Birthday Present (1)

Jiang Xiaoman laid on her bed with a stupid grin on her mouth as she looked at the system panel.

Her balance now totaled more than 5,000 points. In the years after she unlocked the system mall, her points came and went. She earned a lot but also spent a lot, and she wasn’t able to save up much. This time, so many points were credited to her account at once, and she was very happy.

At that moment, the system said in a slightly embarrassed voice, “Host, you... can you lend me more points to upgrade?”

Jiang Xiaoman went silent for a while, then decided to pretend to be asleep and ignored it.

“...”

This little trick of hers naturally could not escape the system’s magical eyes, and it felt a bit hurt.

The system said, “I will become more amazing when I level up. Then you would also be able to do more things and earn even more points!”

The system firmly believed that the reason it had not grown into a big system was because it was not strong enough, and it was not strong enough because it didn’t have enough points. So, everything boiled down to working hard towards being upgraded!

But it still had no points.

Jiang Xiaoman opened her eyes and asked it, “But you haven’t paid back the points you borrowed from me last time.”

“...If I had points, how could I not pay them back?” Didn’t it have nothing right now?

Jiang Xiaoman asked it again, “You tell me first, how do you plan to pay the points back?”

The system couldn’t do tasks, so how could it earn points? How did it earn those points from before? This was also a problem.

Its host was being aggressive, as if it wouldn’t lend the points if it didn’t answer. The system hesitated for a moment, and had no choice but to say, “Us systems also have tasks... Before you, I had also been bound to other villainesses in other books. After completing the tasks, I will get points.”

Which book did not have a system nowadays? The system was also very busy, and sometimes it had to rush to the scene. Its level was too low, and the villainesses it was bound to were not ambitious bosses, and they soon exited the stage to get their lunchbox1. The tasks were completed quickly, and the profit wasn’t much. Otherwise, how could it have gathered only a thousand points for itself?

Jiang Xiaoman nodded, indicating that she understood.

“In other words, you don’t have points to pay me back. Because only when you complete the plot can you be considered as having completed the task and get the points.”

“...Yes.” The system suddenly had a bad feeling.

“So, when you get the points, I won’t be needing them anymore.”

“...” That seemed about right.

“I know, I know.”

Sigh, who was the host and who was the system anyways? Seriously.

The next day was the weekend and there was no need to go to school.

Jiang Xiaoman was a disciplined child who studied diligently at school and also at home, very self-aware.

She carried her schoolbag and went to find Yu Qingshi next door, planning to review her homework together.

Yu Qingshi seemed a little absent-minded. He quietly raised his eyes to look at Jiang Xiaoman, and whispered, “I heard from my classmates that they usually go out to play on weekends.”

“Go out to play? Where do you want to go?”

Yu Qingshi was silent again.

In fact, he went out to play less often than Jiang Xiaoman, so he couldn’t give an example. For these kinds of things, Ye Jiajia was the one who knew the best. However, Yu Qingshi didn’t want to trouble Ye Jiajia because of this kind of thing.

“...Why don’t you choose?” Yu Qingshi said in a low voice.

Jiang Xiaoman closed the textbook and thought about it. She felt that a little relaxation was also not bad, so she said, “Then we will go to... an internet cafe!”

“What?”

“Internet cafe.” Jiang Xiaoman said, “I heard that they often go to an internet cafe on weekends.”

“If you want to surf the internet, can’t you just do it at home?”

“What’s the point of surfing the internet? The important thing is to see the world.”

Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to join conversations with other people. Jiang Xiaoman had heard other people mention it several times during class. If others could go, why couldn’t she? Surfing the internet was secondary; seeing the world was the most important point.

Jiang Xiaoman was very happy to see the world. She was a very inquisitive person, and was very excited to try things in practice. When others mentioned something that she didn’t know yet, she was always eager to try.

Yu Qingshi had no choice but to agree.

The two set off to an underground internet cafe together.

Footnote:

1. As in, the participation prize for extras in a filming set. Basically means its previous hosts were small fries.