Hidden Reward

"Let's get a taxi."

Wu Chen didn't give it much thought.

"Taxis are so expensive, and this place is so out of the way. We'd have to wait ages for one."

Lai Shuxian shook her head, then turned to Jiang Nan. "Nannan, why don't you give Teacher Wu a ride?"

"Okay."

Jiang Nan agreed and headed for her little Mercedes-Benz.

But Wu Chen stopped her.

"It's too late, and you've had a long day. I can take a taxi myself."

Jiang Nan wasn't going upstairs to watch Wu Shufen do backflips, and she would have to return to Xiaoshan afterward.

With all that traveling back and forth, she wouldn't get home until after five in the morning.

Jiang Nan didn't mind, though.

The two went back and forth for a few sentences before Lai Shuxian suddenly interrupted them with a smile.

"Teacher Wu, you know how to drive, right? Why don't you take Old Jiang's car home and bring it back in a couple of days?"

Everyone's eyes lit up.

It really was a good idea.

So Wu Chen didn't stand on ceremony.

He took the keys and said, "Then thank you, Factory Director Jiang and Auntie Lai. I'll bring the car back tomorrow."

"We'll be away on a business trip tomorrow. Come on Saturday instead and have a meal with us while you're at it. You can use the car for the next few days."

Lai Shuxian waved a hand.

Wu Chen agreed.

Jiang Hongyue had driven a Tiguan today. Like the Bora Wu Chen had driven in his previous life, it was a Volkswagen, so he had no trouble operating it.

After thanking them again, Wu Chen stepped on the accelerator and drove away.

Watching his taillights disappear around the corner, Jiang Nan and her parents got into their car and headed home.

But Jiang Nan was curious. "Mom, weren't you leaving on your business trip the day after tomorrow? Why are you going early?"

"We're not going early," Lai Shuxian said smugly. "I just found an excuse to get Teacher Wu to come over for a meal. Well? Aren't I clever?"

"Why do you want him to come over for a meal?"

Jiang Nan was puzzled.

Lai Shuxian rolled her eyes at her.

"Of course it's to see how he eats! Back when your aunt got together with your former uncle, I said he made an awful racket when he ate and hunched over the table like a pig at its trough. He couldn't possibly be a good man. And sure enough, look at how he behaved after they got married. Didn't they end up divorcing..."

Only then did Jiang Nan realize her mother was sizing Wu Chen up as a potential son-in-law!

She interrupted Lai Shuxian.

"Mom, we're just colleagues, nothing more. We haven't thought about dating!"

"You haven't thought about it yet, but who knows? Spend more time together and you might!"

"Then let's talk about it later! I don't want to date right now!"

"You're already twenty-five and you still don't want to. Are you going to wait until I'm like your grandmother..."

"Mom!"

Jiang Nan suddenly shouted in irritation.

The car fell silent at once. The cheerful atmosphere from moments ago seemed never to have existed, and only the turn signal ticked away.

But Jiang Nan's grandmother had not lived to see her get married, and that had indeed been one of the old woman's regrets.

Finally, Jiang Hongyue, who had been silent beside them all this time, spoke up.

"Honey, Nannan doesn't want to think about that sort of thing, so let's not pressure her for now. We'll wait another year."

After a few seconds of silence, Lai Shuxian nodded.

But she quickly added, "Still, Teacher Wu is coming to our house for a meal on Saturday, and that's final. If anything develops between you two later, even if you're just dating, I need to know what kind of man he is!"

Jiang Nan's lips moved, but in the end she said nothing more. She only met her father's gaze in the rearview mirror.

Meanwhile, Wu Chen sped along the nighttime roads, DJ music blasting.

He was in a wonderful mood.

He had just checked his panel and discovered that his engineering experience had leveled up again.

[Engineering: Level 1 (0% -> 20%)]

Sure enough, practice was the fastest way to improve a skill!

What delighted him even more, however, were the rewards from having his papers published!

Because all eight papers had been published at once, the system had not only rewarded him with 80 Skill Points, but also given him three extra chances at a random draw!

It seemed this time he had unintentionally dealt critical damage to the system!

Wu Chen now understood how the system worked.

The way to earn Skill Points was consistent: he only had to teach classes, publish papers, and monetize technology step by step.

But chances at a draw were hard to come by.

He had to make a breakthrough from zero to one or achieve a major result!

By the time Wu Chen got home and washed up, it was already past four in the morning.

Although he felt a little tired, he immediately summoned the system.

"System, start the draw!"

A golden wheel immediately appeared before his eyes, and its pointer began spinning round and round.

A dozen or so seconds later.

[Congratulations, host. You have obtained a Stamina Potion]

[The potion has been used directly]

[Congratulations, host. Your stamina level has increased!]

[Stamina: Level 1 (14%) -> Level 2 (7%)]

Several system messages flashed by in quick succession.

Before Wu Chen could react, the sensation he'd felt when technician number 88 touched his thigh appeared again.

An intense tingling rushed from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head, then surged through his body several times before finally stopping.

"Huh, huh!"

Wu Chen couldn't help crying out.

The human body was truly full of wondrous spots ✓

But setting aside the side effects of leveling up, the effects of the stamina upgrade were immediately apparent.

First of all, his fatigue was instantly wiped clean!

Just before he started the draw, his liver had still been aching faintly from staying up late.

But now, all that discomfort had completely vanished, and he was back in peak condition!

He went to the mirror and examined himself.

On the surface, nothing seemed to have changed.

But when he took off his shirt and tensed his body slightly, a full set of muscles immediately appeared!

He truly looked slim in clothes and muscular without them!

A wasp waist, an ape's back, broad shoulders and a wide frame!

His sharply defined abs and serratus muscles extended downward, and every bundle of muscle fibers seemed to contain strength ready to explode at any moment.

The tension of masculine hormones instantly shot off the charts!

If he had previously been a perfectly healthy, normal person, his physical condition was now even better than that of the world's top athletes!

After putting his pajamas back on, Wu Chen once again looked like a refined, mild-mannered teacher.

But his sense of security had multiplied.

It was the most primal sense of security, buried deep in his genes.

The reassurance of being able to control his own safety with his body alone, without relying on anything external, was something no outside protection could replace.

The only pity was that he was an intelligence-build player.

There was no campus belle who needed his close protection, nor was there a returning Dragon King for him to tear into.

So he didn't know whether his luck was good or bad, having made stamina his highest attribute by chugging potions.

Once he had adjusted to the changes in his body and his mood had gradually settled, Wu Chen summoned the system again.

"Start the second draw!"

The golden wheel reappeared, and the pointer spun rapidly once more.

Samples, potions, production lines, experience packs...

A dozen or so seconds later.

The pointer slowly stopped on "Thank you for playing."

"Fuck!"

Wu Chen was instantly disappointed and couldn't help cursing aloud.

After all the draws he had made, this was the first time he had landed on "Thank you for playing"!

It took up less than five percent of the wheel, yet he had managed to hit it!

But before he could criticize the system, a line of colorful text suddenly appeared before his eyes.

There were also a few crude firework effects.

[Congratulations, host. You have obtained the hidden skill: Deep Reading]

[Skill description: Can be actively triggered once every 24 hours, lasting for one hour]

[In this state, the host's reading speed, information-capture efficiency, and memory will increase a hundredfold, and key information will be remembered permanently]

So "Thank you for playing" was actually the hidden reward?!

Wu Chen took back what he had just said about the system and offered a sincere apology.