He immediately turned on his phone, ignored the stream of messages in the work group, and opened a small group called 'Fishing Guys'.

Adam Carter typed a message: "Hey everyone, does anyone have an infrared night vision device for sale?

Or does anyone know where to buy one? I'm looking for a good quality infrared night vision device, new or used, doesn't matter, budget under five thousand!"

Less than five seconds after sending the message, a group member named 'Outdoor Fishing Gear Encyclopedia' added Adam Carter as a friend.

As everyone knows, fishing is an outdoor activity.

Night fishing is one of the greatest pleasures of fishing. When fishing by the river in the wild, bumps and scrapes are inevitable, so it's perfectly normal for someone to sell infrared night vision devices to help others see the road clearly at night.

All sorts of things can happen outdoors. Adam Carter has a friend who once locked eyes with a wild boar by the river.

After 'Outdoor Fishing Gear Encyclopedia' added Adam Carter as a friend, he sent over several links, all for various brands and types of infrared night vision devices sold in his shop.

Adam Carter asked him about the details of each brand and type of night vision device while also opening an app for buying and selling second-hand goods.

For something this expensive, you have to compare before you feel confident.

Upon entering the app's main page, the screen was filled with products pushed by big data.

Because Adam Carter liked to browse pet cats and dogs, as well as antiques and collectibles on this app, most of the items pushed to the main page were these things.

Normally, he would just glance over them, but this time, one item caught his eye.

It was a bone flute carved with mysterious patterns, resembling an animal leg bone, with one end wrapped in engraved copper designs.

Below was a brief description of the item: Gangdong/Gangling, yak bone flute, breaks spells and wards off evil, calms emotions...

The description piqued Adam Carter's curiosity.

He clicked in, then browsed through several similar items along the recommendation trail.

Shadow fiends are beings beyond common sense, so is it possible to kill them with something equally out of the ordinary?

For example, with this kind of ritual implement.

Since it's just a simulation game, why not give it a try?

His phone buzzed, and the 'Outdoor Gear Encyclopedia' avatar kept popping up in the top left corner. Adam Carter thought it over and decided it was worth a try.

He needed to be prepared on both fronts.

He searched for infrared night vision devices in the app, browsed the related products, and after getting a sense of the prices, continued chatting and negotiating with Outdoor Gear Encyclopedia. In the end, he bought a second-hand monocular head-mounted infrared night vision device for 5,800.

Since he and Outdoor Gear Encyclopedia were in the same city, the other party readily agreed to have a staff member deliver it to his door within two hours.

After that, Adam Carter made another purchase on the app, buying a 'Gangdong' said to be made of yak bone for 3,000.

He repeatedly confirmed with the seller that this Gangdong was indeed made of yak bone.

After all, while browsing similar items, he found quite a few claiming to be made from the leg bones of high monks...

Given how strange things were now, he was wary of anything connected to people.

Besides, who knows if the leg bone really came from a true high monk?

The seller agreed to arrange for expedited shipping, aiming to get the item to Adam Carter by this afternoon.

Adam Carter breathed a sigh of relief.

In just over ten minutes, he had spent nearly ten thousand yuan.

Although after his parents passed away, they left him two apartments and several hundred thousand in savings, he had kept those assets untouched and well preserved.

The money he spent now was from his savings over the past two years of work.

Nearly one-eighth of his savings was gone just like that—saying he didn't feel the pinch would be a lie.

But thinking that these things might help him gain a foothold in the future and pave the way for himself, he felt the money was well spent.

Afterwards, Adam Carter entered the group called 'Ping'an Huayuan Building 7 Tenants Group' and tagged the Landlord who owned all eight floors of Building 7: "Boss, can you get the voice-activated lights in the hallway fixed?

I almost busted my knee on the stairs this morning."

Landlord didn't work; at home, besides drinking and beating his wife, he just played on his phone and scrolled Douyin.

So he quickly replied to Adam Carter's message: "I'll fix it next month."

"You said the same thing two months ago..." Tenant 'Ethan Clark' jumped in.

"It really should be fixed. At night, you can't see the stairs at all without your phone," said tenant 'Little Peggy'.

A few more tenants chimed in after that.

Faced with such questioning from the tenants, Landlord wasn't fazed at all, simply saying, "I said I'll fix it next month, so next month it is. If you're in a hurry, pay for it yourselves!

The voice-activated lights don't cost much anyway!"

Usually, when Landlord started acting tough, the tenants would fall silent—unless someone was ready to move out.

These tenants had lived in Ping'an Huayuan for three to five years, some even longer. Just moving would take a lot of effort, and picking a fight with Landlord and leaving themselves with no way out wasn't the best choice for tenants with families.

The group chat quieted down.

But not long after, a message popped up: "I'll fix it, I'll pay for it!"

The one who sent the message was Adam Carter.