A faint, threadlike scent of agarwood drifted past his nose.
Dazed, Qin Jin met a pair of mocking eyes and that thin, sharply angled mouth.
This was one of the protagonists of the novel. In the future, both his legs would be amputated, and he would spend the rest of his life in a hospital bed, deserted by friends and family, with no one even to pay his medical fees. In the end, he would die miserably at the hands of an enemy on New Year’s Eve.
While his thoughts churned, the other man suddenly seized his collar and slammed him hard onto the sofa in the private room.
The instant his back struck the sofa, the pain forced a cry from Qin Jin.
“Talk. Who hired you?”
Ri Tinglong kicked aside the bottles and cans on the floor and pulled out the largest, heaviest bottle.
He seemed to be measuring it against Qin Jin’s head.
The bottle’s cold gleam reflected that furious face. Qin Jin quickly collected himself and answered, “I was forced into it.”
The man seemed to have forgotten that he had seen him in the private room last night.
“Who forced you?”
“Liu Daqiang, the one who just ran out, and the one lying outside right now.”
Only at the mention of Liu Daqiang did Ri Tinglong have a vague recollection.
Last night, he had been playing cards with a few people to pass the time.
But Shao Gaoyuan was too noisy. He had endured it for a long time, and in the end, unable to bear it any longer, he had gotten into a fight with Shao Gaoyuan.
As for what sparked the fight… Ri Tinglong turned his gaze back to the man on the sofa.
Fragments of memory still lingered in his mind: this man smashing a bottle over Liu Daqiang.
As for Xiao Muyu forcing this man?
The very thought was laughable. What did Xiao Muyu look like, and what did this man look like? Didn’t he know his place? Who was taking advantage of whom?
Most likely, Xiao An had arranged it on his own initiative.
“Consider this a lesson. From now on, you’d best weigh carefully who you can touch and who you can’t.”
Ri Tinglong swung the bottle up with his backhand.
His gaze was savage as he hurled the bottle straight at the man on the sofa.
But the man on the sofa was not afraid at all.
Instead, he even stretched out his neck and looked over.
Haoda cognac, cheap and plentiful. No one had drunk it last night, so the bottle was still full. If it hit him, he would lose his life.
He was not a human target, to sit obediently and let someone smash him.
Qin Jin’s mind was now completely clear. He quickly rolled over and dodged in an instant.
Across the room, the man holding the bottle paused for a moment, then, with seventy percent of his strength, simply threw it over.
The bottle flew like an arrow loosed from a bow. One slip, and it would draw blood.
But eerily, the bottle flew over and, like a spinning wheel, whirled rapidly in Qin Jin’s hand, and he even tossed it up.
Using the strength of his wrist, Qin Jin spun and juggled the bottle as if it were a ball, effortlessly.
Knowing how to show off with fancy bottle tricks was a huge advantage for part-time work at a bar. Back then, he had learned from an old master bartender, and by the end, he had become the bar’s exclusive bartender.
The tips he earned were more than a day’s wage. In the end, he had been forced to leave that world because some wealthy middle-aged woman pursued and harassed him to extremes… That’s beside the point.
This was a piece of cake for him.
Only, he had just thrown a punch without warming up, and now he had caught the bottle with such a big motion. Worse, the bottle was not beer, and his body was that of a weakling, so the muscles in his arm kept twitching with pain.
Not far away, Ri Tinglong stood with one hand in his pocket.
The disdain on his face eased somewhat. He said nothing and turned to leave.
Qin Jin waited until the footsteps faded.
He let out a slight breath.
He had a feeling that if he had not shown off with the bottle just now, it would not have been as simple as getting his head smashed with a bottle.
The phone held the original host’s rented room address.
But he was still running a fever, and if he went out, he might run into another chase.
With no other choice, he opened the Transmigration Into a Book app on his phone.
『Hello, this is Transmigration Into a Book Rules customer service. Thank you for calling, Mr. Qin. How may I help you?』
“What do I have to do to survive in this world?”
He had been here less than a day and had already lost even his integrity, let alone being hunted and beaten.
『It seems you have had quite an exciting experience.』
“…Get to the point. Where is my original body?”
The other end was silent for a few seconds. 『Mr. Qin, welcome to join us. We are officially issuing your bonus. Please sign for it in the app’s backend.』
“Never mind that for now. I asked you, where is my original body?”
Even when he had not had enough to eat before, he had never been this thin. Thin was fine, but he could not be without muscle. A real man stands tall between heaven and earth!
『It has already been cremated.』
“…”
This time it was Qin Jin’s turn to fall silent.
The silence lasted a long while.
A few minutes later, the man on the sofa suddenly laughed.
So someone had actually collected his corpse?
There was not a single sincere person around him, except the Goddess.
“Who cremated me?”
『Wang Ranran…』
“I knew it!!” His shout even echoed through the private room.
Qin Jin was about to cry.
『It was Wang Ranran’s fiancé who collected your corpse and cremated you.』
But Qin Jin was already too delighted to tell east from west, and was not listening at all.
『If you wish to shed your cannon fodder identity, then throw yourself into Simp missions.』
While on the phone, Qin Jin browsed the Transmigration Into a Book app on his phone.
Being a Simp to characters of all kinds was for collecting fortune. Completing Simp missions increased Dog Coins.
Mission types included daily service, verbal flattery, emotional companionship, and material offering.
For example, daily service such as buying coffee and organizing clothes could add 10 Dog Coins.
But verbal flattery gave very little. Praising someone’s looks to their face, or blowing over-the-top flattery in their friendship circle with comments and likes, only gave 5 Dog Coins.
Emotional companionship was a type that gave more, at least 30 Dog Coins. Listening to grumbling or comforting someone after a breakup could give up to 50.
As for material offering, it was converted by price. The value of a gift would be multiplied by 0.01. If he bought a protagonist a 10-yuan gift, it would only convert to 0.1 Dog Coins. That was far too unprofitable.
Besides that, there were special event bonuses, such as crisis rescue and career assistance. At least 200, at most 400. Clearly, he could not trigger them.
To get a special event bonus, one probably had to become good brothers with a character.
But judging by how things looked now…
One protagonist was a pervert, and the other was a violent maniac. No matter how he thought about it, he would never become brothers with either of them.
Speaking of brothers…
Qin Jin could not help feeling sorrowful. Those who could truly become good brothers with him were very few. Everyone had their own pursuits, and he had no choice but to offer his blessings.
They say more friends, more paths. But when trouble really came, he did not want to worry his true brothers, and how could false friends sincerely help him?
Rely on a mountain, and the mountain may fall. Better to rely on yourself.
The sentimentality stopped abruptly. Qin Jin flipped to the 『Coin Deduction Rules』 section.
There was even coin deduction?!
Negative behavior toward a Simp partner, including disobeying instructions, damaging the relationship, emotional overstepping, and the like, was graded by severity in tiers.
Disobeying instructions, such as refusing a character’s behavioral request, would deduct 50 Dog Coins.
Especially emotional overstepping. If one touched a character without permission or confessed love, it could deduct 400!
Then what about last night, when he forced the protagonist to kiss him?
『Don’t worry. Yesterday was the adaptation period. The rules only take effect today.』
『Mr. Qin, the Dog Coins you earn can be used in the shop to buy a new body or a new identity.
Once you have collected enough, you can exchange them for the Reincarnation function, return to your original world, and even choose a new world!』