Chapter 64

Chapter 64

They returned to the familiar little apartment.

“Begin mission settlement.”

[Mission settlement in progress]

[Mission settlement in progress]

…

No one knew what had happened. The settlement panel repeated the phrase several times but stubbornly refused to proceed.

Zhu Yin reached out and patted the light screen. “Barbara, is the panel broken?”

The panel flickered with a dim blue light, as if her pat had cured it.

[Congratulations to task-taker Zhu Yin for completing the main mission in the role of Doctor. Mission completion is now being evaluated.]

[Evaluating mission completion… Evaluating mission completion… Beep. Evaluation grade: B. Mission reward for this world: +400 points]

“Wait. I object.”

Zhu Yin stared at the panel in displeasure. “I believe I completed my mission perfectly. I’m not satisfied with a B.”

Barbara immediately reminded her, “Host, there’s an employee feedback option in the lower-left corner. You can write down your thoughts and submit an appeal.”

Following its reminder, Zhu Yin opened the feedback field, wrote a long and eloquent complaint, and submitted it.

She had shown so much respect for the protagonists’ destined path and fulfilled everyone’s wishes to the greatest possible extent.

How could she receive only a B?

She complained to Barbara, “If that’s all I get, I might as well leave a puppet to work in my place the moment I enter a mission world and go travel the world myself.”

Barbara missed the point entirely. “Host, you know how to make puppets too!”

Zhu Yin said, “A little.”

Now that it was back in the mission zone, the kitten had returned to its cherry-blossom pink. It exclaimed admiringly, “Host, you’re amazing! If only Barbara could do that too. Barbara could make a Barbara subsystem to run missions, work two jobs at once, and earn lots more points!”

Zhu Yin said, “…You’re weirdly competitive.”

The Central System of the World-Hopping Bureau worked with extraordinary speed.

[Task-taker appeal received. Appeal judged valid. Recalculating mission settlement.]

[Mission completion evaluation finished. Task-taker Zhu Yin receives a “Perfect” evaluation. Mission reward for this world: +1,000 points. Perfect evaluation bonus: 30%. Total received: 1,300 points]

[Task-taker Zhu Yin has gained the female protagonist’s recognition and unlocked the achievement “Great Being None May Look Upon.” Points +100]

[Task-taker Zhu Yin has gained the recognition of an important plot character and unlocked the achievement “Kindhearted Doctor Lady.” Points +100]

[Task-taker Zhu Yin has gained the title “Doctor.” When equipped, the title causes everyone to recognize your professional qualifications.]

[…]

“Wow!” Barbara let out the cry of a country bumpkin who had never seen such wealth. “Host, we’re rich!”

At the same time, every employee and system of the World-Hopping Bureau received an announcement, whether they were resting within the Bureau’s own star domain or carrying out missions in small worlds.

[Congratulations to task-taker Zhu Yin… System Barbara… for receiving a Perfect evaluation!]

Another Perfect evaluation?

And the name Zhu Yin?

Quite a few people looked through the earlier announcements. Sure enough, task-taker Zhu Yin and system Barbara had appeared once before.

Searching those two names yielded not a scrap of personal information about “Zhu Yin.”

As for system Barbara, another system had revealed on the forums that it was a little system fresh from the factory, only recently promoted after completing its internship.

In other words… a newcomer?

Barbara received a flood of private messages. Since Zhu Yin had never enabled communication permissions, the curious employees had no choice but to ask their systems to contact Barbara.

The entire cat puffed up with delight. Beaming, it read every word of praise, then recited them all to its host.

But it was no foolish system. It would never leak its host’s information.

–Although aside from her name, it did not know anything about its host either.

Ding!

Barbara received a transfer notification.

It looked over in confusion and saw that its host had transferred it a huge sum of points–more than a thousand!

The pink kitten froze, then looked helplessly at its host.

A soft hand rubbed its head. “I promised you when I was beating him up. If your Central System punishes you, I’ll reimburse you with points.”

Barbara hurriedly said, “There’s no need! The Central System actually treats us very well. Most punishments are only warnings, and even when it really punishes us, it isn’t very severe.”

This was so many points!

Many of its colleagues in the Supporting Role Division could not earn this much even after following their hosts through several mission worlds.

“Then keep them as a deposit. If your Central System fines you, deduct the amount directly from there,” Zhu Yin said without much concern.

Barbara tried to persuade her. “Points aren’t very useful to us systems, but hosts need them much more in the early stages–”

“Do you think I need them?” Zhu Yin looked at it with a smile. “This handful of points is only enough for a single stat point. I don’t need anything like that. I might as well buy more snacks. The food in the World-Hopping Bureau’s store tastes better than what my former employer made.”

Barbara found itself persuaded. Its host truly was incredibly, incredibly powerful.

But its host had no idea how to manage a household!

“Th-then I’ll keep them safe for you for now.” Barbara immediately felt responsibility flood its entire body.

Zhu Yin laughed. “All right, all right. You keep them for me. If there’s anything you want, buy it. Consider it a toy from me.”

Barbara asked, “Host, lots of our colleagues at the World-Hopping Bureau want to meet you. We have time to rest, so we could visit Central City and make some new friends.”

Zhu Yin thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No. I think missions are more fun.”

She had met far too many task-takers.

The natives of the small worlds were more interesting.

Cute or not, vivid and alive, fragrant or stinking–humans were all fascinating.

Barbara felt outdone by its host’s drive and reflected on itself. “Host works so hard. Barbara needs to work harder at upgrading too, so I can help Host even better.”

Its host caught it by the scruff and lifted the entire kitten. The soft bundle went limp in her arms.

“Haha, you don’t need to work that hard. Just keep being cute.”

.

Great Yong, third year of Shenyou, eighth month.

Three years after the new emperor ascended the throne, the dynasty’s first selection of imperial consorts drew the attention of both the court and the inner palace.

The emperor’s harem was nearly empty. Aside from the crown princess from his years in the princely residence and three consorts and concubines who had served him there, no other women occupied it.

For this grand selection, noble scholars and families of distinguished service alike hoped to send their eligible daughters into the palace for a chance at wealth and rank.

“Generating identity…”

Zhu Yin opened her eyes and found herself in a bathing pool.

Several women dressed as palace attendants were adding skin-nourishing fragrances and flower petals to the warm water. A pair of soft hands massaged her with just the right pressure.

When she opened her eyes, the attendant hurriedly asked, “My Lady, is this servant using the wrong amount of pressure?”

Zhu Yin shook her head slightly and received the plot.

An ancient world.

Her identity: a newly admitted imperial consort in an ancient palace. Because of her exceptional beauty and distinguished family, she had been granted the rank of Lady.

Tonight was the first time she was scheduled to attend the emperor in bed.