Chapter 7: The Bottom Line Incident 23

An: Then thanks.

The boy didn't want to say more. Since the goal had already been achieved, it was naturally time to place the order. Whether the other party threw in an extra one or gave nothing at all, it wouldn't cause him any real impact, not even the slightest ripple. He glanced at the time—only one minute left before his planned schedule, and he couldn't delay any longer, otherwise he might end up distracted during dinner later. So the sooner things wrapped up, the better.

Customer Service: Aiya, you're too polite. Your patronage is this shop's honor. If you don't mind, let me ask one more thing—what school are you at right now? Maybe we're alumni.

An: Yishang Academy.

Customer Service: Oh, what a coincidence then. I came from there myself. I still remember playing by the fountain back then, almost fell in, if not for…

The customer service rep performed to himself, and the boy couldn't be bothered with him. He exited the chat interface and placed the order directly. Real or fake, a quick check would tell. If it really wasn't reliable, he'd just buy himself a lesson. With the red packet from earlier as support, at least he'd still come out ahead. Though it wasn't much, there was still a sense of fulfillment.

The scammer saw that after so many attempts to get close, all his efforts had vanished without a trace, forcing him to give up for now. It had worked flawlessly a hundred times before—who would have thought he'd finally hit a wall? He secretly vowed: once the other party placed the order and the goods were shipped, he'd block them without hesitation. How dare they resist my tricks—just remember this! So he switched tactics, his words dripping with seductive charm. Perhaps those fond of chasing petty gains would truly believe they could be that one-in-ten-thousand lucky winner.

Customer Service: If you can leave a good review after closing the order, you can also spin the cash-back wheel we provide. Let me give you a little heads-up here—the maximum is ten times the original amount, so you can purchase with complete confidence.

An: Mm, order placed. Time to ship.

Customer Service: Alright, looking forward to your order here. Wishing you a pleasant life!

!!! Huh? That easy to place the order? Damn, it can't be withdrawn. Then weren't all those words for nothing? No, let me check the backend first to see if the order is really placed.

Oh-ho! Really decisive, looks like a kid from a rich family. Time for another title—the village chief's silly son, so easy to scam. Looks like the planned scam difficulty levels still need revising. For instance, "stupid with lots of money" must rank first. This kind of client must be given priority attention. So… better reply quickly.

Customer Service: Hello, esteemed customer, thank you for your trust. We'll arrange shipment for you right away.

The moment this string of messages appeared, the boy's brain seemed to flip some hidden switch. Countless obscure, hard-to-understand pieces of knowledge poured in frantically. A wave of dizziness suddenly struck, and he almost dropped his phone again.

He couldn't tell what these things were either. In any case, once they entered his brain, they vanished completely, as if they'd never come. But what had entered remained unchanged, vast as an ocean, endlessly surging. Even gripping the bed's edge for support couldn't put him at ease—he was afraid one hard squeeze would snap it off. But that was ultimately just fantasy; right now he didn't possess that kind of divine strength.

This caused his not-particularly-strong arms to have veins bulging, and a twisted expression to appear on his delicate face. Drops of sweat fell—brought on by pain. Though he kept telling himself to accept it naturally, his body still refused to listen and rebelled, trying to push it out. It was the very epitome of being caught between a rock and a hard place.

On one side, information kept pouring into his brain in a torrent; on the other, his self-torture to keep himself from fainting. His entire body was running on overload like this. After a not-particularly-long period of settling, he—still collapsed.

……

"Yizhen! Yizhen! Wake up. Hey, Mingyang, how did he end up collapsed here? Did someone take a dislike and ambush our dorm's handsome guys? And they let Youngest lie on this cold, cold floor—truly a total moral collapse. We must track down this culprit and demand justice for him."

The boy had been unconscious for who knows how long when a sudden burst of conversation reached his ears. There was no coldness beneath him, so clearly he was no longer in his original spot. As for where he was, only opening his eyes would reveal. But his eyelids still needed time before they could lift—because that special impact to his brain had successfully transformed his dizziness into heavy lethargy. Without pause, he'd probably drift back to sleep in moments. Compared to those drowsy people, you couldn't say it was exactly the same, only that the situation was strikingly similar. Wanting to move felt nearly impossible.

"Alright, shut your mouth. Stop being so conspiracy-minded. I think he's just too hungry—probably didn't go out all afternoon and fainted from hunger. Perfect timing, I brought in an extra egg pancake on the way back. If we shake him awake and he eats normally, he should be fine."

The other voice was much steadier. At a glance he could tell the boy's symptoms—practically no different from those who faint from hunger. His lips were turning pale—dehydrated and out of food. Sigh, why can't he take better care of himself? And now this. If I hadn't prepared, besides giving him water, there'd be nothing I could do.

As for the instant noodles and other stock, it was all cleared out. The plan had been to restock at the school shop tomorrow. Looking at it now, he had to prepare more portions in the future, just to be ready. Even though the chance of it happening again wasn't high, it still had to be guarded against.

"Fine, fine, but how much longer do we have to shake him? So much force and still no reaction. I'm starting to suspect Yizhen is faking being asleep."

The boy was still being shaken steadily. The force wasn't great, nor was it small—descriptions were ultimately just descriptions; the actual pressure still had to be controlled. Otherwise, if it really caused unpleasantness, it might lead to some uncontrollable situations. So one must know how to hold back. Even if you play well together, if it hurts, tempers will flare.

"Fine, move aside. Usually seeing your good grades, I thought you understood things thoroughly. Looks like I'll have to do it myself."

Mingyang disgustedly pulled him aside and decided to take over himself. Shaking didn't work, so clearly he had to use another method. He had to wake him up no matter what.

They couldn't possibly feed him bite by bite either—besides letting him handle it himself, there was really very little they could do to help.

So what needed doing had to be done properly. It wasn't for nothing that he'd been ranked once. As Youngest, privileges still existed—namely, getting each one of these warm attentions. Though not many, they were thoughtful enough.

So when it came to preferences, Mingyang, this dorm leader, knew them practically inside out.

"What? Mingyang, do you guys have some secret? You're not telling me? Next time I'm not taking you to play Frost Mountain Valley."

The boy pulled aside also understood Mingyang's words—this was using a little secret to coax Yizhen awake. But from the mysterious curl of his lips, no need to guess, it was something he didn't know. Seeing this, he got even more anxious and directly threatened with not being carried in the game. His intentions were already clear.

"Damn, Zhenlin, that's a bit dog of you. How can you use winning or losing a game to define the value of a secret? Let's talk nicely. Right now, wake Yizhen up first. The rest we can talk about later. You don't want to see him just lying there like that, do you? Like a corpse—creepy as hell."

Mingyang had no choice. For now he could only come up with one delaying tactic to cope. As for revealing the secret, after talking with Yizhen and getting his consent, only then could he say it. He couldn't really throw away a friendship over a game—what would be the difference between that and a beast?

Character needs to be built over the long term. If, for a small gain, you expose what someone doesn't want exposed, you can only say that person doesn't deserve to be a friend at all. Compared to those traitors who sell their country for glory, they're even more despised by the world. As a dorm leader with ideals and ambitions, temptations will absolutely not be few. Overcoming them is what truly needs to be persisted in and striven for.