Chapter 43 p1
The system, now unable to sit still, used all its might to pop up again. Xia Anran saw the phone she had just turned off light up again, displaying a sneaky-looking cat head with big eyes, trying to charm its way through the situation.
Xia Anran, cold and ruthless, turned it off again.
The cat head, not giving up, continued to try and win her over.
[Don’t be angry]
[When I’m fully recovered, there will be lots of benefits!]
[I’ll give you a discount on the items in the shop! Don’t you really want that Portal? I’ll give you a 70% discount!]
Xia Anran’s expression softened a little. This money-eating beast seemed to have some use after all. “Wait, how do you know I want that Portal?!” She had never mentioned this to anyone, only mumbled about it a few times to herself while browsing the shop. “You’ve been spying on me!” The thought that her private ramblings had been overheard was enough to make her explode.
[I’m not! I didn’t! Don’t talk nonsense!]
The system quickly issued a three-part denial to prove its innocence.
[I only just woke up. I didn’t have enough money to wake up more than a few times before.]
[It’s just that the last two times I happened to wake up, you were poking at that Portal and drooling, muttering about how great it would be to have it, how much you wanted it.]
[By the way, that time you performed an illegal operation and stuffed a bunch of things into a box with a two-hundred-pound weight limit, it was thanks to me waking up that I opened a backdoor for you to get it all in!]
Xia Anran: “…” So that cheeky emoji on her phone last time hadn’t been her imagination. But to say she was drooling and dying of desire… She put on a benevolent smile. “Say that one more time?”
The system decisively surrendered.
[I’m sorry, I was wrong (？﹏？)]
[I really didn’t mean to. I just live in here, so of course I can hear you when you talk.]
[Please don’t make things difficult for a weak and pitiful little system, sob, sob, sob.]
In the end, the system paid reparations and ceded territory, promising that the next ten items she bought in the shop would be 50% off, not including the previously mentioned Portal. Only then was Xia Anran barely satisfied.
[I’ve suffered a huge loss, sob, sob, sob.]
“Don’t give me that. How much of my earnings have you eaten? The total is probably more than the discount!”
[Nonsense! It was just a tiny little bit of money! You’ll definitely pick the most expensive things to buy. I’ll definitely suffer a huge loss!]
Xia Anran rubbed her nose. With a 50% discount on everything, only a fool wouldn’t pick the most expensive items.
After sulking for a while, the system asked awkwardly, “You’re not angry anymore, are you?”
“I’m alright.”
[Give you an inch and you’ll take a mile! Hmph!]
…
After settling the compensation with the sneaky system, Xia Anran suddenly thought of something. “So you can stay awake all the time now?” They had been bickering for so long, and it seemed quite lively, not weak at all.
[Pretty much! I finally don’t have to be awake one moment and unconscious the next!]
Xia Anran was satisfied. Her system was finally on the clock. She no longer had to painstakingly figure out this cursed app on her own!
After a bit more chatting, there was a sudden knock on her door.
She answered, and opened the door to find Ren Yi standing there, his face pale, as if he were in great pain.
“Brother Yi, what’s wrong?”
She quickly let him in, peeking out to see no one else behind him as she closed the door. He had come to find her on his own.
“Don’t look. I didn’t tell anyone,” he said, sitting down in a chair, his voice trembling as he clutched his lower abdomen. He took a breath and, enduring the sharp pain, said, “Today, after I touched that black box that was sent to the interstellar era, I felt a jolt like an electric shock. Something entered my body.”
Xia Anran was shocked. “Brother Yi, why didn’t you say so earlier?” She remembered Professor Gong telling her not to casually touch things from the interstellar era, as they didn’t know what bacteria or viruses might be on them. But she had already touched everything she was supposed to touch before he had warned her, and nothing had happened. The Academy of Sciences hadn’t found anything after their tests either, and no one else who had come into contact with the items had shown any adverse reactions. Even Professor Gong and the others had stopped mentioning it, and everyone had tacitly assumed the transmitted items were absolutely safe. She never thought Ren Yi would have a reaction to it. And it looked like a bad one.
“I was fine after that,” he said, sweat dripping from his forehead. “It was only just now that my lower abdomen started to hurt, and my limbs are going numb.”
Ren Yi had been through countless battles on the front lines and had suffered numerous knife and gunshot wounds. He was known in his team for having the highest pain tolerance. For him to show such an expression of agony meant the situation was very serious.
He had endured it in his room for a while, at first thinking it was just something he had eaten. But then his abdomen started to get hot, and his mind became a little foggy. Only then was he sure it wasn’t a normal illness. Thinking back, he remembered the strange sensation when he had touched the black box in Xia Anran’s orchard that morning. After much thought, that was the only thing that seemed to be related to his current condition. So, while he could still move, he had rushed over to her place.
“I… I’ve never seen a situation like this either,” Xia Anran said, also frantic. “How about we go to the hospital first? It’s still hard to say if it’s because of the black box. Maybe it’s a normal illness?” After saying that, she felt it didn’t sound right. What was normal about being sick? She must be losing her mind.
Ren Yi’s consciousness was already fading. He leaned against the chair, his eyes closed, not speaking, his chest heaving violently.
No, I have to go down and get someone to take him to the hospital immediately.
Before she could leave, the phone she had been holding suddenly vibrated. It was the system, frantically typing on the screen.
[Don’t move him! Lay him flat!]
[He’s about to awaken his psychic power! Aiyo, you’re killing me!]
Awaken his psychic power? Xia Anran thought she was seeing things. Wasn’t that an ability only interstellar people had? Was Ren Yi… an alien?
The system seemed to understand what she was thinking and spat out a few words in frustration.
[Aiya, what nonsense are you thinking? He’s from Earth!]
[Hurry and move him to a well-ventilated place and lay him flat!]
Ren Yi was tall and well-built from years of training. He was all muscle. Now that he was semi-conscious, he couldn’t move on his own. Xia Anran struggled with all her might but couldn’t get him out of the chair. In the end, she had to run downstairs and get help to move him onto her bed.
“What’s wrong?” Ji Minghui asked, frowning as he looked at Ren Yi. “Should I call 120 now?”
Wu Sicheng and Yu Xue were also extremely anxious. Yu Xue had some simple emergency training. “How about I take a look at Senior Colonel Ren’s condition first?”
“No need,” Xia Anran quickly stopped her. “Let him lie here for a while. Going to the hospital won’t help him.”
Ji Minghui: “Even the hospital can’t help? Is Senior Colonel Ren about to die?”
“…” She had forgotten about this abstract thinker.
“He’s fine. It’s probably because he came into contact with something from the interstellar era today, so he’s about to awaken his psychic power.”
Xia Anran dropped this bombshell, stunning everyone present into silence. The others in Project Liuhe hadn’t known why Ren Yi had suddenly been transferred to her side. Only now, with him suddenly awakening his psychic power, did they realize that the Senior Colonel possessed this talent.
Xia Anran, on the other hand, thought of the system’s prompt when she had first made contact with him: [Contact with relevant personnel]. Could this be the reason he was becoming a psychic? And the remaining nine people, could they also awaken their psychic power? She immediately opened her phone and cornered the system.
[That is indeed the reason. But I can’t tell you who the other nine are. It’s the rules.]
[So don’t worry. He has the talent. There’s an eighty percent chance he’ll succeed. As long as he wakes up, he’ll be fine!]
“Eighty percent? So that means there’s a chance he won’t wake up?” Xia Anran frowned and looked back at Ren Yi.
[Let’s not even talk about Earthlings. Even for interstellar people, awakening psychic power has a certain degree of danger. An eighty percent chance is already because he’s exceptionally talented!]
Ji Minghui, seeing her talking to her phone, thought she had started streaming. He walked over and asked, “Isn’t today’s broadcast time already used up?”
When he got closer, he realized she wasn’t streaming. On the phone screen was a cute cat head. When it saw him, it turned its head and then transformed into a sharp, screeching cat head before instantly disappearing. What was that?
Xia Anran was also a little speechless. So this system was a social introvert.
…