Chapter Six: Edamame, Well, That's Not Surprising

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I tried applying the reverse mindset strategy, and it really worked well. As long as other health indicators like fatigue allowed, I kept working nonstop, focusing on tasks that only lowered morale, such as picking up trash. Because the exact numbers weren’t displayed, I only made a rough estimate: spending a whole day could bring morale down to around negative 250. At that point, the protagonist’s various attributes, boosted by bonuses, all exceeded one hundred. This was beyond normal. In this game, reaching twenty points in a single attribute late in the game was already impressive. With twenty strength, doing simple manual labor, and excluding professional bonuses, one person could handle the workload of four to five people. Now, with such abnormal strength, the protagonist could carry the load of twenty or thirty people—a supreme brick-mover king. The screen switched to work mode, and the protagonist could carry bricks as high as several stories with bare hands in one go—utterly absurd. When charisma hit twenty, it might take half a month to become friends with someone. Now, with the protagonist’s charisma at one hundred, anyone was an instant lifelong friend. But I still wasn’t satisfied. Since working nonstop lowered morale slowly, it was almost the end of the day before it dropped that far. Plus, with dynamic balance, eating healthy food maintained health without decline, and sleeping erased fatigue, the morale bar would gradually shrink so as not to overflow the interface. When the protagonist woke up, all buff bonuses disappeared, and he had to start over—too troublesome. Was there a faster way to lower morale...?

Soon, with intense resentment toward the female lead, I had an idea. Remember, in the game, deliberately speaking harshly to the female lead would reduce the protagonist’s morale. Even disabling the warning “Violence toward the female lead is not recommended; it may cause morale collapse and game over” meant the protagonist could use violence on her just like on others—slaps, punches, whipping, using sticks, and so on. Originally, I hadn’t done this because I knew it would lead to a bad end with morale zero. But now, the protagonist had “awakened.” I wanted to test how much morale would drop if I hit the female lead once. No hesitation—called her out for a date! At this time, the female lead’s status was as usual, just like previous dates. The game probably didn’t have follow-up plots because the protagonist was supposed to be dead now, game over... But coincidentally, it fit her mindset; she probably didn’t care what happened to him. She just looked at the protagonist with her usual disdainful gaze, also staring at the player beyond the screen. “What do you want? Just a reminder, my time is very precious,” her cold, merciless voice said. Her facial model was only average to above average in looks, but her voice was excellent, performed by the well-known voice actress Buffy Yan. In the game, during her freshman year, her voice sounded a bit mature, pretending a girlish tone; by junior year, she went all out, regaining her queenly voice. I sneered and chose the rudest reply. Morale decreased—or rather, the red bar grew slightly.

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Then I switched to “dabandou” mode and slapped the female lead directly. Zero-frame startup, hitting her right as she was replying, “What are you laughing at, what’s your attitude now?” She immediately knelt on the ground. Exhilarating! This was the overwhelming strength of the “Cuboid Solid Oriented Movement Engineer”! Not enough. Ignoring the red warning about sharp morale drop, I was so thrilled I couldn’t stop. I approached her, dabandou interaction—grabbed her hair, uppercut—Oorah! The enemy was airborne! Next, left hook! Right hook! Final blow, spin—finishing move, flying kick! I’m hitting—awesome! Dabandou! Amazing! I want to hit ten of them! Still not enough! In the game, as long as you choose the “hold back” option in dabandou mode and have sufficiently high fighting skills, you can control it so the target won’t die, avoiding the bad ending sequence of being wanted, caught, and sentenced after killing. I opened the character stats again. Wow. Over five thousand points in attributes—what kind of Chinese superhuman is this? With dabandou, I could wipe out cities. How much morale did the protagonist lose? How many times did he collapse mentally to gain so many buffs? Hitting the female lead physically hurt her but pained the protagonist emotionally. Nicely done! I was enjoying the perks of being a devoted fan. Then the female lead woke up, about to curse loudly, but glanced at the protagonist. That look carried five thousand points of charisma! Her eyes turned into peach blossoms, and the affection that had stayed below sixty for half a year suddenly surged to the 200-point maximum. She only had 100 points when she was a freshman! Normally, NPCs at 100 affection meant male characters were just close friends, and female characters were usually available. Bars required only sixty or seventy points; high charisma or wealth could bypass affection. Affection is harder to raise later, and I’d never seen 200 points on any NPC before. Is this the world of five thousand charisma? The female lead staggered to her feet and, with not-so-clean hands, began exploring the protagonist’s body. “What were you just doing?” she asked.

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“Why... so... rough?”
“But hitting me feels pretty good.”
“Want to try something different?”
“Husband, I don’t think I can hold back anymore. You’re so fierce today. Right here, right here, okay?”
“Come on, I’ll call a few friends.”

Huh? What? How did this game get so weird? Is this even a proper game? Wasn’t it supposed to be a pure love story? Although these lines fit the female lead’s playful nature, still... Oh, it’s Maodou; no wonder. For the first time, I doubted my judgment—maybe that previous bug wasn’t a bug but a hidden mechanism? But this mechanism was so strange, with a reverse health bar overflowing the screen; it was really abnormal. Was Gu Zong’s first game really this unconventional? ... On the screen, the protagonist still couldn’t confirm a positive response. The options displayed prevented intimacy beyond kissing with the “pure” female lead, though other female characters could reach bed once affection was high enough. Now that the female lead’s affection was two hundred, it seemed like another bug. If I didn’t respond, her affection would drop to zero, turning love into hate, and she’d curse, “You’re a dog, not Xun Yu! You despise me so much! I won’t talk to you anymore! And I’m not returning the bride price!” Then she’d leave, wounded. But I didn’t care much; I felt she was filthy. A lone JK girl walking down dark alleys and gentle mature women went out for money, but the female lead was just lowly. By the way, now that I wasn’t afraid of morale dropping to zero and ending the game, could I socialize normally with other female NPCs? Cool! I can do this—I’m a master at wooing! Thinking of the Maodou all-star cast that appeared before, and how previous experiences were strictly serious games where any deviation ended the game prematurely, preventing full enjoyment or courting multiple stars simultaneously. But now... I have a precious pearl, long locked away by worldly toil, now shining bright to illuminate mountains and rivers in full bloom! Rich ladies, wealthy lolis, delivery stations, flower shops, bookstores, female bosses, and all the attractive passersby NPCs—I want them all! As everyone knows, the greatest joy in a serious game is finding the improper fun! ...