Chaotic Sword God
Apocalypse Gacha
Necromancer: I Am A Disaster
Martial Cultivator
Aspiring to the Immortal Path
Snow-Kissed Rose (GL)
Nightmare Assault
Horror Game Designer
The Demon King is Too Unfathomable!
I, The Dragon Overlord
Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game
The Hero Turned Into A Potato And The World Fell To Ruin
Nightmare Assault
Chapter 310: Open the Door
Horror Game Designer
Chapter 389: Life
Apocalypse Gacha
Chapter 1292- Lucky Village
Aspiring to the Immortal Path
Chapter 996: Negotiations
Aspiring to the Immortal Path
Chapter 995: The Incident at Cloud Dream
Snow-Kissed Rose (GL)
Chapter 49.2
Necromancer: I Am A Disaster
Chapter 368 - If Anything Happens To Moyu, I Will Annihilate Your Dongfang Family
Apocalypse Gacha
Chapter 1291- Breaking out of wheel's control
Martial Cultivator
Chapter 670.2: There Is Still a Mountain Supporting - Part 2
Chaotic Sword God
Chapter 3859: Obstructing the Enemy
Nightmare Assault
Chapter 309: Time to Kill
Horror Game Designer
Chapter 388: Becoming Me
Apocalypse Gacha
Chapter 1290.5- Good luck comes after bad luck leaves (2)
Snow-Kissed Rose (GL)
Chapter 49.1
Apocalypse Gacha
Chapter 1290- Good luck comes after bad luck leaves (1)
Martial Cultivator
Chapter 670.1: There Is Still a Mountain Supporting - Part 1
Chaotic Sword God
Chapter 3858: Alarming Everyone
Nightmare Assault
Chapter 308: Under the Black Water
Song Yingshi: ???
Before Song Yingshi could lose her mind at the system's arbitrary decision to spend 500 out of 522 hours of her Life Point reserve, a glimmering white progress bar appeared in her mind.
The progress bar was empty, and the label at the end showed 0/10,000.
Following the progress bar's appearance, the system explained, "You are now able to fill the Exchange Gauge using Life Points (daily limit of 12 hours), Host. Expended Life Points cannot be refunded. When the Exchange Gauge is filled, Life Point calculations will cease, and you will obtain eternal life. For more details, please look it up yourself."
Song Yingshi: "..."
Song Yingshi's mind blanked momentarily at the system's explanation. Then, once her emotions settled, she finally understood the system's actions.
Thanks to her diligence in earning Life Points, she inadvertently met the system's hidden requirement of accumulating 500 hours of Life Points. Upon meeting this requirement, the system spent 500 hours of her Life Points to unlock the Exchange Gauge, an avenue for her to obtain eternal life.
Now, so long as she contributed 10,000 hours of Life Points to the Exchange Gauge, she would have eternal life.
Eternal life…
Song Yingshi subconsciously held her breath.
She had speculated that the system's missions might end one day. She had also speculated about changes to the current missions, though she couldn't say for sure whether it would be for the better or worse.
However, she never expected the system to offer her a way out so soon.
Finally, she could see an end to the days when she had to worry whether she would live to see tomorrow, which others normally took for granted.
A fighting spirit ignited within Song Yingshi as she looked at the empty Exchange Gauge. While accumulating 10,000 hours of Life Points in addition to covering her daily expenditure was challenging, it wasn't impossible. She could keep fighting as long as there was an end goal for her to reach.
…
The next day, Song Yingshi woke up brimming with energy before the loudspeaker even sounded.
Before Song Yingshi even opened her eyes, she asked the system, System, do you have any missions for me?
Immediately, the system replied, "You currently have one mission available. Daily Mission: Consecutively say three cheesy pick-up lines to Huai Xu within one minute (references attached)."
With only 10 hours of life to her name, Song Yingshi muttered in dissatisfaction, Give me more missions!
The Exchange Gauge had a daily top-up limit of 12 hours of Life Points. If she didn't start "saving" now, she'd have to earn even more Life Points to fill it up in the future due to her daily expenditure.
With her Life Point reserve and Exchange Gauge being pitifully empty, it was akin to having two hungry children she needed to feed. She'd have to complete more missions if she wanted them fed. Yet, the stingy system only assigned her one mission today…
In a melancholic tone, Song Yingshi sighed, Don't you think I'm too idle? Don't you want to give me something to do? Don't—
"Open your eyes and take a look, Host," the system said.
Huh?
Song Yingshi opened her eyes in confusion.
Song Yingshi was lying on her side when she woke up. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the scenery on the bed next to hers.
Huai Xu sat on the bed, looking like she had just woken up. At first glance, she appeared to be staring at something.
Currently, there were still 10 minutes before the routine wake-up call began.
Coincidentally, shortly after Song Yingshi opened her eyes, Huai Xu turned to look at her.
"Good morning," Song Yingshi greeted Huai Xu as she gripped her blanket.
"Good morning," Huai Xu replied.
Song Yingshi placed her pillow behind her, leaned back, and yawned as she asked Huai Xu, "What were you looking at?"
Huai Xu sat with her legs curled, and there was something on her lap. However, the wrinkles on the blanket covering her legs prevented Song Yingshi from seeing what was on her lap.
At Song Yingshi's question, Huai Xu smirked as she held up an A4 paper and shook it before Song Yingshi, saying, "The contract."
"What's so interesting about that?" Song Yingshi asked, sounding a little sluggish.
Huai Xu didn't respond, her gaze falling back to the thin sheet of paper.
Of course, it is interesting.
This sheet of paper was filled with many things. Huai Xu had quickly glanced over it yesterday before heading off to practice, and only now did she have time to carefully study it.
The contract's terms were quite trivial. Without proper context, one might even assume they were daily tasks assigned by Star of Spring's production crew.
1. Sit together during filming. (Make sure to look happy.)
2. Hold hands no less than three times a day, each time for at least 5 seconds.
3. Eat together. (No picky eating, no discriminating against boiled eggs, and maintain a balanced diet.)
4. Practice together.
5. Say good morning and good night to each other. (At least five times a week.)
…
There were dozens of such terms in the contract.
After giving the contract another quick look, Huai Xu shoved it in Song Yingshi's face and asked, "We've greeted each other good morning, what's next?"
Song Yingshi: "?"
Huai Xu's question stumped Song Yingshi. She hadn't expected Huai Xu to abide by the contract seriously. Even more baffling was that Huai Xu appeared more eager to fulfill the contract than she was…
Song Yingshi wanted to tell Huai Xu that it wasn't necessary to abide by the contract, but if she did so…she'd look like a fool after all the drama she caused yesterday to get Huai Xu to sign the new contract.
After much deliberation, Song Yingshi ultimately chose to…save herself from embarrassment. Though, she still couldn't help but feel a little wronged by this situation.
After exchanging good mornings, Huai Xu pulled back the curtains, opened the French windows, and urged Song Yingshi to get out of bed quickly. Her reasoning: "We have many conditions to fulfill before the day starts."
Song Yingshi: "..."
Song Yingshi weakly responded with a "mhm" before rolling herself out of bed.
Thus, on this beautiful morning, Song Yingshi was forced to fulfill her obligations to the Romantic Partner Contract.
"Come here," Huai Xu said, beckoning Song Yingshi as if she were calling a puppy.
Song Yingshi shuffled over in her slippers. Standing beside Huai Xu, she asked, "What do you want?"
"You wrote it yourself. We have to breathe in the first fresh air of the morning together," Huai Xu said.
Song Yingshi stared at Huai Xu in astonishment, wondering if she had actually written such an absurd task. If she did, she had likely written it as a filler near the end to use up the rest of the paper.
More importantly, did Huai Xu memorize the entire contract?
Song Yingshi had a headache at the realization of this possibility.
Is Huai Xu doing this to get back at me?!
That must be it!
Fortunately, the next task was more normal, only requiring them to brush their teeth together.
Song Yingshi usually maintained a positive attitude toward life. By the time she finished breathing in the morning air with Huai Xu, she had already accepted her fate and the countless holes she had dug for herself.
After squeezing toothpaste onto her toothbrush, Song Yingshi saw Huai Xu waiting for the toothpaste, so she squeezed some onto Huai Xu's toothpaste before she lazily started to brush her teeth.
As Song Yingshi thought back to the practice content from yesterday, her eyes were subconsciously drawn toward Huai Xu's collar reflected in the mirror.
They usually wore nightdresses to sleep, but on occasions when they sent their nightdresses for cleaning, they'd make do with some clean clothes. Currently, Huai Xu was wearing a shirt.
The shirt's fabric was soft and snug, clearly outlining Huai Xu's slender waist and graceful curves. It was like a white gauze wrapped around a fruit, the fruit ripe and full, exuding a fragrant aroma.
It seemed like Huai Xu didn't bother to smooth out her shirt after waking up, as the collar was slightly crooked. Because of this crooked collar, Song Yingshi got to see a patch of soft, white skin that would normally be hidden under clothing.
As a woman herself, Song Yingshi didn't have any particular fetish or voyeuristic desires for other women. However, Huai Xu had a certain charm that naturally attracted the attention of those around her, especially in this situation. This charm was further intensified by the fragrance she exuded.
Nonetheless, Song Yingshi didn't have any wild imaginations. She simply stopped to admire the mesmerizing sight presented to her.
However, that quickly changed when Huai Xu bent down to splash some water on her face. At that moment, the collar fell open, and Song Yingshi, in her subconscious attempt to chase after the mesmerizing sight, lowered her gaze a tad too much…
"Uh."
Song Yingshi immediately averted her gaze before pulling Huai Xu up.
Huai Xu's face looked like it was covered in dew as she straightened her posture.
As gravity did its work, water droplets gathered on Huai Xu's chin before dripping onto her chest, staining the white fabric into a semi-translucent gray and causing it to cling to her exquisite figure. However, she seemed unaware of this and lowered her gaze to look at Song Yingshi, asking, "What's wrong?"
Song Yingshi couldn't be bothered to verbally explain herself. With her dry hands, she buttoned the second button on Huai Xu's shirt and adjusted Huai Xu's collar. As she retracted her hands, she casually tucked a wet strand of hair behind Huai Xu's ear.
After verifying that nothing else would impede their freshening up, Song Yingshi tilted her chin and said, "Alright, you may continue washing up."
Huai Xu stared at Song Yingshi.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Song Yingshi jokingly asked.
Song Yingshi didn't think much of her words. Huai Xu was never the type to trouble others, always keeping a clear distance from the people around her.
Hence, Song Yingshi was genuinely caught off-guard when Huai Xu suddenly tilted her neck toward her and said, "My eyes."
Song Yingshi froze and instinctively looked toward Huai Xu's eyes.
Immediately, Song Yingshi noticed the water droplets adorning Huai Xu's eyes. She also noticed Huai Xu's eyes seemed to have trouble staying open, likely due to some water seeping into them. However, Huai Xu's eyes appeared even more shimmering because of this water.
Amidst Song Yingshi's daze, Huai Xu leaned in a little closer.
Then, a short silence ensued before a soft, dripping sound subtly disrupted it.
"Don't move; I'll wipe it for you," Song Yingshi said as she snapped back to reality, grabbed a cotton pad, and pressed it gently over Huai Xu's eye, absorbing the water.
...
After a brief interlude, Song Yingshi finally finished her washing-up task.
Prior to today, Song Yingshi never thought anyone could turn daily routines into a chain of missions. However, it turned out that nothing was impossible as long as she put in the effort.
While finding humor in her misfortune, Song Yingshi quickly headed to the cafeteria with Huai Xu.
Since the two of them weren't on the same team, they had to separate after breakfast and wouldn't see each other again until lunchtime.
After having inexplicably spent the entire morning as Huai Xu's "romantic partner," Song Yingshi finally had time during breakfast to focus on her mission.
Daily Mission: Consecutively say three cheesy pick-up lines to Huai Xu within one minute (references attached).
Song Yingshi was no stranger to cheesy pick-up lines. She had also taken a look at the system's provided references, which were just some classic cheesy lines that could be found online. All she needed to do was read out three in one minute. It was a simple mission with no pitfalls.
Although completing this mission would cost Song Yingshi some sanity, she would gladly do it for the Life Points.
After finding a secluded corner table surrounded by empty tables, Song Yingshi set down her tray and sympathetically watched Huai Xu, the soon-to-be victim of her super cheesy mission, sit across from her.
Without forewarning, Song Yingshi began with the first cheesy pick-up line, "Do you smell something burning?"
At the same time, the system began counting down in Song Yingshi's head, "Mission countdown has started… 59, 58, 57…"
"No," Huai Xu replied.
The conversation was progressing smoothly.
Just as Song Yingshi prepared to say the continuation—
"Little Shi!"
"Little——Shi——"
Suddenly, Lu Xuewen and Tao Qin's cheerful calls echoed from behind Song Yingshi.
Song Yingshi: ?
Song Yingshi suddenly had a bad premonition.
It was well-known that dogs and groundhogs were social animals that loved to call their friends over.
As Song Yingshi slowly turned around, she saw…
Tao Qin, Lu Xuewen, Yu Sheng, Wan Jiao, Wan Jiao's two juniors and their two roommates, Wu Wei, and Li Tinghan...
A group of 10 people walked over, forming a complete circle around the small and pitiful table of Song Yingshi and Huai Xu.
The secluded corner instantly became the cafeteria's most populated area.
"Little Shi, are you feeling better?"
"What patient meal are you having? Let me see."
"Mommy was— I mean, I was so worried since I didn't get to see you last night."
"Will you be joining us for practice later?"
Normally, Tao Qin and the others wouldn't behave so enthusiastically so early in the morning. At least they wouldn't swarm Song Yingshi all at once.
However, since Song Yingshi fainted yesterday, only Tao Qin and a few others got to see her when she regained consciousness, and many people remained worried about her. Hence, the current situation.
Even Wu Wei, who was usually quiet and reserved, came after convincing herself with the reason: "Huai Xu has been so good to you. Now that her roommate has fallen ill, the least you can do is stop by for a visit." However, unlike Tao Qin and the others, Wu Wei only said a few awkward words, "Drink more hot water."
Meanwhile, Tao Qin sat down beside Song Yingshi and asked, "What were you two talking about?"
Song Yingshi didn't respond, her expression somewhat strained.
Seeing this, Huai Xu answered on Song Yingshi's behalf, "She asked me if I smelled something burning."
"Something smells like burning? I don't smell it."
"Did the cafeteria lady overcook the meat bun fillings?"
The enthusiastic girls wondered enthusiastically before they turned toward Song Yingshi.
Song Yingshi: "..."
Under the curious gaze of ten pairs of eyes, Song Yingshi seemingly came to terms with something as her strained expression relaxed, and she faced Huai Xu with a deadpan face. Then, in an equally emotionless voice, she said, "It's the smell of my heart burning."
Everyone: "..."
Pretending as if the others didn't exist, Song Yingshi continued to look at Huai Xu, saying, "Are you a witch? Because I think you've bewitched me."
Everyone: ???
Tao Qin was confused.
Everyone was confused.
Powering through the awkwardness, Song Yingshi continued, "I'm not sure if it's the heat or you, but I'm feeling faint. Probably you."
Everyone: Is this how you fainted yesterday?!
TL Notes:
Wu Wei appeared in Chapter 32. She's the trainee from Class E who managed to impress and win a Star Card from Huai Xu with her original song. And regarding her "Drink more hot water," it's a common saying/solution in Chinese households (I don't know about other Asian households) when it comes to dealing minor illnesses and discomforts.