Cutesy Talk

Did it take level 1 intelligence to count as an intelligent being?

Wu Chen couldn't be bothered to comment, but he was quite excited about the random draw.

He had won a sample in the last draw. If he got lucky this time, would he get another?

He even dared to dream of an unknown theory, a production line, or a sample!

Wu Chen quickly washed his face, then sat up straight. Once he was fully prepared, he solemnly said to the system, "Start the draw!"

As soon as he spoke, a golden wheel appeared.

The pointer began spinning at high speed.

Anything but "Thanks for participating," anything but "Thanks for participating"...

He prayed silently.

And the goddess of luck really did favor him!

The pointer finally stopped on sample!

[Congratulations, host, you have drawn a sample]

[Stamina Potion (Beginner Version)]

[Price: 5 skill points]

[Redemption limit: 1]

[Description: raises stamina from level 0 to level 1 upon use]

It actually cost 5 skill points!

Wu Chen immediately felt the pinch.

He had earned about 3,588 yuan from old photo restoration orders, which had converted into 3.588 skill points through monetizing his skills.

So even with the 4 he had left from the start, he currently had only 7.588 skill points.

Spending 5 skill points in one go to redeem a stamina upgrade sample hardly seemed worth it.

After all, to increase stamina, couldn't he just exercise more, keep a regular schedule, and eat healthily?

But when he thought about the swimming and gym memberships he had bought in his previous life, Wu Chen made his decision without hesitation.

After all, you had to be alive to keep producing!

"Redeem the sample!"

[Stamina Potion redeemed successfully!]

[Skill points: 7.588 -> 2.588]

[Note: this sample is a bound item and has been used directly.]

[Congratulations, host, your stamina has leveled up!]

[Current basic information:]

[Intelligence: level 1 (0%)]

[Stamina: level 0 (10%) -> level 1 (0%)]

"Ahh, that's good!"

As the potion took effect, Wu Chen couldn't help letting out a moan.

If leveling up his intelligence had been like giving his brain a cold shower, then leveling up his stamina was like getting a gentle full-body spa treatment!

It felt as though a pair of cool, delicate jade hands had caressed him from head to toe.

As the fingertips brushed over his body, a tingling sensation rose from his tailbone and shot straight to the crown of his head, almost making him think the familiar technician number 88 had returned!

Three minutes later, his physical transformation was finally complete.

He went over to the mirror and took a look.

So handsome!

He could just about reach the average level of Qidian Chinese Network's readers!

In truth, his looks hadn't changed much.

But after his constitution improved, the damage from his previously subhealthy condition had been repaired. His smile lines were gone, his dark circles and the air of workplace drudgery about him had been swept away, and even his eyes had brightened.

He checked the system's description and realized that level 1 stamina only made him a little healthier than a normal person. It was nowhere near monstrous.

But feeling how light his body was, Wu Chen realized that most working adults were extremely unhealthy, to the point that what should have been normal was already out of the ordinary.

He really needed to pay more attention to his health!

Unfortunately, using the potion to rise from level 0 to level 1 hadn't triggered a reward.

Wu Chen gulped down a large mouthful of water and picked up his phone.

When he saw that it was August 24, he was shocked.

Writing those five papers and completing the theoretical research on word2Vec had taken him a full nine days!

He opened Taobao, and sure enough, his orders had exploded.

But far too many customers had left because they couldn't get a reply from him.

Wu Chen couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.

That was all money from monetizing his skills, which could be converted into skill points.

Once school started, he decided he would find two poorer students in his class to handle customer service for him.

In 2008, a monthly salary of 1,000 yuan was enough to hire a responsible college student.

For the next few days, though, he would have to put in the work himself.

Just as he was checking his message list, a new message popped up.

Wu Chen first replied with a practiced "Hi, dear, I'm here."

Then he scrolled through the messages and discovered that this customer named "Beibei" had been trying to reach him nonstop for over a week.

Almost every day, she had sent him "Bossy, you there?" two or three times, just like a simp.

Wu Chen was a little surprised.

After all, the main selling point of his shop was speed. If someone really wanted a perfect restoration, it would still have to be done by hand, at the cost of a great deal of time.

This Beibei had clearly been waiting for him all along.

As soon as she saw his reply, she sent over a photo.

There was a man and a woman in it, both very good-looking.

The man was refined and scholarly, while the woman had the air of a well-bred young lady. They were standing at the classic photo spot in Tianmen Square.

"Boss, boss, you're hewe! Can this picture be made HD? How long will it take, pwease?"

Was she some kind of elementary schooler?

Wu Chen got a headache looking at all her cutesy spellings.

He opened the picture, took a look, and typed back, "Yes, just 20 minutes."

That wasn't because he had improved the original CNN model, but because the picture she had sent was so well suited to restoration by the model.

The lighting was good, the subjects were clear, and the focus was accurate.

It was only because of its age and the scanning process that the edges were somewhat blurry and there were a few breaks in the color gradation.

It was practically like a carefully selected training image.

After receiving his confirmation, Beibei readily placed an order and paid 69 yuan.

Naturally, Wu Chen didn't slack off either. He immediately fed the picture into the model and started it running.

By the time he had eaten a bowl of instant noodles, the result was ready.

The result was just as Wu Chen had expected.

After his algorithm model processed it, the overall resolution had gone straight from standard definition to 1080p high definition.

He clicked to deliver it, then typed a message to her.

"Dear, it's ready."

"Got it~"

Less than a minute after receiving the picture, she sent over another one and placed another order at the same time.

"Boss, boss, could you help me restore this one too, pwease?"

"No problem."

After receiving the picture, Wu Chen found it was a little more difficult than the previous one, but only by so much.

"Dear, would delivery in half an hour be all right?"

"Yes, boss!"

After putting the picture into the model, Wu Chen used the break to hang up his laundry and tidy his messy room.

By the time he finished and came back, the model had just produced a result.

After he sent the photo back, she quickly confirmed receipt, then sent another picture that was even harder to process and swiftly placed an order.

"Boss, boss, how long for this one, pwease?"

Wait, is she messing with me here?

Wu Chen frowned and typed, "Dear (dumbass), if you have a lot of photos to process, you can send them all at once."

"Nope, this is the last one!"

"All right, I'll deliver it in about 40 minutes."

You always ran into all sorts of weirdos when doing business, so Wu Chen didn't give it much thought.

A little over half an hour passed.

Once the photo was processed, Wu Chen deftly watermarked and sent it as before.

"Dear, it's ready."

"Got it~"

This time, she didn't send another picture, instead confirming receipt right away.

Just when Wu Chen thought things had finally settled down, she suddenly sent another message.

"Boss, can we meet and talk?"

For once, she hadn't used any cutesy talk in that sentence, which made Wu Chen sense a hint of seriousness.

But... meet?

Wu Chen instinctively looked at the camera on his computer, wondering if his good looks had been exposed.

Fortunately, they hadn't.

He replied, "Dear, if it's just about processing pictures, it's faster online."

"It's not about processing pictures."

She quickly replied, then sent several more messages in succession.

"It's just that I'm very interested in your technology, boss, so I wanted to discuss it in detail~ I can pay you a consulting fee, or could we talk directly about a technical partnership, pwease?"