"Even with me squeezing your throat, you still had to swallow that last bite of dragon fruit? Haji Su, you little rascal!"
Looking at Su Yuan, who'd faced death without flinching, Chu Lanxi shook his head helplessly.
"Forget it. It was only a little box of fruit for after dinner. If you want to eat it, go ahead."
As he spoke, Chu Lanxi let go of Su Yuan and went to forage in the fridge.
Su Yuan wiped his mouth, looking a little embarrassed.
"This might be hard to believe, but I was actually conducting an experiment that could determine the future rise and fall of the Cultivation World! Your takeout made an indelible contribution!"
"But don't worry, your takeout won't have died in vain. I'll definitely make it up to you in a couple of days."
Chu Lanxi didn't even turn around. He merely gave a soft snort.
"So my takeout made quite a meaningful sacrifice, then."
Seeing that Chu Lanxi wasn't going to press the matter, Su Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and focused on the System Panel in front of him. His heart, which had fallen silent, began beating with new life!
Good grief, even stealing a single takeout meal counted as stealing someone's fortune? Haji Tong, you little rascal!
But wasn't something off here? Why was the system's definition of a Demon Lord so casual?
Was there a bug?
Su Yuan racked his brains but couldn't come up with a suitable explanation. He couldn't help poking his head out to look at Chu Lanxi, who'd finished his milk and was doing flexibility exercises in the living room.
"Lanzi, what's your definition of an opportunity?"
"An opportunity..."
Chu Lanxi pondered for a moment before answering.
"Cultivators' definition of an opportunity naturally changes with the times. In our era, spiritual plants and fruits are grown on a large scale. Even ordinary people can have them once in a while."
"Take that dragon fruit you ate earlier, for example. In the Ancient Cultivation World, it'd easily count as a low-grade spirit fruit. In that ignorant, benighted era, with no productivity to speak of, that would already count as an opportunity."
"In an even more barren, war-torn age, when corpses littered the fields, a meal or a piece of meat would be an opportunity countless people would clamor for."
After hearing this, Su Yuan understood.
Was it possible that the system really did have a bug?
Had it identified the era his host was living in as the resource-poor ancient age, which people today called the black-society cultivation period?
By that logic, stealing someone's box of low-grade spirit fruit really did count as stealing their opportunity.
That meant he could replicate his stunt of stealing Chu Lanxi's takeout and fill up his Task Progress.
Only...
Chu Lanxi ate at the school cafeteria most of the time. Ordering takeout in the middle of the night was a rare occurrence. If Su Yuan wanted to count on Chu Lanxi to help him complete the task of stealing someone's opportunities ten times, it'd probably take until a month from now.
No, please! The college entrance exam was only a little over two hundred days away. If he spent a whole month completing his first system mission, how was he supposed to conquer the exam?
Besides, if he stole a bite every time Chu Lanxi ordered takeout, wouldn't Chu Lanxi hang him up and beat him?
Su Yuan felt he couldn't keep shearing the same sheep.
He needed to expand the flock.
After thinking it over for a while, Su Yuan suddenly had an idea. He immediately contacted the restaurant manager in his part-time work chat group, said he had something to do tomorrow, and quit his temporary job as a restaurant server.
Then Su Yuan opened the Kangaroo Crowdsourcing app on his phone. After looking over the delivery rider terms, he smiled with satisfaction.
Just as he remembered, if you accidentally spilled a meal, lost an order, or delivered the wrong meal, the compensation for the food cost was only half the meal price. And you still got the delivery fee you'd earned.
As long as he made reasonable use of that rule, completing the system mission would be a piece of cake.
Losing nine meals in one day would be a bit much and might get him warned by the platform. But losing nine meals over three days would be perfectly reasonable.
After all, cultivators were incredibly fast at delivering takeout. Two or three hundred orders a day was a breeze. A one-percent loss rate was reasonable! Completely reasonable!
And with the three-day holiday for Spiritual Qi Resurgence Memorial Day coming up, he could deliver takeout for three days straight and take care of his meals while he was at it.
"I'm a genius. Who else could be the Demon Lord of the new age but me? Heh heh heh!"
At the thought of getting his system reward soon, Su Yuan's lips curled into a manic grin. He couldn't help humming to himself.
Chu Lanxi, sitting in the living room, tilted his head in puzzlement at Su Yuan's bizarre expression.
Early the next morning, Su Yuan didn't even eat breakfast. He went downstairs, unlocked a Shared Flying Sword, and opened the Kangaroo Crowdsourcing app to start accepting orders.
He had a monthly pass for the Shared Flying Sword, which let him fly as much as he wanted for thirty days, with each ride free for the first sixty minutes.
As long as he locked the flying sword and unlocked it again every sixty minutes, he wouldn't be charged.
That was basic knowledge for a poor high school student.
You could say he'd really figured out how to live.
Using that method, Su Yuan had spent the past few days practicing swordsmanship on a Shared Flying Sword. Now he was an elite delivery rider who could leave more than seventy percent of security guards in the dust.
Five minutes later, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Su Yuan received his first order.
It was a breakfast order: a bag with soy milk and two steamed buns stuffed with spiritual meat. The buns were piping hot and mouthwatering.
Not long after leaving the breakfast shop, Su Yuan stared at the takeout in his hand and rubbed his growling stomach. He gave a cold laugh.
"You want to see your master? Sorry, but this is where you meet your end!"
[Demon Lord Mission: Steal Someone's Opportunity (In Progress)] [Task Progress: 2/10]
Still, Su Yuan had a strong work ethic. He polished off the takeout in no time. Once he'd confirmed that his Task Progress had increased, he immediately contacted the customer, arranged a refund, and asked them to place a new order. Then he prioritized delivering it, so he wouldn't hold up the customer.
When picking out takeout orders to "lose," he also did his best to choose ones that were ready right away, like pre-made meals, fruit, or prepared food from supermarkets.
Lunchtime.
"Want to get into your master's belly? Sorry, but this is where you meet your end!"
Dinnertime.
"Who should I choose for dinner? This is so hard. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe... you're the one!"
At midnight, Su Yuan dragged his exhausted body home.
He'd been working since early morning and had delivered more than 270 orders in all. To earn more, he'd set his delivery range to twenty kilometers in every direction. Even riding a flying sword to deliver takeout had worn him out by now!
And when he entered certain upscale residential communities or office buildings, he had to dodge and weave as security guards chased him down. It was a real race for his life, and a serious workout!
But his earnings were impressive.
He averaged about three yuan in delivery fees per order. Including customer tips, he'd made nearly 1,200 yuan in a single day.
Even after deducting the cost of three lost meals, he'd still netted 1,100!
On top of that, his Task Progress for stealing people's opportunities was nearly halfway complete. If he held on for two more days, he'd get to see his mission reward!
Just thinking about it swept away all of Su Yuan's exhaustion. He felt ready to deliver another hundred orders!
Now that's what you call a born wage slave! (leans back tactically)
Chu Lanxi was sitting on the sofa watching TV. When Su Yuan came back, he greeted him.
"Why'd you work all day today? When we're on break, don't you usually work half a day and cultivate for the other half?"
Su Yuan replied casually.
"I figured I'd make a little extra while I'm on break."
His top priority now was getting his system reward and testing what that so-called Pure Devil Heart could do. Everything else could wait.
Just as Su Yuan was about to head back to his room to rest, another rush of air sounded outside the window.
Su Yuan went over and opened it with practiced ease. A clearly inexperienced delivery rider came rushing up in a panic. After handing over the takeout, he didn't even have time to say, "Enjoy your meal," before Security Guard Uncle Wang grabbed him.
"Uncle Wang, keeping busy?"
Su Yuan greeted the conscientious security guard.
Old Wang nodded at Su Yuan, grabbed the delivery rider by the back of his collar, and turned to leave. As he went, he pounded his aching back and muttered,
"These rule-breaking delivery riders just keep multiplying. You can't get a moment's peace all night."
Su Yuan could only smile.
Residential communities and companies that didn't allow delivery riders inside usually had takeout lockers at the entrance. In most cases, riders could leave the food in a locker and go.
But some customers couldn't be bothered to come downstairs, so they'd leave a note asking the rider to bring the food to their door. They promised a tip if it was delivered safely, but if the rider got caught, it had nothing to do with them.
Otherwise, Su Yuan wouldn't have received so many customer tips.
Of course, getting caught wasn't a big deal. The rider would just get scolded, and it would slow down the delivery of his other orders.
It was a case of one party willing to fight and the other willing to take a beating.
Besides, without delivery riders showing up all day like the Calabash Brothers rushing in one by one to save their Grandpa, how would the security guards get to prove how important they were?
Just as Su Yuan was musing on the symbiotic relationship between delivery riders and security guards, a ding sounded in his ear. Then the familiar mechanical voice of the system rang in his mind.
[You came face-to-face with a demonic path senior who had suppressed an entire region!]
Su Yuan: "???"
[That demonic path senior suppressed a demonic domain for thirteen years, blocking the way of countless Righteous Path Prodigies who charged forward one after another. His reputation was fearsome! Those talented cultivators of the Cultivation World who wore Imperial Yellow Robes trembled at the sight of him. This was a sign of the demonic path rising as the righteous path waned!]
Su Yuan fell silent for a long while. At last, he slowly managed to say, "Holy crap."
What kind of demonic path senior? The system couldn't mean Security Guard Uncle Wang, could it? Keeping delivery riders out counted as blocking the path of Righteous Path Prodigies?
[But even a hero grows old. That demonic path senior gradually began to feel his strength failing him, and in a moment of carelessness, he let slip that he wanted to take on an heir to his legacy!] [Demon Lord Mission triggered] [Mission: Take a Demon as Your Master (In Progress)] [Your devilish heart is hidden beneath an innocent exterior. You should become the disciple of a senior from the demonic sect, appearing respectful while harboring ulterior motives. Squeeze every last bit of knowledge from him, and learn how the senior of the demonic sect blocks the righteous path!] [Task Progress: 10%] [Mission Reward: Randomly raise one of your martial arts or cultivation techniques to perfection]
Who was harboring ulterior motives?! Your whole family was harboring ulterior motives!
Su Yuan silently ranted at the system, but the moment he saw the mission reward, his heart started pounding uncontrollably.
Compared with the new-player mission reward, Pure Devil Heart, whose effects were still unknown, this sudden mission's reward was simple and clear!
A skill upgrade!
It was visibly tempting!
And judging from the ten percent Task Progress, the way the system wanted him to learn to block the righteous path from Security Guard Uncle Wang was probably that signature move he used to grab delivery riders.
Su Yuan had often seen Uncle Wang use that move, which was why he'd already made some progress on the mission.
As for the mission's requirement to become his disciple...
Knowing the system, he probably didn't need to formally become Uncle Wang's disciple. Just learning his tricks would count.
How could he get Uncle Wang to pass on everything he knew?
Obviously, by joining the property management Security Department as a security guard!
Thinking of this, Su Yuan couldn't help but sigh.
Who would've thought he'd already become a powerful dual cultivator of takeout delivery and security work at such a young age!
Before you continue