After getting off the bus and walking a little further along the platform, the crowds came into view.
But with the hot weather these days, there weren’t many people on the streets.
Shi Yin turned the corner and entered her residential complex.
It was an old neighborhood, mostly home to elderly residents, but it sat right next to a commercial street, making daily life very convenient.
Father Shi was a taxi driver, and Mother Shi worked in a factory. Shi Yin was their only daughter, and their greatest pride was that she had gotten into a top-tier high school—they never missed a chance to brag about it whenever they ran into acquaintances.
So the neighboring households all knew that Shi Yin had gotten into a good university, and that Father Shi and Mother Shi would have good days ahead.
The tallest building in the complex had only ten floors; Shi Yin’s family lived on the seventh, with three households per floor.
She pulled the key to Apartment 702 out of her pocket and opened the door. No one was home.
The first thing she did upon getting home was turn on the air conditioner in her room, then close the door. She went to the bathroom to wash her face, then came to the living room and opened the fridge.
Gulping down nearly half a bottle of mineral water, Shi Yin finally felt like she’d transformed from a fish on the verge of death into one swimming happily in a pond.
Back in her room, she flopped onto the bed and finally began to examine the strange things that had happened to her these past few days.
“Activate the Goddess System.”
As the words left her mouth—
Suddenly—
Shi Yin once again heard that sweet little girl’s voice from before.
[Ding-dong! Congratulations, Host, on activating the Goddess System.]
[Number 0306, at your service.]
Then, a clear 3D image of herself appeared before Shi Yin.
It was just like the MMO games she used to play—the kind where you’d spend hours on Face Sculpting before entering the game.
Except this Goddess System seemed capable of more than just Face Sculpting; it could adjust her figure too.
Just as she reached out to touch the light screen, the 3D image shifted to display her personal information.
[Name]: Shi Yin
[Height]: 165 cm
[Weight]: 56 kg
[Looks]: 45/100 (expand for details)
[Figure]: 30/100 (expand for details)
[Talents]: 50/100 (expand for details)
[Note: 50 represents the normal level for an average person. 60 and above is passing, 70 and above is somewhat attractive, 80 and above is the center of attention in a crowd, 90 and above is goddess-level.]
The host’s overall Charm rating is 42.
[Wow, you’re practically a born goddess candidate!]
The familiar little girl’s voice rang in her ears.
Shi Yin had always known her own worth. No matter where she went, even in a princess dress, she was still an ugly duckling.
So when she saw her Charm rating of 42, she couldn’t help thinking self-mockingly: It’s not zero? So she actually had something called a Charm rating?
Even though 50 was the level of an average person.
She recalled the voice she’d heard when activating the Goddess System and asked, puzzled, “0306?”
The little girl sounded especially delighted. [That’s right! I’m 0306. But Yin Yin can rename me anytime you like.]
Her voice was full of anticipation.
The phrase “Her name is Xiao Mei” flashed through Shi Yin’s mind first. She shook her head, then said, “Then I’ll call you Xiao Hua.”
[Xiao Hua, Xiao Hua, Xiao Hua! From now on, I’m Xiao Hua! Xiao Hua, who belongs only to Yin Yin.]
Xiao Hua sounded absolutely overjoyed.
Shi Yin’s lips curled slightly—a rare occurrence. Perhaps it was that phrase “only belongs to Yinyin” that made her lower her guard against Xiao Hua, just a tiny bit.
But only a tiny bit.
“What exactly is this Goddess System? And what kind of price is this ‘price’ you mentioned? Were the changes happening to my body these past few days also your doing?”
Shi Yin fired off three questions in a row, desperate to figure out what this System actually was.
Ever since the moment she filled out her college applications, she had noticed her life changing dramatically.
First, she began hearing inexplicable voices in her ears, and at night, she kept dreaming of strange people she had never seen before.
Then she occasionally noticed letters appearing out of thin air above her parents’ heads—just like what she’d seen in the classroom today.
Though clearly, today in the classroom had been the main event. The letters she’d seen above Father Shi and Mother Shi’s heads were very faint and intermittent; she couldn’t see them every day.
At one point, she thought she was going crazy. But outside her home, the world was terrifyingly calm, as if all the oddities happening to her were merely her imagination.
[Yinyin, don’t rush. I told you, I’m here to help you. You can first click on the aspect you want to change and experience the Goddess System for yourself.]
After confirming the System had no ill intent for now, Shi Yin’s gaze landed on “Appearance.”
Once opened, the Appearance section was divided into five parts:
[Face]
[Eyes]
[Nose]
[Mouth]
[Skin Tone]
Shi Yin looked at herself in the mirror. This face was carved into her very bones; there wasn’t a single moment she didn’t want to change it.
She took off her glasses and studied herself once more.
Her face was a perfectly standard round shape.
Not the delicate kind of oval face that tapers to a pointed chin, nor the striking kind of square face with sharp angles—just a smooth, rounded curve sliding down from her temples to her jaw, like a small overturned bowl.
From the side, her jawline was basically invisible.
From the front, the widest part of her face was at her cheekbones—but her cheekbones weren’t high; that ring just happened to stretch her face wide.
Her chin was short—not recessed, just short, separated from her lips by only about a finger’s width.
She clicked into the first option, Face, and the image before her changed.
It became a 3D avatar of herself, and she was amazed to discover she could modify her face shape at will.
Narrowing or enlarging it—her face transformed into all kinds of shapes in her hands…
It was just that she seemed to be naturally clumsy at this. Whether playing MMO games or now sculpting her own face.
In any case, the face shapes she created always seemed to be missing something. Perhaps her features were unbalanced—even with a new face shape, no dramatic change was visible.
In the end, following Xiao Hua’s suggestion, she chose the oval face that suited her best.
Smooth, elegant facial lines that could never go wrong.
But when it came time to confirm, a message popped up: insufficient balance. The excitement Shi Yin had felt from the Face Sculpting feature finally cooled a little.
Of course, she wasn’t naive enough to think the currency in the Goddess System was real-world money, so she asked calmly, “How do I obtain the currency for Face Sculpting?”
Xiao Hua’s tone remained sweet: [That’s exactly the price I need to tell Yinyin about.]
At the word “price,” Shi Yin’s heart grew heavy for a moment. Those two words did not sound like something that could be easily resolved.
Being able to adjust her appearance at will, with just a slight thought—that was far more convenient than plastic surgery.
But Xiao Hua was right. This was her most hidden desire. She was sick and tired of being an invisible person.
Becoming beautiful had, without her even realizing it, become an obsession deep in her heart.
Shi Yin couldn’t say exactly when it started. Perhaps it began with the treatment she received as a child—cute little girls could always effortlessly win people’s affection, whether from kindergarten teachers, classmates, or strangers.
As long as the price didn’t cross her bottom line, Shi Yin would throw herself into the Goddess System like a moth to a flame.