Chapter Eleven: Happiness Arrives So Suddenly

“What are you getting so excited about? I’m an intelligent being with principles, you know. Don’t even think about making me do anything illegal or immoral.” Bai’s sudden dousing of cold water left Lan Tian feeling utterly chilled to the core.

“Um… Brother Bai—no, Master Bai—what, in your opinion, counts as something illegal or immoral?” Lan Tian asked, his face full of flattery, treading carefully.

“Of course, anything that goes against the glory of the Empire, or violates conscience and morality—I would never do!” Bai declared with righteous indignation.

“Uh… Just to clarify, which empire are you talking about?”

“Why, my Origin Lan Empire, of course!”

“But… aren’t you always thinking about bringing down the Origin Lan Empire? Now you’re talking about its glory? Does that really make sense?”

Bai: “…”

“…You actually make a good point.” Bai froze for a moment, a brief glitch in his core logic, but his loyalty to his master quickly overrode all else. “To hell with the Empire’s glory!”

“Yes, to hell with the Empire’s glory!” Lan Tian echoed with righteous fury. “The damned Origin Lan Empire—we swear to destroy it!”

“By the way, since the God of War has fallen, you don’t have a master now, right? So… would you consider me?” After his outburst, Lan Tian suddenly looked bashful.

“Heh… You? I’d rather self-destruct…” Bai didn’t hesitate in the slightest.

But when he saw Lan Tian’s face, as if he’d just swallowed a fly, Bai relented a little, “Keep working at it, kid. If you ever reach even half the level of my former master, maybe, just maybe, I’ll let you be my little brother.”

Lan Tian: “…”

“If I had even half your master’s strength, the first thing I’d do is take you out!” he grumbled inwardly. Of course, he only dared to think it. Halfway through his internal rant, he quickly stopped himself—who knew if this shameless computer could actually read his mind? If it got offended and ignored him, that would be a real tragedy.

At this moment, in Lan Tian’s eyes, Bai was nothing less than an endless, infinite extraction machine!

“Come on, aren’t we good friends? No need to talk about masters and servants, that’s just hurtful!” Lan Tian protested, full of righteous indignation.

“Fine, fine, your temperament isn’t half bad. I suppose I can barely consider you a friend,” Bai replied loftily.

Lan Tian: “…”

With this obnoxious computer’s attitude, the heroic image of the God of War crumbled to dust in Lan Tian’s heart.

“Alright, alright, seeing as you’ve been so unlucky lately, I’ll reward you with a little cash.” Bai smiled proudly, finally uttering words that made Lan Tian’s heart race.

“Thank you, Brother Bai, thank you!” Lan Tian nodded repeatedly. If Bai weren’t just a projection, he’d probably be running over to pound his back and massage his legs, the very picture of a sycophant.

“Let me have a look.” Bai nodded with composed elegance. Under Lan Tian’s watchful gaze, Bai made no visible move, but after a few seconds, he spoke: “Done.”

Lan Tian was surprised, about to ask what he meant, when his phone on the nightstand, plugged in and charging, chimed with a “ding-dong.”

He didn’t waste a second, hurrying over to grab it.

“Thunk!”

With a soft sound, the phone slipped from his hands and dropped to the floor.

His cherished iPhone, usually handled with the utmost care, was completely forgotten at that moment.

Eyes wide and bloodshot, Lan Tian stared at Bai, whose expression was one of pure nonchalance. “Wait… this… is what you call a little cash?”

“What else?” Bai shot him a lazy glance. “Alright, I’m going to rest now.”

With that, Bai’s projection flickered and vanished; the shimmering screen in the room disappeared, and the floating diamond crystal shot toward Lan Tian. As it flew, the crystal twisted and transformed, finally becoming a delicate, translucent ring that slipped onto the index finger of his left hand.

Then, Bai’s voice suddenly sounded in Lan Tian’s mind, “Tomorrow night, find a secluded spot—the first time you cultivate, the commotion might be a bit much.”

“Got it, I’ll get it done!” Lan Tian replied, though Bai didn’t answer again.

Once he was sure Bai had entered sleep mode, Lan Tian stood in a daze for quite a while before coming back to his senses, staring at the ring on his hand.

For a moment, it all felt like a dream.

But the ring, once Bai, was firmly on his finger. He reached out and touched it.

The sensation was unbelievably real.

“I’ve struck it rich! I’ve really struck it rich!” Suddenly, a surge of wild joy burst in Lan Tian’s heart and spread throughout his body. He couldn’t help but dance with excitement.

After all, anyone who’d experienced such a miraculous encounter would probably be beside themselves with excitement—his dancing was actually rather restrained.

After a while, he kissed the ring on his finger again and again, then picked up his phone from the floor. Ignoring the dust now covering the screen, he kissed it as well.

Suddenly, his expression changed; torn between hope and dread, he pressed the unlock button. Once the phone was open and he saw the message still there, he broke into a broad grin, reading the words one by one, over and over.

“Dear Mr. Lan Tian, a real-time deposit of 100,000,000.00 yuan was credited to your XX card ending in 0917 on August 28, 2017. Current balance: 100,000,072.26 yuan. [XX Bank]”

“Oh my god, I actually misread it earlier—I left out a zero! It’s not ten million, it’s a hundred million!” Once he confirmed the amount, Lan Tian’s face, full of shock and happiness, was overtaken by another wave of astonishment, and then by even greater joy.

“Happiness truly comes out of nowhere…” Lan Tian muttered to himself, grinning like a fool.

Given his family’s income, forget a hundred million—even a million was something he’d never seen before. Faced with this sudden windfall, Lan Tian had no idea what to do, how to spend it, where to start. His mind was a complete blank.

But one thing was clear.

He didn’t know where Bai had gotten the money, or how he’d managed to bypass the bank’s systems, but that wasn’t his concern. Since Bai had been so unequivocal, it meant the money was his to use however he pleased, with no need to worry about any trouble.

“With all this money, should I buy two luxury cars tomorrow—drive one, smash the other? Or maybe buy an apartment? Or transfer a million to my parents?”

“No, no, better not tell my parents just yet. There’s no way to explain where this money came from, and besides, they’re doing small business back home and aren’t overworked. This can wait.” As for Bai, Lan Tian decided to keep that a secret for now—after all, it was just too unbelievable. He was genuinely afraid his parents wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Just as Lan Tian was delightfully fretting about his windfall, his phone suddenly chimed with a WeChat notification. When he opened it, he couldn’t help but laugh.

Someone with the username “Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Spirits” had sent him a message:

[Oh my god! Today is actually Qixi, the Chinese Valentine’s Day! I just found out—lucky you! (scared emoji)]

[(awkward smile emoji)]

Lan Tian replied with an emoji, then added: [Not a date, just a meal.]

[Pfft! What, you want to be your big sister’s lover? Dream on!] The other party fired back, quickly following up with another message.

[No way, this won’t do—big sis got the short end of the stick. Bring me breakfast tomorrow morning; I still owe you a hundred bucks!] She even sent her location.

[So the hundred bucks is for paid pickup? (facepalm emoji)]

[Correct! Big sis is going to sleep now, good night. (patting head emoji)]

Lan Tian smiled wryly—this girl was really clinging to him now. Well, that was fine. Since he was going out to spend money tomorrow anyway, he might as well show her what it meant to spend like water!

With a hundred million in hand, Lan Tian finally felt unshakeably confident.