Chapter 1
“God! Please grant me a golden finger!”
Late at night, a woman dressed in pajamas lay back on her bed, earnestly pleading.
In the dim light, only the faint outline of her face was visible, slightly haggard, with pronounced dark circles under her eyes catching attention.
This was the fifteenth day since Xia Zui lost her job.
Since then, her savings had been steadily dwindling, with no income at all.
Having just finished reading a feel-good novel, Xia Zui couldn’t help but think how wonderful it would be to have a golden finger of her own—then she could do anything she wanted!
But the fantasy lasted only ten seconds; the adult world demanded restraint.
Even dreams had to be cautious.
“Sigh, where in this world could a system possibly come from?” Xia Zui sighed, deciding to think about which job to apply for tomorrow instead.
[Beep. Matching system for you.]
[Beep beep beep.]
[System matching in progress.]
Puzzled, Xia Zui listened to the robotic voice. “Sys... system?”
[System matched successfully. Binding in progress. Binding complete!]
“Hello, host!” A soft, cute voice sounded. “I am System Number Eleven, happy to serve you~”
The woman lying on the bed suddenly sat up. “System?!”
“Yes~ I’m System Number Eleven!”
Xia Zui felt her strength drain away. “I must be dreaming.”
She pinched her own cheek. “Ouch... it hurts!”
Not a dream!
That meant the system was real!
Xia Zui hurriedly sat up. “Hello, hello! May I ask what kind of system you are?”
She never imagined such a thing actually existed in the world—and it was bound to her!
System Eleven hesitated, “Ummm...”
“Host, what kind of system would you like?”
Xia Zui couldn’t help but sense a little nervousness in its voice, though she wasn’t sure why.
She hesitated, “Any system will do, right?”
Could there be useless systems?
System Eleven trembled as it heard her thoughts. “Th-this...”
“Host, I think I’m a useless system.”
Xia Zui: “Huh?”
System Eleven said weakly, “I’ve been in the system realm for billions of years, and every host who chose me before returned me.”
“Since then, I’ve become a system no one wants.”
It said cautiously, “Maybe I should ask if there are other systems willing to help us?”
Before Xia Zui could speak, System Eleven exclaimed, “Ah!”
“Connected!”
“There are many systems willing to assist us!”
“Host, which system do you want?”
Xia Zui scratched her head. “I can choose?”
System Eleven: “Of course! How about I arrange for them to take turns? One system per month, over and out!”
Xia Zui wrapped her small blanket tighter. “Seems like your network is doing pretty well.”
System Eleven beamed with pride. “Of course! I’ve known many systems over billions of years! When they don’t have hosts, they play with me.”
“Sometimes I even follow other systems to see the world through the eyes of their hosts!”
“Now it’s time for me to repay the favor. How wonderful...”
It muttered quietly.
Xia Zui: ...
Why do you systems even have feelings like that?
[Beep. Wealthy system is intervening. Please open system permissions.]
[Permissions granted.]
“Eleven! I’m here!”
System Eleven was delighted, “Wealthy! Long time no see! How have you been lately?”
The Wealthy System sobbed, “Not well at all. No hosts want me anymore.”
Hearing this, Xia Zui couldn’t help but get excited and asked, “Why would a wealthy system have no takers?!”
That made no sense!
She would want ten of these!
The Wealthy System’s tears flowed like endless noodles, “The popular systems now are cultivation, romance, and revenge. Systems like me are so outdated, sob sob.”
System Eleven patted the Wealthy System’s head, “Don’t be sad. At least you were once popular, unlike me.”
“I’m the first system ever returned by a host.”
Xia Zui: teary-eyed.
Some people dream of having a system; others can even return theirs!
Wealthy System: “Fellow wanderer in misery. By the way, though I’m borrowed, you still have to complete my missions.”
“Are you ready?”
Xia Zui perked up, “Ready!”
Please let me drown in money!
Wealthy System cleared its throat, “Please spend one million yuan within a week~”
Xia Zui laughed heartily, “That’s way too easy for me!”
Just one million!
Though she had no money, did she not know how to spend?
Wealthy System: “Wait, I haven’t finished.”
“I’m an online wealthy system, so the money can only be spent online. No gifting to family. Only used for games, online currencies, etc. No cashing out to buy cars or houses. For every ten thousand spent, you get a hundred yuan cashback.”
Xia Zui scratched her head, “If I suddenly have money, won’t others notice?”
Wealthy System: “No, this money doesn’t originate from this world. No one here can detect it.”
System Eleven chimed in, “Host, rest assured, I’m here too!”
“I can help make sure no one knows your identity if you don’t want them to!”
Xia Zui: “!!!”
This is what you call a useless system?
This is an angel!
Even though it’s an online wealthy system, it still feels amazing!
“Heh, let’s start! I’m ready!”
Wealthy System: “Great, please choose which platform to recharge your one million yuan on~”
Xia Zui pondered for a moment, “Is it one million yuan every week?”
Wealthy System shook its head, “It accumulates from this week forward. This week one million, next week ten million, the following week one hundred million...”
“You must spend all the money each week.”
Xia Zui opened her phone and browsed through it, realizing she mostly just played games after work.
But no matter how much she spent, she never needed a million.
In that case...
“Put it all into Cat Claw.”
Cat Claw was the largest live streaming platform on the market, featuring all kinds of streams. Sometimes, when Xia Zui didn’t want to game, she’d watch streams there.
Wealthy System: “Ding dong, one million yuan recharged. Host, please spend it all within a week.”
Trembling, Xia Zui opened Cat Claw and checked her balance. “Holy cow!”
Her balance had increased by a full ten million Cat Claw coins. Her heart felt like it would explode.
She had really gotten a system!
Spending ten thousand would return one hundred—meaning spending one million this week would give her ten thousand back!
Xia Zui, who used to earn only three thousand a month from a nine-to-five job, was moved to tears.
After her excitement, she went to her followed channels.
She usually liked watching a female streamer named Cola. Cola was very skilled at gaming.
She was focused when playing but gentle and patient. Sometimes Xia Zui would chat with her in the live room, and Cola would respond kindly.
Even though Xia Zui was just a free rider who never sent gifts, Cola never ignored her.
Yet such a gentle Cola had no big spenders in her stream.
She had only a few thousand fans.
Xia Zui glanced at Cola’s homepage. “No stream?”
Makes sense. It was already past one a.m., and Cola usually ended streams by midnight.
Maybe she should spend ten thousand to get a hundred back, so she could have a good meal tomorrow.
Her bank card had only a few dozen yuan left after paying rent and debts.
She was in a state of utter poverty.
Xia Zui silently promised, “Cola, sorry. I’ll definitely send gifts tomorrow!”
After all, she once vowed to send Cola a Mermaid gift if she ever had money.
But for now... eating comes first.
She browsed Cat Claw’s homepage, mostly filled with gaming streamers and some female singers showing their faces.
She usually only watched Cola for games; she hadn’t watched others.
So she opened the beauty category. Soon, a streamer named SoftSoft caught her eye—wearing cat ears and a pure white Lolita dress, singing into a microphone.
Xia Zui clicked in to listen. SoftSoft’s voice was sweet, just like her appearance.
Her stream had 100,000 viewers online.
The chat was nonstop.
[Ahhh! SoftSoft is my wife!]
[Can you sing a love song? Want to hear SoftSoft sing a love song!]
[So beautiful! A voice from heaven.]
[Wifey, muah!]
Xia Zui thought her singing was good. “Maybe I’ll send her a gift.”
After all, it was just to cash out a hundred for dinner tomorrow.
She opened the gift list. The most expensive gift on Cat Claw was called Mermaid, costing ten thousand yuan.
Next was Cat Planet, costing five thousand.
Not one to mess around, Xia Zui decisively sent a Mermaid. Soon, a Mermaid effect appeared on the screen.
A chibi mermaid leapt from the water and finally perched on a rock. The effect lasted five whole seconds.
SoftSoft was surprised and covered her mouth, “Thank you! Thank you, Xia Xia Xia, for the Mermaid!!!”
She quickly ran through the name Xia Xia Xia in her mind and clicked on the profile to see if it was a boss she knew who’d changed their name.
But this Xia Xia Xia was obviously a new account, following only one person, and had just reached level 32 from gifting.
Level 32 meant they had spent ten thousand yuan in the stream.
Exactly the price of a Mermaid.
Could it be a student secretly using their parents' card?!
SoftSoft suddenly felt a bit flustered.