This shouldn’t be happening!
There’s no reason to drag the little girl into this.
And yet, here we are, reduced to not even having enough to eat.
Now she has to turn to Lin Yu to learn how to steam rice?!
However.
Maomao shook her head and said:
"It’s not like that, Yu. You’ve misunderstood."
"I just thought…"
"I’m different from everyone else—I can’t cook, and I’m worried my dishes won’t suit others’ tastes."
"But for your birthday party, I figured we’d need some staple food, right?"
"I can learn to steam rice and do my part to help…"
Hearing this, Lin Yu finally understood.
She wanted to learn how to steam rice… for his birthday party!
What a thoughtful girl, actually wanting to contribute for his sake.
Meanwhile, Lin Yu had been racking his brains trying to figure out how to make the outer sect disciples work harder.
Sigh.
Lin Yu, the so-called "ruthless Rainy Night Butcher," actually felt a twinge of guilt.
Well, since things had come to this, he might as well agree to Maomao’s request and teach her how to use the microwave while he was at it.
"So that’s why. Thanks, Maomao."
"You really don’t have to go through the trouble."
"But then again, learning a new life skill is always good."
"Once Aunt Qimeng finishes cleaning up, come with me to the kitchen. I’ll teach you."
Maomao nodded but still didn’t seem satisfied.
She kept staring at Lin Yu with pleading eyes and said:
"Yu, there’s one more thing I hope you’ll agree to."
Lin Yu: "???"
There’s more?
Little Maomao didn’t even say everything at once?
Lin Yu asked again:
"What else? Do you want to learn something else?"
Maomao shook her head, her expression even more serious than before:
"No. It’s about… our duels!"
Lin Yu: "…"
Oh boy.
Here we go again!
For the past couple of days, since Maomao hadn’t brought it up, Lin Yu thought it was because his methods had been too "brutal."
That his relentless crushing victories had completely shattered her fighting spirit.
Turns out… that wasn’t the case at all!
Had this little one been secretly preparing a big move?
Lin Yu shook his head helplessly:
"Alright, alright. You’re really something."
"Ready? Let’s begin…"
Just as Lin Yu was about to throw out a challenge, Maomao suddenly spoke up:
"Wait, ZerO!"
Lin Yu: "???"
Calling him by his nickname?
This couldn’t be good.
Maomao blinked shrewdly:
"ZerO, I’ve realized something these past two days—why I always lose to you…"
Lin Yu: "Because you’re too weak? Or because I’m too strong?"
Maomao shook her head:
"Neither…"
"It’s because the duel topics are always so sudden, catching me off guard!"
Lin Yu: "…"
Tsk tsk tsk.
This was bad.
The kid had actually awakened.
Wouldn’t it be better to just stay a harmless NPC?
All the smart ones… had already been dealt with by him!
"Oh? Is that so? I hadn’t even noticed."
Lin Yu pretended to be clueless, curious to see what Maomao was planning.
Since she had brought it up, she must have given it a lot of thought.
She must have already figured out how to avoid being "played" by Lin Yu.
"So, these past two days, I made a program."
"I input over 500 different topics suitable for duels."
"Including every single one you’ve ever brought up, plus similar ones."
"I can even open-source the software for you, so you can see what’s in it."
"I also made Android and iOS versions for easy access."
"If it’s okay with you…"
"Next time, we can just open the app and randomly pick a duel topic!"
Lin Yu: "!!!"
Don’t you have anything better to do?!
Aren’t you exhausted after handling the daily defense tasks for Zone 860?
Even if you have energy to spare, wouldn’t gaming or watching movies be better?
Instead, you holed up in your room tinkering with this nonsense?!
And 500+ duel topics?!
What the—
Dumplings, fried rice, pastries…?
What, are you some kind of chef trying to change the world with a kitchen knife?
Just randomly picking a topic and dueling on the spot?!
Before Lin Yu could respond, Maomao added:
"If it’s under these random but fair conditions… I won’t lose to anyone."
Lin Yu: "???"
Didn’t Aunt Qimeng already take all of Faith Yang’s courage?
Where the heck did you get the confidence to say that?!
Meaning Lin Yu was doomed to lose?
"You’re very meticulous, but that won’t help."
"Send it to me. I’ll check it out this afternoon."
"From now on, we’ll do it your way—let the random challenges begin!"
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host! You’ve completed the urgent mission "Infinite Challenge"!]
[The Joyous Sect’s outer sect disciple’s emotional knot has been untied by the Holy Son himself!]
[Rewards: 100 Sect Contribution Points, 200 Spirit Stones, 1 free lottery draw!]
Well, well, well.
He hadn’t even checked Maomao’s info box earlier.
Turns out this was actually an urgent mission tied to her!
Just how seriously was she taking this?!
Don’t you have anything fun in your life?!
Hearing Lin Yu agree to the random challenge system, Maomao—for once—broke into a rare, excited smile.
……
To curb the outer sect disciples’ excessive energy, Lin Yu, who had originally planned to help with chores, wisely decided to sit back and relax.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host! Daily mission completed…]
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host! Daily mission completed…]
Listening to the stream of system reward notifications, Lin Yu’s mood gradually improved.
Around 9 a.m., the delayed WeChat messages finally started rolling in.
「Mo Shangying: Wuwuwu, I worked too late last night and overslept.」
「Mo Shangying: Master, is there any leftover food for me?」
Mo Shangying: (wronged)(wronged)
Lin Yu: (right hum hum) (left hum hum)
「Lin Yu: Knew you wouldn’t wake up. There’s mung bean soup in the rice cooker—cool yourself down. Freeze the rest after drinking.」
Mo Shangying: Fine (wronged)
……
「Shen Jiuyi: Thanks, but I’m not very hungry.」
「Shen Jiuyi: Have fun. Yao’s getting ready.」
……
「Shen Buyao: (Voice message) Holy crap, I almost overslept! Thank god I set an alarm!」
「Shen Buyao: (Voice message) Skip breakfast for me, I gotta… muffled sounds… brush my teeth and shower! See you at the gate at 10!」
Lin Yu: "…"
As for the trip into the mountains with the antique-loving older sister…
While Lin Yu was looking forward to it, he also felt a vague unease.
This journey of "roaming the mortal world together"—surely it would just be about galloping freely and living unrestrained, right?
……
(Extra chapter delivered! More to come tomorrow—please keep supporting with power-ups!)

with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!

. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"

grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)

ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!