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Chapter 1: A Good Person (Part I)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Meng Fan tightly grasped the th ug , pressing him down against the seat with the mere strength of his own weight.

Boom. Boom.

At that moment, he felt his body had already gone cold. No amount of excess body fat can resist bullets.

The only upside of this circumstance seemed to be the small amount of time his reckless actions had bought for the airline staff and security, and the courage overwhelming the other passengers that lead them to subdue the remaining four thugs after witnessing Meng Fan's selfless feat. The plane was safe, and so were the passengers.But as for Meng Fan himself…

Meng Fan leads a life of honest mediocrity, barely posessing enough courage to kill a mosquito. At most, he was only brave enough to face on screen the professional erotica actresses that held the fate of his semen in their hands. Not even in his wildest dreams did Meng Fan conceive that an obese, homebody like himself would experience a sudden burst of heroism during an airplane hijacking.

Was it a sense of justice that gave him the courage? Or was it just a whim of reckless insanity? Regardless, it felt pretty bad ass.

Was this facing death with unflinching certainty? To hell!

As the life disappeared from his body, Meng Fan felt the regret washed over him. Reflecting like a backlight, his short life passed in his head and he realized that he did, in fact, harbor many regrets regarding people and events.

"I don't want to die!"

These were the the last words Meng Fan wanted to utter before losing awareness, but his body had already lost its strength.

"Wake up! Hurry! Wake up!"

Meng Fan drowsily opened his eyes and saw a familiar face. Realizing what was happening, Meng Fan arose in his seat. "Zhou Wei, what are you doing here? I'm not dead yet?"

"Damn it! I'm out here trying to wake your dumb ass up, or else I'd be long gone to class! Also, if you're planning to skip class again, you really won't be far from death!" Zhang Zhou Wei creased his brow and muttered something else under his breath as he left the dorm.

"I'm in the dormitory?"

Meng Fan slowly studied his surroundings, paused, then furiously slapped himself. He then proceeded to get out of the bed, looking and feeling around. After smacking himself a few more times, face throbbing with pain, he finally concluded it was not a dream.

"I'm not dead! And not only that"-Meng Fan grabbed his phone, checked the date, then stayed frozen for a while and burst out-"I time travelled! I got reincarnated to three months ago!"

After repeated confirmations, Meng Fan's initial surprise faded into chaos; he actually time travelled.

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The previous events felt like a dream. No. From Meng Fan's perspective, the present seemed more like a dream.

He went to the bathroom and took a cold shower to calm himself.

"I actually lived to see the day I'd become a member of the time traveller's club. Did God decide I was so good in my life to warrant a second chance? Or were my pre-death obsessions too heavy, to scare the cosmos to succumb my livelihood? Could it be both?"

"What the hell! Why only 3 months ago, and not three years ago? This recoil time is a little too short isn't it?!"

"When other people time travel they can overcome tigers and kings and become legends of their time, or at least become a successful being! But I only got sent back 3 months? What the hell will that change? What important event could possibly happen during these three months that will become the fulcrum to impacting humanity?!"

"Meng Fan, you damn idiot! Why didn't you have a habit of buying lottery tickets!"

"Where's my gold finger? Typically, time travellers at least come equipped with a gold finger. Why don't I have one?"

"Where's the beep beep beep? Come on, at least give me a system!"

How typical it was of humans —- always seeking for more after being satisfied.

"Alright, living is good, too! Since the universe so badly wants me alive, this time around I will live with no regrets!"

"I want a relationship! I want to lose my virginity! I want to see Jay Chou in concert! I want to go to an anime convention in NIPPON! I want…"

"Huh?"

Meng Fan suddenly realized what had been going through in his head, although unaware of what the problem was. He thought it was a "gold finger" at first, but it seemed lost at a closer glance.

"Yes! I'm going to try to persist, and live my best life!"

These words are all that occupied Meng Fan's thoughts; nothing else mattered.

"Mother F*! Is this bowl of chicken soup for the soul my gold finger? Can we be a little more considerate?!" Meng Fan was out of words.

"Christ! You're still here! Hurry! Hurry! Today the witch is taking the attendance. If you don't go now, you're actually dead meat!"

Seeing room 402 with its door ajar, a student from the neighboring dorm peaked in his head. Upon seeing Meng Fan staring blankly into space, he suddenly let out an abrupt outcry and rushed down the stairs.

"I won't die. How could I possibly die?"

Still amused with himself, Meng Fan hurriedly gathered his stuff and headed to the classroom. Despite their added layer of relationship which remained unknown to others, the "witch" taking attendance is no joke.

After unexpectedly returning to his campus to three months ago, Meng Fan still felt uneasy.

Painstakingly, Meng Fan had survived the burning summer and autumn once, and now he has to live through it again. However, there is one upside to the hot weather; it means that all the pretty girls passing through the campus would dress for the heat.

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Meng Fan was a third year Film and Animation student at the Hua Xia Academy of Art. Majoring in Animation, his two short years here were more than enough to dissolve any of his remaining childhood interest in the subject.

Fortunately, the girls at the academy are considerably good looking, fashionable, and most of all, abundant. For instance, 1:4 is the male to female ratio, and that's very generous. Despite this, Meng Fan is already in his third gruesome year, but still hasn't been in an intimate relationship. It was Meng Fan's biggest regret upon dying.

Reincarnated, Meng Fan promised himself that he will find love.

"Hey Fan, what are you thinking about over there? You almost bumped into a pole!"

A thin, lanky girl, wearing a white dress and carrying an artboard on her back, appeared in front of Meng Fan. She is smiling. As she came closer, she encapsulated him in a fresh scent reminiscent of fresh blooming lilies.

"Ah…Wei Wei it's you! Uh, I'm just going to class." Meng Fan grinned at Tang Wei Wei. "Are you going to the studio?"

This attractive girl is Meng Fan's junior, not only in college but also in high school and elementary. Besides, they lived in the same neighborhood.

Since childhood, they have been acquaintences, never spoke much, maintaining this throughout high school, too. However, after she enrolled in the same academy, their interactions became frequent. Being away from the same province, they got a lot of common topics to discuss. Also, her senior, Meng Fan, is able to look after her.

Tang Wei Wei is one year behind Meng Fan. She is enrolled in the art program majoring in oil Painting.

"I heard you've been a bit down lately. You got to keep going!" Tang Wei Wei expressed, waving a small fist in the air, radiating encouragement in a cute manner. "I'm off to the studio. Let's eat out some other day. It's been a while." waving as she spoke.

"Uhm, Wei Wei, hold on." Meng Fan stopped Tang Wei Wei while scratching his head.

Gritting his teeth, he looked her in the eye and proclaimed: "Uhmm, Wei Wei, I… I like… I like you! Be my girlfriend!"

Tang Wei Wei paused for a moment and smiled. "Fan, stop joking!"

"I… I'm not joking!"

Meng Fan's voice trembled as he spoke the words. This was the first time ever in his life to confess to a girl. He was feeling nervous, excited, and very perturbed all at the same time.

"Fan, you're a good guy. But…"-Tang Wei Wei gathered herself and spoke more decisively-"But I don't want a relationship right now. School is too busy. How about next time we hang out, I'll introduce you to a nice girl? Yes, let's do that. It's set! I'm going to go to class now." She ran off as soon as she finished.𝞰𝑂𝚟𝞮𝑙𝒏𝞮xt.𝗰𝓞𝓂

I treated you like a friend, a brother, and now you want to sleep with me? Okay. Tang Wei Wei could tell Meng Fan was interested in her, but did not expect him to confess, and definitely not in such a sudden manner.

Meng Fan was dumbfounded, still standing in place like a wooden chicken. But it wasn't because he was rejected by Tang Wei Wei. No. Actually, he knew that the chance of being rejected is about 99%, but the adrenalin of being revived urged him to leave no regrets, and to pursue what he really liked.

No, he was stunned because a damned voice had just emerged inside his head.

"Beep! You've triggered Task: [A Good Person]."

"This task requires you to be rejected 100 times."

"Upon completion, you will receive Task: [A Good Person] and its Accomplishment title (Hand Speed 10)."

"Beep! Upon being rejected once, you've unlocked the first reward of Task: [A Good Person]. Reward: Accomplishment score 1, Hand Speed 1."

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Chapter 2: A Good Person (Part II)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"Gold finger?"

"System?"

"That message was a the mother f*cking gold finger? And it just activated?"

Meng Fan was disturbed. Under the bright sun, he squirmed in place like a maniac. Of course, he was going crazy.

"Gold finger, systems!"

Anyone who's read online novels knows that these abnormal qualities are the definition of a main character: the god damn symbol of success. This is the ultimate flex!

"But… what kind of BS is an assignment that requires 100 rejections?"

Taking a closer look at the reminder and its contents, Meng Fan felt more and more confused.

"Is this the freaking 'Good Person System'? Is this the one that's making me collect goodwill cards?"

"Where's my main character attributes? The success I can flaunt? How come when it comes to me, I am still a loser?!"

"To be rejected 100 times… God! How shameless can I get!"

"And what the hell is this reward? In mangas, the reward is a pile of mythical weapons: a hoard of magical creatures, strength, or at least a surplus of attractiveness, or something. What kind of sad excuse is increased hand speed? Is it suggesting that my eternal life of being single will require faster hand speed for asexual reproduction? Or is it just an added motive to end myself?

Meng Fan formed a fist with his right hand, and waved it up and down. Christ, it did feel faster than before.

But… ('-')︵ What could it possibly be good for?

"BS! In this hot weather, is this some kind of artistic experiment?"

Just then, a passing student had his thumb up in support.

Meng Fan then faced the man in front of him. Sporting a pony tail, a Peppa Pig backpack, a sleeveless shirt and two tattooed arms, Meng Fan took his appearance in before slipping away. Can't get more artistic than you sir, I suppose.

Admittedly, art school would never have a shortage of these specimens. And now, he was late for class.

Class had already begun when Meng Fan arrived at the classroom. While he was carefully weasling his way in, the "witch" at the podium gave him a cold stare, but continued her lecture. Meng Fan's face was plastered with a grin.

The "witch's" name was Qin Jiao. Qin Jiao was the Assistant Professor of Animation and Film and the Assistant Dean of the Animation Department at the Hua Xia Art Academy. She specializes in Concept Design.

The name "witch" was coined by the students without her knowledge, as all the students in the Animation Department associated her with the witch from the game "Werewolves". That is, with two pill bottles in hand: one is a cure called "professionalism" and another a poison called "stern".

Of course, the reason they called her "witch" and not "sorceress" is simple; it's because this professor was extraordinarily beautiful.

Within Hua Xia Art Academy, there alwaysexosted a surplus of attractive women, be it professors or students, but Qin Jiao was the queen of them all.

At 33, she was still blessed with glowing skin, youthful charm, and an amazing posture that preceded all other girls of her age.

Her extraordinary performance in becoming both an Assistant Professor and Associate Dean at such a young age definitely added value to her charm and aura which went beyond just the superficial.

Eight out of ten single male professors in the school has or had harbored intentions for her, with one currently in pursuit, and another one being so harshly rejected to the point of giving up for good. Aside from the professors, every once in a while, there would emerge an alumni with the intent of becoming her boyfriend.

She's beautiful, it's true, but her strictness is very real as well. However, her incredible sense of memory is by far her most terrifying trait, or as the students say: "her penchant for revenge".

Normally, any class could be skipped or missed once in a while, but you'd be damned if you skip even one of the "witch's" classes.

"Visual points can take character design to a new level. I have repeated several times – the visual point is not how beautiful your character is. The good-looking character is only a portion of your final work, a very small part. If a visually pleasing character consisted more than 10% in your overall design, it will make your work look boring ."

"Facial expressions are also a crucial factor. I used to see the shadows of some classic characters from every styling, and the most common ones are often the ones of patterned chaos and unnecessary application. Imitation is an inevitable factor we come across in the creative process, but you must remember to never let imitation imprison your creativity."

"Next, let's talk about the context and surroundings of your designs. Every era or every fictional universe you construct should have its own unique characteristics, ideally in lieu with the characteristics of the entire universe: clothing, headwear, hairstyles, weapons, etc. These details determine whether your character will be accepted at first glance by an audience."

"I must emphasize once more: No matter what type of packaging you decide for your context, it will always be immersed in culture. So, I have repeatedly stressed that you have to read more books. Do not think that drawing is just drawing. Drawing -what are you drawing? Is it frozen in imitation? You must create! And culture is the biggest driving force behind your creation!"

"Speaking of returning to the setting of an era…"

"Meng Fan!"

Just as class was ending and as she was organizing to leave, Qin Jiao suddenly called Meng Fan. "I heard you've been missing class these past few days. It's because you were analyzing costume designs from both international and domestic eras, right?"

Meng Fan almost got choked by the blood building in his throat. "The damn woman sure can hold a grudge!"

Suppressing his rage, he gave a nod. More accurately, he was bowing the big guy up there.

What else could he say? Confess to the "witch" that he was compensating for his lifetime? He'd really die an ugly death, then.

"How's the progress?" Qin Jiao asked.

Meng Fan's face froze for a minute before he finally managed to respond. "I ran into some issues…"-under the forceful eye of Qin Jiao, Meng Fan finally mustered-"but it's coming along."

"You've always had your own perspective regarding the characteristics of clothing, and I have always suggested that your thesis can stem from this aspect."

Qin Jiao smiled. "Let's do it. You derive the relevant information from before the Yuan Dynasty, so during the next lesson you can use the information you have compiled to explain the usages of materials. After all, I am generous and left you a chance at life. If it is not sufficient, I am glad to contribute more."𝓷𝗈𝑽𝑬𝓵𝚗𝔢xt.𝐜𝑜𝑀

It is always common for teachers at the academy to arrange extracurricular assignments, and it is also common for Meng Fan to be caught. Of course, the sympathy of the students isn't absent either.

Zhang Zhou Wei shoved a tube of pencils into Meng Fan and patted him on the shoulder. "Your bro can only help you until here."

"Help me!"

Eyes wide, Meng Fan grabbed Zhang Zhou Wei. "At least help me do the research!"

"Just go to the library and find it. Your pal has a date today. You've got three days: that's more than enough!" Zhang Zhou Wei snickered and slipped away toward the door, where a girl was waiting.

Meng Fan gave him the middle finger, packed his stuff, and obediently headed to the library.

"Three days is enough time, my ass. Unless I live in the library the entire time!"

Gathering information, sorting out a timeline, and listing the catalogue made three hours pass by in a blink. This was only Meng Fan's own opinion on the characteristic changes of various costumes throughout the generations. Even if this was the only task, the average person can't even do it in three days!

After eating a quick meal, he burrowed back to the library and continued to draft.

"Huh?" Meng Fan suddenly stopped drawing. "This really doesn't feel right!"

He continued to draw a few more strokes and stopped again. Then he proceeded to take out his phone and started the timer.

After many comparisons, Meng Fan felt excitement coursed through his body from head to toe. If he hadn't been in a library, he'd be loudly wheezing with joy.

It seems that the previous reward of "hand speed 1" is not only applicable to masturbating, but also drawing speed, and may also extend to other situations where hands are needed. Regardless, this is no joke, but a blessing from the cosmos!

In the morning, he simultaneously sketched while checking and commenting, not consuming much speed at all, for it was in the afternoon when he began formally drawing that he experienced the effect in all its eternity.

Compared to before, he was 33% faster, at least. This kind of advantage for an art student would open up a world of possibilities!

Meng Fan stopped his pencil. Why the hell was he still drawing? There's no need for that now. After all, workers must first sharpen their tools before they can do their best.

What are you waiting for Meng Fan? Time to find more girls to confess to!

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Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Confession Fever(Part I)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

When Meng Fan confessed to Tang Wei Wei before, the accomplishment task [A Good Person] had been separated into three tiers of rewards.

Task Phase 1: Required failed confession once; reward: Accomplishment 1, Hand Speed 1.

Task Phase 2: Required failed confession 10 times; reward: Accomplishment 10, Hand Speed 2

Task Phase 3: Required failed confession 100 times; reward: Accomplishment 100, Hand Speed 3

Previous rewards would be accrued to the next phase.

Once completed, the title of [A Good Person] would be awarded to him alongside the attribute 'hand speed 10'.

Basically, Meng Fan had to be rejected ninty nine more times before he could complete the second phase of the task and receive the tiered reward.

According to his calculations, his existing hand speed was around 3.

Once he completed the second phase, his hand speed would potentially double.

If he completed all the phases, he would accumulate a total of "Hand Speed 16" as a reward; that was five times his existing hand speed!

Regarding what the accomplishment score did, Meng Fan had not yet seen a use for it, so he decided to leave it alone for the time being.

The problem now was, who would he confess to?

Before, he confessed to Tang Wei Wei. Aside from living in a fantasy with no regrets—he had to be in a relationship at least once—Meng Fan also had real feelings for Tang Wei Wei.𝓷𝗈𝑽𝑬𝓵𝚗𝔢xt.𝐜𝑜𝑀

But now, he needed to find nine f*cking people to confess to. Where the hell would he find that many people to like? He needed to find nine random people he had no feelings for and confess to them… That was just barbaric!

Meng Fan hesitated and lifted his head to observe his surroundings. There were a lot of girls within his proximity, even as many as a dozen that were alone. Among them, the least menacing looking one… All right, to Meng Fan, they were all potentially able to kill him with a glance.

Life and death were imminent. If one did not accept it, then do something about it.

He must find a pretty one.

The pretty ones must be used to being confessed to, so they would be quick to reject him. At least they wouldn't call him out for harassment.

Meng Fan stood up and gazed towards a girl not far from him who was fondling her bangs. His butt had barely left the seat before it plopped down again.

Alas, he was still timid.

"Got it."

Meng Fan decided on a less straightforward confession method. He pulled out a sheet of paper and began to draw. The subject of the drawing was a caricature of a girl playing with her bangs. He then added a few words.

"Stop fondling your bangs, fondle me."

He looked at his drawing. A dumb grin was plastered across his face. He honestly didn't think a day would come when this kind of bullsh*t would work.

He stood up and placed the drawing in front of the girl and hastily hurried back to his seat. He then covertly waited for her reaction.

The girl took one glance at the drawing, then at Meng Fan, and picked up her pencil to write something. She immediately shoved the paper back to Meng Fan, landing in front of him with great accuracy.

"Fingers too skinny, can't fondle the likes of your weight category."

That sentence deeply pierced the chubby Meng Fan's glass heart… 'The hell does she mean my weight category!'

'Ah, does this count as a rejection?'

Meng Fan quickly took a look at the "Task Progress" chart in his head. No movement. His rejection counter was still at 1.

That didn't count as a rejection, or did his act not count as a confession?

Did he need to be a bit more straightforward?

"Be my girlfriend, and your finger will never become fat!"

After writing that down, Meng Fan considered it for a minute and erased the last half of the sentence that seemed too far fetched.

After delivering it to the girl, Meng Fan returned to his seat once again. He was just in time to see the girl stick the drawing in her portfolio as she stood up. His heart rate sped up, only to find out pretty quickly that she was not walking towards him but leaving.

Gone!

'The hell kind of system is this?'

He looked at the progress chart again, but there was still no change.

Woman, couldn't you have been more forward with your rejection?

Meng Fan desperately wanted to chase her down and give her a piece of his mind, but… he didn't have the balls to do so.

'Being rejected should be easy to achieve, why is this so hard?!'

'Also, this "system" can't recognize a little bit of self-judgment? Rejected or not wouldn't my own bloody heart have a clue?'

The girl's actions deeply wounded Meng Fan, even more than the pain of rejection had hurt him. It took a good ten minutes before he recovered and found the courage to approach his next target.

This time, Meng Fan learned his lesson. Determined to complete the task, he would confess face to face.

"Hello, Miss. You are so pretty. I like you; please be my girlfriend!"

Meng Fan dryly stood in front of a girl. He conveyed all he wanted to say in one breath and was too scared to make eye contact in fear of being penetrated by the girl's gaze.

The girl doubtfully glanced over Meng Fan. "Fellow student, do we know each other?"

Meng Fan ached to turn around and escape, but at the thought of leaving halfway with nothing to show, he blushed deeply and continued, "Knowing and liking have nothing to do with each other!"

The girl awkwardly but politely responded, "Sorry, I have a boyfriend."

"1!"

Meng Fan quickly scanned the rejection counter as it increased to 2. He couldn't contain himself. He pounded his chest with a fist. 'Finally, success! It seems like this "system" did have some clue after all.'

Noticing the girl's solemn expression looking back at him, Meng Fan was aware of how stupid his actions seemed. He said to her sincerely, " So… sorry for the trouble I've created for you."

He spun around and left. He could hardly control the small spurts of dance steps taking over from his legs.

Meng Fan warned himself that confessions work, but he must retain a genuine attitude, and it definitely cannot cause too much trouble for the other person.

Meng Fan sat dutifully in the same spot for 15 minutes before he started to pack up and relocate to another corner to avoid the gaze of the last girl. He began searching for the next opportunity to confess.

"Hey girl, you are so pretty, I like you, be my girlfriend!"

"Thanks, but I have a boyfriend."

"So… sorry for causing you trouble."

….

"Hey girl, you're so pretty…"

"I don't like men."

"Sorry…"

"Hey, girl…"

"Who the hell are you? Do I know you? What's your problem?"

"Hey, girl…"

"Who are you calling a girl? I'm a man. Are you blind?!"

After a few failed attempts, Meng Fan had mastered the opening sentence, all the while feeling himself growing more and more thick-skinned. He made more eye contact and blushed less; his heart rate slowed down, and his legs stopped shaking.

After confessing at every corner, Meng Fan finally packed his things and left the library.

'This task was like stealing wool from sheep, you had to find different locations to shear from, or else you'd get caught.'

Low key or not, what matters is that the girl you just confessed to did not see you confess to another girl, not only would that be awkward but also very disrespectful to all parties involved.

Meng Fan immediately regretted leaving the library.

The cursed weather was too damn hot.

It was barely 3:00 in the afternoon, yet the cement burned with heat. Not a soul could be seen on the street, nonetheless pretty girls.

Only two more to go until task phase 2 was completed.

Meng Fan contemplated for a moment and weaseled back into the library.

'Guess we'll sheer here for a bit longer!'

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Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Confession Fever (Part II)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Upon returning to the library, Meng Fan did not search for a spot to sit. Instead, he proceeded to look at books, all the while scouting for appropriate targets, appropriate locations, and appropriate time for his next attack.

As he observed his surroundings, Meng Fan stopped in his tracks. He almost bumped into the person in front of him. Even more conveniently, his fake browsing hand motion landed on the same book as the person.

Meng Fan froze. The girl across from him also froze.

Could this be more timely!

This was one of the most common tricks used in TV shows and dramas, and Meng Fan was lucky enough to have encountered it himself!

'Can one pass up an opportunity like this?'

The girl was delicate looking, and flushing with embarrassment as she awkwardly smiled at Meng Fan. Freckles adorned her cheeks, which underneath the blush made her even more adorable.

Just one look in her eyes confirmed that she was another eligible confession victim.

"Everyone says each book is a different world."

Meng Fan handed the book to the small girl, his skin already thick enough to urge a smile at her. "After meeting you, I want to give this book and the whole world to you."

"What?"

The cute girl stared in disbelief at the overweight guy that so boldly approached her.

Still, he had to finish what he started.

"Be my girlfriend!"

Meng Fan for once was domineering in his tone.

"Sorry, I like someone else."

The cute girl dropped the book. She immediately turned and left.

'Yes, another one!'

Meng Fan was considerably happy, as he was only one more confession away from completing task phase 2.

'Just one more confession…'

Contracting jumps in his steps, Meng Fan continued to search for his next target. He turned around and almost hit another person.

The opportunity practically fell in his lap. 'How convenient… Wait no, it's a guy.'

"Come on bro, that's some BS!"

The guy he bumped into wore gold-rimmed glasses and had hair so slick not a strand was out of place. His serious expression hid any trace of excitement despite his obvious incomprehensibility. He said to Meng Fan, "Man, how many girls are you trying to woo, I alone already saw six! You're casting your net a little too wide? Rather kill all then let one escape? The most damned is that you're absolutely fine after being rejected; such spirit, I respect that! "

"Six?"

Meng Fan's face flushed red as he heard those words. "Classmate, the library is a place to read books, can't you do something right, if you're not gonna read at least stop looking at people!"

Huh.

The guy recognized Meng Fan's thick-skinned attitude and became more interested in him. He smiled and said, "Let me introduce myself. I am an observer of the socially marginalized. I go by Yu Xiao Yu."

As he spoke the words "socially marginalized" he formed quotation marks with his peace sign fingers.

Xiao Yu reached out his hand and continued, "Can we talk for a bit? Of course, you can treat this as an interview as well."

Meng Fan was curious. "Interview? You're a journalist?"

Yu Xiao Yu slicked back his shiny hair and said, "I am the moderator of the BBS Forum at Hangzhou University, with over 300,000 followers on my public profile."

"F*ck, you're that Xiao Yu Yu! If I accept your interview, will I become famous right away?"

Meng Fan's excitement took over his face. He suddenly pointed behind Yu Xiao Yu. "UFO!"

Yu Xiao Yu turned to look, only returning to see that Meng Fan had slipped away. He couldn't help but laugh for he was tricked in such a stupid way. 'Hahahaha, how interesting indeed.'

Meng Fan didn't care much for Yu Xiao Yu. Whether he was a board member or how many followers he had, there was no way he would accept some dumbass interview.

It was still an oven outside, but Meng Fan didn't care anymore; he had to leave the library.

Who the hell would have thought there would be someone more disgusting than himself inside the library, looking around for specimens to interview instead of reading books.

After repeatedly looking behind him, Meng Fan decided that he wasn't as disgusting as he thought; at least he didn't follow him out.

"Hello."

A girl holding an umbrella was speedily walking towards Meng Fan, even going out of her way to lift her umbrella above Meng Fan to block out the sun. "Hello fellow classmate, do you know where studio room 2 is?"

Meng Fan routinely pointed towards the direction of the studio and described its location to the girl.

"Thank you."

The girl seemed happy since asking for directions in this heat had already been a struggle.

"Christ."

As the girl walked towards studio 2, Meng Fan suddenly realized the opportunity he had just missed. Damn, that Yu Xiao Yu did a number on him.

Meng Fan chased after her. "Hey pretty girl, I want to ask for some directions too."

Immediately, the girl still holding the umbrella paused for a minute, then beamed. " Were you going to ask directions to get to my heart?"

Meng Fan was dumbfounded. He wanted to run; this girl was accustomed to society. But for the sake of finishing task phase 2, he had to give it one more shot: "How about you give me a lifeline… Let me be your boyfriend?"

"You mean if I don't give you a lifeline you'll… die?" The girl was laughing even harder now at Meng Fan's numb expression. "I'm just teasing you, I have a boyfriend, he's in studio 2."

Before she left, the girl gave Meng Fan some words of encouragement, "To be honest, you're quite a tease yourself, just not very lucky."

Look here… Look here. What a great girl!

Yes, what a great girl indeed. Although Meng Fan had the feeling that he had not only been unsuccessful in his confession, he also felt that he got played. But at least the young lady had refused him politely.

But alas, his progress chart grew; the counter was finally reaching 10. Upon completing task phase Two, Meng Fan was awarded 2 Hand speed and plus 10 points achievement. This was the most important thing. Time to go test out his newly earned hand speed.

In such heat, finding people on the streets was not an easy task, and there was still 90 more confessions to go before he completed task phase 3. Rome was not built in a day, despite the incredulous rewards that came with its completion.

Meng Fan turned and headed back for the library and made sure to scan the area for that abominable Yu Xiao Yu. However, Meng Fan had no intention of continuing to find someone to confess to. Of course, if the opportunity came knocking, he wouldn't let it go.

"Oh yeah, that's way faster!"

Meng Fan tested his hand speed. It was just as he speculated; after gaining 3 hand speed, his drawing speed was at least doubled compared to before.

After drawing for a while, Meng Fan's thoughts became jumbled again. He couldn't stop thinking about this "accomplishment" task.𝑵𝗈𝐕𝖊𝐥𝑵𝞮xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

Cheh.

"Bro, I'm done, where you at? Do you need me to bring you dinner?"

His phone vibrated with a message from Zhang Zhou Wei.

Hey!

Maybe I don't have to confess face to face?

Meng Fan's excitement grew. Of course, he could just simply confess through WeChat!

Although the chances of being brutally rejected were huge, the chances of succeeding were also incredible!

Having had a taste of fast hand speed, Meng Fan didn't bother overthinking it. After a moment of indulgence, he made up his mind. He then thought of a message that he was planning to send to as many girls as possible.

"I like you, be my girlfriend!"

While repeatedly reviewing the words he wrote, Meng Fan decided it was still best to stick to the basics.

Meng Fan opened his contacts list, and in one deep breath selected a hundred or so girls. He essentially covered all the girls who weren't married yet, including the ones from elementary school, middle school, high school, and most of the girls he knew in his university.

Sent…

Wait!

Meng Fan sudden realized an issue. What if sending confessions over text messages and being rejected through it would not count towards his task progress?

If they didn't count, then he would take a huge loss.

He thought of sending a few, for now to test the waters first.

But it was too late.

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Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Confession Fever(Part III)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

'That's not cool man!'

Meng Fan watched as the 'message sent successfully' notification pop-up appeared on his screen. Regretting it wouldn't do any good now, he thought. He nervously looked at his cell phone screen.

Bzz.

The first reply came suddenly. "Bro, did you get the wrong number?!"

Closely, another followed. "Stop joking darling."

The third. "Is today April Fools?"

The fourth. "Wrong number."

The fifth. "Did you lose a game, and this is your punishment?"

Seven more continuous responses all contained the same content.

He glanced at his progress. If nobody rejected him, then his score wouldn't grow. Meng Fan was desperate.

He had to give it one last try.

For the sake of progress, he would have to be even more shameless.

"I didn't get it mixed up, I'm not joking, be my girlfriend!"

Individually, he responded to their messages. Meng Fan refused to believe with these tactics that nobody would reject him.

Sure enough, rejection came.

There were euphemistic ones. "It's been a while since I've seen you, so you probably don't know my situation, I already have a boyfriend, so… Thank you for your feelings."

There were straightforward ones. "I'm afraid we aren't compatible. (Goodbye Emoji)"

And even more straightforward ones. "You're so fat, you don't stand a chance with me!"

Reject me if you will, but why attack my weight!

Meng Fan was… ecstatic! He saw his progress chart grew to 15. 'This is efficient. How great!'

Of course, there were ones that straight-up ignored him, or else he would have more progress.

Bzz Bzz Bzz.

More responses came. Similar to the previous wave, they mostly suspected that Meng Fan was playing a cruel joke or was sending to a wrong number, with a few rejecting him upfront.

Towards the doubtful ones, Meng Fan shamelessly informed them he was not mistaken or joking, only to deceive a proper rejection from them.

"We are not compatible."

"I like someone else."

"You're a great guy, but we can't be together."

"I always saw you as a friend."

"Stop joking, can you even give me a bright future?"

"Uhm, I'm not into men."

"I'm not ready to be in a relationship."

"We are not fated to be."

"I have no feelings toward you."

"What part of me do I like, can't I just change myself?"

"I think when girls search for men they don't necessarily search for attractive ones, but rather a person they like… Uhm, I prefer attractive ones."

These rejections in comparison were still very gentle.

If gentle replies existed, then there were also cruel responses.

"Sorry, I want my kid to be attractive."

"Sorry, even though I am thirsty, I don't want to eat crap."

"Sorry, I'm afraid of grease."

"You're too fat, I don't want to be crushed."

"I'm not in your league, your intentions are too great… A toad trying to eat swan meat!"

"Did you know, I'm a Virgo, so I'm a bit strict, and you're too loose."

"Crows hover over ancient trees, you're ugly but I'm not blind."

"I've received your confession, but I don't want to discuss it. There are so many other men in this world. I want to test my luck. Go home and await my news."

"GET LOST!"

If it weren't for his rapidly growing progress chart, Meng Fan's fragile heart would have been shattered a million times already.

And there was more.

"Meng you fatso, did you forget to take your meds? Fei Fei is right next to me, you confess to both of us at the same time, and still, you have the nerve to say you aren't joking! Fatty you've changed, you used to be such an honest child. Now you have learned to cast your net so wide. Hahaha, the university is really a place of reform. Now, look at what you've become." This came from a good female friend from high school.

"Before I knew you were an incel, but I didn't know you were this flirty. All four girls in my dorm received your confession. Did your cell phone get a virus or did your man parts get poisoned? How many girls do you need to cure your disease?" This came from a domineering girl from class.

"Although there's no law restricting relatives from dating, but as your younger cousin I think this is a little too intense! Brother, you're so coquettish, aren't you afraid of aunty and uncle finding out?" This was Meng Fan's second cousin Meng Cai Tang.

"Jesus!"

This was one person he had to admit he was mistaken to.

"Wrong number? So you're saying you have someone you like? Woo, you already confessed, are you just tooting your own horn because you succeeded, or preparing to attack? Where's my sister in law, is she your classmate? What does she look like? Send me a pic I'll speculate for you…"

Even after he explained, the mess he made could not be controlled so rumors started to spread.

Outside of these confessions, Meng Fan sent a solemn apology to everyone else's response and rejection saying, "Sorry for causing trouble."

Bzz Bzz Bzz.

Not long after, a call came.

"Tang Tang is asking me if you already found a girlfriend?"

From the other end, Meng Fan heard an excited voice of a girl.

Meng Fan's head inflated in size. "This damn girl's mouth is too damn big!"𝑵𝗈𝐕𝖊𝐥𝑵𝞮xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

"Does this mean she's real?"

"Fake."

"For Real?"

"For real."

"So it's real?"

"I meant for real that it's fake."

"Then are you for real or not?"

"Can you stop bugging me, mom? I don't have a girlfriend."

"Oh okay… Do you have enough money to spend? Do you need me to wire you some more?"

"I have enough. Mom, I'm at the library, I'll call you later."

"Really you have enough?"

"Yes, really I have enough."

"Aiyoo, you've got enough money huh, seems like you really don't have a girlfriend."

Across the receiver, Meng Fan heard his mom's disappointment as she hung up the phone.

Meng Fan almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

Right after his call with his mom ended, another one rang in. It was from Zhang Zhou Wei.

"You dumbass! Are you sick of living? Wang Ya Nan is my girlfriend. What the hell are you trying to do by confessing to her? Don't you want to be bros anymore is that it?"

Zhang Zhou Wei was fuming from the other end of the phone; anger was evident in his words. Even from across the receiver, Meng Fan felt his nostrils was flaring with hot air.

"Wang Ya Nan?"

Meng Fan tapped his head and was rushing to explain: "Wrong number! Wrong number! Wait, when did you two get together? Just now you were going on a date, did you successfully confess?"

"Of course, who would confess if they weren't confident in the situation! Wait. Stop… stop changing the topic! You said you sent it to the wrong person, do you not know how to bloody recall a message?"

Zhang Zhou Wei evidently was not convinced.

"I only realized long after sending it, it's too late to recall!" Meng Fan explained once again.

Meng Fan recalled his texts. After confirming that Wang Ya Nan didn't respond to his first message, he found out that he didn't send her a "This is not a mistake or a joke" or a text of that sort.

"Phew." He let out a sigh.

"It probably was a wrong message. Xiao Bai says she received his confession, so maybe it was meant for Xiao Bai."

Meng Fan heard the girl's voice on the other end. Wang Ya Nan seemed to have believed his explanation.

Again, her voice appeared, and it was even more suspecting than before, "What? Che Che also received Meng Fan's confession?"

"Fatty, what's going on?" Zhang Zhou Wei's voice rang through again. "You've got some serious problems man. Where are you? I'll come and find you!"

Meng Fan hung up the phone while scratching his head.

When he sent the mass text, Meng Fan had already prepared for this outcome. After all, most of these girls knew each other in clusters and clusters. There was no guarantee they wouldn't babble.

What could he do?

Not much.

At most, he would be known as that mischievous guy—the pervert—or the passionate scumbag.

As those thoughts crossed his mind, Meng Fan became uneasy once again.

After being reborn, all he wanted was to be in a relationship, but god, he didn't see this coming; who in their right mind would ever want to be with him now?

What did it mean for a plan to backfire? This was it.

But after seeing his total progress grow to 55, it once again felt worth it.

There were more than half of the mass text recipients who still hadn't responded, which upset Meng Fan a bit. Was it because he was regularly such a great person that they didn't have the heart to say no?

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Chapter 6: Can't Forget the Men

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"Fatso, what's the matter with you!"

Zhang Zhou Wei met Meng Fan outside the library. There was no more anger in his tone, only concern.

He had already been told most of the situation by his girlfriend Wang Ya Nan. Meng Fan approximately sent ten girls the same confession message on WeChat, and according to Wang Ya Nan, he'd hit on everyone, as every girl she talked to had received a confession from Meng Fan.

"How many girls did you confess to? Are you trying to start a factory? Did you confess to everyone in the class?" Zhang Zhou Wei said as he looked at Meng Fan. "Did you forget to take your medicine, or did your phone get a virus? This isn't you! Usually, you stutter when you even talk to girls! What are you trying to do? Have you gone mad?"

"Yes, I am mad!"

Meng Fan knew by now his mass text confession had been exposed. It felt like the saying, 'When you're covered with lice, you stop itching. When you're drowning in debt, you stop worrying.' Then, unsure if a nerve struck in his brain or he suddenly gained intelligence, Meng Fan looked intensely at Zhang Zhou Wei and spurted out, "Do you know why I've been recklessly confessing to girls? Because I want to cover up the truth; I want people to think that I like girls!"

"What?"

Zhang Zhou Wei took a step back, intimidated by Meng Fan's intensive stare. He suddenly had an uneasy feeling.

"But paper cannot contain a fire, nonetheless the fire burning in my heart! While I was waiting here, I finally understand, I am a straightforward man. Why do I need to pretend to like girls!" Meng Fan took a step forward.

Zhang Zhou Wei promptly took another step back. "Why can't a straightforward man like girls? Do you have a misunderstanding towards the three words—straightforward man?"

"No, a straightforward man must be made of steel and iron. What kind of man would bully a girl? Real men should do what real men do!"

Meng Fan took another big step forward, forcing Zhang Zhou Wei to back against the wall with a thump. Meng Fan smiled. "So, I like you, let's be together!"

"Get lost! I'm a straight guy. The kind of straight guy that likes girls!"

Panic-stricken, Zhang Zhou Wei tried to push Meng Fan aside. Meng Fan did not move from his spot. Zhang Zhou Wei, who weighed at most 110 pounds, had no chance of moving Meng Fan. He could only slither out from underneath Meng Fan's arm and pointed to Meng Fan, screaming. "I treated you like a brother, and you want to sleep with me!"

Meng Fan yanked Zhang Zhou Wei. He was snickering as he asked, "Of course, I'm asking if you will sleep with me or not!"

"Sleep with you in hell!"

Zhang Zhou Wei struggled free. He distanced himself from Meng Fan.

Meng Fan saw his progress bar increase by 1. He felt ecstatic! It really worked!

It didn't have to be a girl to reject him for his progress bar to grow. Confessing to guys worked just as well too!

"Okay okay okay. If you won't sleep with me, it's your loss. Let's continue to be bros!" Meng Fan's skin was growing more and thicker.

"Too late, can't go back now!"

"Don't be dramatic, darling. Let's go find somewhere to eat."

"Who's being dramatic… Hell, don't talk to me in that kind of tone!"

After their rustle, Zhang Zhou Wei naturally knew that Meng Fan was deliberately messing with him, so he allowed curiosity to get the best of him and returned to their starting point.

"What really is the matter with you, confessing to so many girls?"

"It's obviously because seeing you with your girlfriend got me really excited, I want to expand my fishnet and see if I can get some fish as well."

"Really?"

"Unless you hope it's fake; unless you hope I'm actually interested in you?"

"Get lost!"

….

Through Zhang Zhou Wei, Meng Fan was able to confirm that rejections received from confessing to guys could also be denied, furthering his progress. As for how he felt about this method, Meng Fan was very ashamed… Well, best to be aware of the shame and move forward courageously. He gritted his teeth. He was going to brace the male students and send out another mass confession text!

Gender equality exists! Since it was also effective on guys, it was naturally not enough to only bother the girls and excuse the men!

"What the hell are you doing?"

Meng Fan finished ordering the food. A crooked smile was hanging on his face. No matter how he looked at it, Zhang Zhou Wei felt weirded out.

"Nothing nothing."

Meng Fan waved his hands, diverting the topic: "Did you order the fish? The kind with extra bones? I can clean them out real good."

"You're still not done yet are you!"

Zhang Zhou Wei was nauseated beyond belief, but seeing as Meng Fan was the one treating him at a waterside restaurant outside of campus, he endured it.

The food came—all delightful dishes that could not be found at school.

Despite already eating quite a bit with Wang Ya Nan on their date that afternoon, Zhang Zhou Wei still found the appetite to bury himself in the delicious foods.𝑵𝗈𝐕𝖊𝐥𝑵𝞮xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

"Huh?"

After looking up several times, Zhang Zhou Wei saw that Meng Fan's fingers were furiously drumming on his cell phone, ignoring the food. That's odd, this fatty usually gets more excited from seeing food than seeing a pretty girl.

What's the matter with him today?

In one swift motion, he snatched the phone from Meng Fan. He was dumbfounded after just one glance.

Meng Fan took this opportunity to seize his phone.

"What the F*k, you sent the damn text to guys too?" Zhang Zhou Wei stared in shock at Meng Fan. "Is this a prank? A behavioral art exhibit? Or are you actually crazy?"

Meng Fan took a look at his "progress" which was still rapidly growing. He was in a great mood and grateful, this time around he smartened up.

This time, aside from quotes such as "I like you to be my girlfriend", Meng Fan also incorporated a second line.

"If you are going to reject me, please be blunt and respond with gracious "get lost". Silence is okay too."

Once this sentence was added, the results improved significantly. These guys did not care if Meng Fan was joking or mistaken, for they very happily responded with a "get lost".

Such an incorrigible request, how could anyone not satisfy it?

With this sentence, it gave the "system" a standard for judgment. Unlike before it didn't require a "no thank you" type response anymore.

Not much time went by as his progress bar started growing.

The "System" being intelligent or not still depends on the user and his willingness to ponder!

Meng Fan was very satisfied with his sudden burst of intelligence.

As for the "silent" responses, Meng Fan did not have time to count if it was also inside the "system".

From the time he met Zhang Zhou Wei to finishing their meal, during this period, the first wave of confessions still netted one "rejection" after another, in addition to its current growth. During this short time, his progress had increased to 90.

Meng Fan's male contacts far exceeded his girl contacts; if it followed this momentum, he would be at 100 in no time.

"I lost a bet, so I have to confess and be rejected one hundred times."

Meng Fan lied to Zhang Zhou Wei, almost breaking into tears. "I didn't know confessing to guys was okay too, so I…"

"Really?"

Zhang Zhou Wei did not believe him completely. "What were you betting on? Were the stakes that high? This doesn't seem like something someone like you could do."

Meng Fan scratched his head. "Actually, it's all right. At least I think my skin had gotten a lot thicker now. It's not necessarily a bad thing."

Meng Fan was not lying.

"I'm very impressed by you!"

Helpless, Zhang Zhou Wei continued, "Are you not afraid of this going south?"

"Nah, nobody will agree to date me anyway."

Meng Fan didn't know whether to cry or laugh. He thought about it and then said to Zhang Zhou Wei, "I'm just a little embarrassed to have disturbed so many people."

Suddenly he stood up. "Stop eating, come apologize with me!"

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Chapter 7: Wealth Distribution Cherub

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Apologizing is very necessary.

Despite adding "sorry for causing so much trouble" after each message, Meng Fan still felt like it was not genuine enough.

At least, in front of him now was his progress bar, almost complete and close to achieving the title. Meng Fan believed he could begin to celebrate.

A person could never be successful if he was just relying on himself.

Meng Fan had a "spiritual belief" that in today's confession fever he understood this principle.

"It's so hot today. If you're really set on apologizing, buy them some ice cream and soda as well. That'd be nice."

After understanding Meng Fan's thoughts, Zhang Zhou Wei thought it to be reasonable as well. He also gave his own advice.

"That could work."

They left the cafeteria and proceeded towards the school.

Not long after they set out, Zhang Zhou Wei watched as Meng Fan stop in his tracks and broke into a foolish laughter.

"Are you actually crazy?"

Zhang Zhou Wei reached out to feel Meng Fan's forehead, then disapprovingly wiped his hand on Meng Fan's shirt. Boy did fat people sweat a lot.

Meng Fan was grinning because his progress bar had finally been completed!

"Beep! Be rejected from confession 100 times, Complete [A Good Person] Task Phase 3. Reward: Accomplishment points 100, Hand speed 3."

"Beep! Completed Task: [A Good Person, You've received the title [A Good Person] (Hand speed 10)."

Meng Fan grinned foolishly as he waved his hand. In one instance he had gained 13 hand speed, and the added dexterity felt almost too good.

"What are you doing?"

Zhang Zhou Wei creased his brow, thinking that today Meng Fan was extraordinarily strange.

"Buy that one."

Meng Fan pointed towards a store along the street. He shoved the door open and walked right in.

Zhang Zhou Wei lifted his head and saw the store's name. A smile formed at the corners of his lips. "You're actually crazy!"

"I'd like four ice cream cakes. The Hawaiian Summer, Rose Languages, Charlotte, and this little princess; I'd like four of each. For four people… 600 grams should be enough right? Then I'd like them all to be 600 grams. You have a discount today—spend 200 get 30 off—right? Can I just scan to pay here? I'd like to take them to go. They won't melt in 15 minutes, right?"

Meng Fan quickly selected the four ice cream cakes and scanned his payment code. He was walking out not soon after; he and Zhang Zhou Wei respectively slinging a box in each hand.

Meng Fan's class had 32 people—16 girls and 16 guys.

That 1:1 boy to girl ratio was definitely the highest one out of all the departments at Hua Xia Art Academy.

"You're real loaded, huh!? I suggested you buy some ice cream—Even if you really confessed to all the girls in our class, give out one box pack of Ba Xi ice cream per dormitory, like the ones I told you to buy; 30 or so dollars would have covered it all. You're really ballsy hey, straight up going for the Haagen Daaz—and ice cream cake too! That's gotta be 1000 yuan at least! When we're together, I've never seen you be this generous!"

"I'm apologizing, of course, I have to be more genuine."

Meng Fan had eagerly bought the four cakes on impulse, and despite feeling the hit on his wallet, he did not regret it.

In order to complete the task this time, he really allowed himself to act unrestrained. Everything else, however, was still good. Meng Fan's only worry was that it would be difficult for him to get a relationship from now on.

This act was to cut his losses. If he could also reclaim some of his reputation and impressions, that would be ideal.

After arriving at the entrance of the girls' dormitory, Zhang Zhou Wei called Wang Ya Nan. He asked her and a roommate to come downstairs.

Upon seeing Meng Fan, Wang Ya Nan was not upset. She then half smilingly and curiously asked him, "I really didn't know you had it in you, normally you're real quiet, yet in one go you sent every girl in our class a confession. Meng Fan, what are you planning to do? Fool one suffer no loss, fool two counts as a win, if you didn't fool them then screw it?"

Meng Fan scratched his head in embarrassment. He didn't control the speed though, and the sudden blur of scratching motions left Zhang Zhou Wei and Wang Ya Nan speechless.

"Uhm, I lost a bet, so… I'm here to apologize."

He hurriedly handed the cakes over. "I got these ice cream cakes for you guys; one for each dormitory. It's so hot today, so you might want to cool down."

"Ice cream cake? You're trying to make us fat, right?"

Wang Yan Nan's eyes formed into a smile. Girls have always had a natural liking to ice cream cakes, so feelings are high when the two are in harmony.

"I guess you are kind of sincere. I will tell the rest of them."

In high spirits, the girls took all four cakes upstairs.

….𝑵𝗈𝐕𝖊𝐥𝑵𝞮xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

….

"Come on man, do you really have to be this cheap?"

"The girls' dorms get a 268 yuan ice cream cake each, yet the guys only get a 3 yuan soda; that difference is a little too big isn't it?!"

"Hey fatty, we'd really like some ice cream cake too!"

"Fan Fatty! I thought about it. I think I can accept you lah."

Before the men's dormitory received the cold sodas brought by Meng Fan and Zhang Zhou Wei, they had all seen Meng Fan's "clarification" message in the group chat, knowing of Meng Fan's lost bet being the reason for his mass texts. They also saw the ice cream cake that the girls had already begun sharing online.

Passion was flowing. The bromance was budding.

"Who needs a bike, soda is good enough."

Meng Fan laughed. He avoided a few confrontational classmates and rushed down the building towards the library.

Research still needed to be done; the witch's assignment still had to be completed.

On his way to the library, Meng Fan pulled all the girls he confessed to from elementary, junior high, and high school into different chat rooms and prepared to send red packets to all of them to apologize for his actions.

He sent out the first red pocket.

"Beep! You've unlocked the accomplishment task [Wealth Distribution Cherub]."

"Task requires distribution of one million Hua Xia currency."

"Upon task completion, you will receive [Wealth Distribution Cherub] accomplishment title (Luck 1)."

Meng Fan heard this update and froze in his steps.

Once again another incredible task, but this requirement… seems a lot more troll than the last one.

One million!

Although the family backgrounds of most art students were quite prosperous, Meng Fan's included, he was nowhere affluent enough that money came as easily as dirt off the ground.

Distribute one million yuan? That's insane!

Meng Fan took a look at the details and realized that only with the final title of [Wealth Distribution Cherub] would he receive an "attribute", as there weren't any extra "attribute" rewards in any of the four task phases.

Task Phase 1: Requires distribution of 10,000 yuan; Reward: Accomplishment score 10

Task Phase 2: Requires distribution of 100,000 yuan; Reward: Accomplishment score 100

Task Phase 3: Requires distribution of 500,000 yuan; Reward: Accomplishment score 500

Task Phase 4: Requires distribution of 1,00,000 yuan; Reward: Accomplishment score 1000

In other words, even if he completed it, Meng Fan would only gain "Luck 1" award, plus 1610 accomplishment points.

The accomplishment points far exceeded the last task, but what the hell? The system didn't even tell Meng Fan what the points are for!

Trade one million yuan for a little luck?

God only knows how much a "little luck" was worth.

Besides, where could he even get one million yuan from?

If he asked his parents, they would probably break his legs!

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Chapter 8: Travelling Deity

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"Can this get any shadier?"𝑵𝗈𝐕𝖊𝐥𝑵𝞮xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

Meng Fan sent a red pocket to three separate chat rooms. He looked at his progress chart and immediately wanted to cry.

"Only a dumbass would try to complete this mission!"

Meng Fan was very sure he wasn't going to finish this task, but his mind wavered in the span of a second.

He suddenly became concerned. If he didn't finish this task, would he be unable to unlock the next one?

If that really was true, then this system's timely demise would be on him!

Chill, chill. Remain calm.

Meng Fan dispelled the desires to commit suicide that had been floating in his mind. He thought it would be a good idea to wait and see. If it really took ten to fifteen days, or even longer to trigger a new task, then…

Having said that, was beginning a new mission worth a million bucks?

Of course, it was worth it.

Based solely on the last module, the 13 hand speed he had earned as a reward was already worth it to Meng Fan.

Only in this situation…

With a heavy heart, Meng Fan entered the library.

This time, he had already completed the task [A Good Person]. In addition to his sulky mood, he harbored no more intention to observe the girls. Meng Fan immersed himself in his studies. He found a few books and began to paint the costumes of various dynasties.

Yes, it was costuming, not clothes.

With the added 13 hand speed, Meng Fan's pen was literally floating. However, the finished work was utterly awful. Meng Fan had to slow down and then gradually speed up his pen. This effect was very good. After about ten minutes, he was comfortably drawing at full speed, completely maintaining his technique in the process.

Also, Meng Fan discovered something new; his hand had actually become steadier.

It must have been an incidental reward.

Scratch scratch scratch.

Another half-hour passed before Meng Fan stopped to take a break.

Despite his steady hands even after the added speed, the energy he required did not decrease. And Meng Fan confirmed that if it wasn't for his hands being more steady, he would have been burned out after 20 minutes of drawing.

After resting for a minute, he continued.

Continuing back and forth like so, two hours passed by in a flash. Looking at the time, Meng Fan paused his drawing. He counted his work. In the last two hours, he finished a day and a half's worth of work.

Meng Fan was naturally pleased, even a little proud by what he did.

He cleaned up and headed back to the dorms.

"Meng Fan, you're famous now. Hahaha."

He just entered the dorms when Zhang Zhou Wei began causing a commotion. He was waving his phone in front of Meng Fan for him to see. "You not only mass texted to confess today, huh? You even went to the library and confessed to dozens of girls, and each time the trick was different. And even after being rejected you didn't even budge, or blush or panic; you just turned around and found a new target, damn!"

"What the hell is this?"

Meng Fan's chest thumped. Recalling the strange 'society's margin observer' guy he met at the library. He grabbed the phone and looked over the contents. He let out a sigh of relief and handed the phone back to Zhang Zhou Wei. "Where the hell does this even mention me?"

This was a post on the BBS forum at HangZhou University talking about Meng Fan's crazy confession rampage at the library this afternoon. Speaking of that, it was not only the sheer number of confessions that had garnered him so much attention but under the penmanship of Yu Xiao Yu, his activities became action-filled and thrilling. Every confession had been given an exciting story, but the one that stood out the most was the ingeniously written commentary.

He had to admit, this situation had been described in such an interesting manner to the point that it actually had "meaning", which was also why there were so many replies below.

The only fortunate outcome from this disaster was that Yu Xiao Yu didn't know Meng Fan's name. Of course, from his point of view, Yu Xiao Yu also avoided any description of his appearance and features. Even the posted photo was just a silhouette of his back.

Meng Fan remembered Yu Xiao Yu had taken numerous pictures of his face. It seemed Yu Xiao Yu had some conscience for not posting any of them.

"If it's not you, then who is it?" Zhang Zhou Wei smiled. "Even if you turn to dust, I'd still recognize you, not to mention that you still have this mass text confession thing going on."

"F*k."

Meng Fan felt his head expand at the thought of this.

Others might not recognize his back, but if the people in his class had seen this ad—including the ones who knew of the mass text confession—one hundred percent, they would know it was him.

He had really become famous!

Feeling dismayed, Meng Fan flopped into bed.

Zhang Zhou Wei tested the latest EX song from the game BanG-Dream but lost halfway through. He turned to yell at Meng Fan to give it a try too, only to realize the fatty had already fallen asleep.

"My god, you're sleeping this early? You're not going to follow the new patch? Not even going to play games anymore?"

To Zhang Zhou Wei, it was unbelievable. He pulled Meng Fan's blankets up and then closed his phone and sat down at the computer. He put on his headphones and started to 'Overwatch' some butts.

Yup, it was just as if there was no trace of him having a girlfriend.

….

"Holy crap, why are you up so early?"

Zhang Zhou Wei had slept late the night before. He groggily heard bits of a voice and then opened his eyes. Discovering that Meng Fan was indeed awake, Zhang Zhou Wei rubbed his eyes and stared for a while. A look of disbelief washed over his face.

Sleeping early and waking up early, was this still Meng Fan?

"I'm going for a run."

Meng Fan picked up the sports equipment he had bought a year ago but only used once, including a tracksuit, running shoes, an armband, etc. After dressing up, he gave Zhang Zhou Wei the same look he gave him when he woke up and gracefully walked out.

Running to lose weight.

This was what Meng Fan had wanted to do since his first year of high school. but it was just a thought until now. It was usually enough to just think about it once in a while, as even giving it a try and failing hadn't been in his previous itinerary.

By now, his weight was increasing at the same rate as the number of times he'd said "I want to do it".

How much did Meng Fan weigh exactly?

Haha, it would always be one hundred and ninety for the outside world. Nobody was going to get him to admit he was over 200 pounds.

This time he was reborn, Meng Fan had already planned to lose weight. After experiencing yesterday's confession craze and despite gaining so much progress from those rejections, his fragile heart had been shattered a million times over, mostly due to him being fat.

"For love!"

Meng Fan arrived at the track while muttering to himself for encouragement. He opened the running app he had downloaded 6 months ago and began to run.

Run?

All right, from a speed perspective, Meng Fan's pace was no faster than a regular person walking.

Bobbing up and down with each step, he barely made 100 meters before being riddled in sweat and struggling to breathe.

Straining to reach 200 meters, Meng Fan finally understood the pain of the saying "legs filled with lead."

300 meters. The sweat on his forehead was pouring into his eyes, and his pace dropped to a point slower than a regular person walking.

"You can do it!"

From the edge of his vision like a blur of wind, a girl rushed by. She turned her head to look at Meng Fan. She had her thumb up and revealed a smile more beautiful than the sunrise.

That smile kept Meng Fan going the full lap. 400 meters.

"Don't stop, if you can't run anymore, walking is okay too."

When Meng Fan hit 100 meters again, the girl had lapped him again.

"Stick to it, you got this!"

Meng Fan heaved as he encouraged himself. He was not stopping to walk. He instead dragged his clumsy body along the track.

"Ding."

The mobile app's notification appeared.

"You ran 0.5 km, lapsed time 7 minutes and 12 seconds."

Meng Fan did not care how fast he was going. He only cared that he ran 500 meters. Aside from the 1000 meters he ran for the school entrance examination, this was the longest distance Meng Fan had persisted on running in his life.

Keep going, keep going!

Not relying on physical strength, or his swinging arms, or his breathing, or his perseverance, Meng Fan only relied on one thing; his courage.

The courage that allowed him to continue on, even if the next step meant falling face-first into a dog turd.

Two laps equalled 800 meters. Meng Fan's feet were basically dragging on the surface of the track. He was not even running anymore. At this point, he was just slugging along.

"Ding. You can do it, you ran 1 km already, lapsed time 16 minutes and 5 seconds."

At the same time the app reminder was triggered, the voice in Meng Fan's mind also began to speak. Another accomplishment mission was unlocked.

"Beep! You've unlocked accomplishment [A Travelling Deity]."

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Chapter 9: Points Exchange

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"Beep! You've unlocked accomplishment [Travelling Deity]."

"This task requires you to run a distance of 10,000 kilometers."

"Upon completion, you will receive the title of [Travelling Deity] (Speed 10, Strength 10, Endurance 10)

Meng Fan, who had completely lost his soul after running just 1 kilometer suddenly came back to life upon hearing this prompt. Yesterday he was still worrying that not completing the task [Wealth Distribution Cherub] would leave him frozen and unable to receive new missions. Now he let out a sigh of relief.

However, Meng Fan almost broke down as soon as he saw the details of the achievement mission.

Ten thousand kilometers!

What this task asked of Meng Fan seemed even more unattainable than distributing one million dollars.

The latter could be done at a heavy cost. The former… Even if he died trying, it was still impossible!𝑵𝗈𝐕𝖊𝐥𝑵𝞮xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

Can you grasp the concept of ten thousand kilometers?!

"The distance from the east end of Hua Xia to the west was 5400 km, the hell? Am I supposed to do, run back and forth across the country?!

Today he had given his life just to run one kilometer, so in other words, he'd have to give his life 10,000 more times to complete this task!

Okay, so your physical endurance can increase as you run,but it was still an astronomical number of kilometers.

Even if he ran 3 kilometers a day, it would take more than 3000 days to complete. That meant at least ten years of running every day.

"That's psychotic!"

From [A good person] only requiring to be rejected 100 times, to [Wealth Distribution Cherub] asking to spread one million yuan, to [Travelling Deity] requiring a running distance of 10,000 kilometers… These all made Meng Fan realize that he had unfortunately been introduced into a psycho system.

Even if there are three attributes to gain from this title, Meng Fan did not have a wisp of motivation to attain it.

He already wanted to die after running one kilometer.

—"Try your hardest, stick to it, live your best life!"

Meng Fan finally understood the meaning of this chicken soup for the soul embedded in his mind. He tried to trigger new tasks to unlock, deciding that only perseverance will lead him to reap the rewards.

However, after seeing the following task phases, Meng Fan felt alive again.

This [Deity Traveller] mission had a whopping fifteen task phases.

Task Phase 1: Requires total running distance to be 10 km; Reward: Accomplishment score 1, Endurance 1.

Task Phase 2: Requires total running distance to be 30 km; Reward: Accomplishment score 10, Strength 1.

Task Phase 3: Requires total running distance to be 60 km; Reward: Accomplishment score 50, Speed 1.

Task Phase 4: Requires total running distance to be 100 km; Reward: Accomplishment score 100, Endurance 1, Strength 1, Speed 1.

Phase 5 required 200 km, phase 6 required 400 km, phase 7 required 700, phase 8 required 1000 km…

Beginning in phase 8, there were additional stat requirements. For example, phase eight's extra requirement is that "Half Marathon PB 2 hours", that is, running a half marathon (21.095 km) requires Meng Fan to obtain a personal best score of less than or equal to 2 hours.

The further down the list, the higher the requirements were for the total distances and additional stats. Of course, the rewards were greater too.

"This is okay. Even if I can't get the final achievement title, I can get rewarded for the progress at least."

Meng Fan had his motivation, plus after receiving these rewards, he'd also improve his running skills.

Fighting fire with fire!

"Huh? What's this?"

Meng Fan glanced at the final task phase. There was another condition below it: Running equipment!

There was more than just one header once he clicked into it.

Running shoes, sportswear, smart devices, accessories, nutritional products, etc.

Behind every piece of equipment, there was a number that corresponded to the achievement points required to purchase them.

"So that's how the points can be used."

"How come the previous two accomplishment tasks did not reveal a similar item deposit? Is it because this task requires assistance in the running department?"

"So, it's safe to assume that it's not just this task I can redeem points for items, other tasks have this feature as well, but it depends on them needing auxiliary items or not?"

"Right now I have… One hundred and eleven points. The equips I can afford are running shoes, sportswear three-piece, an arm bag, a headband, sports socks, and other small accessories… I can also get energy gel and powerade, etc."

Meng Fan continued to talk to himself as he looked through the details regarding running equipment.

"Are you okay?"

The girl who ran like the wind watched as Meng Fan stood dumbfoundedly, head tipped towards the sky. In addition to his sickly expression, she took a few steps back from passing Meng Fan once again, taking off her earbuds and voicing her concern.

This also interrupted Meng Fan's "daydreaming".

"Oh I… I'm okay."

Once Meng Fan snapped back to reality, his body wobbled and he landed on the ground with a thump.

It wasn't from being scared by the girl, but because he was already exhausted from the run, and he'd been mesmerized by the alert, forgetting himself for a moment.

The girl quickly reached out to help Meng Fan, unable to move him. She bent down again, still trying to pull him. "It's best not to sit down right away, let me pull you up."

Although Meng Fan seldomly ran, he was aware that it had been an intensive work out—Yes, one kilometer to him was intensive enough—and it was best to keep moving. Along with support from the kindhearted girl, he helped himself up.

"Try walking."

Once Meng Fan stood up, the girl let go of him. "Keep walking until you catch your breath, then take a break."

"Thanks."

"You can do it."

The girl encouraged Meng Fan, and upon seeing he was ok, dashed off like the wind once again.

Meng Fan slowly moved forward, breathing gradually becoming more steady.

Pain!

As his physical strength recovered, Meng Fan felt his whole body starting to ache.

Especially his knees.

This made his gait even more strange, one short burst after another, looking more handicapped than a cripple.

Frequent running caused some injuries, especially in Hua Xia, where more than one-third of runners have suffered a knee injury, one fifth suffered a foot or hip injury, and one-seventh of the runners suffering ankle injuries or plantar fasciitis. Approximately only 15.7% of people didn't have running-related injuries.

Meng Fan had on several occasions wanted to run to exercise. He also retreated several times. This was related to his "work ethic", as before he even began running—he had already searched up many reasons why he should give up.

The most important one was knee pain.

His knee cap felt like it had been struck by an arrow.

This was the comparison made in the information Meng Fan had searched up. Now he finally understood it.

"Hm? Shockproof/shock absorption, added cushioning, correcting insoles, effectively reduces knee pain?"

Looking at the detailed descriptions of the items to divert attention from his aching knees, Meng Fan's face suddenly lit up.

Nanomaterial, hefty, seamless, breathable, shockproof/shock absorbent, prevents foot and knee injuries… Water-resistant, non-slip, gravity guide system, efficient, high elasticity, wear-resistant, prevents loose shoelaces…"

"Voice-activated, real-time guidance, accurate data… mileage, time, speed, step, and step frequency, calories burned… alerts, guides, correcting and even forced interference to correct walking posture… Situational (proportion of heel distance to the ground), the average force has taken (bodyweight multiple), foot varus and foot valgus ratio… Bottom to ground speed, time recording, vertical swing…"

After reading the details for the running shoes, Meng Fan was a bit flustered. Many of the terms were new to him,which made him a little dizzy.

In addition to avoiding injury and correcting his gait, what attracted him most about these shoes was the added attribute bonus.

Speed 1.

"Buy, buy, buy!"

Chapter 10: Black Magic Running Shoes

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

If it's produced by the system, it must be top-notch!

This was the knowledge numerous books about time travel had taught Meng Fan, and despite being trolled so extensively by his own system, he chose to believe it.

The running shoes required 100 points to redeem, and Meng Fan currently had 111.

Bought!

As long as these shoes really were as great as the description, Meng Fan was satisfied. He didn't expect any more black magic.

After he successfully exchanged his points, Meng Fan took a look at the shoes in his "mind". They emerged from his thoughts, physically forming into his hands, scaring Meng Fan so much he jumped.

Like a thief, he scanned the area around him, and only let out a sigh when he was sure that nobody saw it.

To see someone on this track field wearing track shoes and simultaneously holding another pair, people would for sure consider Meng Fan mentally unstable.

Even more, if they had seen the shoes emerge out of thin air, he would be even more screwed.

After he realized what was happening, Meng Fan became dumbfounded once again.

These shoes were tiny. Like the size of a phone charm, not even the length of his thumb.

Are you f*ing kidding me?

How can this be worn!

As he was still pondering, Meng Fan saw the shoes become two streaks of light, shooting into the shoes on his own feet. This once again scared him into a jump.

Then, he felt the running shoes on his feet begin to change like magic.

Yes, it was only a feeling, not evident in appearance.

The shoes he wore still looked like the same sneakers he had from before, but Meng Fan felt completely different.

It wasn't a psychological effect, like one you only feel in your heart; it was an honest, sturdy feeling, similar to finding shoes that were comfortable on his feet.

Pretty comfortable!

His soles felt much more supported than before, and the sultry sweaty feeling on his feet began to disappear.

These didn't feel like shoes anymore, but an extension of his body.

He took a few steps. The bottoms of his feet no longer hurt as much.

Taking a closer look, Meng Fan "saw" in his field of view a vast array of data, including mileage, time, pace, stride, calorie count, etc; All that was promised in the item description.

"This is freaking black magic!"

The figures floated in front of Meng Fan, similar to the virtual projections seen in many sci-fi movies… Meng Fan looked around him again, particularly at the wind like girl who was still furiously running laps. He nodded to himself, affirming that he was the only one who could see these projections.

"Try running again!"

The new pair of black magic running shoes greatly motivated Meng Fan. After walking a short distance to find his feet no longer hurt, he found his courage and began running again.

"Beep. The owner has been detected, entering into a running state. Running shoes function activated."

"Beep. The owner has been detected to have serious issues with posture, would you like to proceed in activating the forced intervention function?"

The alert rang in Meng Fan's mind.

"Yes."

Meng Fan knew the importance of good posture, even if it had to be forced.

"Beep. Activating gait correcting forced intervention function, adjusting in real-time to the owner's physical stature."

Meng Fan suddenly felt his feet caught by some powerful force. Every time his foot landed, this force would adjust and reduce the portion of his heel touching the ground, preventing them from turning too inward or outward…

There was no question, it was uncomfortable as hell to feel as if someone was grabbing your feet, but Meng Fan was beginning to see the results. The correct gait had reduced the wear on his knees; adjusting the timing of his toes leaving the ground had shortened his stride time, and overall his energy consumption had been greatly reduced… Simply put, it was less painful and way less tiring.

Also, he was faster.

Even after running one kilometer, his current state was bad enough. However, his move speed was faster than the last time he ran.

The effects of Running shoes: Speed 1 are this good?

Meng Fan thought this was very likely. It could also be due to the added correctional function.

Overall, these shoes gave Meng Fan the motivation to continue running.

"… Eh?"

Still dashing her laps, the wind like girl was surprised to see Meng Fan running again.𝑵𝗈𝐕𝖊𝐥𝑵𝞮xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

After finishing her 20th lap, the girl stopped, stretching while curiously looking towards Meng Fan, who was still running.

Meng Fan's appearance was particularly eye-catching on the track, not to mention the halo of perseverance she had bestowed upon him.

Of course, it was only interesting for a while, as the girl proceeded to leave after she finished her stretches.

"I can't, I'm done."

The power brought on by the running shoes had been depleted after his second kilometer. Sweating profusely, Meng Fan slowed from a jog into a walk. Compared with the previous kilometer, this time was supposed to be more tiring. However, his knees and feet did not ache as much as he had expected; only his muscles were a bit sore, which was normal due to the fatigue.

"It takes more than one cold day for a river to freeze three feet deep; I can't become skinny in one run."

Meng Fan found a "positive" excuse for himself, then stretched according to the instructions provided by the running shoes. After he was done, Meng Fan contently strolled out of the track field.

"My god, you actually went running?"

When Meng Fan arrived back at the dormitory, Zhang Zhou Wei was already awake in bed and playing with his phone. Surprise overtook him upon seeing Meng Fan's sweat-soaked shirt.

"You thought I was all talk huh."

Meng Fan chuckled, then drank some water before entering the bathroom to take a shower.

"Fatty, you're really trying to lose weight, huh?"

Meng Fan finished showering and stepped out. The two other guys in their dorm were also awake by this point, joining Zhang Zhou Wei in disbelief as they all stared at Meng Fan.

"Why is it that something is weird about you!"

"Not just a little either, you're acting too weird!"

"Yesterday you went crazy in confessing, and today you're losing weight? My dude, did you make another bet with someone again?"

"It's not because yesterday you lost a bet and mass confessed to everyone and got all around rejected so you felt triggered, right?"

"Fan my brother, I don't think you should lose weight! Think about it, if you don't lose weight when people reject you they'll just call you fat. If you did lose weight, when they reject you, they will say it's because you are ugly!"

"Zhou Wei's point should be considered. As the saying goes, fat people have potential… If you actually got skinny and still turned out ugly… As humans, we should still leave some room for the imagination, and leave you with a lifeline as well."

"…"

"Get lost!"

Meng Fan flipped his three roommates his middle finger and flopped over into his bed.

Fatigued, the most romantic… no, the most labor-saving way to deal with them, was to sleep.

"Cheh."

Meng Fan's roommates chuckled as they returned the finger, still in disbelief that Meng Fan would successfully lose weight.

"You're going to skip class again?" Zhang Zhou Wei pointed out.

Meng Fan abruptly sat up.

Zhang Zhou Wei grinned: "Oh right, we don't have class today."

Meng Fan did not have the energy to squabble.

He got up after only sleeping for an hour. He headed to the library once again to review the information he had collected. He went back at noon for a quick nap, rejecting the temptation from Zhang Zhou Wei to play Overwatch. In the afternoon, he obediently remained in the studio, as he had to finish all his costume designs before 6 pm that afternoon.

After dinner, he took a small break and waited for the sun to completely disappear before changing into his exercise clothes, and once again started to run.

Usually, running to lose weight is best accompanied by one day of rest in between, or only going three to five times a week. This interval was mainly to give the knees and other joints enough time to recover. But in Meng Fan's case, these problems did not exist.

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Chapter 11: A Special Relationship With The Witch (Part I)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"Ding! You've ran 0.5 Kilometers, elapsed time 6 minutes 11 seconds."

"Ding! You can do it, you've ran 1 kilometers, elapsed time 12 minutes 05 seconds."

The running app's broadcasted data was within three meters of the projected information from his shoes, but there was more detailed data associated with the running shoes.

This time, Meng Fan did not open the 'gait correcting forced intervention' feature. Instead, he adjusted himself little by little based on the smart voice feature. The result was alright. The ratio of his foot varus and valgus had been controlled to be within 10%. As for the track, because of Meng Fan's current physical state, it was not realistic for him to be always pressing on his toes. It was only possible to reduce the proportion of his heel that touched the ground, increasing the normal landing ration.

This time around, it took Meng Fan way less time to run one kilometer. He had gone from 15 minutes to 12 minutes; reducing his time by 3 minutes. This was a great leap!

What amazed him was that his second 500 meters was actually faster than the first!

What amazed him even more, was that he could still run!

"Ding! You've ran 1.5 kilometers, elapsed time 18 minutes 9 seconds!"

The third half kilometer was consistently shorter than the first.

2000 meters!

When the 2 km alert rang, Meng Fan abruptly stopped in his steps, slowing his pace into a walk.

The elapsed time no longer mattered to Meng Fan.

"I actually ran 2 kilometers in one go!"

Meng Fan heaved as he walked, sweating profusely and grinning like an id*ot. This was his first time experiencing the joy of sweating.

He took off his head band and wrung it out, placing the dry band back on his head.

"Holy crap, it's another black magic device!"

Anyone who runs would know that the most annoying thing about sweat on your forehead is that it will drip into your eyes, so bad that you can't even wipe it when you run. The sweat will just add the feeling of erosion and discomfort to your eyes.

Hence, people who run often prepare a sweat-wicking headband that effectively absorbs sweat and prevents it from entering the eyes.

Meng Fan's head band, which was exchanged using 10 points also had this same effect. What was ridiculous is that it absorbed so much sweat! It seemed that the sweat just got evaporated. The craziest thing, however, was that it continued to bring a cooling feeling to Meng Fan, effectively adjusting his forehead temperature and even part of his body temperature.

In addition, the sweat band also provided Meng Fan with a list of data, such as changes in body temperature, blood circulation speed, etc. Although Meng Fan didn't know what the data meant, he still felt it was a mysterious technology.

Oh, one thing was very useful, though. That is the head band's function of "weather forecast". At any given time, it could tell Meng Fan the temperature changes, including the UV intensity and other factors.

Of course, this didn't mean it was a good thing.𝑵𝗈𝐕𝖊𝐥𝑵𝞮xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

For example, Meng Fan wouldn't get to experience the satisfying feeling of wringing out a soaked headband.

"You're actually running!"

Zhang Zhou Wei appeared out of nowhere, handing Meng Fan a bottle of water.

"Of course, what else would I be doing?" Meng Fan took the water and gave Zhang Zhou Wei a look. "Did you think I was b*llshi*ng, so you came over to see for yourself?"

Zhang Zhou Wei nodded his head intensely. He had been watching for a long time on the side. "I still can't imagine it now, you really can run."

"To be honest, running feels really good. I think you should try it too." Meng Fan slowly took a small mouthful of water.

Zhang Zhou Wei shrugged. "With a figure like mine, I don't need to run. Besides, I already have a girlfriend."

"Running isn't necessarily just for losing weight, it can also keep you fit! I'm just worried about your noodle arms and legs, even if you have a girlfriend, you have no strength to satisfy her."

Meng Fan tossed the water bottle back to Zhang Zhou Wei, flipped his head and continued his run.

"You fat a*s will never understand what it means to be skinny by circumstance!"

Zhang Zhou Wei resisted the urge to throw the bottle at Meng Fan. After a small sneeze, he rubbed his chin. "Guess it wouldn't hurt to try running."

Of course, this idea was left in the dirt once he received Wang Ya Nan's text, compliantly going off to watch a movie with her.

After running another kilometer, Meng Fan slowed down to a walk. He walked two laps around the track to regain his strength and ran another kilometer. Then he dragged his collapsed body back to the dormitory, and after showering—passed out once his head hit the pillow.

"My god, sleeping this early again?"

Zhang Zhou Wei, who had just returned from the movie knew Meng Fan was asleep as soon as he asked his other roommates.

"My god, you're awake this early again?"

The next day, Zhang Zhou Wei woke to scattered noises. He turned his head to the other side of the wall, trying to ignore the clamor.

After about 8 minutes, Zhan Zhou Wei begrudgingly rolled out of bed.

It wasn't to run, but to bring breakfast for Wang Ya Nan, stopping by to check on Meng Fan on the way before returning to his dorm to go back to sleep.

"Morning."

Wu Tong appeared on the track field again. Seeing Meng Fan, she smiled and waved.

Running 5 kilometers with an approximate speed of 5:30—that is, each kilometer only taking five minutes and a half—Wu Tong was fast for a girl, even faster than most guys. So when she saw Meng Fan still running, she was pleasantly shocked.

"It seems like you're a lot faster than yesterday, but if you keep going at this speed you won't be able to finish 2 kilometers."

"Your posture looks pretty professional."

"Are you the same guy from yesterday?"

Wu Tong lapped Meng Fan again, turning to give him a thumbs up. Then she began to speed up, increasing her pace to about 5:10 per kilometer. After running a few laps, she finally saw Meng Fan walking.

Continuing her pace, she speedily finished her 20 laps and joined Meng Fan in walking.

"Your condition seems a lot better than yesterday." Wu Tong eccentrically asked Meng Fan. "How many kilometers did you just run for?"

"Three."

Still huffing, Meng Fan exposed a smile that was uglier than crying. He was pretty satisfied with himself.

"Come on, the important thing is to persevere."

Wu Tong gave him another thumbs up, then left to go stretch.

There were a lot of people running on the track, but Meng Fan was by far the heaviest person Wu Tong had seen running for two days in a row. Meng Fan went to stretch after running one more lap, then instead of running more, left for the dormitory to shower and wake his snoozing roommates.

"Time for class, don't be late."

"My god, the sun's rising from the west."

"Fatty, what happened to you?!"

"Meng Fan, Zhou Wei told me you're trying to run to lose weight, is it true? Your features are attractive, if you lost the weight, you'd be a handsome guy for sure."

"Low key, keep it low key."

There were two classes in the morning and the witch Qin Jiao's professional class in the afternoon.

"It's raining."

Meng Fan stared out the window. He was so out of it that he missed the praise Qing Jiao had given him after she received his teaching material.

Originally, he wanted to run the remaining two kilometers tonight to complete the first task and receive the endurance 1 reward, but now it seems like it would have to wait.

"Meng Fan."

Class had ended. Qing Jiao called for Meng Fan who was on his way out. "Come, I'll buy you dinner."

Under the jealous gaze of all his classmates, Meng Fan was conflicted. "I'm trying to lose weight, I think I'll pass on this one."

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Chapter 12: A Special Relationship With The Witch (Part II)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Rejected?

The students that overheard Meng Fan's response were stumped.

The great witch was offering to buy food, yet someone rejected her; and this person was Meng Fan of all people.

"God, what is he thinking?"

From face value, Qing Jiao was already the great beauty of the Hua Xia Art Academy. Besides, she also had power. She was the "Big boss" who was most able to decide your future, the difference between "life and death" at this school!

Meng Fan actually rejected her!

"What, is he dumb? Is he mad?"

Qin Jiao chuckled, watching Meng Fan.

"Let's eat let's eat, what was that saying again, lose weight so you can eat freely?"

Meng Fan smiled shyly, and followed Qin Jiao out of the classroom.

Under the witch's watchful eye, any further rejection would have been "poison".

"See, that's more like it."

The students regained their regular skintones.

"Are you sure you're losing weight?"

Looking at Meng Fan's generous order of dishes, and thinking back to his words from before, Qin Jiao couldn't help but doubt. "Does your mom know you're trying to lose weight using this kind of method?"

"She's long got used to it." Meng Fan took his water from the waiter and thanked him. With the attitude of the students who had so shockingly looked at him, Meng Fan said to her, "Why else do you think I'm so fat?"

"That's true. When I first saw you, I really didn't expect you to develop horizontally like this." Qing Jiao remembered the stern small boy of 12 years old, then looked at the lump of fat sitting in front of her now. She shook her head. "To be honest, you really do need to lose some weight, if you keep growing like this, forget being rejected by girls; even cars will reject you."

"You know about it too?" Meng Fan's face stiffened. "I didn't send one to you too, did I?"

"At the time I was with two of the girls from your class."

Qin Jiao nodded, changing the subject. "I asked you here for a reason; another job, illustrations for a light novel. The artist is pretty well known and is a friend of mine who asked me to find an illustrator. It's a classical Chinese style, so it's perfect for you. The pay is okay, but most importantly it will be very beneficial to you if you succeed in being chosen. However, there exists the problem of time. You'd have to finish about 30 pieces in a week and see how many get selected.

She pulled a book from her bag. "That also includes the time you have to finish reading this novel."

Looking at the caloric goodness that had been brought in front of Meng Fan, Qin Jiao stood up, irritated. "You keep working on your diet. As for the other requirements, I'll send them over later."

"Wait, I didn't agree to it yet."

Meng Fan smiled bitterly at Qin Jiao, and bit hard into a drumstick. "She sounded so promising, saying she'd treat me, but here I have to pay the bill myself!"

Illustrations?

Meng Fan remembered very clearly that this job didn't exist before he was reborn.

It seems like a lot has changed.𝑵𝗈𝐕𝖊𝐥𝑵𝞮xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

Glancing to the side, he found Zhang Zhou Wei and his two other roommates, very obviously spying on his dinner arrangement with the witch like an annoying crowd.

"Come eat with me, I'm really trying to lose weight."

"Jesus, if you really were trying to lose weight why did you scare off the witch?"

"What did she want with you?"

"To draw illustrations? You're so lucky!"

"If I had known, I would have gladly accepted the "lecture material" task, maybe the witch would have helped me find work too."

"F*k, it's Xiao Ti's new book! Fatty, let me read it please!"

Without question, the job Qin Jiao had given Meng Fan was enviable and hate-mongering. First, it was already difficult to find an opportunity to submit a manuscript, even more so for an art school student. Secondly, the author's reputation was not small, if his manuscript actually gets selected, Meng Fan will undoubtedly gain some fame.

Generally, illustrators who are as famous as Xiao Ti would hire illustration gods within the industry. Meng Fan really caught a big fish this time.

"The witch is too nice to you isn't she?"

Once back in their dorms, Zhang Zhou Wei made sure the other two roommates had left and asked Meng Fan the question he'd been pondering for a long time. "Why do I always feel like the witch treats you differently from other people? It's not because of this illustration gig but… Anyways, I found out that when you were alone with her, the two of you had a different status. She didn't seem like a teacher, nor a student. Do you two have some secret between you that can't be spoken of?"

"There is no special relationship. She was my mom's student, so I knew her from a while ago, hence, once we leave the classroom there aren't any teacher/student formalities."

Meng Fan sat tilted in his bed reading a book, all the while answering Zhang Zhou Wei's questions. He didn't think this was a secret. However, this kind of thing also shouldn't be spread around either.

" Hell! How is that not a special relationship? Your mom was actually the witch's teacher, then doesn't that make the witch your senior? Right, what did your mom teach the witch? How was their relationship?"

"Just a normal teacher-student relationship, stop acting like it's some inconceivable martial arts style upbringing. Go play your game."

Meng Fan continued reading his book.

Xiao Ti's new book's temporary name was "Floating Dream in a Millenium", featuring a male main character who'd just woken from thousands of years of sleep. The female main character is the lover of the male lead from many millennia ago. The two storylines were advanced, parallel to each other, millennium to millennium until both universes collide.

Two classical styles with different characteristics shaped by time and space; this was Meng Fan's specialty.

The novel wasn't too long, and Meng Fan enjoyed the content, so it only took him until 11 pm to finish the entire book.

While he was reading, he made some notes of the details. After finishing the novel, there were two rough styles of time and place embedded in his mind. Mostly, it combined Han style with Hu styles, with some added elements from the pre-Qin and Yuan dynasties. The ornamentations can also grow off the foundations of Ming and Qing interpretations of north and south, utilizing traditional patterns such as thunder clouds…

"Crap, it's 1:00 am again… And it's still raining?!"

Meng Fan showered then opened his window slightly, eventually falling asleep to the sound of the rain.

"The rain stopped."

Meng Fan woke up, taking a look outside. He immediately bounced out of bed, changing and running out the door.

"Ding. You can do it, you have ran 2 kilometers, elapsed time 22 minutes and 43 seconds."

Before the running app had even begun to alert him, the projections in his head had already rung with the sound of completion.

"Beep. Run 10 kilometers, completed task [Travelling Deity] Phase 1. Reward: Accomplishment score 1, endurance 1."

As the prompt appeared, Meng Fan felt like he had suddenly been injected with steroids. He had thought running 2 kilometers had fatigued his body, emptying it of fluids and energy. Yet like an empty gas tank, he felt the energy and blood return to his vessel, the heaviness in his feet was disappearing, his heartbeat slowing down to normal…

"Why does it feel like the effect of this 1 endurance is way more effective than my original endurance?!"

Meng Fan continued for another 300 meters, slowly feeling the changes in his body. He always felt that his original endurance had been less than 1, hence the reward must have increased his stamina significantly.

Regarding the specifics of these numbers, Meng Fan was still very curious.

For example, his hand speed according to the proportions added was 3, running speed was 2, and endurance—well, calculating it now, Meng Fan felt incredibly weak.

"Ding. You've ran 3 kilometers, elapsed time 32 minutes and 22 seconds."

After his endurance was improved, Meng Fan's 1 km time was greatly reduced, from 11 minutes per kilometer for the first two laps to under 10 minutes in the third.

From his first kilometer until now, he could only be described as a god of progress.

Although the speed of 10 minutes per kilometer is still beyond garbage!

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Chapter 13: Illustrator

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"Ding. You can do it, you have ran 4 kilometers, elapsed time 42 minutes 12 seconds."

The fourth kilometer, Meng Fan managed to keep it below 10 minutes.

Not only that, he still had the stamina to keep going!

Once he finished the fifth kilometer, Meng Fan felt his perseverance had made him into a deity!

"Eh?"

When Wu Tong, who still roamed the track field heard Meng Fan's phone app's announcement, she stood frozen for a moment. This guy actually ran for 5 kilometers.

This is fake right?

Wu Tong clearly recalled the state Meng Fan had been in just a few days ago. As if that kind of physical state could finish 5 kilometers in one go. She couldn't believe it.

However, it did seem that every time she saw the guy, he had gained significant progress. Could it be, his improvement was really this great?

"You've improved… A lot."

Wu Tong caught up to Meng Fan as she saw him stopping, jogging alongside him, she asked: "Did you used to be an athlete?" She spread her arms and gestured to his figure. "I mean before your body changed."

To Wu Tong, this kind of change could very possibly be because Meng Fan had originally been an athlete, who had possessed a strong physical and cognitive foundation in sports.

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. At least his likeness to a professional athlete would have been justified.

As for what caused him to become what he is now, she had no theories.

Seeing Meng Fan shake his head, Wu Tong became even more confused. "Then you have made too much progress." She stopped pursuing though, smiling at Meng Fan before accelerating and running off.

After stretching, Meng Fan experienced no pain in his knees and joints. Leisurely, he strode away, even having the stamina to buy breakfast to recharge his energy.

During morning class, Meng Fan spent most of his time sorting out content for the novel. He extracted more features from it and then went to the studio after class to find a corner and started drawing.

The number of characters to be drafted was not small, as excluding the male and female protagonist, there were supporting cast, as well as two cute pets to create… Based on the requirements he'd received, the number of characters to design was around eight to twelve…

He began drawing… First, he searched for the feeling of the male character. He searched for a while with no progress, so he swapped to designing the female character. As he drafted, Meng Fan unconsciously thought back to the image of the speedy girl from the track, incorporating her image into the design.

So, this was the biggest similarity between the speedy girl and the main character.

"Beep!"

Around the same time, Meng Fan had solidified a concept and had just begun to draw the first illustration, an alert sounded off in his head.

"Beep. You have unlocked an accomplishment task [Illustrator]."

"Task requires completion of 1000 book illustrations."𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

"Upon completion, you will achieve the title [Illustrator] (Drawing Skills 10, imagination 3)"

This is definitely acceptable!

To Meng Fan who was currently studying animation, this sort of achievement reward could not be any more perfect.

The task phases were separated into four.

Task phase 1: Complete 10 illustrations; reward: Score 10, drawing skill 1.

Task phase 2: Complete 100 illustrations; reward: Score 100, drawing skill 2, imagination 1.

Task phase 3: Complete 500 illustrations; reward: Score 500, drawing skill 3, imagination 1.

Task phase 4: Complete 1000 illustrations; reward: Score 1000, drawing skill 4, imagination 1.

Relatively speaking, the difficulty of this achievement task was much easier than the previous [Wealth Distribution Cherub] and [Travelling Deity]. At least for Meng Fan right now, no matter how he looked at it, his hand speed would increase by 16 points.

If it had been before, for Meng Fan to complete a high difficulty illustration, counting coloring time and background, it would take three to four hours at the fastest. Now, he can finish it under an hour.

Moreover, according to the completeness of the illustration he had just finished, the "system"'s standard for completion was not too high. Meng Fan felt that as long as the idea was solidified in his thoughts, he could easily complete a piece in half an hour, even faster if he needed to.

Scrolling further down… Meng Fan saw the extra prompt below the tasks, similar to that of the [Travelling Deity] taskbar.

Drawing equipment.

There was only one, a pen.

It required 100 points to redeem.

He took a look at the description of the pen. Meng Fan's eyes suddenly lit up. Another black magic item, huh.

According to its description, this is a universal pen. It combined all the hardnesses of every type of pencil, ballpoint pens and ink pens, markers, colored pencils, lead… Even an eraser function. And it could be converted at will.

To put it simply, having this pen is the equivalent to having every brush in the world.

Also, this pen had an additional attribute bonus, drawing skill 1.

"What a great item, but I only have two points left!"

[A Good Person] awarded a total of 111 points, and the running shoes cost 100 points and the headband cost 10, while the [Travelling Deity] task phase 1 had only awarded 1 point.

"Work hard!"

With this achievement task in progress, Meng Fan was more encouraged to keep drawing.

Twenty minutes later, another female character had taken shape, and next to her was a cute furry pet as well. This pet was called an Aka in the novel, due to its love for swinging up and down. According to the novel's description, Meng Fan took inspiration from the 'Hou' in Shan Hai scriptures, a mythical beast resembling a dragon and a lion.

Looking back and forth, Meng Fan was satisfied with his work. He sent a picture of his work into the class group chat, asking everyone for their opinions. They all felt it was very cute, so Meng Fan separately sketched Aka.

Two hours later, he had sent out several more female character concepts alongside Aka, trying out the male characters once more. The result was still touching. But with the second male character, as well as the second female character that followed closely, Meng Fan felt they just weren't right. However, the major villains materialized very smoothly, so much that even Meng Fan was very happy with it, even more so than he was with the female lead.

"This one looks great, domineering and beautiful, she looks kind of like Thor's sister, Hela."

"I don't know if I should say or not, but doesn't she remind you of someone?"

"Are you saying… The witch?"

"I'm a coward, I didn't say anything."

"You don't say, it kind of looks like her!"

"Not just kind of, it looks a lot like her!"

"Fatty definitely used the witch as his inspiration!"

"I only thought Meng Fan was fat in person, I didn't know his courage was this fat too, hahaha."

"Hey, did you forget our lovely sweet adorable professor Qin is also in this group chat…?"

Seeing the group chat fall into silence, Meng Fan felt the sweat on his forehead drip down.

As this was mentioned by his classmates, Meng Fan also began to agree, it did look a lot like her. Especially the details. Did he really unconsciously draw it in the image of the witch?

This… As long as it looks good since she was the one who gave him the job in the first place.

"Eh… Well someone must have taken it into their own hands and drawn it, yes, it should be like this!"

This was also Meng Fan's response to the question Qin Jiao had sent in their group chat.

Qin Jiao's reply also came soon in the form of an eye roll emoji.

Zhang Zhou Wei also sent a WeChat message, asking about their lunch plans. Meng Fan was too ecstatic to feel his hunger, so he quickly turned down the offer.

He put down his phone and continued to draw.

"Beep. You have completed 10 illustrations, completing task phase 1 of [ illustrator]. Rewards: Accomplishment score 10, Drawing skill 1.

As the prompt appeared, Meng Fan's stomach also growled in protest. He looked up; it was already 2 in the afternoon.

"You're an… animation student?"

Wu Tong entered the studio, habitually settling down in a corner. Just as she looked up to Meng Fan who was still drafting, her sentence was interrupted halfway by the loud rumbling of Meng Fan's stomach.

It was a little awkward.

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Chapter 14: Scientifically Impossible

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"Eh…Yes."

Meng Fan looked up and froze for a second. At first glance, he did not recognize the wind like girl. Once he recognized her, it was still embarrassing as his stomach had protested first.

"I thought you had short hair?"

Meng Fan attempted to divert the topic, only to continue with a stupider question. "You're also a student here?"

No sh*t. If she didn't go here why would she run at the school's track field everyday?

"Can I take a look?"

Wu Tong pointed at Meng Fan's pile of paper atop his desk, promptly picking up the looseleafs after seeing Meng Fan's brief nod.

Meng Fan regretted his decision as soon as Wu Tong picked up the drafts.

He had completely forgotten, there are characters whose designs were based on the speedy girl.

Just hope to god she won't find it!

But it was obvious Wu Tong saw it. When she saw the drawing of the female lead, her gaze paused for a moment. This made Meng Fan's face flush red.

"This drawing is really good." Wu Tong took out a drawing of the female lead. When Meng Fan's face grew even redder, she carefully pointed to the adorable Aka. "This one, it's very cute and spirited."

She's doing this on purpose!

Meng Fan felt as if he was being teased.

Yet, this feeling was not too bad.

Wu Tong put down the paper, pointing to Meng Fan's stomach as she lightly laughed. She then sat down beside him, opened her drawing tube in an orderly fashion and pulling out a phone stand and placing her phone on it.

After a few clicks of her phone, she smiled and waved to the phone screen and began to paint.

Judging from the equipment she had taken out, Meng Fan could tell she was practicing classical art. Only, he couldn't figure out the meaning of her phone. Was she recording her process for review? Or was this a live stream?

Glug glug.

His stomach once again rumbled in protest.

Meng Fan gathered his things and stood up, still thinking. Curiously, he shuffled over to Wu Tong.

"You're…" Meng Fan looked at her phone screen. "Streaming?"

With the rapid development of live stream media, it was not uncommon for many art students to begin their own streams and broadcasts for their art.

Wu Tong nodded. "Earning some extra money for art supplies."

Meng Fan glimpsed at the sudden rows of comments that had appeared on her phone screen, mostly saying "The goddess has finally spoken". Guess she rarely talked during her broadcasts.

At the same time, he could see many notifications of gifts being sent.

Meng Fan saw Wu Tong still had her head down, continuing to paint, taking it as a sign and left.

He ordered an oversized egg fried rice to take back to the dorm. There was nobody there, so he finished his food and took out a drawing, trying to experience the feeling of "drawing skill 1".

After studying art for fifteen to sixteen years, Meng Fan was very clear as to what his drawing level was at. Hence, he knew more or less what "Drawing skill 1" would entail.

"My original drawing skills were probably around a 6 or a 7."

He speculated the approximate values of these numbers. If it followed a scale of a noob, to regular, to excellent to master, etc.then the noob would be at 1-2, average at 3-5, excellent at 6 or more, and probably above 10 for a master.

In other words, after 1 Meng Fan's skill was still a large distance away from being a master, but it aligned with current skills.

After drawing a few pages in succession, he saw the sun begin to set outside the window. Meng Fan changed into his sportswear and headed for the track field.

Since the increase in endurance and speed, along with today's continuous running, his "attributes" had evidently increased to a certain extent. To him, running 5 kilometers in one go was no longer a challenge.

However, Meng Fan didn't continue to run but rushed back to the dormitory to shower before dark.

In the evening, he stayed inside the studio for 3 hours before returning to his dorm. Once he was back, he was greeted by Zhang Zhou Wei who was staring blankly at his phone. Meng Fan looked at his screen and asked: "Did you lose again?"

Zhang Zhou Wei had been playing "BanG-Dream", an osu type rhythm game. His stamina had been drained from 1000 to 0 due to hitting too many Bads and Misses.

Having choked on today's song seven times already, Zhang Zhou Wei was sad. "Help me pass this song."

"You're basically disabled don't you know? Why are you on Ex mode?"

Meng Fan took the phone and looked at the difficulty of the song. The songs in "BanG-Dream" ranged from easy mode to Ex, or extreme. The song Zhang Zhou Wei had been trying to beat was EX22. It wasn't the most difficult of all the Ex songs, as the real tough ones ranged from EX 27 to 28, the highest being EX29, which there was only one in the entire server.

Meng Fan also played this kind of game. Previously he had been able to clear up to EX24 to EX25 without an issue, hence why he had the authority to call Zhang Zhou Wei incapable.

As for now… Not even including his increased hand speed, Meng Fan had not played this game mode before, so he was curious about what level he could play for now.

Restart.

For this kind of rhythmic music game, the most important trait to have is good rhythm and hand-eye coordination. Meng Fan's sense of rhythm was not bad to begin with, and he had also come across this song numerous times before, so as soon as he began, he had already hit a combo. As the song progressed, numerous combos followed, alongside with the 'perfect' prompt. His stamina remained at 1000 without dropping a beat.

FULL-COMBO!

This was Meng Fan's final score. All correct.

"F*k!"𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

Zhang Zhou Wei stared in awe as he swore. It wasn't because of the full combo, but because in the second half, Meng Fan's scores were essentially all perfect. This was difficult to achieve.

"Here, help me do this song too. Ya Nan's score is always higher than mine…" Zhang Zhou Wei didn't finish his sentence before Meng Fan tossed his phone back.

Meng Fan was pleased with himself but did not want to continue showing off his hand speed, so he laid down in his bed.

"Go to bed."

The next day's weather was ideal for running. After receiving heavy rain around 2 am, and clearing up around 3, the track was just dry enough by the time Meng Fan arrived for his morning run at 5 am. It rained a little again at 3 pm, washing away some of the heat.

Combining his morning and evening stats. Meng Fan had run a total of 11 kilometers. Presently, his total mileage had reached 26 kilometers. 5 more kilometers to go until he could claim the corresponding task reward.

Although he had classes in the morning and afternoon, his illustration progress was still fast due to his newly acquired hand speed. By the time studio classes ended in the evening, he had accumulated 50 completed pieces. He was only halfway towards completing [Illustrator] phase 2, which required 100 drawings, but with his current speed, the rest would take a few days max.

Upon exiting studio and returning to the dorm, Meng Fan saw that it was not too late, so changing into his workout clothes, he headed for the door. In order to get the reward [Travelling Deity, Meng Fan would give it his all.

"Huh?"

After running 10 laps, Meng Fan finally recognized a familiar silhouette in the dark. Wasn't that the speedy girl?

Every morning they would meet, but he'd never seen her in the evening.

Running in the morning and running at night, this speedy girl was really insane.

"You run every morning and night?"

Meng Fan waited for Wu Tong to catch up to him and asked.

"Normally I only run in the morning."

Wu Tong shook her head. When she was in a bad mood, all she wanted was to sweat out her frustrations in a violent running spree. She didn't want to do anything, acknowledge anyone; she didn't even think she would want to acknowledge Meng Fan, nonetheless stop to wait for him.

"You run so much everyday, aren't you afraid of your knees buckling in?"

Despite knowing it was a rude thing to say, Wu Tong couldn't help but gesture towards Meng Fan's figure.

If the average person insisted on running 10 kilometers a day, the strain on their knees would have been suspicious, not to mention Meng Fan being twice the weight of a regular person.

Wu Tong had been running for many years. She could see from Meng Fan's posture, he was not enduring pain. His knees had sustained virtually no damage; this was very strange to her.

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Chapter 15: Way Too Fast

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"My knees? Oh, they're alright, I spend a lot of time warming up and stretching."

Although he wanted to bluff more and tell her about his black magic running shoes that prevented knee pain, he knew that this was something he had to keep to the confines of his own mind. Outsiders particularly could not know about it. He then added to it, "Maybe because my knees are strong. I've been carrying so much weight for so many years, it would have been more muscular by now."

"Carrying weights? I guess so, I was worried you would get upset because I called you… fat." Wu Tong finished.

Meng Fan suddenly turned serious: " Did you say I was fat?"

Wu Tong heard this and laughed, and gestured to his figure once again. "Yes, I didn't."

"Then that's good." Meng Fan remained concentrated. "My whole life, the one thing I hated the most was when people call me fat."

"Are you fat? Definitely not."

Wu Tong's mood inexplicably lightened a little, then suddenly, her expression sank and hurriedly said to Meng Fan, "I'm leaving first."

"Wu Tong."

Meng Fan heard a scream, turning to see the commotion. A guy was coming towards them; it seemed like he was here for the speedy girl. The speedy girl seemed to be avoiding him, trying to leave in the opposite direction.

"Wutong? Do you mean the tree?"

Meng Fan finally knew the name of the speedy girl, continuing to run towards the exit, just in time to see the person who had come looking for her.

Hu… Something Meng?

Meng Fan had always been very homely, only knowing him as a guy who had an impressive reputation at school. As to what his name was, Meng Fan could not remember.

As for what the relationship was between Hu something Meng and Wu Tong, Meng Fan did not try to guess the details. After running a few more laps, the familiar beep of an alert sounded off in his mind.

"Beep! Running mileage has reached 30 kilometers. You've completed the task [Travelling Deity] phase 2. Reward: Score 10, power 1."

Towards running, Meng Fan had previously attempted "repeated weight loss" on more than one occasion. After receiving the system, he was able to search for an incredible amount of information, including the importance of having power, speed, and endurance. These three functions also complimented each other; for example, increased power can help increase speed, especially in short bursts.

Of course, this included endurance too.

The strength given by the system, strictly speaking, was muscle strength. After this had been increased, his endurance naturally improved as well.

When the rewards appeared, it felt like a therapeutic aura had landed on Meng Fan. His body's fatigue and exhaustion evidently decreasing.

After Meng Fan increased his speed for three laps, he slowed down and ran three more laps. The last lap, he would complete it at sprinting speed.

He was very satisfied.

However, this increase didn't make it easier to test what his original power was.

After showering, Meng Fan had just got into bed when his stomach began growling, not a silent noise either.

"I was just about to call a take out, how about I order something for you too?" Zhang Zhou Wei asked cheekily.

Meng Fan shook his head. Although he hadn't weighed himself yet, he had squished the fat on his belly in the shower. He was very visibly thinner than before. It seems like running everyday had been effective in his weight loss. It was okay to eat more during the day, but he still did not dare to add meals before bedtime.

"You're not eating? Then I'll bring you some fruits, like bananas or cucumbers."

"No thanks."

"No thanks? No thanks, but you can eat it!"

"Get lost."

The next morning, Meng Fan in his optimal state ran a full five kilometers. Following the projected data provided by his running shoes, it seemed Meng Fan's condition had netted an adequate result. 40 minutes and 36 seconds, averaging at about 8 minutes per kilometer. Compared to his first lap, you could say he had shed a new skin.

Of course, compared to an average person, an 8-minute kilometer was still considerably slow.

Generally speaking, people who run regularly have no problem completing one in 6 minutes.

"Huh? No show? Or did I come too soon or too late?"

Stretching after his run, Meng Fan did not see any glimpse of the speedy girl. He was surprised.

There were no classes in the morning, so after showering and eating breakfast Meng Fan obediently headed for the studio. He seemed a little absent-minded though, struggling to grasp the characteristics of several male characters. From 7:00 am until 11:30 am, he only completed seven illustrations.

This speed would be considered fast to other people, but when it came to Meng Fan it was just unacceptable.

He did have class in the afternoon, so Meng Fan chose to skip it. He headed for the studio after eating a quick lunch, settling in his original spot, with his original absent-mindedness, still unable to produce a satisfactory male character.

Of course, after he had finished drawing, his progress continued to grow.

Originally when he drew the female protagonist and the female antagonist, he had based them off to some real women. When Meng Fan tried to use this method with male students, male actors and other male characters from anime, the result was still the same.

Brows as sharp as swords, eyes like jade!

Damn, he didn't care what kind of novel used these two phrases to describe the male lead, it was all icing, but come on, there was no uniqueness to it!

"Not satisfied? Actually, these few are okay."

Just as Meng Fan was scratching his head in frustration, a voice appeared next to him. He lifted his head, not realizing when Wu Tong had suddenly appeared next to him, flipping through the illustrations he had already completed.

"Eh… No matter what, I just can't seem to capture the feeling that I really want." Meng Fan smiled awkwardly. He wanted to ask her why she didn't come to run at the track today, but he couldn't speak out.

"Classical style? I study traditional Chinese painting as my major, so I don't really understand character design… But I can also feel that your pen is not searching for just an appearance of a character…" After receiving approval from Meng Fan, Wu Tong contemplated for a moment before saying to him, "You can try to find some inspiration from the brushwork, or you could try using watercolors to create an inky effect. I think the classical style goes hand in hand with traditional ink paintings, and it will definitely stand out, only… I don't know if animated style can be expressed through ink wash painting; maybe it just doesn't go well with ink."

After pausing for a moment, she felt her thoughts were somewhat more fluent. She wasn't afraid that her nosy business would mislead Meng Fan, and rather confident in her own professional perspective. She smiled. "I am just telling you this from my own professional point of view, if you want to try it, it shouldn't take too much time."

"Ink painting? Okay, I'll try it."

Meng Fan smiled gratefully at Wu Tong. Once she left to start her mobile live broadcast, he decided to try her method.

Adding ink wash elements to animated characters wasn't a ridiculous task on its own. HuaXia's early animations were almost all related to ink painting, "The small tadpole searching for Mama" the most famous one of all. However, after the American and Japanese animations soared in popularity, HuaXia's animation began slowly drifting away from an ink painting. Now that the HuaXia animation industry is gradually rising again, especially after the flourishing of many traditional and classical style animations, the elegant elements of ink painting are slowly returning to the public eye.

The only thing was, Meng Fan's specialty was in pencil drawing. This was far from ink washes and paintbrushes.

The only thing he could grasp was the feeling inspired by the ink paints, or adding simple elements of ink wash painting to a basic drawing.

This was no easy task.

Numerous attempts later, Meng Fan was still puzzled.

"It's impossible to grasp a sense of the ink as a whole, let's try it in a more focused area."

After another round of trials, Meng Fan drew another character concept, still not satisfied with the product. However, the overall style was very comfortable to look at for an illustration. It looked dreamy yet realistic, light but elegant.𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

With this style as a foundation, Meng Fan began to think of designs for the next few male characters. His eyes lit up; this had been an unexpected surprise.

Inspiration always comes at the oddest times.

In a moment, he was out of control.

The concept art for the male lead, the second male lead, and the two other male roles had been solidified and produced.

The next few illustrations became effortless to complete.

Subsequently, Meng Fan also drew a few illustrations of the female lead and female antagonist, adding the ink wash elements. This saturated the characters.

In doing so, it gave all his characters and illustrations a uniform style.

Wu Tong ended her live broadcast for the day, packing up her things to leave. She noticed Meng Fan was still drawing and watched him for a while from behind. The more she watched, the more surprised she became. It wasn't because he was good, but despite his fat and clumsy appearance, this fat man had incredible hand flexibility and speed; when drawing, it was scary how fast he was.

"You're a little too fast, aren't you?"

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Chapter 16: Famous Streamer

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

No guy ever wanted to hear that he was fast—from a girl, even though Meng Fan knew Wu Tong meant something else.

Meng Fan coughed. "Just takes practice, that's all."

Wu Tong was not an animation student, but she still studied art nonetheless. The speed at which Meng Fan drew had exceeded what was achievable through just "practice". This fatty's got a lot of secrets, she thought. She stopped trying to pursue it, suddenly remembering. "If you stream yourself drawing with this kind of speed, you will definitely gain a lot of views."

Because she was a streamer, so upon seeing Meng Fan's drawing speed, Wu Tong's immediate afterthought was related to streaming.

Wu Tong had only just mentioned it unintentionally but to Meng Fan…

"Beep! Unlocked achievement task [Famous Streamer]."

"Task requires a live stream viewer count of 100,000,000."

"Upon completion, you will receive the title [Famous Streamer] accomplishment score (Charm 10)

Meng Fan's face looked rotten.

Naturally, the more achievement tasks he triggered the better, however, what surprised him was that it could be triggered by someone else.

He'd also believed that accomplishing a task could only be triggered by his own actions. However this time, it was triggered by a suggestion from Wu Tong.

Wait a minute!

Last time, when Qin Jiao gave him the illustration job it did not trigger.

Theoretically, Qin Jiao giving him the illustration job was of the same nature as Wu Tong's proposal.

Then what's the difference?

Is it because illustrations are different from live streaming? Or because Wu Tong already has a live broadcast happening and triggered it after? Or was it because… Wu Tong was a special person?

Or was it just a coincidence?

Combined with the unlocking of previous tasks, it had been triggered after completing a step out of the first phase. Such as for [A Good Person]; he had completed it to a degree, similarly with[Travelling Deity, [Illustrator, and [Wealth Distribution Cherub]. However, when someone else casually mentions it, the task appeared.

What was the condition for its trigger? Meng Fan couldn't understand.

"Live streaming has become more and more convenient, and there are more and more people who watch it too. This is great for us artists! Streaming can earn us some material costs and living expenses. It is much more flexible and convenient compared to a part-time job. If you can allow it to not affect your studies, then that would be ideal; otherwise, your life will become hectic."

Wu Tong handed the draft paper she was holding to Meng Fan and smiled. "With this hand speed, it'll be perfect for streaming."

"Is it? I don't really understand, can you elaborate more? It's too late today, how about I'll buy you dinner, and you share some of your experiences with me?"

Meng Fan took the opportunity to invite her out. Wu Tong thought about it for a minute and smiled.

"You fat bast*rd told her you don't know what a stream is, and she believed you?"

Zhang Zhou Wei had just happened to see Meng Fan with a girl eating dinner as he was also getting food. They had been laughing and jesting, and he was shocked beyond belief. This dumbass actually got a girl to go out with him. He shadily snuck closer and was even more shocked. Meng Fan didn't know who Wu Tong was, but Zhang Zhou Wei recognized her in an instant. The famous beauty of the traditional art department!

After Meng Fan and Wu Tong separated, Zhang Zhou Wei caught him and immediately interrogated him for everything and was dumbfounded.

"Could she be playing you? That's not right, no way your dumbass would have this much charm!"

"No wonder you've been exercising so much, like a madman! It's because you've got her as your motivation!"

"…"

Meng Fan ignored Zhang Zhou Wei's shenanigans. All that he could think about was the idea of live broadcasting.

He'd already seen the details for the task [Famous Streamer]. The process was divided into five steps, in turn requiring the number of people watching to reach 10,000, 100,000, 1 million, 10 million, 100 million. Rewarded achievement points are 1, 10, 100,1000,10000, in addition to 1 charm upon completion of each step.

After totaling the numbers, if he completed the task, he would gain 15 points in charm.

Regarding the attribute of charm, Meng Fan was ecstatic. This was mostly related to his original intentions upon respawning, that is, to fall in love and be in a relationship.

Running to lose weight was to realize this.

To Meng Fan, who to this day has never been in a relationship, it had become his obsession.

Since the task had already begun, naturally he'd have to complete it. As for whether he could actually garner 100 million views, that was a problem for later.

Even 10,000 views can add 1 charm.

What's more, the streaming could be completed simultaneously while also finishing [Illustrator].

Also, at the bottom of the five processes, there was another extra line of extra equipment—Live streaming aids.

According to the instructions, this was an item that combined a camera, microphone, sound card, headphones, computer CPU/mobile device, lighting, etc; all into one bundle of black magic technology.

The most ridiculous aspect of it was that this thing could track Meng Fan anytime and anywhere, from any angle that he needed to record his drawing. To put it simply, this function was equivalent to hiring a professional photographer.

It was also invisible wherever he went!

Black technology was really dark, that is, this stuff was a bit expensive. It required 1000 achievement points to redeem.

Meng Fan still wanted to stream, so, for the time being, he settled for using his phone.

As for the live stream, Meng Fan was familiar. Normally he spent a lot of time watching streams, the most visited site being the 8th station's otaku camp.

The 8th station stream focused on gaming and various otaku related talents. Although it was impossible for Meng Fan to pass by as 'cute', he could still get by, if he did not show his face.

Once he selected the live stream platform, Meng Fan without hesitation chose 8th station. One, because he was familiar. Two, because the audience favored art and other talents. Three, because in recent years the 8th station's traffic has been steady. Fourth and most importantly, because the site was suitable for mobile broadcasts.

Logging in, the account he'd been using from long before was already 'real' user authenticated. He proceeded to click "I want to stream," opened up the application and filled it out according to the prompts.

Awaiting review.

Usually, it took under 48 hours to complete a review.

Maybe it was because he had used the same account for so long, because after Meng Fan went back to the dorm and changed, went for a run, and took a showe he received the review confirmation.

"I'm going to the studio."

Frantically, he left the dormitory.

There weren't many people in the studio in the evening, and his usual seat was open. Meng Fan walked over and sat down, setting up his equipment, spending a lot of time adjusting the phone screen and recording angle. Once he was satisfied, he began streaming.

Meng Fan changed his original username to "Chubby Meng's Party", selected the drawing category, and set the title for his stream today to "[Illustration] Day 1 of streaming."

Begin streaming.

He looked at the video feedback. It' was alright.

He clicked on the "share" button in the live stream browser and sent it to over a dozen chat rooms. These groups were all the "connections" Meng Fan had accumulated on 8th station and was even a moderator for some of them.

"My first-day streaming, anyone wants to come and support me?"

After sending this, he returned to the stream's homepage and saw numerous familiar account names.

"Chubby Meng actually started streaming! Sprinkle flowers!"

"Illustrations? Fatty Meng, you're really an art student?"

"Hahahahaha petition for Fatty Meng to reveal his face!"

—BeeBuzzBuzz gifted 100 popsicles, one combo.

—AiyoNotFat gifted 50 aid towels, one combo.

—AnnualSubscriptionGrandma submitted spicy dough sticks *100.𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

—ComeBeHappy submitted spicy dough sticks *200.

Meng Fan hadn't even begun drawing as fellow netizens flowed in, spamming his screen with various gifts.

In real life, Meng Fan didn't have much communicative abilities, but on the internet, he had many friends.

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Chapter 17: Ice and Fire

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

The currency on 8th Station was measured by gourds. They were then divided into two types; the one received from monetary recharging was called golden gourds, currently at a ratio of 1000:1 to the actual HuaXia currency, HXB. Any other currency obtained were called silver gourds.

Both types of gourds can be used to purchase gifts for the streamer, with the same effect, they can allow streamers to increase their points. The points are the basis for gaining popularity, as well as the foundation for various PK activities and events on the website. The only difference between the gifts purchased by golden gourds is that they can be converted into revenue for the streamer and withdrawn as cash, while silver gourds cannot.

The gift points sent by golden gourds and silver gourds are the same—1 HXB equaled 10 points—once the points accumulate, the streamer's level also rises, and the higher the level, the more privileges they can obtain.

UP1 required 0 points.

UP2 required 50 points.

UP3 required 200 points.

UP4 required 470 points.

UP5 required 920 points.

UP10 required a total of 18,060 points.

UP20 required a total of 602,810 points.

UP30, required a total of 11,883,810 points.

8th Station's UP levels went up to 40, requiring a total of 147,013,810 points. If those points all came from gifts bought with golden gourds, it would be equal to about 14.7 million HXB.

As for the income made from gifts, 8th Station and the streamer split it 50/50. Basically, if one's UP level could reach 40, they would earn over 7 million HXB, before tax.

Of course, silver gourds are useful as well.

So far, only eight streamers on 8th Station have reached the maximum level, with five currently awaiting to receive this reward.

There was a large variety of gifts to select from on 8th station, among them the most popular being 'spicy dough sticks' for 100 gourds, 'cool' popsicles for 200 gourds, a 'flag' emote, the emote '233' for 233 gourds, '520 heart emoji', '666' emoji for 666 gourds, a frying pan for 1000 gourds, 'Ice Cola' emoji, 2000 gourd support towel, 3000 support glow stick; 5000 gourd butterfly cutie, 9999 gourd pangolin emote; 1000,000 money cherub, 450,000 gourd Center spot halo, 'colorful gourd vines' emote, and a 10.24 million for 'laughing while enemies destroyed your ships' emote.

Starting from 450,000 and above, each gift would trigger a pop-up ad and a lottery. This was the most lucrative way to milk followers.

When Meng Fan used 8th Station before, he had whaled quite a large amount of money as well, hence why one mass text can attract loads of uncertain friends to support his channel, as many of them were streamers themselves.

Before Meng Fan lifted his pen to draw, his stream already had almost 100 people, and the value of their gifts totaling over 300,000 gourds. He had attained over 3000 points, and his UP level was raised to 6.

"Thank you, kind folks! I am in a studio, so I can't talk, so stuff like showing my face, isn't gonna happen today."

Meng Fan stuck a caption in his announcement bar and began to draw.

Meng Fan had already drawn almost 70 illustrations for the novel "Floating Dream in a Millenium", so most of the roles had already been established, and more than enough to meet the required number of drafts for submission. All he needed to do was to adjust some components and add some details, and since these were original illustrations, it was not easy to reveal it to the public—Even though if he kept it to himself, nobody would really connect it to Xiao Ti's work— Thus, he decided not to live stream the illustrations for the novel.

Characters, well-known anime characters; if he could speedily draw these popular characters, it would undoubtedly be the fastest way to retain his viewers.

Who to draw?

Meng Fan's mind suddenly produced several classic 'high profile' anime characters.

"Got it."

Meng Fan quickly extracted from his head the character he wanted to draw, as it was also someone he frequently drew.

"Not talking or showing your face, at least play some music for us!"

"Meng Boss you're like a sculpture, so stiff hahaha!"

Only 100 people online, however, live comments plastered the screen, mostly from his acquaintances, sending gifts and troll comments.

There were also people who accidentally entered, curious as to what kind of a god this new streamer was, for it was his first broadcast yet he received so many gifts.

"He's starting to draw, not using a software or a tablet."

"No Sh*t, how can someone use the software while broadcasting from their phone?"

"Holy cow, he is so fast!"

"This speed seemed like he was randomly drawing, Meng Boss are you playing us, are you really an art student?"

"Fatty Meng really is from art school, some guys from our chatroom met him when they were visiting Hang Zhou."

The people in the live comments began to chat.

"There's a profile, he's not just randomly drawing!"

"This speed 666!"

"It's a woman!"

"Long hair!"

"These eyes are too beautiful!"

"His drawing skill is great!"

"Features are visible, anyone knows who it is yet?"

"Is it an existing anime character or an OC Meng Boss?"

"This facial structure, definitely a queen."

"Her figure… Omg, nosebleed!"

"Meng Boss, is it ok for you to start with such a loud bang?"

"She's got a tough air to her, very domineering, she really looks like a queen!"

The atmosphere in the live comments became a TV show guessing game.

"Military uniform!"

"Her hat!"

When Meng Fan drew the "cross" onto her hat, most of the acquaintances in his stream had recognized who it was.

"AH AH AH It's Esdeath! Really is an ice queen!"

"Add a kneeling general!"

"Please add sadistic pictures of the Queen being stepped on!"

"Add spikes!"

"Draw her being buried!"

"Draw her being greased!"

"Draw her with poisoned flowers!"

"Draw her on her knees being tortured!"

"Draw her being burned!"

"Draw her being boiled!"

With the sudden change of style, the comment section became a torture method generator for the anime character 'Esdeath' from the show "Akame Ga Kill."

Meng Fan continued to draw, perfecting her uniform, belt, stockings and the lines of the breasts… Then in the background, he added an ice-capped mountain releasing the ice demon extract.

Time to add color.

Bluish silver long hair, frost blue eyelids, pure white military general uniform, black belt, and a light blue icy mountain…

Promptly, a domineering, heart wrenching sadistic queen was completed.

After finishing, he added a sentence to the bottom left corner—'万物は私の前で凍りつく!'

"Badass, badass!"

"666, this bluff I can respect!"

"Please translate!"

"The Queen's classic line—Everything on earth shall freeze before me!"

"Meng fatty actually has this kind of operative skills?"

"God Damn I used to think Meng Boss was inhumanly plain, I didn't think he had such a talented side to him!"

"You're a motherf*cking prodigy!"

"This streamer is UP6, huh, one Esdeath illustration only took 15 ish minutes to finish, with color too. At this speed, not many people in the 8th station can match him!"

"This streamer's hand speed is a real god damn ballsy! We all received the same compulsory 9-year education, how come you're so talented?!"

"We are both vertebrates, why do you stand out so much?!"

"I was just added to this room and witnessed such a spectacular show, worth it! No discussion, here's a support towel!"

"Stream boss keeps showing off, I'm gonna go pull more viewers!"

"Uhm… This host's speed, are you sure it's a live stream and not a sped-up recording?

"Bro look at his pauses in the middle, to hell with recording, as if he could edit videos with a phone!"

Meng Fan removed his finished drawing from the frame, replacing it with a new piece of paper, and continued to draw.

What to draw now?

The first one had been his favorite anime character. Even though this site was prominently a hub for otakus—there was still a portion of people who didn't know who she was, or only knew after other people mentioned it… Then the second one will be a familiar one even by ear.

The first drawing was ice, so let's make the second one fire…

Immediately, a 'fire' type anime character popped into Meng Fan's mind, and even the Chinese translated name was similar to the Japanese one.

Only, Meng Fan was obviously better at drawing women, but this was a guy…

Then…

Chapter 18: The Arrangement

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"Eh? When was the fatty able to draw so fast?"

Zhang Zhou Wei was in many mutual chat groups as Meng Fan, so as anticipated, he saw Meng Fan's mass text link to his stream. After he watched the stream, he was once again dumbfounded and a little confused.

Meng Fan's professional skill was strong. Although he often skipped class, his grades have always been at the forefront of his year. He possessed unique insights in various fields regarding the fashion industry, as well as he harbored interest beyond traditional painting techniques. In terms of future employment prospects and career development, Zhang Zhou Wei and the majority of his friends believed that Meng Fan would exceed most of their classmates in this aspect.

But, this had nothing to do with Meng Fan's increased drawing speed!

Zhang Zhou Wei was very clear as to what Meng Fan was capable of, his drawing speed was not that different from the other students in the academy.

Even if the character being drawn didn't require too much thought, allowing it to be completed faster than the original, but still, it shouldn't be this fast!

Others might speculate that this was due to Meng Fan's familiarity with the character, but an art student like Zhang Zhou Wei knew better; no matter how familiar he was, it was impossible to achieve this sort of speed.

An illustration of an anime character, including background and color, would require hours from someone already familiar, anyone who could do it under half an hour was already a gifted prodigy.

Meng Fan had used a mere 11 minutes!

Is this real?

Genius, monster!

"Come on, come on, the fatty started streaming his drawing, guys take a look, his drawing speed… He must be cheating!"

Zhang Zhou Wei shared the link to Wang Ya Nan who was also in the process of streaming her artwork, then called their two other roommates over. Meng Fan's speed really made him feel abnormal.

Two minutes later, the outline of the second character had already formed.

From the outline, it seemed like it was going to be a girl. However as the facial features slowly presented themselves, the guessing games also increased, except all the guesses were just speculations, as nobody was certain.

Five minutes later, he began to add on clothes.

First came the shorts and belt.

The belt buckle had the letter A on it.

On one side of the belt, he drew a dagger.

"Sh*t, why do I feel like this dagger looks familiar?!"

"These shorts… I feel like they're a familiar symbol, but I can't recall who it is."

"A?"

The torso had exaggerated lines that determined the figure—curves emerging.

He then drew an unbuttoned shirt, tied in a knot in the form of a bra. At the knot, Meng Fan added a small ornament.

A brooch in the shape of a skull.

"This skull… Why do I have an uneasy feeling about this?!"

"I think I know something."

"Hey Stream host, if you are really drawing who I think it is, I'm gonna beat your head in!"

He kept drawing.

Next was the accessories around the neck.

A beaded necklace.

Once these beads appeared, many people saw one figure appear in their mind.

"Hey host, are you sure you're not trolling me?!"

"Fatty, you're kidding me!"

"Meng fatty, did you coordinate with HuaXia academy, is someone endorsing you?"

After drawing the necklace, Meng Fan landed his pen on the character's head.

A hat.

A stetson appeared, with two badges adorning the trim.

When Meng Fan drew a "smiley face" on one and a "sad face" on the other, the live comments exploded.

"Ace!"

"Fire fist!"

"F*k man, when you drew the belt I thought it was Ace, but once the chest formed I wasn't so sure anymore!"

"MMP!"

"This host is poison!"

"The stream host is crazy!"

"Meng Fatty you're finished, you actually dared to draw Ace as a woman, even though she is very beautiful!"

"The brotherhood has five minutes before they arrive on the battlefield!"

"This Ace is so cool and very pretty, I like it!"

"This host womanifying Ace is a bit much, no respect for the character!"

"Meng Boss give me back my handsome happy Ace!"

"Is it not normal for ACGN (Anime, comics, games, Nijigen) characters to have genderbent versions of themselves, how come this is on the line now, there's way too many glass hearts here!"

"Oda had mentioned in various details that the sand crocodile was originally a woman, why don't you guys go bother him?!"

"Smoker also swapped bodies with Tashigi!"

"Ace is my favorite character in one piece, to me, there is no disrespect in this design. Ace is pretty as a girl, and handsome as a guy. It brings me joy just to see him appear in front of me!"

"Do live comments have to be this sappy? Come on!"

It verified the doubts of his internet friends, for once Meng Fan finished drawing the hat. He added a tattoo on her arm—ASCE, adding a line through the S and a dot inside the C.

Then, he added flames around her.

"Chubby, the chatroom is helping you pull viewers, get some mods on it in case someone tries to start something."

Meng Fan saw the incoming WeChat, which was sent from an internet friend he'd known for many years and had met in person at various gatherings, anime conventions, and 2D concerts; "AiyoNotFat".

After seeing the number of people barraging his stream, Meng Fan understood the meaning of "Aiyo not Fat".

At present, the number of viewers had reached over 200. Most of them were pulled from his chat rooms and forums, and some were pulled from other places, while a small amount was just dropping by accident.

Meng Fan's content was indeed not bad, but gender bending Ace hurt some people's glass hearts—as many distasteful comments began to emerge.

Additionally, due to the attraction he had garnered from his stream, several of the netizens from his chat rooms were willing to help share and pull people to his stream.

The more people, the more talk. He really needed some management.𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

After finding the username AiyoNotFat, Meng Fan set him as a moderator and began coloring.

AiyoNotFat was not new to the streaming industry. On 8th Station he was a UL55 account user, reaching the top 100 rankings list. If the contribution received value had been listed in the station, then he would not be ranked. But this month, he had already given out10,000,000 gourds, each donation equalling one golden gourd; in other words, he'd spent 10,000 HXB.

What a whale!

After picking up the moderator role, he immediately comboed 100 continuous supportive towels (Valued 2000 Gold gourds each), then quietly kicked and banned some unruly spectators, mute mute mute…

"Fifteen minutes! You're amazing!"

"I was so stunned watching the process, but I still want to say that this host is poisonous!"

"I've seen many drawing streams, but it's my first time seeing one this savage!"

"I always thought that watching drawing live streams was like watching people fish, waiting forever just for that final moment. I didn't think I'd encounter an electric fish!"

"The one who called him an electric fish hahahahahaha has some balls! So far, I haven't had the patience to watch an artist stream from start to finish, but today I've seen it all!"

"He stopped? F*k aren't you missing something?!"

"You're missing another bullsh*t Japanese sentence!"

"Hahahaha, Meng Fatty probably only knows that one line!"

When Meng Fan finished the second painting and prepared for the third, the number of online users in the channel had already gone up to 300. This turnout was much better than what Meng Fan had imagined.

"Chubby Meng, it's really you! Are you just playing around, or planning to do this long term?"

Before he put his pencil down, he received another WeChat message. It was also a netizen who he knew through 8th Station, username AmiTofu.

"Long time no see."

Meng Fan thought of the requirements for completing [Famous Streamer] and became agitated. To complete the final task of getting 100 million viewers, his stream might never end.

"I understand, let's arrange it!"

Meng Fan thought Ami was just going to help him pull viewers, but he didn't think she would straight toss a "Center spot halo" worth 450,000 gourds at him.

—AmiTofu has donated a "center spot halo" on channel 131225, hurry and come help the stream host-level up, you can receive rewards too!

Once this gift was sent, it triggered a lottery throughout the entire site.

In order to place a name in the drawing, it was necessary to click into Meng Fan's stream, and so his viewer count shot up.

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Chapter 19: RISE TO UP10

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

The Center spot halo was worth 450,000 gourds, or 450 HXB, was indeed helpful. The number of people that were flowing in may have been no big deal for hotshot streamers, but it was incredible to Meng Fan who had just below 300 on his stream.

300.

500.

700.

1000.

When the lottery was over, the number of viewers on his stream had exceeded one thousand, but soon began to decline, losing 600 in just a short time.

Draw and leave, or lose draw and leave. Life was cruel.

"I wonder if these come and goers count towards my total views."

Meng Fan muttered to himself and quickly picked up his pen and began to draw. It was up to him to retain the remaining 600 viewers.

"Hell, an art stream, I'm out! I'm out!"

"What kind of sped up bullsh*t is this, I should just go refresh Tiktok and wait for draws!"

Moments later, the viewers dropped to 500.

"Hahaha, chubby Meng's drawing speed scared so many people away!"

"Just as I thought!"

"That's awkward."

"666, I only heard of people losing viewers because their hand speed was too slow, it's my first time hearing that someone is scaring away their followers because his drawing speed is too fast!"

"Hey casuals don't leave, this is a real stream, he's just too fast!"

"Jesus, this is a real stream! Where did this streamer come from? He's pretty good!"

"F*ck this speed is too fast, I just got here and he's already done this much… This drawing… Tsunade!"

"It really is Tsunade the 7th Hokage! Looks like the host of this stream are extra interested in queens and royal sisters!"

"Aiyo… Stream host stop tracing, it already looks so voluptuous!"

"Hahaha seems like this stream host has a peculiar love for voluptuous figures!"

"He's done! My god, in only twelve minutes!"

"Matsumoto Rangiku!"

"Sh*t, this host really is obsessed!"

"What did you do to Rangiku you fat bastard?!"

"Smoke? Meng fatty are you trying to genderbend again? Turning Smoker into a girl?"

"Wait! She's holding a pipe! The long legs, the long hair, the lazy pose, this devilishness… Ichihara Yuko!"

"My Goddess!"

"Who says Meng Boss only knew one Japanese sentence, he ain't bluffing!"

"There is no such thing as coincidence in this world—there is only inevitability…!"

….

"Oosaku Nana!"

"Ahahahahahah I didn't think I would see NaNa on a live stream!"

"How about the Sex-Pistols?!"

"This is a good drawing, it's too beautiful!"

"Ayanami Rei! It's got to be Ayanami Rei!"

"Hey, you're going to make me run out of 'data' this month! Let me go buy some supplements first!"

Meng Fan had in one sitting drew provocative female characters from "Naruto", "Bleach", "xxxHOLIC", "NANA", "Neon Genesis Evangelion" etc; None of them required too much design on his part, at most altering some measurements, hence his drawing speed was so ridiculously fast; essentially finishing each drawing in twelve to thirteen minutes.

During this process, the number of viewers had dropped to 400 from 600, then back up to 600 again. Adding the "Center spot halo" from AiyoNotFat, the fluctuating number settled around 1000.

This wasn't because Meng Fan couldn't hold an audience, but more so due to the large influx of random netizens entering the room for the lottery and then immediately leaving without taking a look at the content.

"A thousand viewers now."

Receiving this much exposure during his first live stream, Meng Fan was very pleased with himself. He took a look at the system in his mind and broke into a smile. Until now, he's accumulated 2600 viewers already.𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

It seems like the people who come and go do count for views.

"The studio is closing soon."

Meng Fan looked around his studio, noticing there were no other people around. Without worrying about disturbing others, he began to speak. "Before I log off, I will draw one more."

"Holy sh*t you scared me!"

"Hahaha I was a bit freaked too, this host can talk!"

"You don't say, Meng fatty's voice is pretty nice."

"Mother f*ker It's been almost two hours!"

"In less than two hours he had drawn seven characters, what a genius!"

"F*k he's ending a stream after just two hours, do you have any professional ethics?! As the saying goes, you've gotta keep going until you vomit blood at least."

"The host is from art school?"

"Is he really logging off?"

"What are you going to draw for your last one? Is it gonna be another seductive woman?"

"Whatever you draw, I love watching it!"

"This style of drawing feels different from before!"

"Hahaha, of course, it's another seductress, with long hair and a curvy figure!"

"Is this outfit a latex suit? Too intense man!"

"Wait it's not a latex suit, it's just a tight uniform!"

"I can't tell who it is, can anyone who's an expert explain?"

"He drew another gun!"

"Is this… Mine Fujiko?"

"So many gorgeous women, my god!"

"Such a charming woman!"

"She looks so elegant!"

"Who is Mine Fujiko, why does she sound so familiar?"

"The people that know Mine Fujiko, are your kids already beating their own kids?"

"It's normal to know Mine Fujiko, in Japan she's on many public voting polls, and she's always near the top!"

"Mine Fujiko is really well known okay? Her influence is impressive too. A lot of anime characters use her as a basis for inspiration, for example, Kudo Shinichi's mother, while Gintama also features someone with her characteristics."

Background, color.

The last drawing also did not take long.

After he finished, Meng Fan relaxed his fingers, read the live comments and answered some important questions, such as when he would be streaming again tomorrow.

"Tomorrow night at 7:30, loli special, I'll try to draw ten."

Meng Fan ended the stream and let out an exhilarating scream. This was exciting.

After looking at his stats, he saw he already gained 500 or so followers—this ratio was quite rare to achieve. He had received 2.1 million gourds worth of gifts, valued at over 2100 HXB. After the 50:50 split with the streaming platform and subtracting the silver gourd rewards. Meng Fan had earned 900 HXB just from this one stream.

Of course, Meng Fan also knew that most of the gifts among here were from his friends who wanted to support him. Once he really began streaming, it might not be this lucrative.

21 million gourds worth of gifts, with each gourd at a 100:1 ratio for level points, Meng Fan had earned about 21,000 points, hence raising his stream level to UP10.

He looked again at his mission progress. 2800 viewers, which meant he was close to completing the first task phase of 10,000 viewers. Only two or three more streams to go!

"Meng fatty, not bad!"

"Meng Boss are you serious about streaming?"

"Fatty's got balls!"

"…"

As he was packing, Meng Fan was pulled into a new WeChat group, adding up to seven people including him. Most of them were from his Otaku circle on 8th Station, or he knew from Vocaloid concerts. He was on good terms with all of them.

"Fat bastard if you're doing this for real and your stream blows up, I'll introduce you to the group chats I manage that have thousands of people."

"I have some chatrooms as well that were formed because they like art streams, most have over 500 people."

"Did you sign a contract with 8th Station yet?"

"You have to certify yourself on Weibo!"

"You need a Tieba account? I got it covered!"

The group chat exploded with messages, more dedicated than even Meng Fan.

Firstly, it was because they were good friends, secondly, because they were enthusiastic about the subject, and last of all, it was because Meng Fan's live stream really had potential.

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Chapter 20: Lolita Special

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"Speak, what haven't you been telling us lately!"

As Meng Fan entered the dormitory, he was ambushed by his three roommates and shoved onto his bed. Can you blame them? Yes, the weight of Zhang Zhou Wei and his other roommates were enough to hold Meng Fan down, if only by a bit. If they didn't use all their strength, they wouldn't have been able to suppress Meng Fan.

Mostly, they managed to do so because Meng Fan did not resist.

"If you have something to say, say it nicely. Don't just throw me on the bed… At the very least, close the door."

"F*k."

The three grown men retreated, disgusted by Meng Fan's statement.

"Fatty, you've been acting really strange lately."

"Confessions, running, and streaming! What happened to you?"

"Also, what's the deal with your drawing speed? We all know what your speed was like before!"

"Fatty, are you cheating?"

"You actually have the time to stream. Did you finish your illustration work? Really, what's up with your drawing speed?"

The same question also appeared in Qin Jiao's WeChat message. Zhang Zhou Wei had sent Meng Fan's stream link to their class's group chat, and she had seen the madness.

"My mom did not torture me any less than she did you, not only that, she doubled the amount."

Qin Jiao responded with a row of crying emotes upon seeing Meng Fan's message. A wave of memories washed through her memory. Picking up marbles and peas with chopsticks, hanging bells on fingers and not allowing them to ring, wrists tied to sandbags, all to increase the stability and speed of her hands, and training her strength.

The thought of Meng Fan being tortured for a decade and more, she felt pity for him for a whole two minutes.

"How come I didn't see you were this fast before?"

"If I didn't stream it, who would notice this?"

After dealing with his three roommates, he had skillfully thwarted Qin Jiao. For now, he had covered up the hand speed issue. Who didn't have that one moment of stage time in their lives?

His roommates had asked if he was cheating, though it had just been a random question. Who would have thought, even if Meng Fan had told them he was cheating, nobody would believe him.

The second morning, Meng Fan went to the track for his usual 5-kilometer run, which compared to yesterday who felt slightly easier. The speed of his pace was not considered fast, but his posture had been adjusted to the point where he was running properly without relying on the black technology running shoes.

The morning class was at 9:30. Taking advantage of the morning, Meng Fan went to the studio to finish and edit the artwork for "Floating Dream in a Millenium". From them, he selected 30 pieces to submit to Qin Jiao at the end of class.

"This is better than I thought, and faster too." Qin Jiao roughly looked it over and packed it up. "Wait for my news."

"Professor Qin, are you free at lunch? Me and a couple of other profs made plans, you want to come?"

Outside the classroom, a young and handsome male teacher pretending to be a passerby had been waiting. He waved hello to Qin Jiao, beaming splendidly, but looking undoubtedly nervous.

Of course another admirer.

"Sorry, I made plans for lunch with some students."

Qin Jiao turned him down and pointed towards Meng Fan… No, towards Wang Ya Nan and her girlfriends standing behind Meng Fan.

Of course, she wouldn't use a guy as an excuse.

Evidently, Wang Ya Nan and her friends were used to this routine. They responded quickly, walking towards Qin Jiao, all the while chattering about which restaurants have the best food.

"These dishes sound delicious, I'm drooling. Please take me with you."

After his confession craze, Meng Fan's skin had indeed gotten thicker. This was something the old him would never say, especially with that shameless expression.

"If you come, what are we going to eat?!"

Qin Jiao teased him, then left with Wang Ya Nan and her girls.

Meng Fan shifted his gaze to the male professor. The man rushed away as if he saw nothing.

"I'm not that crazy, I didn't get the girl and I have to take your fat a*s out to eat, keep dreaming!"

"Why are you like this? I'm dieting, I won't eat much!"

"Losing weight? Who are you trying to fool?!"

After being kidnapped by Meng Fan, Zhang Zhou Wei looked around at the dishes stacked around him. Looking at his bank balance on his phone, his face went sullen.

"That's so weird. It's like you're eating more after you started running." Meng Fan patted his stomach lightly and greedily smiled as Zhang Zhou Wei begrudgingly paid the bill.

Zhang Zhou Wei was still complaining. "Mother f*ker, when Yan Nan agrees to be my girlfriend, I already made preparations to eat ramen this month, but I didn't expect to cover for your fat a*s. A meal costs me a month of rent!"

Meng Fan laughed. "Stop bluffing, rent my a*s. Why don't you ask to sleep with her, and see if your queen will agree? If she agrees, I'll pay your rent."

As soon as he heard this, Zhang Zhou Wei's expression looked as if it had been hit by frost. With his understanding of Wang Ya Nan, it would probably take thousands of years before she 'opened up' to him.

"I was just making a confession, what we have is pure love, emotional connection is more important than a physical one okay?"

"Heh, are you fooling me or just playing yourself?"

"Get lost!"

University was full of youthful air, and the youth was just a cluster of hormones.

Zhang Zhou Wei had some, Meng Fan did too, only they had no outlet.

As they finished eating, Zhang Zhou Wei had scheduled to go to the movies with Wang Ya Nan. He was prepared to try his luck in the darkness, in hopes of receiving a kiss. Meng Fan could only head for the studio.

He had one more class at 3:30 in the afternoon. Until then, Meng Fan was busy in the studio searching for all different types of loli girls to use as references—conceiving their styles as a preparation for the night.

The seven seductress types from last night were all people Meng Fan was familiar with, as this was a type of character he usually drew. All seven of the girls he had drawn at least once before, so when he had streamed himself it felt comfortable while taking little time.

But regarding lolis, it was a different story. Although he could recall dozens of names in one breath, he was not very familiar with their stylings and characteristics. There were about three or four people he could actually draw just based on memory.

There wasn't much time, but just enough for Meng Fan to pick out ten Lolis and familiarize with their body shapes… No, their character!

After his class, Meng Fan had a banana to curb his hunger. He changed into his sportswear, stepping onto the track field and beginning his laps.

Five kilometers had become quite easy for Meng Fan, as his lap time was now 8 minutes per kilometer.

Including warm-up and stretching time, and a shower afterward, it took him about an hour and a half. He chaotically ordered some take out for dinner, wolfed it down and rushed towards the studio.

Yesterday's seat had been taken, so Meng Fan had to switch.

He placed the draft down, opened the phone, adjusted the angle and prepared to stream. He sent a notification in advance to the group chat. Stream begins at 19:30 on the dot.

"He's here, he's here!"

"I made it just in time!"

"Hello, Meng Boss."

In no time, the number of viewers went up to 200.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Asides from the sound of pencil on paper, it was silent inside the camera frame.

"Your friend, the speechless host has come online."

"If you're real tough sh*t, then don't talk at all! Don't appear out of nowhere with a phrase and scare everyone!"

"Who's he drawing this time?"

"Today was the loli special. Yes, this figure is very lolita."

"I guess we can kiss yesterday's seductresses goodbye."

"There must be some loli's who have beautiful faces? Like Saaya!"

"Saaya isn't an anime character? *gasp emoji* I think I know too much."

"Hestia! Chiho Sasaki! Chocola! Asahina Mikuru! Jindai Komaki! Mizuki Kushiro… Heh, don't draw too many!"𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

"Gentleman that's enough!"

"Does Meng boss seem like someone who would draw this kind of loli?"

"No, he doesn't seem like it, because he definitely is."

"Hahahhaha Meng fatty's actual appearance looks like a little girl!"

"He's halfway done my god, isn't this Sakura? Yes, this definitely counts as loli!"

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Chapter 21: Illustrator Phase 2

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Kinomoto Sakura. She was the first character he would draw during this stream.𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

Sakura was a standard loli. She was also the OG of the cute world. She was well known enough that if Meng Fan drew her, the netizens wouldn't think it was weird, or too different from the previous day's spectacle.

"Maybe because it's loli specialty today, yeah that's probably why."

"Jesus, are you guys here for the host's hand speed or for his big follower count?"

"Yeah, this host draws so well and so fast. What more do you want?"

"That reason is true… He's on the second one already my god… Chibi Maruko Chan are you kidding me?"

"HAHAHAHAHA. Is Maruko-chan loli enough for you?"

"666!"

"Hey, your speed is getting faster!"

"Jesus, drawing number three… Peppa pig!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Hey, Mr. Host are you trying to kill me?"

"Peppa Pig is a girl?"

"Peppa Pig is a porky pink lady, of course, it's a girl!"

"There must be a huge hole in this host's head!"

"The fourth one is out, Chihiro."

"Fatty, are you trying to remind yourself to not get fatter?"

"The fifth one now! Isn't this the mascot of 8th Station, chibi butterfly?"

"Finally, a character from our country!"

"Okay, today's rounds are all vanilla lolis. Gentlemen, you can leave!"

"Haibara Ai? I guess she counts as a standard loli!"

As Meng Fan drew the figure from "Detective Conan" on his sixth drawing, the arrogant and clever talkative girl that had also taken the same medicine as Conan, the viewers in his channel collectively sighed in relief, as if the plot had fallen back into an expected rhythm.

"This is… A witch costume?"

"This is a traditional black sailor uniform!"

"It really is Enma Ai!"

"Holy sh*t, such a classic loli all of a sudden, that rhythm change is too quick, no?!"

"Tu Shan Su Su?"

"Another Chinese anime character!"

"Tu Shan Su Su is also a classic loli, right?"

"Sailor uniform! Black stockings! Short Skirts! Proud! Small-breasted! The epitome of a loli, but what the hell is the gun in her hand for?"

"Aria! Who cares if it's standard or not? This loli can't be bothered!"

"Sh*t how long has it been? He already did nine!"

"Nine?"

"Nine!"

He didn't know who had reminded everyone, but the live comments began exploding.

"Only an hour and a half!"

"Nine drawings in 90 minutes, you're incredible!"

"On average, that's ten minutes per drawing! Including his pause in the middle!"

"His hand speed is unbelievable!"

"Seems like he's even faster than yesterday!"

"Maybe it's because there aren't voluptuous ladies to outline, so there are fewer strokes?"

"Lies, the voluptuous ladies yesterday also had less clothes to draw!"

Meng Fan added the color and rested his pen to stretch his hand. The 1 power from his running mission had improved his muscles and allowed him to draw longer. At the same time, he watched the reactions on his channel.

Presently, his channel [Today is Loli special] had 1523 viewers. That number had been achieved steadily throughout the day, all without number grabbing gifts like "center spot halo". It was because of this that Meng Fan's progress chart had only increased by 1900, which was a lot less than what he had gained the day before.

Of course, this meant that his stream channel could really keep an audience.

After completing the Aria drawing, Meng Fan saw his [Illustrator] progress rose to 95, meaning he was only 5 away from completing the task.

Meng Fan quickly made a decision and spoke at the same time, "I promised today I'd do around 10, so there will definitely be more than 10."

"F*k that scared me!"

"Hahahahaha. This host randomly spoke again!"

"I like it!"

"Just asking if you guys are surprised!"

"More than 10? Don't tell me you're doing 11 *stink eye emoji* "

"11 is not bad! Not like you are new to art streams. Don't start with eleven at once, even doing one sketch in one sitting is hard enough to watch!"

"The 11th drawing is done. Victorique from 'GOSICK'!"

"Vicky bun! I like it!"

"Congrats to this host. Can we get a goth loli?"

"Eucliwood Hellscythe! Zombie girl!"

"This pose! Did the host start driving again, he's so fast!"

"Drawing number 12. OMG! This speed is deadly!"

"Do I see revealing lace??? This impact!"

"No, it's not just one person!"

"There's one sitting below her!"

"Is the first one Kuroku Shirai? Then the one under her must be her onee-san, seductive lady Mikoto Misaka!"

"The big-breasted girl is being wronged!"

"Kuroko Shirai: Protecting her Onee-san's virginity is my duty."

"So, Stealing her self?!!!"

"The thirteenth one… Seems like there are even more people!"

"What a generous host, five people in one drawing!"

"They're all wearing maid costumes kek ~~~"

"Hey, you're doing this on purpose, each one is so plump!"

"Wah ya ya, I used to be their fan but now I'm a superfan!"

Meng Fan saw his process bar was at 99/100, as the number of his viewers went up to 1700. He knew the harvest after today won't be as big, especially when the studio was about to close soon. "My last drawing guys."

As for what to draw for his last one, Meng Fan had already decided.

A petite figure, small boots, black stockings, shorts, a hooded windbreaker, big eyes, long hair… She was very, very much a lolita.

Just as Meng Fan added a blue nose, a pink hat with a cross on it and a pair of deer antlers, the live comments exploded.

Meng Fan speedily closed the stream.

The peak number of users he reached was more than 1700, with a final number of slightly over 2000. The first phase of the [Famous streamer] task was 4800/10000 completed. He was almost halfway. To Meng Fan, this was neither too fast nor too slow.

Besides, he didn't receive that many gifts today. This time, there was no godfather who had casually funded 2.1 million gourds, but only about 400,000 gourds and silver gourds accounted for a large portion of the gifts. If he converted it into real money, it was about 130 HXB. However, it was already impressive to make that much in two hours. It was much better than working at a restaurant as a part-timer.

Of course, the most important thing was completing the tasks.

"Beep! You've completed 100 drawings, finishing [Illustrator] Task phase 2. Reward: Points 100, drawing skill 2, creativity 1."

The voice appeared in his head as soon as he finished drawing the chibi version Chopper. For him, it was like the sound of nature, clear and beautiful.

With these 100 points, his total collection had gone up to 122.

Meng Fan's existing painting skills were already at a 6 or 7 according to his predictions. When he finished the first illustration phase, he gained 1. And now he gained 2 more. Even if he didn't attempt it hands-on, Meng Fan could feel his drawing skills had improved. One could even say that his understanding had taken a qualitative leap for the heavens.

From this, he could confirm that if his existing skill had been 7, a 3 point increase would put him at 10; putting him in the genius realm of the profession.

As for his creativity… Meng Fan couldn't predict the outcome, nor did he have any way to immediately test the changes brought by the 1 attribute.

Daydream, delusion?

This proved nothing.

Perhaps once his creativity was enhanced, it would increase his chances of finding inspiration, too?

If that was true, then it would be a godlike attribute in itself!

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Chapter 22: Love is a Scary Thing

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"I have 122 points right now so… I can consider buying the magic pen now."

At the moment, the objects that could be redeemed were [Travelling Deity]'s equipment and Powerade. He already had the shoes and the headband, so that was enough for now. As for [Famous Streamer, the only available equipment was the streaming assist device. He really wanted this, but the damn thing cost 1000 points, so the only way he could redeem it in his current condition was if he completed illustration task phase 3, or ran laps until he died.

Therefore, the pen was his only choice.

Buy!

The pen had many functions, but the most important was the 1 drawing skill.

Exchange successful.

Similar to when he traded his shoes and headband, the pen magically 'appeared' from his mind and landed in his hands. It was also very small, only expanding when it needed to be used. One could use it alongside other items, or by itself.

Seeing nobody was around him, Meng Fan's thoughts shuffled and the pen turned to regular size. It looked very average and had nothing out of the ordinary, but the fun began once he began to draw.

"Pencil, hardness 9B."

"5B."

"2B."

"HB."

"F."

"Harder, H."

"Even harder, 2H."

"Harder…"

Meng Fan toyed with the hardness level on his pen from 9B until 10H, shading a gradient from dark to light. Next, he played with the colored pencil function, then the markers, ballpoint, gel pen, watercolors, etc; anything he could imagine. He experimented with all the sizes and hardnesses he could recall. These also included calligraphy brush, ink pens, UV light pens, gouache, chalk, pastels, and even eyebrow pencils. These pens Meng Fan did not see himself using often, but the change from one to the other came almost instantly once the tool formed in his head.

In the end, Meng Fan shifted his thoughts again and changed it into an eraser. It didn't matter what the original had been drawn from, the eraser could wipe out all traces of it with just a wave of his hand, not leaving a single mark!

"666!"

Meng Fan couldn't resist giving this magic pen a "live comment".

As he was about to switch to his usual F pencil, Meng Fan decided to try his drawing skills with the 3 point increase.

"Hey fatty, why are you running! Even if you are going, at least tell us what time you're streaming tomorrow, and what you're going to draw!"

That message came from AiyoNotFat.

"Uhm, I'll announce it on my channel."

Meng Fan couldn't tell them he wasn't running, but testing his new rewards instead. He sent an array of smiley emojis and rushed to add the announcement on his channel.

"God, (Kemonomimi) animal ear special! I'm lost, you can't draw men can you?"

"My men don't look good."

Meng Fan responded, then picked up his magic pen and drew a male character from 'Floating Dream in a Millenium'. The concepts had been established already, plus he had drawn a few as well. He was familiar with them, but not too familiar with the magic pen. Several times when he was drawing, his mind was "aware" but his hand was not, which ended up wasting a lot of time.𝑛𝒐𝚟𝑒𝓛𝑵𝑒xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌

Nine minutes.

Not including the background and color, that speed for a character he was familiar with seemed slow to Meng Fan.

"Not bad!"

Meng Fan supported his jaw as it dropped. He sort of regretted submitting the drafts for 'Floating Dream in a Millenium' to Qin Jiao.

If it had been based on his drawing skills now, his work would have a significantly higher chance of getting chosen.

Heh?

It seems as if this male character has some perfect areas, many too.

Is this from my boost in creativity?

Scratch scratch scratch. To confirm his speculations, Meng Fan drew three characters in a row with his new pen. The character retained their original essence, but they felt a lot more developed than before. Yes, even Meng Fan himself thought they were great.

"Lights out."

Just as Meng Fan was ecstatic to continue drawing, the studio administrator began cleaning the space.

"Should I give this to Qin Jiao?"

Meng Fan wondered to himself as he was packing up.

If he gave it to her, he could explain that he had been forgetful in missing three drawings, but it was not as easy to explain the gap in drawing skill, for a 3 point boost was easy to spot by a professional like Qin Jiao. It too was obvious he wasn't just having a 'good day'.

If he didn't give it to her, he felt that he would regret it.

But if he submitted it, his chance of being selected would increase by a lot. He didn't do it for the pay, but for the "exposure"; the exposure of doing illustrations for a famous author.

Buzz.

Just as he stepped out of the studio, he received a WeChat message that solved the issue at hand.

"Got it."

It was from Qin Jiao. Brief and to the point, then followed by a WeChat transfer—5000 HXB.

"Friends and family discount. If your drawing pass quality control then they will sign you directly."

Once Qin Jiao sent that, Meng Fan understood that that was a courtesy the author had extended to him on behalf of her. Of course, the premise is that the quality of his art would reach the standard.

"I'll buy you dinner."

"Screw that, what am I going to eat if I eat with you! I'll thank YOU if you stop skipping classes!"

"I really am trying to lose weight o(﹏)o"

"Then lose it!"

"I will!"

"Hehe."

Qin Jiao's one-word response immediately killed the conversation.

After handing over the thirty drafts to Qin Jiao, it would have been great if even fifteen made it into the actual book. 5000 HXB in compensation was not nearly enough to an actual artist, but to a student still in art school like Meng Fan, it was not bad. If it also accounted for his completion of it in less than three days, then 5000 was a considerable amount.

Meng Fan was in a good mood and wanted to treat himself with a midnight snack, but dispelled the thought. At last, he couldn't resist, and he bought himself a deathly caloric soda, frozen. The satisfying sound it made when he opened it almost knocked him out in bliss.

He inserted the straw and skipped towards the dormitory as he sipped his drink. His footsteps were frivolous on the ground, making even the heavy cement seem like it was floating.

"Stop!"

Not going far, Meng Fan was throwing his can away when a girl's voice rang from the distance.

"You stole something!"

The voice got fiercer.

Meng Fan saw a guy and a girl on the road ahead. The guy was in front, evidently being yelled at by the girl. The male's expression went sour after he heard her scream. He turned around while shouting something inaudible at her as he pointed his finger at her. He then ran off while being chased closely by the girl. The guy started jogging, then glared at the girl. "Scream again and see what happens."

The girl was not threatened and screamed even louder, "You stole something!"

"F*k!"

The man cursed and sped up his pace.

Bam.

Meng Fan whipped the can in his hand towards the man. His strength had increased by quite a bit, from the newly added 1 strength, as well as his recent training. He readied himself and aimed for the target with the utmost concentration. It landed on the man's foot.

A direct hit?

Not possible.

But it did scare him.

That was enough though.

Meng Fan took advantage of his shock and pounced on him.

The guy was about 178 cm tall and looked to weigh 156 pounds. Inside the campus, his measurements were considered not bad, but not nearly enough to meet Meng Fan's eyes. Meng Fan pressed him to the ground, rendering him unable to move. If Meng Fan wanted to make any moves, he was free to do so.

"What are you doing? Let me go!"

The man froze up for two seconds before screaming at Meng Fan.

"Are you a psycho, let go of my Feng Feng!"

The girl caught up and shoved Meng Fan aside. Her expression changed in an instant and suddenly became concerned for the man. She knelt down and helped the fallen man up. "Feng Feng are you okay?"

Meng Fan was flabbergasted. "You're the psycho? Didn't you say he stole something?"

"Feng Feng stole my heart, you got a problem?"

The girl said matter-of-factly. She looked at Meng Fan as if he were too ignorant in his singleness to understand.

"We were arguing."

The man was pretty reasonable at least. He was wincing as he rubbed his knees. He was tempted to chew out Meng Fan for being so rough, but held back and smiled instead. "Sorry to mislead you."

In the blink of an eye, the guy turned to the girl with a hint of helplessness and endearment in his eyes. "Can you not be so aimless all the time? You make everyday feel like a cheesy soap opera. This is an art school, not an acting school!"

"But you really did steal a maiden's heart, how can you ignore a maiden!" The girl looked like she had been wronged, but her expression had some excitement in it.

"Stop saying that cheesy stuff. What kind of "maiden" are you?"

"A maiden isn't Xiao Qiao, but a maiden will… Mmmmm mmm why are you covering my mouth stop it!"

The guy dragged the girl away.

"Are all relationships this scary?"

Meng Fan wordlessly walked over to pick up the can he threw. He crushed it to the extreme while walking past the first garbage can and throwing it in the second.

On the way back to the dorm, his footsteps did not flutter anymore.

He thought he would have triggered a 'courageous act' task or something.

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Chapter 23: Web Novel Illustrator

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Meng Fan returned to the dormitory, visibly upset. He took a shower to cool down but saw that he had run out of shower gel. He borrowed Zhang Zhou Wei's Liu Shen cooling shower gel and came out feeling cool like a breeze. His skin was firm from the chill.

"Fatty!"

Meng Fan had just stepped out of the washroom when Zhang Zhou Wei came in the dorm. He circled around Meng Fan, who was still fantasizing about the layer of muscle just beneath his robes that was close to appearing as he poked around. Zhang Zhou Wei laughed. "That was just you right?"

"What was me?"

Meng Fan heard this and lightened up even more. These last few days of running had not been in vain; he lost a lot of weight!

Zhang Zhou Wei suppressed a laugh. "Just now a couple was fighting, it was you who tackled the guy, right?"

Hearing this, his mood immediately became less beautiful. "Is art school really this small?"

"Hahaha. I guessed it. You're the only one at this school who would be out at this hour and looked like a chonk. I heard it from Zhang at the neighboring dorm. He almost died laughing… He said some girl was screaming theft, then a fat blob of a guy with iron willpower appeared and tackled the guy, before realizing what he had stolen was the girl's 'heart'. The girl was even blaming this iron hero for being too rough and hurting her boyfriend's knee. That crucifying scene was not just the result of kneeling…"

As he saw Meng Fan's face drained of all emotion, Zhang Zhou Wei realized what he was saying and immediately changed his tone, justifying to him. "Girls these days don't have better things to do so they pull these shenanigans. If this got out, nobody will ever display heroic courage in the face of theft again! It'll ruin our social reputation; this is how it starts! How could she blame you? Someone as brave and caring as general Meng, who is she to judge you!?"

"If it weren't for your rouse, not many people would have known in the first place."

Meng Fan poked himself some more but failed to feel any muscle. He didn't feel too great, so he turned to his other two roommates Chen Da Qiang and Yan Ta Ge and said, "The witch told me my drafts were accepted, I just got paid, I'll treat you guys tomorrow."

"That fast!?"

The two spectators perked up, but not at the sound of a free meal or a hefty paycheck. The important thing was that Meng Fan is now XiaoTi's illustrator!

Zhang Zhou Wei slinked back over.

"Oh, I almost forgot about you. You just got a girlfriend, right? As proud parents, we should get you a gift. I think for a girl as feisty as Wang Ya Nan, some leather whips and candles would be a suitable gift. Hey Qiang, Pigeon, what do you guys think?"

"You have our support!"

"Doesn't the tradition say gifts should come in threes? Whip and candles? You can get that. Qiang should gift some handcuffs at the least."

In the next few days that followed, the weather danced between different temperatures. The rain fell sporadically. It sometimes rained so hard it felt like someone was pouring water from above. It brought cool weather as well, but Meng Fan was not happy.

Originally, Meng Fan would run 5 kilometers every morning and evening, but now he could only go when the weather was cooperating. He also had to consider if the track was dry or not, which was why he barely even ran 10 kilometers in two weeks' time.

At the moment, his total numbers added up to 48 kilometers.

With the rain prohibiting his exercise, obviously, all he could do was draw. The [Illustrator] progress was indeed amazing. Outside of the 'animal ear special and maid special' on his stream where he did about 12 drawings each, he had also managed to draw about fifty more pages during class.

Of course, even at such speed, he was still a whopping 500 drawings behind from completing task phase 3.

As he drew, Meng Fan tried not to display all of his newly gained drawing skills at once. He was aiming to drag out the process to make it seem like growth and development. Every day, he demonstrated a bit more, hence he wasn't performing at his best only after two days. The feeling of suppression did not feel good of course, but at least it left his iffy audience in awe and wonder.

These few days, his total views went up, but the number of viewers each stream stayed the same. The viewers in the past two days didn't even match the previous days.

The engagement was great, but there were not that many new viewers. The channel no longer received any 'center spot halo' badges anymore, but he did get a lot of smaller gifts.

Currently, the progress for [Famous Streamer] was at 9400/10,000. He was so close to receiving the prize.

Streaming was not as easy as it seemed. It sounded easy to become famous overnight, but when it came down to it, only a handful of people actually achieved overnight success. If not, there wouldn't be so many streamers that focused on current events and reviews.

Beneath those who gained overnight fame were the streamers and hosts who pulled an all-nighter after all-nighter until their dark circles became permanent and contracted insomnia… Each profession was a golden tower. There were a few people on the top who could be seen, and the majority clustered below, unknown to the world.

Guess he'll have to climb his way up. Meng Fan didn't expect to blow up overnight; he just wanted to gain some more views.

At the moment, he already signed a contract with 8th station. He was hoping he could strive for a spot on the recommended list. This would attract way more people than a 'center spot halo' would.

On the third day, the weather finally cleared up, and in a burst, Meng Fan ran an extra 2 km after his usual 5 km. After decreasing his speed, he didn't feel as pressured as before.𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

He was only 5 kilometers away from completing the 60 kilometers from task phase 3 of [Travelling Deity]. If the weather was good in the afternoon, he would be able to claim his reward of speed 1 and 50 points.

"Fat Meng, can you illustrate a novel?"

Shortly after the morning class ended, user BeeBuzzbuzz from his "stream channel management group" sent Meng Fan a WeChat message. He was also a good friend.

"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?" Meng Fan was curious.

"I have a buddy who's writing an online novel, he could be considered a small guru. Currently, it's popular for internet authors to open accounts on public platforms, so he gave it a shot. Normally, he just posts about his progress and occasionally some favorited pictures. His follower count and reader count aren't bad, and his monthly advertisement pay is very impressive as well."

"Right now his series is pretty popular, so he's pretty close to reaching the title of 'guru'. He blew up, so naturally that more people are paying attention to his social media accounts, so he's willing to spend more resources to manage his accounts. Recently, he's been looking for an artist to illustrate his novel, so I recommended you the moment I found out. I showed him your streams lately, and he thinks you're pretty good, not to mention fast. He thinks you can satisfy his needs."

Meng Fan suddenly asked, "Does he want a lot?"

BeeBuzz hesitated for a long time and sent a row of ellipses, then continued, "He needs about 10 drawings a week, so he's looking for a long-term partnership. The normal artists he met with weren't good enough to him, and the better ones definitely won't be just drawing for him alone, so they can't produce fast enough. Will you take it? He will pay a lot."

"Of course, I'll take it. I just helped Xiao Ti finish the art for his book "Floating Dream in a Millenium". Meng Fan couldn't help but bluff a bit. "I mean, there are too many web novels after me. I don't know if I can fit all of them."

Bee responded, "It's not a lot since it's a new novel; there are only around 800,000 characters. Besides, if you think it's too long, just read the beginning. I can summarize for you the character designs and styles."

After processing for two seconds, Bee suddenly sent a voicemail. He sounded excited. "Wait what did you just say? Xiao Ti! Xiao Ti's new book! You are the illustrator?! When did that happen? Why didn't you say sooner? So, you know Xiao Ti? That's insane!"

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Chapter 24: Men Who Use Umbrellas Are Handsome Too

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

BeeBuzzBuzz was Xiao Ti's loyal fan, so he had heard of his new book "Floating Dream in a Millenium" long ago. Now, upon hearing that the illustrations were done by a friend he knew, his heart was pumping with excitement.

"Um, I don't know Xiao Ti."

Meng Fan explained to him painstakingly.

"Oh, I see, that means you're hot sh*t!" Bee stopped for a while, then said happily, "If that's the case, my bro can consider increasing your pay. I'll message you in a sec."

Meng Fan was the illustrator for Xiao Ti's new book. Bee had an advantage now, it seemed. At least he had the qualifications and trustworthiness to negotiate a salary.

It didn't take long before Bee responded on WeChat, "My bro is willing to pay you 1500 a week for no less than 10 illustrations, with more than half of them in color. He will pay you every week before the drawings are submitted. Once paid, he expects no less than 5 drawings within the next three days and all drawings should be submitted within five days. If you can't continue to work with him, both ends must communicate that one week in advance. What do you think?"

He didn't mention the consequences for breaching a contract. After all, this was a small business, and with Bee as the middleman, nobody will give him too much trouble.

Meng Fan had no objection to the price, as it was around 150 HXB per drawing. Generally, students from the academy would not receive such good pay. Of course, based on Meng Fan's current drawing skills, the author was getting a great deal. But he had no exposure—even after illustrating Xiao Ti's new book.

Of course, if everything went according to plan, Meng Fan could easily finish ten drawings within half a day. This meant he would be making 1500 HXB a day, which to Meng Fan was no small feat.

"The price is ok, but I have two requests."

Regarding the pay, Meng Fan did not have any issue. Even if he hadn't been reborn or had a system, Meng Fan didn't see himself as someone who mulled over money during his life. The only thing he wanted to gain from this was some exposure on his live stream.

"First, I will draw some of his illustrations on a live stream, as I might not have time to draw them. Second, whenever he posts a picture on social media he must credit me and link my stream. I am just looking to promote my stream. Can you ask him that for me?"

"That's a good idea, hold on."

Not long after, Bee replied, "He said he's got no problem with you streaming it, as long as when you draw, you can indicate the source for the character, which happens to be his book. But if you could, don't draw all of them during your stream, at least save two or three. Regarding your credits, he will naturally do so, as nowadays copyright is crucial. But as for linking your stream channel, it won't be possible to link one under each drawing he posts, but he could link it twice a week at most. Uhm… Hehe. His advertisement fee is really not cheap."

"Also, he says if you are willing to collaborate, he will recommend you in his book as a friendship feature. Of course, it is not good to indicate your online handle. Probably just means if fans want to watch your stream they'll have to search your name online. I think this is a good deal; his book has already collected 100,000 HXB, not including his other genres."

"Tight! I will try my best to draw for him, and fast too."

This kind of collaboration was very cost-effective for Meng Fan, so he happily accepted the offer.

Bee quickly sent the author's contact info to Meng Fan. "FlatHeadBro". Added and approved.

"Thanks for agreeing."

FlatHeadBro messaged him as he transferred 1500 HXB to Meng Fan.

"Thank you as well."

Meng Fan accepted the money.

Afterward, neither end spoke another word.

Meng Fan told Bee he had received the money and for him to send the name of the novel.

"I'll have something to do during class this afternoon."

Meng Fan read web novels as well, mostly on the QiDian APP he had downloaded on his phone. He mostly read Otaku style novels, but occasionally picked out some fantasy and sci-fi books for a change of taste. Previously, he had never heard of FlatHeadBro.

He searched the title 'Rampage and Repair the World' and looked at it briefly.

Totalling 820,000 words, 35 million clicks, 1.9 million recommendations…

These numbers were way higher than any of the books he read there.

As for how high it really was, Meng Fan did not delve into the rankings.

The main prompt of this book was about a guy similar to himself entering a fictional realm and the stories that followed.

After reading through his class, Meng Fan could confirm that the author was a world builder, for he had created a comprehensible class and world system that was very reasonable and innovative. This made Meng Fan want to continue reading, despite his disinterest in oriental fantasy and deity type novels.

The protagonist's name was Yuan Chong, who was as famous as his name was. He had a hard and strong personality, similar to the pen name of the author, FlatHeadBro. Regardless of life and death, he was willing to fight, no matter who it was against.

With a personality like that, he found conflict everywhere he went in this realm. There was a lot of bloodshed and violence, but also many incidences that made people cry with laughter.

This author's penmanship was not bad; he could write with real vigor and humor.

Many jokes were laid out subtly, and once people caught on it, they would find themselves bursting out in laughter.

Another great feature was that the fight scenes were very graphic and stimulating.

It was shortly past 3 pm when Meng Fan's class ended, with the sun still burning bright outside. The tough guys from his class who were too embarrassed to use an umbrella began the process of "umbrella share" with their girl classmates. They were under one umbrella, and hitting two birds with one stone.

Chen Da Qiang and Xing Ta Ge were two loyal customers of the 'umbrella share' procedure.

Newly hitched Zhang Zhou Wei saved the trouble of this and happily sleezed next to Wang Ya Nan as they entered the heat.

With Meng Fan's body type, it was impossible to share an umbrella with anyone. Not just girls, for even the guys would refuse him too. What could he do then? Walk back under the glaring sun, or put on his headband and cool down for a bit?

Wearing a headband without running seemed a bit excessive.

He just used an umbrella himself.

Meng Fan took out an umbrella from his backpack that he had bought some time ago but was too embarrassed to use. After his confession fever, his skin had gotten thicker and found no hesitation when he sprung the parasol open.

It was red, with the text "Men Who Use Umbrellas Are Handsome Too".

After opening it, Meng Fan looked around at the guys and girls who were using umbrellas. There wasn't anyone more prude than him.

"Uhm…"

Just as an idea formed, a legendary figure emerged from next door. It was then that Meng Fan knew what a King was.

A book box!

This legend had walked out with a book box!

What was a book box?

Simply put, it was a portable bookshelf. Historically, scholars who traveled to visit colleagues or to far away exams would carry their books in a book box.

The box normally had an awning that stuck out of it, so when carried on one's shoulders, it just covered the head enough to block out sunlight and rain.

Still didn't understand?

To be educated in this, one must read 'A Chinese Ghost Story'. The character Ning Cai Chen wore one of those.

"That's so badass!"

In contrast, Meng Fan felt like he was scum.

His poser skills were still way below the gods that roamed this college.

He had to learn from them!

Meng Fan quietly stepped into the hot sun and felt the ground baking, which made himself speed up.

Once he returned to the dormitory, he immediately switched on the air conditioner and the fan. He plugged his phone into a portable battery. He found a comfortable position and went straight back to reading the novel.

Meng Fan was not slow at reading, and by five o'clock he had already finished reading the public portion of the novel. After subscribing, he read a few more chapters with his VIP status, then stopped.

One was because he was out of time. Two was because he had a good grasp of what the novel was about, so his next step would be to extract the style characteristics and formulate the character designs.𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

At six o'clock he changed into his sportswear and headed for the track while the black magic running shoes attached to his regular shoes. He warmed up and began to run, finishing 5 kilometers in just 40 minutes.

"Beep! Your total mileage has reached 60 kilometers. You've completed Task Phase 3 of [Travelling Deity]. Reward: Points 50, speed 1."

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Chapter 25: Web Novel Special

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Meng Fan could now easily run 5 kilometers, with each kilometer taking less than 8 minutes. After receiving 1 speed for finishing task phase 3, he ran another two kilometers.

Although he couldn't compare his current physique, his 6th kilometer was smoothly finished under 7 minutes and 50 seconds. The final kilometer only took him 7 minutes and 30 seconds. This was his best time yet.

Huff huff huff.

Meng Fan gasped for air as he walked a lap and began to stretch.

"Keep working hard, and you'll soon reach the pace of a regular person."

Meng Fan understood that running was a game of perseverance. At his weight, he was already quite satisfied with his lap time.

Even with the help of the System, he would not become an avid runner.

To this day, he didn't even hope to become an avid runner.

If he can lose the fat that covered his body, he would be beyond grateful.

Of course, not that much weight had been visibly lost over the last couple of days, but Meng Fan as a whole was in a better state, and that he could feel.

For example, his dozing problem. If this had been before, in this weather, without the help of video games and Overwatch, he would be continuously yawning for hours.

Now, he could stay focused even after drawing for three or four hours.

After recognizing the benefits of exercise, Meng Fan genuinely believed that even without the rewards, he will still continue to run.

When running, it would burn fat and evaporate sweat, and from time to time he would gain inspiration. This kind of inspiration had only come to him once when he was taking a shower.

That was not the case anymore, for the character's figures and styles for his new book had already begun appearing.

Meng Fan arrived at the dormitory, just in time to see Chen Da Qiang returning from buying Meng Fan dinner. Comfortably, he showered and ate; this was almost too comfy.

Chen Da Qiang had eaten already and changed his clothes to go out. "Fatty, you want to go to the homecoming show?"

"Not this time, I've got to stream."

Meng Fan said casually. Suddenly, he froze.

After the show had ended, Chen Da Qiang was beaten over some conflict with another person!

This memory flashed inside Meng Fan's head.

This wasn't foresight, this… really happened.

Strictly speaking, it had happened on this day, before he was reincarnated.

His time had been short, only three months, and because of the System, the confession craze, the running, the streams… So many things have changed since he came back; he almost forgot about his own rebirth.

If anything important had happened during these three months, Chen Da Qiang's beating could definitely be counted as one.

He was not seriously hurt, but it had left a large dent on him psychologically. Since the incident happened, he seemed depressed and lifeless.

"Da Qiang, wait."

Even if his recent doings had tipped the butterfly effect and caused a slight change, Meng Fan still felt he had to find a way to stop it.

Only, how should he put it?

It was unlikely he wouldn't go. Meng Fan remembered Da Qiang had planned to watch it with a female student who was his junior.

Chen Da Qiang turned to Meng Fan, who suddenly stopped talking. "What's up?" He asked.

"Oh right. Didn't you plan to watch it with a girl from the second year?" Meng Fan finally dug up the information from his memories.

A second-year girl, she didn't have to perform, so there was really no need for her to be at the show.

"How did you know?"

Chen Da Qiang's eyes widened. He hadn't told anyone about the sophomore girl he was trying to pursue.

Meng Fan could only fake a mysterious smile as if everything was under control. "Great! I made a reservation at Mu Shang restaurant. I even pre-ordered the dishes and paid the bill. I just saw my phone notification and remembered. I have to stream tonight so I can't go. Why don't you guys go instead of going to the party? Go eat it for me. I ordered more than enough for both of you. If not, you'd be letting Zhang Zhou Wei and Wang Ya Nan get away too easily."

"Mu Shang? For real?"

When Da Qiang heard that, his eyes lit up immediately.

Taking a girl to Mu Shang was much classier than watching the homecoming show!

Only, Chen Da Qiang was still hesitant. It cost about 1000 HXB at least for one meal at Mu Shang; this deal sounded too good to be true…

"Hurry up and tell her to change places, I reserved for 7:30, if you call a cab now you'll make it." Meng Fan began to urge him.𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

Chen Da Qiang pondered for a moment and grinned. "Okay. Thanks, man! When I get my tutoring money, I'll pay you back!"

"Lock her down and have her introduce some cute girls to me, and we'll call it even! Hurry and go, I'm gonna eat first and call the restaurant."

Meng Fan watched Da Qiang exit the door and let out a sigh of relief.

He scarfed down his dinner. He pulled out his phone and called his female cousin who worked at Mu Shang to reserve a table and for her to order dishes suitable for two people.

Not long after, Meng Fan's cousin replied with the menu which graciously also provided two cocktails, a dessert, and a violin performance. After applying the discount, the total was 1200 HXB.

Meng Fan transferred the money and was pleasantly surprised to see [Wealth Distribution Cherub] go up in progress.

Helping others can help myself!

Bee was very committed to Meng Fan's illustration job for 'Rampage and Repair the world'. He compiled a vast amount of information, mostly regarding the descriptions of various characters. He also gathered the descriptions for costumes and weapons and went lengths to get help from two other novel chatrooms.

FlatHeadBro had already written three novels prior to this one, adding up to more than seven million characters written. His rating and popularity were both good, and he had a steady following. Bee only knew of a dozen fan clubs alone, which was over ten thousand people combined, without repeat. He himself was in seven clubs and was also a moderator for one of the livelier ones.

After sending the organized resources to Meng Fan, Bee also greeted the other moderators of the chatrooms. He sent a few illustrations in the group chat, then followed up with a link saying—This streamer will be live broadcasting character illustrations for 'Rampage and Repair the world' with incredible talent and drawing speed. If you're interested, drop by and take a look.

Meng Fan entered the studio and searched around for a good-looking figure. Disappointed, he settled into his familiar corner. He hadn't seen the speedy girl on the track field for several days now, and the famous traditional Chinese art department's goddess was nowhere to be found in the studio either. It had been a while since he saw Wu Tong.

Once he was ready, he logged onto his channel and changed the announcement:

"I don't know when, but tomorrow I will be streaming for sure." to "I took a job illustrating for a web novel, so today will be Web Novel Special. Drawing anime takes time and brainpower, so today I will try to draw 10. The first five will be classic characters from my memory; the last five will be for my work."

He then changed the temporary name of the channel to [Rampage and Repair the World].

He sent out a message in the group chat and went live.

The first drawing, Meng Fan didn't draw a task, but a scene.

Out of all the fantasy novels he read, this scene was the most amazing and shocking one he had seen.

Shortly after, Meng Fan had sketched out the figure of a dragon. An ancient Chinese dragon, majestic and powerful and full of mystery.

Closely another one followed.

"666! This dragon drawing speed is super smooth!"

"So fierce!"

"Six dragons!"

"Seven, and he's still going!"

"Nine dragons! Nine princes fighting for the throne?"

"No, this dragon looks a little shady and scary. It shouldn't be related to battling for imperial power, right?"

"A chain!"

"Every dragon was dragging a chain, this is…"

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Chapter 26: I Should Probably Stop Drawing

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Aside from clothing, Meng Fan's specialty was drawing women. Especially seductive, older sister types sexy women. Next was a variety of animals, particularly fantasy creatures, then it was monsters and demons. Ordinary male characters were his biggest weakness.

'The Tale of Mountain and Sea' was a book Meng Fan had read frequently, having read over a dozen versions since his childhood. That version had great illustrations. There were many mythical creatures, monsters, and odd characters in the book.

When Meng Fan drew Aka from 'Floating Dream in a Millenium', he had immediately thought of the Hou because of his foundations found in 'The Tale of Mountain and Sea'.

A few years ago, when 'YinYang master' was popular, Meng Fan who harbored a great interest in ghosts and gods began to study its writings. If nothing else, if someone asked Meng Fan to master a 'Hyakkiyakou drawing', he would be able to do so with no sweat.

As for dragons, Meng Fan had naturally drawn ones several times, plus the added 3 drawing skill attribute and 1 drawing skill from his pen, his drawings were guaranteed to be better than before. Previously, it had just been the shape that looked good; now the charm was being sketched out.

The nine dragons formed an air of magnificence blowing through his viewers. His live comment section was showering him with gifts.

The iron chains Meng Fan had been drawing allowed netizens to begin a new round of speculations. The correct answer soon emerged from the mess, not long after.

"Meng Boss you're real badass! You're not only fast, but these details are also on point! The scales are so small, you could barely see! But they're there, and so dense too! If I didn't watch the stream, I wouldn't have noticed!"

"Nevermind the scales. Did you not notice the rust and reflection he'd drawn on the chains?"

"His drawing skills are legendary!"

"The dragon looks incredible, it's lifelike!"

"Can the one who said 'lifelike' step out for a minute. This is obviously a dragon corpse. Hahahaha!"

"The ruined nine dragons are pulling the coffin!"

"Emperor of millions, where are you now!"

"Wait, isn't that the author of Goku's biography, is he also in a coffin?"

"To the one above me, please stop joking, let us live in the fantasy hahaha!"

"Rampage and Repair fan club checking in! This host is sick!"

"Rampage and Repair fan club checking in 1!"

"Rampage and Repair fan club checking in 1024!"

"First time here, should I praise him straight up or is there a follow procedure?"

"Holy cow, even art streamers are this savage now?"

"The chains are almost done!"

"I see a coffin appearing!"

"It really is the nine dragons pulling a coffin from 'Shrouding the heavens'!"

"What an amazing drawing! This is better than all his previous ones!"

"Hey Mr. Host, when you're done can you hold it in place so I can take a screenshot?"

"Screenshot is not HD! Please upload an HD photo! I want to use it as my wallpaper!"

It took Meng Fan about 20 minutes to complete the 'Nine Dragons pulling a coffin'. This was because the picture didn't require any coloring, or else he would have spent much longer on it. These nine dragons were too much work.

After he finished, he took a closer look. Meng Fan was delighted with himself.

He looked again and saw that his viewer count had exceeded 1500. He was now even more delighted. Previously, he would be lucky to have over a thousand viewers.𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

Bee had told him that he pulled viewers from his fan club, and the results were great.

The proportion of viewers watching to total ones had increased too, mostly due to the people from the book fandom staying to watch the full stream. Willingness and drawing skills alone weren't enough for Meng Fan to keep hundreds of audience members interested.

Five minutes after he began streaming, his viewer count had increased by 600, completing Task Phase 1 of [Famous Streamer].

Points 1, Charm 1.

Meng Fan momentarily didn't have the means to test out this charm attribute.

One, it was difficult to find a mirror or a phone to see his reflection. Two, he refused to show his face on stream, and three, there was no one else in the studio to tell Meng Fan that he became more charming and attractive.

Meng Fan continued his stream, concluding that the only thing this charm attribute was good for was getting a girl and falling in love. But he knew his foundation was thin; 1 charm was probably useless.

Guess I'll keep grinding.

Hopefully, his hard work could earn him some more charm, in addition to his exercise. With time, he might be able to rely on his looks for food.

In all honesty, if he succeeded in losing weight, Meng Fan was pretty confident in his appearance. At least he was considered cute before he got fat.

Even if one didn't grow fat, one would grow old eventually. For all the genetics were there, hence he should be able to pass the standard looks.

Comparing the probability of successful weight loss to becoming a popular streamer, Meng Fan pinched his stomach. The latter was still easier, so he continued to draw.

Men.

Undoubtedly Meng Fan's least favorite and hardest type of characters to draw. But at least he read the novel, the male characters did stand out more, and there weren't many easy to draw girl characters.

Chiseled jaw, handsome face, broad shoulders, symmetrical body shape, a fierce figure… These were all unavoidable features.

For this kind of design, no matter how good Meng Fan was, his viewers would not be able to guess who it was. It was hard to identify these characters' appearances just by their descriptions.

Next up, Meng Fan began drawing the ones with unique characteristics.

This male character was suspended in midair. His long hair was flying behind him. His arms outstretched. Meng Fan began to draw something on his hands.

In one was a strain of strange grass, in another was a fierce hammer.

Once these two objects appeared, the character became recognizable.

Background, color.

Although there were various 666s spamming the live chat, Meng Fan was still reluctant to draw male characters like this that were handsome beyond reason.

He canceled his original plan of drawing Xiao Yan, Hong Yi, Teng Qing Shan, and Chen Bei Xian and switched to an old man.

Short, broken arms, sheepskin.

The man's face was washed with the harshness of aging, but his eyes were clear. His smile was bright.

Meng Fan drew two flying daggers in front of him, splattering the sky and flying towards the old man.

The man's fingers pointed towards them, displaying his awesomeness.

The man in the painting couldn't speak, and Meng Fan couldn't add any narration or text on the side, but row after row of the old man's motto appeared in the live comments.

"Let the daggers come!"

"Let the daggers come!"

"Let the daggers come!"

"666!"

"Where's the wine!"

"Such a good drawing. Go down a bottle of wine!"

"Heaven doesn't grow tired of I, Li Chun Gang, swords, knives, and all objects are like the long night!"

After he finished drawing, Meng Fan sat in satisfaction. For when the old man appeared, gifts in his live comments came flying like daggers swarming the sky.

The fourth drawing, Meng Fan felt the need to draw a female character, as it was more distinctive. He had only read a few of these popular online novels… Little Dancer? Fire elf? These characters have been drawn on streams several times already. He should draw something more unique.

Meng Fan's hand speed was undeniably fast. After a while, a tree appeared in front of the viewers' eyes.

It was a willow tree. Its branches were swaying. Its wickers were hanging like a waterfall as if it had been sculpted by a deity. The body was crystal clear. It was flowing in the wind with a streak of lightning on top of it.

Then, Meng Fan began to sketch a figure on top of the tree. A pure and holy woman slowly revealed herself. This was definitely a goddess trope!

Beautiful beyond belief!

"What is this?"

"A tree spirit?"

"Faerie?"

"Is this… the Willow god?"

"The willow god from 'Perfect World'?"

"It has to be her!"

"But the f*cking willow god is a guy!"

"Is the willow god a guy?"

"Isn't the willow god gender-neutral?"

"At the end of the book, it was confirmed that the willow god was a guy! You guys are so disruptive. Turns out this host is a fake fan!"

"Then is the host gender-bending him?"

"Hahahaha. I'm guessing the host is a fake fan. He definitely didn't finish the book!"

"As long as it looks good! I'm taking a screenshot!"

Kek… Meng Fan saw these comments, and his face flushed red. He never did finish reading that book!

"Uhm, I really don't read much web novels. Please forgive me!"

Nothing happened even after he admitted his mistake, so he said in a low voice, "Uhm, I should stop drawing people, the fifth drawing must relate to a web novel, so I'll just draw a breathtaking scene instead."

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Chapter 27: If You Say So

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Earth and sky.

Long hair flying, rising toward the heavens.

Shrouded in black clouds.

Lighting streaking.

Meng Fan's drawing of a storm coming was stirring; except for the lightning streaks, which looked a little too thick.

"666!"

"Not bad, not bad!"

After a barrage of praise, the magic pen in Meng Fan's head got thinner, scratching over the lightning. At first, his viewers thought he was just drawing a detail, then slowly saw what was wrong.

"He's not drawing something, he's writing?"

—If your mom and I fell in the ocean, who would you save?

"WTF is he writing!"

—Me and your ex who is prettier?

"What the hell is this?"

—Do you think I look better in this dress or that one?

—Do you notice anything different about me today?

—Did I get fat?

—Do you think I'm annoying?

—Will you like another girl in the future?

—If someone gave you 1 billion dollars to dump me, what would you do?

—Do you think she's pretty?

—Am I the most comfortable one you've slept with?

—What are you thinking about?

—Can we talk?

—How much do you love me?

—Have you dreamt of me before?

—Do you remember what day it is today?

"Holy crap I'm dying!"

"Hahahahahahaha. Now, this is a real storm! Compared to this, a nuclear weapon and a mass robbery in 49 days is nothing!'

"Only 69 days of robbery can trump it! (sly emoji) "

"If this is overcoming a storm, I'll never succeed!"

"The pain of being interrogated by a girlfriend!"

"I'll never be able to get past three of these in my lifetime!"

"I respect this storm!"

"Best one yet! Hey host, can I share this to my WeiBo?"

"This host's reflexes are too good!"

"Psycho!"

"This host is poison!"

"Motherf*cker, you're a genius!"

"Here are some gifts."

"Real storm, bro!"

Meng Fan recalled the couple from the other night, a chill running down his spine. In the spirit of research, he scoured the internet for some terrifying aspects of relationships, many of them being terrifying questions asked by girlfriends.

As he was drawing the 'storm' scene, he was inspired to apply what he learned.

Looking at all the gifts in the comments, it seemed like his work had paid off.

Meng Fan glanced over to see his viewers had exceeded 2000, and the live comments spoke more and more of 'Rampage and Repair the world'. Evidently, many of these viewers were fans of the book.

A channel with 2000 people was still a small following, not even comparing to the popular ones, as even in the 'artist' category, it was barely average. You could pick any stream from any category, and based on online viewers alone, most could slap Meng Fan in terms of figures.

If he could get himself on the main page, then there was no question, the number of people poking their heads in every minute would be enough for Meng Fan to live on for two to three days.

He hoped he could arrange for a 'recommended' spot soon!

After posting the link to his boss's book, Meng Fan began to draw the second batch of 5 illustrations.𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

His first subject had to be the male protagonist. Named Yuan Chong, age nineteen at the beginning of the story, he had a crew cut and was a typical dorky wholesome boy.

Meng Fan wanted to draw the protagonist when he first entered the realm and saw the defender's sword. He did a good job depicting the shock and disbelief on his face.

The second drawing was the woman Yuan Chong had poked with a torch, the "Gu Yao Goddess". This was at present the only seductress type Meng Fan had found in the book so far.

As for how to draw seductress big sister type, Meng Fan was an expert. He didn't miss a single curve of the body, not slowing down in the slightest.

The third character was a supporting role, a guy that frequently appeared in the story; a fat man.

Jesus, who know when they started including fat people as supporting roles in stories, as laughing gags, cringey posers, gunpowder carriers… All the dirty jobs were done by fat people; if they really were that hardworking, they wouldn't be fat!

Plus, they always have to be sarcastic, and so very kind!

Why!

Why can't the fatty be selfish, or be a bit lazy, or be serious; why can't the fat person be the protagonist?

Meng Fan finished the painting, still full of resentment. He took a look. 'F*k, this is good!'

Yep! And it was no reflection of himself at all!

….

When he finished the five drawings for 'Rampage and Repair the world', three hours had already passed. Excluding the time he took to stretch his butt, fingers, and wrist, each drawing took about 5-6 more minutes longer than his anime characters.

Before logging off, his viewer count had hit 2300. The total amount of viewers had surprised Meng Fan. There was more than 3700!

At present, Task Phase 2: 13,100/100,000.

That ratio… Meng Fan believed he had the novel's fan club to thank.

They had been really helpful indeed.

This collaboration had been worth it!

As for the gifts, it was comparable to his first day. But it was not bad for just a few days, as he had leveled up to UP12.

"Oh, I'm almost done."

Meng Fan discovered the studio administrator —who had been kicking people out of the studio—was eyeing him down and smiled at her apologetically. Today's stream had been longer than he planned, and the studio was closing.

"It's fine."

The caretaker unexpectedly smiled at Meng Fan. "I just finished watching the latest episode of my TV show, and was just about to go on WeiBo to trash talk ErmQing, so it's okay if you take a bit longer."

What the hell was with all the Er Qing, Er Kang, Er Tai, Er Hao? What's this all about?

Meng Fan was confused. He thought it was the administrator's method of getting people to leave, so how could he still be standing there? Hurriedly, he collected his stuff and prepared to leave. But the administrator really didn't have any intention to boot him out, looking almost peaceful.

Could it be… He'd been working so hard these days that it made a good impression on her? Or was it that his charm 1 really worked?

When he left the studio, Meng Fan checked to see nobody was around him and started patting his chubby face. It probably didn't turn more handsome… Maybe he got even more adorable?

As he passed by the convenience store, Meng Fan hesitated. He couldn't decide whether he should go in and buy an iced cola to reward himself for the long stream. As he was deciding, Meng Fan saw the hoard of people in the distance.

What time is it? There are so many people. Wait, is it last night's cheesy stupid couple again?

Meng Fan already had psychological trauma from this kind of event and tried to avoid it. He thought he could avoid the shock with cola and entered the store.

"Huh?"

A familiar voice wafted from the crowd that made Meng Fan's entire body tremble.

"Chen Da Qiang!"

Was history repeating itself?

Was it unavoidable?

Meng Fan hurried over.

"Zhao Chang Gui! We've already broken up for five months, stop meddling in my love life! We have nothing to do with each other, whether I have a boyfriend or not, a relationship or not, it's got nothing to do with you! Go away!"

A girl's voice rang through the air. She sounded upset and a little exhausted.

"That name is far from Da Qiang."

Meng Fan heard this and sighed in relief. It seems like there was no big conflict. With his advantage in the weight department, Meng Fan confidently walked into the conflict zone. To be fair, not many people were crowding around, to begin with.

"So be it! Then what I'm about to do has nothing more to do with you. This kid doesn't look right to me. I'm itching to beat him up, so don't try to stop me!"

Facing the girl was a tall guy. He had a square-shaped face, small eyes, small nose, but big lips. He seemed even more upset than the girl. He was frowning and walking towards the guy next to her. While pointing at Chen Da Qiang, he screamed, "What are you waiting for, come at me!"

Zhao Chang Gui had two more guys next to him urging him on.

"No wonder, even someone as gentle and well-tempered as Da Qiang would get in a ruse with him. No wonder afterward he became so depressed. This was no conflict; it was a gang beating!"

Meng Fan knew Da Qiang had a strong will. He scoped out Zhao Chang Gui's physique, then Da Qiang's. No matter how he looked at it, they looked equally matched.

Got balls.

"If you want to fight, then hurry up!" Meng Fan dropped his paper tube and carefully walked towards them. His expression looked like he was coming to tell on them. "Three minutes, in three minutes max the school security and professors will be here, so hurry up! You two better clear some space."

Meng Fan pulled off the two guys, one in each hand, and effortlessly dragged Zhao Chang Gui's two cheerleaders to the side. These two combined did not weigh as much as Meng Fan did. Even if they broke free, they wouldn't get far with Meng Fan's hand speed.

The two really didn't dare move, as Meng Fan's weight was enough to match professional sumo standards!

Zhao Chang Gui was on his own.

Chen Da Qiang received Meng Fan's message and suddenly found confidence within himself.

'If you say so, then I'll come at you.'

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Chapter 28: A Family That Inherited the Imperial Throne

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

When Zhao Chang Gui saw that the two classmates he had brought for support had been dragged off by some fat guy, he felt regret well up in his chest.

What happened to Ah Feng and Cai that their face looked so sour?

This guy is huge, 300 pounds? No, 250?

Does that fatso know this kid?

If he does, can the three of us beat them?

If he didn't know him, then why does he have Ah Feng and Cai hostage?

The oppressive feeling brought on by Meng Fan's stature put Zhao Chang Gui in a state of panic. So panicked that he couldn't help but take a step back when Chen Da Qian leaned forward.

"I don't know what happened between you and Xiao Xue, but I know you guys broke up, and it's been five months already. Regardless if it's a friend or a boyfriend, it's her choice, not yours. I think the basic standard of an ex-boyfriend would be to minimize or even stop seeing his past girlfriends and not to be entangled in their business."

Meng Fan's appearance had given Chen Da Qiang a dose of confidence. Of course, Da Qiang was a smart person. He knew what kind of girl Xiao Xue was. Fights, in general, should be avoided as much as possible unless his masculinity was put into question.

"It's true, I like Xiao Xue, and I'm pursuing her right now. If you are upset because of this and want to fight me, then come. If you can promise you'll stop harassing Xiao Xue after we fight, I won't hit back. If you can't promise that, then I won't go easy on you!"

Chen Da Qiang's remark was polite and full of courage. The spectators probably thought it was just interesting, or even a bit hormonal, but to Wei Zhi Xue, it was heroic.

When Meng Fan heard that, he decided that with what Da Qiang just said, no matter how bad the results were, Da Qiang won't be depressed or upset.

He let out a sigh and turned to the two guys he was holding on to, suddenly turning gentle and kind. He laughed and then told them, "You know two days ago in this very spot, a couple had been arguing. The girl was screaming theft, so yours truly bravely tackled the guy and pinned him to the ground. If the girl hadn't arrived in the nick of time, I woulda sat on him, and he would have left without his legs. But guess what the girl said? She said the guy stole her HEART! I was so mad!"

"Just now, I thought some cringey thing was happening again and was about to run in without a word and drop kick the guy, at least I have to make up for what happened last time. But when I heard it was a fight, I sucked it up; there was a crowd, so I had to take a look. Besides, there are so many people here. You guys are all watching, right? You two are also here for the commotion right?"

The two guys, along with some of the onlookers, widened their eyes and focused on Meng Fan.

The legendary man of steel that had tackled the man from the night before is you! Respect, respect!

"Hey, flat nose, are you still gonna fight? If you don't start now, the professors are going to come!"

Meng Fan spoke of his embarrassing anecdote, for it was a threat to be reckoned. The two people he was holding onto did not dare to move. No matter how dumb they were, they could tell Meng Fan was warning them to stay out of this. They couldn't tell if it was because Meng Fan knew the other kid, or if he pulled them away purely for spectating purposes.

Coupled with Meng Fan's statement, Zhao Chang Gui who was already panicking gave up all thoughts of fighting.

The teachers were a secondary issue. God knows if this iron like man knew this kid. If he did and decided to tackle Zhao Chang Gui, could he stand it?

"You wait!"

Zhao Chang Gui was still fueled by the momentum, so it was impossible for him to leave without leaving some harsh remarks.

He glared at Chen Da Qiang, then squinted at Wei Zhi Xue. He squinted at Meng Fan as well. He didn't even want to look at his two friends who were shackled by Meng Fan.

It didn't matter how arrogant or proud he sounded; for after this fatty's meddling, he couldn't compete with the heroic statement Chen Da Qiang had said on behalf of Wei Zhi Xue.

Time to go.

I, Zhao Chang Gui will come back!

"This wasn't as interesting as the other day."

Meng Fan laughed happily and smiled at the two men he was holding. "Looking at the two of you is making my head even bigger. How about we go get some skewers?"

"Oh, it's alright. It's so late. The stores must all be closed now." The two quickly refused.

"True. What a pity!"

Meng Fan sighed again and loosened his grip.

With their newly restored freedom, the two guys scurried away.

Meng Fan squinted his eyes at Chen Da Qiang and blinked his eyes bashfully. He picked up his drawing tube and headed for the convenience store. After resolving such a big conflict, he had to reward himself with a bottle of ice cola; no, make that two bottles!

After returning to the dormitory and stepping out of the shower, Meng Fan was contemplating if he should drink his second bottle of cola when Chen Da Qiang returned at the same time. After pushing the door open, he found Meng Fan and flung himself toward his body.

"Fat boy, I love you so much!"

Chen Da Qiang had always been a good speaker, but he sucked at expressing his emotions. So he just gave Meng Fan a big hug.

"Get lost! I just showered!"

Meng Fan straightened his body and straight-up bounced Chen Da Qiang away. "Besides, how could someone who's about to have a girlfriend say the word "love" to a single dog like me? I'm allergic to you!"

Chen Da Qiang looked pleased with himself. "Not about to, I already have one."

"F*k! What happened?!"

Xing Ta Ge who had been lying in bed with a sheet mask on and Zhang Zhou Wei who was chattering away on the phone with Wang Ya Nan both turned around.

Meng Fan took his cola and walked to his bed. This didn't happen before he was reborn!

Before he died, Zhang Zhou Wei had to go through many hardships before he got Wang Ya Nan in January. Chen Da Qiang was extremely depressed from getting beat up and only got together with Wei Zhi Xue two months later due to her "unconditional" love for him.

As for Xing Ta Ge, the guy already had a girlfriend in the first week of school and had changed girlfriends three times so far without even taking a breather in between.

After being reincarnated, He became the only empty nester without a girlfriend in the dorm, two months ahead of schedule. No, he didn't even have a nest.

A bird that had no place to go… A youth that was going nowhere!

While hearing three guys with girlfriends talk about sensitive topics for single dogs like him, Meng Fan obediently put his cola in Xing Ta Ge's mini-fridge that he had bought exclusively for face masks.

I have to lose weight. There's still a long way to go!

The next morning, Meng Fan set out on his weight loss journey.

"Ding! Great job! You've run 5 kilometers; elapsed time 38 minutes and 45 seconds."

Meng Fan ran five kilometers with each km averaging 7 minutes and 45 seconds. His running posture and stride frequency had been corrected to an impressive degree.

I'll have to keep going!

Even after the trauma from yesterday, Meng Fan managed to run another 2 kilometers before slowing down. If it hadn't been for his morning class starting soon, Meng Fan was determined he could have beaten his own record with 8 kilometers.

"You're still running every day?"

As he was stretching, a familiar voice came from behind him.

"It's been a while!"

After 87 hours, Meng Fan's eyes lit up at the sight of Wu Tong.

Many days had passed since he last saw her.

"I didn't see you on the track, nor did I find you in the studio." Meng Fan held back from asking her where she had been. He then said, "I've been pretty successful with my stream lately and found that streaming is really interesting! I wanted to buy you dinner to thank you, but I just couldn't find you."𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

"I've been watching your stream; you are really good! And pretty funny, too."

Wu Tong must have just arrived at the track as she began warming up, revealing her lively and beautiful figure. She smiled. "I was back at home for the last few days, my thirteenth eldest brother got married."

"13th brother?"

Meng Fan paused for a moment.

'Why did that sound like something only someone from a family that inherited the imperial throne would say?'

"I have a big family. I've got eighteen older brothers and thirteen younger ones."

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Chapter 29: Knives in the Mail

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"My family is a bit special."

Meng Fan's melodramatic expression wasn't outside of what Wu Tong was used to. As she stretched her chest, she said, "My grandpa had seven siblings, each one having three or four sons. My dad alone has 25 siblings, and not one of them is a girl. When it came to me, it was the same. Because of the one-child policy, my uncles all only had one kid. Some had more, but they were all guys. I'm the only girl."

Meng Fan's expression amplified even more. "Are you sure you're not a stand-up comedian?"

Wu Tong shifted into a lunge and smiled at him. "It sounds like a joke, but it's true. Let me tell you something even more ridiculous. When I was in elementary school, the boys in my class liked to stick Xanthium in girls' hair. It's that spikey plant that is so hard to get out of your hair. A guy grabbed my hair and stuck some on, and I couldn't get it off for a long time so I cried."

After switching legs, she continued, "Then, several guys from different grades including ones from middle school rushed out and blocked the boy. That also included numerous uncles that ran out from the teacher's office. Even the principal couldn't stop them. It got so bad they had to call the education board."

Meng Fan thought about it hard. This gag sounded familiar to him. He seemed to have heard it before. Could it be that this speedy girl was a prototype for a comedian?

"Then…." Meng Fan didn't know how to continue his sentence. After a moment of thought, he finished it, "Then it must be hard for you to find a boyfriend, right?"

Wu Tong paused her actions, then switched to another warm-up position. She nodded. "Yep. Thirty-one brothers basically cover all kinds of guys. They're all really good to me too. It's not that I'm comparing my boyfriend to them, but… How do I put it, some qualities that guys think are an advantage seem normal to me, so it's hard for me to be curious or interested. Don't people say curiosity and worship is the first step to liking someone? That kind of thing rarely happens to me."

"The horror of being supported by my brothers."

Meng Fan wanted to tell her that she should just find a girlfriend instead, but he thought better of it and swallowed his words. He then found a more suitable on-topic subject to chat about, "It's good you're a girl with so many brothers, they must love and spoil you like a princess. They wouldn't ever let you touch anything relating to those playboys and their fake sincerity, right? If you were a guy, and your brothers were sisters, you'd still be spoiled, but the method would be different. If anything, they would definitely try everything to dress you up… Hm, seems like it would be the same. They'd treat you like a princess too."

After completing her daily stretches, Wu Tong added another set. After hearing Meng Fan's rambling, she looked towards him, as if her eyes were saying, 'Please share your story now.'

Meng Fan took off his headband and touched his hair. He sighed and said, "I have four older sisters and three younger ones. The four older ones especially, their favorite thing to do was to dress me up…" He lifted his head and remembered all the times that he had been dominated by his sisters. From a young age, he had just been a big woman.

"Of course, I refused that sort of thing… Finally, when I turned ten, they decided it was no longer fun to make me wear dresses, so they stopped the annual tradition… But they never stopped loving me, so they quickly switched from dressing me to feeding me."

Meng Fan rubbed his belly, then said with emotion, "Who says love can't be felt? There's nothing in this world that is more concrete than love."

"So, this is the reason why you've "grown" so strong?"

This time, it was Wu Tong's turn to stare in awe.

Meng Fan nodded and finished his last stretch.𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

Wu Tong held back her laugh and completed her last warm-up exercise. Like the wind, she ran off, and as she ran, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Weird, why did I tell him all that.

…..

"This fast?"

FlatHeadBro received Meng Fan's drawings around two o'clock in the afternoon. He downloaded them to find 12 illustrations awaiting review.

After rushing to write two chapters, with a cappuccino in hand, FlatHeadBro had watched about 30 minutes of yesterday's stream. Although he didn't quite understand art, he had seen his fair share of artwork in the past few days of searching for an artist. He was at least able to distinguish between good and bad, so he was not worried about Meng Fan at all.

Of course, after watching his stream, he was not surprised or intrigued by Meng Fan's speedy 'submission'. In fact, he was very pleased with Meng Fan's brilliant work ethic.

"I will recommend you on my social media as well as the new book chapter that's coming out today. "

FlatHeadBro was very pleased with the illustrations, as well as Meng Fan's professional attitude.

"Thank you."

Meng Fan grabbed a copy of 'The History of Ancient Chinese Weapons' after responding to FlatHeadBro and began reading. He just bought it not long ago and was more than halfway through it when he died. Now that he went back on time, he could skip forward and save a few days of reading.

Toward books that were 'not professionally related to art but could assist in art-related professions, Meng Fan had always been diligent. He read more of these than he had academic textbooks and professional art collections, so he was quite the 'non-professional'.

The witch always said that no matter what kind of expression the character carried, it would ultimately communicate the source of its creation and the culture behind it. This sentence had been drilled into Meng Fan's head by his mother since he was just a boy. Before he had found it annoying, but slowly he came to realize how much sense it made. Especially right as he left the world of imitation and entered one of creation and independent thinking.

"Do you have extra time?"

After about twenty minutes, FlatHeadBro sent another WeChat message.

"I showed your illustrations to a few of my friends. They think you're really good; the key being your high level of production."

"They're also web novel authors, in need of some illustrations."

"They wanted to ask if you have some extra time to draw some more sets, around the same amount as me."

Having had his work recognized by his boss, Meng Fan was pretty happy, only… He thought about it for a moment and replied, "I've got no problem drawing more sets, but I'm afraid that I won't have enough time to read all the novels."

"*Bitter smile emote* I didn't think about that. You're right, it takes you a few hours to draw a set, but to read the novels would probably take you days." After a few minutes, FlatHeadBro messaged again. "I asked them, two are long-term contracts, one of which has just started, so it only has around 300,000 characters. The other one has a bit more, around 2 million, but he updates slow, so he's got about 2 million characters left. At the least, it'll take two years. He says you could probably just draw what you've read, and you'll catch up to him, eventually. Besides, those two are willing to find people to help you manage your content. If you think it's suitable, I'll send you their contact info."

"Ok."

Meng Fan deduced that a long-term contract would be doable. His illustration task had to be completed. More drawings meant more money to be made. In addition, there was a huge possibility that those guys could boost his stream views. What more could Meng Fan ask for?

If he had enough time to read all the novels, he would have accepted FlatHeadBro's offer in an instant.

Immediately, FlatHeadBro sent two contact cards along with another message. "Oh right, can you send me the original drawings that you did for my book?"

"Of course."

This was already paid for by the big boss from the beginning, so if he needed the originals, Meng Fan had to comply.

FlatHeadBro sent over an address, and Meng Fan sent a WeChat message to the delivery brother responsible for the school's packages.

He successfully added the other two authors and came to a decision after some hasty negotiations. The conditions were exactly the same as the ones for FlatHeadBro. Soon, both of them had sent him their social media handles and their book titles.

"F*k!"

Meng Fan almost cursed out loud when he saw one of the titles.

The one that FlatHeadBro had said was already at two million characters, but Meng Fan could still catch up to!

That was also a novel Meng Fan had painstakingly been following, a horror type story with terrifying content, as well as a terrifying update rate. Three years, and he was only at two million characters!

How many times had he considered giving up because of the author's slow update rate?

Meng Fan changed the WeChat nickname to the author's name, then sent a message. "Do you want me to send you the originals?"

"Could you? That would be awesome, thank you!"

An address followed immediately.

Meng Fan was already wrapped in his thoughts. When he sent the originals, it would be reasonably fitting to put some sharp pieces from a blade in the envelope.

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Chapter 30: One Day Without Trash Talk Makes Me Uncomfortable

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

The two authors were respectively named 'Anxiously' and 'KeyboardsMakeMeSleepy'. Both were prodigy level novel writers. 'KeyboardsMakeMeSleepy' didn't need an introduction—who would have that kind of name if they didn't live up to it. Meng Fan was still painstakingly following his 'There's a Spirit Underground' series. As for "Anxiously", Meng Fan had previously heard of him. He even read one of his books, although he never finished it.

Meng Fan loyally followed "There's a Spirit Underground". He even read the beginning twice, so there was no need to read the book when he did the illustrations. At most, he would need to flip to some important chapters for details.

This was a horror novel about spiritual creatures. From a certain point of view, it fell in Meng Fan's lap, as it would have been an easy task for someone who could draw most of the characters in the 'Hyakkiyakou' straight from his mind.

Anxious's novel was a fantasy story titled 'The Supreme Sword'. Based on the name alone, one could deduce this was a story about sword fighting. If he could bring ancient swordsman Li Chun Gang to life through his drawings, Meng Fan was confident in his ability to illustrate the flying sword.

As for the style of flying daggers, aside from its shape, the other details could be gathered from his knowledge of historical costumes, and small motifs like cloud prints, thunder prints, dragon prints, phoenix prints, etc could be slapped on. Add some more ancient creatures, and Meng Fan could draw for three days and three nights without repetition.

Besides, if it was related to swordplay, the clothing and design must lean towards historical style, which was also in Meng Fan's field of expertise.

Buzz Buzz.

After the authors sent their book titles and social media handles, they also attached a money transfer of 1500 HXB each.

Meng Fan collected the money and followed their accounts. He browsed through their recent activity and easily found some earlier versions of book illustrations. But more than half of them were irrelevant to the context, and the ones that were, to be honest, were not very good.

It was just as Bee said, authors these days became more and more aware of their social media presence, or else they wouldn't be bothered to look for a professional illustrator.

Fifteen hundred dollars a week was a considerable expense for most internet authors, but to these legendary tier writers, it was nothing. They probably made more from the sheer advertising fees their accounts received each week.

Meng Fan flipped through 'The History of Ancient Chinese Weapons' again to find the sword article. He then proceeded to download 'The Supreme Sword' and began reading.

That book was very exciting, and the rhythm was good as well. However, since Meng Fan's interests didn't fall in its category, his overall reading experience hadn't been that good. By chapter thirty, he was struggling to continue.𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

But this was part of the job.

"Chubs, you've changed."

The bell had just sounded, signaling the end of class. Zhang Zhou Wei slinked over to Meng Fan from where he had just been clinging to Wang Ya Nan. He was serious and asked Meng Fan. "You stopped Leaguing, PubGing, even Overwatch! You even left out a bottle of icy cola, and you run every morning. You look skinnier, even more handsome, but most importantly, you've become so hardworking and outstanding! You're making us pale in comparison!"

Meng Fan packed up his untouched textbooks and notebooks and squinted at Zhang Zhou Wei. "Speak, how much do you need?"

"My parents birthed me, but only Meng boss truly knows me!"

Zhang Zhou Wei smirked and embarrassingly popped up two fingers. He then slowly responded, "Two thousand. I'm about to go shopping with Ya Nan at the luxury store."

Meng Fan transferred 2000 HXB to Zhang Zhou Wei on WeChat, then remembered something. "Oh yeah, by the way, can you bring me back a phone stand? The kind that's suitable for streaming. Doesn't your girlfriend also stream art, maybe she can pick out a good one for me?"

"Got it."

Zhang Zhou Wei turned around and pranced away.

"No wonder my mom asked me about my financial situation when she was interrogating me for a girlfriend." Meng Fan muttered to himself. He packed up and headed back to the dormitory, but he didn't continue reading the novels. Instead, he started preparing the content for the stream that evening.

He probably won't be able to stream his illustrations for 'The Supreme Sword', but 'There's a Spirit Underground' was definitely doable.

"Tonight is a psychic special—I'm drawing original manuscripts for 'There's a Spirit Underground'." Meng Fan logged into 8th station and revised his header. Seeing that the sun outside had been covered by clouds before it set, he gratefully threw on his sportswear and headed to the track early.

He ran 8 kilometers in 1 hour and 6 minutes, with the first 6 kilometers averaging under 8 minutes per km. The last two kilometers took a bit more effort.

"It's still early today, let's run some more."

He felt an unreasonable willpower to continue and picked up his pace that had just dropped.

"Should I try the energizing chews?"

Meng Fan had been eyeing the energy chews in the equipment row on his [Travelling Deity] progress bar for a while now.

Energy Chews: Restores 20% of physical strength, relieves 50% of fatigue (Repeated use should occur a minimum of 10 minutes later, effects diminish throughout the span of one day)

The energy chews weren't expensive and only cost 5 points in exchange for one piece. Meng Fan had 73 points, so it didn't cost him too much to try just one. Nonetheless, he was still too stingy.

Guess I'll rely on willpower alone!

19 minutes later, Meng Fan survived the final two kilometers.

He had run 10 kilometers in one session!

Although the system didn't reward him with any achievements, Meng Fan felt in his heart the warm sense of accomplishment.

Before he was reborn, Meng Fan hadn't dreamed that he would be able to do this.

After thoroughly stretching and showering, Meng Fan poked his fat once again. Not sure if it was an illusion, he continued pinching around; it really did feel harder.

After wolfing down the dinner Chen Da Qiang had brought for him, Meng Fan walked by the convenience store and resisted the urge to go in and buy a bottle of cola. He also resisted the idea to weigh himself on the scale outside of the store.

Even though he had been crazily running recently, he was well aware that it would be a while before he dropped below the 100 kg mark.

Unsure if it would drop below 100 kg, Meng Fan refused to step on the scale. The numbers displayed would be too similar to crossing a weighbridge.

His evening stream would once again begin at 7:30. Similarly, he would draw ten pieces.

The first five were gods from 'Yin Yang Master'. From beginning to the end, he had drawn the fat sorcerer, the Backhanded nurse, changing YuZao, Duo Ying Hua and galaxy skinned Hui Yue goddess. They were all girls and all seductress big sister types.

In his lifetime, he would never be able to find a real one, so he could only rely on drawing them!

The last five were all related to 'There's a Spirit Underground'; three characters and two scenery drawings.

Since he already told Mr.Sleepy he would be streaming illustrations from 'There's a Spirit Underground', Meng Fan didn't bother updating the header. This didn't stop him from opening a tab and asking around for food stamps. He also sent his stream link to all the fan club chat rooms. In addition, FlatHeadBro had also recommended him on his social media platform when he published his latest chapter, so the number of viewers reached a new high that night.

It reached 4600 people!

There were more people from Mr.Sleepy's group chat than there were from FlatHeadBro's. Aside from people spamming 666s and small gifts, there were also live comments rushing the novel for updates and asking Meng Fan to send the author knives and sharp objects and draw only one character a week to speed up the process!

The speed of update was so slow, yet the fan base remained massive. Aside from the high quality of the novel itself, Meng Fan guessed that Mr.Sleepy definitely had some old-timer experience, otherwise his fans wouldn't have such incredible trash-talking abilities either.

"I'm gonna end it here for today. Tomorrow will be weapons special. The first five will be cold weapons, and the last five will be illustrations from the novel 'The Supreme Sword'." Meng Fan said before he logged off.

He checked the progress bar in his mind. Today's total viewer count had reached 7300, another new record.

Meng Fan's progress on task phase 2: 20,400/100,000

Such progress was not bad.

"You're off early today?"

The first five drawings Meng Fan did today had been ones he had already drawn before. Although the last five were secondary creations, Meng Fan was still familiar with them; hence, it didn't take him as long as previous nights to finish all 10.

When he left, the studio administrator had specially gone out of her way to greet Meng Fan.

Meng Fan used the studio a lot, so it was beneficial to be on good terms with the administrator. He smiled and replied, "Did you trash talk Er Qing today?"

When the caretaker had mentioned that name, Meng Fan had searched it out of curiosity. He now knew what kind of player Er Qing was, as well as understanding the lingering fear she left on the WeiBo community.

"Er Qing is your girlfriend, Fan Sheng Mei is your daughter, Rong Momo is your Mother-in-law, Xie Guang Kun is your father, An Ling Rong is your best friend, Zi Ling is your sister…."

That was the most creative way of trash taking someone he had seen on WeiBo so far.

The lady heard him and laughed. "Of course I did. Just one day of not trashing her makes me uncomfortable."

After seeing Meng Fan away, the administrator smiled and realized that the fatty was pretty likable.

She then turned to look at the corner where Meng Fan often sat. She thought to herself: You don't come by such a hardworking fatty often. What if one day he came in late and the seat is taken? That would hurt his enthusiasm for sure. I've gotta keep this spot for him.

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Chapter 31: Your Family Owns Coal

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

The illustrations for 'There's a Spirit Underground', Meng Fan had drawn very well with a high level of skill and execution, making them better than the illustrations he had done for 'Rampage and Repair the world'.

To the netizens that came for Mr.Sleepy, Meng Fan had satisfied their expectations, even drawing one that had exceeded their expectations.

When it came to adapting novels, regardless of manga adaptation or video, these kinds of content will always stir up controversy and attract disses from the viewers. Comparably, manga adaptations were treated a bit better, as video adaptations usually got downvoted into oblivion.

Even so, the expectations for a manga adaptation were very hard to reach, because once the texts provided too much space for imagination, the visualizations will always turn out different. Meng Fan's illustrations didn't count as manga adaptations of course, but it was very close. From a certain point of view, it was more difficult than regular adaptations as he didn't have the coherence of the plot to base off.

When Meng Fan completed his first five illustrations, fans of the book immediately took screenshots and began sending them to their friend groups, rushing to tell and share.

Mr.Sleepy, who was not proactively updating his chapters but proactive in other activities, was extraordinarily proactive when it came to this matter. He sent a WeChat message to Meng Fan after his stream had ended, asking for Meng Fan to send him the five manuscripts he'd done on stream, immediately selecting two and posting them to his public profile. Additionally, he sent a hehe and made another post telling his fans to look at the images on his public handle.

Even this was not enough, as he then posted the images to his WeChat moments and WeiBo, and considered for a minute before showing them off on the network writers' association 'LongKong forum'. He couldn't forget the writers' chat rooms either.

"MotherF*ker you have this much time why can't you update another chapter?"

"You have enough time to watch a stream but not enough to write some words!"

"You said your eyes were hurting! They hurt from looking at words but not at images, is that it?"

After chuckling, he accepted the wave of complaints. Mr.Sleepy opened the Word doc and entered:"Chapter xxx" before getting up to make a cup of coffee. He then sat down without looking at his keyboard and uncontrollably opened WeiBo. He scrolled and scrolled until he reached a link to an old zombie film by Lin Zheng Ying, then uncontrollably clicked into it and attentively began to watch.

At the end of the joyful movie, the clock was nearing midnight. Mr.Sleepy sighed regretfully and clicked the close button to the left of his word doc. He'd finally corrected his work schedule and couldn't ruin it now. Guess writing will have to wait until tomorrow; a 'healthy body was key to revolution,' after all.

He'd just laid down when his WeChat began to buzz nonstop. He had been pulled into a new WeChat group by his night owl author friends.

"Sleepyhead, what's the deal with your illustrations?"

"Where did you find your artist?"

"After looking at the illustrations you posted then back at my own, I want to die!"

"How much are you paying? It's got to be at least five hundred for one drawing right?

"Five hundred minimum right? I found a guy for three hundred per drawing and he often delays his submissions; his update rate is even worse than you!"

"I've seen Mr.Sleepy's books, the illustrations that you sent are completely recognizable to your name! As for the artists I found… Hehe, if you didn't say what book their art was from you'd never guess, but if you did say it was from a novel it'd be right because they're way too ordinary!"

Mr.Sleepy looked at the barrage of messages, letting out a chuckle, and sat up.

…𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

Meng Fan had painted twelve illustrations for 'There's a Spirit Underground', as it was good to give some discounts during their first time doing business. Of course, it was also because Meng Fan could illustrate it with ease, incorporating a lot of small details and quirks into his scenes, and even adding some easter eggs in small corners. It wasn't that he was hardworking but way too familiar with the work.

There weren't any classes in the afternoon, so before 10 am, Meng Fan had sent the remaining seven drafts to Mr.Sleepy. Around one in the afternoon, Mr. S had just woken up. Once he received the message, he immediately responded to Meng Fan. "Bro, your art is too much! Thank you, thank you!

"By the way, a few of my colleagues were asking me about illustrations yesterday, they want you to draw for them. Do you still have time? As for the price, they have suggested themselves, as long as the quality doesn't go down, they are willing to increase it.

"FlatHeadBro told me already, you're worried the books are too long and you can't read them in time, so I spent a long while last night selecting some suitable ones for you. They're all fairly short, and the authors pay a lot." As he spoke he sent a few novels over.

"Take a look, if you're interested in any of them let me know, I'll send you the author's WeChat contact info to you."

Yup, Mr.S was very proactive towards these things too.

"Okay, thank you."

Meng Fan was itching to ask why the hell he didn't update his novel and went to do this sort of thing last night, but then stopped himself. It was better to diss him on his QiDian APP account.

Mr.S sent over three books, all of which had character counts between 500,000 and 800,000. They were all fantasy types, two of which the authors Meng Fan was familiar with, and one Meng Fan had not heard of but was also a god-tier author.

It made sense; if they weren't god-level or near god-level authors, one, they wouldn't have the number of public followers, two is they wouldn't have the thought to consider illustrators, and three… They wouldn't have the money; at least, the kind of money to freely spend 1500 a month on illustrations alone.

After adding all three books to his bookshelf, Meng Fan did not read them immediately, for the same reason as before: He had time to draw, but not enough to read as well.

Out of these three, Meng Fan could only take on one at most, in the next few days at least. Perhaps once he finished the novels on hand, he could consider accepting another job.

Doing business for web novel illustrations, Meng Fan was confident he could do it. High income aside, the key was the high amount of followers coming to his stream, and it was a fixed flow of traffic too.

This would be a crucial boost for completing [Famous Streamer].

Thinking of this, a person appeared in his mind. If he could find her, he could bring an unimaginable flow of viewers to his channel in just a short time, but… Nevermind, it's probably best to not bother her, who knew what conditions would await him.

He swept the devilish woman out of his thoughts and continued to read 'The Supreme Sword'.

"F*k, how come reading books doesn't trigger a task?"

Half an hour later, Meng Fan stretched his neck, which after the last few days of running had emerged from being covered by his chin and the fat around it. From the task that had been triggered, he'd thought there would be at least one achievement that was related to reading books, but the system refused to unlock it for him. He'd been reading e-books as well as physical books. Could it be his posture was wrong?

Buzz.

His phone showed a notification from WeChat. He clicked into it, and his mouth jerked a bit.

He'd just been thinking about her when she decided to message him herself.

"Fan Fan, I'm in Hang city, I want to see you."

"I don't."

Meng Fan recalled their last unpleasant meeting and decisively refused. He didn't mind that they had to sneakily meet, nor did he mind that it took him an hour of commute to meet up for 15 minutes, but when she had put wasabi in the food he loved the most, that was the bottom line!

"You are so unwilling to see me, maybe you'll want to see…"

She sent a photo message.

"I asked my friends to bring them from Nippon, they're all souvenirs from the Shonen Jump fifteen-year anniversary event; two big boxes."

"Gimme your address, I'll be there soon."

Meng Fan saw the photo and immediately changed his attitude. At this point, it was impossible to move his giant mass and escape the teacher's prying eyes. He could only fake an expression of pain, clutching his stomach and scurrying away.

Two and a half hours later, Meng Fan's taxi arrived downstairs of the dormitory. Zhang Zhou Wei who had come down after receiving his call was waiting for him to help carry the two heavy boxes into their room. Once they opened it, their screams rang through the first floor.

Zhang Zhou Wei calmed his emotions and stared at Meng Fan. "Fatty, your family got some coal or what?"

"My family not only has minerals…. mineral water, potato chips, jerky and spicy dough sticks!" Meng Fan said as he sorted out the figures, special periodicals, out-of-print cards, posters, illustrations, single books, cups, T-shirts, signatures, and three original manuscripts and organized them around himself. He was in a great mood, even if he had been exploited by that woman.

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Chapter 32: One Hundred Kilometers!

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

"You're going back?"

"Of course, or you'd rather think that I'll wait for you?"

"I have a last-minute interview."

"You're playing me on purpose? If you're not here why can't you just mail the package, instead of making me run outside in such hot weather? Back and forth took me two and a half hours lady!"

"Hahaha this is good for your weight loss, besides, even though I didn't get to see you, I could see your figure entering and leaving the hotel from the other room, so at least I can rest in comfort knowing you are okay."

"Your phone doesn't have a video function, right? Also, if I am so fat who worked the hardest here don't you have an idea?"

"You heartless little sh*t, I brought you so many things and not even a thank you!"

"These are two separate things."

"Then, why don't you say thank you?"

"I counter!"

"Heh, then it's still two separate things."

While he organized, Meng Fan chatted with Meng Cai Wei, rattling on and off.

On the side was Zhang Zhou Wei, carefully helping out while letting out inaudible screams at the same time. They had long guessed Meng Fan's family background was the best out of everyone in the dorm, but they were still surprised, as this wasn't even bought by Meng Fan himself, but sent by someone else as a favor from his sister.

'I wish I had an older sister like this!'

The special editorials and journals may not be expensive, but the price of even one of the figures must have cost an arm and a leg. But even this could not compare to the god tier autographs… Well, even if the signatures could be queued for, how can you explain these original manuscripts?

Oda! Yoshihiro Togashi! Akira Toriyama!

How could you get your hands on this kind of stuff if your family didn't have coal?!

"Hey what's this? Make-up?" Zhang Zhou Wei saw a box sitting alone to the side. Curiously, he picked it up and looked at its packaging. No matter how he looked at it, it didn't look like something related to the Shonen jump 15th-anniversary souvenirs.

"Fatty, you really changed, you're even starting self-care! What brand is this, THE-GINZA, I haven't heard of it?"

"You're not Pigeon over there, how many brands can you know?" Meng Fan chuckled to himself. "This isn't for me, this is from my sister, for the witch." Meng Fan had already told Zhang Zhou Wei his relationship with the witch, so there was nothing to hide.

"Your sister is too nice no? Even thinking to bring gifts for your teacher! It must have cost a lot?"

"I don't know if it's costly or not, but I know this isn't on my behalf, they knew each other beforehand."

"Oh."

Zhang Zhou Wei was one step closer to understanding Meng Fan's relationship with the witch.

After finishing, Meng Fan sent a part of it home with express delivery, specifically buying insurance for it as well. The other half he left in his dormitory, as he couldn't distribute some to Zhang Zhou Wei and his other roommates.

"My sister brought something for you, I'll bring it over now?"

Meng Fan sent Qin Jiao a WeChat message, changing into his running clothes and returning to his phone. She said she was in her office, so he grabbed an ordinary canvas bag and put the set of THE GINZA products into it snugly. Dropping it off at the office, he considered turning in his homework. Otherwise, it would really be regarded as a gift.

When Qin Jiao saw Meng Fan's running attire, she immediately smiled. There were no other teachers around, so she couldn't help but tease him. "Are you going to exercise or to rehab?"

"Professor, please mind yourself!"

Meng Fan dropped the bag on her desk and turned to leave. "Who's she trying to bully?"

The witch was delirious, picking up her phone and messaging Meng Cai Wei. "I received your package, did you upset him again?"

Once he arrived at the track, Meng Fan had just run 5 kilometers before he stopped. Including the 5 kilometers from the morning, he was at 98 kilometers total, only 2 kilometers away from completing task phase 4. Meng Fan, who had some degree of obsessive-compulsive symptoms was very uncomfortable when he looked at the total mileage. He had wanted to finish the laps if it weren't for the lack of time.

For his evening live broadcast, the first five drawings were all ancient weapon illustrations, all of which were famous instruments such as the 'sunset bow', whiplash, overlord spear, Fang Tian Flayer, Tang knives, etc; some were from myths and legends while others were from historical romances, and some from real life.

Meng Fan drew each one carefully, even mindful to incorporate his own designs and details. He had avoided the sword on purpose, as they were related to the last five drawings. The illustrations for 'The Supreme Sword' would definitely include swords.

The stream went smoothly, although the peak viewers weren't as high as the day before, they were still around 3200-5300, which was close to yesterday's numbers, and drastically higher than previous days.

Meng Fan naturally hoped each day would be better than the last, but it was acceptable right now for his viewers to increase and maintain their numbers through to the next day.

It was okay to think about becoming famous overnight, but not too much.

The next day, Meng Fan woke up earlier than usual and arrived at the track field while it was still dark.

"Beep! Your total mileage has reached 100 kilometers, completing task phase 4 [Travelling Deity]. Reward: Points 100, endurance 1, strength 1, speed 1."

"Ding! You can do it! You've ran 2 kilometers, elapsed time 15 minutes and 40 seconds.

The notifications followed one after another; one in his ear, the other in his head. Although he'd been waiting for it, Meng Fan was still embarrassed the moment he heard the notification went off. The excitement from increasing stats for three attributes at once was inevitable, but what he couldn't comprehend was the absentmindedness.

100 kilometers!

To Meng Fan, this had been an unimaginable number no matter how he looked at it. And yet, he had done it.𝐍𝑂𝑽𝑬𝓵𝒏𝖊xt.𝕔𝑂𝓂

In the past, he had been overwhelmed by even just hearing this number. Now, just ten days after he respawned Meng Fan actually completed it!

If he discloses this to the public, nobody would believe it.

Even his three roommates who had witnessed Meng Fan running twice a day, would not believe that Meng Fan had run 100 kilometers.

If someone could imagine it, it would be…

Meng Fan, still running, saw a figure looming up on the edge of the track field.

"She would believe me right?"

It was difficult for Wu Tong not to see Meng Fan's figure, not to mention he was just who she'd come looking for.

Wu Tong smiled and waved, and continued her warm-up exercises.

Meng Fan retracted his thoughts and felt the changes in the three additional attributes.

100 kilometers to Meng Fan was the ultimate watershed in this task, giving him three attribute scores at once. Strength, endurance, and speed complemented each other, the changes to his physical strength, running speed and overall physical state were all very obvious. Compared to before, it was a qualitative leap.

Faster!

According to the data provided by his black magic running shoes, Meng Fan gradually increased his step frequency by 10%, reducing the contact time by 5%. He tried his best to maintain his breathing rhythm…

"Ding! You've ran 3 kilometers, elapsed time 23 minutes and 20 seconds."

"Ding! You've ran 4 kilometers, elapsed time 30 minutes and 55 seconds."

"Ding! You've ran 5 kilometers, elapsed time 38 minutes and 25 seconds."

Meng Fan used 3 kilometers of milage, adjusting to the data provided by his shoes. Slowly, he managed to bring his lap time to 7 minutes and 30 seconds.

His breathing rhythm remained unchanged, and physical exertion was similar to his previous pace of 7 minutes and 50 seconds.

Continue!

Meng Fan decided to run 10 kilometers this morning, striving for 7 minutes and 25 seconds per km during his sixth to the eighth kilometer. The last two kilometers he pressed for 7 minutes and 30 – 35 seconds.

This kind of change in pace, if not all of a sudden for the three attribute increase, Meng Fan wouldn't have dared to test.

If this attempt was successful, and his body became familiarized with the new attributes, Meng Fan thought that the next time he ran he could go for 7 minutes and 30 seconds at the start. This kind of pace for a 5-kilometer run should be no problem, but how long can he maintain it if he was still up in the air?

"Still running?"

Wu Tong ran 8 kilometers today, only lapping Meng Fan four times. This basically confirmed what kind of pace Meng Fan had been running at, as well it told her how many kilometers he'd run. Based on this, Wu Tong was a little surprised.

He's going for 10 kilometers, isn't he?

This improvement is too fast!

If it had been a regular person Wu Tong wouldn't have been too affected, but for someone of Meng Fan's caliber, it was hard to believe.

For someone with his kind of capacity to run 10 kilometers, anyone who saw it would be shocked.

"Are his knees made out of steel?"

After finishing her stretches, Wu Tong, who had planned to head back to shower, stayed and continued her training. She wanted to see how long Meng Fan could run for, and how fast.

"If someone like him entered the 'one meter for a grain' charity mini-marathon, it would bring a lot of positive energy and influence, right?"

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