"Let's go, back to class."
After driving away the cannon fodder extras, Ji Mu walked toward the teaching building along the gravel path.
The girl followed closely at his side, gazing at his profile. After hesitating for a moment, she finally gathered her courage to speak.
"Just now... how did Classmate Ji Mu happen to be here?"
"Me? I was just wandering around after class, bored."
Ji Mu walked at a leisurely pace.
Perhaps because a potential crisis had been resolved timely, his now relaxed voice carried a hint of laziness.
"Didn't expect to run into you here, must be fate."
Fate... huh...
If it weren't for the young man's intervention, she might have inexplicably ended up owing someone 100,000 in debt.
Thinking of this, gratitude welled up in Ruan Qingqing's heart.
"About just now..."
She pinched her fingers, but before she could get out the prepared words, the young man beside her seemed to predict them, turning his head to give her a glance.
"You're not going to say thank you again, are you?"
"Mm..."
Having her thoughts so easily seen through, Ruan Qingqing bit her lip lightly, feeling her cheeks grow hot.
Just as she was feeling at a loss, the young man's casual voice came from above.
"Didn't I say this morning, if you receive help, you should pay appropriate compensation? Just verbal thanks aren't worth much."
"I, I know."
She raised her eyes to meet his, seemingly understanding his meaning.
"Um..."
Just as she was about to say the money was in her backpack and she'd give it to him when they got back to class, he lazily held up one finger.
"This time, just buy me a bottle of water."
"Eh?"
"Don't think you're getting off easy."
The young man stretched, somehow giving off a rakish air.
"I want the most expensive one."
This pretense of extortion didn't scare her.
Somehow finding it funny, Ruan Qingqing let out a light laugh, the previous awkwardness dissipating considerably.
"There are many expensive drinks, which bottle would you like?"
Ji Mu thought anything would do, as long as it was drinkable.
After thinking for a few seconds, he casually named one, "Oolong tea."
The girl's eyelashes fluttered, dimples showing, "But... Oolong tea isn't the most expensive drink."
"Then get the large size."
Hearing his casual tone, she couldn't help but smile.
"Okay."
How strange.
Though she'd only really known the young man for just today, he gave her a peculiar feeling.
Very relaxed, very pleasant.
Not at all like the exhaustion she felt when interacting with others.
As if she could temporarily put down all pretenses, not needing to hide herself.
This feeling was really... quite nice.
————
Time flew by quickly, like an arrow, visible yet elusive like twilight.
Birds flew across the orange sky, the sea reflecting the approaching dusk's canvas.
Clouds descended with the sunset glow, the dying sun's rays filling the entire school.
"Time to go home!"
Ji Mu, who had been slacking off all afternoon, sprang back to life.
Walking out of the classroom with his shoulder bag, holding a large bottle of oolong tea in his right hand, the future looked promising.
Of course, it would be even better if tomorrow were Saturday.
He felt quite regretful about that.
[Host, Host, big good news!]
The system popped out excitedly.
[The sub-system just told me the Prajna Meter showed a reaction!]
"Prajna Meter?"
Taking a sip of oolong tea, Ji Mu asked while swallowing, "What's that?"
[Well, simply put, it's a favorability detector.]
The system explained concisely.
[However, this thing has a limitation - it can only observe one selected person's favorability at a time.]
So it naturally chose to monitor Ruan Qingqing's views and feelings toward men.
Converting to a hundred-point scale, her favorability had reached a terrifying -68.
After hearing the system's narration, Ji Mu pondered.
"-68? That's quite high."
[It's already decent, you know. Ruan Qingqing originally had a favorability of -75.]
"Oh ho?"
[But!]
The system paused, its tone unable to hide its excitement.
[After just one day of interaction with you, the negative favorability dropped by 7 points!]
What did this prove?
It proved that its earlier proposed friendship strategy was completely correct!
[I suggest Host should become friends with Ruan Qingqing soon, then gradually develop into a relationship where you can confide in each other.]
"Emmmmm"
That makes sense, but...
"Have you considered one thing?"
Ji Mu frowned, "What if she ends up falling for me?"
[Huh?]
The system was stunned.
[Ruan Qingqing falling for you?]
That's like Kennedy in a convertible - mind-blowingly open.
[Don't joke with me, Host.]
The system laughed unkindly.
[According to the Prajna Meter's standards, the prerequisite for liking someone is having at least basic favorability toward that person's gender.]
In other words, for a girl to like you, her favorability toward men must be at least above 50.
"So..."
Ji Mu continued, "No matter what, Ruan Qingqing won't fall in love with me, right?"
[Of course not.]
The system pursed its lips.
[Our task is just to clear the female lead's negative perception to zero, there's still a whole 50 points to go before she could like men.]
As for how to gradually guide her to date boys afterward, that's Heaven's responsibility.
"I see."
Ji Mu sighed in relief.
His previously suspended heart finally settled.
He just wanted to complete the task quickly and return to Blue Star with a hundred million, not wanting to get too entangled with plot characters.
[So, Host, just listen to this system, just be as nice to her as possible. With her man-hating buff, she'll at most consider you a close friend.]
The system crossed its arms, speaking earnestly.
[Think about when you were on Blue Star, wasn't there a duo called Phoenix Legend? See how close their friendship is.]
[You must understand, pure friendship between men and women exists.]
"Souka."
Learned something new.
No wonder they call it artificial intelligence, it knows so much.
Ji Mu secretly approved.
"Oi!"
Suddenly, a voice floated past his ear, interrupting his conversation with the system.
Ji Mu came to his senses, only now realizing he had somehow walked into an alley beside the school.
Squinting at what lay ahead, he saw several people standing not far away.
Each of them had cigarettes in their mouths and looked quite menacing.
The leader, a burly man, walked forward. Standing a full 1.9 meters tall, his shadow created quite an intimidating presence.
His gaze swept over Ji Mu once before speaking rather rudely.
"Are you the one called Ji Mu?"
[Host, these thugs were probably sent by someone you offended at school today.]
Seeing the situation didn't look good, the system analyzed gravely.
[No surveillance cameras nearby, this is trouble.]
Ji Mu wasn't worried at all.
He had anticipated something like this would happen, so he already had a countermeasure.
Giving the system a reassuring look, he stood calmly before them, steady as an old dog.
"Ji Mu? Who's that? Don't know him."
"Kid, you're playing dumb with me?!"
The burly man questioned with a fierce expression, his spittle almost spraying onto Ji Mu's face.
"Still denying it? You think I'm a three-year-old, easy to fool?"
"But I really am not him."
Ji Mu showed no fear, "You keep saying I'm this person, shouldn't you provide some evidence?"
"Hm?"
The burly man's bell-like eyes stared hard at him, trying to find a flaw in the young man's face.
But after staring for a while, he truly couldn't detect anything unusual, and confusion arose in his heart.
Damn, could he really not be the one?
"What's going on, that little girl Chu Yashi clearly said he had fair skin, tall and thin build, wearing round glasses, looking quite punchable."
The burly man muttered to himself, repeating the original description, confusion appearing on his fierce face.
"Isn't that exactly you?"
Ji Mu's eye twitched.
Ignoring the system nearly dying of laughter beside him, he maintained his composure while making excuses.
"How novel, does everyone wearing round glasses have to be called that name?"
"That's true."
The burly man scratched his head.
"Then who are you?"
"Me?"
Ji Mu slowly lowered his head.
"I'm... Xu Junda (choked up)"
"???"
The burly man instinctively stepped back.
What the hell is this?
"Alright boss, you're about to make the four-eyes cry."
A lackey behind who couldn't watch anymore patted his shoulder to persuade him.
"Since this guy isn't who we're looking for, let him go quickly, no point keeping him here anyway."
The burly man nodded after hearing this, indeed that makes sense.
"Well, uh, Xu... Xu Junda, right? Wear round glasses less in the future, I almost mistook you for someone else."
He waved his hand as if shooing away flies.
"You can get lost now."
A cold light flashed in Ji Mu's eyes behind his glasses.
Leaving is fine, but isn't this level of insult going too far?
His knuckles whitened around the oolong tea bottle, looking as if he was about to stand up to these evil forces.
"You guys..."
"Still not fucking leaving? Want a beating?"
"Okay, I'm leaving right now."
Ji Mu turned swiftly and walked away quickly without looking back.
Though we honest folks don't start trouble, we're also afraid of it.
Time to run, run.
[......]
The system, which thought the young man was going to fight, was speechless.
Damn, so that anger really just lasted for a moment, huh.