When system cheat becomes rampant!

Xiang Beifei took out a pen, spread out the notebook, and recorded the words he had seen on Grandpa's system interface—[Bone Mountain... store... manager]—in the notebook. He also jot down the matter concerning Xiao Sheng, lining up all the clues and sorting them out.

So far, the clues were fragmented and a key thread was missing to tie them all together.

"What are you writing?" Xiang Qingde inquired.

"I am taking notes on Grandpa's words," Xiang Beifei said earnestly, "Excerpting Grandpa's sage advice, which I can use as material for essays in the future."

"Ah... Is that so?"

Xiang Qingde was taken aback—how come the kid's responses were always so out of the box?

He had intended to persuade his grandson not to be too impulsive next, but his grandson's words had completely thrown off his train of thought.

"I was just speaking off the cuff, nothing profound," Xiang Qingde said, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed following his grandson's mention.

"Not listening to the elder's wisdom leads to immediate loss," Xiang Beifei remarked, "Grandpa's lived a long life and definitely sees things more clearly than I do; I must remember your words."

"Well, that's good to hear!"

Xiang Qingde was delighted. His grandson was willing to listen to his lectures—nothing could be better, and at the very least, he probably wouldn't do anything rash.

Xiang Beifei flipped to the back of the notebook where the imprint of his father's handwriting was. It was filled with intermittent words.

After a moment of silence, he casually wrote down what grandpa had said, and then closed the notebook.

"Grandpa, you don't need to be so frugal anymore, I can make money," Xiang Beifei stated.

"Where could you possibly earn money? Just focus on your studies, I'll worry about making money," Xiang Qingde dismissed with a wave of his hand.

"I am a martial artist; I can make money by doing tasks for people at school. Last time, I even helped Uncle Lu catch a criminal. I've made quite a lot this semester."

"How much can you make in a month?"

"Not much, just around this amount," Xiang Beifei said, extending four fingers.

"Four thousand? If it's just three or four thousand, you might as well put all your effort into your studies," Xiang Qingde suggested, waving his hand.

Xiang Beifei couldn't help but smile wryly, and handed his phone, showing the account balance, to his grandfather.

Xiang Qingde glanced at the balance, which was a full 200,000!

His eyes widened in shock.

Only then did he realize that his grandson's four fingers meant—forty thousand!

"Did you earn this yourself?"

Just this amount alone was enough for Xiang Qingde to sell vegetables for seven or eight years!

"Yes, I have the ability to make money."

"How did you earn it?" Xiang Qingde asked in astonishment.

"It's easy to make money in an elite school. Basically, no one lacks money. Sometimes, when completing system tasks, they need help from others. I give them a hand and get rewarded."

Xiang Beifei paused, then added, "So, Grandpa, you don't need to worry about money anymore. If you don't want to work, just retire. We can move to a better house and not huddle in that place anymore."

In fact, he had made his money by selling Beast Pills and desolate beast carcasses, especially the precious Beast Pills. The Qi-Controlling stage ones were a bit cheaper, but each Meridian Opening stage Beast Pill started at a price of five thousand, and even some of the more rare Meridian Opening stage desolate beast Beast Pills could sell for tens of thousands!

For ordinary people, Meridian Opening stage Beast Pills were unimaginable.

After all, many S-ranked Awakeners spent their entire lives only reaching the Meridian Opening stage. For them, hunting Meridian Opening stage desolate beasts was hard, probably requiring a painful sacrifice. Not to mention N-ranked and R-ranked Awakeners—with insufficient power, facing Meridian Opening stage desolate beasts, they had only the option to flee.

But for Xiang Beifei, it was five thousand per fist.

Xiang Qingde took a long time to collect himself and then shook his head, "No need for such extravagance, we're living just fine now. Money that should be saved, must be saved. I am still capable of working."

"Why is Grandpa saving money? I figure Dad worked his whole life, his cultivation so high, surely he must have saved more than he could ever spend," Xiang Beifei said.

Beifei didn't know how much money was in Grandpa's account, but if he could earn so much at the Meridian Opening stage, not to mention his father, an SR-ranked genius strong enough to surpass the God Refining stage.

Encountering a God Refining stage desolate beast, one punch would land at least a hundred thousand.

Even though God Refining stage desolate beasts were intelligent and relatively rare, hard to find, after so many years as a pioneer, slaughtering Meridian Opening stage desolate beasts, he surely would have saved up a seven-digit bank account, right?

Half a year ago, Beifei used to think he was poor; it was only after learning about the market for Beast Pills that he realized that as long as Dad was mentally clear and didn't waste money, he definitely was a rich second generation raised in 'poverty.'"

Oh, the damned fetters of identity.

Truly vexing.

But in truth, he wasn't exactly raised in poverty—whatever others bought, Grandpa never skimped on him. They moved to the urban village because he was still young back then, the family suddenly lost its mainstay, leaving only the old and the young, one without an Awakening System and the other with a snowflake system, both powerless to protect themselves. They feared their money would draw the attention of high-level deceitful Awakeners who might use their system abilities to swindle it away. Quite understandable.

But now there really was no need for that; if someone dared to cause trouble, Xiaohei would directly take care of the delivery!

"There are many reasons why I saved money for you. Back then, how could I know whether you'd need a lot of money for system tasks after awakening your system? What if you awakened some real estate system and the first task was to buy a house? I have to be prepared for the unforeseen," Xiang Qingde explained.

Xiang Qingde had thought everything through very thoroughly. Even though he had a substantial amount of savings, in a world where everyone might awaken to a system, many Awakeners needed startup funds for their tasks. Lacking the ability to make big money himself, he had prepared early for Xiang Beifei—saving wherever possible.

Xiang Beifei smiled. He understood his grandfather's good intentions. The old man preferred to live a harder life to ensure his grandson's future.

"Now I don't need to spend money on tasks; I can make it on my own. There's no point in Grandpa saving; go ahead and spend boldly," Xiang Beifei urged.

"That money should be saved for you to find a wife," Xiang Qingde said earnestly.

Xiang Beifei shrugged his shoulders indifferently, "I'm not going to marry an Oscar statue in the future, so I won't need that much money."

"What you're saying, it's..."

Xiang Qingde was momentarily at a loss for words.

After thinking for a moment, Xiang Beifei said, "We will move in the next couple of days; I'll go ask Uncle Kong if there are any houses nearby, and we can move there."

Living in an urban village always made him uneasy. Moving to where Kong Daming lived would be convenient since Kong could keep an eye on things regularly.

Especially now that they had installed a whole bunch of cameras at home.

He didn't plan on touching those cameras but intended to move out first, settling into the new house and then observing if the people secretly surveilling them would come and install new cameras there.

Moving houses was the perfect excuse, as it wouldn't arouse the other party's suspicion. Later, he would thoroughly investigate who was watching them and whether it was related to Xiao Sheng.

"But—" Xiang Qingde was still somewhat hesitant.

"Grandpa, I can make money. This is the life I want, I don't want to live there," Xiang Beifei stated.

In truth, it didn't matter to him where he lived; he wasn't that concerned about such things. He just hoped that his grandfather could have a better life.

After another moment of thought, he added, "Also, if I bring a girlfriend home and she sees me living in such a shabby place, she might get scared away."

Xiang Qingde slapped his forehead, "Ah! Right, look at this blockhead of mine!"

Finding a wife for his grandson was a matter of utmost importance!

It could not be delayed!

In the past, they could live in less desirable places to save money, but now that his grandson was in college and of the legal age to marry and have children!

Without a house or money, if a future granddaughter-in-law came to meet the parents and there wasn't even a decent place to stay, wouldn't she run away?

"We must move!"

Xiang Qingde looked serious and determined.

The matter of moving was imperative now.

Xiang Beifei smiled; he always knew what to say to get his grandfather to agree.

——

As noon approached, the restaurant grew busier, and Xiang Qingde quickly went down to take care of the business. After toying with a kitchen knife and a brick for some time without any revelation, Xiang Beifei carefully put them away, then went downstairs to lend a hand as a waiter.

What he really wanted was to investigate Xiao Sheng, to see what the guy was up to in the restaurant on a regular basis.

Xiang Beifei was helping out his grandfather, and his tasks were simple: serving dishes and collecting payments. Xiao Sheng was tasked with collecting tableware and taking it to the back kitchen, where employees who had activated the "Dishwashing System" took care of the dishes.

"Having Xiaofei, a student of such high caliber, here as a waiter seems a bit of an underuse of talent," Xiao Sheng joked while cleaning up the tableware.

"There's no high or low status in jobs; working while studying is nothing to be ashamed of," replied Xiang Beifei.

Xiao Sheng, having gathered the used dishes onto the trolley, nodded in approval, "That's true, that's true. You really are a high-caliber student, your words carry depth, far more profound than us ordinary folks!"

After that, he gave Xiang Beifei a thumbs-up: "Everyone at the restaurant has high hopes for you; you're bound to have a limitless future!" Enjoy exclusive chapters from My Virtual Library Empire

Xiang Beifei just smiled without saying much, casually observing Xiao Sheng's system.

The "SR-level Integration System" was a very special system indeed.

As the name suggests, this system dealt with all sorts of integration tasks, and it grew stronger with each fusion encountered.

"You combine salt with water, integration value +2"

"You mix honey with tea, integration value +3"

"You blend hot water with cold water, integration value +1"

...

That being said, utilizing this system as a waiter in a restaurant was reasonable, as making tea for customers or blending soup condiments counted as integration.

But if that was all there was to it, it would indeed be, as Xiao Sheng himself put it, a bit of an underuse of talent.

Moreover, his system took a broad definition of "integration," not just limited to physical combinations but also encompassing all sorts of general "integrations."

For instance, blending into a group:

"You successfully integrate into the waitstaff team, becoming an ordinary waiter, integration value +16"

Integration of will and action also contributed to his system values, especially when he took someone's instructions and acted on them, effectively merging command and action.

"You incorporate Xiang Qingde's instruction to fetch a brick into your actions, integration value +89"

"You fulfill Kong Daming's request to wipe the tables twice, integration value +9"

This integration also included blending thoughts; hearing someone's words or learning new information was akin to merging their statements into one's own cognition.

"Xiao Liu tells you he is off duty tomorrow; you are informed of this news, integration value +1"

"Xiang Qingde imparts some wisdom; you incorporate your fresh impression of him into your cognition, integration value +64"

"You converse with Xiang Beifei; you incorporate your new impression of him into your cognition, integration value +101"