2: Chapter 2: Raising an Empress in Your Phone? Silver Hair and Red Eyes at that!

The moment his finger pressed down, the expected pay-to-win interface didn't pop up. Instead, the camera on the back of the phone automatically activated, and an eerie, deep blue beam of light projected into mid-air like a scanner.

A box popped up on the screen: [Please place the "Gift of the God" within the scanning area.]

Jiang Chen's mouth twitched.

The Gift of the God?

Just this half of a stale, tooth-breaking steamed bun?

"Might as well try it; it's not like this crappy phone is worth anything anyway."

He grabbed the half-bun, which was hard enough to be used as a brick, and waved it under the blue light.

The next second, a hair-raising scene unfolded.

"Hum—"

The air seemed to distort for an instant, followed by a flash of white light. Jiang Chen felt his hand lighten. The rough texture of the bun still lingered on his fingertips, but the very real bun itself had... vanished into thin air right before his eyes!

"What the f*ck?!"

Jiang Chen's hand shook in fright, and he nearly dropped the phone on his face.

He bolted up from the bed, frantically searching the sheets and the floor.

Nothing.

It was really gone!

Before he could recover from this hellish shock, a burst of gorgeous special effects exploded on the phone screen, and lines of gold-embossed text scrolled rapidly like a battle report.

[A Miracle Has Descended!]

[Great Primordial Ancient God, you have bestowed supreme "Pure High-Energy Carbohydrates" upon the lowly lower realm!]

[Wasteland Calendar Year 3025, Dawn City.]

The scene shifted back to that oppressive, gloomy Wasteland world.

The originally dark and hopeless sky was suddenly torn apart by a blinding white light.

That half-bun, rendered in a chibi art style, actually came with its own holy light effect. Like a falling white meteorite carrying the aura of salvation, it slammed down in front of the silver-haired little figure.

Although it was pixel art, Jiang Chen swore he saw the dust effect kicked up when the bun landed.

The little figure in the center of the screen was clearly stunned; a massive exclamation mark appeared above her head, and she knelt on the ground, trembling.

[Jiang Wanqiu (Shocked): Th-this... what is this? White food without radiation? Could it be a holy object from the God Realm?]

Looking at the text bubble on the screen, Jiang Chen couldn't help but retort:

"What holy object? That's just a two-day-old leftover bun. I'm worried you'll get diarrhea if you eat it."

But the little figure in the game clearly didn't think so.

She tremblingly reached out with her matchstick-like little hands, lifted the bun that was bigger than her face, and took a cautious bite.

Immediately after, a string of pink hearts popped up above her head.

[HP +10, +10, +10...]

The HP bar, which had been at the bottom, actually began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The little figure devoured it greedily, even rolling her eyes from choking because she ate too fast, and a "Happy" emote appeared above her head.

Watching this scene, a strange sense of accomplishment welled up in Jiang Chen's heart.

It was like feeding a starving stray cat on the side of the road and watching it gobble up the food—that satisfaction of being needed arose spontaneously.

[Ding!]

[Jiang Wanqiu feels the mercy of the "Father God," and the Faith Collapse status has been lifted!]

[Affection skyrocketing! Current Level: Die-hard!]

[Congratulations, Host, you have successfully recruited your first God-Favored One.]

[Would you like to view the high-definition portrait of the God-Favored One?]

"High-definition portrait?"

Jiang Chen paused. The previous one was just a chibi figure; cute, but he couldn't see her face clearly.

As a seasoned veteran of the 2D world, he subconsciously tapped "Yes."

The screen image changed abruptly. It was no longer the rough pixel style, but a top-tier CG illustration so detailed that even the individual strands of hair were clearly visible, slowly filling the entire screen.

His breath hitched.

Jiang Chen's eyes widened instantly.

It was a young woman wearing shattered battle armor.

Her long silver hair, cascading down like moonlight, was stained with a bit of dust and dried blood, yet it couldn't hide that breathtaking beauty.

Her features were as delicate as a porcelain doll, and her skin had the paleness of someone who hadn't seen the sun in years. What made it impossible to look away, however, were her eyes.

Crimson pupils.

Like two clear rubies, or perhaps congealed blood, they exuded a cold, aloof air, yet when looking forward, they revealed a hint of pious fanaticism.

The perfect fusion of fragility and sharp intensity in her aura pierced straight through Jiang Chen's aesthetic standards.

How is this a game character?

She was practically a Valkyrie who had walked out of a painting!

"This modeling... is insane."

Jiang Chen couldn't help but swallow his saliva, his finger gently sliding across the screen. "If this were in the gaming industry of my past life, just this portrait alone could scam players out of hundreds of millions, right?"

The bottom of the screen displayed her attribute panel:

[Name: Jiang Wanqiu]

[Identity: Gaia Civilization · Dawn City Supreme Administrator (Female Emperor)]

[Age: 19]

[Personality: Cold, tenacious, extremely protective]

[Current Status: Full (Extremely satisfied)]

"Female Emperor?"

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow. "A Female Emperor so pathetic that she's reduced to not being able to afford a steamed bun?"

Just then, the CG on the screen faded, returning to the chibi figure.

Jiang Wanqiu finished the last bite of the bun, even picking up and licking clean the crumbs that had fallen on the ground.

She knelt on the ground again and kowtowed heavily three times toward the sky (Jiang Chen outside the screen).

A new dialogue box popped up.

[Jiang Wanqiu: Supreme Father God, thank you for bestowing divine grace upon Dawn City in its most desperate moment. This flawless holy object has allowed Wanqiu to feel a long-lost vitality.]

[Jiang Wanqiu: Your believer has nothing to repay you with. Although Dawn City is already a ruin, Wanqiu is willing to offer the most precious thing by her side to show her devotion!]

Jiang Chen looked at the screen and muttered to himself: "The most precious thing? You're starving like this, what good could you possibly have? Don't tell me you're going to dismantle that broken armor for me?"

In the scene, the silver-haired little figure stood up and seemed to fumble around her waist for a moment.

Immediately after, she unbuckled a golden belt.

In the Wasteland, gold, a metal that couldn't be eaten or drunk, was almost no different from scrap iron, except for its decent conductivity. But in Jiang Wanqiu's eyes, this glittering item might barely be worthy of the Father God's notice.

[Ding!]

[Your believer, Jiang Wanqiu, has sacrificed an offering to you.]

[Item: Dawn City Administrator's Ceremonial Belt (Pure Gold with Diamonds).]

[Weight: 1200 grams.]

[Purity: 99.999% (Wasteland Purification Process).]

[Extract?]

Jiang Chen stared at the words "Pure Gold," and his heart skipped a beat.

1200 grams?

That's over two pounds!

At current gold prices of five or six hundred per gram, these two pounds of gold... that's hundreds of thousands?!

A half-bun for hundreds of thousands?

"This isn't a game; this is clearly a turtle from a wishing well that's become a spirit!"

Jiang Chen's fingers were trembling, and his breathing instantly became heavy.

If it was real...

then his mother's surgery fees, and the usurious loan he owed Zhao Tianba, wouldn't they be solved in an instant?

He would even have plenty left over!

"Extract! Extract immediately!"

Jiang Chen almost roared, his finger slamming heavily onto the screen.

"Hum—"

It was that familiar sensation of air distortion again. A golden light shot out from the phone screen, stinging Jiang Chen's eyes and causing him to close them instinctively.

He heard a dull, heavy "clatter," as if something heavy had slammed onto that rickety folding table. Jiang Chen slowly opened his eyes.

Under the dim light, a golden belt with an antique design and shimmering luster lay quietly on the tabletop. The small red diamonds embedded in it refracted a dazzling, mesmerizing light under the illumination.

That light was even purer and more dazzling than any gold Jiang Chen had ever seen in his past life.

Jiang Chen tremblingly reached out. When his fingertips touched the cold, heavy metallic texture, he jolted as if electrocuted.

It was real.

It wasn't a hallucination.

He grabbed the heavy gold belt and bit down hard with his teeth.

It was soft!

Clear teeth marks were left on it!

"I'm rich..."

Jiang Chen hugged the gold belt tightly, grinning like an idiot, while tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. "This is the real Golden Finger!"

Just then, a cautious text bubble from Jiang Wanqiu popped up on the phone screen:

[Jiang Wanqiu: Father God... has this crude scrap of metal defiled your divine eyes? If you do not like it, Wanqiu will go hunt mutated beasts immediately to retrieve a Level 1 Beast Core for you...]

Looking at this sentence, Jiang Chen almost choked on his own saliva.

"Crude scrap of metal?"

He grabbed the phone and quickly typed a line, his fingers flying across the keyboard:

"No! I like it very much! This kind of scrap... I want as much as you have!"