Why was this happening?
Where was my money?
Where was our imperial money!
Phone in hand, Chen Xiao paced back and forth through the living room, utterly baffled.
He hadn't been throwing money around like his filthy-rich classmates. Aside from the materials he needed to make figurines, his three meals a day had all stayed within a reasonable budget.
Even if Mahiru Shiina and Asuna had recently asked him to buy enough ingredients for them to show off their cooking skills.
That couldn't have cost that much!
Besides, his family sent him money every month...
"Wait! My family!"
Just then, Chen Xiao suddenly remembered something.
His father's earnest words resurfaced in his mind from when he had told his family he was going to stop attending school.
"Since you've decided to give up, there's not much I can say... but from now on, you'll have to support yourself in Magic City! Become a proper adult, A-Xiao."
Holy shit! I fucking forgot!
After I called home and told them I wasn't going to school anymore, Dad cut me off!
That meant I'd spent these past few months living entirely off the remaining savings on this one card!
At that realization, Chen Xiao immediately slumped forward in despair.
"Master, are you all right?"
Seeing such a dramatic reaction from Chen Xiao, Ram couldn't help growing nervous.
"I-I'm fine! I just remembered that I'm now 'financially independent.'"
Chen Xiao let out a long sigh.
Then, with Ram supporting him closely, he went to his bedroom, opened the wardrobe, and began searching through it.
"Good thing I usually put some extra money into another card to prepare for future challenges."
Back then, Chen Xiao had thought this world was an urban webnovel setting. As someone who had transmigrated without a cheat, he would need some startup funds at the beginning of the story.
He had spent a long time gradually saving up for that purpose.
Things hadn't gone according to his expectations, but those funds were still coming in handy!
"Found it!"
Since he had done nothing with the card except transfer money into it, Chen Xiao had nearly forgotten where he'd put it. He searched for almost half an hour before finding it in the pocket of an old coat.
"Thank goodness this coat has sentimental value. It would've been a disaster if I'd accidentally thrown it away."
At that thought, Chen Xiao breathed a small sigh of relief.
But as he entered the card number into his phone to link it, he discovered that he couldn't remember the PIN either.
The physical enhancement from awakening my superpower didn't improve my memory?
No, more like I never bothered remembering it in the first place.
"Hiss... what was this card's six-digit PIN again?"
Chen Xiao vaguely remembered that it was a string of numbers with a very distinctive meaning in his previous life.
Something to do with a bad smell...
"Master, the PIN is 114514."
Seeing that Chen Xiao still couldn't remember it, Ram volunteered a reminder.
"Oh, right! That's it! The Beast Senpai PIN! Thank you, Ram..."
As though a sage had suddenly bestowed enlightenment upon him, Chen Xiao happily entered the PIN and instinctively thanked Ram.
But before he finished speaking, he realized something was wrong.
"How did you know that PIN?"
Chen Xiao's gaze sharpened as he looked at Ram.
Suspicion theme.mp4
"You needn't concern yourself with such trivial matters, Master."
Ram merely took a step back and answered with perfect composure, making no attempt to hide the upward curve of her lips.
Chen Xiao: ...
I very much do concern myself with it, okay?!
Just when did you all start secretly watching me?
Beep, beep, beep...
[Account balance: 83150]
After linking the bank card, Chen Xiao glanced at the funds he had accumulated over several years and finally felt reassured.
"Eighty thousand. Not exactly a lot, but not a small amount either. Still, if I want to keep this going, I'll need to find a way to make money."
Going out to work himself was obviously out of the question.
Never mind how long it would take him to land a high-paying job; he wouldn't even get past the figurine girls at home.
"Do you need my help?"
Nanami Aoyama suddenly materialized in front of Chen Xiao, looking eager to give it a try.
"If it's for you, A-Xiao, I can do anything!"
"Nanami, I know I used to joke about you being a part-time-job warrior, but that doesn't mean I like seeing you work yourself to the bone, understand?"
When he had watched the anime in his previous life, it had hurt to see Nanami Aoyama working so desperately, only to end up losing in love anyway.
Since he had gotten a chance to start over in this life, Nanami Aoyama could have one too. She didn't need to work herself ragged at jobs all over the place just to pay her tuition.
"O-oh... I understand."
Sensing the tenderness in Chen Xiao's words, Nanami Aoyama immediately blushed, then found herself at a loss for what to say next.
"Of course, if I do need your help, I'd still appreciate you lending me a hand~"
"Okay! Just tell me what to do when the time comes, A-Xiao~"
With that, Nanami Aoyama turned back into a figurine.
At the sight, Chen Xiao wiped a little sweat away.
Were Nanami Aoyama's intentions really that simple?
Considering how aggressively the girls who had materialized and interacted with him so far had pursued him, he had no doubt Nanami had a little agenda of her own.
Besides becoming a part-time-job warrior to earn money and shore up their finances.
She probably also wanted to make herself a familiar face around town. Then, if she happened to "run into" one of his friends or former classmates and casually mentioned what was going on between them...
Yikes! My QQ would absolutely blow up then!
"Master, regarding our finances, I heard the others say hacking could solve the problem. A few taps on a keyboard, and we'd never run out of money again."
Ram's words sounded like a devil's whisper in Chen Xiao's ears.
Indeed, quite a few of the figurines he had made were "hacker" girls. He even had Nymph, an all-purpose electronic warfare Angeloid who could take control of the entire global network the instant she connected to the internet.
Just like Cyborg in the Justice League, who had been transformed by a Mother Box.
"Hiss... whew! Your suggestion is certainly tempting, Ram."
Chen Xiao took a deep breath, but reason ultimately prevailed, and he resisted the temptation.
"But I'd rather earn money through my own efforts. Using hacking to rake in money... that's something we should only resort to when we have no other choice."
In plain language, he needed to have a line he wouldn't cross.
It was like cross-dressing: once led to twice, and eventually to countless times.
If he broke through that line in his heart...
There was no telling whether he might eventually turn into a villain of the "I don't eat beef" variety.
"I understand, Master."
Ram nodded at his words.
Then Chen Xiao picked up his phone again and noticed an official announcement among his notifications.
It said someone had committed fraud in the name of [Black Rock Shooter], swindling a total of one hundred thousand, and urged the people of Shenzhou not to believe the scammers' lies.
"Huh?"
After reading it, Chen Xiao looked like the confused-guy meme.
Just using Black Rock Shooter's name was enough to get idiots to cough up money?
And a hundred thousand at that!
Then he opened his browser and checked the trending searches.
He hadn't known until he looked, and what he saw gave him a shock!
"Holy crap... it's only been one night, and Black Rock Shooter is already this popular? Videos from last night are practically everywhere... there are even dedicated fan sites!"
No wonder people believed a scam like "Black Rock Shooter needs financial support to hunt monsters," which was on the same level as "I am Qin Shi Huang. Send money."
But whether it was scamming people or having the real Black Rock Shooter show up to rake in money, he wouldn't do either.
After all, Black Rock Shooter's appearance before the world had been purely accidental.
So unless it was necessary, he wouldn't casually let Black Rock Shooter appear in front of outsiders in the future.
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