Chapter 21: As Terrifying as This, a Little Mischievous Heart

The system was so stunned by the sight of that crystal core, its eyes nearly popped out.
[Host, is this the power of the protagonist's halo?! How terrifying!!]
[Host, let's get one for ourselves too!!]
The system spoke excitedly.
[How do we do that?]
Qiao Jia exchanged a glance with the system and asked.
[Let me borrow a protagonist halo snatcher from an older system, and then while the night is dark and the wind is high...]
[Are you going to kill a pregnant woman too?]
Qiao Jia's eyes widened slightly, as if surprised by the system's ruthlessness.
[No, the male lead!]
The system was equally surprised by Qiao Jia's first reaction—why would she think of killing a pregnant woman!
[Oh.]
Sorry, she really doubted the system's moral bottom line.
[We'll snatch Fu Jingchuan's overbearing CEO angst halo, and then Su Xiaoran and Su Qianqian will be influenced by your aura!]
[But there's a problem—if we haven't fused with the halo and get discovered by the main god or the world consciousness, we're finished.]
The system was truly considering the feasibility of this plan.
[It's also possible that before we even kill Fu Jingchuan, the world consciousness discovers us, notifies the main god, and then we're doomed too.]
[Your senior system is so wild?]
Qiao Jia was a little surprised; she hadn't realized the system had such strong connections to borrow something like that.
[Hehe, it's actually another senior system—it and its host specialize in revenge missions.]
The system chuckled sheepishly, recalling how it spent all of training currying favor with the senior systems.
[Those revenge systems have all kinds of tricks, and their targets are a mixed bunch. Even the main god turns a blind eye sometimes.]
[The failure rate is too high—it's not worth the risk. Let's wait until we're really lagging in the rankings before considering it.]
Qiao Jia thought it over and refused the system's suggestion for now. After all, Fu Jingchuan was the male lead; his halo was still intact, and he likely had some tricks up his sleeve.
The system agreed with Qiao Jia. Their current situation was excellent; there was no need to resort to underhanded means.
"Boss, is this a crystal core?"
Su Xiaoran opened her hand, letting Qiao Jia see the item she was holding, and nervously asked.
"Yes, third tier."
Qiao Jia only needed one glance to determine its rank. She'd received some training when she was bound to the system.
"Third tier—that's equal to ten thousand first-tier crystal cores, right?"
Su Xiaoran was unsure.
"That's right."
Qiao Jia nodded again.
"That's wonderful!"
Su Xiaoran showed a gentle smile. With one crystal core, she could save two lives—she would not hesitate to make that choice.

"It’s the same as your rent," Qiao Jia added.
The room fell silent.
Yes, it was just that precise.
After Qiao Jia spoke, the three of them were a little too embarrassed to say anything.
Su Xiaoran and the others still owed the boss rent.
"Um, boss, the rent... do you need it now?"
Su Xiaoran carefully watched Qiao Jia's expression, quickly thinking up a solution.
"We could move out and pitch tents for now."
"Right?"
She turned to look at Gu Xingye and Fu Beichuan, seeking their agreement.
But neither of them responded—they had their own considerations.
They trusted that Xie Jinghan and his group would definitely repay the crystal core, but...
"Boss, do you need the rent right now?"
Fu Beichuan asked.
"No, I was just reminding you. Ten thousand crystal cores is no small sum these days."
Qiao Jia spoke calmly. Su Xiaoran, hearing her words, felt her anxious heart relax and was a little embarrassed.
They still owed the boss rent; it really was unfair to her.
And there were Brother Xingye and Beichuan—it was her fault they were dragged into this.
"San'er, here you go."
With the others' support, Su Xiaoran handed the crystal core to—
"Wuwuwu—thank you, Xiaoran. My name is San'er, not 'the other woman.'"
San'er wiped her tears, touched yet still quick to clarify.
"We’ll definitely find a way to repay you for this crystal core!"
San'er turned around and handed the core to Qiao Jia.
"Um, what the boss meant was that you need to prepay ten thousand crystal cores."
Shen Tong lightly cleared her throat, bringing everyone back to the matter at hand.
"Strictly speaking, San'er, you only need to spend—twenty crystal cores."
"So that ten thousand crystal cores, Xiaoran, you can still use them for rent."
Shen Tong was calm and rational—free from toxic family ties, she was stronger than ever!
"...That does seem to be the case."
"So... just now we were over there..."
Everyone turned to Qiao Jia, who was crouching and watching Xie Jinghan and Qi Bai.
"Did I say that this crystal core can't solve two problems at once?"

Qiao Jia turned around, blinking innocently.
"Boss, you're so wicked."
San'er commented sincerely.
There was no change in Qiao Jia's expression, but her dark eyes stared at San'er, making him shiver involuntarily.
"San'er, would you like to know what it's like to be a corpse?"
"I'm sorry!!"
San'er immediately bowed ninety degrees to apologize, momentarily forgetting that the boss was the boss!
"How many medical blind boxes do you want to buy?"
Qiao Jia took the crystal core from San'er and immediately activated the medical blind box.
When it came to opening blind boxes, Shen Tong and the others didn't get involved. Luck was a fickle thing, after all.
After the others lent their crystal cores to San'er and his group, they left—everyone had their own business to attend to.
San'er solemnly wrote an IOU and asked Qiao Jia to witness it. They had no familial ties, and it was generous enough for her to lend them crystal cores; they couldn't let her shoulder the risk.
After Gu Xingye and the others left, San'er and his group began to discuss how many medical blind boxes to buy.
"Should we start with twenty?"
San'er looked uncertainly at Si'er and Xiao Wu.
"Maybe round it up—let’s get a hundred?"
Si'er didn't have much faith in their luck; the last time he opened three blind boxes in a row, he only got some rusty daggers!
"Do we even have that many crystal cores?"
"I think Er's room has some private stash. I’ll go check."
San'er walked straight into the fox-like Qi Bai's room, rummaged through everything, and found a small bag of crystal cores.
Just enough for two thousand!
"A hundred medical blind boxes—two thousand crystal cores."
Qiao Jia immediately held out her hand. She could use these to buy goods and sell them in Giant Tree City later.
"Boss, here you go."
San'er put everyone's pooled crystal cores into a bag and handed them over.
"The dog will deliver the blind boxes to your door soon."
Qiao Jia planned to have the system carry the goods itself—save on shipping costs.
It would be hard on the system, but thinking about how many crystal cores she’d save for the host to develop the town, the system was more than willing!
Just as the two of them were about to head out, a panicked shout came from outside.
"Boss—no, Mayor!! There are people outside... monsters... those green-skinned, big-headed creatures are here to cause trouble!!"