Liu Xu scratched her head, momentarily unsure how to react.

Lu Jingdu, you’re a top-tier actor, yet you said all that with such frankness— wasn’t that a little too calm?

It was as if he was a self-cultivated pretty boy who had grown used to freeloading— accustomed to living off others, so to speak.

Was this really the kind of movie king he was?

Liu Xu had never expected that a collaboration with 《Hi, My Friend》 would allow her to discover such an unknown side of him.

────ρя


Meanwhile, quite a few of the other guests were green with envy toward Liu Xu.

Four dishes and a soup.

In the depths of the rainforest, time seemed to crawl by. Though they had only been there for two days, it felt like an eternity. During those two days, they had eaten nothing but roasted insects for every meal— so much that just the sight of a bug now triggered something close to PTSD.

If only they had gone to Ning Xiaoyu earlier……

Would they also have been able to enjoy a proper dinner by now?

But alas, there was no ‘if’ in this world. All that was left was bitter regret.

None of them could have predicted that a single meal would have such a powerful pull. More than a few guests found themselves secretly resenting Ning Yuwei. She had been the one who insisted they shouldn’t mooch food off the ‘primitive people’!

────ρя


The next morning, after waking up and washing up, Ning Xiaoyu nibbled on a piece of compressed biscuit. It was the last one she had.

Noticing Liu Xu’s longing and envious gaze, she offered with a smile, “Sister Liu, would you like some?”

Liu Xu pressed her lips together. “Little Sister, are you sure you’ll have enough to eat?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Ning Xiaoyu had eaten two full bowls of white rice the night before. Admittedly, the others had eaten even more than she had. But perhaps because of that, she wasn’t very hungry now. She generously split the compressed biscuit in half and handed a piece to Liu Xu.

Liu Xu was an honest and warm-hearted person. Ning Xiaoyu rather liked the other party’s cheerful, big-sisterly energy.

The night before, Liu Xu had wanted to repay Ning Xiaoyu somehow, but in a rainforest with scarce resources, she really didn’t have much to give. She’d thought about it all night and still couldn’t come up with a suitable gift.

But at this moment, she suddenly found herself understanding Lu Jingdu’s mentality.

This…… Being a freeloader and enjoying a warm meal was really quite comfortable.

Especially in such a harsh environment, the comfort it brought felt amplified.

She was starting to get addicted to this feeling.

As she chewed on her half of the compressed biscuit, Liu Xu sighed emotionally. “Little Sister, you’re heading back tonight, aren’t you?”

Ning Xiaoyu nodded. “Yeah.”

Liu Xu let out a long sigh. “Once you leave, I’m really worried I won’t be able to adjust.”

After freeloading three whole meals, going back to self-reliance all of a sudden was…… well, quite a painful thought.

Shen Yueyue couldn’t help but stifle a laugh behind her hand.

After breakfast, Ning Xiaoyu thought about how they had mooched so many meals off the natives. Since she would be leaving that evening, it felt only right to at least say goodbye.

She gathered the remaining candies she had, as well as those from Lu Jingdu and Shen Yueyue, and gave them all to the natives.

Her gesture was warmly received.

The leader invited them to stay and have porridge for lunch.

Ning Xiaoyu didn’t refuse. She figured it would just be the usual— some porridge and green fruits. But when lunch rolled around, to her surprise, in addition to the porridge and fruits, the tribe brought out a large vat of what appeared to be wine.

It looked like wine…… maybe?

Ning Xiaoyu wasn’t sure.

The natives kept speaking in a stream of garbled syllables, gesturing enthusiastically at the container and giving repeated thumbs-up as they said, “Mu, mu.”

【What does that mean?】

【Let me guess— ‘Mu’ probably means ‘good’ or ‘delicious’?】

【Judging from how animated the leader is, he’s clearly promoting their alcohol.】

Their enthusiasm left Ning Xiaoyu with no room to decline, so she just echoed, “Mu, mu.”

Seeing that she agreed, the leader beamed with joy and poured a cup for each of them. The drink had a slight green tint— possibly brewed from those green fruits.

Ning Xiaoyu was genuinely curious about the taste of alcohol made by the natives.

Just as she was about to lift her cup and take a sip, the voice of the love system suddenly buzzed excitedly in her mind.

〖Girl, the stuff in your hand is a super tonic wine! Don’t be fooled by its greenish color or suspicious look. This thing’s potency rivals deer blood and deer whip. No— actually, it’s even stronger than that.

This is a treasure of the tribe. They’re treating you like an honored guest, which is why they’re bringing out their most precious stash.

For girls, drinking it won’t cause much issue.

As for guys, though……

Hehehe. Just one sip and they’re gone. Completely gone. Off the charts gone. Insanely gone.

Stand at ease! Attention!

At this moment, you can:

A. Urge the movie king to drink more and have a good time. Hehehe.

B. Play some drinking games with the movie king, like cross-cupped wine. Hehehe.

C. Feed the wine to the movie king. Hehehe.〗

Ning Xiaoyu: “???”

Three ‘hehehe’s’ in a row? System, your greasy energy is way off the charts.

Even though Ning Xiaoyu found the love system’s tone extremely sleazy, she had to admit that if not for the system issuing a love mission at this very moment, she wouldn’t have realized the true nature of this mysterious wine.

Looking at it another way, the system had actually given her a heads-up for once. That counted as being somewhat useful this time around.

If Lu Jingdu had unknowingly drunk this wine……

Well, something very awkward might’ve happened.

Even if said awkwardness wouldn’t fall directly on her, she did know about it now. Playing dumb at this point would just be too shady.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ning Xiaoyu saw Lu Jingdu picking up his cup, just about to take a sip.

She immediately selected option a and calmly said, “Drink up. This wine is good. This wine is amazing.”

The love system chimed in gleefully, 〖Exactly! Exactly! This wine is a precious treasure!〗

Lu Jingdu: “???”

He lowered his cup and said, “Oh?” with a hint of amusement. “What’s so good about it?”

Shen Yueyue and Liu Xu also turned to her with expressions of curiosity.

【Could it be that our Xiao Yu even knows how this wine was brewed……?】

【So, the gap between people was really just too vast.】

【Brothers and sisters, this time, I kept my eyes locked on the camera, not missing even the slightest clue around me, but I still didn’t manage to gather any useful information. Compared to Xiao Yu, I’m just a total loser.】

【Total loser +1】

【I heard the leader ramble on for a long while, but I didn’t understand a single thing.】

【In just that short amount of time, Xiao Yu even figured out what was good about the wine? Brilliant, simply brilliant!】

With a deadpan expression on her face, Ning Xiaoyu gave a big thumbs-up and sincerely explained the wine’s charm to Lu Jingdu, “It’s good because it makes a ninety-year-old feel youthful again and an eighty-year-old feel like a newlywed.”

【???】

【!!!】

【Fk, I…… I think I just understood something.】

【Me too…… Damn, I can’t stop laughing!】

【So should I say that Xiao Yu really did know what the wine was good for, or should I say this wine’s effect was off the charts? Damn it, tribespeople, how do you view our movie king?】

【Tribespeople, is this how you see our movie king?】

【Our movie king…… shouldn’t need this kind of thing, right?】

【No way, seriously no way……】

【The way the leader was hyping it up just now, I actually thought this was some incredible stuff. But in the end…… cough cough, it’s just aphrodisiac wine?】

【Movie King: Are you being respectful?】

【Movie King: I feel attacked.jpg】

Lu Jingdu’s expression stiffened.

Seeing that the mission wasn’t completed yet, Ning Xiaoyu had no choice but to keep promoting it with forced enthusiasm, “So this wine is really amazing! It brings you right back to your peak!”

〖Ding— Mission completed.〗

Ning Xiaoyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

These love missions were getting sneakier by the day.

At that moment, the movie king finally put down the cup, a faint smile playing on his lips. “In that case, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline the leader’s kind offer.”

【Got it. What the movie king really meant is that he’s already at his peak.】

【Already at his peak.】

【……】

【ALREADY AT HIS PEAK!】

A flood of comments reading ‘already at his peak’ filled the livestream chat, quickly hitting 999^[1]stands for completeness and eternity.

Though the two involved didn’t seem embarrassed, Shen Yueyue and Liu Xu— who had overheard the entire conversation— were looking visibly awkward.

Now that they knew what the wine actually did, they weren’t sure whether to drink it or not.

The leader was on the side watching them.

But if they drink it……

Well, they didn’t need this kind of thing right now.

Noticing their dilemma, Ning Xiaoyu decisively downed the wine in one gulp.

After all, the love system had said it was harmless for women.

The system was, at least, trustworthy on that front.

The leader, seeing Ning Xiaoyu drink so straightforwardly, gave her a big thumbs-up. “Mu, mu.”

Ning Xiaoyu responded, “Mu, mu.”

Seeing that she liked the wine, the leader left, completely satisfied.

While the leader was content, the love system was practically oozing resentment.

〖Love System: Girl, what happened? The mission was to get the movie king to drink more, but he didn’t even take a sip?〗

Just now, it had even thought up names for their future children— only for this to happen? Seriously?

Ning Xiaoyu, looking deadpan as ever, replied, “I followed the mission and pushed the wine, right?”

〖Love System: ……Right.〗

“I kept telling the movie king how great and magical the wine is, and you even agreed with me and said, ‘Exactly’, didn’t you?”

The love system had no way to refute that.

Ning Xiaoyu shrugged. “If he still didn’t drink it, what else can I do?”

Then she added with a skeptical expression, “Or are you saying…… you think he needs this stuff?”

The love system immediately denied it, 〖Of course not!〗 It couldn’t let its host misunderstand the movie king like that!

It was just……

It thought this wine would’ve been a great catalyst!

Compared to this, the drugged drink from before that the socialite tried to slip in was child’s play!

One sip of this wine could turn a saint into a beast.

Ning Xiaoyu gave a casual shrug. “Well, there you go.”

Once again, the love system was thrown off course by Ning Xiaoyu.

Come to think of it…… maybe it really didn’t matter if the movie king drank it or not?

Though Liu Xu didn’t drink the wine herself, she packed it up to take home.

Seeing that, Shen Yueyue packed some too.

Shen Yueyue explained, “Even if I don’t drink it, it’ll make a nice souvenir.”

Ning Xiaoyu also wanted to pack some as a keepsake, but there wasn’t much left. The natives treated this wine like treasure and hadn’t given them much to begin with. Plus, Liu Xu said she was over forty and needed it more, so Ning Xiaoyu ended up giving up on it.

After lunch, Ning Xiaoyu casually pulled out her phone for a quick glance. And it was precisely because of that glance that she found out that her father, who had been in a coma for seven years, had woken up!