·
Zhou Chen opened the app store on his phone, downloaded a streaming platform, registered a new user, and then started binge-watching female strears...
He couldn’t just start tipping right away; his intentions would be too obvious. After all, he still had a cara implanted in him. While his private life wasn’t supposed to be interfered with, he still had to be careful not to leave any clues behind.
After watching streams for over an hour, Zhou Chen started browsing here and there, successfully wasting another half hour. Then, he opened the Zhongdian Reading app. About ten minutes later, he opened the book Rebirth of the Great Villainess, leisurely read to the end, and prepared to send a tip.
’I rember the minimum for a large tip is ten thousand...’ Zhou Chen thought as he looked at the "insufficient funds" notification. He proceeded to deposit ten thousand yuan. Once the funds arrived, he casually hit the tip button. With a million in savings, he didn’t feel the sting of spending this amount at all.
The next second, a banner announcing the large tip scrolled across the top of his phone screen.
anwhile, in a dorm room at Jinzhu University, Xiao Xuan’s phone vibrated. She stared blankly at the pop-up notification, unable to believe it for a long ti. After confirming she wasn’t seeing things, she was overco with ecstasy, her excitent impossible to contain as she hurriedly sent a friend request to the tipper.
As for Zhou Chen, he was lost in thought, watching a brand new Star slowly coalesce inside the Wish Bottle. ’If I tip again, can I get more wish value?’
After a mont of contemplation, he added more money and tipped again, but this ti, he got nothing.
"...Her wish to be tipped has already been fulfilled, so her desire isn’t as strong anymore?" Zhou Chen pondered this carefully. ’It seems the sa wish can only be fulfilled once in a short period.’
Suddenly, an idea struck him—perhaps he could manipulate her psychologically, making her continue to crave his tips. This would generate a new wish, which he could then harvest when the ti was right.
With that in mind, Zhou Chen accepted her friend request. In a private ssage, he told her that her book was well-written and to keep up the good work. He added that if he continued to enjoy it, he would keep tipping, and might even give her the largest possible tip.
She thanked him profusely and promised she would work hard on her writing in the future.
’That should do it. I’ve baited the hook with anticipation. If I let her hang for a few days, she’ll probably start fantasizing about getting a huge tip from ...’ Satisfied, Zhou Chen closed the Zhongdian Reading app, opened the streaming platform, found the female strear from the Wish Bubble, and casually sent her a "Rocket."
The wish value arrived instantly, amounting to about a third of a whole Star.
"Hmm... Besides these two, I can also tip other authors and other strears. As long as they have a wish to ’receive a large tip,’ I can get wish value. But if they don’t have that wish, or it’s not strong enough, then the money is basically wasted."
Zhou Chen hesitated for a long while before finally deciding to give it a try. If it worked well and the returns were substantial, he could do this from ti to ti as a stable source of wish value.
·
·
Two hours later, Zhou Chen stared in despair at the Stars in his Wish Bottle. Sothing had to have gone wrong. Horribly, fucking wrong.
After tipping the author, the number of Stars in his Wish Bottle had returned to five—he had previously used one to unlock a new Ability.
Besides those five Stars, the only other wish value he had was the large speck of Star Dust from tipping the strear.
But in the last two hours, he had been busy searching for authors and strears to tip, spending nearly four hundred thousand yuan, only to end up with a grand total of one and a half Stars!
He nearly had an aneurysm!
Four hundred thousand yuan! He could’ve skipped a massive stone across the water with that kind of money!
Forcing down the urge to vomit blood, he reflected on his painful experience, trying to figure out what went wrong. After a long while, he finally arrived at a theory:
"Everyone wishes for a windfall, but normal people don’t actively expect one day-to-day. They know it’s impossible; most people have a firm grasp on reality... And without a certain level of desire and anticipation, no wish value is generated."
"Of course, people who are deep in debt, co from poor families, or are under imnse pressure would probably wish day and night for a sudden fortune to improve their lives... But I was tipping randomly. The odds of running into soone like that were just too low."
"From now on, I should just stick to using the Wish Radar. At least then I’ll be spending my money where it counts."
Zhou Chen sighed helplessly. Four hundred thousand yuan for just one and a half Stars. No matter how he looked at it, it was a disastrous loss.
Just then, his phone suddenly vibrated. He had received a ssage from Jiang Che.
It was a long list of items.
Followed by her voice ssage:
"You can choose any two of these items as your reward. Submit your choice by tomorrow at the latest. Don’t forget."
’The reward is finally here...’ Zhou Chen’s spirits lifted, shaking off his earlier frustration. He replied with an "Okay" and then opened the item list.
[Destructive K-50 Shotgun: The newest model in the Destructive series, enhanced in all aspects with significantly increased power.]
[Alchemy Weapon: Flintlock Pistol: Can be loaded with Alchemy Bullets. Significantly powerful and effective against Abyssal Creatures.]
[Alchemy Weapon: Light Spirit Folding Knife: An Alchemy Weapon with a sharpness Enchantnt, capable of threatening a Tier One Ascender.]
[Alchemy Weapon: Helandy Enchanted Gloves - Electric Attribute: Impervious to blades and bullets, waterproof, and fireproof. Can generate a strong electric current when infused with Essence.]
[Low-Level Rune Stone - Fire Attribute: Can be used to enchant an item once. Enchantnt effect: Scorch.]
[Lava Octopus: Alchemy material.]
[Starlight Crystal: Alchemy material.]
[Screaming Grey Tree Core: Alchemy material.]
[Koteling Purple Goat Horn: Alchemy material.]
[...]
So of the items on the list were smuggled goods confiscated from Iron Python’s warehouse, while others were from the Star Association’s own inventory.
"This is a tough choice. I don’t have a use for Alchemy materials right now. As for weapons, the Destructive shotgun is just a filler item. I’ll pass on the Enchantnt Rune Stone for now. That leaves the Flintlock Pistol, the Light Spirit Folding Knife, and the Helandy Enchanted Gloves."
Zhou Chen’s head ached from the dilemma. Fortunately, he still had plenty of ti to think it over.
·
「Noon.」
After lunch, Zhou Chen’s Spiritual Power had fully recovered.
Jiang Che was busy handling the aftermath of the mission, and Birdman hadn’t sent any ssages either, likely busy with his own affairs. He might even be kicking Iron Python while they were down.
Certain that he wouldn’t be disturbed for a while, Zhou Chen lay on his dorm bed, closed his eyes, and began to ditate. He didn’t make a wish, but simply activated the Power of the Wish Bottle, causing it to erupt in light.
In the blazing light that illuminated his Soul, he once again felt that ethereal sensation of either ascending or descending.
When he felt solid ground beneath his feet, Zhou Chen opened his eyes. He had once again arrived in the magnificent and beautiful sea of the subconscious, surrounded by iridescent bubbles.
The two Wish Bubbles he had connected with were gone. He guessed the connection was just a temporary marker to prevent the selected Wish Bubbles from getting lost among the others.
Zhou Chen looked at the bubbles floating all around him and recalled:
’These bubbles appear randomly, but I can adjust the settings. To put it simply, I can switch from a public channel to a private one, showing only the wishes of people I’ve co into contact with...’
Composing himself, Zhou Chen focused his will, changing the conditions for the Wish Bubbles’ appearance. He restricted them to people he had co into contact with.
The Wish Bubbles floating in the air began to sink rapidly, rging into the illusory ocean below.
Imdiately after, colossal, rainbow-colored bubbles began to rise majestically before Zhou Chen’s horrified eyes.
He couldn’t help but gasp.
"Holy..."
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