“Get your wet scooter away from Kai’s Porsche, Lin Mo—a drafter whose boss withheld his pay can’t even afford my umbrella!”
Liu Yan slammed the passenger door of the bright red Porsche 911 outside Grand Golden-Plume Luxury Plaza. The heavy tire rolled through a curb puddle and splashed dirty rainwater across Lin Mo’s faded yellow delivery jacket.
Cold October rain dripped from the cracked visor of Lin Mo’s helmet. He stood beside his battered electric scooter under the neon lights of Jiangcheng’s richest shopping district.
In his left hand, he held a small velvet ring box bought with two months of night-shift savings. In his right hand, his cracked phone screen glowed with a single banking alert.
[Available Balance: ¥48.50 RMB.]
Today was their third anniversary. Half an hour ago, Boss Wang at the Swift-Flash Delivery Station had locked the office safe and refused to pay Lin Mo’s four thousand five hundred yuan in monthly wages.
Now Liu Yan sat on cream-colored leather beside another man.
Through the rain-streaked windshield, twenty-four-year-old Zhao Kai leaned across the console and smirked. The heir to Zhao Pharmaceutical Group tapped a gold watch against the steering wheel and lowered the window two inches.
“You heard her, brother,” Zhao Kai said, his voice full of lazy amusement. “If your rusty footboard scratches my paint, selling your scooter won’t cover the primer.”
Liu Yan didn’t even look at the velvet box in Lin Mo’s wet hand. She pulled a compact mirror from her purse and checked her lipstick.
“Don’t look at me like that, Lin Mo,” Liu Yan said coldly. “Three years with you got me subway tokens and supermarket coupons. Kai is taking me into the Vacheron & Patek Boutique tomorrow to pick out an anniversary watch.”
She flicked a crumpled paper receipt out the window gap. It landed in the puddle by Lin Mo’s soaked sneakers.
“That’s for the milk tea you bought me last Tuesday,” she added. “We’re done. Don’t call me, and don’t embarrass me near the plaza entrance.”
Zhao Kai laughed, tossed a two-yuan coin onto the wet asphalt, and hit the gas. The Porsche roared up the VIP ramp toward the valet canopy.
Lin Mo didn’t pick up the coin. He just wiped the rainwater off his cheek and looked at the velvet box in his palm.
Three years of paying her rent while eating pickled mustard packets, Lin Mo thought dryly. And I didn’t even get my umbrella back. Strictly speaking, that’s a terrible return on investment.
Right as he tucked the ring box into his pocket, a crisp mechanical chime echoed inside his skull.
[Ding! Host mentality verified: Calm under humiliation, debt-free in conscience, unbroken in heart.]
[The 100x Pure-Heart Refund System is now bound to Host: Lin Mo!]
[Innate Skill Awakened: Pure-Heart Eye (Lv. 1).]
Lin Mo blinked hard. A warm current surged into his tired eyes.
When he looked up toward the valet canopy where Zhao Kai and Liu Yan were stepping out of the Porsche, two glowing badges hovered above their heads.
Above Liu Yan’s curled hair floated a murky gray-red number:
[Target: Liu Yan | Goodness & Moral Integrity Score: 14/100 (Vain, ungrateful, habitual backstabber).]
Above Zhao Kai’s slicked-back hair hung a darker crimson tag:
[Target: Zhao Kai | Goodness & Moral Integrity Score: 9/100 (Arrogant parasite, profits from diluted medicine).]
A translucent golden ledger unfolded in Lin Mo’s vision.
[System Core Rule 1: Spend money to help any target whose Goodness Score is 80/100 or higher. The System instantly refunds 100x the spent amount in legal, tax-cleared cash into your Personal Vault!]
[System Core Rule 2: Spending money on targets below 80/100 yields ZERO refund. System Benevolence Charity Card swipes on sub-80 targets are automatically declined.]
[System Core Rule 3: Every qualified 100x transaction grants Benevolence Merit Points (BMP) and Golden Benevolence Qi to temper the Host's body.]
[Current Host Realm: Rank 0 (Mortal — Chronic Overwork & Sub-Health).]
[Current Personal Liquid Vault: ¥0.00 RMB (Pocket Balance: ¥48.50 RMB).]
[Good People Network (80+ Goodness): 0.]
Lin Mo pinched the center of his palm with his thumbnail. It hurt. He wasn’t hallucinating from low blood sugar.
He looked at the VIP glass doors where Liu Yan clung to Zhao Kai’s arm, then down at the ¥48.50 on his phone screen.
Look at Liu Yan’s score—fourteen out of a hundred, Lin Mo thought, a slow grin tugging at his mouth. No wonder my wallet stayed empty for three years. Wait. If I spend one yuan on an honest person with an eighty-plus score, the System gives me a hundred yuan back?
His drafter’s brain ran the math instantly.
With a 100x multiplier, forty-eight yuan became four thousand eight hundred yuan. Four thousand eight hundred times a hundred was four hundred and eighty thousand.
All he needed was someone who actually deserved a break.
Lin Mo scanned the rain-swept avenue with his [Pure-Heart Eye].
Most passersby under the mall awning had pale yellow tags between 42/100 and 68/100. Near the curb, a scalper selling fake umbrellas glowed a dirty red 23/100.
Then Lin Mo looked across the service alley toward the wind-battered corner of the plaza wall.
Two blinding lights—one warm emerald-gold, the other pure white-gold—shone through the dark rain.
Beneath a patched blue plastic tarp, a battered steel pushcart rattled in the wind. A painted wooden sign hung from the handle: Grandma Chen’s Fresh River-Shrimp Wontons — ¥6 a Bowl.
Behind the steaming iron pot stood sixty-eight-year-old Grandma Chen. Her thin cotton jacket was soaked at the shoulders, and her chapped hands were red from the cold wind, yet her brass ladle was polished clean.
[Target: Chen Xiu (Grandma Chen) | Goodness Score: 98/100 (Forty years of honest labor, starving herself to save her granddaughter).]
Under the dry shelter of the pushcart sat a tiny six-year-old girl in a faded red vest. Her lips had a faint bluish tinge, and she was drawing on a cardboard scrap with a stubby crayon while coughing softly into her sleeve.
[Target: Chen Guo'er (Little Guo'er) | Goodness Score: 100/100 (Pure-hearted child, severe congenital heart defect, innate spiritual kindness).]
Fifty feet down the curb, five sanitation workers in soaked orange vests leaned on their bamboo brooms under a bus-stop sign. They had just spent two hours clearing wet leaves out of the storm grates so the avenue wouldn’t flood.
Above the eldest street cleaner, a weathered man named Uncle Wang, hovered a bright green tag:
[Target: Wang Dazhu (Uncle Wang) | Goodness Score: 86/100 (Honest street sweeper, supports his disabled brother).]
The other four street cleaners beside him all glowed steady green between 82/100 and 85/100.
Lin Mo pushed his dead scooter across the alley, parked it beside the curb, and stepped under Grandma Chen’s tarp.
“Evening, Grandma Chen,” Lin Mo said, taking off his wet helmet. “Still open?”
When Grandma Chen saw Lin Mo’s yellow delivery jacket and soaked hair, her tired face softened with immediate concern.
“Aiya, young man, you’re drenched to the bone!” Grandma Chen said, reaching for a clean dry towel kept in a plastic bag under the counter. “Wipe your neck before you catch a chill.”
Little Guo’er looked up from her cardboard drawing. She held out a paper cup of warm boiled water from a thermos beside her stool.
“Big Brother Rider, drink some hot water,” Little Guo’er said in a sweet voice. She suppressed a soft cough and smiled until her eyes curved like crescents. “Grandma says hot water chases the cold ghosts away.”
Lin Mo took the paper cup. The warmth seeped into his stiff fingers.
A ninety-eight and a hundred, Lin Mo thought, looking at the old woman and the little girl whose own lips were pale from heart weakness. Zhao Kai wears a three-hundred-thousand-yuan watch and scores a nine. These two are shivering in an alley and outscore him ten times over.
“Thank you, Guo’er,” Lin Mo said gently. He looked into the steaming pot. “Grandma Chen, how many bowls of shrimp wontons do you have left?”
Grandma Chen lifted the wooden lid. Fresh steam carrying the rich aroma of pork bone broth and river shrimp rose into the air.
“I wrapped eighty bowls before dusk, but the storm kept folks inside the mall,” Grandma Chen sighed, glancing at Little Guo’er. “I still have eight portions left. Six yuan a bowl. If I sell these eight, I’ll be forty-eight yuan closer to Guo’er’s hospital deposit.”
“How much is the hospital asking for?” Lin Mo asked.
Grandma Chen’s hand tightened on the lid. “Jiangcheng First Hospital wants three hundred thousand yuan upfront before they’ll put her on the cardiac surgery schedule. I’ve saved twenty-one thousand in my canvas bag. It’s slow, son, but my hands still work.”
She shook her head and forced a warm smile. “Sit down on the dry stool, lad. I’ll cook you a big bowl and toss in two extra wontons on the house.”
“Don’t just cook one,” Lin Mo said. He pulled out his phone. “Cook all eight bowls, Grandma Chen.”
Grandma Chen blinked. “All eight? Young man, you can’t eat ninety-six wontons by yourself! Save your delivery money!”
“I’m not eating them alone,” Lin Mo said deadpan. “One bowl is for you. One bowl is for Little Guo’er. One bowl is for me, and the other five bowls are for Uncle Wang and his sanitation crew shivering by the bus stop.”
Grandma Chen froze. “For... for me and Guo’er too? Son, how can I take your money to eat my own wontons?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s a catering order,” Lin Mo said with a straight face. “I’m paying to make sure the chef and the little assistant don’t faint from hunger. Six yuan times eight bowls is forty-eight yuan.”
Before Grandma Chen could refuse, Lin Mo scanned the WeChat QR code taped to the cart pole and sent 48.00.
Ding!
“WeChat Payment received: forty-eight yuan!”
Lin Mo’s phone balance dropped to ¥0.50.
At that exact instant, the golden ledger inside Lin Mo’s mind blazed.
[Ding! Benevolent Transaction Verified!]
[Host spent ¥48.00 RMB on 7 Qualified Pure-Heart Targets: Chen Xiu (98/100), Chen Guo'er (100/100), Wang Dazhu (86/100), and 4 Sanitation Crew Members (82–85/100).]
[Triggering 100x Pure-Heart Cashback Multiplier!]
[+¥4,800.00 RMB (Tax-Cleared Sovereign Funds) deposited into Host's Personal Vault!]
[+48 Benevolence Merit Points (BMP) awarded!]
[First Spend Bonus Activated: Golden Benevolence Qi Infusion! Purging Host's chronic sub-health and advancing body to Rank 1 Early Martial!]
Buzz!
Lin Mo’s phone vibrated with an SMS from Jiangcheng Sovereign Private Bank:
[Account Ending 8899: Incoming Transfer +¥4,800.00 RMB. Current Available Balance: ¥4,800.50 RMB.]
Two heavy metallic cards materialized inside his inner breast pocket—one matte emerald-green ([Benevolence Charity Card]), the other black-gold ([Personal 100x Vault Card]).
Even more shocking was the heat exploding from Lin Mo’s abdomen.
A stream of warm golden energy surged out of his dantian and rushed through every cramped muscle and tired blood vessel in his body.
With a series of soft crack-pop sounds along his spine, two years of bone-deep exhaustion evaporated. His vision sharpened across the rain-swept street, and his grip strength tripled in a single heartbeat.
Rank 1 Early Martial, Lin Mo marveled inwardly, flexing his fingers. And four thousand eight hundred yuan in liquid cash from forty-eight yuan of wontons. I take back everything I said about this rainy night.
Behind the cart, Grandma Chen wiped her eyes with her apron as she cooked all ninety-six shrimp wontons in the boiling bone broth.
“I haven’t eaten a full bowl of my own wontons since Monday,” Grandma Chen choked out, ladling golden soup into eight deep bowls. “Little Guo’er kept saying she wasn’t hungry so I’d save the shrimp for customers.”
“Grandma, Big Brother bought this for us,” Little Guo’er said earnestly, blowing on a steaming wonton in her spoon and holding it up to Grandma Chen’s mouth. “You eat the first one!”
Grandma Chen swallowed the hot wonton, and tears rolled down her wrinkled cheeks.
Lin Mo picked up a plastic tray holding five steaming bowls and walked down the curb to the bus shelter.
“Uncle Wang, take a break,” Lin Mo said, setting the tray on the dry bench. “Five bowls of Grandma Chen’s shrimp wontons. Eat them while they’re hot.”
Uncle Wang stared at the steaming bowls, then at Lin Mo’s yellow jacket. “Young brother, did a customer cancel an order? We can’t take food you have to pay for!”
“No cancelled order,” Lin Mo said, handing Uncle Wang chopsticks. “My boss shorted my pay today, so I’m celebrating quitting my job. Consider it a thank-you for keeping the storm drains clear.”
Uncle Wang took the bowl with both rough hands. His eyes reddened as he bowed his head.
“I’m Wang Dazhu, in charge of the Golden-Plume Avenue night sweep,” the old cleaner said seriously. “I’ll remember this bowl of hot soup, young brother.”
[Ding! Good People Network Updated: 7 Verified Beneficiaries (Grandma Chen, Little Guo'er, Uncle Wang, and 4 Street Cleaners).]
Lin Mo returned to the cart and finished his own steaming bowl in three minutes flat. The shrimp were sweet and crisp, leaving his chest warm.
He had just set his empty bowl down when a piercing golden alarm flashed across his [Pure-Heart Eye].
A crimson-and-gold beam pointed straight through the revolving glass doors of Grand Golden-Plume Luxury Plaza, locking onto a flagship storefront inside: Vacheron & Patek Prestige Watch Boutique.
[Ding! High-Purity Benevolence Distress Ping Detected within 100 Meters!]
[Distress Target 1: Su Wan (Rookie Watch Salesgirl, Age 22) | Goodness Score: 95/100!]
[Distress Target 2: Old Wu (Deaf Mall Janitor, Age 62) | Goodness Score: 89/100!]
[Situation: Bullied and falsely accused by Snobby Store Manager Zhang (Goodness: 18/100). Opportunity for 100x Cashback Multiplier Detected!]
Lin Mo glanced at the ¥4,800.50 balance on his phone, then up at the glittering marble entrance of the luxury mall.
He reached into his breast pocket, his fingers brushing the cool metal edge of his new Benevolence Card.
“Grandma Chen, keep Guo’er warm under the tarp for twenty minutes,” Lin Mo said, a calm smile touching his lips. “I need to step inside the mall and turn four thousand eight hundred yuan into enough money to pay for Guo’er’s surgery tonight.”