Chapter 50: Refunds or Top-Ups? You’ll Top Up What You’re Short

With so many items, the system had been processing for a while before finally settling. In total, they could exchange for 21 gold coins, 56 silver coins, and 50 copper coins.

Seeing this amount, Chu Jiangyue blinked. Captain Song had really gotten the short end of the stick.

“All exchanged. After deducting 20 gold coins to cancel the overload warning, 1 gold coin, 56 silver coins, and 50 copper coins remain.”

Song Chengjun had already paid 5 gold coins earlier, which meant he effectively lost almost 4 gold coins.

Chu Jiangyue didn’t even bother adjusting the leftover coins—it was a small amount anyway.

Her gaze toward Song Chengjun now carried sympathy.

Poor guy got completely swindled!

Song Chengjun: …

“Deduct it.”

“Wait, there’s still some leftover, right? Shouldn’t it be refunded and split among us?”

Zhu Lanlan, still holding a grudge about Song Chengjun not taking her home earlier, saw the leftover coins and immediately started making a fuss.

After Chu Jiangyue deducted the 20 gold coins and the overload warning was gone, she raised an eyebrow at Zhu Lanlan’s demand for the coins.

Song Chengjun had initially thought: he’s a grown man, it’s fine to lose a little, especially to a bunch of teachers and students.

But Zhu Lanlan’s behavior made him lose all patience.

If she wanted to be so calculative, then fine—he’d be calculative too.

“To cancel the overload warning, I fronted 5 gold coins to activate the temporary exchange channel. After deducting 20 gold coins, your items only leave 1 gold coin, 56 silver coins, and 50 copper coins. That still leaves a shortfall of 3 gold coins, 44 silver coins, and 50 copper coins.

Please discuss among yourselves how to make up the difference. Zombie crystal cores are acceptable.”

3 gold coins! They’d have to kill 300 zombies to make that up!

Everyone glared at Zhu Lanlan with resentment. Did she even have a brain?

People had already decided not to fuss—but now her words had saddled them with a debt of over 3 gold coins.

Psychics could handle it, but ordinary people were terrified of zombies, let alone killing them for crystal cores.

And low-level zombies didn’t drop crystal cores. To get cores, they needed to kill level 1 or higher zombies.

“Th-That’s your own choice! We didn’t force you to give it!”

Zhu Lanlan realized she had probably said the wrong thing, but didn’t want to admit her mistake, so she stubbornly argued.

Song Chengjun’s face darkened. He even began regretting why he had meddled.

He should have just let them gather crystal cores to exchange for gold coins and hand them to the boss.

If they didn’t have enough, they could go out and kill zombies themselves.

But now that it had come to this, there was no turning back. He was determined—they would make up this gold.

He was a public servant, not a sucker.

“Teacher Lu, discuss this among yourselves. 3 gold coins, 44 silver coins, 50 copper coins—not a penny less!”

Lu Hua’an hadn’t expected the situation to escalate this far.

Over the past few days, he knew Zhu Lanlan’s thought process was unusual—but he didn’t know she could be this stubborn.

“Sorry, we’ll make up the shortfall. But could we ask Captain Song to give us some extra time?”

After all, they had just been rescued and had handed over all their jewelry and crystal cores to gather coins. Now, they were financially strapped.

“I can provide a friendly service for signing a debt agreement. Teacher Lu, you can organize everyone to sign—no thanks necessary.”

With a wave of her hand, Chu Jiangyue made a virtual screen appear in front of Song Chengjun and each teacher and student.

See? How thoughtful she was.

The sudden virtual screens startled the teachers and students. Their eyes toward Chu Jiangyue had changed—they had never seen anyone handle things so strangely.

She smiled so sweetly, yet no one dared to resist.

Seeing Chu Jiangyue act, Song Chengjun smiled. He signed his name in a flourish on the virtual signature line and looked up at Lu Hua’an:

“Teacher Lu, your help please.”

Lu Hua’an knew what Song Chengjun meant—he was to make sure all the teachers and students signed the agreement.

Lu Hua’an felt a string snap in his heart and sighed before signing his name.

“Student Zhu Lanlan, you sign too.”

Out of the 200 teachers and students, anyone could refuse—but Zhu Lanlan had to sign.

She didn’t want to, but with so many watching, she had no choice.

The few who had gone out with Lu Hua’an to kill zombies also signed.

The remaining students hesitated, some readily agreed, others resisted.

But this money belonged to everyone. Not signing was effectively giving up their ride. In the end, all signed the agreement.

Once everyone signed, the virtual screens disappeared.

“Finally done. Pick your seats—we’re leaving.”

Earlier, to facilitate communication, Chu Jiangyue had stepped out of the car. Now that everything was settled, she returned to the driver’s seat.

Earlier, many had been left behind due to overload. Now, with the problem solved, everyone rushed to the cars they chose.

Several people crowded into Chu Jiangyue’s silver business vehicle.

However, because she had just displayed her extraordinary abilities, the two girls in the front passenger seat didn’t dare to lean toward her despite jostling each other.

[Apocalypse Hotel Navigation at Your Service. Please confirm your destination.]

Chu Jiangyue directly selected Jianglin Hotel.

[Destination: Jianglin Hotel. Calculating route…]

The car was still overloaded. Although Chu Jiangyue trusted her driving skills, she felt letting the navigation handle it was safer.

So everyone in the car saw her fully freeing her hands while the car drove on its own.

After a while, Chu Jiangyue even started eating fruit slices she had prepared and stored in her system backpack.

“Boss Lady, are you sure this is safe?”

She was terrified!

“Autopilot. Much safer than me driving,” Chu Jiangyue replied casually. Freeing her hands was wonderful. After all, killing zombies today had consumed too much energy. If it weren’t for the location, she might have taken a nap.

Hearing her, the others, though nervous, dared not say anything.

Luckily, their school wasn’t too far from Jianglin Hotel. About half an hour later, they arrived.

[Destination reached. Navigation service complete. Please exit promptly. Wish you a pleasant stay!]

“We’re here. Get out.”

Chu Jiangyue opened her door first.

Others followed.

The seven-seater business vehicle had carried thirteen or fourteen people—a sight that would surprise the hotel guests.

“Since you have nothing and are in debt, I suggest you find some jewelry nearby or kill a few zombies before entering.”

Without money, living in Jianglin Hotel was impossible.

This was both the hotel’s flaw and its advantage.

“Thank you for the reminder, Boss Lady.”

The girls were very grateful for Chu Jiangyue’s warning.