Chapter 9: Second Enhancement

It was afternoon.

When Han Duoduo came back from school, Chu Xuan fed her again and triggered a round of BUFFs.

“What is this?”

Staring at the century egg with an orange shell and yellow center, even a little foodie like her felt a bit baffled.

“Century egg!”

He had signed in a case of them before, and they tasted pretty good.

Then Chu Xuan explained how it was made.

After listening, Han Duoduo took a curious bite, and her eyes lit up at once.

“It’s so delicious!”

“…”

Some people cannot stomach century eggs, just as some cannot get used to fish mint.

But the girl in front of him was a full-on little foodie.

To her, anything edible was tasty.

Han Duoduo took tiny bites and chewed slowly, looking very cute like a hamster.

It was a brand-new stimulation for her taste buds.

He saw that she had finished eating.

Chu Xuan gave her two more, which were for Liu Qi and Han Zi’ang.

He wanted to test exactly what the probability was for feeding the three of them.

In the previous week.

He had only given extra snacks to Han Duoduo, and the trigger rate for bonus rewards seemed to be 50%, but there was still a lack of more data.

Yesterday he gave apples to all three, and a trigger occurred.

But a single data point was obviously not meaningful.

He needed to try several more times, at least 10 times, before the data would be valid.

(If it increased to 100%, that would be awesome!)

Looking at the human-shaped BUFF in front of him, Chu Xuan could not help smiling, (his thoughts drifting to the good days of winning the jackpot every day.)

“???”

Seeing Chu Xuan’s gaze, Han Duoduo could not help feeling shy.

(Why is Brother Xuan looking at her like that? Could it be…)

…

That night, just past midnight, it turned to New Year’s Eve.

“Sign in!”

『Ding! Sign-in successful!』

『Congratulations, you obtained 5 jin of fresh beef!』

『Bonus reward: Level 1 Genetic Enhancement Solution!』

Beef?

This was the good stuff; Xue Ming could get eggs, but he could not get beef, because beef did not come in batch after batch like eggs.

“Can the Enhancement Solution be used repeatedly?” Chu Xuan asked the System.

『Yes.』

“How many vials can I use at most?”

『Six vials.』

Suddenly something occurred to Chu Xuan; he asked another question and got the answer he expected.

Since there was a Level 1 Enhancement Solution, there was naturally a Level 2 one.

And to use the Level 2 Enhancement Solution, one had to reach the limit of a Level 1 lifeform.

In other words, it only worked after using six vials of the Enhancement Solution.

No two ways about it.

Inject!

In the next second, his body still froze up, but he quickly regained mobility.

Although his movements were slow, it was not like the petrification last time.

It was about 10 minutes later.

The second enhancement was complete.

He clenched his fist.

He was very satisfied.

His Strength increased by quite a bit again; although the growth was not as large as the first enhancement, it was still a significant increase.

…

It was half an hour later.

The testing was complete.

His memory and thinking ability also improved.

His study efficiency increased by 20%.

No two ways about it; riding the post-enhancement momentum, he continued grinding through the books in front of him and seized every moment to improve.

…

Another day arrived, the first day of the lunar new year.

They had just eaten New Year’s Eve dinner at Han Zi’ang’s home; although it could not be called bountiful, it was lively and had that long-missed New Year atmosphere.

To his surprise, there was even a show similar to the Spring Festival Gala to watch.

It was one of the few surviving cultural and entertainment activities.

Even Chu Xuan watched it with great interest.

If it leaned into the main theme, so be it; it was better than nothing and brought a touch of festivity to the oppressive underground city atmosphere.

Chu Xuan washed up and lay down on the bed.

『Ding! Sign-in successful!』

『Congratulations, you obtained a case of mixed hot pot base!』

『Bonus reward: Space +1!』

Now the Space became 3 cubic meters.

As the sign-in items increased, and with some personal belongings stored too, the Space was getting a bit tight.

If he did not take them out, they would remain in the System.

Once taken out, they could only be placed in the Space.

The hot pot base did give Chu Xuan a pleasant surprise; today was the first day of the lunar new year, and he had said last night that he would return the favor and treat the family next door today.

Now they could have a proper meal.

He himself had not eaten hot pot in a long time.

…

“Brother Xuan, hurry, let’s go to the Neighborhood Committee to collect dumplings.”

As soon as school ended, Han Duoduo bustled over to Chu Xuan’s place; even on the first day of the lunar new year, school still did not give a holiday.

“Hold on a moment!”

Chu Xuan tidied up, and the two of them headed out together.

Liu Qi and Han Zi’ang were still in class and came back pretty late, so the errands of picking up benefits were all run by Han Duoduo.

…

Before long, the two of them arrived at the Neighborhood Committee.

There was already a long line here.

Dumplings were something one rarely got to eat even once a year.

They were free too, so everyone beamed with smiles.

“What a long line!”

(It would take an hour to wait in line, right?) Chu Xuan thought.

But there was no helping it, so they would line up slowly.

They were in the middle of lining up.

“Little brother, selling your dumplings?” A shifty-eyed man came over and spoke to the two of them.

Although they were free, it was impossible for them to let you eat your fill.

Therefore, scalpers like this naturally sprang up.

There were always some people short of credit points, and there were always some with plenty of credit points.

A single resale yielded a sizable markup.

Chu Xuan said, “Not selling!”

“The price is negotiable.” The other party refused to give up.

“I’m not short on money.” Chu Xuan said mildly.

“Then… do you want dumplings?”

The other side pivoted the pitch, almost throwing Chu Xuan for a loop, and it gave him a strange sense of déjà vu.

“How much?”

“Six hundred credit points per portion.”

“…”

Chu Xuan vaguely remembered that the price paid to collect dumplings was usually only two hundred credit points per portion.

Reselling meant double the profit, which was really quite lucrative.

The underground city did not interfere with this.

This fell under private transactions on the principle of mutual consent.

“Forget it, not buying!” Chu Xuan shook his head.

Seeing this, the other man’s eyes rolled as he said with a grin:

“Brother, my price is very fair.”

“Look at the little girl next to you; one portion definitely won’t fill her up, and this only happens once a year!”

“No matter what, even for such a cute little girl, as a man, you should…”

To be honest, if it were someone else, once the stage was set like this, they would not be able to back down.

Buy it, and it’s pricey!

If you did not buy, you could not save face.

However, that was not the case.

Chu Xuan remained unmoved, and Han Duoduo beside him did not feel that Chu Xuan was stingy at all.

In her view, the things Chu Xuan fed her every day before were extremely precious.

Dumplings could still be handed out by the Neighborhood Committee once a year.

Some of the things Chu Xuan gave were truly scarce.

Any one of them was worth 10 portions of dumplings, and that was a conservative estimate.

Yet Brother Xuan was willing to let her eat them.

She was so moved!

“…”

Seeing their expressions, the other man knew his tactic had failed.

He could only continue to look for the next target, and he could not waste time.

This happened only once a year; if done well, he could earn in one go the credit points that would normally take months.

…

An hour later, the two of them received the dumplings.

Each portion had six dumplings, with three meat and three vegetable.

Han Duoduo collected four portions.

Chu Xuan received two portions.

Because he and Liu Qi were both preferential-status persons, they could get one extra portion.

As for Han Duoduo and Han Zi’ang, they did not have this privilege.

Many people had one person collect for the whole family.

So the two of them did not stand out.

They stuffed them into the schoolbag.

Han Duoduo hugged it gleefully, as if afraid someone would snatch it away.