It Hurt to Lose Forty Thousand

Buzz, buzz.

The phone on the table vibrated twice.

Chen De changed the TV channel.

Then he picked up his phone.

Two words lit up on the screen: Xing Lan.

"Su! Is there a Calamity in South City tonight? I'm ready!!"

Six fist emojis followed.

She sounded as excited as if she were heading out on a spring picnic.

Chen De stared at the screen for three seconds.

He remembered the thing he had stupidly agreed to before.

Let Lin Xi take down a Calamity.

What did that mean?

It meant a walking, living forty thousand yuan would fly away right before his eyes.

Straight into someone else's pocket.

He felt like his heart had stopped for a second.

His finger hovered above the keyboard.

After hesitating for a moment—

"Don't know. You should ask your contracted familiar."

Sent.

A perfect pass-the-buck strategy.

As long as I don't acknowledge there's a Calamity, those forty thousand might still be mine.

Three seconds later, a reply arrived.

"I asked! Xiao Luo said there really is a Lesser Calamity reaction in South City tonight!!"

"So are you coming, Su?!"

"I'm a little scared going alone, hehe."

Hehe, my ass!

Chen De put down his phone.

He tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling.

He felt utterly lifeless.

"Qubi."

"Yes."

Qubi was lying by the edge of the coffee table, its tail flicking back and forth.

"Did I promise to let Lin Xi take one down?"

"Yes."

"In writing?"

"Not in writing, but there's chat history."

"So if she beats it, I won't make any money."

"Yes."

"But if I don't go, she might get hurt."

"She won't. It's only a Lesser Calamity. It's not like she can't beat it."

"Then I'm not going."

"Won't you feel guilty?"

"Between my guilt and my wallet, my wallet matters more."

The phone buzzed again.

Chen De glanced at it.

"Su?"

"Are you there?"

"You're not really not coming, are you? QAQ"

That QAQ was like three knives stabbing into Chen De's already not-so-wealthy conscience.

Chen De picked up his phone.

He typed out a line.

"I'm not feeling well today. I got my period."

He looked at it for two seconds.

Then deleted it.

He was a grown-ass man. What period was he supposed to get?!

He typed another line.

"I have something to do tonight. I need to work on practice tests."

He looked at it for two seconds.

Then deleted that too.

What magical girl did practice tests in the middle of the night?!

Qubi lay beside the coffee table, its emerald eyes watching him repeatedly delete his messages.

"What are you struggling with?"

"I'm struggling with how to refuse someone without making myself look like an asshole."

"Then just say, 'I can't come.'"

"But what if she goes alone, fights it herself, and gets hurt?"

"Then go."

"If I go, I'll lose forty thousand."

"Then don't go."

"Isn't that just useless advice?!"

Qubi's tail swayed.

"Your biggest problem is that you're poor and softhearted."

"If you got rid of either flaw, you wouldn't be this conflicted."

Chen De bit his lip.

Poor and softhearted.

He did not want to get rid of either.

But reality was forcing him to choose one.

"Qubi."

"Yes."

"How much do you think a person's conscience is worth?"

"Are you asking for the market price or your personal valuation?"

"Mine."

"Looks like it's worth about forty thousand."

Chen De closed his eyes.

He took a deep breath.

Then picked up his phone.

"What time? Where?"

Sent.

Lin Xi's reply came almost instantly.

"Eight thirty! Near the abandoned factory in South City!!"

"Wonderful, Su! I knew you'd come!!!"

Eight heart emojis followed.

Chen De's scalp went numb just looking at them.

"Could you send fewer hearts?"

"Okay, Su!"

She still sent one.

Chen De placed the phone face-down on the coffee table.

"Forty thousand," he muttered to the air.

"Forty thousand, gone."

Qubi jumped from the coffee table onto his shoulder.

"Look on the bright side. Think of it as the admission fee for taking a rookie through a dungeon."

"Why should I?!"

Chen De was devastated.

"I'm a rookie too! Why doesn't anyone take me along? The first time I fought a Calamity, there wasn't even a beginner tutorial. I was thrown straight into a live combat interview!"

"If you want, I can find someone to guide you."

"Who?"

"A veteran magical girl from the next city over, but her appearance fee is expensive."

"Then forget it."

Chen De climbed off the sofa.

He walked out the front door.

Then arrived at the entrance to the residential complex.

"Transform."

White light flashed.

The one-meter-sixty-five boy vanished, and a one-meter-fifty girl in pure white appeared.

Her skirt fluttered.

Chen De looked down at his outfit.

Then let out a deep sigh.

Magical girl Su Xi was working for free tonight, all for the sake of her conscience.

At eight fifteen that evening.

The abandoned factory in South City.

Chen De stood outside the rusted iron gate, his transformed white skirt swaying twice in the night wind.

It stopped fifteen centimeters above his knees.

Whenever the wind blew, it felt chilly.

But his heart was colder than his legs.

Not because the skirt was short.

Because of the forty thousand.

"Qubi."

"Yes."

"Do you think it's too late for me to turn around and go home?"

"Physically, no. Morally, yes."

"I can live without morals."

Chen De's face was expressionless.

"But you have chat records."

Qubi sat on a stone bollard beside him and mercilessly exposed him.

Chen De shut up.

True enough.

He had agreed to it in black and white.

If she screenshotted it and posted it online, the degree of his social death would probably be about the same as his skirt getting blown up by the wind.

No, the latter would be worse.

After all, this face was actually quite pretty now.

"Su!!!"

A voice came from the distance.

Chen De turned around.

Lin Xi came running over.

She was transformed.

She wore a pale blue dress.

Her hair was tied into twin ponytails.

As she ran, the two ponytails bounced through the air like a pair of blue rattle drums.

She carried a—

"What are you holding?"

"Milk tea!"

Lin Xi raised two cups of milk tea, her eyes curving into crescents as she smiled.

"I bought one for Sister Su too! Taro paste boba!"

Chen De took the milk tea.

He lowered his head and glanced at the label on the cup.

"This one costs eighteen yuan."

"Yeah!"

"You treated me to an eighteen-yuan milk tea, so I'm down thirty-nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-two yuan."

"Huh?"

Lin Xi froze, as though a huge question mark had popped up over her head.

"What thirty thousand?"

"Nothing. I was talking to myself."

Chen De stuck in the straw and took a sip.

The rich taro paste melted in his mouth.

It tasted all right.

He was losing a little less now.

Probably only down thirty-nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-one yuan fifty.

"Sister Su, you don't look too good today."

Lin Xi leaned closer to look at him.

"Is it that... that time of the month?"

Chen De nearly sprayed the boba in his mouth.

"What the hell do you think about all day?!"

"I don't have—cough. I'm perfectly healthy."

"Then why do you look so pale?"

"My heart hurts."

"What hurts?"

"I feel bad for myself."

Lin Xi tilted her head. She did not understand, but she still nodded solemnly.

"You've worked hard, Sister Su! You must have worried yourself sick protecting this city!"

Chen De felt his blood pressure rising.

"All right, business." He set the milk tea on the concrete bollard beside him.

"Where did your Contracted One say the Calamity was?"

"Xiao Luo said it's inside the warehouse in Factory Zone C!"

"A Lesser Calamity?"

"Mm! Xiao Luo said there's only one!"

Chen De nodded.

Lesser Calamities were pretty weak.

Weak was good.

Weak meant a quick fight.

A quick fight meant he could get home early, slap on a patch, and sleep.

Since he was destined not to earn that money, he might as well turn this into a speedrun for carrying a newbie.

"Lin Xi."

"Here!"

"How many days have you been contracted?"

"Five days!"

"How many Calamities have you fought in those five days?"

Lin Xi held up a number.

"Zero."

Chen De's eyelid twitched.

A miscalculation.

She had no real combat experience.

Right.

Lin Xi had only been contracted for five days, and every Calamity they happened to encounter had been snatched by him.

The only one she had faced head-on had been a Fierce Calamity.

All she had done was get beaten up.

She had no actual combat experience at all.

"Sister Su, how are we fighting? You handle the main attack, and I'll cheer you on from the side. How about that?"

Blinking innocently, Lin Xi proposed an extraordinarily constructive strategy.

"Yeah, my ass."

Chen De picked up the milk tea from the concrete bollard and bit down on the straw again.

"Today, I'm not making a move."

"Huh?"

"You're going in yourself."

"But I..."

"But what?! Didn't you say you were ready? Didn't you say you wanted to become a partner of justice?"

Chen De took a step back, leaned against the iron gate, and struck a posture of absolute laziness.

"Go on, magical girl Xing Lan."

"Your combat interview starts now."

Lin Xi stared blankly at Chen De.

Then she looked at the pitch-black warehouse in Factory Zone C.

Then at the unfinished milk tea in her hand.

"Then... what are you doing, Sister Su?"

"Me?" Chen De took a sip of milk tea and chewed the boba.

"I'm watching from the side."

"If you're about to get beaten to death, I'll consider giving you a hand."

Chen De took another sip of milk tea, his eyes narrowing with pleasure.

The pain of losing forty thousand temporarily eased a little.