Jiang Nian was feeling pretty blindsided right now.
Not only was he woken up while sleeping soundly, but he’d also somehow become famous out of nowhere, and on top of that, people were randomly demanding a thorough investigation of him.
“What the hell is all this about?”
He couldn’t help but curse under his breath.
Then he lit a cigarette and pulled out his phone to check things out for himself.
But the moment he opened Weibo, the first thing that caught his eye was a fan-made video of The Chronicles of the Rivers and Lakes.
The gist of it was someone walking ahead, with a particularly warm and sweet background music playing, creating this ambiguous, romantic vibe.
A woman calls out to a man, and the man turns his head.
Then, in an instant, the scene cuts directly to Du Gao’s expression from the show as he looks back. The screen darkens, and the music suddenly shifts dramatically.
That sinister, chilling look.
Not gonna lie, even Jiang Nian felt a little uneasy watching it. He thought to himself, was he really that vicious when he acted that scene out?
And seeing that Jiang Nian was already watching the video.
Zhang Yuxin took the chance to sidle up next to him, grinning and winking as she teased, “Hey, Teacher Jiang, you’re not actually playing yourself here, are you?”
Jiang Nian’s lips twitched. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you.” Zhang Yuxin pretended to be clueless.
Jiang Nian wasn’t in the mood for her nonsense, so he just cursed, “Get lost,” and then looked down to keep browsing.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing that, Zhang Yuxin exploded.
She crossed her arms over her chest, pouted, and looked at Jiang Nian with indignation. “Teacher Jiang, why do you always tell me to get lost like that? What did I ever do to you?”
Hearing this, Jiang Nian glanced at her and furrowed his brow slightly.
Zhang Yuxin continued, “Teacher Jiang, I admit you saved me, and I’m really grateful for that, but I’m a girl, you know. All you ever say to me is ‘get lost’—even my own parents have never talked to me like that. What do you take me for?”
As she spoke, she pursed her lips, looking utterly pitiful, as if she’d burst into tears the next second if Jiang Nian didn’t give her an explanation.
Gotta hand it to her—it worked.
Seeing her pitiful expression, Jiang Nian put down his phone and thought for a moment. “So?”
“So, can you be a little gentler when you talk to me? At least not so rude and direct, okay?” Zhang Yuxin stated her request.
Jiang Nian nodded in understanding. “Oh, so that’s it.”
Then he picked up his phone again, looking totally indifferent. “Alright then. Now, could you please get lost? Is that good enough for you?”
Zhang Yuxin was stunned. “Huh?”
Jiang Nian looked casual. “What do you mean, ‘huh’? I said ‘please.’ Isn’t that enough?”
“But… I meant be gentler, didn’t I? Even my parents never scolded me like that.”
“So what? I’m not your parents.”
Jiang Nian found it pretty baffling.
Your parents don’t scold you—what’s that got to do with him?
He’d scold her whenever he felt like it. If she didn’t like it, she was welcome to scold him back.
Why drag him into all this?
“Nonsense,” Jiang Nian concluded.
Hearing that, Zhang Yuxin was dumbfounded. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.
Wait a minute. Why wasn’t Jiang Nian reacting the way she’d imagined?
She was acting so pitiful and tender, shouldn’t he soften his tone, feel bad for her, even apologize?
Why, in the end, was his attitude still as hard as concrete?!
Something’s gotta be wrong here!
Zhang Yuxin was screaming inside, but she couldn’t show it, because if she did, it would just ruin the whole act.
“This damn man.”
Zhang Yuxin cursed him silently.
Yet, oddly enough, she also felt a strange thrill.
She didn’t know why, but getting scolded by Jiang Nian actually made her a little excited.
So weird.
Then she thought it over. Since playing tough didn’t work, she’d try being soft. So she lowered her head, adjusted her attitude, and put on a frail, pitiful look. “Um, actually, that’s not what I meant. What I meant was—”
But before she could finish, she looked up.
And realized there was no sign of Jiang Nian anywhere.
“???”
Seeing this, Zhang Yuxin was completely bewildered.
What just happened? He was right here a second ago, and she just lowered her head for a moment—how could he just vanish?
A disappearing act?
Zhang Yuxin shivered, forgot all about acting cute, and quickly stood up, calling out, “Teacher Jiang? Teacher Jiang? Where are you? Where’d you go? Don’t scare me like that, I’m freaking out!”
Hearing this, Jiang Nian, who had just squatted down in the bathroom, felt his eyelid twitch.
Seriously? This woman just doesn’t stop?
Not only did she wake him up early in the morning, but now she’s making a scene while he’s trying to use the toilet!
Enough is enough!
Jiang Nian roared, “Shut up! If you keep yelling, I’m gonna come out there and kick you, got it?!”
At that, Zhang Yuxin’s noisy chatter finally stopped.
And Jiang Nian, now that she’d quieted down, looked back at his phone.
Seeing that out of ten videos, at least four were related to his character ‘Du Gao.’
And they all had a ton of likes, comments, and shares.
Jiang Nian finally confirmed that he really had blown up.
So he thought about it, and his personal stats appeared before him:
[Film and Martial Arts Overlord System 1.0]
[User: Jiang Nian]
[Perception: 1]
[Level: Second-rate Martial Artist]
[Skills: Shaolin Boy’s Skill “Mastered” (cannot upgrade), Sword Breaking Art “Familiar” (7/500).]
[Attention Points: 215,733]
[Currently Playable Role: Eunuch]
[Unlocked Roles: Du Gao, Yu Huatian]
Looking at these numbers, even though Jiang Nian had been expecting it, he couldn’t help but feel blown away.
Two hundred fifteen thousand attention points!
What do you call this?
An overnight fortune!
“Spend, I’ve gotta spend!”
That was the only thought on Jiang Nian’s mind.
So he directly opened the ‘Unlocked Roles’ tab below.
[Name: Du Gao]
[Level: Second-rate Martial Artist]
[Unlocked Skills: Shaolin Boy’s Skill “Mastered”]
[Locked Skills: Eight Steps Overtaking Cicada “Mastered” (20,000 attention points), Form and Intention Fist “Familiar” (5,000 attention points)]
[Name: Yu Huatian]
[Level: Second-rate Martial Artist]
[Unlocked Skills: Sword Breaking Art “Expert”]
[Locked Skills: Supreme Sword Arts “Mastered” (40,000 attention points), Ultimate Divine Arts “Mastered” (60,000 attention points)]
Looking at the cost for Yu Huatian’s skills.
Jiang Nian was dumbfounded.
What’s going on?
Du Gao’s [Eight Steps Overtaking Cicada] was only twenty thousand. Why were Yu Huatian’s skills forty thousand and sixty thousand?
This inflation is freaking insane!
Jiang Nian was feeling utterly exasperated.
But after looking closely, he noticed a pattern.
Starting with [Eight Steps Overtaking Cicada] as the base.
As the first “Mastered” level skill Jiang Nian could buy, its price was twenty thousand.
[Supreme Sword Arts] was the second, so its price was twenty thousand times two.
[Ultimate Divine Arts] was the third—twenty thousand times three.
“So that means…”
“The more skills I get at the same level, the more expensive each new one gets?”
“If I have ninety-nine ‘Mastered’ level skills, then buying the hundredth will cost me two million attention points?”
“Damn, that’s a thing?”
Realizing this, Jiang Nian’s mouth twitched.
He’d thought he was pretty rich just now, but now it was clear—he didn’t have jack.
This system was a total bottomless pit!
No matter how much he earned, it would just swallow it all up!
