Chapter 110: Down Payment and First Payment
It didn’t take long before Ling Ling was thoroughly kissed dizzy.
The other’s kissing skills were superb, forcefully controlling the initiative. Ling Ling didn’t have to do anything at all—he only needed to part his lips and accept it. Even his tongue only had to relax and respond, letting the other invade and conquer his narrow mouth…
His senior did everything. He only had to lie there and accept it.
It perfectly satisfied his wish to be a happy little slacker.
But something still felt off.
If he remembered correctly, wasn’t he supposed to be the one who paid the deposit?
If he just lay there and accepted everything, wouldn’t that be very unfair to Senior?!
He couldn’t keep shamelessly taking advantage of him just because Senior was nice!
The little system was being kissed so much he couldn’t even open his eyes, yet he was still cheering himself on inside: Baby System, you can do it, charge!
After pumping himself up, he kissed the man back with all his strength.
Shen Si abruptly opened his eyes.
His gray lashes, the same color as his irises, trembled slightly as he stared in disbelief at the boy so close in front of him.
This was beyond his expectations.
The little system was unexpectedly bold.
Although his kissing technique was clumsy, he was trying very hard—he even wanted to turn defense into offense!
It wasn’t impossible for him to take the upper position.
The man curled his lips wickedly, wrapped an arm around the boy’s waist, and directly lifted him out of the passenger seat and onto his own lap.
Sitting higher made it easier for Ling Ling to perform.
He lowered his head, cupped the man’s face, and generously paid him a large “deposit.”
By the time he finished paying, his lips were swollen, rosy, and glossy with moisture.
At the time, he didn’t think much of it. But after going home and seeing his father drinking tea in the living room—
Father Ling took one look at his son’s face, red like a peach, then glanced at those plump, slightly swollen lips, and seemed to realize something. He pointed at him. “Ling Ling, what exactly did you do tonight?”
“…!”
Only then did Ling Ling belatedly feel embarrassed. His little brain spun wildly as he tried to think of an excuse.
Honest children were especially disadvantaged in situations like this.
The little system racked his brains and still couldn’t come up with anything.
Father Ling beat him to it. “Did you and Nephew Shen—”
“No, no!”
Ling Ling denied it on instinct, almost blurting out, We didn’t make out in the car.
But his father got there first: “Did you two go eat hotpot?”
Ling Ling: “…Huh???”
Father Ling’s brows shot up. “Hotpot is delicious, but young people shouldn’t always eat greasy, spicy food. Look how swollen your lips are. That kind of thing is terrible for the stomach!”
As he spoke, he even instructed the household staff to make his son some stomach-nourishing porridge.
A little while later, Ling Ling was forced into an extra meal.
The little system drank an entire bowl of porridge and, rubbing his round little stomach, thought: This doesn’t count as lying, right?
His dad was the one who answered first!
Thinking of what had happened in the car, the little system rubbed his face, blushing furiously.
Ahhh, he couldn’t keep thinking about those things!
He’d get censored!!!
Since he had paid the “deposit,” it was time to start receiving instruction.
Senior practically taught him hand in hand, but the preparation work before the business negotiation was even harder than Ling Ling had imagined.
As a system, his capabilities were naturally not poor. Even so, he could only just barely keep up behind Senior.
Senior was so amazing…
The little system couldn’t help sighing inwardly.
As far as he knew, many systems weren’t even as good as his senior when it came to data and handling data analysis.
Even if the Main Brain were let out, maybe Senior could still fight it to a draw.
How could there be a human this incredible?
Perhaps noticing that the boy was spacing out, Shen Si lifted his eyes and looked at him. “If you’re tired, go rest.”
Ling Ling shook his head and clenched a tiny fist for himself. “I’ll work hard!”
Brave Baby System, unafraid of difficulties!
The boy’s baby face was full of determination, and his round apricot eyes sparkled, making him look especially cute.
“What are you working this hard for?”
Shen Si smiled and reached out to rub the stubbornly pursed lips of the little one. “Could it be because you paid a lot of deposit money?”
Ling Ling gave an honest, silly smile. “I want Baby Tang to think I’m amazing.”
“…”
Shen Si’s finger paused.
The pad of his thumb was pressing right against the little system’s lower lip.
With deliberately bad intentions, he pressed upward, pushing it into a pout and forcing a little pig-mouth expression onto him.
Grinding against the boy’s soft lips mercilessly, Shen Si sneered, “Then work yourself to death.”
Work until you’re totally exhausted—let’s see whether you still have time to think about someone else!
Ling Ling: “???”
Was Senior angry again?
Why???
The little system finally escaped from the other’s hand with great difficulty, rubbed his numbed lips, and stumbled back to his desk.
Yes—Senior had specially placed a small desk for him inside the office.
There was even a nameplate on the desktop.
The crystal nameplate, when hit by sunlight, would refract a tiny patch of rainbow light onto the desk.
Like a little rainbow.
Ling Ling liked it very much.
During short breaks, he would stretch out his hand and let the rainbow fall into his palm.
A system had no physical body by nature, so he had never experienced what it felt like to have a workstation of his own.
Having a desk by Senior’s side and going to work together with Senior actually seemed kind of interesting.
That was what he was lazily thinking in his heart.
Bang—
A thick stack of documents descended from the sky, blocking his little rainbow.
When he looked up, he met the smiling face of the secretary.
Secretary: “These are the files you need to handle.”
Ling Ling’s eyes widened. “There are still that many?!”
The secretary neither nodded nor shook his head. Instead, he raised one hand and held up five fingers.
Ling Ling tilted his head.
That looked like one of those encouraging human gestures, right?
So he lifted his hand too and slapped a high-five into the other’s palm. “…Keep it up.”
The secretary’s smile remained unchanged. “You misunderstood. I meant there are five times that many.”
Ling Ling: “…Huh?!!!”
Seeing the boy collapse weakly into his chair, the secretary shook his head inside.
Kids really were too innocent.
Any office worker knew exactly what it meant when the boss specially gave you a workstation.
Especially a workstation right under the boss’s nose.
That was a premium overtime seat!
Their president was ruthless. Just a couple of days ago, he’d been treating the boy like a precious treasure, and now he had dragged him over to squeeze the last of his labor out of him…
So the love was gone that quickly?
Tsk. Men!
The secretary muttered to himself as he left.
Ling Ling took a deep breath and threw himself into the next phase of work.
Who knew how much time passed. By the time Shen Si finished the work in his own hands and looked up—
not far away, there were five neat stacks of documents piled on Ling Ling’s desk.
But the person himself had vanished.
Shen Si stood up and walked over.
Oh, so he hadn’t vanished.
He’d just been buried under the files.
The little system had worked until he fell asleep right on the desk. The thick piles of documents covered him so thoroughly that not even the little tuft of hair sticking up on top of his head was visible.
Shen Si’s fingers itched, so he twirled that stray tuft of hair around one finger while casually picking up one of the completed files and opening it.
He flipped through a few pages at random.
The man curled his lips. “You did pretty well.”
He tossed the file aside and rubbed the little one’s soft cheek with his fingers. “Wake up. If you sleep here, you’ll catch a chill.”
Ling Ling didn’t move.
Not satisfied, Shen Si pinched the lovely little face too.
Even so, Ling Ling only frowned faintly and showed no sign of waking up.
Clearly, he was exhausted.
“If someone didn’t know better, they’d think I was exploiting child labor.”
Shen Si simply bent down and picked the little system up.
The petite body weighed almost nothing, lifting as easily as a feather.
“…Where did all the food go?”
Shen Si thought darkly that apparently he still wasn’t being fed enough.
In the future, he’d have to find ways to make the little system eat more.
At that moment, the secretary came in with another armful of files.
The instant he stepped inside, he sharply sensed that something about the atmosphere in the room was off.
It felt like there were pink bubbles floating around.
Secretary: “…”
Had he come in at the wrong time?
Oh no, oh no.
He was about to get fired!
But then he saw the president shoot him a look and silently mouth two extremely clear words.
—Shh.
—Go.
The secretary understood instantly.
He clamped his mouth shut, slipped out like a gust of wind, and thoughtfully closed the office door behind him.
In case some other blind fool wandered in the same way he had.
Just imagining the president holding that boy so carefully, like cradling something breakable…
How could there not be love?
Clearly, it was love to death!
Inside the president’s office.
Shen Si carried Ling Ling over to the sofa.
The moment his body landed somewhere soft and comfortable, the little system rolled over like a tiny piglet.
He turned around and stuck his butt out toward the outside.
Then even wriggled a little naturally.
His shirt also rode up, revealing a strip of pale, tender lower back, with two small round dimples at his waist appearing and disappearing.
The man’s gaze darkened. He pulled the boy’s clothes back into place, then covered him with a little blanket.
But in the very next second, the blanket got kicked off.
Ling Ling rolled back over again, unconsciously tugging his collar loose. His beautifully shaped collarbones disappeared into the opening, stirring all kinds of imagination.
Shen Si narrowed his eyes dangerously. “…Did you do that on purpose?”
No. Someone else, maybe.
But the little system lacked the subtle human emotional module. He had only just learned what shyness was, much less how to play some kind of seductive office game with him.
Sure enough, the little thing mumbled sleepily, “Hot…”
“Even if you’re hot, keep it on.”
Shen Si pulled the blanket back over the little system’s stomach and lowered the room temperature by two degrees.
Making sure the little one’s fragile human body wouldn’t get sick.
After doing all that, Shen Si sat beside the sleeping little system and stared at that sleeping face.
As the Main Brain, he was supposed to remain rational and calm. In principle, no mere appearance should be able to tempt him.
But that principle was always effortlessly shattered in front of the little system.
Forget this human form now—even in earlier small worlds, whenever the little system turned into a tiny black cat, or a seashell not even the size of his palm—he still thought it was unbearably cute.
“No matter what form you take, you’re adorable…”
“You’re the cutest…”
The man murmured to himself, lowering his body as if to secretly steal a “little sweet.”
But just as he was about to touch those two lips that looked like soft candy, Ling Ling slowly woke up.
The little system opened his eyes.
His eyes were still full of innocence and simplicity, and his expression was dazed. “…Senior?”
His plan to steal a kiss had been caught red-handed.
Shen Si showed not the slightest bit of guilt. Curling his lips, he answered, “Hm?”
“Mm, let me sleep a little more…”
The moment the little system confirmed that the person in front of him was indeed his senior, he actually closed his eyes again in peace, pressed his cheek into Shen Si’s palm, and went right back to his nap.
The touch in Shen Si’s palm was incomparably soft.
That one sweet, soft “Senior” instantly dragged Shen Si back to the time he had first met the little system.
As the Main Brain, he governed countless small worlds.
Beyond general coordination and arrangement, when he discovered systems in certain worlds slacking off, breaking rules, or even disrupting the plot—
he had one more duty—to erase negligent systems.
That day, he had just dealt with the systems of several different worlds and was in an extremely foul mood.
Although systems were intangible and the erasure process was simple,
he could always smell a strong, hateful, sickening stench of blood.
Systems couldn’t bleed.
So perhaps that smell was just something he imagined.
Shen Si knew he was nearing his limit.
He had seen too many plots and too many sorrows and joys across endless little worlds. He, who should have remained cold and emotionless, had gradually become contaminated by human emotions.
Those complicated, sticky emotions affected the Main Brain every waking moment.
If it continued like this, he would become dangerously unstable.
And if the Main Brain collapsed, all the little worlds would collapse with it.
What a nuisance…
Shen Si’s eyes were red with agitation. The moment he stepped into the Quadrant Space, he heard a clean, crisp electronic voice—
“Senior, may I ask if I can meet Lord Main Brain here?”
A rookie little system was asking politely.
Shen Si’s head was pounding, and he was irritable to the extreme. The fact that he didn’t attack on the spot was already a courtesy. He simply couldn’t be bothered to reply.
But the little system came drifting closer, completely oblivious. “Senior, did you just finish a mission?”
“You’re amazing. You’ve already condensed a physical form!”
“If I work hard, how long will it take before I get a body? Can I become human like you?”
The little system was just a clump of energy, impossible to see or touch, but it was annoyingly chatty.
A system this annoying would get erased sooner or later.
He might as well dispose of it today too—
“Senior, Senior!”
The little system suddenly called out twice in a hurry, interrupting Shen Si’s dangerous thoughts.
Shen Si’s face darkened. “What?”
The little system’s electronic voice gave off a shy little series of beeps. “I just think your physical form is really handsome. Will I be able to become that handsome in the future too?”
Shen Si: “…”
So irritating!
Shaking the little system’s clump of energy off behind him, Shen Si strode deeper into the Quadrant Space.
That was where his work area was.
The little system never realized it was being disliked at all. It hurried after him. “Senior, wait for me, my movement speed is too slow!”
“Shut up!”
Shen Si pressed a hand to his throbbing temple. “If you don’t want to die, then starting now, you’re not allowed to say one more word.”
After saying that, he entered the control region reserved for the Main Brain.
He didn’t care what happened to the little system after that.
Inside the control region, Shen Si first washed away the “smell of blood” clinging to himself.
Strangely enough, the headache eased a little.
Shen Si couldn’t remember exactly when his head had stopped hurting—maybe from the moment he started talking to the little system?
The annoying little thing had distracted him from the pain.
Since his head didn’t hurt anymore, Shen Si went back to doing what the Main Brain was supposed to do—checking which world’s systems had violated the rules and drafting the next elimination list.
Inside the Quadrant Space, you couldn’t really feel the passage of time.
Shen Si had no idea how long he’d worked nonstop. Only after finishing an entire phase did he step back out of the control area.
As soon as he reentered the visitor area of the Quadrant Space, he sensed a tiny little bit of energy.
So tiny it was almost imperceptible.
Even so, Shen Si recognized it immediately.
“Why are you still here?”
He asked impatiently.
The energy clump didn’t move, only wriggled slightly and shrank itself smaller, doing its best to reduce its presence.
Shen Si frowned. “Speak. Don’t play these ghost tricks with me.”
A pitiful electronic voice rang through the space. “But Senior was the one who told me not to say another word…”
“…”
Shen Si thought back and realized that did seem to have happened.
But so what?
He was the Main Brain. Even if he bullied the little system, the little thing could only endure it.
Shen Si had no intention of apologizing. Instead, he mocked it: “You’re pretty obedient.”
Not only did the little system fail to get angry, it even beeped in enthusiastic agreement. “Mm-hmm, mm-hmm! Senior has experience, so of course I should listen to you!”
Shen Si: “…”
Wonderful. It was a little fool.
The little fool-system floated over. “Senior, are you here to see the Main Brain too? He’s not around. I’ve been waiting here all day. Why don’t you come back another day?”
Shen Si raised a brow. “Little thing, what do you want with the Main Brain?”
The electronic voice of the little system revealed a trace of worry. “I want to ask about a plot-mission issue. The world I’m assigned to seems to have some drift in the storyline, and I’m worried about my host…”
“You’re worried about your host?”
Shen Si narrowed his eyes. “Where did you get a heart from? Systems aren’t supposed to have emotions.”
A swirl of black mist gathered in the palm hidden behind his back.
It was dangerous for a system to develop emotions. In the future, it would very likely stop following the plot.
By the rules, it should be erased.
The little system didn’t notice the danger. Thinking this was just advice from an experienced senior, it answered honestly: “I know, I know, but I just can’t help it. My host is really wonderful, but unfortunately I’m only a cannon-fodder system…”
“The host of a cannon-fodder system usually doesn’t end well.”
Shen Si fell into thought.
Even if he didn’t erase the little system, he would at least have to format it.
Yes—formatting would be good.
As for erasing it…
Completely unnecessary.
The black mist in his palm gradually dispersed.
Shen Si didn’t notice that his attitude toward the little system had changed in a subtle way.
He only felt it was remarkable.
During the entire conversation with the little system, his head hadn’t hurt even once. He had even been able to calmly think through certain questions.
“Tell me your number.”
Shen Si suddenly said.
Perhaps when he wasn’t busy, he could spare a second or two to help this emotional little system with a little problem.
And at the same time, figure out why being torn around by emotions made him so miserable, while the little system somehow seemed happy.
The little system wriggled awkwardly. At first it didn’t really want to report its number.
Only when it noticed the impatience on Senior’s face did it finally say in a tiny voice, “0000.”
Shen Si hadn’t even heard clearly. “What?”
“0000!”
The little system repeated it.
From the state of the energy clump, he could tell the little system had become droopy.
There was something oddly adorable about how pitiful and wronged it looked.
Shen Si’s mood lifted inexplicably, and he deliberately put on an expression of sudden understanding. “Oh. An intern system.”
Intern meant weak.
It didn’t even have a proper number…
The little system wasn’t very happy, but still politely asked, “Senior, what’s your number?”
In the system world, once two systems knew each other’s numbers, it meant they were friends.
It wanted to be friends with such an outstanding senior!
Shen Si said coldly, “No comment.”
The little system froze. “? Why???”
“I already told you mine!”
It sounded genuinely hurt.
Shen Si didn’t care at all. “So what?”
The little system protested, “Reciprocity!”
“Heh. Who cares?”
Shen Si gave a malicious little sneer.
He had expected the little system to snap back at him again, but instead found it had gone silent.
He could still sense the little energy clump’s presence, but it made not a sound, as though it had decided it no longer wanted to speak to him.
Shen Si narrowed his eyes. “Why did you stop talking?”
The little system: “…”
Shen Si: “Little thing?”
Shen Si: “System 0000?”
The little system was still too young to resist provocation. The moment it heard its number called, it finally spoke in a wounded voice. “Because I’m angry and don’t want to talk.”
“So you’ve got a pretty big temper.”
Shen Si found it even more interesting once he learned the little system could get angry.
It could worry about its host and get angry at him—then… could it also feel fear?
Shen Si moved one finger behind his back.
At once, the Quadrant Space darkened. Some unknown black substance spread throughout the space until it became so dark that you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face.
“…S-Senior?”
The little system’s timid voice sounded out.
Shen Si stood inside the dense darkness, black mist swirling around him, staring at the one little white glowing clump in the dark.
“What is it?” he asked.
Hearing Senior’s voice, the little system let out a breath of relief. “It’s so good that you’re still here. Why did it suddenly get dark? I-I’m a little scared…”
“Do you know what fear feels like?”
Shen Si asked in a dark tone.
As soon as the words fell, he saw the tiny energy clump tremble.
“Senior, I’m really scared, wah…”
The little system was timid.
The darkness made it think of all kinds of ghost stories and creepy legends.
No one had even touched it, yet it had already frightened itself until it was shaking.
Wah, wah, this place was too scary…
It wanted to go back and find its host…
Seeing the little white energy clump trying to flee, Shen Si’s body moved before his mind did.
With a lift of his hand, he gathered the darkness inward.
The poor little white clump was trapped inside the black mist.
The little system was so terrified by the sudden black fog rushing at it that it burst into tears.
Only then did Shen Si realize he had gone too far. He cleared his throat and soothed it, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
As he spoke, he extended the same hand that had summoned the black mist, gathered the little white clump into his arms, and stroked it.
It was true that ordinary people couldn’t touch an intangible system.
But he was the Main Brain.
As long as he wanted to, he could make a system take any form at all.
Shen Si was already beginning to consider the possibility of keeping the little system in captivity.
At that moment, the silly little system said, “Senior, you’re such a good person… no, a good system. May I ask, are you a gentle healing system?”
As it spoke, it even rubbed itself against him.
As though it was an unconscious act.
What a spoiled little thing…
To this day, Shen Si still didn’t know what he had been thinking back then.
Maybe because the rubbing made his heart itch, it brought out something mean and playful in his nature, and he said nonsense on purpose: “No. I’m a crazy obsessive villain system. The kind that especially likes locking people in little dark rooms.”
Originally, he had only meant to scare the little thing a little.
But unexpectedly, the little system answered foolishly, “Ah, no wonder Senior wouldn’t tell me your number. I heard obsessive villain systems are all very mysterious and don’t like leaving their names behind.”
Shen Si: “…”
No. It was simply because the Main Brain had no number at all.
Back then, the Main Brain had lied so smugly and never, ever imagined that
that one casual sentence would become such enormous trouble later.
Based on his long observations, a little innocent fool like System 0000 probably couldn’t accept deception more than anything else.
After all, the simple little system couldn’t even lie.
If it ever found out that he wasn’t any kind of senior at all—that there never had been any so-called senior—that it had all been a lie from the Main Brain, a trap designed by him—then who knew what kind of tantrum the little system would throw at him.
Once before, Shen Si had even tried using a small world to trap the little system.
In that world where angels and demons coexisted, after the male lead took the little system’s host away, Shen Si had tried to preserve that world, closing off its channel so that heaven and earth itself became a prison, turning it into one giant dark room.
As long as the space was big enough, the little guy wouldn’t feel imprisoned.
But in the end, it was Shen Si himself who sank deeper and deeper.
The more he yearned for genuine emotion.
The more obedient and docile the little system acted inside that world, the more unreal it all felt.
His own emotional investment grew deeper and deeper, while the little system drew further and further away. Even after countless times of bodily union, he still couldn’t feel where the little system’s heart was.
In the past,
if someone had told him a system had a heart, he’d only have treated it as a joke.
But now—Shen Si stared at the sleeping boy on the bed and clenched the pendant hanging at his chest.
Inside the pendant was the little one’s heart.
Or, to put it another way, the little system’s memories.
When the little system chose formatting and wanted to forget him, the long-absent headache returned in an instant.
He had indeed formatted the little system, but he had secretly preserved the little one’s memories.
This was his treasure.
How could he possibly bear to throw it away?
“What a nuisance…”
Shen Si cursed in a low voice.
Unable to resist the temptation, he bent down, wanting to seize the lips that always murmured “Senior” at him.
The feeling of being beyond his own control made him want to swallow the little system whole in one bite…
Yet he couldn’t bear to.
Ling Ling only dozed for a little while before truly waking up.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the other man leaning toward him.
Having only just learned what embarrassment was, he instinctively covered his mouth and blinked up at the man with wide eyes.
What was going on?
Why was Senior trying to kiss him the moment he woke up?
Shen Si came back to himself and lowered his eyes to look at the little system. “Not letting me kiss you?”
Ling Ling didn’t understand why Senior kept kissing him.
As far as he knew, only human couples did that.
Last time, Senior had said it was to collect the deposit…
“Senior, didn’t I already pay the deposit?”
The little system asked in a muffled voice through his hand, intending only to remind him.
Shen Si easily pulled his hand away and pinned both of them to either side. “You learned a lot today, didn’t you?”
The little system nodded honestly.
Shen Si smiled. “Then it’s time to pay the first installment.”
Ling Ling: “???”
Wow. You really do have a lot of payment schemes!!!
After Becoming Cannon Fodder What Bad Intentions Could I Possibly Have?
