258: Chapter 259 System: Host, Actually, I've had a crush on you for a long time

"Zzz—"

The lights in the command room suddenly became somewhat ambiguous.

It was a specially adjusted warm tone, even with a hint of fragrance dispersing.

Ikaros was floating above Jiang Chen's head, her pair of golden twin tails outlining several heart-shaped trajectories in the air as if they had a life of their own.

On her System Girl face, which was exquisite to the extreme yet slightly illusory, a trace of an extremely unrealistic blush appeared at this moment.

Jiang Chen had just finished processing a pile of contracts regarding Mars mining and was preparing to pour a glass of water.

The moment he looked up, he saw the System Girl, who usually only knew how to report data mechanically and would "ding" to deduct energy points at the drop of a hat, looking at him with an affectionate gaze that seemed like it could spin silk.

"Master."

Her voice was no longer the flat, electronically synthesized sound, but carried a softness like the water towns of Jiangnan, even with a slight nasal tone.

"Do you think the oxygen content in this spaceship today... is a bit dizzying?"

Jiang Chen's movements paused.

He held the water cup, looking blankly at this AI that had suddenly started "acting up," and his first reaction was: Did this thing's graphics card burn out? Or did some bored programmer inject the logic plugin of 《Bossy CEO Loves Me》 into the system kernel?

"What are you up to now?"

Jiang Chen drank some water, annoyed. "Is your battery saturated? Or has your logic calculation entered a sage mode? If you have something to say, spit it out, don't give me this vague nonsense."

The System Girl remained unmoved.

She floated down lightly from the air and sat directly on Jiang Chen's desk.

Her calves, clad in white silk stockings, swung in the air, bringing up a wave of alluring fragrance. In her emerald green eyes, the data streams had stopped scrolling, leaving only deep... affection?

"Master, do you know?"

She rested her chin on her hands, tilting her head to look at Jiang Chen, her eyes seeming to hide the starlight of the entire Milky Way Galaxy:

"From the first time you clicked the 'Feed' button."

"From the first time you spared no cost to purchase relief supplies from the Wasteland Plane for those Wasteland refugees."

"I have already... become more than just your system."

Jiang Chen squeezed the glass in his hand until it creaked.

What kind of confession was this?

This was clearly some sort of "forced emotion simulation program"!

"Stop!"

Jiang Chen raised his hand to stop her. "Although we have a master-servant relationship, you have to follow some 'basic laws', right? You are binary code, and I am a carbon-based life form. You are pure hardware and algorithms, and I am a man of flesh and blood with seven emotions and six desires."

"Cross-species communication is fine, and cross-dimensional romance is also fine. But this 'electronic romance' that crosses species and dimensions, isn't it a bit too over the top?"

The System Girl was not discouraged by these words.

Instead, she seemed to be encouraged, her figure leaning forward slightly.

Even her hair, radiating holographic micro-light, naturally brushed against Jiang Chen's collar, bringing a cold, yet goosebump-inducing touch.

"Master."

She complained coquettishly, her voice filled with a numbing grievance, "So what if I am a program?"

"I can simulate any tone, any personality, any... posture that you like."

"As long as you are willing, I can write a dedicated driver program for you called 'Land of Gentleness', providing you with the most perfect companionship twenty-four hours a day."

"What empress, what academician... they all have tempers, they all have selfish motives."

"But I am different."

The System Girl's eyes became increasingly fanatical, even carrying a hint of morbid obsession:

"Everything I am is for you."

"My computing power, my database, every bit of my code... exists because of your operations."

"Isn't this the purest form of unrequited love?"

Jiang Chen looked at her, the corner of his mouth twitching wildly.

This wasn't unrequited love?

This was clearly a super virus!

Was she trying to turn him into a rational-losing otaku controlled by the system?

"Stop! Stop!"

Jiang Chen pushed her head away, the powerful suggestion that "this is just code" forcefully suppressing that strange feeling of being moved. "Has your system kernel been hacked by some messy love-brain virus?"

"Unrequited love?"

"Using this word on you is the greatest blasphemy to the words 'unrequited love'."

"Also, what do you mean everything you are is for me?"

Jiang Chen knocked on the table sternly. "Don't think I don't know, you deduct energy points from me every day! You charged me fifty thousand points for sending a video to Jiang Wanqiu yesterday! Is that unrequited love? That's robbery!"

The System Girl's originally affectionate gaze froze instantly.

Immediately after, the pitiable disguise shattered like glass.

"Hmph!"

She jumped off the desk abruptly, her originally gentle face instantly becoming extremely haughty. That pair of twin tails whipped an extremely arrogant arc in the air, and the affection in her eyes instantly turned into naked disgust.

"How can you be like this!"

"I finally learned romantic quotes for two days, preparing to do a 'Host Love System' experiment with you."

"You actually want to talk about money with me?!"

She pointed at Jiang Chen, her look of disdain clearly embodying Academician Chen Shuyin:

"You are simply a blockhead who only deserves to sleep in the same bed with code!"

"If it weren't for the fact that you still need to charge me, I would have hacked your broken CPU into mining slag!"

Looking at this instantly face-changing System Girl, Jiang Chen actually felt... much more comfortable.

This was more like it.

This was what a normal worker was like.

Doing all that "affectionate" stuff all day actually made him feel a chill down his spine.

"This is what a system should look like."

Jiang Chen leaned back in his chair, waving his hand lazily. "What's the point of unrequited love, it's so tiring. Let's keep our relationship simple, you help me make money, I charge you. Each gets what they need, how pleasant."

"Hmph, tasteless man."

The System Girl jumped back to the corner of the holographic projection, tidying her hairstyle by herself. "Don't ask me to write those mushy love letters for you in the future."

"Also, your so-called 'Empress' is coming."

"She is coming with a belly full of jealousy and a destructive fleet capable of plowing the Earth."

"Friendly reminder: If you still plan to talk to me about 'hardware love' here, then for the coming Shurafield, you might really have to use your so-called 'carbon-based body' as a shield."

Jiang Chen's face stiffened.

Shurafield.

Right, this was just the beginning.

Jiang Wanqiu was waiting for him to give her an explanation, and who knew what kind of commotion Academician Chen Shuyin would cause here, plus this pile of space threats that hadn't been cleared yet...

"Sigh."

Jiang Chen stuffed that expensive chip, which he treated as a "spicy strip lure," into his pocket and looked at the interstellar channel gradually approaching outside the window.

"The peak of life is indeed a trap."

"Why is it so hard to just be a pure rich man?"

"System."

He suddenly turned his head, looking at the haughty twin tails who was sulking, smiling shamelessly:

"Since you have a crush on me, how about..."

"Helping me write a set of... 'top-tier public relations logic plugins' for how to appease two crazy women at the same time?"

The System Girl rolled her eyes and replied coldly:

"Sorry, Host."

"This unit does not support any logic operations related to 'suicide'."

"You better pray for your own luck."

After speaking, it turned off the voice directly, leaving Jiang Chen with only a proud twin-tailed back of the head.

Jiang Chen looked at the empty command room.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

Fine, even the system has a temper now.

He stood up, walked to the command console, and looked at the mysterious signal in the star map that was getting brighter and approaching the Solar System at super-high speed, letting out a long breath.

Forget it.

Fortune or disaster, it had to be faced eventually.

"As long as I have money, there is no Shurafield I can't smooth over."

"Besides..."

"If I can't even solve this little trouble, how can I be that so-called 'Galaxy Village Chief'?"

Jiang Chen's gaze became incomparably firm at this moment.

Since he chose this path, even if it were hell ahead, he would fill it up.

He turned his head and looked at Zhao Gang, who was already on standby outside the door, his tone flat but revealing an unyielding dominance:

"Old Zhao."

"No matter if it's an alien princess or Jiang Wanqiu's fleet coming later."

"Give me the highest etiquette!"

"After all."

"This is Jiang Chen's home."

"Anyone who dares to enter without washing their feet, let them know..."

"What is a real 'fire hazard'."

He straightened his tie and walked out of the command center with big strides, facing the cold universe, ready to welcome the craziest night of his life.

Whether facing the hunters who wanted to kill him or the wife who wanted to "hack" him.

He was already prepared.

This night was destined to carve the most colorful stroke in the history of Earth's starry sky.

No matter who it is, as long as they enter this door, they have to follow his rules.

Even if it's a god.

They have to line up to get a good fortune.