ABSTIWTVMST Chapter 140

Xu Chenghao’s heart tightened instantly. His eyes locked onto the robots, watching their every move as they sorted the mixed chili peppers into two categories: intact and deformed. Then, their eyes lit up with a blue glow, and in a mechanical voice, they reported:

“Task complete. Left side: 3,217. Right side: 4,599. Report finished.”

3,217 chili peppers? How many had he counted before?

Xu Chenghao racked his brain, but the more anxious he got, the harder it was to recall. Frustrated, he simply pulled out his phone and started recalculating from scratch.

—”It’s 3,013 chili peppers.”

Xu Chenghao looked up, a bit dazed. “Huh?”

“You said earlier that you were still 3,013 peppers short of completing the task. I remembered,” Jing Yicheng said, glancing teasingly at the calculator app on Xu Chenghao’s phone screen.

Xu Chenghao didn’t notice the look. After a brief mental lag, he suddenly grabbed Jing Yicheng’s wrist in excitement. “So that means we’re done?”

Jing Yicheng affirmed, “Yes, the task is complete.”

“Aaaahhh, we did it!!” Xu Chenghao went completely wild, shrieking as he lunged at Jing Yicheng. The force sent the latter stumbling back two steps, but Xu Chenghao refused to let go, clinging to him like a madman.

Jing Yicheng, still holding the little yellow duck that was almost thrown aside, let out a helpless yet indulgent sigh. “Yes, yes, we’re done.”

Xu Chenghao was overjoyed, planting several kisses on Jing Yicheng’s face. “All thanks to your quality control, Cheng-ge! Thank you~~”

“If you want to thank me, save it for when we get home. Right now…” Jing Yicheng gestured toward something. “Your phone has been ringing for a while.”

Xu Chenghao snapped back to reality, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. He silently climbed off Jing Yicheng, picked up his phone from the floor, and glanced at the screen—caller ID: 2333. His mouth twitched.

“Hello?”

“It’s me.” A familiar mechanical voice crackled over the line, distorted with static. “Open the door. Time to collect the chili peppers.”

Xu Chenghao: “…”

He was actually looking forward to seeing how the system would show up.

——

The large gate of the chili pepper base slowly opened. The man standing at the entrance lifted his head at the sound, revealing silver-gray eyes beneath the brim of his baseball cap. He scrutinized Jing Yicheng and Xu Chenghao before finally walking straight to Xu Chenghao without even glancing sideways, staring at him intently.

“You’re here.” Xu Chenghao smiled, turned around, and gestured for the other party to follow him inside. Though he appeared calm and accustomed to the situation, inwardly, he was quite surprised—he hadn’t expected the system to show up in a human form to collect the goods. If it weren’t for those striking silver-gray eyes, with his simple black casual outfit and baseball cap, the man could easily disappear into a crowd without a trace.

Jing Yicheng was also observing the man, from his demeanor to his attire, from his silver-gray eyes to the “2333” employee badge pinned to his clothes. He couldn’t detect anything unusual, so he simply remained silent and followed behind Xu Chenghao, watching their interaction.

Worried that saying too much might lead to mistakes, Xu Chenghao put on a formal businesslike expression and said seriously, “The chili peppers are here. You can check them.”

The system stepped forward, opened the cloth bag, and its silver-gray eyes flickered slightly. After a few seconds, it nodded, lifted the entire bag of chili peppers with ease, and turned to leave—without breaking a sweat or even a change in breath. The entire pickup process lasted less than three minutes.

Jing Yicheng frowned and subtly glanced at the surveillance cameras. The bodyguard in the monitoring room immediately understood the signal and made a call to the guards at the entrance, instructing them to track the man.

Five minutes later, both Jing Yicheng’s phone and Xu Chenghao’s mind received notifications simultaneously.

Bodyguard: “Lost him.”

System: 【Ding—The Chili Pepper Harvesting Expert is now online.】

【Ding—Detection successful. The chili pepper task has been overfulfilled. Your current chili pepper count is 11,111/50,000,000. Please continue to make persistent your efforts.】

【Ding—The chili pepper task reward is now available. Since you completed the task within the specified time, you have received ‘Physical Regulation’ as a reward.】

【Ding—Chili Pepper Task 5.0 completed. Automatic upgrade initiated. Task cooldown period: five weeks.】

Xu Chenghao anxiously asked: “Where are you now? Are you okay?”

【Ding—Rest assured, Host. There were no issues.】

Only then did Xu Chenghao relax and finally have the mind to check this reward. “What does ‘Physical Regulation’ mean?”

【Ding—‘Physical Regulation’ will adjust the host’s overall physical fitness to the optimal state for a human, completing the final step of your bodily transformation.】

Xu Chenghao: “Then what rewards can you give me in the future?”

【Ding—The system store has everything. It all depends on whether the host can complete the tasks.】

Xu Chenghao jokingly said: “Then next time, give me a portable storage space.”

【Ding—Request recorded. Please work hard to complete the tasks.】

Xu Chenghao: “???”

He had just said it casually—what the hell did “recorded successfully” mean? Was the system actually going to give him a portable storage space next time?

After the initial shock, Xu Chenghao couldn’t help but rub his hands together excitedly. He had heard that a portable storage space was a must-have item for protagonists. Even if he didn’t necessarily need one, just having it would make him extremely happy!

Just as he was secretly laughing to himself, Jing Yicheng suddenly looked over, startling Xu Chenghao into quickly withdrawing his expression and looking back innocently. “What’s wrong?”

Jing Yicheng paused for two seconds and said helplessly, “Nothing.”

Xu Chenghao grinned. “Then let’s go back. We should have a good meal later to celebrate completing the task~”

The process had been full of twists and turns, but the result was what truly mattered. Now that the task was complete, Xu Chenghao was in an excellent mood. Even when he thought about the greenhouse fire, he didn’t feel too angry anymore. Feeling cheerful, he followed Jing Yicheng to get something to eat. The gloomy expression he had worn in the morning had completely disappeared.

Two words: Pure joy!

And on top of that, he could now rest for over a month. Just thinking about it made him even happier.

Seeing Xu Chenghao in a good mood, Jing Yicheng naturally felt more at ease as well. But feeling relieved was one thing—tracking down the culprit was another.

Regarding the greenhouse fire incident, although Jing Yicheng had suppressed the news from spreading at the very beginning, as time passed and the police frequently came and went, those with connections in certain circles began to notice something was off. If there was no proper resolution to this case, anyone might dare to target Xu Chenghao in the future.

Jing Yicheng not only had to resolve the matter but also needed to make an example out of someone—to severely warn those who didn’t know their place.

Now that Xu Chenghao was in a better mood, Jing Yicheng could temporarily set aside his worries and focus entirely on investigating the case himself.

Sometimes, no matter how experienced a criminal was, they would still leave behind unnoticed traces. These clues might not always be at the crime scene—sometimes, just their sudden appearance in the city was enough to attract attention. This approach was like searching for a needle in a haystack, but as long as there were enough people involved, it was also the fastest method.

In just six days, Jing Yicheng locked onto the culprit. But before he could make a move, he received shocking news: Ruan Tianzi, the young master of the Ruan family, and An Rouyu had been kidnapped—by the same group of perpetrators.

The moment the news got out, Xu Chenghao had the biggest reaction. He was even more agitated than Ruan Chenxuan, abruptly standing up and exclaiming, “What did you say?!”

Li Nian frowned. “They’re not your wife and kid. Why are you so worked up?”

Xu Chenghao opened his mouth but ultimately fell silent. He sat back down, propping his head up with his hands in complete despair—how could he not be worked up?

The plot had clearly stated that the female lead and the child would be kidnapped, and in response, the original host would sacrifice himself to save her, perishing together with the villain…

Wait!

Xu Chenghao lifted his head and met Jing Yicheng’s gaze. His eyes narrowed slightly.

Something’s wrong.

In the original plot, the villain had kidnapped the female lead and the child out of love, intending to take them away. But the current Jing Yicheng would never do something like that. Which meant the plot had deviated, and someone else had taken over this event.

Then what about the ending…?

Xu Chenghao lowered his head to look at his legs, his fingers trembling slightly. He had already experienced one unalterable moment—his leg injury. He had no confidence in saying that this major event wouldn’t still happen.

What if the process changed but the outcome remained the same?

Would he and Jing Yicheng still die? Would they perish together?

No, no, no. Xu Chenghao shook his head repeatedly. That can’t be right! He hadn’t even completed his mission yet—how could he die? If he were to die halfway through before completing the mission, wouldn’t that mean the system’s efforts would have been wasted?

So he shouldn’t die!

But… what about Jing Yicheng?

Xu Chenghao stared at Jing Yicheng in a daze. Because life had been so sweet recently, he had almost forgotten how tragic and devastating Jing Yicheng’s fate was supposed to be.

If this was the moment marking his final ending… then what should he do?

At first, Jing Yicheng had been annoyed, thinking Xu Chenghao was so concerned about An Rouyu, even reacting so strongly for her sake. But when he noticed the tears welling up in Xu Chenghao’s eyes, his heart clenched involuntarily. He stepped forward and said, “Why are you crying? If Ruan Chenxuan can’t handle it, I’ll save her myself. I guarantee she’ll return exactly as she was. Will that do?”

Li Nian furrowed his brows, puzzled by Xu Chenghao’s intense reaction. At the same time, he couldn’t help but marvel at how even someone as domineering as Jing Yicheng was willing to compromise for love. He couldn’t quite put his feelings into words, so he simply chose to leave the office quietly, giving them space to talk things out.

—At the very least, one thing was certain: Xu Chenghao’s panic was definitely not because of An Rouyu.

With a soft click, the door was shut from the outside. The sound of the lock engaging snapped Xu Chenghao back to reality. He immediately buried himself into Jing Yicheng’s chest, muffling his voice as he said, “No. You’re not allowed to get involved in this. I won’t even hold you accountable for the greenhouse fire anymore—just don’t go, you can’t be a part of this!”

Now Jing Yicheng was completely baffled. “Haohao, what exactly are you hiding from me?”

Xu Chenghao clung to his waist without saying a word. Jing Yicheng could only stroke his head soothingly, patiently waiting for him to calm down.

The sudden news had utterly shaken Xu Chenghao. He weakly clutched Jing Yicheng’s clothes, his mind racing as he desperately tried to figure out how to avoid this looming disaster.

Xu Chenghao: System, can I skip the cooldown period and start a new task immediately? And can I manually choose a new reward?

After speaking, Xu Chenghao held his breath and waited for a response. But whether his request was too excessive or not, his mind remained eerily silent—no one answered him at all.

Xu Chenghao tensed slightly. “System?”

【……】

Unwilling to give up, Xu Chenghao called again. “System, I know you can hear me. Whether you agree or not, at least give me a response! Even if you refuse, that’s still better than leaving me hanging!”

Perhaps it was this remark that finally elicited a reaction. A familiar ding echoed in his mind, and the system’s voice, calm and slow as always, asked:

【Then, Host, what are you willing to offer in return?】

 

The author has something to say:

System: This is the worst host I’ve ever worked with.