Chapter 3: Shenhao System in the City (3)

Xie Yang: "..."

It simply overturned her worldview!

Shouldn't the Shenhao System be a seasoned veteran most adept at acting cool and slapping faces? How is it a nursing baby?

Main System:

【This task world is a reboot; the original world has already collapsed, and this little guy has also been restored to factory settings, so its mimicry is in the state it was when it first left the factory.

In the original world, it was bound to Bai Xuanxuan downstairs from you.

Bai Xuanxuan was love-struck and told her boyfriend, Wu Tianyu, about the existence of the Shenhao System.

The Wu family background is extremely complex; they were involved in organized crime in Hong Kong in the early days, and even now, they are not clean.

The Shenhao System's grand spending inflated his appetite, fueling his ambition to replace the legitimate business world and restore past glories, which led to a series of disastrous events and ultimately caused the collapse of this world.】

Xie Yang raised an eyebrow: "Since that's the case, this silly, sweet little System has now been intercepted by me. The world shouldn't collapse again, so can I submit the task and leave?"

The milky-looking Shenhao System opened its eyes wide, as if asking: Is that even possible?

Main System: 【...】

No Host had ever made such a request before.

Does this count as completing the task?

The Main System almost burned its own CPU to the point of crashing.

The interface flickered for a long time before popping out a sentence:

【While recovering the Golden Finger, it is also necessary to maintain the harmonious development of this plane. These two tasks complement each other and cannot be separated.

If the Host submits the task and leaves now, it can at best only be said that half of the task has been completed.】

Seemingly worried that Xie Yang would not agree, the Main System added another sentence:

【The reward points will also be heavily discounted.】

Xie Yang lazily examined her fingernails and asked: "What are reward points used for?"

【They have many uses, such as hiring the System to search for all information the Host wants to search for, or blocking any images the Host wants to block.】

"That sounds like it's serving the task; it doesn't seem to be of any help to me personally."

【How could that be! If the task is completed beautifully, the Host can obtain more points. With more points, there are more uses, and as for what uses...】

Wait!

Had it been led into a trap by the Host?

This Host is a bit difficult to deal with.

The Main System simply changed the subject: 【Once the Host leaves, the body will die and the soul will vanish. The original owner's mother will still suffer the tragedy of the original world, and the original owner's maternal grandparents, uncles, aunts, and all the relatives who care about her will not have a good end either.】

The Main System pulled up the video data from before this task world collapsed and rebooted.

On this day in the original world, the original owner did indeed commit suicide by taking sleeping pills. When Xie Shuling rushed home, what she saw was her daughter whose breathing had already stopped; even if the ambulance had arrived, it would have been in vain.

Her daughter was dead, and Xie Shuling fell into deep self-reproach.

Already prone to depression, her condition worsened instantly. On the original owner's birthday, she left a suicide note for her relatives and walked toward the rising tide of the river...

When the Xie Family learned of the news of the mother and daughter's deaths, they rushed over from their hometown.

Carrying heavy grief, they handled the funeral arrangements, held the ashes of the mother and daughter, and sat in the van that the second son of the Xie Family used for transport to return to their hometown for burial. On the way, they collided head-on with an out-of-control large truck, resulting in three deaths and nine injuries.

Even those who survived were left with disabilities and could never walk out of this nightmare for the rest of their lives.

Xie Yang sighed: "Alright, I get it. But aren't you going to give me some compensation? I didn't have to work so hard; it would have been so nice to ascend to the Immortal World, riding clouds and mist, drinking dew, and leisurely enjoying retirement. I was bound here by you to this world that collapses at every turn for no reason—what benefit do I get?"

The Main System's electronic voice even stuttered: 【The Saint System said you were a good person.】

Aren't good people supposed to not ask for rewards?

Xie Yang found it amusing: "What did you call that system?"

【...】

Oh right, that was the Saint System; whoever it binds to becomes the biggest saint in this world, unless they want to suffer electric shock punishment.

Facing Xie Yang, who had let herself go after unbinding from the Saint System, the Main System felt that its CPU was more than just crashed—it was almost burned to a crisp.

【Host, how about this?

Once you complete the Golden Finger recovery task, the System guarantees to send you back to the point in time when you were ascending to the Immortal World, without delaying your retirement.

At the same time, you may choose one Golden Finger that has been returned to the factory for repairs to be permanently gifted to you.】

"Deal!"

Seeing that the Host had agreed to do the task, the milky-looking Shenhao System instantly regained its spirit, withdrew its look of worship toward the Main System, and began issuing tasks to Xie Yang:

【Ding! The Shenhao System is at your service! Now issuing a task: Building a harmonious society cannot be done without a clean environment. Please complete the hallway cleaning work within 12 hours. Upon completion of the task, you will be rewarded with one old building in Wanhua Residential Quarter that has been in disrepair for years.】

Xie Yang picked at her ear: "Do you want to hear what you're saying? Aren't you the Shenhao System? Why is the reward so stingy, not even as generous as the previous Saint System? An old building is just an old building, and it's been in disrepair for years—doesn't that make it a dangerous building?"

【Ahem, it's the very building you are living in now, Host.】

Xie Yang: "..."

Although the reward sounded uninspiring, thinking about how she was penniless at the moment, even if she had the chance to move out later, she could rent it to others to earn rent, right?

Besides, it's not one unit, it's one whole building!

The old building she lived in had three units, each unit had two households per floor, and of course, this "floor" meant stairs. The total height was five stories; one unit meant ten apartments, so one building meant thirty apartments!

Although Wanhua Residential Quarter was old and there were no famous school districts nearby, and the location was certainly not the "inch of land, inch of gold" City Center, the transportation was still very convenient—

Buses, subways, suburban buses, Light Rail Line 1... there were many options for getting around.

Office workers who couldn't afford to buy a house but wanted to save on rent could save a thousand or eight hundred a month by riding a few more stops, so the rental market in this residential quarter was still very hot, and there was no worry about not being able to rent them out.

Xie Yang accepted this task.

The Shenhao System began to dutifully count down: 【There are 11 hours, 59 minutes, and 58 seconds left for the Host to complete the task...】

"No rush! Let me eat a meal first."

Xie Yang stretched, slowly standing up from her chair.

【...】

Xie Shuling works part-time at a chain Hot Pot restaurant every weekend.

Today is Saturday, and normally she would have to work until the Hot Pot restaurant closes at 1:30 AM before heading home.

Having received her daughter's farewell message, she pleaded with the manager to get time off and return early.

She arrived home around 4:00 PM, had a good cry, took a shower, and it was just about time to make dinner.

In fact, before leaving for work in the morning, she had already prepared lunch and dinner for her daughter:

A plate of spiced beef and a dish of Salt shrimp, covered in plastic wrap and placed in the refrigerator.

The staple food was Rice, kept warm in the rice cooker, ready to eat at any time.

She didn't make any vegetables, as they wouldn't be fresh by noon or evening anyway; besides, it was hot, so cold dishes were fine.

Xie Shuling had bought plenty of Tomato and Cucumber to stock in the refrigerator's crisper; when she was home, she would make sugared Tomato or smashed Cucumber, but when she was away at work, she would just let her daughter wash them and eat them raw.

But after crying today, Xie Shuling felt her relationship with her daughter had grown much closer, and since she was home early for once, she wanted to cook a fresh, hot meal for her daughter.