Chapter 3: Reward

Chapter 3: Rewards

Stumbling back to the dormitory, Wu Bowen collided with his roommate. He didn't apologize; instead, he shoved the roommate aside and frantically searched for that lottery ticket.

After obtaining the ticket Jiang Shiyan had bought, Wu Bowen did not redeem it immediately. The lottery ticket was valid for 60 days, and he planned to go in the final few days so he could naturally clear his own suspicions.

But he never dreamed that Jiang Shiyan would return!

"The ticket, my ticket..."

At this moment, the rambling Wu Bowen looked terrifying. Even the roommate he had bumped into, who had originally intended to question him, was so frightened that he moved closer to another roommate.

Just as they were gathering their courage to ask Wu Bowen what was happening, Wu Bowen clutched his head in a trance and said, "I didn't kill anyone, I didn't kill anyone... The ticket, the ticket is mine..."

"Go die, Jiang Shiyan!"

"The ticket, my ticket..."

Wu Bowen began to descend into madness. He suddenly spun around to face his other roommates, grabbed one of them, and asked ferociously, "Where is my ticket? Where is my first-prize winning ticket!"

"Holy shit, are you crazy?!"

"Give me the ticket, give me the ticket! I'll kill you, Jiang Shiyan, I'll kill you..."

"..."

Wu Bowen was death-gripping one of the roommates' necks so tightly that they couldn't pull him away. Such a commotion drew the attention of other dormitories. Upon discovering that Wu Bowen was "killing" someone, people rushed forward to help. It took several people working together to pull Wu Bowen off and pin him to the ground.

"Fuck you!"

The boy who had almost been strangled to death survived the ordeal. With bloodshot eyes, he grabbed a stool and swung it at Wu Bowen, striking him heavily on the head.

Before losing consciousness, Wu Bowen seemed to see Jiang Shiyan wearing a white dress, and he fainted completely from terror.

He always remembered that on the day of the photo, Jiang Shiyan was wearing a long white dress...

After watching with her own eyes as Wu Bowen was carried away by the 120 ambulance, Jiang Shiyan unhurriedly walked back down to the foot of her building and crouched by the bushes.

A moment later, a small patterned snake slithered in front of Jiang Shiyan, raising its body slightly and flicking its tongue as if seeking praise

[Xiao Yanyan, Xiao Yanyan, did I do well?]

"Extremely well!" Jiang Shiyan picked up a leaf and stroked the little patterned snake's triangular head.

Snake language was the first language she had unlocked. Back on the deserted island, snakes were the most numerous, so Jiang Shiyan had long since mastered the skill of communicating with them.

The little snake wiggled its body happily.

"Next time you see that bad person, bite him again!" Jiang Shiyan whispered.

[I will bite him together with Xiao Hei.]

The little snake's venom was not fatal, but it was extremely prone to causing hallucinations. Under the mental pressure of extreme fear, people naturally tend to blurt out secrets they wouldn't otherwise tell.

The news of Jiang Shiyan being alive was also something she had intentionally released. By telling a specific person at a specific time and place, she was certain that the guilty Wu Bowen would come to her house to investigate. The little snake had also long been hiding in the bushes, waiting for its chance.

"Yanyan, time to eat!" Mother Jiang's calling voice came from upstairs.

"Coming!"

Jiang Shiyan waved goodbye to the little snake, turned around, and headed upstairs humming a light tune.

...

The police arrived to look for Jiang Shiyan even sooner than she had expected.

They were merely conducting routine inquiries to ask if she had seen Wu Bowen, and Jiang Shiyan did not hide anything, recounting the circumstances of their meeting.

"Officer, I was just so angry that I tried to scare him. Is that also against the law?" Jiang Shiyan asked, feigning fear.

"It's not illegal, but it is immoral," the officer educated her with a moderate tone.

Jiang Shiyan lowered her head and obediently admitted her mistake.

Thinking of this girl's pitiful experience, the police didn't say much more. After all, one couldn't exactly say that Jiang Shiyan had ordered the snake to bite Wu Bowen; no one would believe it even if she did.

When Wu Bowen woke up, he found his hands handcuffed to the hospital bed and seemed to realize something.

At the same time, a police officer in uniform stood by Wu Bowen's bed, watching him. "Awake?"

"You... you guys..."

"Wu Bowen, we have evidence suggesting you are connected to a murder case. Given your current injuries, you will remain in the hospital for now. After you are discharged, please come to the police station with us for investigation!"

In an instant, Wu Bowen's face turned deathly pale.

...

The evidence found by the police wasn't actually that much, but after being poisoned, Wu Bowen had provided many clues himself. By following those words, the police actually found useful evidence.

Wu Bowen was arrested.

The moment he was arrested, the system sent a congratulation: 【Congratulations, dear, on completing the task. Reward obtained: Unlock one type of beast language. Please select the type of beast language.】

A transparent light panel appeared before Jiang Shiyan's eyes, offering three choices: A. Dog; B. Cat; C. Rabbit.

They were all common animals, yet ones that were not on the deserted island.

Jiang Shiyan remembered that Jiang Yiheng had opened a pet hospital, and with a slight shift in thought, she chose option A.

She had always had a dream since childhood: to open her own zoo.

In the past, Jiang Shiyan had no money, no connections, and no education, barely managing to work as a temporary employee at a zoo that was about to go bankrupt. But now, Heaven had given her a chance.

【Selection complete. The All-Beast Charm System has leveled up to Lv2. You have obtained 1 System Mall lottery draw. Does the dear wish to draw the lottery?】

Jiang Shiyan was curious: "What kind of rewards are included?"

【The prizes are random, dear.】

Curious, Jiang Shiyan clicked on the draw.

After a few seconds of buildup, a gift pack burst open, and a small card jumped out. A line of text was written on the card: Unlock a new beast language.

【Congratulations, dear, on obtaining the reward 'Unlock a new beast language.' Do you wish to select the new beast language now?】

This reward was quite good.

Jiang Shiyan directly chose Cat.

It was just a pity about that lottery ticket. She had let Xiao Hua slip into Wu Bowen's dormitory to search through it. The ticket was found, but it was severely damaged; the numbers were illegible, making it practically worthless.

That was five million! Jiang Shiyan wished she could rush into the prison to give that scum Wu Bowen a severe beating.

...

Afterward, Wu Bowen's family also came to find Jiang Shiyan, hoping she would issue a letter of forgiveness for the sake of their past relationship. However, before they could even finish speaking, Mother Jiang chased them out with a broom. The usually elegant and intellectual Mother Jiang even broke her usual decorum by standing in the campus and cursing at the Wu family.

When Father Jiang's students heard the news, they arrived in indignation and drove them all out, even calling the police to have them taken to the station.

After being struck a few times and seeing that there was no hope of seeking leniency from the Jiang family, and being unfamiliar with the big city, they could only retreat dejectedly.

Jiang Shiyan took this opportunity to propose that she wanted to intern at Jiang Yiheng's pet hospital.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yiheng refused outright: "No!"

Jiang Shiyan was dissatisfied: "Why?"

"Since you were a child, you've raised six rabbits to death, ten hamsters to death, let a cat loose because you forgot to close the door, and let a dog get bitten to death by a large dog because you didn't use a leash..."

Jiang Shiyan: "..."

Was "she" really that excessive?

Jiang Shiyan clasped her hands together, looking at Jiang Yiheng pleadingly: "Brother, good brother, let me try. I promise, if I make a mistake again, you can kick me out!"

"No!" Jiang Yiheng knew his sister too well and refused without hesitation.

Jiang Shiyan pleaded with him for a long time, and finally, she could only resort to her ultimate move: "Mom, Brother is bullying me!!!"

Jiang Yiheng sprayed a mouthful of water directly; Jiang Shiyan, unable to dodge in time, was hit squarely.

Mother Jiang, who was watering flowers on the balcony, heard her daughter's cry and rushed into the house, catching the scene right as it happened—

"Jiang! Yi! Heng!"

"Mom, Mom, let me explain, Mom, Mom!" Jiang Yiheng ran around the room, a man over 1.8 meters tall pitifully dodging the soil trowel in Mother Jiang's hand.

This scene also left Jiang Shiyan feeling somewhat dazed. Many images suddenly flashed through her mind, and in the next instant, her brain seemed unable to handle such a massive amount of information, resulting in a sharp pain.

Jiang Shiyan let out a muffled groan, and after a bout of dizziness, she collapsed to the ground and fainted.

In the final moment before losing consciousness, she heard a familiar-sounding mechanical voice

【Zzz... System malfunction... Zzz, system restarting... Restart failed... Two soul bodies matched, comparing compatibility...】

Jiang Shiyan fainted completely.