Wen Qian’s smile froze on her face. The daily prayers hoping for a good random profession—one that could help her overturn her fate as a poor but outstanding student—had finally come true at this moment.
Yes, she really did overturn her fate—but it turned out to be in the opposite way.
From a poor outstanding student to a beggar—this is also a kind of fate change… haha…
It’s okay, they say there are masters in every profession. Even if it’s a beggar, even if it’s a beggar…
【Profession item loaded — Broken Bowl ×1
Item Description: A mysterious bowl that, besides eating, can be used for anything】
Wen Qian, who was doing her best to adjust her mindset, failed as she saw the broken bowl coldly tossed in front of her by the game system.
Unable to laugh, tears welled in the corner of her eyes. Following the pigeon’s prompt, she picked up a pen and choked out a reply letter.
Dear mother in heaven, there’s no other meaning to this letter, I just suddenly feel like seeing you…
In the corner of the garden, Lu Yanbai slightly lowered his gaze. His slender fingers rested on the page of a book, motionless for a long time.
Warm golden sunlight poured into the garden, skillfully filtered by the leaves of wisteria crawling on the wooden pergola, leaving only a patch of shade.
His fingertips paused as his cold eyes looked toward the girl sitting on the bench not far away, absentmindedly tugging at the leaves of a bush.
He had noticed her the moment she arrived. His excellent memory quickly identified her.
She was the poor outstanding student he had encountered by chance in the library before.
She had skipped school on the first day of term, and now she openly appeared in a place she shouldn’t be during class hours.
Lu Yanbai’s mouth pressed into a thin line.
The contrast between her identity and behavior was too great. A poor outstanding student could only survive at the academy through grades. Choosing to skip classes was basically courting death—the academy’s academic pressure was extremely high. Apart from those just there to kill time, many students genuinely wanted to study.
When it came to acquiring learning resources, they had overwhelming advantages over poor outstanding students, who could only rely on teachers and self-study.
Once behind, they would lose their status as poor outstanding students.
Not even needing to fall behind: if their rankings dropped to the level of ordinary students, there was no longer any reason for them to remain at the academy.
Was she not afraid of being expelled? Or was there some other reason?
Lu Yanbai habitually ignored surface factors and thought more deeply.
His brain automatically ruled out the simplest possibility—that this poor outstanding student was merely skipping class.
Wen Qian had no idea that her presence in the garden had sparked much speculation in someone’s mind, even considerations of the academy’s overall balance.
She hadn’t even noticed anyone else in the area besides herself.
And even if she had, she wouldn’t care; background NPCs like these were everywhere on the map and could be ignored completely.
“…I’m really unlucky.” She sighed, inevitably recalling her pitifully low initial stat points. Thinking this way, her luck was truly abysmal.
Maybe she should find time to visit the temple and pray?
Lost in her thoughts, Lu Yanbai instinctively looked up toward the source of the voice.
The girl, lowering her head to avoid the pigeon flying beside her, changed her sitting posture. Her gloomy expression looked genuine, not feigned.
“Why do I always run into this kind of thing? Could it really be my fault…?”
The question, as if self-doubting, entered Lu Yanbai’s ears.
His brows furrowed, and he looked up at Wen Qian, his excellent eyesight clearly seeing the tear stains that hadn’t dried at the corner of her eyes.
Lu Yanbai’s expression didn’t change. He lightly tapped the thick cover of the book in his hand, a vague guess forming in his mind.
Perhaps, he knew why she wasn’t in the classroom during lessons but was here instead.
“Investigate the recent performance of poor outstanding students in the academy,” Lu Yanbai said coldly as he stood and headed out, dialing a phone number. “Bring me the recent entrance test results of the poor outstanding students reported on.”
The student council members worked very efficiently. By the time Lu Yanbai returned to the lounge, the report was already on his desk.
Lu Yanbai looked down at the test paper with Wen Qian’s name on it. The neat handwriting caught his eyes.
For her, this test was easy. He lowered his gaze and made a judgment silently.
This was a general test paper for poor outstanding students. Judging from her problem-solving process, her level should be higher than this.
He glanced at the boy who had been waiting nearby after delivering the document.
“Make an S-level test paper and bring her over.” He nodded at Wen Qian’s name on the paper.
The male student silently reviewed Wen Qian’s name and nodded slightly. “I’m going right now.”
Unaware that she had already been targeted, the habitual truant was searching for a trash can on campus.
Just now, she had accidentally touched a wooden stick and, preparing to throw it away, the system prompt sounded.
【Specific equipment detected. Profession skill triggered.】
【Profession skill — [Special Attack on Trash Cans]
Skill Description: When attacking trash cans, in addition to normal loot, there is a 20% chance to trigger a treasure chest.】
Wen Qian: …?
Is this correct?
Not expecting the wooden stick to be special equipment, Wen Qian thought of the broken bowl stored in her system backpack.
Great, the profession image is becoming more concrete.
Though she appeared disgusted on the surface, Wen Qian’s player instincts were starting to stir, and she kept glancing at the new skill.
Opening treasure chests, huh…
Even if she can’t trigger treasure chests, dumpster diving seems fun…
On one hand, the gamer instinct to rummage through trash; on the other, the worry that it might get too realistic.
Little Wen was caught in a dilemma.
【Newbie Profession Quest — Trash Can Operation】
No one can refuse to rummage through trash cans. If one won’t do, then ten will. This mysterious place will always have what you need.
Quest requirement: Search through trash cans (0/5)Reward: Work Performance ×10 (can be used for profession advancement)■■■■ ×1 (randomly unlocks one system feature not yet available)
Seeing the quest rewards clearly, Wen Qian perked up. What dilemma? This was clearly a single-choice question!
With her mind completely occupied by the word “quest,” Wen Qian instantly locked her eyes on the only trash can nearby and excitedly ran over.
A green transparent frame popped up.
【Attack the trash can?】【Agree / Decline】
Without much thought, Wen Qian chose “Agree.” The scene before her shifted—the trash can disappeared, replaced by a scene somewhat similar to the door verification screen.
【Mini-game — “Trash Battle” is about to start. Time limit: 10 seconds. Test your speed now!】
What? It starts immediately? No instructions for the game?
Surprised that it jumped straight into action, Wen Qian panicked a bit. How was she supposed to play with just the game’s name?
Suddenly, a light screen flashed the “Game Start” icon in front of her.
On both sides of the screen, various chibi trash icons flew along parabolic trajectories toward the center, accompanied by a big “Smash!” sign.
Before Wen Qian could figure out what kind of mini-game this was, her right hand holding the wooden stick acted on muscle memory.
Horizontal chop, vertical chop, dodging the suspicious-looking bomb icons, and chopping continuously.
The smashed icons appeared in the upper item bar.
At the end, a treasure chest popped out. Wen Qian instinctively chopped it once, but unlike other trash, the chest didn’t break open. Instead, a mark appeared — 19/20.
Seeing the countdown with only a few seconds left, Wen Qian didn’t have time to think and unleashed her fastest chops, finally breaking the treasure chest in the last second.
Until the game ended, Wen Qian still hadn’t fully processed what happened.
Acting purely on instinct, she felt this game gave a strange sense of déjà vu.
Wait a minute, isn’t this just like those fruit-slicing mini-games?
Although she had played many similar mini-games before, this tutorial was extremely minimal—just two words!
【Player complaint received. Related staff will respond within seven working days.】
Wen Qian expressionlessly said, “Just giving me the runaround, huh? You can only fool me so much.”
【…Rewards have been settled】【Very clean eggshells ×10, mysterious map ×1, damaged soda can ×1】
Looking at the neatly stacked, pristine eggshells on the ground, Wen Qian fell silent.
Do I really want to let this kind of garbage take up space in my backpack?
Forget it, I’ll take it for now. Maybe the game will later have some event like combining ten eggshells into an egg.
Auto-pickup activated.
Ignoring the stunned NPC who witnessed this scene and stood motionless nearby, the player purposefully headed for the next trash can.
After delivering the data the president needed to his lounge, Zhao Fu went to Wen Qian’s class. He didn’t find the student but learned from others that she had skipped class.
Finding someone who’s gone missing in the academy is a very difficult task.
Zhao Fu hesitated for a long time, still not daring to report this to the president—would the president think he was incompetent?
Just as he was hesitating, standing downstairs, he luckily ran into the student named Wen Qian.
His eyes lit up as he approached her. “Hello…”
Before he could finish greeting her, the girl not far off suddenly pulled out a wooden stick from somewhere.
Without warning, she began furiously poking the trash can.
Three quick pokes, then she silently stood there for a few seconds, before turning and walking away.
Zhao Fu, too shocked to move, almost thought he had lost her again and hurried to catch up.
After a short distance, the girl suddenly braked sharply.
She stopped by another trash can.
The familiar scene repeated—three quick pokes, silence, and then she ran off.
For the first time, Zhao Fu realized how many trash cans there were on campus.
Lost in thought, he missed the perfect opportunity to speak but at least was sure he wouldn’t lose her again.
Because she had come right next to him—at the trash can beside him.
“How many is this?” Wen Qian muttered softly.
“…The fourth,” Zhao Fu answered instinctively.
The two exchanged a silent look.
One hadn’t expected anyone to answer, the other hadn’t expected to reply without thinking.
“I’m not spying on you; I’m deliberately looking for you,” Zhao Fu quickly explained, but the more he spoke, the stranger it sounded.
The girl in front of him didn’t seem annoyed, instead looking at him brightly.
“You’re deliberately looking for me? That’s great!”
“Classmate, do you need help with anything?”
Wen Qian casually shoved the wooden stick into the trash can and turned to look at the NPC who had come to find her, marked with an exclamation point above his head.
More NPCs with such self-awareness, please!
Zhao Fu’s heart felt uneasy—why did he feel like the way this girl looked at him was… similar to how she looked at trash cans?