Unethical Practices

"Damn it, I've been set up!"

"You... just who are you?"

Kushida was completely shattered this time. Even if her other side had been exposed, it wouldn't have been a big deal normally. At worst, she could threaten him into keeping quiet. But now—she couldn't even pull off a threat, and instead he'd turned the tables on her. Was this really the same inconspicuous guy from class? Right now, he only made her feel fear, as if he, like her, had another side to himself.

"Who am I? Answering that question seems pointless."

Mu Tianchen said this calmly, but to Kushida, it was terrifying. The calmer he was, the more unfathomable he seemed.

"Fine, then name your price!"

Kushida was smart enough to hesitate only a moment before immediately thinking to buy the recording with points. She didn't have many points, but to preserve the image she'd built, she had no choice. If she didn't have enough, she could borrow from her network of connections...

"I don't need points." Mu Tianchen shot her down instantly. In the long run, Kushida's utility value far outweighed points.

"What, then what do you want me to do? Don't tell me you're thinking of doing that kind of thing to me, Tianchen-kun~ how naughty~"

Seeing that a tough approach wouldn't work, Kushida immediately switched to her usual cute mode, looking up at him with an innocent face. Honestly, her attitude still shocked Mu Tianchen. To protect her image, she'd go this far... Though from another angle, it showed just how important it was to her.

"What are you saying? How could I do something like that?" Mu Tianchen said lightly. "I need you to do some things for me, and I'll pay you a certain amount of points. Of course, to make sure you cooperate, I'll keep this recording for now."

"I'll listen carefully! Let me keep the recording, okay? Please~?"

Kushida still put on her usual act, letting out a cute voice that any man would find hard to refuse. But remembering how she'd kicked the railing with all her strength, Mu Tianchen felt goosebumps rise.

"No."

"I see... fine." Kushida was a little dissatisfied but didn't dare push too far, reluctantly accepting. "But how can I trust you?"

Her suspicion was normal in Mu Tianchen's eyes. Forging a relationship through such forceful means would naturally breed distrust. He needed to prove himself to ease her concerns.

"How many personal points do you think the person with the most in our Class D has?"

"The person with the most points?" Kushida didn't know why he asked, but she calculated in her head. In May, the first month of school, the school gave 100,000 points. The second month, because the class evaluation was zero, they got nothing. After necessary expenses, subtracting those and calculating everything at the lowest price, leaving 60,000 points would already be impressive. "The answer is 60,000, right?"

"60,000, huh..." It seemed Kushida, like most people, was still stuck on saving rather than thinking of other ways to earn points.

"Is that wrong?" Kushida thought she'd calculated carefully. With many friends, she often chatted about daily school expenses, so she knew this area well.

"Take a look at this." Mu Tianchen, as if prepared, handed his phone to Kushida. After seeing the screen, she couldn't believe her eyes. She rubbed them, confirmed she wasn't mistaken, and gasped in surprise. "That's really over 1.24 million points... how did you do it?"

Kushida considered the possibility of borrowing through connections, but quickly dismissed it. Gathering that many points would require a lot of people, and she hadn't seen this guy have any friends in class—let alone in other classes. This could only mean he'd used a method most people hadn't noticed. So he really was hiding his strength...

Seeing Kushida stunned, Mu Tianchen smirked mischievously. "You didn't think this school only had surface-level rules, did you? Think about it."

Right. Kushida finally realized. She'd noticed something off about the student handbook at the start of the semester. The rules seemed too superficial—like how it clearly stated students couldn't fight, yet from her observations, many places seemed deliberately left without cameras. This spot was a perfect example.

She didn't think the school would be short on the money needed for those cameras.

And then there was the matter of point transactions. Since the school distributed points and even provided free items, why would it allow students to trade points among themselves...

Wait, personal point transactions? Could it be that he was exploiting that? Kushida lightly tapped her head. She had just considered using points to buy a recording herself, so...

"You got those points from someone else, didn't you?" Kushida finally reached a satisfying conclusion, her gaze firm as she looked at Mu Tianchen.

"Good, you didn't disappoint me," Mu Tianchen said, lowering his head to fiddle with his phone. "I've already transferred 100,000 points to you. That's your reward for doing this for me."

When Kushida heard that he had transferred 100,000 points to her, she kept a calm expression on the surface, but inwardly she was quite excited.

After all, as a popular figure like her, socializing, going out, and such all required points. And since the class hadn't distributed any points yet, and her own points were nearly depleted, this was truly "a timely help."

She could have borrowed some, but unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn't take the initiative to do so. Such a thing would somewhat damage her image in front of her friends.

"You're quite generous. Spill it—what do you want me to do?"

There was no such thing as a free lunch. Since Kushida had accepted these points, she definitely wanted to know what she was supposed to do.

Still, even if it was something difficult, she'd have to do it anyway. After all, he still had leverage over her...

Seeing this, Mu Tianchen leaned in. "What I want you to do is this... and then that..."

"I understand. That's no problem." The task Mu Tianchen proposed didn't seem as hard as she had imagined; in fact, it was almost effortless.

It was just, well, a bit unethical...