Chapter 28: Driving a Tank to Work (Request Monthly Votes)

When his father fell asleep, Qi Hao began to settle his task rewards.

The “Harmony Brings Prosperity” task offered mediocre rewards; Qi Hao mainly wanted to see what the next task would be.

【Task Seven Completed, Reward: Lines +10, Song “Cold to the Core”】

【Task Completed, Training Opportunity Awarded】

【Training NPC Selection: Random 1 / Random 2 / Random 3】

【New Task Now Released】

【Task Eight: The Host must fully leverage their advantages and seize every work opportunity by attempting to secure a voice acting role. Task Difficulty: 4 Stars, Deadline: 90 Days】

【Task Completion Reward: Lines +10, Script “The Great Han Emperor,” One Santana 2000 (System Edition)】

【Task Failure Penalty: Three electric shocks】

The new task is voice acting!

Qi Hao’s voice naturally suited dialogue delivery, giving him an advantage—so this task wasn’t overly difficult.

The key was whether any suitable voice roles appeared in the short term.

Projects needing voice actors were rarely numerous, especially with a flood of professional voice actors competing for work.

Only major productions that liked to show off occasionally hired big-name stars for voice roles, using it as a promotional hook.

Of course, even when hiring stars, they’d only pick those with solid dialogue skills.

The only odd thing about this task was the reward—it was insane.

“The Great Han Emperor”—that was Huang Xiaoming’s breakout role, released in 2001.

A Santana 2000!

At first glance, it seemed excellent: launched in 1995, priced from 180,000 yuan; even by 2000, a new one cost over 150,000 yuan. Compared to previous rewards of 10,000 yuan, 50,000 yuan, or 5,500 dollars, it was genuinely generous.

For a newcomer actor, driving a Santana was a major status symbol.

Damn, the System really cares about him.

But!

Standing at the 2008 timeline, this car was utterly outdated.

After the Santana 2000 came the Santana 3000, Santana Zhijun—by then, it had long fallen from a 1990s luxury car to a budget model.

Besides, with Qi Hao’s current status, driving a Santana would make him the laughingstock of the industry.

The System is useless!

Mud can’t be turned into gold.

Did we strip Tencent’s stock bare?

0.1% is a drop in the ocean—why not keep milking it instead of chasing cars?

I wanted to be a major Tencent shareholder!

Besides, the new car the coal boss gave me hasn’t even been picked up yet.

With his billions in wealth, he wouldn’t even consider a car worse than a Cadillac XLR.

San… Santana!

Technically, Qi Hao could just sell the car and treat the reward as still being just a few ten thousand yuan.

At least it was more than the last task’s payout.

But what the hell is a “System Edition”?

Are there System Edition and non-System Edition cars? Aren’t they all made by Volkswagen?

Fortunately, the System responded this time.

The so-called “System Edition” greatly improves chassis stability, reduces failure rates, and guarantees the Host’s safety in three car accidents.

“3/3” means three car crashes, zero injuries.

System Brother!

Qi Hao shot upright from his bed.

“You slowly vanished from that distant shore, your blurred face gradually becoming clear—I want to say something, but don’t know where to begin…”

His favorite singer, Zhang Yusheng, died in a car accident.

And Niu Zhenhua, lead actor of “Back to Back, Face to Face”; Liu Dan, famous for playing the Fragrant Concubine…

Hu Ge, whom Qi Hao was about to collaborate with, had a car accident in 2006—his assistant died in the rescue, Hu Ge himself received over a hundred stitches, and went from a rising star to a career low.

That’s precisely why Tang Ren was willing to pay Qi Hao a high price.

If this System Edition Santana could grant Qi Hao immunity from injury in three car crashes, it would be incredible.

Not immortality—just no injury!

So this reward revealed another crucial question:

The System, whose very existence was already mystical, was now embracing mystical concepts.

Three car crashes, zero injury.

Was that a scientifically valid concept?

The System had a bit of a charlatan streak.

As for credibility, Qi Hao still trusted the System’s promises.

But he wouldn’t deliberately test whether he’d die in a car crash.

What if?

What if the System was lying? What if it wanted to swap him for a female Host?

After all, he’d once called it “a dog system that fucked a lizard.”

Now he realized how wrong that was.

Fortunately, the System was magnanimous—didn’t hold grudges, didn’t mind being cursed, gave him Tencent stock, and even cared about his personal safety.

Maybe the next reward would be even better.

Praise the System!

If he really survived a car crash unharmed, he wouldn’t need to worry about suspicion.

Some cars overturning into roadside ditches cause injuries or deaths; others roll down hillsides with only minor concussions.

Because he’d been busy with his studio, Qi Hao hadn’t picked up the car Gao Yang gave him.

But this Santana, he planned to pick up right after completing the task.

In the future…

One of the Four Young Kings, newly crowned Best Actor, boss of Qi Hao Studio, partner to a coal tycoon worth billions, shareholder in Tencent Group worth over twenty billion—Qi Hao would now be commuting in a Santana.

What? Embarrassing!

Embarrassing how?

Is your life more important, or your money?

Of course… both are important!

With three crash-immune rides, this was way safer than driving a tank to work.

System Brother, I love you!

The next day, Qi Hao contacted Zhang Nan—calling Lao Tian meant he’d complain even while working.

One by one, chirping upward; one always whining—who wouldn’t know which to pick?

“Hey, Boss~”

Zhang Nan was eating breakfast in the living room; an imposing old man glanced at him but said nothing.

The old man held a toddler on his lap, ruining the air of authority.

“I’ve compiled the voice acting jobs available, but since your schedule doesn’t include voice work, I haven’t paid much attention—I’ll turn on my computer and sync with you now.”

Zhang Nan dropped his meal and stood up to head to the study.

“Ah, this kid of ours takes work too seriously—he doesn’t spend enough time with you…” Zhang Nan’s mother pitied his wife.

His wife shook her head: “It’s good he has ambition.”

What need for a bicycle?

Born well, good character, no gambling, no womanizing, single-mindedly focused on his career—such a husband was hard to find even with a lantern.

Zhang Nan shut the study door, locking everything out—no one could interfere with his career.

“What’s the latest voice acting job?”

Qi Hao was already impatient—not because of the reward, not because of the three electric shocks—he just wanted to do the task.

He loved doing tasks.

Positive, driven.

“I need to call and confirm—some jobs that look close might already have voice actors signed on—I’ll contact them now and update you.”

Qi Hao didn’t even need to urge him—Zhang Nan started working immediately.

Some people cuddled outside; others got great news at work.

Even during the New Year, he didn’t slack off on his career.

Qi Hao hung up, stepped out of the room, and saw his cousin Hu Shan playing with Aobai.

“Bye-bye~”

“What are you babbling? Calling it ‘bye-bye’? Is it your generation?” Qi Hao’s father returned with breakfast.

Gaba cai, old tofu, fried dough sticks, and large pancakes.

Their breakfast was usually bought outside—variety was always abundant.

"Hehe, Ao Ao, bye-bye, Ao Bai~"

"That's enough, hurry up and eat..." Mrs. Qi walked in carrying groceries from the market.

"Did you buy little fish for Ao Bai?"

"I bought them..."

The whole family sat together at the breakfast table in the living room, which was tiny—after placing the dining table, there was barely enough space for a small two-person sofa.

Over breakfast, Qi Hao brought up the topic of buying a house again.

This time, Qi’s father didn’t oppose as strongly.

Clearly, Qi Hao’s mention of bringing a girlfriend home had struck a chord; if his son had the means, slightly improving their living conditions wasn’t a bad idea.

But buying a house was a major decision—where to buy, what kind to buy—these were matters requiring careful thought.

Qi Hao was disappointed that Tongzi hadn’t released any related quests.

Otherwise, he could’ve taken on a side quest and maybe earned more Penguin shares as a reward.

After a while, the conversation turned to cousin Hu Shan’s employment.

"Have you found an internship yet? If not, you could try coming to my place."

Qi Hao didn’t practice nepotism, but he also wouldn’t deliberately shut his cousin out.

"No need, I found an internship at the TV station," Hu Shan quickly declined.

The family treated her wonderfully, like a biological daughter.

Yet, she was ultimately "living under someone else’s roof," so she never burdened the family with problems she could solve herself—her independence was exceptional.

"Heh, your sister’s from Nankai—look at you!"

His father’s Gaba Cai lost its flavor; he glared at this good-for-nothing with rising anger.

After decades of teaching, he’d produced many successful students.

During holidays, plenty of top students from Tsinghua and Peking University came to visit him.

Many of the teachers at Nankai University, right outside their door, had once been his students.

Too bad—no matter how many good students he’d turned out, his own son had only a junior high diploma.

"Cough... I’ve got something to do. You guys eat slowly."

Just then his phone rang—it was Zhang Nan calling. Qi Hao quickly grabbed a fried dough stick and made a hasty exit.

Though I have no achievements, at least I’m still alive.

So what if I’m a junior high student?

Junior high students have the right to live too.

Sigh, every year when I come home, if I don’t get beaten, it’s already a cause for celebration.

Still, considering both my parents are teachers, I really am pushing it.

Qi Hao, knowing he was in the wrong, always avoided confrontation.

"Boss, how many projects can be taken on fastest? I confirmed none have signed new voice actors yet—they are..."

Zhang Nan worked at lightning speed; within minutes, she’d already delivered the results Qi Hao wanted.

"What’s your suggestion?" Qi Hao asked.

With a top-tier workhorse like her, he didn’t even bother using his own brain.

"I think we should take on dubbing for Hollywood blockbusters—like Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda. The first is a live-action superhero film, the second an animated film. Both can be signed now, with recording starting after the New Year."