Chapter 5: and

Interstellar optical computers come in many versions.

The government-issued optical computer is the most basic model, with functions roughly equivalent to the mobile phones of a thousand years ago.

If you want more features, you have to pay a high price to buy them yourself.

An Zeyu is a B-rank male, but his family is doing quite well on Azure Planet. Coupled with the money he earns from streaming and the occasional odd job he takes on, he lives a relatively wealthy life, so naturally, he uses a high-end optical computer.

One of its built-in features is the ability to test one's riot value at any time.

He pointed his streaming "bee" drone at his optical computer and opened the test.

He said, "I tested my riot value this morning, and it was 57%."

[Hiss?? How is that possible?]

[Brother Yu, did you remember wrong? Wasn't your riot value 55% this morning?]

An Zeyu was also full of disbelief. "That's impossible. I have the riot value test records right here."

He tests his riot value almost every day. Even when he’s busy, he never goes more than ten days without checking.

Therefore, his optical computer clearly shows that his riot value has been stuck at 57% for several months, with no changes for a long time.

After all, he doesn't go into the wild, nor does he engage in combat; he spends his days lying flat, so the value naturally wouldn't rise quickly.

So the question is, why did it drop by 2% today?

That is equivalent to the result of finding a C-rank female to soothe him individually for two hours.

But he hadn't sought anyone out.

His riot value isn't high enough yet to require pursuing a female.

Therefore, the only female he had come into contact with today was Jiang Qin.

Could singing really be that effective for soothing?

Not only did he not believe it, but the viewers in his stream didn't believe it either.

[Everyone, no need to watch anymore. Isn't this an obvious shill? Streamers these days will tell any lie just to make money.]

[If he had been soothed by a female individually, I wouldn't question him. After all, his riot value isn't high, so it is indeed easy to soothe. But this was a group soothing session. As everyone knows, group soothing in a bar, even when paired with the most expensive inhibitor, only reduces the riot value by at most 1% when the ranks are one level apart. And this streamer, he only bought a regular inhibitor after entering the bar, right?]

[Streamer, this is fraud. Do you have any conscience toward your fans?]

It’s worth noting that most of the people following An Zeyu are low-level males and demi-human males from the lower social strata.

The reason they follow him is simply to learn about places with good value for money.

Because most of his content consists of visiting shops, and never high-end ones.

He has already explored more than half of the bars on Azure Planet.

Fans have learned from him which places have discounts on inhibitors and which female workers have stronger soothing abilities.

That is why they suspect An Zeyu took bribes from Moonlight Bar to fake his records and trick them into spending money.

Seeing the comments in the chat turning toward accusations of fraud, An Zeyu became angry.

"Whether I'm faking it or not, why don't you come and try it yourselves? My word alone might not count, but you should at least believe everyone else, right?"

As it happened, the bar owner, You Wei, had already informed them that Jiang Qin would be coming back for another soothing session in an hour.

She does two sessions every night.

"The female's next session is in an hour. Those who are nearby can come and see for themselves."

[Fine, I happen to be nearby. I'm coming over to expose this fraud myself!]

[We understand you need to make money, but we can't accept you treating us like fools.]

An Zeyu, being slandered, was nearly driven mad. It would be one thing if he had actually taken money, but the problem was he hadn't received a single cent!

"Fine, fine, fine! Hurry up and come over. Today, I will clear my name. Since the day I started streaming, I have never taken money from any shop! Every word I’ve said has been a fair and impartial review."

***

Jiang Qin didn't know about the livestream. She was currently in the back room, checking the program that had suddenly appeared in her mind.

[Damaged system activated. Prestige points enabled.]

That’s right, a damaged system had suddenly appeared in her head!

The reason it was damaged was that this system had bound to her just before she died in her previous life, and she had breathed her last right after the binding.

The system automatically activated its "protect the host" mode, consuming all its energy to send her back to the age of 18.

Having exhausted its energy, the system was now essentially scrapped, leaving behind only two modules.

Prestige points and the System Mall.

Tasks, rewards, and the like were all gone.

Prestige points were easy to understand—it meant becoming famous. However, infamy didn't count; only people who genuinely loved her work could generate prestige points.

As for the System Mall, it was essentially a repository of Earth's culture.

As long as it was knowledge from Earth, she could buy it here using prestige points.

In other words, even if she ran out of songs she remembered, it didn't matter; she could buy all sorts of works she wanted here.

As for the costs on Earth's side, the system had already paid them long ago.

Looking at the familiar songs and film works, Jiang Qin felt her anxiety settle significantly.

She was confident that she could live a better life in this one!

Whether in her first life or her second, people would always attack her lack of education.

Actually, they weren't wrong; her cultural foundation was indeed low.

After all, she only lived to be thirteen in her first life, and she was constantly exploited for money; she never had time for school and only finished primary school courses.

In her second life, on a barren planet, let alone going to school, she spent every day thinking about whether she could find food in the junkyard.

If she found food, she had to figure out how to protect it from being stolen.

When she returned to the Jiang family, they never thought about sending her to school.

Jiang Yulian had mentioned it once, but Jiang Rumeng quickly talked her out of it, saying that classmates would discriminate against Jiang Qin for coming from a barren planet and that she would easily be bullied at school.

It would be better to stay at home, where she would be responsible for teaching Jiang Qin.

Besides, whether a female is educated or not isn't actually important. Once she finds a partner, someone will provide for her, and she can just play happily every day.

Jiang Yulian thought that made sense. Jiang Qin was only a C-rank female with limited soothing power; there was no need for her to go to school.

Once she turned twenty and found a partner, she could just stay home and soothe her male partner; learning things was useless anyway.

So, she couldn't be bothered to go through the trouble and simply hired an etiquette teacher to come home and teach Jiang Qin.

It was to avoid Jiang Qin embarrassing her when she went out.

At that time, Jiang Qin, facing the mother she had looked forward to for so many years, compromised, thinking she could just self-study—after all, she had self-studied in her first life anyway.

Many child stars choose to work and self-study simultaneously; it wasn't exactly unacceptable.

But many things happened afterward that finally made Jiang Qin's heart turn cold.

To refuse the male the Jiang family had arranged for her, she left the Jiang family at twenty and died at twenty-two.

So, truly, she had never lived a long life in any of her lives, nor had she ever received a proper, step-by-step education.

(End of chapter)