Before the 5-second countdown even ended, Ma Xiaoli began furiously shaking her phone.
It was fine at first, but in the final 10 seconds, her hands felt completely stiff, and she kept shaking purely on sheer willpower.
When the game ended, a look at the screen showed several unfamiliar names on the leaderboard.
Before she could even process who on earth she had just been playing with, the system chimed in with regretful urgency: 【Only 5 seconds left before the red envelopes drop! What item you get depends entirely on your hand speed, Host!】
Before Ma Xiaoli could react, a rain of red envelopes flooded the interface. She immediately tapped one of the falling envelopes.
System: 【Aiya, Host, why tap so fast! Didn’t you see there were golden red envelopes?! Golden red envelopes are the best ones!】
Ma Xiaoli’s expression shifted as the red envelope opened…
A firework!
A single…
Firework?!
Ma Xiaoli gritted her teeth: 【Didn’t you say there wouldn’t be empty red envelopes?!】
The system seemed momentarily stunned as well: 【A golden red envelope definitely wouldn’t be like this… Besides, a firework makes a nice loud pop, so it’s not technically an empty red envelope!】
Damn it!
Ma Xiaoli loosened her shoulders and started “Shake It” once again.
She felt she tried even harder this time than the last, but she still didn’t make the top three!
However, her luck was decent this time—she managed to tap a golden red envelope!
The moment the envelope opened, a flash of light burst onto her phone screen.
The next second, she saw the item she had obtained: “Nearby (Gimped Version).”
The system shrieked: 【Host is actually so lucky to unlock the “Nearby” feature early! This feature is supposed to be unlocked at System Level 4!】
Ma Xiaoli raised an eyebrow and quickly scanned the description—
【”Nearby” Feature: Refreshes character events within a 10-kilometer radius centered around Host. Characters must be individuals Host knows.
By priority level: Red dots indicate must-read events, yellow dots indicate general events, and green dots indicate trivial events.
Refreshes up to 3 times daily. After 3 uses, events can be refreshed by spending experience points, but event selection is uncontrollable with no guarantee of spawning a must-read event.】
Great, fine, another money-grubbing feature!
Besides, the gimped version only refreshed character events once per day and required spending 100 EXP to activate the daily refresh.
Ma Xiaoli decisively left the interface, returned to Shake It, and spent more EXP.
After missing out three times on golden envelopes that were snatched right out from under her—leaving her with fireworks again—she finally secured first place through sheer effort!
Yet the three golden red envelopes presented to her hid their contents!
At this stage, it was actually a blind box draw—Ma Xiaoli didn’t even want to bother complaining about how treacherous this feature was. Knowing her own terrible luck, she ran to ask Old Ma: “Old Ma, if three golden red envelopes were placed in front of you, would you pick the left, middle, or right one?”
Old Ma was brushing his teeth. Though confused by his daughter’s strange question, he answered offhandedly: “Middle.”
Before he could spit out the foam and ask what kind of red envelope she was talking about, Ma Xiaoli had already dashed back to her room.
She rubbed her hands together and chose the golden red envelope in the middle.
Instantly, a golden firework bloomed across the screen.
Ma Xiaoli’s face turned pale, assuming that even first place had yielded a firework, until she saw a golden pill appear on her phone interface.
The system couldn’t help but whistle: 【Aiya, not bad, Host! You actually pulled a “Vitality Pill”! An SSR-rank rare pill that guarantees eternal youth…】
Overjoyed, Ma Xiaoli directly selected to claim it.
The pill indeed materialized in her hand, roughly the size of a standard health pill. It bore no medicinal odor, emitting a gentle warmth instead. Ma Xiaoli quickly asked the system how to use it, and upon learning it was meant for direct consumption, she immediately fed it to Grandma.
The system shuddered: 【Wait, Host, why are you feeding it to Grandma instead of taking it yourself?】
Ma Xiaoli: 【Grandma regaining her vitality is what matters most!】 Although it wasn’t the healing potion she wanted most, bringing Grandma’s physical condition back to its peak was acceptable enough.
Having finished this, Ma Xiaoli glanced at the time—it was nearly 7:30 AM. She quickly put on her jacket and ran outside.
She was eager to inspect her upgraded electric scooter!
Last time, it had suddenly morphed from an electric scooter into a three-wheeled cargo truck. Would this upgrade turn it from a three-wheeler into a four-wheeled vehicle?!
Unexpectedly, just as she ran out of her room, Old Ma blocked her path: “Sweetheart, you… what’s this about selling the house?”
Yesterday, Old Ma had instructed his assistant to investigate his daughter’s and Cousin-Aunt’s affairs over the past few years. To his surprise, he had just received a call from his assistant mentioning that his daughter was mortgaging the house to a bank.
Hearing his daughter’s footsteps, Old Ma panicked instantly, blocking her before even listening to the rest of the call: “Sweetheart, if you’re short on money, just tell Dad. Dad will lend it to you. Don’t sell the house—it’s appreciating in value! There’s no rush to sell!”
Saying this, he turned to his assistant on the line: “Xiao Wen, transfer three million to my daughter right now… Wait, her old bank card was taken by Cousin-Aunt’s family. You need to have the lawyer file to get it back. Issue a brand new card for her!”
Setting aside how shocked Assistant Xiao Wen was on the other end, hearing Old Ma talk about transferring three million as casually as transferring three hundred dollars, even Ma Xiaoli stood staring at Old Ma’s face, momentarily unable to react.
Old Ma, assuming she thought it wasn’t enough, hastily added to Xiao Wen: “Transfer five million! Three million is too little!”
By the time Ma Xiaoli regained her senses, Old Ma had already ended the call, wringing his hands nervously in front of her. “Sweetheart, is five million enough? If it’s not enough, Dad can have the assistant transfer more?”
Ma Xiaoli found it hard to describe her feelings at that moment.
Had it been her past life, under these exact circumstances, she might have questioned Old Ma: If he truly cared about her so much, why had he left Grandma sick without aid and left her ignored, allowing the two of them to be trampled by Cousin-Aunt’s family?
But now, she had already died once, after all. She was an adult now, long past the age of needing parental companionship.
Compared to affection or companionship, what mattered most to her right now was material resources.
Her time was extremely precious. Very little time remained before the arrival of the acid rain, and she still didn’t know how to use the Jade Buddha’s space. All she could do now was race against time to arm herself as much as possible before the apocalypse arrived—selling the house was meant to secure a massive amount of cash to exchange for gold.
After all, once the apocalypse arrived, paper money would become useless paper, but by the second year of the apocalypse, gold would circulate as currency once again.
Seeing her remain silent, Old Ma grew even more anxious: “Sweetheart, did something happen? Tell Dad, and Dad will help you figure out a solution, okay?”