Chapter 109: After all, you are a player [VIP]

Lin Chen's fingertips danced, and a torrent of data rushed before his eyes.

The [Invasion] skill worked tirelessly, accurately identifying each fraudulent voting source and popping the fake data streams like a bubble. The chaos in the background was quickly cleared up, and Oda Sakunosuke's popularity skyrocketed.

[Limited Time Mission: I'm a Water Army?! Triggered!]

[Goal: Eliminate at least 5,000 fake voting sources and increase Oda Sakunosuke's popularity to 10,000 points.]

[Reward: Morality +4 (Huh?), Sin +1 (Hmm?), Skill Proficiency (Invasion) greatly increased.]

Ha! My own system finally worked! Lin Chen's spirits lifted, and he became even more motivated.

The battle (or rather the one-sided cleanup) went smoothly.

Lin Chen operated mechanically while wandering around Punklord's public information flow out of boredom.

Suddenly, a scrolling text inserted in the advertisement of Old Buck's Repair Shop caught her attention:

[Old Buck Clearance Sale! Best Sellers: Spare parts identical to those used on the legendary Deepsea-class exploration vessel, the Silver Barracuda (Model: Z-7 Warp Coupler, L3 Encryption Core Heatsink...) Hurry! Act fast!]

It's a spare part for the Silver Barracuda! It's like searching high and low for something, but now it's easy to find.

Lin Chen immediately saved the address of the advertisement and prepared to investigate after completing the side quest.

Because there are parts of the [Silver Barracuda] hanging in front, players are very motivated.

In her opinion, the skill level of those hackers who were cheating with votes was just so-so. Initially, their experience bar could still increase rapidly. But soon, as the low-level water army was eliminated, the remaining "hardened" ones were either slightly more skilled or more hidden, and the experience gain slowed down.

However, there is no problem in achieving the goal.

Not long after, the number representing the popularity value on the light screen at the head of Oda Sakunosuke's bed steadily jumped to [10,000].

"Alright." Lin Chen disconnected the connection and clapped his hands in satisfaction. "Ten thousand popularity points, done! We've also added a layer of 'protection' for you. If anyone maliciously tries to lower your votes, the system will alert you."

She pointed to a small shield icon that had appeared on the light screen.

Oda Sakunosuke looked at the shiny 10,000 yuan, then glanced at the book "Basics of Stage Movement." His ahoge twitched, his expression remaining calm. "Thank you, Lin Chen. It saved me a lot of trouble."

"It's a small matter, a small matter!" The player waved his hands, anxiously tracking the location of Old Buck's repair shop on the map, and following the system's instructions, jumped out of the dormitory window.

Oda Sakunosuke stood in front of the window, looked down, and waved to Lin Chen, "Goodbye."

The player who had finished free falling waved casually downstairs. Soon, she turned around for a while, as if adjusting her direction.

After determining the direction, she started moving, running away at a speed that was totally incompatible with her body, as if she was racing with the rail car.

Old Buck's repair shop is hidden deep in an alley filled with the mixed smell of solder and motor oil.

I pushed open the door and heard a ding. Inside was a pile of various new and old mechanical parts and tools, and fine metal dust was floating in the air.

"Welcome~ What can I do for you...eh?" A brisk and slightly surprised voice sounded.

Lin Chen looked in the direction of the voice and saw Dazai Osamu wearing fairly neat overalls, with a towel hanging loosely around his neck. He was sitting in the middle of a pile of spare parts, holding a strangely shaped wrench in his hand.

Seeing Lin Chen, his iris-colored eyes lit up instantly, and he slid over like a boneless person, his voice drawn out softly: "Ah~ It's Player! What a rare guest~"

His arms swayed like noodles. "Are you here to save me, a poor wretch trapped in parts hell? You're such a kindhearted soul! Player, Player, do you know what a miserable life I'm living in here? Every day I have to face these cold, icy lumps of metal, and I have to fix a thousand of them! My hands are calloused! And I'm not even allowed to take things apart for fun! How~boring~!"

He came very close, and when he saw the player, his iris-colored eyes lit up in the dim light, then curved into crescents. His whole body seemed to be injected with energy, and his arms swung with a snapping sound.

Players looked at him and thought he was very cute, like a cat with its fur standing on end.

So she climbed onto the table using her hands and knees, stretched out her hand to him, and naturally patted his soft and fluffy hair twice, her tone flat but full of soothing words: "Good boy, good boy~ Pat your head."

Osamu Dazai: "..."

His blinking paused, his expression blank for a moment, as if paused. After a few seconds, he straightened up as if reloading his memory, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat and regained some composure, "What strange 'wrench' mission did you take?"

Other frame:

【Dazai Osamu - Hand' certified! 】

[Task Description: One thousand different items in 'Old Barry' (366/1000). Disassembly is prohibited!]

Lin Chen shook his head and pulled out the parts list he had written down earlier. "No, I'm looking for parts. This, this, and this model of crystal data slot. The ad said it's here?"

Dazai took the note, glanced at it, and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Deep Diver-class parts? Old Buck does have some in stock, but they're all old, hand-me-down items. They're not cheap."

He pointed to a dusty shelf further back in the shop.

Lin Chen's eyes lit up: "-Oh! Take me to see it!"

With the help of Dazai Osamu (who obviously knew the store's inventory very well), Lin Chen quickly found several key parts marked on the list.

It was incredible, yet also seemed reasonable, that in a very short period of time, Dazai Osamu squeezed out the other e employees who were surrounding me, and made Old Buck truly care about him.

So after discovering that the player was an acquaintance of Dazai Osamu, Old Buck gave him a not-so-high price as a favor.

Now that I think about it, everyone else was busy repairing and recycling machines, while Dazai Osamu was leisurely watching over the store at the front desk...

Well...anyway, you are worthy of being her follower, [Charm] is a great success!

The player readily paid the bill with credit points (after all, he didn't feel bad about spending the money he had stolen), and put the parts into the system backpack.

Before leaving, Lin Chen remembered something and took out a Punklord communicator and handed it to Dazai: "Here you go. Keep in touch with Oda."

She reported the identification code of Odasaku's communicator.

"He's an idol now and very busy. Don't disturb him," the player warned earnestly.

Dazai Osamu took the communicator and fiddled with it curiously. When he heard the word "become an idol", the corners of his mouth twitched noticeably, but he quickly put on a smile again: "Idol... As expected of Odasaku~ Got it! I'll let you know when there's any news!"

Being able to contact Odasaku at any time seemed to put him in a good mood.

Having solved a big problem, Lin Chen left the repair shop in a happy mood.

She figured she'd need to restock her supplies before heading back to Gear Alley. Her backpack was empty, especially for...sweets? She remembered Glass complaining about the taste of synthetic nutritional cream, and how Geto Suguru munched on an energy bar.

Well, I'll bring some comfort to those two high school students who look like they're having a hard time. And since I'm here... let's see if I can steal the secret recipe for Frosting Storm!

Lin Chen followed the map to find the dessert shop decorated in a dreamy pink color, and the rich aroma of cream and frosting hit him in the face.

She squeezed to the counter and pointed at the dreamy puff towers displayed in the window, which were stacked like a mountain and decorated with gold foil and colorful sugar beads. "This one, I want ninety-nine of them!"

"Excuse me, sir," the waiter said with a familiar smile, "we can only make a maximum of ninety of this dessert per day."

"Then I'll take it." The player said calmly with a rich face.

"...Since it was time to get off work, I could only do three more in the end."

"Tsk, if you can't do it, don't ask for it. Then give me three."

"Okay, honey, three dreamy puff towers!"

When paying, she habitually glanced through the glass partition at the busy figures in the kitchen.

An exceptionally striking figure was busy inside. His white hair was dazzling even in the warm light. A pair of small round sunglasses perched on his nose had slipped down slightly, revealing a pair of pale blue eyes that were fixed intently on the piping bag in his hand.

What concerned Lin Chen the most was the extremely clear sign floating above the man's head:

[Player: Gojo Satoru]

Huh? Another player? Weird Bangs and Dead Fish Eyes seemed to have mentioned this name before? What was it called… "The Strongest" or "Idiot"?

Well, anyway, it seems like they are their companions?

[Quest: Companion of a Companion?]

[Description: Confirm whether the person in front of you, 'Gojo Satoru', knows Geto Suguru and Ieiri Naoko.]

【Reward: Satisfy your curiosity.】

The mission came just in time! Even though there's no reward, that's fine.

Lin Chen walked around the shop assistant who was trying to stop him (the assistant said: You can’t go there…) without hesitation and pushed open the door to the kitchen and walked in.

Gojo Satoru was concentrating on applying the final layer of frosting to a puff tower, his technique was exquisite.

Hearing the noise, he didn't even raise his head, and said in a tone of displeasure at being interrupted: "Hey, hey, the kitchen is a restricted area, please keep out of the way..."

"Do you know what weird bangs and dead fish eyes mean?" Lin Chen walked to the operating table and asked straight to the point.

Gojo Satoru paused and finally raised his head.

The pale blue six eyes looked at Lin Chen through the small round sunglasses, with a hint of scrutiny and great confusion: "Huh? Weird bangs? Dead fish eyes? Who is it? Who would call someone with such a tasteless name? It's so funny just to hear it, okay..."

He was halfway through his words when something suddenly occurred to him. His expression instantly became bright, a mixture of sudden realization and schadenfreude. "Wait! Weird bangs? They feel so familiar. Pfft—you mean Jie and Nitro?! Hahahaha! Who came up with those nicknames? They're so fitting!"

The white-haired NPC laughed so hard that his shoulders shook. "They came in too? Where are they? How are they doing?"

"Picking up trash in Gear Alley." Lin Chen answered truthfully, "They were together."

"Picking up trash? It's incredible, but there's no need for that if we're together!" Gojo Satoru's laughter stopped abruptly, as if his neck was strangled. His expression instantly changed from gloating to incredible jealousy.

"Damn it! This is exclusion, right? This is definitely exclusion! Why can the two of them get together to pick up trash, but I have to learn how to make pastries here?!"

He flicked the icing scraper in his hand indignantly.

"You want to leave?" Lin Chen looked at his angry look and found it a bit funny.

"Of course I do!" Gojo Satoru answered immediately, but then lost his temper and pointed to the perfectly finished puff tower on the workbench. "...But it's not done yet. Things must be done from beginning to end. It's almost there! Once I learn how to make this dreamy puff tower, I'm sure they'll be amazed when I get back! Humph, even this kind of thing can't stop me!"

Lin Chen nodded to show his understanding.

"You were the one who ordered three Dreamy Cream Puffs, weren't you? Luckily, three of them are already here—and I made most of them!" Gojo Satoru confidently gave a thumbs-up and pushed the dessert over. "Take them back and let those two guys taste my masterpiece!"

She looked at the three huge puff towers, and with a thought, she waved her hand. The three boxes disappeared instantly and were put into the system backpack.

"Wow!" Gojo Satoru's eyes lit up, as if he had found a new toy. "Kakuei! How did you do that? Can I learn?"

The player tilted his head and thought for a moment, then took out a basic ether cartridge and a communicator and handed them to him. "You can't learn mine, but if you learn [Ether Editing] you can do something similar. It's very simple."

She briefly demonstrated the basic operation of using cassettes to call data streams to form storage space.

Gojo Satoru took the cassette and communicator and quickly put them on.

His blue eyes flickered slightly, and his fingertips tried to feel the data flowing around him. After a while, he simulated Lin Shen's teaching operations just now.

"Oh? Interesting!" Gojo Satoru, as if he had discovered a new toy, excitedly tried to control the data flow to wrap around the powdered sugar can, making it float up a little bit and then drop it again. "Fun! Thanks!"

"Yeah." Lin Chen looked at his almost instantaneous posture and felt that this guy was indeed smart.

Unfortunately, she pointed to the delicate puff tower components on the workbench: "This can't be made with a machine or [Ether Editing]."

She [analyzed] that the core texture of the Dreamy Puff Tower relied on extremely delicate manual manipulation and the timing of mixing the ingredients; the rough intervention of the etheric editor would destroy that delicate balance.

"Huh? Why?" Gojo Satoru raised his eyebrows in dissatisfaction.

"It will taste bad." Lin Chen thought for a while, found it difficult to explain, and gave the final verdict directly.

Gojo Satoru's face fell, but he quickly cheered up and shook the Ether Cassette in his hand. "Never mind, this new toy is worth it! Thanks! Say hello to Jie and Naoko for me... I'll go visit them when I have time! I hope they won't just listen to the smiles of the newcomers and ignore the tears of the old ones."

Seeing that he was having fun and that his mission was complete, Lin Chen waved his hand and said, "Let's go."

Well, now we have a gift! I wonder if those two high school students will have the same sparkling expressions as their friends when they see the puff tower?

And just now when I was watching, the system had already recorded the dessert recipe. When I go back, I just need to put in the raw materials and I can get the same dessert!

There are also some spare parts you can try to install to see if you can restore some functionality. Maybe it can be fixed immediately?

Ah, why are all the cadres I met today good things? Happiness will soon come to the players!

What? What if you say you won’t come?

There is no other way, the player can only grab it himself.