A 300% profit—of course he’d feel a bit embarrassed picking up money so easily, but overwhelming wealth quickly smothered that embarrassment. For now, he could only help John Clark out as a way of saying thanks.

John Clark, “……”

He was still dumbfounded, feeling like he was dreaming. Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and complained to Eric Bennett, “Eric Grant, seriously, with such a lucrative way to make money, why did you have to scam someone’s mom out of her retirement savings with a batch of shoddy goods?”

“Sophie’s mom is in the hospital, late-stage cancer, waiting for that money to save her life!”

Brian Carter, “……”

Well, well, even Sophie Collins, the female lead tangled in this love quadrangle, has shown up? Makes sense—if her foster mother was greedy for bargains and bought a batch of defective umbrellas, alarm clocks, and so on from Weixing, she was bound to come knocking eventually.

Can’t find Eric Bennett? Well, there’s silly Qiang right here.

He couldn’t be bothered to say more. He’d wait until the next time Eric Bennett and the others took off, then he’d really like to see what’s going on in this world.

Chapter 5: Safe travels, you two. Come again next time.

A new day. Waking up on the fifth floor of a six-story walk-up on Russell Street, Brian Carter summoned the mall.

Heavenly Realms Mall.

One year of lifespan, 1 million yuan.

+1 Speed, 100,000 yuan.

Master-level Xingyi Boxing, 20,000 yuan.

A brick phone, 20,000 yuan.

…………

+1 Endurance, 100,000 yuan.

A can of Coca-Cola, 2 yuan.

Master-level culinary skills, 20,000 yuan.

Little Brian’s eyes lit up. After thinking it over, he decisively spent 20,000 on master-level culinary skills. He already had master-level Bajiquan, so getting Xingyi Boxing wouldn’t make much difference in the short term, but cooking skills—now that’s useful.

At the very least, when he wasn’t eating out every meal, his own cooking would be delicious. He was just an ordinary guy, living for a few simple pleasures.

The next moment, he sensed the Heavenly Realms Mall pouring a massive amount of knowledge into his body and soul, even reshaping his hands, feet, and torso…

Once the transformation was complete, Brian Carter walked into the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen knife, and with a few swift motions, left afterimages in the air.

Master-level culinary skills meant top-tier knife work!

“Right off the bat, I’ve got master-level cooking skills. My knife work feels innate. Strange, why haven’t my strength, speed, or endurance stats changed?”

“In theory, whether you go from an ordinary person to a Bajiquan master, or master-level chef, expert with knives and woks, your strength and speed should both increase.”

But after several upgrades, his basic stats were still the same as at the start—not a bit higher.

And look at that: one point of strength, 100,000 yuan; one point of endurance, 100,000 yuan?? The mall was clearly preventing him from exploiting a bug.

After all, if every new master-level martial art gave you a few more points in strength and speed, and every new skill like cooking or medicine gave you a few more points…

Who’d be dumb enough to spend 100,000 per point on basic stats??

Yesterday, when he had dinner with those three, he’d already handed 200,000 to John Clark, keeping only 60,000 for himself. Now, after spending another 20,000, he was broke again!

Brian Carter was still pondering when he heard a knock at the door. As he went to open it, two blond punks tried to barge in as soon as the door opened.

Little Brian, “……”

He backed up in confusion. After the two punks entered, they closed the door behind them. Only then did he raise the kitchen knife in his hand. “Who are you? Breaking into someone’s home? Is this burglary or robbery?”

The two punks, “……”

The punks, who had swaggered in like they owned the place, were stunned. In their confusion, Punk A quickly backed up and pulled a knife from his pocket, while Punk B retreated and grabbed a metal chain from his waist.

“Hey punk, which gang are you with? Who are you trying to scare with that lousy kitchen knife?”

“Damn, we’re with Mr. Turner, got it?”

As they shouted, Brian Carter lowered his body, his waist as flexible as a giant python, and lunged forward. Two flashes of the knife later, both of their weapons clattered to the floor…

His left fist shot out like a meteor—bang, bang! One punk dropped to his knees clutching his nose, the other fell back holding his eye socket, both howling in pain.

Only then did Brian Carter step on the chest of the punk lying on the floor, pressing the kitchen knife to the neck of the squatting one. “In broad daylight, breaking and entering, armed assault—if I call the police now, how many years do you think you’ll get?”

“These aren’t minor offenses.”

With master-level Bajiquan, taking down two young punks was a breeze. The squatting punk froze, on the verge of tears. “Please, boss, we admit defeat. How do you want us to make it up to you?”

Brian Carter asked again, “You’re with Mr. Turner? Which Mr. Turner? What do you do?”

The punk wailed, “Mr. Turner is backed by Mingda Group, the top real estate company in Hong Kong! We’re just here to collect on a property. Boss, the owner here already sold this place. You—?” Brian Carter suddenly understood. “Right, I’m not the owner, just a tenant. But my lease isn’t up yet—there’s still half a month left.”

“Mingda actually has employees as low-class as you? What a disgrace!”

“Forget it, I’ll just call the police.”

The punk pleaded, “No, please don’t! We’ll pay you!”

Brian Carter frowned. “How much money do you have?”

The punk quickly dug through his pockets. “Boss, I’ve got a little over two thousand.”

The one on the floor chimed in, “I’ve got over eight hundred…”