My Three Hundred Yuan????????????????

2:24 a.m.

The dim room was still lit only by the glow of electronic devices. Every so often, the playful voice of an idle character drifted from the speakers beside the monitor.

"Big Hilichurl's sick, Little Hilichurl's taking a look, Third Hilichurl's gathering herbs..."

But the beautiful girl with a high ponytail sitting in the chair no longer had the energy to pay attention to her favorite character. Her beautiful eyes were filled with exhaustion.

She skillfully exited the game with the two-character title.

"I finally finished grinding..."

After letting out a long sigh, the girl picked up the Da Mi phone covered in cracks from the desk, placed her legs on the gaming chair, and leaned back.

Compared with before, she was noticeably smaller now. Her entire body could fit comfortably in the not-so-large gaming chair.

She opened her WeChat alt account. With an unusually plain avatar displaying only the words "carry service," Hua Xin looked expectant as she opened the chat.

Hua Xin: "Boss, I've finished grinding the 100% exploration this time..."

She propped the phone up on its stand and cupped her face in both hands, waiting adorably for the other party's reply. However, her eyelids began fluttering rapidly, and drowsiness soon swept over her.

"Is it too late...?"

"He should be asleep by now."

Hua Xin muttered softly, unable to hide the disappointment in her eyes.

Since she never left the house, she often relied on all sorts of odd jobs online to get by, such as grinding accounts for others in the two-character game, as well as the six-character game from the same company.

Sometimes she also edited videos, photoshopped images, or worked on AI voice dubbing for comics.

After deducting her electricity, water, and internet bills, she still had money left each month, so there was no need to worry about starving to death.

It was just that work was occasionally scarce, so she needed to have some savings.

About ten minutes later, the phone screen finally lit up.

Hua Xin's drowsiness vanished instantly, and she hurriedly picked up the phone.

I Love Playing QQ Speed: "It's all at max exploration?"

Hua Xin hurriedly replied, "Everything's at max exploration, Boss. You can just transfer the three hundred yuan we agreed on earlier."

She tapped Send.

The transfer she had imagined did not appear. Instead, a conspicuous "?" appeared beside her message.

The girl froze on the spot.

Had she...

Had she been stiffed??!!

Weren't there supposed to be lots of good people online? Weren't there supposed to be lots of good people in the world? Wasn't every roadside supposed to be full of good-hearted people??

"I Love Playing QQ Speed, what the hell is this??!!" Hua Xin cursed furiously. Her trembling finger opened the other party's profile, and she began composing another friend request.

: "? Boss, don't stiff me! My grandfather and I depend on each other, and I can only make money by selling tea leaves and doing carry services. Please, please pay for the job. You can even cut the payment in half..."

The phone's glow illuminated the high-ponytailed girl's aggrieved face.

It was practically a real-life version of drowning one's sorrows.

Meanwhile.

At a small barbecue restaurant somewhere in Yongji District.

A man wearing an earring put down the Blue Fairy in his hand. Looking at the friend request that had arrived yet again, he burst out laughing.

: "Brother Yan, look. The fun's here. This clown even made up some story about selling tea leaves. If she'd used any other excuse, my conscience would've forced me to add her back."

The man called Brother Yan frowned, then relaxed and smiled. He skimmed through the message in the other man's hand and said softly, "Mu Feng, you're not short of this little bit of money, are you? Why stiff her?"

Mu Feng chuckled, drained the alcohol in his glass, and said mysteriously, "I just wanted to experience the thrill of stiffing someone."

"Everyone else who does carry services gets a deposit in advance. She wanted to settle the bill at the end."

"Who else was I supposed to stiff...?"

The college athlete sitting across from Mu Feng was tall, wore white socks, had AJ sneakers on his feet, and held a fragrant bullfrog skewer in his hand. He mocked, "Brother Yan, don't mind him. That's how people who play that game are."

"Their heads are full of things like Originium all day long. They can't tell reality from fantasy anymore, and they're always babbling about everything being tied to money."

Mu Feng sneered. "Xiang Guan, you hothead, just shut up."

"Go run a hundred meters in fifty-nine seconds with your super armor and clear water."

"That's how people who play that game are." Xiang Guan taunted him unhurriedly.

Xia Yan looked at the two men trapped in a deadlock. His handsome face was filled with helplessness, but he was already used to this. He picked up his drink and took a sip.

After the gaokao ended, they were able to see their dorm information through the school's app. Keeping in touch through the main group was easy enough, and they happened to discover that all three of them were in Shanghai, so they often came out to meet up.

Tonight, Xia Yan was working at this barbecue stall. Since there were hardly any customers after midnight, he had called the other two over to help clean up the remaining food. As for their other roommate...

They hadn't been able to contact him, but whatever. They would find out once school started in a week.

"Bzz." His phone screen suddenly lit up.

Xia Yan unlocked it in confusion and opened the message. Who would be messaging him at this hour?

Invincible Cat Fist: "I f***ing shark you."

"..."

This guy again.

Looking at their chat history from several days ago, Xia Yan remembered that after he had sent her his address, she had gone silent, only to pop up at random intervals and curse him out again.

He should never have accepted that solo match...

Even so, Xia Yan still had not deleted her.

It was pretty amusing to check in on her every now and then.

"Brother Yan, who're you chatting with? Which beauty?"

Mu Feng teased him as he watched Xia Yan type. With Xia Yan's looks and manner of speaking, he should have already won over quite a few girls.

"Just an online friend."

Xia Yan smiled and set down his phone.

"Tch... Boring."

Back to our little shut-in's tiny apartment.

Hua Xin was shedding tiny pearls of tears. After seeing the words "Incorrect password" displayed in large letters on the two-character game, the bitterness in her heart reached its peak.

He wouldn't even give her the chance to destroy the account...

Hua Xin sniffled. Her fair little face was covered in tear stains, and her watery eyes were red.

He was so mean...

He was really too mean...

With a loud sob, Hua Xin turned and threw herself onto the bed. She buried her face in the pillow and began wailing????????.

"I'm definitely going to shark you, I Love Playing QQ Speed??! I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill-kill-kill-kill-kill... Cough, cough, cough."

After choking on her saliva, Hua Xin sat up and patted her chest, then continued crying and threatening to kill him.

This was a major job she had taken...

Three hundred yuan could buy her so many things. It wasn't merely a few strings of numbers lying in her WeChat account.

After a while.

The girl used her finger to wipe her nose. The tip of it was flushed pink.

She looked at the Hu Tao pillow beside her, which was winking at her. Instead of comforting her, it seemed to carry a hint of mockery.

Hua Xin: "..."

Unable to hold it in, she nearly burst into tears again.

She extended her jade-like foot and stomped fiercely on the innocent blanket, repeatedly abusing it in impotent rage.

"Shark you, stomp you to death, shark you, castrate you..."

"Beep beep beep."

A message came through on the computer, making Hua Xin stop venting.

The Eldest Son on the Internet: "Stop cursing and go to bed."

"At least you still have a conscience..."

Hua Xin muttered softly. Surprisingly, she did not reply.

She shut down the computer, lay on the bed, obediently pulled the small blanket over her belly button, and prepared to sleep.

Twenty minutes later, Hua Xin began sobbing again.

"My three hundred yuan...??????????."