Chapter 161: Professor’s Rebate System is Taken Over by the Poor Thing (5)

Chapter 161: Professor's Rebate System is Taken Over by the Poor Thing (5)

Song Chuyi took the phone and opened a shopping app to make a selection.

Meanwhile, Xiaotong spoke up in his mind.

"Host, this phone has the aura of data tampering by that Rebate System."

Song Chuyi nodded silently in agreement.

"Yeah, it’s the digital payment era now. The system has to stay relevant."

Xiaotong: "Damn it! How is this rogue system evolving faster than me!"

"I still can’t mess with bank info."

Song Chuyi: "..."

He couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Maybe because it’s not officially registered, it has to hustle harder."

"You’ve got your official status and steady energy, so no worries."

Xiaotong: "Fair point, hehe. The rogue system probably burned through a ton of energy messing with the data."

As he chatted with Xiaotong, Song Chuyi picked out a massive LCD TV and passed the phone to Ning Xiuping.

"This one," he said, lifting his chin proudly, "Get it for me."

Ning Xiuping paid for it.

The TV was pricey—100,000 yuan for this model.

He didn’t have that much in his account, but the payment still went through.

Ning Xiuping knew exactly what was going on—the Rebate System was at it again.

After he finished paying, a message popped up.

"Your bank account 001 has been credited with 20000.00 yuan."

Ning Xiuping lightly tapped the screen to dismiss the message and said, "It's bought."

Song Chuyi smiled with narrowed eyes.

A second later, Ning Xiuping heard the Rebate System chime in mentally.

"Mission target's favorability: 2"

Ning Xiuping rubbed the phone screen with his fingertips, as if thinking of something, and chuckled softly.

The kid’s guard was up tight; even splashing out that much cash only budged his favorability a tiny bit.

Song Chuyi was commanding Xiaotong in his mind to add a bit of favorability for himself.

Even though it was just a little, it represented his recognition!

Song Chuyi tilted his head slightly and placed his foot on Ning Xiuping's thigh, holding a book titled *Cold and Ruthless Young Master, Be Gentle* in his hand, and opened a page.

"Brother Ning, want to read together?"

"No need." Ning Xiuping was about to get up, but his movement paused when he felt the warmth on his thigh.

He picked up his phone, took screenshots of the recent bank deposit notifications, uploaded them to an encrypted email, and then deleted the messages.

He only had one class a week and usually stayed in the lab when he had nothing else to do.

However, the experiment had recently hit a bottleneck, and the most critical reason was the lack of funds.

If the funding could be resolved, they could acquire advanced equipment, and the experiment could proceed smoothly.

The problem seemed tough, but right now, it felt surprisingly simple to address.

The Rebate System in his mind kept talking.

"Host, keep it up! Just increase the affection points by 8 more, and the rebate will increase by 10%."

"Spend 100 on the mission target and get 30 yuan back."

Ning Xiuping's eyes flickered, and he uncharacteristically asked, "What happens if the affection points reach 100?"

The Rebate System laughed exaggeratedly. "It will be a 10,000 times reward!"

"Spend one hundred and get one million back!"

The number was so absurd that Ning Xiuping glanced at Song Chuyi.

The young man had no idea what he and the Rebate System in his mind were discussing; he was focused on reading his novel.

He would laugh out loud when he reached a funny part, his legs tapping restlessly on Ning Xiuping's thigh.

It didn’t hurt, but it sent a strange tingling sensation through him.

Ning Xiuping calmly shifted his gaze and asked again, "What does 100 affection points mean?"

The Rebate System: "It means he loves you with unwavering devotion."

Ning Xiuping's heart trembled slightly.

Love... was it?

He had never even thought about it.

Bringing the young man home was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

The young man was strikingly handsome, but his rain-drenched, vulnerable look made him seem both fragile and endearing.

He could sense the grievance and loneliness emanating from the young man.

He still couldn’t understand why he had approached the young man last night.

Everything could only be explained as an impulse.

He had never thought that the young man would love him.

He didn’t hold any expectations for that.

It was too early to think about these things now, especially since the young man's affection points towards him were only 2.

The low single-digit number reminded him that, to the young man, he was still just a stranger with a faint hint of affection.

Ning Xiuping pursed his lips and suddenly raised his hand to grab the young man's ankle.

Song Chuyi snapped his head up to look at Ning Xiuping, a look of confusion on his face.

"Brother Ning, what's wrong?"

Ning Xiuping's large hand holding the ankle wasn't tight, but it still left a faint red mark on the fair skin.

"It's nothing."

His gaze dropped to the red mark, and he released his grip.

"What else are you after?"

Song Chuyi pretended to think for a moment.

"We already have a TV, how about we get a big sofa?"

"Something really soft. This sofa of yours is a little too firm."

Ning Xiuping let out a low "Hmm."

After a beat, he asked again, "Anything else?"

Song Chuyi seemed to have gotten fully interested, pointing at the furniture in the room and starting to list things.

"This dining table isn't nice-looking, let's get a white one."

"And an oven, a microwave..."

He listed many items, and Ning Xiuping agreed to all of them.

The more Song Chuyi talked, the more into it he got, putting down his novel and moving closer to Ning Xiuping.

"How about we pick them together now?"

He got so close that Ning Xiuping could feel the young man's breath.

"Okay."

Ning Xiuping responded in a low voice, his fingertips tapping open a shopping app, and he started selecting items with Song Chuyi.

Two hours later, Ning Xiuping looked at the total of 300,000 worth of items in the shopping cart and pressed the one-click payment button.

The payment went through instantly, without needing a password, and a 'Payment Successful' message popped up.

Song Chuyi had clearly seen the 300,000 total as well and motioned for Xiaotong to add to the affection points.

At the same time, Ning Xiuping heard the Rebate System's voice in his mind.

"Mission target affection points: 3"

Ning Xiuping hesitated, and a quiet chuckle rose in his chest.

The kid was definitely... greedy and a bit selfish.

But somehow, his greed felt justified and even expected.

The young man seemed to possess an innate sense of entitlement.

He deserves all the luxury in the world; a mere 300,000 worth of furniture is an understatement for someone like him.

Ning Xiuping doesn't mind spending money on Song Chuyi.

He just feels that the extra bit of favorability feels like a weight on his chest.

But even he isn't clear whether this feeling of unease is because they haven't hit the Rebate System's 10-point goal, or because he wants to matter more to the young man.

Or maybe, he doesn't want to face the real reason for his inner restlessness.

A man who’s always been confident never likes to admit it.

The truly greedy one is none other than him.