The night was hazy, the fallen wheat like a thick blanket covering the barren soil.
Lin Xiaohe watched, wide-eyed, as a plant no larger than her palm struggled to pull half its roots from the soil, then visibly wilted, falling at her feet.
Under Lin Xiaohe’s stunned and speechless gaze, it stuffed its only two leaves into the tiny gap between her shoe and the ground.
Plop. It lay there, completely still!
Lin Xiaohe was shocked.
Oh my heavens.
A stellar wheat plant was trying to scam a human!
The scene was like Mars crashing into Earth, leaving Lin Xiaohe momentarily speechless.
Just then, a mechanical voice sounded in her mind.
[Plant Summoner System activated!]
[Name: Lin Xiaohe]
[Physical Strength: 7 points (Weakling)]
[Mental Strength: 50 points (Not an Idiot)]
[Skill: Plant Speaker (Non-upgradable)]
[Summonable Plants: None]
[Available Points: 0]
[Mutated Stellar Wheat detected. Would you like to register it?]
Register?
Might as well?
Lin Xiaohe answered hesitantly.
A beam of green light shot from Lin Xiaohe, illuminating the seemingly-dead stellar wheat at her feet.
Immediately, the stellar wheat floated up before her. Beneath its roots, a palm-sized flower pot appeared.
Without hesitation, the stellar wheat plunged its roots into the soil of the pot and let out a contented sigh.
[I’m so great! I found myself a good master.]
Lin Xiaohe watched as the stellar wheat visibly perked up, its two little leaves even giving a proud wiggle. Only then did she dare believe she wasn’t dreaming!
Her golden finger had finally come online!
Overwhelmed with joy, Lin Xiaohe eagerly opened the panel in her mind with a thought.
The information inside had changed.
[Name: Lin Xiaohe]
[Physical Strength: 7 points (Weakling)]
[Mental Strength: 50 points (Not an Idiot)]
[Skill: Plant Speaker (Non-upgradable)]
[Summonable Plants: Stellar Wheat (Renamable)]
[Available Points: 1]
Next to “Summonable Plants,” there was a [View] button.
Lin Xiaohe tapped [View].
This time, the stellar wheat’s information appeared.
[Name: Stellar Wheat (Renamable)]
[Intimacy: 20]
[Stage: Seedling]
[Level: 1]
[Vitality: 15/100]
[Attack Power: 5]
[Skill: I’ll Just Rub Against It, Won’t Go In (Pending Activation)]
Lin Xiaohe’s gaze lingered on the skill description for a long time, unable to look away.
As a mere seedling, it already had such a suggestive skill. What would it be like when it grew up?!
“Hey, this ‘rubbing’… um, how exactly do you rub?” Lin Xiaohe asked in a low voice, like a thief.
If the skill wasn’t useful, she didn’t plan to activate it.
The stellar wheat played dead, not responding.
Lin Xiaohe reached out a finger and poked the stellar wheat floating in the air.
It was as if she’d hit a ticklish spot. The two small leaves wrapped tightly around the stalk.
Lin Xiaohe listened carefully but couldn’t hear the stellar wheat’s voice!
This little guy was quite tight-lipped.
“Wasn’t it you begging me to ‘help you up’ before? Planning to burn the bridge after crossing the river?”
The wheat stalk bent, as if bowing.
Lin Xiaohe gave a short laugh, exasperated. “Won’t talk, huh? Fine. From now on, I’ll rename you ‘Da Zhuang’ (Big Strong).”
The wheat stalk flailed in the air, twisting wildly.
[System Friendly Reminder: Stellar Wheat rejects your chosen name. Intimacy decreased by 2 points.]
Lin Xiaohe raised an eyebrow, ignoring the 2-point intimacy loss.
You can’t spoil a child; the more you spoil them, the more they take advantage.
She had to let it know that the biggest downpour it had experienced since birth was courtesy of Lin Xiaohe!
“Da Zhuang, if you don’t make a sound, I’ll take it as you agreeing to this name!”
Lin Xiaohe waited two seconds, then heard a soft “Waaah!” A tiny, childlike cry, hard to tell if it was a boy or girl.
“Wuwuwu… I don’t want to be called Da Zhuang. So embarrassing.”
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes curved into smiles as she tried hard to suppress the grin tugging at her lips, adopting a cajoling tone. “Then what do you want to be called?”
“Xin Bao (Heart’s Treasure)! I’m the treasure of your heart!” The two little leaves loosened slightly, as if peeking to see Lin Xiaohe’s expression.
Lin Xiaohe nearly laughed out loud. This little thing was smart, knowing how to climb the ladder when offered.
But who made it her only ‘child’ for now? She could only spoil it.
“Alright then, you’ll be called Xin Bao.”
[System Notification: Xin Bao loves its new name. Intimacy increased by 12.]
Bolstered, Xin Bao manipulated the flowerpot to land in Lin Xiaohe’s palm.
Seeing Lin Xiaohe didn’t refuse, but instead curled her fingers slightly to prevent the pot from falling, a surge of joy welled up in it.
“Xiaohe, my skill is about rubbing against the Star Network! As long as I’m within a hundred meters of a Star Network cafe, I can surf the web for free!”
Huh?
That kind of rubbing?!
Lin Xiaohe didn’t know whether to be more disappointed or more relieved.
So it seemed she was the one with the dirtiest mind. Xin Bao was still an innocent little baby.
“Okay, I’ll take you to a Star Network cafe tomorrow.”
There were only three Star Network cafes on the whole planet. The closest one to Hengshan Village was the Fortune’s Arrival Cafe, opened by Brother Cheng.
Lin Xiaohe carried Xin Bao home, secretly wondering what she could do once they got internet access.
Unfortunately, the original owner’s memories of the Star Network were a blank slate, offering no useful information.
After all, the Star Network was expensive!
The local network on Wasteland Planet No. 7 charged an annual fee of 300 star credits per person.
In the whole Lin family, only Lin Xiaohe had a local network subscription. Any online tasks or research were handled by her.
Accessing the Star Network was much pricier.
For individuals or families to get Star Network service, the installation fee alone was 300,000 star credits. Buying a Star Network helmet started at 100,000 star credits for the cheapest model.
The Star Network charged by the second—500 star credits per second.
In any case, Lin Xiaohe had never seen any family with a Star Network installation. Rich kids who wanted to go online went to cafes.
Lost in thought, Lin Xiaohe wondered if Xin Bao’s skill could be used on others? Rent it out cheaply to individuals at 100 star credits per second… that would be 6,000 star credits per minute!
In the blink of an eye, she could earn twenty or thirty thousand!
She was going to be rich!
Lin Xiaohe drooled unashamedly.
Back home, Lin Xiaohe noticed the living room light was still on.
Her big brother Lin Chiyang poked his hedgehog head out from under the blanket and whispered, “Little Sister, what’s that in your hand?”
Lin Xiaohe presented it proudly, showing it to Lin Chiyang. “It’s called Xin Bao. The hope for our family’s future!”
Xin Bao tried its best to stand tall and straight. Xiaohe called it hope! Pride! Honor!
Big Brother Lin Chiyang’s eyes welled with tears. He buried his head back under the blanket, biting the fabric and sobbing, “This is bad… Little Sister failed the exam and has gone crazy!”
At the same time, low sobbing sounds came from behind the other bedroom doors.
Lin Xiaohe followed the sounds and inwardly exclaimed, Wow!
Her father, grandparents, and second sister Lin Jingqiu—all supposedly asleep—had cracked their doors open and were watching the scene in the living room.
Meeting Lin Xiaohe’s astonished gaze, the head of the household, Father Lin, squeezed out a tearful yet brave smile.
“Hello, Xin Bao. Welcome to our big family.”
