Chapter 39: Sigh! Opening the Box & Capitalism

The night grew deeper and deeper, but it wasn’t quiet. Every now and then, distant engine noises drifted through the air—mostly from some show-off street racers.

Lin Zhiyan was already irritated. Hearing those deafening sounds crashing down from the aerial traffic lanes overhead, she finally couldn’t hold back. She rushed onto the balcony and screamed at the top of her lungs several times.

After screaming, she immediately shut the balcony door, catching her breath while checking her terminal.

The more you insist on winning verbally, the easier it is to suffer actual losses. Conversely, acting humble and obedient often makes people see you as someone easy to manipulate and bully.

Lin Zhiyan understood this principle perfectly.

Unfortunately, understanding it was useless. She would never change that stubborn streak of hers.

So now, while feeling both utterly frustrated and thoroughly accustomed to it, she tried finding another solution—

Someone else who could help.

After reviewing every name in her contacts list, Lin Zhiyan despairingly discovered that there were only two people capable of helping her now:

Jiang Yi and Lu Weixi.

But how exactly was she supposed to get Jiang Yi to help?

It was already the middle of the night.

Was she supposed to call him and say:

“Please, please, can you call Zephi for me?”

Or:

“Can you pressure Zephi into helping me?”

…

She could already imagine it.

Jiang Yi would frown on the other end of the call, interrogate her coldly for several minutes, then order her to report to the lounge tomorrow for another round of questioning.

He might even discover that her entire personality was partly an act and use her abuse of student privileges as an excuse to send her straight back to District Sixteen.

Lin Zhiyan scratched her hair.

Unfortunately, the finger holding her terminal twitched accidentally and tapped the screen.

As a result, a lone comma appeared in the chat box.

Shit.

What now?

Should she unsend it?

Just as she was considering it, her terminal vibrated.

[yzy: ,]

[Jiang Yi: What is it?]

[yzy: My terminal lagged. Accidentally tapped it.]

[yzy: Sorry.]

Lin Zhiyan forced herself to explain.

She desperately hoped Jiang Yi would simply reply with an “Mm” and end the conversation.

She had neither the time nor the ability to deal with him right now.

Unfortunately, fate once again worked against her wishes.

[Jiang Yi: It’s fine.]

[Jiang Yi: Just finished a meeting.]

[yzy: Then I won’t disturb your work.]

[Jiang Yi: I actually have something to tell you.]

[yzy: What?]

[Jiang Yi: After the next class, there will be a new instructor taking over.]

[Jiang Yi: Your teaching assistant position will remain. Your information has already been entered into the school’s system. Your salary will be deposited directly into your account from now on.]

Jiang Yi leaned against his desk.

One hand supported himself on the tabletop. Several buttons of his military uniform shirt had been undone.

A few strands of the neatly maintained black hair that was usually combed back had fallen across his forehead.

His sharp nose cast shadows across his face.

Behind him, documents and mission windows were piled across the desk.

Holding his terminal, he noticed the “typing…” indicator appear and disappear several times.

He waited for her reply.

Which was unusual.

He was busy.

Normally, after delivering the required notification, he should simply return to work.

He didn’t need subordinates replying with “Understood” or “Received” to affirm his authority.

And yet now, Jiang Yi felt he needed her response.

Even he didn’t know exactly what response he was waiting for.

Maybe she would ask why.

If she did, how would he answer?

The conflict between Jiang Yi and Lu Weixi had already escalated dramatically.

Aside from the failing-grade issue, military meetings had become battlefields.

Jiang Yi repeatedly led the Honor Army faction in rejecting proposals submitted by the Direct-Control Army faction headed by Lu Weixi.

In return, Lu Weixi continuously dragged old Honor Army proposals back out for review.

The Interstellar United Empire consisted of sixteen districts.

Each district governed several directly controlled and subordinate cities.

The military was similarly divided into Direct-Control Armies and Honor Armies.

The Direct-Control Armies answered directly to the Minister of Defense.

The Honor Armies answered to district governors and the Imperial Family.

Nominally, both belonged to the Cabinet’s military system.

The Minister of Defense served as both military chairman and the first-ranking member of the Military-Political Committee.

In reality, however, the military was completely fragmented among competing political factions.

This power struggle extended from the Cabinet down to every district and city.

The latest meeting had been dragged out endlessly.

The neutral faction could barely breathe.

Eventually they contacted Lu Suiyuan, who hadn’t attended.

Lu Suiyuan was several years older than them and maintained good personal relationships with both sides, making him a natural mediator.

His methods were simple and brutal.

He called Lu Weixi and persuaded him to visit Districts Eleven and Twelve to help investigate several religious organizations.

Then he called Jiang Yi and promised that Lu Weixi would disappear to the ends of the galaxy for a while.

The condition:

Both sides take a step back.

Jiang Yi would step down from teaching War History.

The matter of the failed grades would be handled by Lu Weixi himself.

Although Jiang Yi and Lu Weixi were practically mortal enemies, if Lu Weixi would quiet down for a while, Jiang Yi was willing to let it happen.

Besides, he was already overloaded with work.

Having fewer responsibilities was a good thing.

Actually, even if Lin Zhiyan asked, there wasn’t much to explain.

He could simply say he was busy.

But somehow he found her silence unbearably slow.

Damn it.

Why was he even concerned about what she thought?

Only half a minute passed.

Yet Jiang Yi’s mind ran through countless thoughts.

Then the typing indicator vanished.

Her reply arrived.

Brief.

Extremely brief.

[yzy: Okay.]

The moment he saw it, all those thoughts disappeared.

No need to figure out how to explain.

No need to explain at all.

His heart sank.

He didn’t know why.

Eventually, he simply replied:

[Jiang Yi: Mm.]

And the conversation disappeared into silence.

Meanwhile, Lin Zhiyan had already closed his chat window.

Wonderful.

No more dealing with Jiang Yi in the future.

She might lose the ability to borrow his influence, but having fewer problems was always a good thing.

Her eyes moved down the contact list.

Eventually they stopped on Lu Weixi’s name.

After a long pause, she sent a message.

To her surprise, he replied instantly.

Do Military-Political Academy students never sleep?

Lin Zhiyan wondered.

[yzy: I need your help with something related to a class.]

[.: ?]

[yzy: One of your classes has an assignment involving writing a script. I wanted to ask—when you kept calling me last time, were you using a script? Because the calls kept coming continuously, but whenever I sent a message, the calls stopped.]

[Oh. Yeah.]

Lin Zhiyan: “…”

Damn it.

Starting a conversation was exhausting.

[yzy: Can you write scripts? I only half understand the course material. If you can, could you write a simple script that meets the assignment requirements?]

[.: I can. I won’t.]

[.: The whole reason I pay people is because I don’t want to do work.]

[yzy: But if I write it myself, your assignment grade might suffer.]

[.: …So annoying.]

[.: Fine. Hold on.]

A moment later:

[.: Recommended Contact Card: AAA Anything Accepted 24/7 Online Everything Accepted]

[.: Student from the Technology Academy. Let him do it. I’ll reimburse the cost.]

[.: I’m busy. Stop bothering me.]

Busy?

You reply instantly every time.

You’re obviously not busy.

You’re probably scrolling social media or playing some stupid game because you have no real life and no social life and can only pass time through the internet.

Lin Zhiyan viciously attacked Lu Weixi in her mind.

Outwardly, however, she obediently sent a sticker and added the contact.

Within seconds, the request was accepted.

The other party immediately sent a long image.

She opened it.

Then she was deeply shocked.

And strangely moved.

[Services Available: Purchasing agents, finding lost cats and dogs, homework writing, substitute attendance, programming scripts, software development, housework, blind dates, taking beatings, scolding people, cleaning services (special-event cleanup double price, post-event cleanup only, no spectators), online dating meetups (meeting only), queueing, ticket scalping… ]

After scrolling through the entire list, endless warmth filled Lin Zhiyan’s heart.

Could it be…

Could it really be…

There was someone else in the Military-Political Academy who was just as poor as a sewer rat like her?

[yzy: Hello. I need an urgent script. Something that bypasses terminal communication app blocking functions.]

[AAA Anything Accepted: Harassing-an-ex script?]

[AAA Anything Accepted: 1,500. Double price if you want it within ten minutes. 3,000.]

[AAA Anything Accepted: Lasts two hours. Any longer and your terminal account gets flagged and locked.]

Three thousand?!

That expensive?!

[yzy: I’m still a student. Especially from the Humanities Academy. I might not have that much money. Could you make it cheaper?]

[AAA Anything Accepted: I’m selling services. I’m poorer than the people buying them.]

[yzy: My family is from one of the lower districts. I really don’t have much money.]

[yzy: Two thousand right now?]

[AAA Anything Accepted: Not even if you’re from District Sixteen.]

[AAA Anything Accepted: Keep bargaining and I’ll write a script to bombard you instead.]

Lin Zhiyan: “…”

I can’t take this.

I really can’t take this.

I want to kill someone.

Miserly poor bastard!

I can’t stand these stingy sewer-dwelling cheapskates!

Grinding her teeth, Lin Zhiyan transferred the 3,000 credits.

Then she thought about it.

She opened his social profile.

She intended to steal some selfies or daily-life photos for future use—so if she ever needed a fake identity online, people wouldn’t be able to trace it back to her.

The moment she opened the profile, however, despair hit her.

How could someone’s entire social feed consist solely of screenshots of completed commissions?

Like some emotionless work machine.

After scrolling through three or four pages, she finally found a post with a trace of personal emotion.

[AAA Anything Accepted: f*ck all of you. What kind of idiots hold an orgy and then hire me to clean up while watching? You think I’m part of your roleplay? Today I’m making all of you and the old bastards behind you famous. Here’s everyone’s citizen IDs, driver’s licenses, terminal IDs, ID photos, asset records, grades, and internship information. Message me if you want more. Free package deal.]

She checked the attached files.

The guy had practically dug up their baby photos.

Lin Zhiyan: “…”

Damn.

She never had to worry about losing her own ID anymore.

If she insulted him online, he’d probably send over her national exam results.

After thinking about it, she memorized several of the citizen ID numbers.

She planned to use them for registering junk software later.

Just as she was contemplating that, the script arrived.

It had only taken six or seven minutes.

Lin Zhiyan calculated darkly:

Three thousand divided by six.

This bastard earned five hundred credits a minute.

What fellow poor person?

This guy was already the King of the Poor.

Not a Celestial Dragon.

A Celestial Rat.

Filled with resentment, she nevertheless put the script to use immediately.

It was very convenient.

Input the target terminal number and leave it running.

After half an hour of meditation and another round of cleaning her room, a message finally arrived.

Just one short sentence.

[Zephi: Lin Zhiyan!]

Zephi gripped his terminal.

The screen now had visible cracks.

He had smashed it himself.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

I’m Not the Saintess! I’m a Good-for-Nothing Young Master!

Female ProtagonistGender BenderReverse Pursuit

Read Now →
Not interested