The System is Abstract, Luckily, So Am I

Chapter 192 : Can I Steal It? Lin Li Actually Brought Out a Sage's Sanctuary!

Although in East Asia, the best compliment for a good dessert is to say it's not too sweet, it still shouldn't be bitter.

Lin Li missed Baowei a bit.

Since Baowei wasn't here, he could only throw it in the trash.

Fortunately, he didn't make much.

Stepping on the pedal of the trash can, the lid opened, and Lin Li threw the garbage in.

After a brief silence by the trash can, Lin Li jogged back to the dining table and said to Bai Bufan, "Bufan, stick your foot out."

"I'm really not ticklish." Bai Bufan wasn't afraid at all and stuck his foot out.

Lin Li extended a leg and stepped on it.

Bai Bufan: "?"

"What are you doing? Rewarding me?"

Chen, Ding, Qu: "?"

Lin Li started applying pressure.

"Fuck! What are you doing?!" Feeling some pain, Bai Bufan pulled his foot back and demanded.

"It's terrifying when you think about it. I discovered that if you step hard on a human's foot, their mouth opens, and how wide it opens depends on how hard you step. I might have discovered a secret: humans actually evolved from trash cans."

Lin Li covered his mouth, his voice filled with terror and panic.

The three girls seemed to fall deep in thought.

Bai Bufan: "..."

You motherfucker.

"Lin Li, when you had a fever during a rainstorm as a kid, did your mom take a wrong turn when she took you to the hospital? Did you end up at a veterinary clinic?" Bai Bufan asked sincerely.

Lin Li: "..."

Such strong aggressiveness. You have to know, this material left a heavy mark in the history of Lin Li's primary and middle school essays.

He actually wanted to use it in high school too, but the score would be too low if he used it again.

"You've hurt my sensitive, fragile, and insecure self." Lin Li lowered his head. "Good thing I have onychomycosis (fungal nail infection)."

"What kind of attack is onychomycosis... Hmm? Your mom!!" Bai Bufan looked down at their rubbing feet, yelled, and squirmed toward the bathroom while clutching his foot.

"Just kidding. My jade feet are white and tender, completely disease-free. I even specifically clipped my toenails yesterday." Watching Bai Bufan roll away with gratification, Lin Li explained to the girls.

"Who calls their own feet 'jade feet'?" Ding Sihan's sense of humor was a bit inexplicable.

Lin Li was about to respond when he saw a system notification.

[Task Three has been completed]

[Do you wish to use the "Random Reward Doubling Card (3/3)"?]

[You have chosen to use it.]

[You have received rewards: Physique Improvement: Comprehension increased by 20%; Divine Sense and Spirit increased by 200%; Random Magical Treasure 1.]

A refreshing sensation welling up from the bottom of his heart made him feel like he was ice skating on clouds.

The reward doubled was the Divine Sense and Spirit, increasing from 100% to 200%.

Not a bad doubling at all. Using the "Duck Blood Flask" in his [Inventory] in the future definitely wouldn't be as strenuous. He wouldn't end up playing himself to death before he even finished absorbing the emotions.

"The monthly exam rankings are out," Qu Wanqiu, who was looking at her phone, said at this moment. "Xue Jian posted them in the class group."

"Ding Sihan, don't look at your phone yet. Do you dare to make a bet with me?" Lin Li looked at Ding Sihan, who was taking out her phone, stopping and baiting her.

"Hmm? Bet on what?" Ding Sihan was a bit confused.

"Bet on whether I made it into the top 100 of the grade! The stakes are..." Lin Li prepared to make this surefire bet.

"Not betting." However, before Lin Li could finish, Ding Sihan refused with zero interest. "Every subject teacher praised your huge improvement. You definitely made it."

Damn it, the idiot Ding Sihan got smarter.

Lin Li sat cross-legged and also took out his phone.

Perhaps for the sake of the students' self-esteem, the list Xue Jian posted only had rankings and not specific scores for each subject. Lin Li not only made it into the top 100, but he didn't just scrape by either. With a total score of 1052 across ten exams, he ranked fourth in the class and 51st in the grade.

He almost made it into the top fifty.

He could only say it was fortunate this was the first year of high school; the difficulty of a counterattack really wasn't that high.

Chen Yuying ranked sixth in the grade. Everyone ahead of her were those little immortals from the first, second, and third competition classes.

Lin Li improved by nearly four hundred places, undoubtedly making the "Star of Improvement" list. And he wasn't the only one from Class 4 on this list. Bai Bufan, who ranked 272nd in the grade this time, was also on it because he improved by over a hundred and fifty places.

Lin Li checked the magical treasure.

[You have obtained the magical treasure "Death-Substituting Jade-Faced Buddha"]

[Death-Substituting Jade-Faced Buddha: After refinement, it will automatically trigger when the owner suffers fatal damage, swallowing this damage and protecting the owner for 3~60 seconds, while feeding back the vitality and spirit previously input during refinement to the owner.

After triggering, it will be completely destroyed and disappear.]

Lin Li's eyes widened.

Holy fuck, Sage's Sanctuary!

(Translator's Note: An item in the game Honor of Kings that prevents fatal damage).

Han Xin had two noble benefactors in his life: one was Xiao He, and the other was Menglei. 

(Translator's Note: A reference to a famous Honor of Kings player, Menglei, who famously backdoored the enemy crystal using Han Xin and Sage's Sanctuary).

The value of this magical treasure was exaggeratedly high.

If in the cultivation world, Lin Li's "Duck Blood Flask" were made public, those cultivators might scoff at it, even treating it as a toy. After all, there were many things that could resist this kind of magical treasure, and many cultivators wouldn't be affected at all.

But this "Death-Substituting Jade-Faced Buddha" was absolutely a BUG-level magical treasure that could definitely cause a riot.

Lin Li also really needed such a fallback magical treasure right now.

Although it was basically useless in the modern world, the problem was that Lin Li still had a beautiful lady waiting for him to hold her hand.

The magical treasure could provide at least "three seconds" of protection upon "death," and this time was enough for Lin Li to click "Return."

This is an extra life.

After seeing this magical treasure, he instantly felt that his hard studying in September was completely worth it.

Lin Li was in a great mood, even humming a familiar tune that he himself didn't know the specific name of.

[Lin Li: How lonely—how lonely it is to be invincible—@Wang Yuezhi]

Lin Li hadn't forgotten his agreement with Wang Yuezhi.

However, after sending it for quite a while, Wang Yuezhi still didn't reply in the group. He was probably busy dating. Putting himself in the other's shoes, Lin Li was willing to be understanding of his coldness.

"You're so bad." Ding Sihan knew the inside story, so she pointed at Lin Li.

[Bai Bufan: How lonely—how lonely it is to be invincible—@Zhou Baowei]

Bai Bufan had already returned and sat beside him. He wasn't a good person either.

[Zhou Baowei: ?]

It was only because this was a class group with teachers in it, otherwise Baowei's reply would definitely include a few "moms."

"Lin Li, then I also lost the bet." Chen Yuying hadn't forgotten the agreement she and Lin Li made that noon just for fun. The stake was a reasonable request that the other party could accept.

"I want to tickle your feet, Class Rep," Lin Li answered without a shred of hesitation.

Expressing his feelings directly.

He couldn't help it. As it stood, this task only involved massage and tickling.

But Lin Li didn't know how to massage, and doing it through clothes didn't count as contact, making it very difficult to execute. At most, it was a backup plan.

The first choice was still tickling.

Chen Yuying: "..."

"Huh?" Chen Yuying tilted her phone to the left and her head to the right, looking at Lin Li, full of confusion.

Lin Li met Chen Yuying's gaze with sincere eyes and confirmed again: "Class Rep, please let me tickle your feet to my heart's content!"

Xiao Ding and Xiao Qu were also slightly puzzled.

So Lin Li has this kind of fetish?

How come we couldn't tell at all before?

"Why?" Chen Yuying asked.

"Because Class Rep, I want to see you smile. When you smile, my whole world brightens up." Lin Li suddenly spoke seriously, his voice full of emotion. "Your smile is the sun."

Loyalty!

Lin Li came from Dandong, wanting to eat Guangzhou vegetables. 

(Translator's Note: A meme about loyalty/devotion).

"Oh, oh—" Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu immediately started egging them on.

Chen Yuying: "..."

She should have been shy.

But right now, she really couldn't feel shy.

How can this bad pervert Lin Li turn sweet nothings into flirty remarks? Flirty remarks are still flirty remarks!

Who taught you that the way to make a girl smile is to tickle her feet?! You deserve a beating!

"No, that's too much. I don't want to smile. Let your world stay dark." Chen Yuying hugged her legs and curled into a ball, shaking her head like a rattle, looking small, pitiful, and helpless.

"Is it too much?" Lin Li looked at Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu.

No one knows a father better than his daughters. The two filial daughters firmly shook their heads: "Not too much! We support it! We also want to see Yingbao smile!"

So Lin Li looked at Chen Yuying again, his gaze not sincere at all but truly passionate.

"Not 'to your heart's content.' Who knows when a bad pervert like you will ever be content." Chen Yuying still refused, but she had already compromised.

"That's easy! The tickling time is negotiable," Lin Li immediately said. "How about ten minutes?"

"No, five minutes at most," Chen Yuying shook her head.

"Deal!" Lin Li answered instantly.

Chen Yuying: "..."

Not good! I said too much!

"Three minutes!" she immediately said.

Lin Li turned his head away and whistled, pretending not to hear.

This is the psychological principle of the door-in-the-face technique. If you think a room is too dark and want to open a window, many people will disagree. But if you say you want to detonate a nuclear bomb in the room and order them to be point-blank observers, they will agree to you opening the window.

"Class Rep, stick your leg out!" Lin Li rubbed his fingers together and said with a sinister smile.

Chen Yuying pursed her lips, her teeth shining. She snorted, sighed again, and then slowly and reluctantly moved one leg toward Lin Li.

"Lin Li, I'll go find you a feather!" Ding Sihan stood up enthusiastically.

"No need. If I use a feather instead of my hands, wouldn't I be wasting this opportunity?" Lin Li waved his hand, telling the truth.

"Oh, oh, I accidentally forgot you're a pure pervert. Sorry." Ding Sihan nodded and sat back down.

"Class Rep, it's starting."

Lin Li's hand clamped onto Chen Yuying's ankle again, and he said with an evil smile.

Perhaps the last time was too sudden, so she didn't have time to react to her ankle being grabbed. But this time, she proactively offered her leg, and since the ankle is actually quite a private area, Chen Yuying felt a burning sensation where she was touched.

She regretted it a bit.

"Mhm," Chen Yuying's voice sounded a bit sticky, and she didn't look at Lin Li.

"Starting now~"

Lin Li started tickling the sole of Chen Yuying's foot.

Because she was mentally prepared, Chen Yuying was initially able to cover her mouth to keep from making a sound. But anyone who is ticklish knows that this is simply impossible to endure, and she soon let out a "ha."

Time gradually passed.

"Lin Li, I can't, I can't take it anymore~"

"Class Rep, it hasn't even been a minute. You have to take it even if you can't!"

"No, it's too ticklish. Be gentler~"

"Isn't being gentler even more ticklish? Like this?"

"Ha ha~ Then be harder..."

"..."

Bai Bufan, who was cursing at Zhou Baowei in their gaming group chat nearby, heard these sounds in his ear, looked up, and was dumbfounded:

"Isn't this fucking borderline pornographic?"

Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu exchanged a glance, their expressions equally strange. Especially since Chen Yuying couldn't laugh anymore and found it hard to speak, her voice sounded exceptionally weak and shy.

Ding Sihan suddenly closed her eyes, then let out an "Eww" with an auntie-like smile: "Now the audio and video are synced."

It's—Fantasy—Time!

Qu Wanqiu blinked. She suspected that whatever Ding Sihan was thinking about right now was definitely not safe for work.

"But this voice is indeed too... anyway... it makes your imagination run wild." Qu Wanqiu smiled and shook her head, unable to deny it.

Bai Bufan looked up at Qu Wanqiu again, realized she wasn't his Feifei, and lowered his head to continue cursing.

"I can only say it's a good thing Yingbao turned off the camera, otherwise I wouldn't dare imagine what Uncle would do if he heard this voice—" Ding Sihan opened her eyes and said with amusement.

"Bang—!!"

"What are you guys doing?"

The sudden loud noise startled all five people present.

The five of them looked toward the source of the sound at the door. Chen Zhongping stood there, looking slightly red-faced, his eyes wide open.

"Punishment for losing a bet."

In the quiet atmosphere, only Lin Li recovered the fastest and answered honestly.

Chen Zhongping looked at the five neatly dressed people. The boys sat on one side, the girls on the other. Except for the feet, the distance between them was very safe. He nodded, feeling slightly relieved.

Reason told Chen Zhongping, who had just heard those sounds, that it definitely wasn't what he feared inside. After all, there were other people talking and laughing in low voices, and he certainly had basic trust in his daughter.

But the problem was, a father doesn't need reason at a time like this.

It was impossible to feel relieved without confirming it with his own eyes.

"So it was a punishment for losing a bet, haha. I thought it was a punishment for losing a bet.

"It's fine, you guys keep playing. But, for this kind of punishment that requires physical contact, it's best for girls to do it to girls and boys to do it to boys. It's still better to maintain a little bit of distance. Of course, you guys are close, I'm just giving a suggestion."

Chen Zhongping spoke faster and faster, especially when Chen Yuying stood up with a tense, dark face.

"I left my things on the umbrella stand by the door. I'm leaving now."

He turned and left.

(End of Chapter)