Remember that a youth cherishes lofty ambitions, having once vowed to be the finest in the world. Chapter 158: Journey to the Land of Cherry Blossoms (3)

Just as Fang Yu was about to delete the spam message, that string of garbled characters called him again. Driven by curiosity, he pressed the answer button. The same cold female voice echoed from the receiver:

"Respected Host 007, given that an irresistible force malfunction occurred during your recent rebirth, the system will compensate you with a beginner's gift package. Please confirm whether you wish to claim it within 5 minutes."

Panic instantly set in. Not a single soul knew about his rebirth. But since he had been reborn for quite some time now, why was this so-called system only showing up now?

Wait, wasn't this system lagging just a bit too much?

Nervously swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Fang Yu retreated to a corner of the lobby and cautiously asked,

"Uhm, can I claim it right now?"

"Yes. Please confirm as soon as possible, Host," the system replied, devoid of any emotion.

"Fine, let's claim it then." Gritting his teeth, he agreed.

"Confirmation received for claiming the beginner's gift package. Processing... Claim successful. The host may currently draw upon all consumption expenditures made between June 30, 2005, and December 30, 2022. This amount is non-renewable, bound to the host's life trajectory, and cannot be viewed by anyone else within this spacetime. Would you like to initiate the transfer?"

"Initiate it!" Since he was already in this deep, he couldn't care less about past expenses right now.

"Processing transfer... Transfer successful. The host's current available balance is 1,213,196.88 yuan. The funds will be deposited directly into the host's personal account."

Fang Yu was dumbfounded. He had just received over a million yuan out of nowhere? And it was a grant with no strings attached?

On second thought, this ridiculous system mentioned his historical consumption. Could it be all the money he had spent over the past decade and a half?

That actually made some sense. His three years of college alone had cost his family over a hundred thousand yuan. Coupled with his post-graduation status as an all-day homebody, he had constantly asked his parents for money.

Yet, no matter how much he had spent, it shouldn't have added up to over a million. Pondering over it, he figured the system must have also factored in the small apartment his parents had bought and prepared for him, seeing as the property deed was under his name.

"So all this money belongs to me now? I can spend it however I want?" Excitement began to bubble up inside him.

"Yes. The system has already assessed all of the host's assets. A reassessment will occur once System Version 1.0 is activated. Assessing... Assessment successful. Since the host has completed the beginner's task, the Version 1.0 System Mall has been unlocked for you. Please browse and purchase at your leisure."

"Hold on, that's it? It's already done?"

It seemed that the 1.01 million yuan influx counted as the beginner's task. He still had no clear idea what this system was actually good for, though.

"Um, let me ask, what does this system even have?"

"All elixirs are sold in the mall. Please check them for yourself, Host. All restrictions will be lifted once upgraded to System Version 5.0. If the host fails to upgrade the system to Version 5.0 by December 30, 2022, all personal archives of the host will be forcibly deleted and sent to the recycle bin."

"Damn it, what a tyrannical clause! How do I contact you then?"

"System Version 1.0 cannot proactively contact the administrator. Please upgrade to Version 2.0."

Before Fang Yu could press for details, the call disconnected itself, and even the call log was wiped clean without a trace.

"Damn it, it didn't even say where to buy any elixirs. Crap!"

He flipped through his phone and unexpectedly discovered a new app. Its icon was completely pitch-black, revealing nothing. Tapping into it, he found a website resembling an online shopping platform. The items listed didn't even have pictures; there were only text descriptions.

"Physique Elixir: Takes effect immediately upon purchase. Permanently increases the host's physical stats by 10% based on their current baseline. Effective for life. This elixir can be stacked, with each purchase increasing the original physical limit by an additional 10%. Sold at incrementally increasing prices. Please use with caution."

Fang Yu's eyes lit up, but the moment he saw the price, he almost hurled his phone across the room.

"Price: 1,000,000 yuan, measured in the host's national currency."

"Damn it, why don't you just rob a bank?" he muttered, continuing to scroll down.

The mall featured quite a variety of elixirs. Aside from the Physique Elixir at the very top, the rest were blueprint elixirs. This meant they were modeled after real, existing individuals, granting the user the maximum capability of those persons upon use.

For instance, in certain sports, purchasing such a blueprint elixir would instantly grant the user all the skills of that specific person. However, it had to be used in conjunction with the Physique Elixir; otherwise, even after buying the skill elixir, the user's physique might still be too weak to handle it.

At the very bottom of the mall was an upgrade button. Tapping on it, he saw that upgrading to System Version 2.0 required 2 million yuan. Darkness suddenly descended before his eyes.

"Damn, what a rip-off! It took me over a decade to accumulate 1.2 million, you know."

Thinking of that 1.2 million, Fang Yu instantly perked back up. He quickly got up, jogged down to the hotel's ATM, and inserted his card. Japan's ATM system was largely compatible with domestic ones, save for a small transaction fee.

"Holy cow, it's actually real?" He stared dumbfounded at the balance of 1.3 million yuan, 100,000 of which was the "private stash" cash he had brought with him on this trip.

There was no doubt about it. It seemed this system really was an essential cheat for a time-traveler. It was just that while other people's systems came with high-level cultivation techniques, why did his crappy system charge him money?

As for the various language talent elixirs, they were also up for sale, divided into single and multi-language options. For instance, the Japanese language elixir for this side of the country was priced at 50,000 yuan. Purchasing it allowed one to thoroughly master all grammar and engage in barrier-free communication instantly.

There was also a multi-language grammar elixir in the mall, priced at 1 million yuan. Buying it would instantly teach the user all 5,651 known languages and scripts on Earth.

"Damn, looking at it this way, the single-item elixirs are a bit of a rip-off. One language costs 50,000—I might as well just buy the 1-million-yuan universal one."

Yet, he couldn't bring himself to click buy just yet. After hesitating for a moment, he grumbled complaints under his breath and purchased the Japanese language talent elixir.

Sure enough, the moment he checked his bank card balance again, only a little over 1.25 million remained. It seemed this deduction system was ruthlessly accurate.

Upon purchasing the elixir, Fang Yu instantly felt a flood of memories that didn't belong to him forcibly jammed into his brain. A wave of dizziness washed over him, and it took a few seconds for his mind to clear.

"Holy mother of god, it actually works!" Fang Yu could now understand the locals chatting around him, and a wave of excitement washed over him.

Before he could delve deeper into the system mall, Xia Chuoran called him.

"Fang Yu, where on earth did you go? Why aren't you back yet?"

He had no choice but to temporarily put the system on hold, replying vaguely,

"I'm coming. I ran into an acquaintance downstairs."

"Hmph, this is Tokyo! Where would you even find an acquaintance? Did you go get a massage or something?!" the young girl accused, her tone dripping with annoyance.

"Where is your mind wandering? Alright, I'm heading up now."

That evening, Xia Chuoran pestered him to tell her stories, forcing him to shelve the system matters for the time being. Only after the young girl drifted off to a peaceful sleep did he quietly pull out his phone again.

Clearly, the elixirs provided by the system were quite extensive; they were just rather expensive.

If Version 1.0 was already this feature-rich, wouldn't maxing it out transform him into a Super Saiyan?

That night, Fang Yu had a wonderful dream. In the dream, he transformed into Homelander, doing whatever he pleased, committing all sorts of outrag—bah, wrong script! Defending his country and protecting the people, that was it.