Reborn with Consumption System

"Uh..."

Zhou Ci, shamelessly pressing his advantage, insisted, "At least 400,000! Someone offered me 350,000, but I didn't even consider it."

"Okay, let's say 400,000."

Fang Tongzhi nodded. "My phone number is 1390131XXXx. What do you guys think it's worth?"

"That's far worse than Brother Zhou's, right?"

Xiao Hu, with his carefree attitude, chimed in to flatter Zhou Ci, guessing casually, "150,000?"

Liu Yingjun, who knew better, scoffed, "How could that be? A 1390 'boss' number isn't something your riff-raff can compare to."

Wang Hong nodded in agreement. "There's a saying—1390 is called the big shot, 1380 the playboy, 1370 the manager, 1350 the minion, 1391 the kid..."

Kong Yize's face turned red. "What's so great about a lousy phone number?!"

He was using a 1391 'kid' number with a series of three identical digits at the end and felt hugely insulted, as if he didn't belong among the group of bigwigs with numbers ending in four identical digits.

"It might not be a big deal, but it really is worth some money."

Fang Tongzhi spoke calmly, no longer keeping them in suspense.

"My phone number is probably worth around 800,000, but I didn't spend a dime when I got it because it was pretty early on."

Kong Yize grew impatient. "Fine, Fang bro, you're awesome. We've always admired you. So what?"

"Don't rush."

Fang Tongzhi shook his head calmly. "What I'm trying to say is... Han Lie's phone number is even more awesome than mine."

Everyone was a bit stupefied. But after thinking it over, it seemed plausible enough.

Fang Tongzhi explained carefully, "139 is part of the first batch of phone numbers in the country, belonging to the mobile prefix. From what the older generation has told me, in 1999, mobile phones in the country were all upgraded to eleven-digit numbers. This established the middle four digits as the area code, representing different regions. Back then, the first batch of numbers released in the Imperial Capital was 0010, 0011, and 0012, totaling 30,000 numbers. My family didn't get any particularly good numbers back then. It wasn't until around 2001, with the 0131 prefix, that they managed to get numbers ending in 9999 and 8888. You just have to do a simple count to realize that 0131 was already over a million numbers issued after the first batch. Being within the first 30,000 versus beyond a million, and 1999 versus 2001—those are pretty big differences.

"If my Imperial Capital example isn't clear enough for you, think about the Magic Capital back in the day. If I remember correctly, the first batch of prefixes in the Magic Capital should have been 0013 and 0014, right? Who holds the number 13900133333? How much is it worth? Do any of you guys know?

"Han Lie's phone number is slightly less impressive than 13900111111, and even less so than 13900100000, but not by much. Truth be told, it's quite intimidating to me. The first batch of numbers ending in four identical digits totals less than thirty. My dad doesn't have that kind of clout, but I roughly know who holds a few of them. That's beyond just money. My number might have a price tag; sometimes friends tease me, 'Old Fang, I'll give you 800,000. Will you sell your number?' But with a number like his, even if you're willing to spend 3 million or 5 million to buy it, the question is, do you even have the status to make an offer to those people? Zhou Ci, isn't your father's phone number in the 1390013 prefix range? If it is, you should understand what I'm saying."

Zhou Ci's face looked exceptionally uncomfortable. He hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"Yes."

Everyone wasn't stupid; they immediately understood—his family had a number from that prefix, but not one ending in four identical digits.

The dorm suddenly quieted down.

Fang Tongzhi carefully observed the expressions on Kong Yize's and Dan Zihao's faces.

Little Kong was no longer angry. His eyes were rather vacant as he looked around, seemingly searching for support from someone.

Dan Zihao's face grew gloomier, his eyes full of anger, his fists clenched tightly.

However, Fang Tongzhi could clearly see the forced toughness, with an underlying weakness beneath it.

Dan Zihao had always been just a kid who was fierce in appearance but weak at heart.

That should be enough for now...

If possible, Fang Tongzhi wouldn't have wanted to share this with everyone. That day, the moment he saw that number on Wang Xiaotian's phone, Fang Tongzhi had treated it as a secret, burying it deep in his heart.

It's better this way, with all of you disliking Han Lie.

That way, I could have been the one to offer some support and befriend him.

But the anger of Kong Yize and Dan Zihao had forced him to reveal the secret sooner than planned.

Ah, such a nuisance!

As Fang Tongzhi shook his head, Liu Yingjun exploded. "F*ck! Han bro is that badass?!"

His eyes shone with excitement as he eagerly asked, "Hey, Old Fang! If I get 5 million in cash from my mom and slap it down in front of Han Lie, can I really not buy it?"

Everyone was dumbfounded, rendered speechless by Liu Yingjun's train of thought.

Fang Tongzhi felt a headache coming on.

"If you're talking about money, the actual value of that number is pretty superficial; personally, I don't think it's worth 5 million," Fang Tongzhi said. "The real power is in the significance of being able to obtain such a number; the power is in the Strength behind Han Lie. You don't have the capability or the background. Just spending money to buy a number when people familiar with you know what level you're at—you can't pull off that kind of pretense! What's the point?"

"The point is that I can buy it!" Liu Yingjun's enthusiasm was unabated, stunning everyone all over again. "Following your previous argument, being qualified to spend money to buy it is already pretty badass, right?!"

Is this guy nuts? they all thought. Is he really going to spend 5 million on just a phone number?!

"Stop joking." Fang Tongzhi warned Liu Yingjun with a stern expression, "You better not ask Han Lie about the phone number to his face. It's impolite, and it's not worth getting remembered by that kind of person for such a trivial matter."

Liu Yingjun tilted his head and thought it over. True enough.