Can't keep any points?

Sang Yi's large, clear eyes were fixed on the system panel, as were Ao Lin's. Both were confident they could make the top five this time.

Of course, Sang Yi thought she could take first place.

Xin Jiu looked up as well.

[1: Xin Jiu, 246800 points (Nine Provinces)]

[2: Heartless Dao Dabao, 239800 points (Nine Provinces)]

[3: Tina, 186600 points (Never-Setting Sun)]

[...]

[6: Antenna Short-Circuited, 165600 points (Nine Provinces)]

[...]

Ao Lin had only earned 130,000 points this time, dropping him to twelfth place.

[Ao Ao already did great!]

[You only dropped five places. It's okay, Ao Ao, don't cry.]

Ao Lin shouted at the sky, "Are first and second place devils or what!!!"

Xin Jiu's fans were celebrating again.

[Jiujiu took first place again!]

[The female-to-male ratio in the top ten is seven to three this time. We girls are the best!]

[Who said girls were worse at games than boys? What a slap in the face!]

[Where are the haters? Come out and say something!!]

Sang Yi clawed at her hair in frustration. Just seven thousand. Just seven thousand!!!

Once the settlement was complete, the system began distributing Xin Jiu's first-place rewards.

[Team-up Card x3, random-tier treasure chest x3, S-tier treasure chest x1]

[Tip: Please collect the S-tier treasure chest key from the service area manager.]

Xin Jiu frowned. No attribute points this time?

And weren't the first-place rewards a little too paltry this time?

After the rewards came the rating, as usual. Unsurprisingly, Xin Jiu gave everything one star, and the system's expression became a crying face again.

[o(╥﹏╥)o]

But to Xin Jiu's surprise, another message popped up this time.

[Did you discover any NPCs engaging in abnormal activities within the instance?]

[Please answer truthfully.]

Abnormal activities?

Did Yin Lingzi count?

Xin Jiu thought it over and selected "Yes."

[Thank you for your feedback. The system will report this to the administrator and conduct a purge of the Forest Labyrinth instance.]

Report it to the administrator?

Xin Jiu frowned. Why did she feel like a neighborhood office worker? They called her an investigating officer, yet there were all these levels above her. Didn't they know someone one rank higher could crush you?

Don't tell me I'll turn out to be at the very bottom. Oh, no, there are six inspectors below me.

She counted as a petty ninth-rank official, at least.

Wait... wait, wait. A purge?

Only then did Xin Jiu register the latter half of that message.

What does a purge mean? Are they going to erase all the NPCs?

They'd better not purge Qingming. He only came to the Forest Labyrinth instance to enjoy his retirement!

Remembering that Qingming had even given her a skill, Xin Jiu wanted to withdraw her feedback, but the interface had already vanished, replaced by a system notification.

[Players, please take a short rest. The service area will open in one hour.]

If they're erasing them... Qingming is a fox from Qingqiu. He shouldn't be that easy to erase.

If he really does get erased, he can't blame me. I didn't know this would happen.

"Why does the service area take an hour to open this time? That's way too long, isn't it?"

"It must be a big service area. I've saved up loads of points, so I can really enjoy myself."

Xin Jiu came back to her senses. The service area actually needed an hour to open this time. She didn't know why, but she felt a little uneasy.

Bubu suddenly said, "You'd better spend all your points."

"Why?"

"This service area makes me feel really uncomfortable. My intuition tells me you'd better spend them all while you can."

"...All right."

They were just points, after all. If the service area turned out to be different from what Bubu expected, she could list those useless skill cards and items in the trading hall. She wouldn't run out of points to spend.

Besides, she felt something was off herself.

Xin Jiu opened the system shop.

[Item: Attribute Refresh Ticket]

[Price: 50000 points]

"...!"

An Attribute Refresh Ticket actually cost fifty thousand this time?

Xin Jiu gritted her teeth and bought it.

Then she rolled defense.

[Strength: 19]

[Agility: 42 (Getting faster and faster. Awesome! (Thumbs-up))]

[Perception: 30]

[Luck: 10 (Meeting special NPCs like Qingming and Yin Lingzi was lucky of you. Have 3 extra points.)]

[Defense: 28 (Who knew your starting defense was so high? You're a woman like a female eagle.)]

Xin Jiu also came across a suit of battle armor costing 150,000 points in the system shop.

[Item: A-tier battle armor (permanent)]

[Armor description: When attacked, there is a 35% chance of triggering evasion and a 20% chance of reflecting the attack.]

[Tip: If you're attacked ten times in a row, it's guaranteed to trigger.]

Xin Jiu gritted her teeth again and bought it anyway. She spent the remaining forty thousand on attribute points, at ten thousand points per attribute point.

She had to admit, the system truly embodied the face of capitalism to perfection.

The last instance hadn't awarded many points, so attribute points had been handed out as rewards. This instance awarded plenty, so attribute points had to be purchased instead, and prices had skyrocketed fivefold!

Underhanded. Absolutely underhanded!

In the end, Xin Jiu spent it all on strength attribute points.

Since the [Niuniu Berserk Card] only had two uses left, she needed to increase her strength.

[Strength 19 → 23 (You're about as strong as a yak calf now.)]

Xin Jiu: "..."

After buying everything, she still had over two thousand points left and really didn't know what else to buy.

"Aren't you buying anything else?" Bubu asked.

"I've bought everything I need. I've only got a little over two thousand points left, and there's really nothing else to buy."

Hearing that she had spent all her points, a girl asked in surprise, "Aren't you saving more points for the service area?"

Xin Jiu said, "The last service area opened in ten minutes, but this one takes an hour. I think something unexpected might happen, so I bought everything I needed first."

"Huh? Really?"

"No way. Isn't the service area somewhere to rest? Could it be dangerous?"

"But taking an hour to open really is strange."

Bubu thought for a moment and said, "Big sisters, you'd better not save your points for the service area."

"Why are you saying that too?"

"Intuition."

The girls hesitated briefly, but ultimately chose to trust Bubu and went to buy things in the shop.

Don't ask. If you had to ask, it was because Bubu was a dragon and knew a lot.

The players who didn't know Bubu's identity all scoffed. Trusting a child's intuition was utterly foolish.

She glanced at the other girls. Most were nearly done shopping, but the girl who had healed her looked regretful.

"What's wrong?"

The girl said sadly, "I'm only eight hundred points short of buying that B-tier item. If I'd known, I would've killed a few more NPCs. Sigh..."

I'm so close. I can't stand it.

"What's your ID?"

The girl was puzzled but gave her ID anyway. "I'm Tangtang Doesn't Eat Candy."

[Player Xin Jiu has sent you a friend request. Accept?]

"You, you're..." Tangtang covered her mouth in surprise, then looked around and whispered breathily, "I didn't realize you were number one."

Thinking it through, who else but the top-ranked player could kill the gray wolf and have a little dragon capable of taking human form by her side?

Now she had actually added the top-ranked player as a friend. She could brag to her friends about this for ages!

[Player Xin Jiu has requested a trade with you. Accept?]

"Accept it."

Tangtang immediately accepted, and Xin Jiu traded her a thousand points. "Go buy your item."

"I couldn't possibly!"

Tangtang was already deeply touched that Xin Jiu had brought her out. How could she take her points too?

She hurriedly opened a trade to return the points to Xin Jiu.

"Weren't you only eight hundred or so short? Keep them."

Tangtang's eyes reddened at once. "Thank you. Once I earn points in my next instance, I'll pay you back right away!"

Xin Jiu smiled. "All right."

A male player spoke up snidely. "Well, look at that. A living bodhisattva handing out points. Why don't you give us some too?"