A Very Sly System

(This is a dual male lead story! Dual male leads! Dual male leads! Important things said three times.)

[Please, bind with me.]

A transparent orange kitten looked pleadingly at the aloof-looking young man before it.

This was already the ninety-ninth time it had begged him to bind with it.

But he simply would not listen.

If it still failed to bind with someone, it would be taken back and destroyed.

Originally, it had been meant to be destroyed along with the other scrapped systems.

But it did not want to be destroyed, so while the administrator was not paying attention, it slipped into the various small worlds and wandered around.

Not long ago, the administrator discovered it and gave it one chance: as long as it could bind with a host within three days, it would not be destroyed.

So after carefully picking and choosing, it selected Xu Yanche.

He was handsome and filial.

He was excellent in every way.

But he just would not agree to bind with it.

It was practically ready to kneel and beg him.

Xu Yanche did not even glance at the system and continued studying the script in his hands.

His adoptive mother had been diagnosed with uremia last year and needed a kidney transplant.

But their household did not have much money. By chance, he had been spotted by a talent scout, who spun all sorts of grand promises about how much money celebrities could make.

He had been dazzled by those promises and signed the contract in a muddle.

He had planned to work hard at acting and earn money for his mother's medical expenses.

But reality was far more difficult than he had imagined.

He had no background, and he refused to accept the casting couch.

He simply could not get any roles in the industry.

More than a year had passed, yet he could still only play bit parts in one production crew after another.

Only his new agent, Sister Zhang, had refused to give up on him.

Not long ago, she had finally landed him the third male lead role in a web drama.

He had to seize this opportunity.

Though he was a little shocked by the whole system thing, nothing mattered more than making money.

Besides, this system looked completely useless. There was no way he wanted to bind with it.

He firmly believed there was no such thing as a free lunch.

Zero Zero said pitifully, [Wuwuwuwu, just agree to bind with me. I'm very capable.]

Xu Yanche lifted his eyelids and gave Zero Zero a disdainful glance. "No. You look weak."

Zero Zero said, [Please? Just consider it a good deed for the day. If I don't bind with someone, I'll be taken back and destroyed.]

Zero Zero's voice was utterly miserable, and Xu Yanche was slightly moved.

"Then tell me, what are the benefits of binding with you, and what's the price?"

The moment Zero Zero heard that, it knew there was hope and immediately began selling itself. [I'm amazing. Once you bind with me, you can learn lots of people's gossip. When your Gossip Points accumulate to a certain amount, you can even alter the plot. There's no cost. You just have to give me a bite of your food whenever you eat.]

[How about it? Aren't you tempted? Bind with me, please. It's a great deal, right?]

Xu Yanche considered Zero Zero's words for a moment and felt that it did indeed seem like a pretty good deal.

It could serve as seasoning for his boring life.

He could even tell his mother gossip later.

But he was no good person. "How much do you eat?"

If this so-called system ate more than he did, then there was no point.

Zero Zero immediately declared, [One or two bites is enough. I have a very small appetite.]

Only then was Xu Yanche satisfied. He magnanimously said, "Fine."

Zero Zero was nearly moved to tears and immediately brought up a panel. [Dear host, just tap confirm to bind.]

There were two buttons on the panel. Other than confirm, they were both confirm.

Xu Yanche: "..." What a sly system.

He casually tapped one of the confirm buttons.

The panel displayed that the binding was successful.

Zero Zero was satisfied. [My name is Zero Zero. If you need anything, just call me~] Now it could go back to the system space and sleep.

Xu Yanche gave a faint acknowledgment.

Seeing that it was about time, he took his room key, slung his backpack over his shoulders, and headed to the hospital.

At a fruit stand on the way, he bought his mother's favorite fruit, along with a bowl of chicken wontons she liked.

Zero Zero was a little tempted. [Host, can you buy me a bowl of wontons too?]

Xu Yanche fulfilled this small request and bought another small bowl of wontons.

When he reached an empty corner, he asked Zero Zero in his mind, [How are you going to eat it?]

Zero Zero immediately activated teleportation and sent the small bowl of wontons into its system space. [Hehe, thank you, Host. If you want to know someone else's gossip, you can choose on this panel whether it displays automatically or manually.]

Xu Yanche said, [Set it to automatic display for me.]

Zero Zero eagerly confirmed it for Xu Yanche. [Okay.]

Once Zero Zero confirmed automatic display,

when Xu Yanche looked at passersby, he discovered that anyone close to him had a small panel beside them displaying their gossip.

There was all manner of explosive information.

Xu Yanche fell silent.

Then he was overjoyed.

With this ability, he could sell celebrity gossip to some media outlets in the future and make a little money.

By the time Xu Yanche reached the ward,

his mother, Jinshu, was sitting on the bed knitting a sweater.

It was a double room. The patient in the neighboring bed had been discharged a week ago, and no one had moved in yet.

Jinshu's complexion was very pale, and her hair was somewhat dry.

Her face was covered in wrinkles.

Yet beneath the face worn down by the years, it was still clear that Jinshu had once been a great beauty in her youth.

When Jinshu saw Xu Yanche arrive, she set down the sweater she was knitting and patted the bedside. "Yanyan, Mom knitted you a sweater. It'll be just right for you to wear when the weather gets cold. Have you eaten?"

Xu Yanche walked over and placed the fruit and wontons in his hands on the table.

Seeing that the kettle on the table was empty, he picked it up and went outside to refill it.

"I've eaten. I specifically bought the wontons you like, Mom. Eat them quickly. I'll get you some water."

While filling the kettle, Xu Yanche was lost in thought and accidentally scalded himself with hot water.

Xu Yanche felt irritated. He was angry at himself for being so useless, for not having enough money to get his mother the surgery she needed and only being able to watch her waste away day by day, her health worsening with each passing day.

When he reached the ward door, he saw an elegantly dressed couple standing outside his mother's room.

He did not think much of it, assuming they were there for the neighboring bed.

But as soon as he reached the ward entrance, the couple called out to him.

Xu Lingye and Li Xingruo looked at Xu Yanche.

Both of them froze.

He looked far too much like them.

When Xu Yanche met their gazes, he saw the panel beside them.

[*Xu Lingye and Li Xingruo's current son is not their biological son. They came to find their biological son, Xu Yanche, not because they desperately wanted to bring him home, but because they wanted him to marry He Qing of the He Household, who was currently in a vegetative state.

They did not want their beloved adopted son to suffer, but neither did they want to give up the one hundred million in funding promised by the He Household. By chance, they learned that Xu Yanche was their biological son, and they wanted him to go back and replace their beloved adopted son, Xu Ziyuan, in marrying the vegetative man.*]

Xu Yanche: "..." Wonderful. For the first time, he had gotten front-row seats to gossip about himself.

Even so, his heart was calm, without the slightest hint of anger.

He calmly looked at the beastly couple. "Is there something you need?"

Li Xingruo's eyes reddened. "Son, we're your biological parents. We came to take you home."

Xu Yanche looked at them indifferently, his eyes devoid of emotion.

Yet in his heart, he was planning how to beat this couple up.

They had actually schemed against him. There was no way he could tolerate that.

Before coming here, Xu Lingye had investigated Xu Yanche and knew about his current situation.

He went straight to the point. "Come back with us. I'll find the best doctors to treat your adoptive mother."

Only then did a trace of emotion surge in Xu Yanche's eyes.

He was moved, crazed, and secretly delighted.

The dark thoughts in his heart gradually expanded.

Hmph. Since they had put it that way, it would be unreasonable not to extort them for a hefty sum.

Zero Zero, who was eating in the system space, suddenly felt a chill run down its back.