Chapter 656

518. Matters of Signing and Cooperation

Ning Chen was momentarily stunned, then laughed: "Difficult? How could that be? You're underestimating me far too much, aren't you?"

Ning Chen never did anything without certainty, nor did he ever make empty boasts; finding someone was such a trivial matter that it hardly counted for anything to him.

The system said, quite satisfied: "Since that's the case, after you complete this check-in task, go to the task location. Find the person as soon as possible; the reward for this task is very generous."

Ning Chen's gaze flickered.

The generous task reward was another motivation for him to continue, besides finding Si Shiya; while improving his strength, speed, and physical constitution, Ning Chen hoped even more to collect those new skills.

While pondering, Ning Chen asked again: "Among the rewards you mentioned, are there any new skills?"

What Ning Chen lacked most right now was new skills, and the "Density Control" skill was undoubtedly the strongest among all the abilities he had obtained; unfortunately, although this skill was powerful, its area of effect was too broad to slaughter enemies on a large scale.

Hearing him say this, the system replied quickly: "Yes. Every time you complete a special mission I assign you, or complete a special check-in task, you can obtain new abilities."

A movement crossed Ning Chen's brow as he said: "Can I expand the applicable range of my abilities?"

"You mean upgrading abilities? Yes, but the conditions are quite harsh; without sufficient task completion, you cannot upgrade."

Ning Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as upgrading wasn't impossible, that was fine; after all, before obtaining new skills, he still possessed several quite powerful old abilities; if he could expand his attack range, his trump cards would undoubtedly increase by many.

After roughly discussing with the system, Ning Chen collapsed onto the bed and finally fell into light sleep.

Waking up the next day, Ning Chen went to the hotel, had a simple breakfast, then hurriedly rushed to the barbecue shop.

The staff inside basically already knew Ning Chen; seeing him arrive, they immediately led him to a quiet corner and said: "Please wait here for a moment; I'll go fetch the manager right away."

Hearing this, Ning Chen nodded.

At this hour, it shouldn't be considered late; Ning Chen was always accustomed to rising early, and it was only seven o'clock after breakfast.

The barbecue shop actually didn't open in the morning, but because the manager and Ning Chen had discussed cooperation matters in advance yesterday, the shop opened early this morning.

Five minutes later, the manager arrived.

The manager held a contract in his hands; upon seeing Ning Chen, a familiar sycophantic smile immediately appeared on his face, and he pushed the contract toward Ning Chen.

Ning Chen raised an eyebrow and glanced down briefly.

Since Ning Chen didn't know this shop owner very well, he remained quite cautious regarding the cooperation matters; holding the contract in his hand, he read it two or three times, then finally nodded: "Fine, let's sign."

The shop owner was practically bursting with joy; this was undoubtedly a windfall. Li Mu originally held quite a few shares in his shop, and now Ning Chen had bought them out at five times the price; for the shop owner, even if this shop didn't open for two months, he would still make a fortune.

The shop owner happily took the contract and said with a full smile: "The contract is signed. As for me, I actually don't like coming to the shop much; if you have time normally, you can come here to eat a few meals, all on the house."

Ning Chen's expression didn't change much as he said: "I'll spend most of my time on travel check-ins; this time I just happened to come over to play, so I don't have time to manage the shop."

The shop owner's expression went blank for an instant; he was stunned: "You mean... you bought these shares purely just to play?"

Ning Chen had no intention of avoiding the issue; he nodded: "Mm. If there's profit, just transfer it directly to my bank card; I probably won't return to this place again; contact me by phone if anything comes up."

The shop owner was still clearly unable to snap out of it; he stared blankly at Ning Chen: "... Are you at odds with money?"

Ning Chen found it somewhat amusing: "I'm not so foolish as to become an idiot. Although your shop's scale isn't very large, the profit amount should be considerable; I acquired the shares partly to take revenge on Li Mu, and partly because I truly want to make money."

"Oh... oh, I see," the shop owner adjusted his glasses, "I just thought you purely wanted to buy the shares to play with, hahaha..."

While making light of it, he muttered inwardly: Even if my shop's profit amount is huge, how many years will it take to make up for your five-times acquisition price?

The shop owner muttered, but didn't dare say it aloud; although he thought Ning Chen was somewhat foolish, doing such unprofitable deals, on the other hand, Ning Chen was indeed his god of wealth; otherwise, the barbecue shop wouldn't have earned so much money.

As for Li Mu... naturally, he could go do whatever he wanted.

Seeing the discussion concluded, Ning Chen tilted his head and looked outside.

Neither he nor the shop owner were people who liked to dawdle; signing the contract took only twenty minutes; at this moment, the sun outside wasn't very strong, but it was very bright.

Walking the entire island would take quite a lot of time, and his energy should be used where it's needed.

So Ning Chen said: "Do you have any transportation tools here? Lend me one; I'll return it this afternoon."

"Yes," the shop owner nodded, then walked to the back of the small shop, brought out a bicycle from inside, and said: "Here, just this one; nothing else."

Ning Chen took the bicycle from his hands; it was a very ordinary model and shouldn't be tiring to ride.

"Thanks." After saying this, Ning Chen held the bike and walked to the shop entrance.

He hadn't started streaming just now because he needed to discuss some private cooperation matters with the shop owner; but now it was already normal check-in time, so even if Ning Chen didn't actively start streaming, the system would automatically open the live room for him.

Sure enough, within one minute after Ning Chen opened the live room, viewers poured in continuously like a tide, as if they had been waiting for a long time.

Ning Chen smiled helplessly: "Waited long?"

For most viewers, seeing a refreshing scenery early in the morning was undoubtedly a wonderful start, so viewers quickly chimed in agreement.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night, waiting to open my eyes this morning and see the sea view."

"Of course; we are all loyal viewers of this live room. Besides, didn't you say yesterday you'd stream today? We came in as soon as we got the notification."

"Mm, I'm having breakfast with my colleagues right now; I have a bunch of things to busy myself with today, so I'm just looking forward to seeing the scenery to relax my mood; after all, I'm busy like a spinning top all day long."

519. Completing the Check-in Task, Leaving the Island

Ning Chen glanced at the bullet comments; with just one look, he took in four or five comments.

Looking at these different types of bullet comments, he sighed lightly: "Truly... everyone's experiences are different; in the past, I also rushed around for work and thought that was already very tiring; I never expected it to be even more tiring now."

After saying this, he didn't continue further; after all, everyone has their own aspirations; we are all strangers who met by chance; if not purely for appreciating the scenic spots, we wouldn't have gathered together.

After Ning Chen promptly cut off the topic, those viewers actually became interested.

"Tell us more, tell us more; add some fun to my plain life, please."

"The streamer said he was also a worker before? Then how is he so rich now? What happened? Teach us?"

"Don't stop suddenly; although the scenery here is indeed quite nice, I still want to chat with the streamer."

Ning Chen had already started riding the bicycle in circles; he would occasionally raise his head to check the bullet comments.

Regarding these curious but harmless bullet comments, Ning Chen didn't have any aversion; at most, he just didn't reply.

But now, wandering aimlessly while riding the bike was simply too boring; chatting with the bullet comments was perfectly acceptable.

"Alright then, what do you want to hear?"

Ning Chen dropped these words.

As soon as these words were spoken, it was like a stone thrown into water, sending ripples through a thousand layers—the live stream erupted with messages from long-time lurkers who rarely spoke.

Ning Chen rarely responded to comments and even more rarely asked questions himself; for viewers, this was an unparalleled chance to satisfy their curiosity.

Instantly, the chat flooded so densely it nearly obscured the live stream interface.

"I've been curious for ages about the love story between the streamer and his girlfriend—tell us, how did you two meet, and why did you break up?"

"What school did the streamer graduate from? What's your name? Have you ever thought about choosing a partner from your fans… and by the way, don't be too rigid about gender when picking one."

"Wait, I just want to ask—why are you so rich if you're traveling around the world every day? What do you actually do?"

Questions poured in on every topic—even one asking, "Did you cut your own umbilical cord when you were born?" Ning Chen glanced at them and couldn't help but smile slightly.

He picked out a few questions that looked pleasant and replied: "I fell in love at first sight with my girlfriend—I'll never consider anyone else. I'm not rich either; right now, I just need to focus on working hard and adjusting my mindset. As for the one asking if I cut my own umbilical cord…"

Here, Ning Chen smiled: "Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about me?"

The atmosphere in the live stream was unusually cheerful—perhaps, Ning Chen rarely felt this happy. Most of the time, to complete his tasks and seek revenge as soon as possible, he remained in a dull, somber state.

Today, riding with the sea breeze blowing against his face while chatting with kind strangers felt like a scene of tranquil, peaceful time.

Ning Chen's physical stamina far surpassed that of ordinary people—he cycled from nine in the morning until noon without even breathing hard.

But the sun overhead was too intense; riding under the blazing heat was truly unpleasant, so after thinking it over, he decided to take a temporary rest.

He hadn't finished touring the entire island, so the task wasn't complete; only when he heard the system's voice say "Task completed" would Ning Chen feel any sense of relief.

The island had no shortage of places to rest—sunshades everywhere, trees thick with foliage, occasional small stalls selling chilled drinks, and even coconuts lying on the ground, untouched.

It was a wonderfully relaxing scene, Ning Chen thought—if only the temperature here were a little lower.

At noon, Ning Chen changed locations for lunch; after all, on such a scorching day, he craved something cool.

It was a modestly famous snack shop, serving ordinary dishes—he ordered a fruit salad and two dishes with one soup, and ate this lunch with moderate satisfaction.

Though the seaside island offered more tropical delicacies, Ning Chen hadn't eaten home-style cooking in a long time; for him now, home-style dishes were perhaps the finest cuisine imaginable.

By the time Ning Chen completed his check-in task, it was already six in the evening.

Ning Chen lazily stretched his body and decided to leave the seaside island tonight—the search for the person was urgent; every second wasted was a loss.

When viewers learned Ning Chen was leaving, they felt disappointment—but also anticipation.

They looked forward to his next check-in location; having followed him through so many places, even just by watching, their horizons and experiences had broadened considerably.

But Ning Chen gazed straight ahead and said: "After this live stream ends, the next time we meet will likely be a month from now."

"I know you might feel reluctant or confused, but this time I'm dealing with personal matters—it will take a long time, and during this period, I won't open the live stream again."

"So please, friends waiting by your phones for me to go live—take a break. This time, we must say a brief goodbye."

Ning Chen spoke calmly.

He hadn't wanted to waste breath saying so much—after all, in his past view, these people were no different from strangers—but the more he interacted with his viewers, the more he realized their true nature was kind.