Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"We really can't eat anymore!"

The system groaned in frustration.

For the thousandth time, it cursed its luck—why did it have to get stuck with a dog host due to a system glitch?

After finally teaching her to behave like a human, as soon as they left the mountain, she ran wild like a stray dog, stuffing her face everywhere. The starting thousand bucks was down to just two hundred in no time. They hadn't even started the mission and were already broke!

A girl in a polo-neck dress stood bent over by a stewed meat shop on the street, her eyes glued to the stewed chicken legs in the glass display.

"Can't I really eat them? They look so yummy..."

"If you eat any more, you won't have enough for a place to stay tonight, you'll be sleeping on the streets!"

"We can crash in the park, the grass is soft and it's free!"

Hearing the system's concern, the dog-girl's face lit up with joy. Without a second thought, she pointed at the chicken legs and cheerfully told the clerk, "Hi, I'll take two of these chicken legs!"

The system groaned in frustration again.

It was wrong, it was dead wrong. You can't reason with a dog; you gotta take action!

It immediately coughed up penalty points to the main system, bypassed permissions, pulled out a stun baton, and zapped the doggo host.

"Sleep in the park! I've never had a host turn into a bum, you wanna show me, huh?! Ah?"

With a zap, the dog was zapped, hanging her head, looking utterly miserable.

The system fumed, black lines forming.

It was the one truly miserable! An old system, it had been through countless hosts, but this was the only one that not only didn't earn points but also cost it points.

Thirteen years ago, while searching for a new host, it unfortunately encountered a code turbulence and accidentally possessed the body of a recently deceased puppy. Once bound, it couldn't unbind, but how could a dog be a heroine?

So it gritted its teeth and spent points to reshape a human body.

But that wasn't enough.

The doggo had a human body but a dog's heart—imagine a heroine crawling around and barking, that's not for conquest, that's for scaring people!

So it spent ten despairing years teaching her to act like a human.

Reshaping the body took three years, teaching her took ten.

At the beginning, it planned to teach her to speak in just one or two years and then push her into the task process. If she failed, it would immediately find another host.

But this teaching lasted ten years.

In these ten years, it taught her word by word, going through phases of rage, breakdown, pain, self-doubt, being comforted by the doggo, then rage, breakdown, pain, and being comforted by the doggo again, finally completely brainwashing itself into a father figure.

So after the task started, it not only didn't stay invisible but also acted like a father, worrying about whether she was overeating and how much money she had left in her pocket.

They had only been down the mountain for a little over five hours, and she had already spent the initial funds, leaving only two hundred, all on food.

The stupid doggo loved meat, expensive steaks, roasted lamb chops, she devoured them in chunks, and she didn't listen.

Saying she's as obedient as a dog, that's from someone who's never raised a dog. A system that has raised dogs says dogs are not obedient at all!

After being startled, Lu Ke swallowed hard and reluctantly told the clerk, "Sorry, I don't want it anymore."

The handsome summer intern was surprised and troubled: "...But they've already been weighed."

Lu Ke said dejectedly, "Sorry, I suddenly remembered that I don't have enough money. I need to save it for a place to sleep tonight."

She was still staring at the chicken legs, her pretty face etched with longing and reluctance for the food.

It was heartbreaking to see.

I wonder what troubles such a beautiful girl has faced.

The shy clerk hesitated, then packed the two heavy chicken legs into a paper bag and handed it over, softly saying, "Never mind, they're on me."

What?

Lu Ke perked up, her blue eyes locking intently with his.

"Give them to me?"

The young clerk couldn't withstand the gaze and silently nodded.

Her sapphire eyes sparkled suddenly, as if a galaxy had been lit, and her smile was so radiant it could blind someone. "Thank you so much!"

Just as the young clerk was stunned by the smile, Lu Ke, who had taken the paper bag, suddenly leapt high—her agility was remarkable—and threw her arms around him in a warm, fragrant embrace.

"You're so nice! I really like you!!"

She said loudly, her voice brimming with warmth and sincerity, sweetly echoing in the young man's ears, like a sledgehammer breaking open a heart untouched for eighteen years.

Thump thump, his heart pounded so hard it felt like it might leap out.

And after embracing him, she happily trotted off with the chicken legs, leaving the young clerk stunned by her sudden embrace.

The young man stood still for a full two seconds. Gradually, a blush spread beneath his baseball cap, and his previously expressionless face flickered with surprise, panic, and subtle emotions, becoming extremely vivid.

The system tutted and shifted to a third-person view.

It saw the young man, reminded by other clerks nearby, first blushing deeply as he paid for the two chicken legs with his own phone, then, as if making a decision, grabbing his phone and chasing out, nervously searching for something, clearly wanting Lu Ke's contact information.

But she had already carelessly left.

This was a commercial street, with a dense flow of people, and her footsteps were light; she had already disappeared into the crowd. The young clerk chased a bit further but, seeing that he still couldn't find Lu Ke's figure, his body was tinged with disappointment.

The system withdrew the third-person view and looked at its host again.

Hmph, happily gnawing on chicken legs, completely unaware that her actions had just captured a pure young man's heart.

Lu Ke was indeed completely unaware.

She was used to accepting food from humans and being close to humans, so after enthusiastically hugging a human to express her gratitude, she took the food without any burden and left.

He's a good person, she liked him!

Lu Ke finished the chicken leg meat at an extremely fast speed and continued to chew on the chicken bones. Crunch crunch, it made people's teeth ache.

The system scolded her sternly not to eat the bones.

Lu Ke was very obedient this time, spitting out the chewed residue: "Then I won't swallow it, just chew it for fun."

The system gave a contented hum.

The dumb dog can be quite obedient at times.

A second later, it suddenly realized how low its standards had become—just because she didn't swallow the chicken bones, it considered her well-behaved. Had it been brainwashed too much?

Lu Ke walked and chewed on the chicken bones amidst the bustling crowd on the street.

Dogs naturally love humans, and to her, every passerby, regardless of height or build, was like a walking, soft, adorable pillow or a giant doll.

Two words.

Love!

Three words, absolutely love!

She wanted to leap and embrace everyone, wag her tail at anyone who showed her kindness, and let them pat her head. But the system had told her that such behavior would be seen as creepy, so she held back.

This was the heart of the CBD, crowded with people, many of whom were handsome men and beautiful women. Yet, many passersby couldn’t help but take a second look at Lu Ke. The reason was simple—she was breathtakingly beautiful, the kind of beauty that stood out in a crowd.

The system huffed. This was a body it had painstakingly crafted with countless efforts. It dared to say that with just her appearance, 99% of straight men could be easily captivated.

Only the male lead... it had no confidence whatsoever.

The system couldn’t help but recall the tragic tales of the previous 99 hosts.

Each of them had their own distinct misfortunes. Two of them were no less beautiful than this dumb dog—one like an orchid in a secluded valley, the other like a peerless enchantress. Back then, it thought they would surely succeed, but the male lead's affection levels weren't much higher—5 points for one, 6 points for the other.

By the way, the affection scale was out of 100.

Suddenly, Lu Ke stopped walking. She looked up at a 3D billboard on the street corner, her eyes wide with amazement, her mouth slightly open.

"Wow!"

The 3D advertisement featured an enormous sika deer lying in the grass, its eyes sparkling and realistic.

Lu Ke was so captivated she couldn’t tear her eyes away. Then she saw a panda eating bamboo, a car that appeared to be crashing through the screen, and was so stunned she couldn’t move.

Suddenly, the screen turned completely black, and a large screen displayed a graceful outline of a man with his back turned.

The male silhouette nonchalantly placed a pale, slender hand on the edge of the screen. The naked-eye 3D effect made the hand seem as if it had broken through the boundary of the screen, appearing real and enormous, like the hand of a god, yet seemingly within reach.

The middle and ring fingers of the hand wore rings from a luxury brand, the bones distinct, with elegant blue veins traversing skin as pale as marble.

This was an advertisement for a top-tier luxury brand. There were no advanced filming techniques, no complex backgrounds—just a cold silhouette outlined by light, with the brand name in Chinese and English in the upper right corner, extremely simple.

The person on the screen shot a fleeting look.

The light and shadow shifted, from dark to clear, half-bright and half-dark, falling on his deeply contoured face, dancing and flowing over his high, straight nose bridge. The earring on his right ear reflected a dazzling light.

The person in the advertisement turned his head and cast a casual glance. His face, hailed as the divine beauty of the entertainment industry, was infinitely magnified by the huge 3D screen, bringing an overwhelming sense of oppression and awe to those below, as if a great deity had glanced their way, making people hold their breath.

Other passersby also stopped, and even the system was momentarily stunned by the beauty.

After regaining its composure, it couldn’t help but sigh—the male lead who had caused 99 hosts to fail indeed had his merits.