Ten minutes ago,

Su Yi was holding a bag and was about to return to the car, but after stepping out, he suddenly turned right and went into another milk tea shop. He bought a cup of milk tea worth almost 20 yuan for Su Qing.

‘After all, seeing her boyfriend being beaten in front of her and shouting to break up after just five minutes, she must feel wronged…’

Su Yi thought and sighed, but in the end, he still took the cup of milk tea back to the car.

At this moment, Su Qing’s emotions had finally calmed down a little.

However, she still didn’t speak. She just nodded when she saw Su Yi return, and the milk tea he handed her eased her previously awkward mood.

She took the cold milk tea from Su Yi’s hand, feeling the coolness in her hand. Her lips pressed together, realizing that she had overreacted earlier.

She didn’t really want to be with Zhou Mu, nor did she think Zhou Mu was reliable—someone truly reliable wouldn’t give up on her just because he got beaten up. She understood that simple truth.

Moreover…

The situation where the height-increasing insoles were exposed truly shattered Su Qing’s image of Zhou Mu.

Su Qing really didn’t expect that Zhou Mu, who was half a head taller than her, had actually used insoles!

At this point, she had started to doubt her feelings for Zhou Mu and even began to think that being in a relationship with him would be embarrassing. However, after getting in the car with Su Yi, Su Yi immediately dismissed her feelings for Zhou Mu and even treated her like a childish, naive girl, suggesting that she should transfer schools.

Su Qing’s rebellious nature immediately kicked in.

That’s how the previous conversation came about.

After writing some homework, Su Qing’s mind became clearer after the math refresh, and she finally reflected on whether what she had said earlier was too hurtful.

However, she wouldn’t take the initiative to apologize.

Fortunately, Su Yi knew that teenagers cared more about their pride than anything, so he took the first step to ease the situation, and Su Qing naturally followed along, even thinking about whether she should apologize to her brother.

Her brother had gone through so much trouble to cover for her and even came to help with her parent-teacher meeting, wasting an entire afternoon because of Principal Zheng.

“Brother, I was wrong about what happened earlier—wait, what’s that in your hand?”

She raised her eyes from the milk tea in her hand and looked at Su Yi. Halfway through her apology, when she saw the cup of milk tea in his hand, her tone suddenly rose by an octave.

What did she just see?!

Su Yi, who had been about to start the car, was startled and almost dropped it. He quickly followed Su Qing’s words and looked at the cup in his hand.

“This milk tea? It’s from your classmate’s shop. It tastes pretty good.”

Su Yi didn’t understand why Su Qing suddenly raised her voice but still answered her question calmly.

But Su Qing thought the situation was a bit more serious than she had expected.

When did Su Yi start buying such cheap milk tea? And why did it have to be from Ye Wangxing’s shop?

Su Qing’s feelings toward Ye Wangxing were very complicated. While she was glad Ye Wangxing helped her attract her classmates’ attention, she also envied how teachers treated him differently.

But now her brother was buying milk tea from Ye Wangxing’s shop!

Su Yi spoke freely, telling her about the car incident earlier and how he had seen Ye Wangxing helping his family with customers at the shop, speaking highly of him.

“…And their milk tea is actually pretty good, made by your classmate himself, with ingredients recommended by your classmates.”

Su Yi’s words of praise made Su Qing feel very uncomfortable.

While she was relieved that Su Yi hadn’t mentioned Zhou Mu and would likely help her hide it from their parents, the praise he had for Ye Wangxing made her feel a sense of unease.

While Su Yi often praised her for being excellent, most of the time, it was praise for her from him.

But now, Su Yi was praising someone else, and someone she didn’t even particularly like.

The words Su Qing had overheard in the morning began to resurface in her mind.

“Ye Wangxing is clearly older and more mature than me, yet he only pretended for a bit and was treated as a good student by my brother…”

But Su Qing still didn’t say anything. She knew that most of what her classmates said was just rumors. Though it seemed likely, there was no evidence. Her upbringing wouldn’t allow her to spread such things before confirming the facts.

So she fell silent again, completely ignoring Su Yi.

After all, Ye Wangxing and her brother only had this small interaction. In a few days, her brother would definitely forget about him.

Su Qing thought to herself, her expression darkening.

After returning home and eating a tasteless meal, for the first time, Su Qing didn’t call Zhou Mu. Instead, she opened her homework notebook.

Her position wasn’t something anyone could shake!

Meanwhile, while Su Qing was stressing over her homework, Ye Wangxing, who had been on her mind, sneezed a few times and sighed.

“If I had known the female lead cared so much about her family, I would have opened my milk tea shop right below her company’s building.”

Ye Wangxing really hadn’t expected this. After all, in the original plot, the female lead almost severed ties with her family and even went on a hunger strike for the male lead, yet when facing her family’s pleas, she was always steadfast.

19, however, gave an academic explanation: [Su Qing has a very obvious tendency towards overdependence. In both parent-child and intimate relationships, the favored party tends to rely on the special treatment and emotional support given by the other party, taking it for granted. This leads to a fearless attitude in their behavior.]

[This overdependence makes them less likely to consider the consequences of their actions in relationships, because subconsciously, they believe this favoritism will continue to protect them. (Source: Baidu)]

After hearing this, Ye Wangxing suddenly understood: “No wonder the female lead was like that in the original story. Now she’s starting to feel the sense of crisis.”

He said, and continued to open his task panel, preparing to cash out his “little world task currency” to expand the milk tea shop — after all, it’s not just match-3 mini-games that get addictive, even running a milk tea shop and making money gets addictive!

Even though he couldn’t take the earned money with him, Ye Wangxing was still happy to do it.

However…

[Hello, the withdrawal fee for the little world task currency is 30%. Please confirm again if you want to withdraw.]

Ye Wangxing looked at the prompt that popped up on his task panel, took out his calculator, quickly did some simple math, and with lightning-fast hand speed, clicked the “No” button.

— He’d better check if there’s a way to reduce the withdrawal fee first!

There wasn’t a way to reduce the fee through Sesame Credit, after all, the laws didn’t work like that.

But 19 could still help.

Ye Wangxing looked at 19 with a pitiful expression.

“…Host, I haven’t heard of any discounts on the withdrawal fee.”

“Please~”

Ten minutes later.

“…So you sent an urgent message in the internal group just to ask about the withdrawal fee discount?”

In the system office, a fellow system unit, 17, who had a relatively good relationship with 19, was incredulously messaging.

Since 19 had been sent to the novel section that snatched all the attention, he had barely spoken since Day 3, only asking once if anyone in the company was trying to plot against him, and since then, he had been quiet as if his voice box had been removed.

But now he was speaking again, and the question was about something he usually wouldn’t care about!

— After all, no law would give a discount to the hosts in the War Zone.

Those laws had long been dissatisfied with these hosts who had messed up their world.

On the other side, 19, who had already gotten the method, replied: “Yes.”

He didn’t even ask if there was any issue with this.

“…But you do realize this isn’t an urgent matter, especially since the world you’re in is quite safe.”

17 remained silent for a long time before responding, and 19 replied seriously.

“But my host is very fragile. I installed two alarm systems on him, just to barely protect his safety.”

17 fell silent once more.

“…Wait, does your host know that you’ve installed two alarm systems on him?”

19 answered matter-of-factly: “No, he doesn’t know, but he agreed with me about protecting his safety. The alarm systems are just necessary measures. I can’t monitor all his physiological activities without his consent, so I only installed two alarms.”

“…You even considered monitoring all his physiological activities?”

17 was speechless with shock.

He really hadn’t expected that 19, who was doing just fine in the War Zone, had suddenly become like this in the regular task zone.

— He hadn’t even installed alarm systems on the hosts in the War Zone who actually needed security!

Why would a new host in peaceful times need alarm systems?!

And if 19 weren’t just a system, his actions would now be considered quite creepy in the human world!

“But he’s so fragile. He could get seriously injured or even die just from falling from a tree. He needs me.”

19 said this with certainty, and 17 again fell into a long silence.

Falling from a tree could cause death…

— Isn’t that just the normal human body?

Had 19 really forgotten that humans in the War Zone could die from being shot by a Gatling gun?

But 19 didn’t know what his colleague was thinking. He opened his eyes, closed the communication channel with the company, and looked at his fragile, pitiful host, who could break his ribs just from jumping off a tree.

“Host, I’ve found a way.”

 

 

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