12: System Upgrade Rewards
The time for blanching meat is very quick, usually 8-15 seconds is enough.
Chen Xiangbei used a slotted spoon placed over the hotpot soup base, put the beef in the slotted spoon, and after pouring in the vegetables, the meat was just cooked and ready to eat.
These skills were all taught to him by a few friends in his dorm.
After all, he had never eaten hotpot before college, only seen it on TV.
After a busy day, being able to enjoy a good meal always makes people secrete a lot of dopamine.
Food is an internist that can heal hearts, transforming sorrow and indignation into appetite, and fatigue into appetite—a very apt summary.
...
After 9 PM, a hotpot meal left Chen Xiangbei feeling satisfied, and he let out a full burp.
After paying the bill, he took a taxi home.
Back home, Chen Xiangbei opened his phone and scrolled through some short videos. A few news headlines caught his attention.
"International gold prices, after a significant increase at the beginning of the year, have once again seen a substantial rise."
"The war between Big Goose and Little Goose has entered a heated phase."
"Big Beautiful provides Little Goose with 90 billion US dollars in aid."
"Little Yi once again launches a large-scale invasion against Shasha."
...
"It seems international finance will remain turbulent for some time. Some people get rich, while others lose their homes and families. It's truly lamentable," Chen Xiangbei thought to himself.
As a finance student, he constantly paid attention to news in the financial sector.
Although it didn't directly concern him, it did involve his professional knowledge.
Though he hadn't entered this circle yet, who could say for sure? After all, he now had a System.
Chen Xiangbei checked the time; it was still early before 12 AM.
Now, unless he was extremely tired, he would only go to bed early. Otherwise, he would wait until after 12 AM for the System's rewards before sleeping.
So, he quietly opened Timi and began his glorious King's journey.
Although his performance had never been particularly good, he was not one to easily admit defeat.
As a player frequently muted by the System, he would not yield to anyone.
He often engaged in "intimate and friendly" exchanges with his teammates, with an astonishing amount of "mother" references.
The rental house often echoed with the harsh sound of "beep beep," and the neighbors had grown accustomed to it.
With only a few minutes left until 12 AM, Chen Xiangbei was still struggling in the game.
He glanced at the time in the upper right corner of his phone, then at the "greetings" his teammates were typing in the game.
Chen Xiangbei swiped up twice directly to close the game; even a moment's hesitation would be disrespectful to his teammates.
[Ding, System settlement begins: Host's daily income +900, average hourly wage +112.5, System reward amount +5400, physique +0.03, settlement points +500. Please continue to work hard!]
[Ding, System successfully upgraded. Special reward for the Host: advanced fishing techniques, and 5 packs of Secret Bait produced by the System.]
[Ding, System Level 2, settlement points (200/10000). The next System upgrade will unlock the System Store. Please continue to work hard, Host.]
"[Bank card number 4539] received 5400 yuan at 00:01. Balance: 12476.55 yuan."
[Ding, congratulations to the Host for completing the hidden achievement (Ten Thousand Yuan Household)! Reward: 100g gold bar.]
"Pfft."
A 100-gram gold bar, along with relevant certificates and proof of purchase, simultaneously appeared on Chen Xiangbei's bed.
He then felt a slight change in his physique growth.
His original physique of 1.87 was already quite high, and when the 0.03 physique points from today's settlement were added, there wasn't much noticeable movement, less obvious than the feeling of showering under a spray.
Looking at the small gold bar on the bed, Chen Xiangbei was very excited.
He turned on his phone's flashlight and shone it over and over, as if wanting to see through it.
"This is fantastic! I just saw the news about gold prices, and now a piece of gold falls from the sky. Tong Zi Ge really understands me!" Chen Xiangbei exclaimed excitedly.
"Tong Zi Ge, help me integrate the advanced fishing techniques."
[Ding, integrating for the Host...]
[Ding, integration successful.]
In an instant, a large amount of fishing knowledge appeared in Chen Xiangbei's mind.
From fishing equipment to fishing methods and techniques, and then to the living habits and distribution of various fish species.
It all poured into his mind, and at this moment, he was like a veteran with over ten years of fishing experience.
"Tong Zi Ge, what's the difference between these Secret Bait for freshwater fish and the bait on the market?"
[Ding, System Secret Bait for freshwater fish description: Increases fish attraction by 100%, enhances fish attraction range by 200%, increases species rarity by 20%, increases species weight by 30%.]
"Holy cow, that's amazing, Tong Zi Ge! Doesn't that mean I'm 100% guaranteed a full catch?" Chen Xiangbei said excitedly.
[Ding, please rest assured, Host. What the System produces must be a premium product. If there are corresponding fish species at the fishing location, it will greatly enhance the speed and quality of catching fish.]
Chen Xiangbei understood that choosing the fishing location was very important. To catch high-quality fish, the specific fish species needed to be present at that location.
In simple terms, if a place has rare fish species and heavy fish, they will be much easier to catch.
For example, if others catch 10 fish weighing 1 jin in an hour.
Then you could catch 20 fish weighing 1 jin 3 liang or more in an hour, plus two rare fish species.
Of course, this is just an estimate; how many fish can be caught still depends on the specific operation.
This is not a fixed probability; a conclusion must be drawn by combining actual circumstances.
Calming himself down, Chen Xiangbei looked at the five packs of bait and the gold placed on the bed, wondering how to deal with them.
First, this 100g of gold wasn't much. Converting it into cash would be more practical for him right now.
He still owed his roommate Li An 5000 yuan, and his parents at home also had some external debts, which he wanted to help with.
Furthermore, he wanted to change his living place. Now that his economic conditions allowed it, he naturally wanted to move to a place with relatively better living conditions.
A good living environment affects many aspects, the biggest impact being one's mood.
As the saying goes, money can't buy happiness, isn't earning money just for food, clothing, housing, and transportation?
Chen Xiangbei didn't want to be a miser who saved every penny he earned.
His earning ability was growing day by day, so he had no material anxiety whatsoever.
After some thought, Chen Xiangbei decided to convert the gold into cash tomorrow and then buy a few fishing rods to try out his fishing skills.
Perhaps he could even get rich through fishing.
Looking at the five packs of fish bait in his hand, Chen Xiangbei was momentarily unsure how to handle them.
Leaving them in the rental house, although there was little risk of theft in such an international metropolis.
But for System-produced items, he still needed to be careful. Better safe than sorry.
However, carrying them around was inconvenient. Could he really take these things everywhere he went?
[Ding, detecting that the Host is troubled by the storage of System items, a temporary basic System warehouse is now freely available. The Host can store items in the System warehouse. This temporary warehouse can only store items rewarded by the System.]
"Tong Zi Ge, why can it only store items rewarded by the System? Is there also a place that can store non-System produced items?" Chen Xiangbei asked, puzzled.