Chapter Fifty (Debt Twelve)

No. 21 Minghua Road.

Ling Zhizhi hurriedly directed the movers to arrange various items according to her instructions.

“Girl, you sure have a lot of stuff!” one of the movers said with a smile as he wiped the sweat from his brow during a break.

She sat down to catch her breath. “I never noticed when I lived here, but moving really exposes everything.”

Thinking about all the things still to come, Ling Zhizhi felt overwhelmed.

So this was their goal—to make her painfully realize how useless it was to buy so much?

How cruel!

No wonder they didn’t let her hire a full-service moving company. Only someone with such a dark mind could come up with this plan.

Ding-ling—

A notification popped up on her phone: a bank transfer.

[Huaxia Bank] On July 13, 1988, 5,000 yuan was credited to your account ending in 7878. Current balance: 5,200.33 yuan.

The sender quickly sent a message.

Ling Zhixing: Little sister, I secretly transferred you some living expenses. Don’t go spending it all on stuff.

Ling Zhizhi: Got it... remember to delete the record.

With some living expenses secured for the short term, even her chaotic home looked a little more bearable.

After the movers left this time, Ling Zhizhi calculated that the next batch would arrive around noon tomorrow.

She had to tidy up the house before the next wave of things showed up.

It was tedious and exhausting, and she couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.

Why were they rushing her out?

They wouldn’t leave the moving funds to her, hoping she’d buy more things?

She glanced at the balance on her card and gave a bitter smile.

She couldn’t keep bothering her neighbors forever. Maybe she should find a job.

Lost in thought, something brushed against her leg. She waved it away.

???

She didn’t have anything furry…

Looking down, she saw a round, puffed-up ball trying hard to snuggle up to her.

She bent down, reached out, and picked it up.

“What’s this? Did the movers leave it behind?”

The soft ball suddenly burst open like a sea urchin. “Hey hey... you’re the thing here!”

Ling Zhizhi pinched it between her fingers.

It was soft—definitely not a machine—and there was no recording device inside.

Had she accidentally brought out her second brother’s high-tech gadget?

The thought was terrifying, and before she noticed, the ball slipped from her hand.

“Hey hey... how can you treat me like that?”

Had her brother’s style changed?

Gross...

The ball bounced up to her eye level, jumping rhythmically.

“Bad person! Bad person!”

Without her brother’s bias, this little thing was actually kind of cute.

Usually, devices have a preset origin. Ling Zhizhi decided to start there.

She grabbed it, placed it on the table, and poked it. “Where did you come from?”

“Wherever you come from, I come from there too.”

This little thing really understood her words.

It was soft and nice to squeeze—maybe she should keep it?

May her brother be well!

“You’ll stay with me from now on! As long as I have a meal, you’ll get a new skin.”

[Trigger successful! Host, please select your livestream content within three days. Failure to comply will result in penalties.]

The ball changed color!

Ling Zhizhi stared in shock at the ball bouncing wildly on the table. “What did I trigger? I don’t have any money now. If you’re trying to scam me, you’ve got the wrong person!”

Her family wasn’t wealthy to begin with. If she got scammed, she’d have nowhere to cry.

Maybe she could trade this thing with her second brother for food?

She understood now—this thing definitely hadn’t come from her home.

Ling Zhiyi, that tech freak, would definitely pay a high price to buy it!

Buy, buy, buy! Here I come!

---

[Detected host’s abnormal thoughts. Initiating sobriety plan.]

With a bang, the ball jumped from the table to her head, hitting her.

Wasn’t this thing supposed to be soft?

“Alright, alright, I won’t sell you.”

“But you see, I’m so broke I’m about to die. I don’t have anything you want. Why don’t you go find my second brother? I’ll give you his address—he’s got money—”

If she didn’t sell it now, when else?

The ball’s colors kept shifting before settling back to white.

It hopped into Ling Zhizhi’s arms.

[Hug!]

White was more agreeable. Confirming this, Ling Zhizhi pinched it and asked, “What exactly are you? What’s your purpose?”

[Hey hey... I’m a system, a livestream system. Once you’re bound to me, you have to livestream.]

Affected by someone she knew, she was aware some books had wildly imaginative settings.

But for it to happen to her, it felt a bit unreal.

Ling Zhizhi cautiously asked, “Can we unbind? I... can’t afford to support you.”

[Host, you must believe in yourself! Also, I don’t need you to support me; I don’t eat. I can help you create a growth plan perfectly tailored to you, so you’ll have endless money!]

Endless money?

To shop all she wanted?

“That’s great! I’m very willing!”

---

Chapter Two: Guarded

After a day of hard work, Master Ling collapsed exhausted onto the sofa.

The downside of endless shopping seemed to be showing.

The white little fluff ball bounced onto her head. “One day left! Host, have you decided what to do?”

She was dead tired—why still think?

“You’re supposed to give me a plan, right? I’ll just follow your plan.”

Casually brushing it off, Ling Zhizhi thought about what to buy to mooch off someone’s kitchen.

No choice—she couldn’t even afford cookware, or she wouldn’t have to rely on others.

Life was so hard. She’d never been this poor since growing up.

After resting enough, Ling Zhizhi pinched the fluff twice to ease her mood.

“Make a good plan! I trust you, Ling Tuan Tuan, keep it up!”

The texture was really nice—and easy to fool.

It was no surprise to Shi Ling to see Ling Zhizhi again at her doorstep.

This girl seemed to lack the instinct to keep strangers at a distance.

“Shi Ling! I bought your favorite dish today. I’ll reward you properly later.”

Looks like he could end his vacation early.

Shi Ling sighed quietly.

---

[Host, why the frown with such a perfect plan?]

Heh heh heh, the perfect plan is to treat her like a beast of burden.

Up at six, asleep at midnight.

This thing really didn’t see her as human.

“Ling Tuan Tuan, do you want me to drop dead suddenly?”

[No, I love you the most, host.]

[This plan considers the time difference between your world and ours. You have to study and work, so time is tight. I found a flexible sales job in your world. This is the best outcome.]

No matter how perfect, it couldn’t deny she could only sleep four hours.

“I protest. Move the afternoon stuff to the evening. I can do sales while working then. Can I livestream in the morning?”

[Okay...]

With the schedule settled, she started to examine the details.

It really was realistic.

Selling one item a day?

Ling Zhizhi looked at her now tidied space and got an idea.

Ling Tuan Tuan’s world was highly advanced technologically, but its culture had been damaged by historical reasons—hence Ling Tuan Tuan’s existence.

The growth plan clearly stated she had to use livestream to showcase culture, with viewer targets for each stage.

Reaching those numbers let her upgrade Ling Tuan Tuan and unlock its system mall.

The more viewers, the more rewards she could earn.

---

For her, it was like having a mountain of gold before her but unable to touch it.

“I’ll have to tell the movers to deliver only in the afternoon.”

Ling Tuan Tuan got excited at her plan, turning pink. “Host, how many things do you have? If you have many, ignoring costs, you’ll make pure profit. Host will definitely take good care of me!”

No one knew who created Ling Tuan Tuan. Aside from the specific processes, it couldn’t do anything but shower her with praise.

She was starting to get numb.

Sighing, she feigned sadness and complained, “If you could unlock the system space earlier, I wouldn’t have to work so hard to organize the house.”

She had studied the factory system’s manual carefully. She didn’t know if other systems were as easy to fool, but hers certainly was.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so easily flustered and lost.

“Don’t worry, host! I’m applying to the main system now. I won’t let you waste effort on these small matters!”

Success!

With one more annoyance resolved, she happily flipped through her notebook.

First, she needed to make money, and women and children’s money was easiest to earn.

Second, since the livestream was just starting, she needed to do some eye-catching but not too difficult things to attract viewers.

With these prerequisites, many options were filtered out.

Turning the page, Ling Zhizhi’s finger stopped on a certain word.

After looking it over, it seemed the most fitting.

So the first day she would tackle that.

Felt flowers.

Artistic and practical.

Also, it made viewers think it was easy to make—three benefits at once.

Most importantly, the materials were highly replaceable.

“Hey hey hey...”

The sound from Ling Tuan Tuan awoke Ling Zhizhi’s thoughts.

Opening her hands, she casually asked, “Found a solution?”

The little thing hopped onto her hand, sounding a bit down. “Host, I can’t find the connection channel to the main system.”

Ling Zhizhi lowered her gaze, looking at the grayish ball. She comforted it, “It’s okay. Since you can start the livestream, it means you still have contact with your world.

If you can’t reach your superior, maybe it’s busy and hasn’t seen your message.

Wait a bit; there’s still hope.”

Little things were easy to coax.

Reverting to its original form, the system happily nestled in her hand.

“What are you looking at, host? The pictures up there are so pretty! Small and cute, just like me.”

Pictures?

There were no drawings in her notebook. Where did the system see pictures?

Ling Zhizhi raised it and placed it on the notebook. “You mean what you see are pictures?”

“Yes! I’ve even seen some at the post-war exhibition hall. Very beautiful!”

The system was carefree, but Ling Zhizhi knew this was another exposed detail.

The scripts in their two worlds were different. At least for now, they didn’t share the same language system.

One must never be too trusting, especially when the other side possessed weapons beyond her match.

She had to be extremely cautious.

“Tuan Tuan, do you understand when others talk to you the same as when I do?”

“Exactly!”

No, since it was bound to her, by some design, it must understand her language.

She asked directly, “Tuan Tuan, what does the writing in your world look like? When I speak during the livestream, won’t people there fail to understand?”

Ling Tuan Tuan suddenly realized and bounced twice. “Host, don’t worry! Everything communicated through the livestream system will be converted into words you understand.”

Ling Zhizhi nodded thoughtfully and put it down.

“Tuan Tuan, learn the project I chose through the system. I’ll go prepare the livestream space for tomorrow.”

[Okay! Okay! I love learning the most!]

Upstairs, Ling Zhizhi picked a room, put away anything that might reveal too much, and set up a simple livestream space.

Luckily, her things hadn’t all arrived yet; otherwise, freeing up a wide space would be much harder.

She hoped to earn her first pot of gold tomorrow, so she could snag the items she had her eye on!

Thinking too optimistically, Ling Zhizhi had already forgotten the quirks of that silly system.