98 Secret Popularity

Zhou Lei continued to walk home, in hand about a dozen calling cards of talent scouts from various agencies.

For some reason, only now did they notice him. Did they plan to ambush him on the same day?

...Or worse, the author just forgot about the existence of talent scouts until the previous chap- Heyyy! Let's not talk about that.

In any case, Zhou Lei received a ton of offers, and he didn't know which one to choose. If he could, he would choose each and every one of them.

Well, just to test which one is the best. It isn't humanely possible to accept the offers of all of the agencies.

Zhou Lei got home, seeing his sister's beaming face as she sweeped the floor.

"Eh...? Why are you so cheerful, Zhenya?" He couldn't help but be curious as his sister was infinitely cuter than when she had a frown.

He would definitely imprint this scene into his mind — My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute! (when she's smiling) (also I'm not sexually attracted to her, don't misunderstand)

Zhou Zhenya normally would not have wasted her voice answering her brother's mundane question. But today, she was in a good mood, so she mentioned to him what happened.

"...Eh, what? You perfected all the quizzes today?" Zhou Lei was quite dazed. 'Such a reason made her happy?'

"Yup, yup!" Zhou Zhenya sweeped in rhythm with her answer.

"But don't you normally do that? Why are you so happy about it now?" Zhou Lei inquired more into the matter.

"It's because..." Zhou Zhenya gestured her brother to come closer. She wanted to whisper.

Zhou Lei did accordingly, and put his ear right in front of his cute sister's face.

"What?! You did it all within a minute? And your classmates thought that you gave up with the quiz but you faceslapped them in the end?"

Zhou Zhenya shook her head at the sight in front of her. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Bro, this kind of reaction, where you scream out what the other person just whispered to you, just happens in anime. Besides, it's disrespectful to the person who whispered it to you in the first place. Why'd you think I needed to do that?"

"Ohhh..." Zhou Lei received his sister's scolding earnestly.

.....

Five minutes later, Zhou Lei headed to the computer. He booted it up, wore the Idea Glasses, placed his hands over Author's Keyboard, and relaxed the conscious part of his mind.

After all, all of his actions right now were being managed by his subconscious.

Zhou Zhenya peeked into the computer room again as her brother typed frantically. She still got amazed by the quickness of her brother's fingers.

As he was relaxed, Zhou Lei easily noticed his little sister walking into the room. "What is it?"

"Well, I was just wondering... How do you type that fast?" Zhou Zhenya entered the room.

"Hmm? I don't know, isn't this just normal?" Zhou Lei acted without batting an eye.

'Normal?! I think even the fastest typer in the world can't keep up with a tenth of your speed. And that is him focusing his all on typing. You can even start a conversation with me! How is this normal? Tell me!'

Zhou Zhenya asked a few more questions, while Zhou Lei either ignored or lied to her. After all, even his precious little sister couldn't learn about the existence of System. Eventually, she left, and Zhou Lei continued typing.

In the end, without even spending an hour, he typed a total of 100 chapters.

"With this, I'm already at Chapter 380. Yet, I don't feel author's block or writer fatigue at all! This feeling is great!" Zhou Lei felt proud of his "own" achievements.

"Hai, I'm too great for my own good." Zhou Lei shook his head.

Right after the words exited Zhou Lei's mouth, System suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Quest: Be modense

Description: In all of the Japanese novels, the dense but modest main character always gets all of the girls. This is the way to be popular.

Reward: 1 Mind-Controlling Cube, 10 upgrade points

"...This again?" Zhou Lei scratched his head. "Is this a bug?"

"Host, this is not a bug. It is a feature." System's lifeless voice rang inside his head.

"Then what are you doing showing this to me again?" Zhou Lei looked confused.

"Host, your earlier actions contradicted the objectives of the quest."

"Eh, what did I say this time?" Zhou Lei was uninterested.

As Zhou Lei said that, System replayed an earlier recording. "Hai, I'm too great for my own good."

"..."

"..."

"So, how many times are you going to milk this joke, author?" - This line is not canon, don't think much into it, hehehe...

"System, can you stop notifying me when I violate this quest?"

"Host, this request cannot be accepted. Notifications for a quest can only stop when the host either fails or succeeds."

"...What do you mean fail? This quest doesn't have a time limit, does it?"

"Host, you are only permitted to violate a quest's objectives for three times. After that, you will be given a punishment accordingly."

"...What punishment?"

"Host, the punishment for this quest is: -100 Upgrade Points, -100 Lottery Tickets, and Reset All Stats."

'Shit, this punishment is too harsh! What the heck?! And I only have one strike left?'

And so, Zhou Lei thought twice before talking.

.....

After updating his novel and arguing with System, Zhou Lei headed to the arcade.

On the way, Zhou Lei saw a girl with her lowered. She wore three accessories on her face. A cap, sunglasses, and a facemask, to be precise. Other than that, a brown coat covered her whole body.

It was obvious that this girl intended to hide her identity.

However, Zhou Lei could easily determine that it was Lin Hanying, his new—and only—friend!

"Lin Hanying! What a coincidence." Zhou Lei smiled as he waved at her.

Seeing Zhou Lei's smiling face, Lin Guiying blushed for a second, before she panicked. 'How did he know it was me? That's impossible!'

She had completely hidden her face, yet he recognized her with ease. 'What did he use to determine that it was me?

Wait, never mind that for now. I need to solve this problem quickly first.'

Zhou Lei arrived beside her and took off his hoodie. "What happened to you? You were absent earlier."

Lin Guiying, who was not wearing her "Lin Hanying" disguise right now, removed her facemask, revealing her appearance to Zhou Lei.

"!!!" Seeing the face of the girl in front of him, Zhou Lei's eyes widened before he apologized, "I- I'm sorry. I mistook you for a friend of mine. She looks very similar to you..."

The nervousness in Zhou Lei's tone could be sensed by Lin Guiying, who flashed a smirk that disappeared as soon as it came.

Zhou Lei continued, "Anyway, I'm sorry for inconveniencing you..."

After saying so, Zhou Lei turned around and started to walk away.

Lin Guiying shook her head as she put her facemask back on.

No one was supposed to know that she was headed to the mall to buy some merchandize for her favorite franchise, White Flower[1].

Just as she was about to leave, she heard Zhou Lei utter another word.

"Wait..." Zhou Lei stopped his feet, turned back around, and returned to Lin Guiying's side. "...can I get your autograph?"

[1] White Flower is supposed to be a play on Black Clover, however if White Flower truly does exist, please tell them not to sue me