Chapter 75

Ji Qing spent the rest of the night chatting with the System.

The last time Ji Qing had spoken with the System was during the team match. Back then, he had asked it to keep an eye on You Xingluo and the others’ movements, and afterward, Ji Qing had simply forgotten about it. The crisis on the island had been extremely urgent at the time, and after returning, he had still needed to deal with Shao Huayu’s vigilance. Ji Qing truly had not had the energy to pay attention to the System.

The System, however, had been quite well-behaved.

It had quietly floated back into the System Space by itself, without complaining about Ji Qing’s neglect.

That feeling was exceptionally wonderful. Ji Qing sighed inwardly.

Ji Qing immediately showered the System with praise, but the System was left utterly confused by it. The dull gray light orb asked in puzzlement, “But Host, I only did what I was supposed to do.”

“You don’t understand.” Ji Qing wagged a finger and said in a serious tone, “Being able to do what’s within your responsibilities well is already outstanding.”

Heaven knew that he and Yuexia Cao were still busy tripping each other up over here.

But since Yuexia Cao had no idea at all that the manga under his pen had already become a real world, Ji Qing was, for the moment, basically just arguing with him one-sidedly. Inwardly, Ji Qing prayed with all sincerity: Please, Yuexia Cao! Don’t go making any more metaphors or foreshadowing for me!

The System suddenly asked, “How have you been lately, Host?”

Ji Qing replied, “Pretty good. Just extremely busy.”

After the team match had officially ended, Ji Qing had still needed to prepare for the final exams and plan the route for his raid on the school. Since the System had transferred the function of the Popularity Value Shop to the computer in the pure white space, Ji Qing was now able to exchange items on his own.

Because of that, the possibility of the two of them meeting had grown even slimmer.

“Come to think of it...” Ji Qing turned his head as though he had suddenly thought of something, then asked, “I’ve already finished making my plan to seize the World Book. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Ah?” The System froze after hearing that.

“Because you should have wasteland intelligence that I don’t know,” Ji Qing explained seriously. “If the plan goes wrong just because I didn’t ask you, I’ll feel very regretful.”

“Mm...” The System fell silent.

And so, one person and one System briefly reviewed the rough direction of the book-snatching plan together in the pure white space. After listening, the System was deeply impressed and said, “Host, your ability to act is so strong. As expected of a task executor chosen by the Administration. But there’s really very little I can do to help.”

Its voice suddenly grew low.

“What I can provide includes: first, searching the world’s searchable database; second, knowing how the originally planned manga storyline develops, and warning you before the main plot heads into a ruined ending again; third, helping you search and exchange items from the Popularity Value Shop; and fourth, acting as the intermediary between you and the Administration.”

“Of those, second and third... it feels like you probably don’t need them anymore, Host...”

Ji Qing was stunned when he heard that.

The System’s reaction had been somewhat beyond Ji Qing’s expectations. Thinking about it now, leaving the System aside for the past few days had probably still affected it a little. Ji Qing reached out and poked the dull gray orb, then asked with a smile, “How could it be only that little? By the way, how’s your Landlord poker going with the seniors from the Administration?”

The System replied, “It’s... it’s been all right, I guess.”

“You could try mahjong next,” Ji Qing said in a solemn tone, speaking utter nonsense with complete seriousness. “You can appropriately add some new forms of entertainment. At the same time, you can also ask around about what the other Systems are doing. I’m pretty curious about your daily life.”

“The seniors’ daily life?” the System repeated blankly.

“And also—” Ji Qing turned the display screen toward the System and amiably pointed at his character-discussion thread. “If you’re gone, I won’t even have anyone left to show off to.”

The System went, “...Wow.”

At a single glance, it saw the popularity points that were practically growing exponentially. Specks of light overflowed from the dull gray orb as the System said with starry eyes, “Host, you’re amazing! There really is no better way to earn popularity than establishing a character with high charm!!!”

“Ah? Oh, naturally.” Ji Qing scratched his cheek guiltily.

The truth, however, was that his real personality had been artistically processed by the manga’s readers.

Ji Qing did not think that was anything worth being praised for, so he cleared his throat and explained helplessly, “I didn’t actually deliberately establish a clear character persona for myself, but people in the real world are pretty fixated on that.”

“Maybe it’s because you don’t appear very often, Host?” the System said in confusion. “The choices you’ve made are different from those of the task executors under the senior Systems. After learning about the existence of the Popularity Value Shop, they would usually choose to join the protagonist group and use the original manga plot to obtain their highlight moments.”

“Staying within the framework of the original main storyline and making slight changes. That route for earning popularity is very stable.” The System paused, then pointed out in a serious tone, “But that’s also the reason why the Administration later refused to let us provide manga scripts to task executors.”

“I can more or less guess what the Administration intended,” Ji Qing said thoughtfully. “They don’t like task executors taking shortcuts and stealing the manga characters’ spotlight, right?”

Rather than creating one’s own highlight moments from nothing, it was much easier to seize the manga characters’ existing highlight moments. After all, with the script already laying out the entire main plot in advance, one could step in or join at precisely the perfect moment.

Ji Qing, however, could not criticize that kind of behavior.

Not everyone could obtain as good a starting point as he had. If not for the existence of his ability and the identity of the top student, interfering with the plot would have been extremely difficult for him.

Shao Huayu was a decent person, but no matter how decent he was, he only accepted people within his own circle.

You Xingluo was the same...

He was definitely after something on Ji Qing’s person. Without that thing, Ji Qing felt he probably would have been ignored by him just as Xie Chang’an had been. In the wasteland world, there was no such thing as wholehearted friendship without reservations.

At this moment, Ji Qing missed that bunch of “grandsons” from his university days more than ever.

Every time Ji Qing came back from outside carrying takeout for the entire dorm, he would be greeted by a chorus of “Dad!” The love and hatred of his roommates had always been expressed with striking clarity. Perhaps that was why he enjoyed teasing Xie Chang’an.

Even though he had been born into the lowest layer of the wasteland, Xie Chang’an loved and hated with remarkable clarity. Only a person like that would be bewildered by the kindness of an enemy.

As for himself...

What benefited him was good, and what harmed him was bad.

Ji Qing’s eyes suddenly dimmed a little.

Whenever Ji Qing thought back to his hometown, his heart would always grow homesick. Even though he knew he was not truly homesick, only longing for the sense of ease that home had once brought him. Ji Qing murmured, “I wonder how Mom and Dad are doing...”

From the bottom of his heart, Ji Qing refused to think about that.

The time flow of the manga world and the real world was different, but Ji Qing did not know how long he had already stayed in the manga world. The real world where Yuexia Cao lived was also somewhat different from Ji Qing’s hometown. His hometown had no developed manga industry, no endless stream of shonen manga, and no KuMan website...

Ji Qing’s hand, which had been stroking the orb of light, suddenly paused.

He lowered his head to look at the spotless pure white floor, his expression somewhat lonely and somewhat absent-minded.

“So what do you want me to become to you, Host?” the System asked in confusion, extending its tiny little paws. It wanted to pat Ji Qing on the shoulder, but because of how small its body was, it could only rub against Ji Qing’s arm like a soft little cat.

“Be my friend,” Ji Qing said. “I’m missing a friend.”

“But don’t talk to me too often. Sometimes I need to sort through my future action plans, so I can’t chat with people all the time. How should I put it...” Ji Qing suddenly let out a soft laugh. “I feel like I’d be quite suited to keeping a pet in a fixed residence...”

The System, which had suddenly been classified as a “pet,” said, “Mm, Host, QAQ?”

Ji Qing continued speaking to himself. “There’d be no need to consider the other party’s social connections, no need to consider my own secrets. I’d only need to provide food, clothing, shelter, and transportation at fixed times every day, and after that, I’d have a companion to whisper secrets to.”

That kind of arrangement gave Ji Qing a strange sense of familiarity, as though he had already done something like it before.

Ji Qing could not help feeling a bit wistful. “Humans are, in the end, social creatures.”

He already had a premonition that other acquaintances of his definitely existed somewhere in the wasteland world. But at present, Ji Qing was still preparing for the winter break field assignment and the seizure of the World Book...

***

It was a sleepless night.

When Ji Qing went out wearing the new winter sportswear he had bought, he ran into his two teammates. Both of them looked distinctly bedraggled, nothing like people who had spent the night resting in an inn. Rather, they looked more like refugees who had just escaped from outside.

Ji Qing raised a brow. “Did you two have a very exciting time last night?”

“I’m in great pain.” Jiang Cuo drifted there in a daze and muttered, “I deeply regret not following you right away on the spot, Top Student. This guy is way too good at causing trouble. The two of us ran all over Ning City last night. We ran until I practically wanted to die...”

“If you help someone, help them to the end,” Xie Chang’an said in a ghostlike voice.

Although Xie Chang’an himself did not regret his decision, his expression was also unexpectedly exhausted. Ji Qing made no comment after hearing that. At this moment, he was instead rather grateful that he had fled early. He did not have the energy to accompany the manga protagonist in running wildly around a city all night.

“Come on, let’s get on the train first.” Ji Qing shrugged helplessly and said in a casual tone, “Once you’ve had some rest, we can talk about what happened last night. But before that—”

Ji Qing looked like a parent seeing their children return home in a sorry state and asked with genuine concern, “Did you win?”

“We won.”

The two problem children answered in perfect unison.

“That’s all that matters, then.” Acting like the head of the household, Ji Qing smiled and said in an offhand tone, “We’re leaving Ning City today anyway. Just be more careful yourselves next time. The mess definitely won’t reach the school. None of us are wearing school uniforms right now, after all.”

Jiang Cuo suddenly said seriously, “I’m getting the feeling, Top Student, that you do this kind of thing a lot.”

Xie Chang’an nodded. “Yes.”

“Hmph.” Ji Qing gave a dismissive snort after hearing that. “Anyone who doesn’t take free money is an idiot. Don’t tell me the two of you earned your high school tuition through proper channels? Out of the people standing here, how many haven’t come into contact with the Federation’s underworld?”

Jiang Cuo instantly sounded guilty. “...Uh, well.”

After hearing that, Xie Chang’an first lowered his head to look at the ground, then lifted it to look at the sky, simply not daring to look at Ji Qing. Before he had enrolled in the Third Ability Academy, he had even thought about smuggling medicine for gangs. In one sentence: none of the three people present had clean hands.

But that fact unexpectedly brought the three of them a little closer together.

Looking at Ji Qing’s retreating back, Jiang Cuo suddenly quickened his pace and eagerly asked, “So, Top Student, you don’t have parents either?”

“No,” Ji Qing replied coldly.

This identity of the top student was already linked to mutant species, so what parents could he possibly have? His actual father and mother were living in another world. Rounded up, that meant this: in the wasteland world, Ji Qing not only had no parents, he was practically alone in the world.

And do not ask about Li Yuan. Li Yuan was even more impossible.

“Then you’re really amazing, Top Student.” Jiang Cuo’s eyes were full of admiration. “I’m regretting it so much now, not having met you earlier. I’m sure the two of us definitely could have—”

Ji Qing immediately gave him a fake smile. “If you keep chattering at me, I will absolutely crush every bone in your body with gravity.”

Ji Qing had wanted to say that yesterday already. Today, he had finally said it out loud.

“All right...” Jiang Cuo shut his mouth resentfully.

Xie Chang’an was left staring in a daze. The scene in front of him abruptly brought him back to his conversations with Li Yuan, but before he could think further, Ji Qing stopped walking and turned back coldly to call out, “Come on. Don’t fall behind.”

Xie Chang’an replied, “Coming.”

So he hurriedly suppressed the subtle turmoil surging within him and quickly ran after the two of them.