Chapter 162

Chapter 162

After finishing the college entrance exam, Lou Sheng had plenty of time to rest and earn money.

For over two months, he took on two tutoring jobs, working from morning till night without taking a single day off.

017 hoped he’d take some time to rest and not overdo it.

Lou Sheng wasn’t solely motivated by money; he just wanted to do something desperately, though he couldn’t find any direction.

Lou Sheng bought himself a basic smartphone, not the latest model, but it was cheap and durable.

By July, the temperature in Beiyang City had climbed even higher. Lou Sheng’s room didn’t have air conditioning, and since the floor was quite high, he only cracked the window slightly to prevent Chang Sheng from accidentally running out.

Lou Sheng could endure the scorching heat, but Chang Sheng was panting from the heat. Last year, Chang Sheng was still a skinny little thing, and the summer heat didn’t affect him much. But after a year, he had gained so much weight that he was barely recognizable, and this summer, he was especially sensitive to the heat.

Last summer, 017 had exchanged a fan from the service point. Lou Sheng only used it occasionally during his nightly studies, but now it was Chang Sheng’s turn to benefit. The fan was on all day, and Chang Sheng would press his face against it, squinting as the breeze hit him.

Seeing how much Chang Sheng loved it, Lou Sheng said, “By October, I’ll find us a place with air conditioning for summer and heating for winter.”

Once he started university, he’d have more ways to earn money. Lou Sheng wasn’t too picky about where he lived, but Chang Sheng had gotten pickier, often sitting by the window to look at the scenery outside, complaining that the house was too small.

017 felt relieved.

His host was finally starting to take better care of himself.

“You’re going to need a computer for college.”

Lou Sheng knew exactly what 017 was thinking and said, “Don’t get it from the service point. I can buy it myself.”

“The service point has cheaper electronics.” Although Lou Sheng was making decent money from tutoring now, buying a computer would still eat up half a month’s earnings, not to mention that university tuition wasn’t cheap either.

Lou Sheng frowned. He now knew that 017 had used his own points for all the past exchanges.

“If we’re exchanging anything, it should be with my points.”

Over the past two years, he hadn’t actively pursued tasks, but he had still racked up over 4,000 gratitude points, which he had never used.

Lou Sheng wasn’t entirely clear on what the points were good for, only that they could be exchanged for food and daily necessities.

“017, how many points do you have?”

“75,000 points total.” He’d spent 15,000 points in the last two years.

Lou Sheng: “…That’s it?”

017 felt a pang at his incredulous tone, “Is… is that very little?”

“…Yes.” Lou Sheng thought, 017 had been through over ninety worlds, and he never hesitated to exchange things from the service point. He had assumed 017 was a little millionaire with hundreds of thousands of points.

017 was a bit upset.

Most systems he encountered at the transfer center would envy the amount of points he had saved. Why did it seem so trivial to Lou Sheng?

Lou Sheng asked, “Can points be transferred?”

“What?”

“Transferred.” Lou Sheng’s tone was calm, as if he were talking about something completely ordinary.

"I don't want anything, I'll give you all my points."

017 was stunned.

"How can that be? Headquarters has no precedent for this..."

"Can't I apply for it?"

017 reminded him, "Host, points are extremely valuable."

Lou Sheng smiled, "When you exchanged things for the house, why didn’t you think points were valuable?"

"...It's different. I’ll have another host, and I still have many opportunities to earn points."

Lou Sheng’s smile faded slightly.

Another host...

"017. Are you this good to all your hosts?"

017 didn't understand the meaning of his question and answered somewhat shyly, "It’s my duty; it’s not about being 'good'."

Duty...

Lou Sheng lowered his eyes and said, "Mm."

017 clearly sensed Lou Sheng’s mood drop and his tone unconsciously became cautious, "Host, did I say something wrong?"

"No."

"But you seem upset."

Lou Sheng didn't answer his question directly, only saying, "017, I want to give you my points."

"I have hands, feet, and a good education—I can get anything I want on my own."

"..."

Lou Sheng glanced at Chang Sheng, who was comfortably squinting in front of the fan, and suddenly remembered the dumb thing he did last year, carrying the tuition fees 017 helped him recover, he went to the busiest mall in Bei Yang, but couldn’t find a gift to give him.

The only thing he could give 017 was these virtual gratitude points.

He wouldn’t be 017’s last host, and this was all he could do.

Lou Sheng turned away from the window, his pupils dark under long lashes.

After a long pause, 017 spoke softly, "I’ll ask Zero Eight about transferring points."

Lou Sheng raised his eyes, a bit of light in his gaze.

017, "Points are far more important to the system than you think, host."

Lou Sheng chuckled softly, reaching out to pat Chang Sheng’s head.

"As long as it helps you."

"It’s very useful."

017 was silent for a few seconds. "...There’s a function card at the service point that can bring a soul back to life."

Lou Sheng's hand froze mid-action.

Chang Sheng, halfway through being petted, found Lou Sheng's palm too warm and rolled away.

Lou Sheng's heart raced, but his tone to 017 showed no emotion. "How many points for that card?"

"A hundred thousand points."

"A hundred thousand..." Lou Sheng echoed.

"Yes."

So, Lou Sheng's gift meant a lot to 017.

It was the first time a host offered to give him their points.

017 shouldn't have accepted such a generous gift, but he had a reason he was too embarrassed to say.

He wanted to enter Lou Sheng's world and see him in person.

"017. If I give you all my points, you won’t need another host, right?"

He’d earned four thousand points in two years; in ten, he’d easily have over twenty thousand. Maybe even less—five or six years if he worked hard.

017 thought for a moment and said, "That’s right."

Lou Sheng pressed his hand to his chest, his heart racing, fingers trembling with excitement.

But he stayed silent.

017 said, "Thanks, host."

Lou Sheng smiled, "When you come back, don’t forget to visit me."

017 said earnestly, "I’ll come see you first."

*

017 asked Zero Eight about transferring points.

"Long ago, a Tasker transferred points to a system, and the Main God opened a channel for it," Zero Eight said.

017 was surprised. "I’ve never seen that."

"It got shut down later."

"Why?"

"Because host-system relationships can be more intimate than partnerships. Once, someone exploited this bond to steal points, revived themselves, and left the other behind."

017 murmured, "...I didn’t trick him."

Did he? 017 didn’t mean to deceive, but Zero Eight’s reminder made him second-guess.

Zero Eight said, "I get it."

After all, no scammer scams themselves out of their own money.

She had watched 017's points drop from a five-digit number starting with nine to seventy thousand. If 017 had continued doing tasks in the virtual world as usual, he should have had a hundred thousand points by now.

"Given that, I’ll need to investigate your host before allowing the transfer."

017 agreed.

That night, Lou Sheng received a strange questionnaire in his dream.

The front of the questionnaire looked like the fraud prevention poster the police had put up downstairs a few days ago, complete with a case where system 0XX-6XX had tricked host Liu so-and-so out of 30,000 points. The back of the questionnaire had the real questions.

Lou Sheng knew he was dreaming.

Everything was pitch black, except for him and the questionnaire, which were illuminated.

After a brief pause, Lou Sheng started answering the questions.

Question 1: Please select the reason for your points transfer.

Among the list of options below, Lou Sheng chose "Other," and then wrote "I feel like it" in the blank line provided.

...

Question 12: Has system 009-017 established an intimate relationship with you?

Lou Sheng checked "No."

Question 13: Has system 009-017 used an intimate relationship as a condition to induce you to transfer points?

Lou Sheng smirked and checked "No."

If only that were true.

If 017 ever started scamming, he'd be the first to get scammed.