"He was young, tall, and thin, wearing gray-blue work clothes." Ma Hongjun thought back. "I sensed him carefully, but there wasn't the slightest trace of Soul Power from him. Either he's an ordinary person, or his cultivation is so high that I can't sense it at all."
The room fell quiet.
Oscar's fake tooth clicked. He quickly held it in place with his tongue.
"If he really is an ordinary person, why did Ning Rongrong go looking for him? It couldn't be that she's dating him, could it?"
Ma Hongjun shrugged. "Hard to say. Ning Rongrong went in carrying food. It looked like she'd brought it for the shop owner."
"Brought food for the shop owner?" Tang San sat up straight.
"Yeah."
The four of them exchanged glances.
Dai Mubai furrowed his brow, thought it over for a long while, then spoke.
"I suspect that shop owner is a hidden Titled Douluo."
Ma Hongjun nodded along. "I think so too. Someone who can make several girls' strength skyrocket in such a short time can't be ordinary. On the surface, he runs a shabby little shop, but in reality, he might be secretly helping them cultivate."
Tang San shook his head. "Not necessarily. Even if a Titled Douluo passed on his power, he couldn't make someone jump eight levels all at once. I've never seen anything like that, not even in the Clear Sky Sect's library."
"Then what could it be?"
Tang San didn't answer. He ran through all the clues in his mind.
At 10 p.m., in girls' dorm room 666.
All four of them had returned.
Zhu Zhuqing was the last to arrive. A little dust from the training grounds clung to her black leather outfit. She took off her boots and tossed them by the door, then walked barefoot to her bed and sat down.
Bai Chenxiang had already showered. Her pale green pajamas hung loosely on her, and she had undone and retied her two low ponytails. She sat on her bed, flipping through that cultivation manual.
Xiao Wu had changed into a pink nightgown. Her scorpion braid was undone, and her long hair fell over her shoulders. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, she turned the Pink Rabbit Pendant over and over in her hands.
Ning Rongrong leaned against her headboard. She was still wearing her blue skirt, and her white stockings lay folded at the foot of the bed.
Xiao Wu looked up at Ning Rongrong. "Rongrong, did you go to the shop this afternoon?"
"Mm."
Ning Rongrong glanced at the other three, hesitated, then sat up straight.
"I found something out today."
The other three looked at her at the same time.
Ning Rongrong lowered her voice as much as she could.
"Do you remember the hint on the Crystal Ball? Helping the shop owner with chores, or earning his favor, can increase your membership experience. The higher your membership level, the better."
"I remember." Xiao Wu nodded.
"I tried it today," Ning Rongrong said. "I cleaned the shop for Brother Chuan—wiped down the Claw Machines, swept the floor, and took out the trash. After I finished, my membership experience went up by five points."
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up.
"Really? Doing chores raises your experience?"
"Really. But it seems you can only get points once a day. I wiped everything down again later, but it didn't work."
Zhu Zhuqing leaned against the wall with her arms folded and chimed in, "What about the other one? Earning the shop owner's favor."
Ning Rongrong's face turned a little red. It was hard to see under the dim lamplight.
"I tried that too. It went up by ten points."
"Ten points?" Xiao Wu was shocked. "More than doing chores? How did you do it?"
Ning Rongrong lowered her head, twisting the corner of her blanket between her fingers. "...I confessed to him."
The room fell silent for two seconds.
Xiao Wu was the first to react. "You confessed to Brother Chuan?"
"Mm."
"And then?"
"Then he turned me down. He said something like, 'With nothing to offer, how could I dare hold back a beauty?'"
"Then how did your experience go up?"
Ning Rongrong's voice grew even softer. "...I kissed him."
The room fell silent again.
This time, even Zhu Zhuqing raised her head and stared at Ning Rongrong.
Bai Chenxiang's cultivation manual slid to the floor. She stared at Ning Rongrong in a daze, mouth hanging open.
"You kissed Brother Chuan?" Xiao Wu's voice rose a pitch.
"Shh! Keep your voice down!" Ning Rongrong hurriedly glanced at the door. "What if the room next door hears?"
Xiao Wu lowered her voice, but she couldn't contain her excitement. "How did you kiss him? Where?"
"Just...on the lips."
Xiao Wu sucked in a sharp breath.
Zhu Zhuqing's expression barely changed, but something subtle appeared in her eyes.
Bai Chenxiang's face had turned completely red. She lowered her head, too embarrassed to look at anyone.
"What happened after you kissed him?" Xiao Wu pressed.
"Afterward, the system notified me that I'd gone from Ordinary Member to Bronze Member. The number of Game Coins I could exchange for increased by one, my daily number of grabs increased by one, and the High-Tier Zone unlocked."
Xiao Wu's mouth opened into an O. "Bronze Member? You leveled up in one go?"
"Yeah."
Xiao Wu couldn't sit still. She turned over and knelt on her bed, bracing her hands on the edge as she leaned toward Ning Rongrong.
"Wait, wait, wait. You mean that showing Brother Chuan some affection raises your membership experience? And once your experience is full, you level up? Then your number of grabs goes up?"
"Yeah."
Xiao Wu's mind raced.
Ordinary Members got three tries a day, while Bronze Members got four. That meant she could make more grabs with the same number of Gold Soul Coins. The more tries, the higher the odds of winning. And the higher the odds of winning, the better the prizes she could get.
And the way to level up was—be good to Brother Chuan.
Xiao Wu slapped her thigh.
"I knew it! Those hints on the Crystal Ball—help the shop owner with chores, earn his favor, and you can gain experience. So that's what they meant!"
Ning Rongrong nodded. "The better we treat him, the more we get out of it."
Zhu Zhuqing thought it over, then spoke. "What happens after Bronze? How much experience do you need to level up again?"
"Bronze caps at twenty points," Ning Rongrong said. "I'm at five out of twenty now."
Xiao Wu rubbed her hands together. "Then what's the next level? Silver? Gold?"
"I don't know. It didn't show."
The four fell silent for a while, each working it out in her own mind.
Xiao Wu traced circles on the bedsheet with her finger, muttering under her breath.
"Five points a day for chores, ten for confessing and kissing. At that rate, leveling up shouldn't take too long. But the problem is you can only get chore points once a day, and you already tried confessing. Repeating it doesn't count."
"The system said repeated check-ins don't work, and told me to unlock new scenarios," Ning Rongrong added.
"New scenarios? What kind of new scenarios?"
"I don't know."
Xiao Wu thought for a long time without figuring it out, so she set the question aside for now.
The four of them each lay down.
The lights went out, leaving only the occasional chirp of insects drifting in through the window.
Lying in the dark, Xiao Wu stared at the ceiling, turning Ning Rongrong's words over and over in her mind.
Doing chores, five points. Confessing and kissing, ten points. Unlocking new scenarios...
Xiao Wu did the math in her head. Ning Rongrong had kissed Brother Chuan once and gotten ten points, enough to jump straight to Bronze. If she went too...
No. What if she did more?
Ning Rongrong had kissed him once. What if she went further with one of those "scenarios"?
Xiao Wu turned over beneath her blanket. For some reason, her heart was beating faster.
She secretly looked at Ning Rongrong's silhouette in the bed across from hers. Ning Rongrong was already asleep, breathing evenly, her shoulders rising and falling slightly.
Zhu Zhuqing lay motionless in the bed in the corner. Xiao Wu couldn't tell if she was asleep or thinking about something.
Bai Chenxiang was curled up beneath her covers, with only her two low ponytails sticking out.
Xiao Wu closed her eyes, then opened them again. She made up her mind.