Chapter 40: An Expensive Cheat
When Ye Duo let go of her hand, Mibao froze on the spot. She didn’t have time to think about anything else, because the terrifying zombies were already lunging at her.
Mibao’s eyes widened. The stench of rot rushed toward her, and she clutched her head, letting out a scream as she crouched down.
Was she… was she about to be eaten?
Was she going to turn into one of these monsters?
Would she… never see her dad again?
A flood of thoughts flashed through her little head all at once. She was terrified, but she truly couldn’t run anymore.
So Mibao thought, if she crouched like this, wouldn’t the monster bite her arm first?
It seemed… if she got bitten on the arm, she wouldn’t die so quickly.
But wouldn’t that hurt a lot?
Should she put her hand down instead, so the monster would bite her neck—then she’d die faster and it wouldn’t hurt for so long…
Huh? But it felt like so much time had passed, and there was no pain.
Mibao belatedly realized this, and she dumbly lifted her head—only to see the familiar sight of… zombies frozen in place, unmoving.
“Wow!” Mibao’s face lit up with delight, but she quickly grew doubtful. “Big brother, didn’t you say the newbie big raccoon was already used up?”
[It’s a newbie big gift pack, not a big raccoon.]
The system corrected her helplessly.
[But this isn’t the newbie gift pack. I just exploited a bug.]
Mibao’s face filled with confusion. “What’s a bug?”
[Uh… it’s…]
The system got stuck, not knowing how to explain the word to a five-year-old child.
[That’s not important! The main thing is, when you use points to browse the system’s shop, your time is relatively frozen.]
In other words, it wasn’t that the zombies were frozen—it was that time itself had come to a standstill.
Once Mibao finished shopping, time would resume.
Mibao still couldn’t quite understand what her big brother meant, but when she lowered her head and tried to move her feet, she found they seemed glued to the ground and wouldn’t budge.
She sort of grasped the idea then.
[Mibao, we must buy an item right now that can help you escape, otherwise you’ll be in danger.]
The system’s voice was very serious.
Mibao also put on a serious little face and nodded hard. “Mm-hm! Big brother, how many points do we have now? What can we buy?”
She had worked so hard singing these past days, she should’ve saved up quite a few points, right?
[…]
[Well…]
They had saved a little over two hundred points. That was enough to buy quite a few things—like a whole pile of food.
But food was useless right now!
And the functional items were all far too expensive…
Last time, that universal key was only affordable because it had a one-time first-purchase discount.
The system took a deep breath.
[Um, Mibao, wait a moment… Why don’t you pick out some little snacks you want to eat first, and when I come back we’ll buy them.]
Though she didn’t understand, Mibao still obediently nodded. “Okay!”
Then she began choosing snacks.
Ah~ so many snacks, they all looked so delicious~
Mibao’s mouth was practically watering as she looked.
Meanwhile, the system urgently opened its internal system group.
[Idol Development System / Xiaonian]: Seniors! Emergency here, I need help!
[Euro-Luck System / Xiao Pai]: What’s up? Is your little sister being targeted again?
[Idol Development System / Xiaonian]: Yeah! But it’s not that she’s being targeted—it’s that zombies are charging at her! I managed to freeze things with a bug, but I don’t have enough points to exchange for anything useful.
[Gourmet System / Nuo Nuo]: Poor Xiaonian and your little sister~ I can donate a lime cake out of friendship. It won’t be useful, but it tastes great~
[Idol Development System / Xiaonian]: …
[Warrior King System / A Man]: Hahaha, Nuo Nuo, quit teasing the kid. Look at how anxious he is.
[Warrior King System / A Man]: What’s your sister’s exact situation now? How close are the zombies?
[Idol Development System / Xiaonian]: Practically right in her face.
[Warrior King System / A Man]: Damn. I’ll sponsor you a Gatling gun then. That should solve the problem, right?
[Idol Development System / Xiaonian]: Uh… my sister’s only five. She probably can’t handle it.
Mibao herself was lighter than a Gatling gun.
[Warrior King System / A Man]: True… @Xiao Pai, do you still have that luck buff?
[Euro-Luck System / Xiao Pai]: Nope, that thing’s rare as hell. I only ever had one in stock.
The system group fell silent for a moment.
So what now?
Useful weapons were too heavy for a child, and the rest were useless in this situation.
Including Xiaonian, there were six systems in this group—these were the ones with the closest ties.
Xiaonian was the youngest among them, practically raised under the watch of the other five systems.
They all knew how much Xiaonian worried about his sister, and naturally, their affection for her grew as well.
[Euro-Luck System / Xiao Pai]: Hmm… How about I pull another system in? That one’s got all sorts of oddball items. Maybe something useful will turn up.
[Idol Development System / Xiaonian]: Okay, thank you, Uncle Pai!
Before long, the group notified them that a newcomer had joined.
[Myriad Worlds Trading System / Old Jin]: Hello~ @Xiaonian, I’ve got what you need, but I won’t be giving it for free.
[Idol Development System / Xiaonian] : Hello, may I ask the price?
[Myriad Worlds Trading System / Old Jin]: I’ve got here a 30-second Invincible Golden Body buff. This thing is expensive—at least thirty thousand system coins.
Damn, that was way too expensive.
His entire net worth was only fifty thousand system coins.
[Myriad Worlds Trading System / Old Jin]: I swear I’m not gouging you. This thing is in high demand in the cultivation world. Thirty thousand system coins is already a “friends-and-family” price for Xiao Pai’s sake.
[Idol Development System / Xiaonian]: Um, do you have something shorter in duration, and cheaper?
[Myriad Worlds Trading System / Old Jin]: Nope. This is the only one left. Do you want it or not?
In the end, Xiaonian gritted his teeth and bought it.
So expensive…
But after reading the description, Xiaonian knew it was indeed excellent.
The 30-second Invincible Golden Body buff could be paused at any time. If used wisely, not a single second would be wasted.
Xiaonian gave his thanks to the other systems in the group, then, with Nuo Nuo’s gift of a friendship lime cake in hand, returned to the system’s working interface.
By now, Mibao was staring at the lollipop on the screen, drooling.
Xiaonian equipped the Invincible buff on Mibao, then fixed his eyes on the screen while placing his hand over the “Activate” button.
This thing was far too expensive—one thousand system coins per second. He couldn’t afford to waste even a single second!
[Mibao, you can make your purchase now.]
Mibao nodded, then clicked to buy a lollipop.
Points -10.
The next second, a dazzling rainbow-colored lollipop appeared in Mibao’s hand. Her face lit up with joy—at the same time, time began to flow again, and the zombies lunged at her with furious roars!
Just as they were about to touch Mibao, Xiaonian clicked to activate the buff.
“Bam!”
[This cheat… is a little expensive.]
