Chapter 1

"Welcome..."

The automatic doorbell made repeated harsh mechanical sounds as the convenience store's glass door opened and closed.

Jiang Zhulang put the expired food in the freezer into a paper bag and moved his stiff cervical vertebrae.

According to the convenience store's rules, employees can take away expired merchandise for free. Other employees felt embarrassed, so he gave these items away for free.

"These people on the Internet are so bad, they use all kinds of tricks to cheat kids out of their money. I think they should be arrested and put in jail! Hey, my grandson's kids are like this, they like to buy all kinds of random things, what's their name, setters?"

"It's just a colorful electronic painting, but it's priced at 500,000. Can it even draw a flower? Tsk."

"Oh, it's my own European character. My daughter loves to do it, but she always does it herself using AI, without spending a penny. Here, look."

"Wow, this free one looks much better. A paid drawing costs tens of thousands. It's just writing and drawing, why is it so expensive? Just let your child draw too."

“…”

The customer who just walked into the store was discussing yesterday’s trending topic on Weibo:

"A minor was commissioned to write for a work for a whopping 500,000 yuan." The title was very attractive, and the popularity soared, quickly reaching the top of the trending search.

The general content says: An underage child spent 500,000 yuan to commission a painter to paint a picture. After his parents found out, they asked the painter for a refund, but were refused.

A painting took away 500,000 yuan from a minor. The attitudes of netizens were generally the same as those of the two people just mentioned: questioning, denying, insulting, and even cyberbullying the painter.

The marketing account posted the artist's paintings for people to judge.

“Buzz——”

The alarm bell rang at 9:00 p.m., and it was time to get off work.

Jiang Zhulang took out his mobile phone and saw through the half-burnt screen that there were 99+ unread messages in the background of Big Eyes.

He moved his finger to clear the message, but because his phone was stuck, he accidentally entered the message and was greeted by a barrage of insults.

[Is this worth 500,000? I don’t even want it even if you pay me for it. ]

[If someone dares to give it to you, do you dare to accept it? People who don’t know you would think you are a contemporary master. 】

[Accepting manuscripts from minors? Those who disrupt the atmosphere of the painting circle should get out of the painting circle! ]

[Is there no relevant department to take care of this? Why hasn’t the person who cheated the child’s money been arrested yet! ]

…

Jiang Zhulang turned off the screen, picked up his bag, and walked quickly to the bus stop, just in time to catch the bus home.

I found an empty seat by the window and sat down, counting today's food.

Two rice balls that just expired today, I took them home and heated them up and they were still edible. A fruit salad, the pineapple and apple inside were oxidized and blackened, but it did not affect the taste.

After taking inventory, Jiang Zhulang looked at the flashing halos of light of different sizes outside the window, and his thoughts gradually drifted away.

In addition to his job at the convenience store, he is also a contracted online cartoonist and has published several works. He refreshes the background every day but there are not many comments or attention.

One month ago, a message popped up in the empty private message interface.

"Royce's paintings are really beautiful. Please ask the price politely."

Jiang Zhulang was stunned for a moment, "What's the price?"

The other party replied immediately: "Paper price, Royce, please look at the child, the child wants to make an appointment with my OC."

Jiang Zhulang had just entered the circle, and this was the first time he was asked to write an article and asked for the price. He raised his hand to reply and refuse, but the other party sent several messages in a row, all of which were fancy exaggerations.

"Mommy, your paintings are like a miracle from the beginning, from the rough draft to the finished product!"

"If I can't get Mommy's manuscript, then my beautiful character, good morals and even my soul will be destroyed!"

"Mummy's paintings touched my heart. I knelt down to visit the Louvre!"

Does she like her paintings so much?

Jiang Zhulang pursed his lips.

"I don't accept manuscripts. I'll paint one for you. It won't take long."

"No, no, no, I have money, and I need my mom to do the details, and the background needs to be customized. I'll pay 5,000 for it, can I pay half first?"

“…”

Five thousand was equivalent to his two-month salary. Jiang Zhulang searched for other people's commissioned works. The picture quality of the works at the same price was not as good as his. The ones with the same picture accuracy as his asked for twice as much.

He had intended to draw a signed picture and give it away, but he could not resist the other party's flattery and accepted the money.

Jiang Zhulang immersed himself in painting as soon as he got off work, compressing his sleep time to finish the draft. It took him more than half a month to carefully refine the composition and strive for the best picture.

After submitting the manuscript, the author was full of praise.

I thought this was a transaction that both parties were satisfied with, but I didn't expect that the author's parents would come to my house a few days later and ask for a refund.

Jiang Zhulang was naturally unwilling to do so. He had worked hard for more than half a month on this work, and the owner was also satisfied with it. Why should he ask for a refund?

Can you return the food you buy from the market and eat at home?

He rejected the suggestion outright and blocked the person who had sworn at him.

After hesitating for a night, Jiang Zhulang decided to return the royalties, remove the other party from the blacklist, transfer the money to her, and then quickly block the other party again to avoid being scolded.

I didn’t expect that I have become a hot topic on Weibo, Penguin, comics forums...all filled with 99+ insults.

After the parent sent out the chat records with him, he accused his child in tears of stealing 500,000 yuan for the commission, and the marketing account even charged the total price of 500,000 yuan to him alone.

Jiang Zhulang rubbed his sleepy eyes, and his consciousness gradually faded amid the roar.

In a trance, he heard the voice of the teacher giving a lecture.

"Have you slept enough?!" He shouted sternly, just like the strict class teacher in high school.

Jiang Zhulang shuddered suddenly and opened his eyes.

"Did you sleep well in my class?"

The person sitting diagonally in front of him was pulled to his feet, with his head lowered and no words spoken.

Jiang Zhulang looked at the familiar environment in front of him calmly.

——The stone podium with stained-glass reliefs is clearly the scene of the Warlock Academy in the comic book "Throne of Warlock".

"The Warlock's Throne" is his worst work.

The comic tells the story of the protagonist Lanno, who grew from a resident of a border town to the king of warlocks and finally saved the world.

Due to the cyberbullying incident, Jiang Zhulang ended hastily. The story line came to an abrupt end when his childhood friend died to save him and Lan Nuo entered the Warlock Academy to fulfill his friend's unfinished dream.

Does this mean that you dream about something at night when you think about it during the day?

I actually saw in my dream that the little cannon fodder Stone was scolded for dozing off. This was clearly something that had not yet been presented in the outline.

Jiang Zhulang raised his eyebrows, enjoying watching him being scolded with interest, but the flames of war suddenly broke out.

"Lan Nuo was obviously sleeping too, why didn't the teacher scold him but only me?" Stone pointed at Jiang Zhulang unconvinced.

?

Jiang Zhulang looked at the empty seats in front, behind, left and right, and suddenly realized:

This is Lanno's first perspective.

Along with the teacher's sharp eyes came the students' whispers:

"Someone's abilities are so poor that he can't even perform the levitation spell. What else can he do if he doesn't sleep?"

"It's so funny. Stone could point at anyone else but Lanno. He's almost invisible."

"It's a disgrace to the school. Not only do they lack the ability, but they also have a bad attitude and are so shameless that they refuse to drop out..."

Jiang Zhulang thought: Lan Nuo didn't drop out of school in order to fulfill the dream he shared with his deceased friend. What do you, the background characters with no ties to him, know?

Wait, this isn't right.

Although Lanno has not yet activated the bloodline power that is particularly important to a warlock, with his handsome appearance and extremely high talent score in the entrance examination, he should not be disliked by everyone, right?

For no reason, Jiang Zhulang recalled the comic reviews.

[The male protagonist Tie Feiwu, if it weren't for the protagonist's halo, he would be bullied wherever he went.]

[Other male protagonists explode in silence, and your male protagonist perishes in silence, right? You have been preparing for an explosion for dozens of episodes, but in the end, even your best friend didn't explode? If I were the male protagonist, I might as well just run into a wall and die. Living is just a waste of time! ]

[Haha, rubbish male lead! Rubbish plot! Rubbish author! ]

Tsk, he must have been affected by cyberbullying to have such a bizarre dream.

Jiang Zhulang stood up, ignoring their confused looks, and walked straight to the teacher's office.

——He wants to drop out of school!

Sorry, Lanno, although it goes against your wishes, it is a rare opportunity to dream about your own comic world in person, so he doesn't plan to stay in the academy.

Jiang Zhulang quickly wrote out his application for withdrawal and slapped it on the teacher's desk.

Perhaps the nail household finally came to its senses, and the other party did not try to keep him.

When Jiang Zhulang walked out of the office, the class was about to end, and the monitor came to him and said, "Don't forget to be on duty after class."

"You can find someone else. I'm dropping out of school." He waved his hand and walked away, leaving his jaw dropped in shock.

After a while, someone trembled and said, "Did I hear it right? He really dropped out of school..."

Jiang Zhulang looked at his reflection in the water, his pupils shrinking slightly.

The person in the water was tall and thin, with slightly curly black hair, deep and sharp facial features, and tightly pursed thin lips. He looked particularly cold when he was not smiling.

No, he is such a big male protagonist.

This is clearly his own appearance!

Jiang Zhulang originally wanted to see what the sunny and handsome Lan Nuo looked like after he transformed from a paper man into a three-dimensional person, but he actually saw himself with the name Lan Nuo.

Absurd, too outrageous.

Even more outrageous is——

"Congratulations to the host for binding to the Savior System. Mainline missions are being dispatched..."

"Distribution successful! Host, please actively complete the task."

A translucent light screen appeared in front of him, with red words flashing on it——

Mission objective: Become the savior and save the world from the impending world-destroying crisis.

His comics, which had no trace of system from beginning to end, suddenly appeared now.

Even a dream can't be so nonsensical.

"Does the host need any guidance on the mission?"

"No need." Jiang Zhulang refused. As a comic book author, how could he not know what the world-destroying crisis is? Do I need your guidance?

"This system has enabled the real-time forum viewing function, and I hope it will be helpful to the host."

Jiang Zhulang: "...You really are of no use at all."

As a confused cartoonist who was bullied online, his comic forum was filled with ***. What else can this function do except to make him upset?

What's more, he is in a dream, so it's better to leave the hard work of saving the world to Lannuo.

As for him, of course he would use Lannuo's resources in advance to help him experience what it feels like to be a rich man.