newly bought bedding was fluffy and soft.

This was ordered online after receiving the 200,000 yuan bonus, and it was delivered to my door.

He was extremely busy yesterday.

After clearing the "dungeon" and arriving at the Frostclaw Tribe, I rushed to the stadium to win a championship, and then rushed back to the Otherworld to participate in the bonfire party. I spent most of the night in the Frostclaw Tribe before finally going back to sleep.

I hadn't slept for over twenty hours, and the moment my head hit the pillow, I knew nothing more.

Jiang Yuan sat up from the covers and stretched his shoulders.

The wound on my right forearm, pierced by spider silk, has scabbed over, leaving only a new pink skin mark.

He took a deep breath and felt refreshed.

I reached for my phone on the bedside table and turned on the screen.

【08:17:23】

【XNUM X Year X NUM X Month X NUM X Day】

Three missed calls were displayed on the screen, with red notification bars lined up in a row.

When Jiang Yuan clicked in, he saw that they were all the same number.

It is Anxin Asset Disposal Company.

What's the date today? The 9th... the day the assessors are coming to inspect the property... Jiang Yuan leaned back against the headboard and dialed the phone back.

After ringing twice, someone answered.

"Feed".

"Oh, is this Mr. Jiang Yuan? This is Anxin Asset Disposal Company. Regarding the assets under your father Jiang Guoping's name—" The same female voice came from the other end of the phone, polite but mechanical.

Jiang Yuan interrupted her directly, saying, "You said before that paying 10% would allow us to apply for a repayment extension. How long can we extend it?"

The woman on the other end paused for a moment.

They probably didn't expect that this young man, who had said he had no money several times before, would come up today and ask about the postponement.

Her tone changed slightly, becoming more tentative:

"Mr. Jiang, this is all negotiable. Three months, six months, twelve months. It depends on your specific situation. Have you had any income recently?"

"Contact the assessor and tell him he doesn't need to come," Jiang Yuan said.

"Ten thousand yuan, let's extend it for three months. Three months doesn't require an assessment, right? Give me your company's account number, I'll transfer it now."

There was a full three or four seconds of silence on the other end of the phone before someone said, "Okay, sir, I'll send the account information to your phone right away."

Jiang Yuan hung up the phone.

Less than half a minute later, a text message came in.

A corporate bank account number, ending with "Anxin Asset Disposal Co., Ltd."

He copied the account number, opened his mobile banking app, entered the amount, and confirmed the transfer.

A notification pops up on the screen.

Transfer successful

He watched his balance drop from just over 200,000 to just over 100,000, then put his phone on his lap and spaced out for a while.

The old house was saved.

Although the hole of 980,000 is still there, 100,000 is just filling it with a shovelful of dirt, but it's not far off.

I still need to make money; I need to get the medicine sales business moving forward... Jiang Yuan was pondering this when his phone rang.

It was the same woman's voice again, "Mr. Jiang, we have received the payment!"

Her tone was warmer than ever before, even genuinely polite:

"I'll process the three-month extension agreement for you immediately, and the electronic version will be sent to your phone today. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions."

For them, going through the judicial auction process would be a hassle, and given the location and age of that old house, the auction price would hardly cover all the debts.

It would be best if the user continued to repay the loan; that would be an even greater achievement for her!

Jiang Yuan hung up the phone and opened the group chat.

I discovered there were still unread messages from my dad.

The first message was posted at 11 PM last night: "Son, how did the interview go?"

The second message was sent at around 2 AM: "It's okay if you fail the interview. Just graduated, so try a few more companies. Don't rush it."

The last message was sent around 6 a.m., probably from someone who had just finished their night shift: "[Anxin, come back tomorrow after your assessment. Dad will make you braised pork.]"

Jiang Yuan stared at those lines of text for a while.

My dad must have been waiting for his news, but when he didn't reply, he assumed the interview had failed. As for his promise to save the old house, he probably didn't take it seriously.

Jiang Yuan didn't call home; his dad was probably still catching up on sleep at this hour.

He typed a message back: "I passed the interview, but I slept last night and forgot to tell you. I've already negotiated a repayment extension with Anxin; I'll make the payments every month, Dad, don't worry."

After sending the message, he switched to another app, and the Oracle Intelligence Agency's group message count was 999+ again. He clicked on it.

[YinYinYangYang: Regarding that original post, has anyone else entered the hidden map yet?]

[Wild Bones, undeterred: It's not just that nobody goes in. I've searched at least twenty miles around Graystone Town, and I haven't seen a single cat-eared creature, not even a single cat hair.]

[Night Rain's Lament: You're lucky, you triggered a hidden teleport.]

[YinYinYangYang: Good luck? Haha. Tier 3, a hidden map unique to the entire server, all that talk and no action, but not even a single picture. It's true you can't take screenshots in the game, but he described it in such detail, how come no one else has actually encountered it?]

[Going up the mountain to fight the tiger: What do you mean by that? Are you saying Genshin Impact is made up?]

[YinYinYangYang: I didn't say that. I just thought it was a coincidence that a brand new account, registered just a few days ago, immediately had a cat-eared girl hidden class.]

There were a few more comments agreeing with this.

Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow but offered no explanation.

Swipe your finger across the screen and tap the chat window to open the group owner's ("Lan") private chat window.

Last time, this rich woman directly gave him 50,000 yuan to buy information, and later promised to buy him 500,000 yuan for the method to change to a hidden profession.

He gave me a week, saying he might be able to give it to me.

Now a week has passed.

Jiang Yuan typed a few words and sent them:

[Original: There were some unexpected issues exploring the map. The method for finding the hidden class will take some time and cannot be provided at this time.]

After sending the message, he exited the private chat.

I opened the dormitory group chat again.

There are about thirty posts about the 404 Manly Retirement Home, all tagging him.

Jiang Yuan flipped to the top.

The first post was made by Song Zihao last night.

[Song Zihao: Holy crap, what are you doing, Atom?!]

A news link followed below.

The title reads, "2026 Songhai City Archery Open Concludes: Young Athlete Jiang Yuan Wins with Ten Consecutive Rings."

[Zhao Peng: Hahaha, Atom is a hidden talent! Treat us to a meal!]

[Zhao Peng: But how come this name is exactly the same as Atom? Could it really be you? (doge.jpg)]

Then Song Zihao replied again.

[Song Zihao: It seems to be true. I'm not kidding.]

There was silence for a few minutes.

Ding Rui suddenly appeared.

He's become more active these past few days after finishing his onboarding at the company.

It is said that his monthly salary is as high as nine thousand. In his own words, there will be plenty of opportunities for promotion and salary increases in the future. He is at the peak of his career.

[Ding Rui: Just someone with the same name.]

He then posted another message.

[Ding Rui: Can you play archery without money? How could Jiang Yuan possibly have access to it?]

Ding Rui spoke with certainty that Jiang Yuan was an ordinary college student who hadn't even found a job yet and had recently been asking Song Zihao for help in buying a crossbow.

He has absolutely no connection with the archery champion.

Ding Rui: It's probably just someone with the same name. I've seen this kind of competition news a lot with people sharing the same name.

A little while later, Song Zihao posted a few more pictures.

One photo shows Jiang Yuan standing on the champion's platform, holding a check that says "200000" in his hand; the other photo shows his back as he stands on the starting line.

The last image is a screenshot of a chat in the Falcon Archery Club members' group.

The screenshot shows a lively chat.

【Our archery range member won the championship?】 was followed by a string of "awesome" comments from the members.

Finally, Song Zihao sent a website address.

[Song Zihao: You can check it yourselves. I saw the news on the Songhai Archery Association's official website from the Falcon Archery Hall; it's all over the place.]

Zhao Peng replied instantly: [Zhao Peng: Holy crap.]

This was followed by another message: [Zhao Peng: Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, Atom, you f***ing bastard, it really is you??]

Another full half minute passed.

Ding Rui: ?

The last historical message was when Song Zihao tagged him again.

[Song Zihao: @Jiangyuan Atomic, come out here. When did you start practicing? Don't tell me you learned it the two days after buying the crossbow.]

[Song Zihao: Ten consecutive rings, ten in a row! No member has ever achieved this score in all these years of operation. They've even enlarged your photo and printed it out as a sign at the archery range entrance.]

"I'll have to pay you a fee for this..." Jiang Yuan leaned against the headboard, this was indeed hard to explain.

He couldn't very well say that he had leveled up 10 times, his physique had mutated, and he had also mastered supernatural powers.

But to say he's practiced for over ten years? We shared a dorm room for four years in college, and I never saw him touch a bow.

He thought about it for a moment, then typed a few lines and sent them out.

[Jiang Yuan: I practiced it for a while when I was a child, but then I stopped.]

[Jiang Yuan: Last time I bought a crossbow, I went to a relative's house and found they had a few bows there. I got the urge to try them out and discovered I still had the skills. I didn't expect to win the championship. It was mainly luck.]

[Zhao Peng: Holy crap, twenty years of skill?!]

Zhao Peng replied to the message almost instantly, and then sent a series of "Holy crap" messages.

A few minutes later, Song Zihao also came online.

[Song Zihao: Champion! Awesome!]

[Zhao Peng: Treat me!!! @Jiang Yuan, Yuanzi, you're not getting away, I'm going to rip you off.]

[Zhao Peng: Two hundred thousand! Atom, why are you even looking for a job? You couldn't save that much even after working for a year or two!]

[Jiang Yuan: Okay, I'll treat you guys to a big meal soon after my graduation defense.]

The group chat was buzzing with activity again, with messages scrolling by incredibly fast.

Ding Rui remained silent.