Chu Lian slept all the way until dusk, yawning in the lingering glow of the setting sun. This might have been the most restful sleep she'd had since arriving in this world.
Even though she'd been surrounded by caring people, she had always felt like she didn't quite belong. But after getting dragged into the Otherside's conflicts, she understood she could no longer pretend to be an outsider.
When she heard that this body's parents had been hurt, that strange pang in her heart told her that no matter how much she resisted, this body, this identity, had already started merging her with this world.
And Ayase's parting words before she fell asleep had settled the confusion in her heart. After all, who but someone truly free-spirited could forget the dust of the mortal world so easily?
She crawled out of bed, still groggy, washed up, and went off in search of food. The exhausting battle and emotional stress from earlier had left her drained. She had skipped lunch and gone straight to bed.
Now that she was awake, food was the top priority. As a growing young girl, she was naturally starving after so long without eating.
She was determined to care for her heaven-sent body as best she could. It wouldn't be a big deal if she didn't grow much taller during this stage—but if her chest stayed the same... that would be tragic. She didn't believe all that nonsense like "Flat chests bring balance to the world" or "A-cups are a rare treasure."
Her mindset was, "How can I become a goddess of the people without a great figure?" Yes, absolutely. It was definitely not because she feared being teased one day with lines like, "Flat-chested and proud! Saving fabric for the nation!" Definitely not!
Since breakfast was over, no one made lunch, and she was dining alone, she didn't need much. She picked a few nutritious items and made herself a light dinner.
After eating her fill and taking a bath, she slipped into her small pajamas and returned to her computer. She wanted to check her video stats.
As for the events from earlier... she'd let them lie. Thinking about them now wouldn't help. In time, when she grew stronger and gained enough power, all her questions would be answered naturally. For now, worrying would just waste energy.
She logged into MySong and first checked her personal page. She saw that her fan count had passed 3,000. Aside from a few who genuinely liked her singing, the majority probably started following her after seeing her 2P video, right?
Honestly, what hopeless creatures humans were. That much obsession with lolis, that much thirst—did they really like white thigh-highs and absolute territory that much?
She resisted the urge to browse the video or check her messages and instead opened another tab to check her Weibo. Her follower count there had also grown rapidly, already surpassing two thousand, with over a hundred private messages and dozens of tagged posts.
She skimmed through some of the messages. Many were asking for personal information, which she ignored. For the more decent, reasonable questions, she picked a few to answer as a form of engagement. Most of the tags were related to her, such as video shares, questions about her upcoming book, and other inquiries.
Everything was moving in a positive direction, which gave her more confidence in completing the main quest. A mere Advanced difficulty task? For someone who had cleared an Abyss-level mission, this was a walk in the park.
Ah, right—the Abyss-level mission she cleared. What about the quest reward?
As that thought popped into her head, she suddenly remembered she'd completed a temporary, special-trigger mission. The system had promised her a special ability as a reward. How could she have forgotten?
Abandoning her video stats, she focused her mind and entered the system space, eager to see what reward she had received.
"Special Mission: Evade and defeat the attackers. Status: Complete. Difficulty: Abyss. Completion Grade: S. System Reward: Selected from the Ability Exchange List. Reward selected: Electromaster LV1 (Upgradeable to LV5)."
"Girl, use your Railgun to blast away all your enemies! When they get cocky, shout 'Come at me, face me head-on!' Ohohoho~ (Note: Ability selection is heavily influenced by the host's status and environment.)"
Just ignore the system's shameless commentary. She was used to it by now—besides, it was her only harmless source of amusement left. Calm down, calm down...
"Hoo... okay, calm now..." She felt her brow twitch reading the system's message. This system was truly infuriating. She hadn't noticed it before, but the more she interacted with it over the past couple of days, the more she realized how easy it was to get annoyed!
"Hmm, so an Electromaster ability that can be upgraded to LV5... seems I really am fated to be connected with Railgun. But getting to LV5 won't be easy. Enhancing calculation skills and the like isn't something I can manage in the short term. That'll have to wait for the future."
"Still, the system's note in parentheses was a surprising hint. Looks like it does want me to have more freedom in future selections if I run into a similar situation."
"Although this feels like a total scam, I suppose it can still be helpful at times. It's just a pity... with only LV1, it can barely paralyze someone—not much use beyond that."
Getting the Railgun ability was great and all, but the need to level it up was frustrating. If only she could have started at LV5. That wouldn't make her ruler of the Otherside, but it would make her significantly safer for a good while.
Unfortunately, it was likely because she had been under the influence of Lucky E when the ability was chosen that she got stuck with LV1 instead of LV5.
"Little Lian'er is so smart. If you hadn't been under Lucky E at the time, even if you didn't get something stronger, it definitely wouldn't have been just LV1. Completing an Abyss-level mission and only getting a LV1 ability? That's practically impossible."
"With an S-rank completion, the chance of getting a LV5 ability is 95%, LV4 is 4%, and LV1... 0.0001%. Now do you understand the terror of Lucky E? It turns one-in-a-million events into guaranteed outcomes."
"Next time you encounter a mission like this, even if you waste a bit, avoid using 'The Gloves Abandoned by the Ladykiller' right away. At the very least, don't use all three activations before claiming your system reward. Otherwise, all your effort could go to waste."
Ayase suddenly appeared in the dark corner of the system space, her red form burning like fire, drawing all attention toward her.
She walked over to her sofa, sat with legs crossed, and her slender legs stretched out from beneath her red dress, alluring and elegant. Chu Lian shamelessly flopped forward and buried her head in Ayase's lap, rubbing her cheek softly against Ayase's bare thighs, sniffing and muttering, "So fragrant..."
Only to be promptly picked up and tossed aside.
"So, is there any compensation this time?" After all, this really was a system mishap. She had cleared an Abyss-level mission, and only getting an ability that started at LV1 felt unfair.
"Mm, you could say it was a system error, so you'll get compensation. But just this once. If something similar happens again, there won't be any more freebies," Ayase nodded, clearly having negotiated with the system to minimize the loss.
"Due to system error, the reward granted did not match the mission level. As compensation, the host is awarded a special ability: LV4 Teleport."
Eh? Was this like scoring a two-for-one deal? Teleport might lack Railgun's destructive power, but it was a top-tier life-saving skill. Plus, since it was granted at LV4, it must come with equivalent computational power, right?
"Please note: The LV4 Teleport is a bonus ability and cannot be upgraded. Therefore, the host may freely use it as long as her body and mind can endure it. No computational power is required."
Well... there goes that fantasy. Again.
"If it's meant to be, it will be. If not, don't force it. At least I got something useful." She could only comfort herself like this now.
Having settled the matter of her rewards, she exited the system space and opened her uploaded video. She wasn't too surprised by the view count—but when she scrolled down to the comments section, her jaw dropped.