2: Chapter 2: The Money-Giving Cashback System

[Ding! Pay-to-Win Cash-Back Tycoon System bound. Any reasonable pay-to-win behavior by the host in bound games has a chance to be cashed back!]

[Destined Slot (Cannot be changed): Earth OL]

[Slot 1 (Cannot be changed after binding): Unbound]

"Huh!? I haven't developed a mental illness from neurasthenia, have I? I've never even won more than ten yuan on a lottery ticket. Is something legendary like a system really something I can possess?"

He shook his head and blinked hard, discovering the image was still there, so he attempted to touch the suddenly appearing virtual screen.

The system could be interacted with using just his mind. As he touched it, the system gradually revealed its full picture to him.

The system had many functions, generally functioning through bound games.

Depending on the number of online players in the bound game, there was also a chance to trigger some special functions, such as special tasks.

The two most core items of the system were the cash-back card and the multiplier card.

These two cards refreshed daily and could not be accumulated. Permanent cards had a chance to be obtained through interactions with other characters.

The multiplier card was divided into five levels: Rainbow, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron. The cards distributed for free were related to his main quest level; currently, it was a Black Iron-level ordinary card.

After using this card, it would increase the cash-back multiplier by 100% and increase the cash-back limit by 1000 yuan.

"My initial cash-back amount is only 1000 yuan right now. With the multiplier card added, the cash-back limit is only doubled. It looks like I need to improve my main quest rating as soon as possible to get more freebies."

The initial cash-back multiplier for games, except for Earth OL which had a dynamic multiplier of 0~100%, was a fixed 100% for all other games.

He looked at the game "Earth OL" and fell into deep thought.

"Earth OL" was originally an open-world sandbox game that had once been crowdfunded on the internet before the developers ran off and disappeared.

However, the term Earth OL had been preserved, becoming a way for the vast number of netizens to mock the real world.

"It wouldn't really be the world we live in right now, would it? If so, wouldn't I be making money just by lying around?"

Looking again at the empty Slot 1, he pondered the pay-to-win games he had played.

He was the type who loved playing games, but his ordinary family background meant he was an eternal "zero-spender" in every game.

He was actually a bit proud of this title, often feeling smug about relying on experience and skills to beat some small-spender players.

During his student days, he would evaluate all those big shots who spent crazily in games as "stupid and rich."

But as he saw more of the "world," he realized that it was just that he didn't understand the disparities of the world.

Once, in a gaming group, in the time it took him to drink a cola, a wealthy expat spender in the group livestreamed trading US stocks, made hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sent out thousands in cash red envelopes in the group.

He watched his phone with full concentration, frantically grabbing every red envelope.

Anticipation, excitement, frustration... Someone else's casual wave of the hand controlled all his emotions for hours.

When he came back to his senses, he suddenly understood and admitted that he was just an ordinary person.

Swiping open his phone, Zhao Xiaoshuai launched a mobile game he had been playing for a long time, "Three Kingdoms Famous Generals Kill Kill Kill."

This game was a Three Kingdoms-themed card drawing, PK, and leaderboard game—the kind of reskinned pay-to-win mobile game people often talked about.

The gameplay was simple, the content was crude; it was just about increasing combat power to fight everything.

The game also set up many points of conflict, constantly inciting contradictions between players, such as the mining area, the arena, the weekly city battles, and the leaderboard for every event.

The core was to incite player conflict through unequal resource distribution and the vanity of being the center of attention.

Today, he intended to break his dozen-or-so-year streak of being a zero-spender to test the specific effects of the system and also to try out whether spending money was actually fun.

"What, I actually got kicked!?"

Because of his girlfriend today, he hadn't participated in the entire night's activities in the game. Now that he logged on, he found that he had been kicked from the guild he had joined since the server opened.

He, as an old player, had participated a lot in the guild's early construction and helped many pay-to-win newbies in the guild quickly get the hang of the game. Logically, missing one day of activity shouldn't have resulted in being kicked.

He opened his friend list and sure enough, found a message: [Brother Taowu wants to rush the leaderboard for the event in two days. The guild is clearing out low-V and low-activity players.]

(Note: Low-V refers to low-level VIP, High-V refers to high-level VIP. Spending money increases VIP level. The protagonist is currently VIP0.)

Switching to the mining area, he had indeed been killed by his former "good brother." The person who did it had the ID: Renyi Wushuang.

He remembered that when that person first started playing, he had meticulously helped him with the basics and planned his cultivation route.

You treat a big spender with friendship, but the big spender treats you like a fart.

The mining area was an important way to obtain ingots, which were an important currency in the game.

If there were people in the mine who didn't belong to his guild, it would reduce the yield, so it was normal for someone who had been kicked to be killed.

But the person being killed certainly wouldn't think so.

He switched out to Weixun, wanting to go to the group to demand justice, but he had also been removed from the guild group.

"Heh, friendship is really trash everywhere. If I were a high-V, would I get kicked just for missing one day of activity?"

He casually joined a laid-back guild, opened the recharge page, and after only a moment of hesitation, recharged 648 yuan.

The feeling of paying to win for the first time was very subtle, a bit like stealing his father's hidden private money when he was a child to buy a favorite small toy.

A bit nervous, a bit exciting, and a bit wanting to regret it.

And also a bit expectant, expecting whether the thing in his hand was as wonderful as imagined.

[Slot 1 bound game: Three Kingdoms Famous Generals Kill Kill Kill]

[Detected pay-to-win amount: 648 yuan. Triggered games: Earth OL (cash-back rate 0~100%), Three Kingdoms Famous Generals Kill Kill Kill (cash-back rate 100%)]

[cash-back card remaining: 1, multiplier card remaining: 1]

[Use?]

[cash-back card - 1, multiplier card - 1]

[This cash-back rate: 240%, final cash-back amount: 1555.2 yuan]

"It can actually trigger two games at the same time? It seems the system has abstracted the real world into 'Earth OL.' If that's the case, wouldn't I earn at least 648 for every 648 I spend?"

He looked at the system balance: 1555.2, tentatively clicked withdraw, and hurriedly opened his phone to check the text message from his bank card.

[Your debit card account 1649, online payment 648 yuan, balance after transaction 54322.4 (Bank of China)]

[Your debit card account 1649, deposit 1555.2 yuan, balance after transaction 54977.6 (Bank of China)]

"It's actually true! I really have a Tycoon System!"

"So, at a conservative estimate, even if I do nothing and just lie in bed playing games every day, my monthly salary is now close to twenty thousand!"

"If I were to just work as an employee in Chuncheng step-by-step, I probably wouldn't reach this amount in my lifetime."

"If this is a dream, I really hope I never wake up."

While happy, he used a name change card to change his game character from Zero-Spender War God to Only Recharging a Billion Points a Day.

Checking his game character, it had already become VIP5. He collected all the noble gift packs, which happened to equip his main character with a set of purple gear, along with several official seals used for upgrading titles, and many cultivation resources.

Having spent all the resources, he looked at his current combat power, which was exactly a few hundred points higher than that Renyi Wushuang. This meant he could get the first move in turn-based PK.

Based on the principle of taking revenge without delay, he brought all his supplies and single-handedly slaughtered his way into the mining area. Subsequently, a server-wide announcement was issued in the game.

[Shouchun Battle Report: Moyu Society - Only Recharging a Billion Points a Day met Brotherhood - Renyi Wushuang in a narrow path, fought hard and won, showing great power!]

"The effect is really immediate. If I were still a zero-spender facing a V7 opponent, unless he were a gaming idiot, it would be almost impossible to take revenge. Now, it's easy."

"This spending money seems to be a little bit fun."

Turning off his phone, Zhao Xiaoshuai lay on the bed, unable to sleep for a long time.

Today's experiences were really a bit too much: being dumped for the first time, being full of disappointment with life for the first time, paying to win for the first time...

Checking his phone from time to time, until 0:00, he hurriedly summoned the system and sure enough, saw that the two cards had refreshed.

He perked up, launched the game again, and recharged another 648.

[This cash-back rate: 231%, final cash-back amount: 1496.9 yuan]

His VIP level increased to VIP6, and he once again obtained many resources, as well as rare items such as a self-selected orange general chest.

Switching back to the mining area, he had indeed been killed, and it was Renyi Wushuang who had done it. Furthermore, there was a message in his private chat box:

[Don't think that just because you changed your name, I don't know who you are. Are you pushing your luck? If you have the ability, keep spending. Whoever chickens out is a grandson.]

Clicking on that person's avatar, he had indeed spent some more money, reaching VIP8 and assembling a full set of orange gear, raising his combat power again.

Don't look at it as just a two-V difference; in reality, you have to spend 4000 to reach V8.

However, Zhao Xiaoshuai's resource planning was more reasonable, and his understanding of the generals was higher. Although he couldn't catch up in combat power, by using the technique of sacrificing a support unit, he could indirectly let his main unit get the first move.

He used the newly obtained resources, adjusted his team's positioning, and once again gathered his supplies and killed that person.

He opened the private chat box and left a message for Renyi Wushuang:

[?]

This one symbol was worth more than a thousand words.

"In the past, I often saw this kind of situation. I thought it was all shills causing trouble. I didn't expect that two people forming a feud was actually this simple."

"But the feeling of killing people in the game is unexpectedly quite satisfying. It's even more satisfying to trash-talk after killing them. Spending money can really bring happiness."

And if paying to win not only didn't cost money but actually earned money, then the sense of satisfaction would be super doubled.

Thinking of the expression on Renyi Wushuang's face when he saw the message the next day, a satisfied Zhao Xiaoshuai quickly drifted off to sleep this time.

Sometimes, a man's happiness is just this simple.