Chapter 96

### Chapter 96: A New Task After hanging up the phone with Wang Zijin and scheduling the punishment play for next Saturday, Su Qi found herself wide awake. Although her mind was clear, her body still ached. Helpless, she stayed buried under her blanket, deciding to lie down for another two hours before ordering takeout. With some trepidation, she opened her phone and was relieved to see no messages or voicemails from An Ning. However, what Su Qi didn’t know was that An Ning had left her numerous messages on WeChat that her phone had failed to notify her about. An Ning, thinking Su Qi was willfully ignoring her, had already recorded this offense in her little notebook. Left with some idle time, Su Qi opened QQ. Each chat group was buzzing with familiar 999+ messages, a common occurrence in large groups of 500 people, where just two conversations could flood the chat. Casually scrolling through the group chat history, she spotted a photo from the previous day with Wang Zijin and An Ning. The photo had been screenshotted from their social media! Seeing their posts along with the group’s envious comments, Su Qi was both surprised and felt a twinge of danger. Why the sense of danger? For that, we have to go back a bit: Back in high school, a particular incident on her way home left an indelible memory on Su Qi. Four male high school students, chatting loudly, were discussing their crushes on pretty girls at the school. This was quite normal; high school life was dull, and the school’s boarding system along with network restrictions made romance a common diversion. Su Qi herself had issues with her father and chose a relatively chaotic boarding high school where academic focus was lax. Coincidentally, a “normie” appeared opposite the four boys, holding hands with two attractive girls as they walked into a stationery store. This sight inflamed the hormonal teenagers. Someone in the group muttered, "Why don’t we give him a beating?" Whether out of frustration or something else, all four agreed. When the boy emerged with the two pretty girls, they surrounded him. Su Qi, deciding to call the police from a safe distance, chose to observe rather than intervene. If you’re wondering why she didn’t step in, Su Qi would explain that she couldn’t hold them back and would likely just get caught up in the scuffle. When the police arrived and took everyone to the station, Su Qi didn’t forget the confused look on the beaten boy’s face. Even on the way to the station, he probably wondered why he got attacked. But as an observer, Su Qi saw the essence of the matter clearly. It was simply the rage of an “FFF” group! Looking at the social media screenshots in her group chat, Su Qi felt a chilling similarity between herself and the attacked boy. Her "crime" was arguably worse because her companions were much prettier—they were college beauties! Would people see her as a normie and give her a beating too? Quickly, she browsed her university’s forum to check the comments. What she found made her heart race. Someone had posted the screenshots online, followed by a comment from “Little Bro No. 534” saying: “So envious, I want to beat him up.” Normally, a comment with 10 replies would be quite popular. This one had over 300 replies. Clicking on it, Su Qi saw what looked like a group chat with more than 300 people, seemingly planning to report her whereabouts and give her a beating in the men's bathroom. Someone even said, “A real man fights men!” Stifled by dread, she took a screenshot of the chat group ID and planned to tell Wang Zijin to handle these schemers. She also noticed messages from Wu Wei and Wang Dongxu, warning her to avoid school as there was an ambush planned and that her online games had spies. Now, her group members knew which university she attended. It felt like an author having their address leaked—a terribly dangerous situation. After reporting the group ID to Wang Zijin, she quickly got a reply. It was an anime character in a maid outfit with the caption, “Understood, Master!” Feeling somewhat awkward, Su Qi was relieved to find an anime avatar that only showed her mouth, avoiding further embarrassment. After a brief exchange of images, Wang Zijin mentioned she had some student council forms to complete, leaving Su Qi to her own devices. But what should she do now? With university courses off-limits for a while, all tasks completed, and a bit of money in her pocket... Maybe she could relax for a few days? Just as this thought emerged, the system's voice suddenly sounded: "Detecting a tendency for the host to slack off, a new task is now issued—Dance It Up.” **Task Description:** Due to the host’s high intelligence, this task is meant to strengthen your weak points. Choose any one of the following dances and perform it with at least 90% accuracy as per the system’s scoring within ten days. **Dance Choices:** - Extreme Happiness Land - Dye It Your Color - Love Circulation - Chibi Maruko-chan... (The more complex the dance, the easier it is to achieve a high score!) **Reward:** Stocks trading books Volumes 1-12 **Failure Penalty:** Frivolity +10 Surprised, Su Qi asked, “I thought I had to dance for group approval?” The system replied, “With your current appearance rated at 8, possessing a passive aura of ‘Beauty Overwhelming,’ anyone who sees you will automatically gain a 10-point liking towards you. Moreover, you’ve studied the basics of choreography, making it effortless to win their approval.” Su Qi agreed. She knew her sword movements were quite graceful. Finding a dance matching a martial arts theme would make the task a breeze. “Hey, wait, why aren’t you charging me this time? You usually ask for 10,000 bucks!” Su Qi inquired, puzzled. “You said you’d earn money for me to spend, so I figured I’d help you make money faster to complete tasks. I heard from a neighboring system that these stocks trading books are incredible and thorough! Once you learn them, you’ll make a fortune for me to spend!” The system sounded almost dreamy. Feeling a pang of guilt, Su Qi felt bad for deceiving what seemed like a naive little girl, especially a system-girl. Oh well, she thought. Maybe she’d give it some money once she earned it, lest the system really start crying!