Chapter 30: The Unreachable Cold God (5)
He Wenqu’s boldness wasn’t an exaggeration, as Huo Yuan had accurately pointed out.
The next day, as Huo Xian left his apartment complex, he saw He Wenqu already waiting at the entrance. Seeing him, He Wenqu grinned, “Good morning, class monitor.”
“What are you doing here?” Huo Xian asked.
He Wenqu touched his nose, explaining, “After getting home, I remembered seeing your apartment complex address during registration. I couldn’t quite remember the name, so I searched nearby and found it! My luck’s pretty good, huh?”
Huo Xian glanced at the road, not seeing his car. “How are you getting to school?”
As he spoke, he noticed He Wenqu’s gaze on the back seat of his car.
Huo Xian put his backpack in the back seat, a clear rejection.
He Wenqu looked a little disappointed, but quickly smiled again. “Class monitor, I didn’t want to ride with you, but… I can be your driver! I guarantee a smooth, bump-free ride! Class monitor, wait for me…”
[Huo Yuan, can you help me secure my backpack?] Huo Xian communicated with Huo Yuan.
[Got it!] Huo Yuan immediately accepted the task.
[Beep, deducting 50 points. Current employee [Yuan] accumulated points: -3000. Due to exceeding the agency’s stipulated points limit, the employee’s task world count will increase by one. Please use your abilities cautiously, abide by the laws of the world. This is a reminder.] A cold, mechanical voice suddenly sounded.
After hearing the voice, Huo Xian was initially alert, then asked: [Huo Yuan, is that your task manager?]
[Ah… yes.] Huo Yuan was also a little stunned.
Huo Xian couldn’t help but ask: [How did the points become -3000? I remember it was -2000 before?]
Huo Yuan didn’t reply immediately. After two minutes, he exclaimed, both angry and aggrieved: [Huo Xian, the agency updated the new employee regulations! If the points don’t reach a positive number after completing the required number of task worlds, you can’t go back! Also, once the points exceed -3000, a task world will be added. For every additional -1000 points, another world is added. I… can I even go back?] QAQ
Huo Xian frowned: [What’s going on?]
[Let me see…] Huo Yuan said a few words then fell silent.
When Huo Xian arrived at school, locked his car, and He Wenqu, who had been running to catch up, propped himself up on one hand, panting, and said accusingly: “Huo… Huo Xian, you’re so unsympathetic… Whew, I’m exhausted!”
Huo Xian glanced at him: “It’s only three kilometers from my house to school.” (Implying that he was too weak to be tired from such a short distance.)
He Wenqu’s eyes widened: “The distance isn’t far, but do you know how fast you were riding?”
“I didn’t ask you to chase me.” Huo Xian locked his car and turned to face Yu Zi’an, who had also parked his car, his expression complex.
Seeing Yu Zi’an, He Wenqu paused, then slapped his forehead: “Oh, I forgot Little Squid also has a car. If I’d known, I would’ve hitched a ride with Little Squid. He definitely wouldn’t be as stingy as you, class monitor.”
Huo Xian ignored him, simply nodded to Yu Zi’an as a greeting, and walked towards the school building.
“Hey, Huo Xian…” He Wenqu chased after him, clutching his backpack strap.
Yu Zi’an watched the two figures walking one behind the other, biting his lower lip, then releasing it and taking a deep breath. He knew that this was when He Wenqu was most interested in Huo Xian, but as long as He Wenqu hadn’t truly developed feelings for Huo Xian, he still had a chance…
[Ding dong.] Huo Yuan’s online notification sounded listless.
Huo Xian unconsciously lowered his voice: [What happened?]
Huo Yuan’s voice was on the verge of tears: [Huo Xian, I contacted the agency’s customer service. They said that many employees have been slacking off on their tasks, not caring about failures, and leaving as soon as they complete the required number of task worlds, resulting in a mess in many worlds. So, to improve task completion rates and employee motivation, they adopted the negative points accumulation and increased task world model. The update isn’t complete yet. The customer service hinted that in a negative points state, double points might be deducted…]
[Your high-dimensional consciousnesses have long lifespans. Staying in a task world for any length of time shouldn’t matter, right?] If there are beings who don’t care where they live, wouldn’t it be acceptable to ignore tasks?
Huo Yuan denied his statement: [We signed an interstellar treaty before we came. The agency can lock down all our actions. If the agency deems us to be deliberately evading, we’ll be caught by the supervisory team and imprisoned. Also, traveling to different worlds or through spatial barriers consumes our consciousness energy. Although our consciousnesses are strong, we aren’t immortal. The more worlds we go to, the shorter our lifespan will be.]
Huo Xian fell silent.
Although the management seemed strict, from the perspective of maintaining world stability, it was a good way to constrain and manage taskers.
But…
[Why were so many points deducted in just a few days?] Huo Xian still couldn’t understand. [You helped me secure my backpack. I didn’t hear how many points were deducted. Was it a lot?]
[Ah? No…] Huo Yuan denied his guess. [As I told you before, we employees have two task modes. Whether it’s ourselves or the host who becomes the world’s son of destiny, our power is constrained by the laws of the world. Even so, it usually far exceeds that of the original inhabitants. Therefore, to limit our use of power, the manager monitors us. Once we use our consciousness power, points will be deducted. Helping you secure your backpack only deducted 50 points.] He paused, then continued: [50 points isn’t much. I can help you secure it next time.]
Huo Xian found it both funny and helpless. Knowing that helping him would deduct points, why would he still do it knowing the consequences?
[Then what about the other 950 points deducted?] He asked.
Huo Yuan honestly replied: [Points are deducted for materializing the consciousness body, 100 points per time.]
Huo Xian: […] He had previously made Huo Yuan’s consciousness appear several times to get a better look, using the excuse of explaining human common sense.
Huo Yuan said: [Huo Xian, I think I’m at a loss.]
Huo Xian: […] [Hmm?]
Huo Yuan: [I’m deducted 100 points each time I appear, and I only stay for a short while. Next time I appear, I’ll be deducted again. It’s such a loss! How about I don’t go back after appearing next time? What do you think?]
Huo Xian thought that being able to see Huo Yuan’s handsome face 24/7 was pretty good. He might even eat an extra bowl of rice at lunch.
However, imagination is beautiful, reality is cruel.
During second period in the morning, Huo Yuan tearfully told him some unfortunate news—points were deducted hourly, 100 points per hour. In just that short time, a little over two hours, the manager had already deducted 300 points from him.
Huo Xian: …
What a broken manager! Could he report it?
The large break was suspended due to a broadcast equipment malfunction. Huo Xian took out his earphones from his backpack and put them on, pretending to be on a phone call. He Wenqu was surprised that the class monitor was openly bringing a phone to class, but didn’t disturb him.
Mei Heng didn’t come to class again this morning, so Huo Yuan was lying on his desk, his expression troubled.
“How many points are awarded for completing a task in each world? Is it fixed?” Huo Xian asked in a low voice.
Huo Yuan frowned slightly, shaking his head dejectedly: “The points aren’t fixed. Different points are awarded depending on the task completion rate. But according to the employees who have returned, the points are never enough to cover the deductions… Huo Xian, why am I so unlucky? I happened to catch the agency’s policy reform.”
“Reforms are good,” Huo Xian said, immediately met with Huo Yuan’s resentful gaze. He smiled: “For us, low-dimensional natives, if the agency employees diligently complete their tasks, the risks we encounter will be much lower, right?”
Huo Yuan opened his mouth, unable to refute, and felt a little guilty, because his initial intention was to casually do the tasks, not caring about failure, and not caring about the natives at all.
He said softly: “I’ll try my best to do the tasks well and not hurt the natives.”
Huo Xian’s smile deepened: “It’s me who’s doing the tasks now.”
“Oh…”
Huo Xian wanted to touch the beautiful, smooth black hair on the other side, but considering the “debt” he currently owed, even a phantom would deduct 100 points per hour, and he would probably have to accumulate points in the thousands before he could materialize. He still had to save up some points first.
“Don’t materialize your phantom form later, and don’t use your own abilities. Leave the tasks to me,” he said.
“But my colleagues say the tasks are very difficult…” Huo Yuan hesitated, worried.
“The tasks may be difficult for you, but for me, they’re simple,” Huo Xian said.
Huo Yuan doubted: “Really?”
Huo Xian raised his eyebrows slightly: “Don’t believe me? Think about how I, an ordinary low-dimensional native, dealt with that rogue system. I’m not an ordinary native, you know.”
Indeed.
The rogue mechanical life form was cunning, but it didn’t gain any advantage against Huo Xian, which proves Huo Xian’s extraordinariness!
“Then, I’ll leave the tasks to you. But Huo Xian, if you need me to do anything, be sure to tell me. I’m not afraid of deducting points, and task failure doesn’t matter!” Huo Yuan said seriously.
Huo Xian agreed: “Okay.”
Huo Yuan returned to Huo Xian’s consciousness, and before Huo Xian could put away his earphones, he suddenly heard Mei Heng, who had somehow entered the classroom, shout: “Teacher, I report that the class monitor is using a phone to make a call.”
Huo Xian:…?
[Sorry, Huo Xian, I forgot to remind you that Mei Heng was coming.] Huo Yuan apologized.
Huo Xian replied in his mind: [It’s okay.]
Nowadays, high school students almost all have cell phones. It’s unusual not to have one. Although it’s a commonly known fact, the management of Experimental No. 1 High School is still quite strict. Students carrying cell phones is tolerated, but any discovered use will result in either student or teacher reporting it, with the result being the confiscation of the phone and the parent having to retrieve it from school.
The next class was the homeroom teacher’s class. Even though Huo Xian was the class monitor, the homeroom teacher couldn’t give him special treatment.
Huo Xian glanced at Mei Heng, who had a smug smile, then at the homeroom teacher, whose expression was not good. He took the earphone cord out of his bag and said calmly: “Teacher, the earphones are for noise reduction and rest, and I didn’t bring a phone.”
Mei Heng widened his eyes, “I don’t believe you!” He reached out to grab Huo Xian’s backpack, but his wrist was grabbed by the boy’s long, strong hand.
Huo Xian looked coldly at the person in front of him, coldly saying: “Mei Heng, you have no right to search me.”
Mei Heng was about to speak, but the intense pain in his wrist changed his expression, and his words involuntarily changed: “Let go…”
Huo Xian threw his hand away, took out his backpack from under the desk, and took out everything from the bag one by one. There was no phone, proving his innocence, before he asked the homeroom teacher: “Do you want to check my pockets?”
The homeroom teacher was much older than Huo Xian, but at this moment, he was intimidated by the other’s aura, as if he was several heads shorter. He was even sweating on his forehead, waving his hands repeatedly: “N-no, teacher believes class monitor didn’t bring a phone.”
Mei Heng, clutching his wrist, looked at Huo Xian with surprise and uncertainty. When the teacher turned his back to them and walked towards the podium, Huo Xian took out his phone from his pocket, holding it deftly between his thumb and middle finger. He had long fingers, and the phone rotated gracefully between them.
“You…” Mei Heng felt his heart constrict.
Huo Xian curled his lips slightly, his eyes icy. He silently said: “Report it again, and see if the homeroom teacher believes you or me.”
Author’s Note: Mei Heng is not a subordinate, Xian Ge doesn’t take in subordinates, he stands alone and shines!
=v=
Thanks to little fairy “Buddhist Fate” for watering the nutrient solution +2, love you =3=