Shanghai in September.
The sky was like an overturned steamer.
Su Mu stood in the military training formation.
The forty-degree heat made the asphalt road emit smoke.
He felt like his head was about to boil.
[Goddess Development System has been bound.]
A mechanical voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
Su Mu's already dizzy head buzzed.
His vision went black, and he fell straight onto the rubber track in front of him.
The surroundings instantly turned into chaos.
His roommate Wang Hao's duck-like voice was the loudest, piercing through the noise:
"Damn! Old Su, hang in there, don't die! You promised to treat me to Braised Chicken Pot for lunch today, and you haven't paid yet!"
"Someone get a pretty female classmate to give my buddy CPR, or he'll be gone!"
Su Mu was hurriedly carried to the shade by several people.
He lay there, eyes closed, gasping for air, listening to Wang Hao's nonsensical wailing beside him.
His head, originally just suffering from heatstroke, hurt even more, and he wished he could jump up and kick this idiot.
His second-hand phone buzzed incessantly in his pocket.
Su Mu struggled to pull out his phone and swipe open the screen.
His mother, Chen Xiulan's WeChat voice message, rang out with vigor.
"Mu Mu, if your living expenses aren't enough, just tell Mom."
"I just transferred you some more money."
"Don't be stingy in the big city."
"If you need to treat a female classmate to tea with milk, just do it."
"Mom doesn't ask for much, just bring home a pretty female classmate for New Year's in your freshman year."
Listening to this familiar booming voice, Su Mu thought that although their small family restaurant was doing well, making them a stable middle-class family in the county,
At most, they could transfer three to five thousand yuan at a time.
He switched to the message interface to see how much this so-called "dating fund" amounted to.
[Your account ending in 9527 has received 100,000,000.00 yuan, current balance 100,002,002.50 yuan.]
Su Mu's hand holding the phone trembled uncontrollably.
He swallowed hard.
He felt that Comrade Chen Xiulan not only robbed a bank but might have also kidnapped the bank manager.
The string of zeros made his head spin.
"Are you okay, buddy?"
Wang Hao's big face came over.
Su Mu quickly turned off the phone screen.
"I think I need to lie down in the infirmary for a while," Su Mu said weakly.
Wang Hao helped him up.
The infirmary was filled with a faint smell of disinfectant.
Su Mu lay on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling.
He spent ten minutes sorting out the situation.
It wasn't that his mom robbed a bank.
It was that the system that suddenly appeared really gave him a hundred million.
What made his scalp tingle and his whole body feel refreshed was—freedom!
Absolute financial freedom!
There were no simp settings like in many online novels, no need to spend the money on women to get cashback.
And there was no "spend it all every day or the host will be eliminated" crazy punishment.
The billion in cash deposited into his account was entirely Su Mu's private property!
Even if he used it to buy a hundred thousand meat buns to feed dogs, or let it gather dust and mold in Yu'ebao, the system wouldn't care!
Moreover, the system also offered benefits...
"Classmate, pretending to faint to avoid military training will cost you credits."
Just as he was daydreaming, a cold voice drifted over from the foot of the bed.
Su Mu turned his head towards the cold voice.
With just one glance, even though his head was still somewhat dizzy from heatstroke, his breath involuntarily paused for half a second.
The fragmented light and shadow from the blinds fell just right on the girl at the foot of the bed.
It was a slightly oversized, cheap white coat, yet she wore it with an untouchable coolness.
Underneath her high ponytail was a swan-like, flawless snow-white neck.
Even further down, despite the most conservative and loose white coat,
The light and shadow couldn't hide the breathtaking curves.
Mu Changge, a sophomore in the Department of Finance, was recognized as the Iceberg Campus Belle, the dream girl of all the male students, and a frequent guest on the confession wall.
Rumor had it that her family was not well off, and she had a younger sister in high school.
So she was always rushing between various part-time jobs, even having to clean the cafeteria.
Yet, this girl struggling in the mire had a face so beautiful it made others feel inferior.
The more she was in the depths, the more aloof she was, the more attractive she became.
It stirred a desire in people's hearts to pull her down from her pedestal.
Yesterday, as just another ordinary college student,
Su Mu would probably only dare to sneak a peek at such a high and distant flower, not even having the courage to look her in the eye.
But now it was different.
The solid billion in his pocket was like a stabilizing force, crushing his inferiority and timidity from the small county town.
Money is a man's courage, and that saying proved true.
"Senior."
"I'm genuinely suffering from heatstroke."
"If you don't believe me, feel my forehead," Su Mu said with a smile, pointing to his head.
Mu Changge walked to the bedside.
She carried a pleasant scent of oranges.
"Heart rate is stable, body temperature is normal."
"If you don't return to the sports field soon, I'll call your counselor," Mu Changge said, unmoved.
Hearing the word counselor, Su Mu's mind automatically recalled the fleeting glimpse from the opening ceremony.
Meticulous gold-rimmed glasses, a white professional shirt so tight it seemed ready to burst at the seams,
And the pencil skirt wrapped in black non-slip stockings, outlining an astonishing curve.
Clearly exuding an aura of authority, yet possessing a devilishly mature figure that captivated the eyes of all the male students.
If Mu Changge before him was a high and guarded flower in poverty,
Then Xu Man was the cold and elegant queen, accustomed to scolding and looking down on everything.
[Ding! Radar Scan Complete, SSS-Rank Premium Development Target Detected!]
[Target Name]: Mu Changge
[Comprehensive Score]: Appearance 98 / Figure 96 (Exquisite: Ice skin and jade bones, snow-white and stunning)
[Current Tags]: Extremely Cold Iceberg / Stubborn Campus Belle
[Hidden Traits]:??? (Unlock at 30% Development Progress)
[Critical Weakness]: Crumbling Economic Defense
[Current Development Progress]: 0%
[Development Reward Hint: When you have an endless supply of money, don't you need a kidney that never stops?]
Su Mu looked at the suggestive blue text.
Oh? This system really understands.
Not only does it give money, but after successful development, it even offers such priceless rewards.
But he wasn't in a hurry.
A young man who had just turned twenty, suddenly hit by a windfall and a magical system,
To say there wasn't a bit of light-headedness and a surge of hormones would be a lie.
If it were the protagonists from those online novels he used to read, seeing such premium rewards,
They'd probably already have their eyes shining, rushing forward like an eager Peke to madly gain favor.
Ultimately, they'd be led by the system, forced to be a simp for the rewards, looking as pathetic as possible.
But Su Mu's mindset was exceptionally clear at this moment.
The unrestricted "billion" private property gave him the absolute confidence to flip the table.
He wasn't short of money, time, and certainly wouldn't become a slave to the system's tasks.
When he lavishly spent this cold billion, he wouldn't need to deliberately curry favor; countless premium women would naturally flock to him.
Whether it was the Iceberg Campus Belle, Mu Changge, struggling under life's burdens yet still aloof and proud;
Or the high and mighty counselor, Xu Man, always in tight professional attire, looking down on students;
Or even... the ex-girlfriend, Gu Xingyue, who mockingly broke up with him on the night of the college entrance examination, saying he couldn't provide a future.
Additionally, he heard that her identical twin sister, Gu Xingchen, also enrolled in this school...
Su Mu felt that as long as he spent the money wisely, there was no disguise he couldn't tear apart.
If that proud ex-girlfriend were to witness that moment... he wondered how her pretty face would react.
Thinking of this, Su Mu shook his head and chuckled softly.
Seeking revenge on an ex-girlfriend? Too lowly, and too exhausting.
Now, he just wanted to lie back comfortably and enjoy all the top luxury experiences he once didn't even dare to look at.
However, to live an extremely comfortable life of doing nothing, someone had to handle the tedious daily chores for him.
Now that he was worth over a billion, he couldn't possibly line up for meals at the cafeteria or pick up clothes from the dry cleaners every day, could he?
The Iceberg Campus Belle before him, urgently in need of money and meticulous enough, seemed like the perfect candidate.
Su Mu shifted to a more comfortable position on the hospital bed, retracting his previous gaze.
He spoke casually, as if asking what was for lunch today:
"Senior, I heard you have to do many part-time jobs every day?"
Mu Changge's action of tidying up the thermometer paused slightly, her cold voice carrying the usual defensiveness and vigilance:
"What's it to you?"
"No other reason, just think your part-time jobs aren't worth it."
Su Mu looked at her, speaking nonchalantly.
"Why not quit them all and sign an exclusive contract with me?"
Mu Changge's elegant brows furrowed, her gaze towards Su Mu growing colder: "What do you mean?"
"Literally, become my exclusive personal living assistant."
Su Mu took out his phone, his gaze clear and sincere, without any of the usual drooling or awkwardness from other boys when they looked at her.
He was as calm as if he were picking a Chinese cabbage at the market:
"The job is simple, just run errands, buy meals, and tidy up my place."
"In short, handle all my daily chores."
Su Mu lightly spun his phone, casually throwing out his offer:
"Room and board included, ten thousand a month. Bonuses for good performance."
He had always heard people say that college life was good, and now he wanted to verify it.