Chapter 75: A Small Goal

The famous mixed-blood families in Jingcheng with names and surnames have almost all been tracked down; what's left are just scattered small fry, some with excellent bloodlines, but none of them are local.

Su Lin had no intention of wasting effort searching any further.

It's just like working at a company—once your KPIs are met and won't be affected, any extra effort you put in only adds to the boss's wealth; your year-end bonus won't change one bit.

This is the time to know how to slack off.

Fish are so cute.

"Your grilled fish."

"Thanks."

Su Lin sat at a bustling roadside stall, a grilled fish and a serving of braised offal with baked flatbread set on the small square table.

He hadn't expected that his first time in Jingcheng would actually be Jingcheng in the year 2011.

Su Lin gazed at the Sihe Academy across the street; his impressions of this city had come from various TV dramas and news reports.

The standard-issue Sihe Academy that showed up in every period drama across the way would, in just a few more years, skyrocket in value to over a hundred million.

If he were the protagonist of a rebirth story, right now he should be figuring out how to make money and buy one of those.

Fortunately, he wasn't.

Su Lin took a bite of braised large intestine.

"So good."

The chat group and the system were just too good.

Speaking of which, even Lu Mingfei had his own little goal—what was his little goal again?

Become an immortal or proclaim himself emperor.

He always felt that besides indulging in pleasures and traveling around, it seemed he really didn't have any goal.

Working this hard now was only because he worried that his hometown world might end up with some script like "a great power returns" or "spiritual energy revives" that would sweep him into the tide of the times.

Isn't that how they always write it in novels? The protagonist gets some cheat, then all sorts of miscellaneous things happen—chance encounters, meet-cutes, and female leads just show up.

Su Lin picked up a piece of tofu and put it in his mouth; the yellowish-brown skin was coated in braising juice full of spice flavors, while the white, tender inside was still a bit scalding hot.

He had to find a way to keep slacking off.

To keep growing stronger for the sake of fulfilling his mission and saving the world? If power came with a price, he was willing to bear it.

But at the same time, if he could cheat his way through and clear the dungeon, why bother putting in the effort?

His life wasn't a novel; whether some hack author who received the stream of information and wrote a work related to him could keep writing or not was none of his business.

Watching the vendors busy with their trade and the passers-by hurrying back and forth, Su Lin firmed up his conviction.

Strive to seize the chance to lie flat—one stretch of labor, eternal ease.

One hand gripping the fish head and the other the fish tail, Su Lin hugged it and gnawed away with no regard for his image, red oil dripping down the fish's body into the grill pan.

The side effects of the Gu Tianwang technique really were something else—they had actually made his disposition so naturally easygoing.

"Still gotta… smack smack… set a bigger goal."

Su Lin muttered to himself as he ate the grilled fish.

He was about to reach Jin Dan soon; what if his extraordinary talent directly triggered the side effects of the Nascent Soul stage?

Things were already salty enough as it was….

A bigger goal, a bigger goal…

The moment he thought about how even another Lu Mingfei had the goal of advancing human technological progress—though a large part of it was because he found the entertainment and games of this era too trashy—

Think bigger.

Something that concerns all of humanity.

Ignoring the startled glances of the other customers and passers-by, Su Lin gnawed a fish down to nothing but the skeleton, not even spitting out the bones.

He wiped his hands with a free napkin of rather poor quality; a flow of water nearly invisible to the naked eye swept quickly across his hands, and the temperature of his hands rose rapidly.

He waved his hands twice to dissipate the water vapor, then Su Lin pulled out his wallet to pay the bill.

"Fifty-six yuan." The grilled fish boss handed the grill rack to his wife, jogged over to collect the payment, and didn't forget to tell a kid doing homework at a small table by the road: "Write it properly! I'll come check in a bit!"

"What grade is the kid in?" Su Lin asked casually.

"Sixth grade, about to start middle school." The man pulled a stack of small change from his apron pocket; the neatly stacked bills were held together by an iron clip.

"That's a lot of homework."

Su Lin saw several exercise books and a few test papers beside the little boy.

"What can you do?" the somewhat portly middle-aged man said as he made change. "Competition is fierce, pressure is high—if you don't work hard, what'll you do in the future?"

"Everything's gone up in price these past few years—even my grilled fish has to go up a little every few months. The money I make hasn't increased much, but the surplus keeps shrinking." The man shook his head and handed the change to Su Lin: "I really hope he won't have to work as hard as we do when he grows up."

"Take care, come again next time."

After casually grumbling a few complaints to passing customers, the man went back to the grill, took over the rack, and continued flipping a grass carp over the fire.

Decided.

The goal was to let all of humanity live lying flat—clothes coming to hand, meals coming to mouth—enjoying life just like him.

The scope was pretty big too, not bad.

Let humanity lie flat until they don't want to anymore, then send a "hero" to represent humanity in overthrowing the utopia; he had even figured out how to wrap things up.

After his late-night snack, Su Lin strolled leisurely through the city, wondering curiously what the current Lu Mingfei might be up to.

In any case, he had booked his spot to watch Tokyo Love Story live on site.

He just didn't know what this "altered" Lu Mingfei would do.

Ding—

The chat group window popped up.

Hm?

【The first round of Administrator (trial run) voting will begin in 72 hours.】

【Every group member may participate in the vote; the member with the most votes will receive one year of administrator privileges and enjoy the administrator gift pack.】

【This vote follows the principles of fairness, openness, and impartiality; threatening others is prohibited.】

Ye Fan: "?"

Zhongli: "Administrator, interesting."

Han Li: "It finally came, huh."

Weigong Shilang: "@Han Li pick up the goods, whatever administrator stuff, we'll talk after I wake up—sleep is more important."

Weigong Shilang, whose stamina, magical power, mana, and brainpower were all overdrawn, wearily poured a bottle of spirit liquid into his mouth, then found a Shi Zhu to lean against; the iron shutter of his eyelids closed, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Ye Fan shook his head; a cloud appeared, slipped under Weigong Shilang, and lifted him up.

He glanced at the Black Emperor, who was off to the side studying something, then turned his gaze back to the chat group's administrator notification.

He actually wanted to compete for this thing too.

Miss Kelaien: "I have experience managing large online group chats."

Miss Kelaien: "Vote for me?"

Luffy: "Sure, but what's an administrator?"

Miss Kelaien: "The person who manages the group."

Luffy: "Sounds like a hassle... whatever, I guess."

Miss Kelaien: "It's settled then, vote for me."

Luffy: "No problem, I'm going to sleep too."

Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan: "Your Tarot Gathering, which is purely managed by group members' imagination, counts as management experience?"

Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan: "The Endless Fire Domain on my resume would be the first to disagree."

Ye Fan: "You really dare to say that, huh—pulling out things that haven't even happened yet."

Zhongli: "An administrator, besides possessing management ability, should also have a certain capacity for development, able to promote the growth of the chat group."

Zhongli: "This way, even if one doesn't win the election, one can still gain something, in line with everyone's common expectations."

Lu Mingfei: "Speaking from general rationality, indeed."

Zhongli: "......"

Bored, Lu Mingfei began flipping through a Genshin Impact artbook, which also contained Zhongli's character lines.

Su Lin: "If one day I become administrator, I'll repay all realms with peach blossoms in bloom."

Ye Fan: "Speak human."

Su Lin: "Red packet."