Chapter 30: Rest Hall

After leaving the world, the system automatically blurred the plot and emotions the tasker had experienced.

This was to prevent taskers from developing feelings for people in the small world and staying behind, and also to make subsequent tasks smoother.

Lu Xunchen didn’t know what that NPC looked like—the one that had driven her fragmented soul crazy.

She only knew that the NPC was delicate and loved to cry at the drop of a hat.

So her fragment must have caught a virus or something.

She let out a sneer and said to her friend, “Such accidents won’t happen a second time.” She stood up and waved her hand. “Next, I’m heading to that small supermarket in C District.”

Her friend said, “Don’t forget to cover your face, or your fans won’t let you off easy.”

The Points Leaderboard #1 tasker was still being watched by plenty of people.

From the moment she had gotten to know Lu Xunchen, she had never seen her fail a single task. That alone was enough for Lu Xunchen to amass a huge fanbase.

Not to mention that Lu Xunchen had such a stunning face. If she didn’t know about that awful temper of hers, she probably would have slapped an 800-meter-thick filter on her just for that face alone.

A whole day had passed since Shen Ke woke up, and she was waiting for the system.

Taskers returned to the Rest Hall upon completing their tasks.

The Rest Hall had everything one could need. The entire space resembled a miniature society.

Every tasker started out with their own independent little room, which contained nothing but a bed.

Shen Ke lay on the bed and rolled over. “System, why haven’t you come find me yet?” She had clearly died, but she still felt hungry—like right now, when she was starving.

But she had no idea how to buy food, and she didn’t seem to have any money.

“Gurgle~”

Her stomach growled again. Shen Ke puffed out her cheeks. This was so annoying—she couldn’t wait any longer!

Shen Ke slowly got up, ran a hand through her long hair, slipped on her shoes, and walked out of the small space.

She headed straight for the supermarket outside. People came and went at the entrance. Shen Ke blinked and looked left and right before settling on a tall, elegant-looking person wearing a mask and sunglasses.

Shen Ke tilted her little head up. When she had a question, she always asked good-looking people.

She planted herself right in front of the woman, face tilted up, cat-like eyes blinking softly, mouth small and delicate, chin pointed—obedient and utterly adorable.

Lu Xunchen halted her steps. The eyes beneath her sunglasses darkened slightly. Even bundled up like this, someone had recognized her?

Shen Ke spoke bluntly. “Hey! How do you buy stuff at the supermarket?”

Lu Xunchen lowered her head a bit. Hm? The girl clearly didn’t recognize her. If she was asking a stranger, she should at least be polite about it.

“I don’t know,” Lu Xunchen said.

Shen Ke didn’t buy it. She pointed at the big bag of snacks in Lu Xunchen’s hand. “You’re lying! You obviously bought a ton!”

Lu Xunchen replied coldly, “Oh? So what? You’re blocking the way.”

Shen Ke got it now—this woman had no intention of telling her. She grew a little angry, and the corners of her eyes started to redden. “How can you be like that? I was just asking how to buy things!”

Lu Xunchen eyed Shen Ke’s expression and frowned. Had she said anything that rude? Why did this girl look ready to burst into tears?

Just like that NPC.

The thought of the NPC that had obsessed her fragments made Lu Xunchen fall silent. She tried to sidestep Shen Ke and leave without a word, but the next second, her wrist was seized.

The soft, warm touch made Lu Xunchen’s aura turn frigid in an instant. Her pleasant, magnetic voice dropped low, icy and prickly. “Let go.” She hated being touched.

Shen Ke’s heart skipped a beat. She was a little scared—this woman’s presence was overwhelming.

But she couldn’t just let her get away. Shen Ke furrowed her brows in stubborn determination. “No! You have to apologize to me!” Her temper wasn’t one to trifle with.

Lu Xunchen sneered. She’d run into a real scoundrel. The girl had been the rude one, and now she wanted an apology?

Lu Xunchen removed her sunglasses, revealing her deep blue eyes, like an endless ocean. “I said, let go.”

Those eyes were too profound, too cold. Shen Ke bit her lower lip and gripped Lu Xunchen’s sleeve even tighter. “No! Apologize!”

Ice seemed to frost over Lu Xunchen’s eyes in that moment, her gaze piercing Shen Ke like a sword.

“Then don’t blame me—”

“Gurgle~”

Shen Ke’s expression went blank in an instant. Tears spilled out, her cheeks flushing red as blood. How embarrassing—so many people had heard her stomach growl.

She clung desperately to Lu Xunchen’s wrist. Her damp cat-like eyes fixed on Lu Xunchen as she yelled, “It’s all your fault!”

Lu Xunchen scowled deeply. Blame her? She hadn’t even done anything yet.

Shen Ke cried so pitifully, fat teardrops tumbling down nonstop. She was beautiful even in tears, with reddened eye corners and nose tip, her pale face turning a soft pink—fragile, lovely, brimming with a heartbreaking vulnerability.

Gradually, a crowd began to gather.

Lu Xunchen parted her lips, about to say something, when she overheard a voice. “Wait—isn’t that Lu God under the mask? Those blue eyes!”

“Looks like the real deal. Did she make that girl cry?”

“Bet she ditched her, and now the girl’s come looking.”

“Has to be. Anyone else who bumped into Lu God would’ve been flung hundreds of meters away. She’s only standing there because they’re close.”

The murmurs grew louder. Some people even pulled out recording devices.

Lu Xunchen gritted her teeth, slipped her sunglasses back on, and with a backhand grab seized Shen Ke’s slender wrist. In the blink of an eye, she whisked her away from the scene.

Lu Xunchen brought her to a quieter spot before releasing Shen Ke’s wrist. She looked up to find Shen Ke glaring at her with red-rimmed eyes, tears still pattering down.

How was there someone like this? They hadn’t even exchanged many words before she started crying and blaming others.

Lu Xunchen rubbed her forehead. Crybabies really were a pain.

Shen Ke sniffled, her tearful voice coming out soft and whiny. “It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you, I’d have gone into the supermarket and bought food ages ago.”

“Gurgle~”

Her stomach growled again.

Lu Xunchen shoved one hand into her jacket pocket, her tone utterly flat. “Quit acting spoiled. That doesn’t work on me.”

Shen Ke’s face burned even redder. She jerked her head down, snapping fiercely, “You’re the one acting spoiled!”

“Fine, no apology? I’ll just ask someone else!”

Shen Ke’s head was perfectly round, her long hair draped behind her, swaying with her movements before sliding forward to partially veil her cheeks. It made her face look even smaller.

She was so slight, and with her head bowed, she looked utterly pitiable.

Seeing Shen Ke like that, Lu Xunchen felt the irritation in her chest evaporate for no reason. Small stature, but what a temper.

She cleared her throat and handed over the bag in her hand. “Whatever. You look so pathetic. Here, take this.”

Shen Ke looked up and glanced at Lu Xunchen’s sunglasses. With a cold huff, she snatched the bag. “Hmph, smart move. For the snacks’ sake, you’re forgiven.”

She opened the bag and gazed at the colorful packages. Her eyes narrowed in delight, a tiny smile revealing her sharp little tiger teeth.

Lu Xunchen felt something was off for some reason. This woman had been the rude one at the start—how had it ended with her handing over the snacks?

She had crossed districts specifically for these snacks, sold only at that supermarket.

Lu Xunchen frowned but turned her head away upon seeing the sparkle in the woman’s eyes. Mentally, she added another label to Shen Ke.

Big temper, but easy to placate.

By the time Shen Ke looked up from the snacks, the woman in the sunglasses and mask had vanished.

Shen Ke clutched her bag of snacks and followed the navigation back to her rest room in a daze.

The moment she stepped inside, she spotted a black egg floating in midair.

Shen Ke’s eyes widened. She asked hesitantly, “System?” She hesitated because the system was a yellow egg, not this black one.

“It’s me,” the system replied. Its electronic voice sounded utterly feeble.

Shen Ke noticed something was wrong and opened her bag of snacks. “System, are you sick? Want something to eat?”

“Systems don’t get sick.” As it spoke, the system floated over. It wasn’t sick—it had just been locked in confinement for meddling in the small world.

The instant it had sabotaged the bomb planted by the kidnapper, it had been forcibly dragged away.

It had only just gotten out.

It glanced at the bag in Shen Ke’s hand and perked up instantly. “Tasker 56417, where did you get the points to buy all this?!” That bag had to cost at least five thousand points.

Spicy Strips for boosting stamina, Random Buff Jelly, Healing Cookies… all ridiculously pricey snacks.

It was one of the first-batch systems and had existed for who knew how long, but it had always blown its points on new bodies, so it never had savings. It had never tasted snacks this extravagant.

Shen Ke felt a little proud. “It was an apology gift from someone else.”

She gave the system a rough rundown of what had happened.

The system rubbed its round eggshell with a matchstick finger. “Deep blue eyes, huh.” It couldn’t be the tasker she was thinking of, could it?

From what it knew, that one had tons of points but was a total cheapskate.

Plus, she hated weepy types. Probably some other generous tasker.

Either way, Tasker 56417 had scored big.

Suddenly, a rabbit plushie materialized in the air. “Hey, 000, you’re out? My shift’s over. Handle things yourself. Bye.”

That was another system.

Shen Ke tore open a snack package, picked up a cookie, and offered it to the system. “System, give this a try. Is it good?”

The system’s spindly matchstick hands cradled the cookie before holding it up to itself. The cookie vanished.

The system’s black shell returned to its original color. “Not bad.”

It wanted to linger, but the small world still needed oversight. “Three days from now, the small world auto-opens. Just rest up, Tasker 56417.”

“The next world will be tough. You can’t go easy like in the Novice World. You need to be ruthless.”

“Complete your tasks to earn points. With points, you can buy anything—even a Revival Package if you have enough.”

The system tapped its shell, and a Training Helmet appeared before Shen Ke.

“This’ll help you with some special training,” the system said. “I’m the Villain System. From here on, every bad thing you do has to be even worse.”

Shen Ke hugged the helmet and nodded. She watched the system vanish before her eyes, took a bite of her cookie, and pondered. She already thought she was pretty bad, but the system wanted her ruthless?

Fine then. Time for special training. She was going to become the greatest tasker ever!