Chapter 4
"Boss, Second Brother... I think I ran into a ghost today."
Chen Jiahao shivered as he recounted the story. Zhang Jiaqiang's expression was strange as he said, "What era are we living in? You have to believe in science. I say, kid, you must have been hallucinating from drugs or alcohol."
"Yeah, and even if there were ghosts, they wouldn't come after guys like us. We're just poor ghosts."
Zhang Wei was as slick-tongued as ever.
"Really, I'm not lying to you!"
Chen Jiahao immediately pulled out his phone and opened the food delivery app, but when he tapped in, he was dumbfounded.
It still showed he was just one order away from completing the task reward, but the final order wasn't the one he had just picked up.
Instead, it was a previous order for Malatang. The errand delivery order seemed to have never existed at all.
Chen Jiahao rubbed his eyes and said with a tremble, "No, no, how could it be gone?"
Zhang Jiaqiang gave him a look and said, "Third Brother, you're just too stressed out. You probably dozed off and had a dream while waiting for an order."
"Yeah, I'll go get some booze. The three of us Brothers will have a drink, and you can relax a bit."
With that, Zhang Wei walked out.
The dorm supervisor was annoyed at students disturbing her sleep, but she would be happy if you bought something from her little shop.
Zhang Jiaqiang wiped the floor. Drinking in the dorm meant sitting on the floor, then picking a movie to watch together on the computer.
The moment he turned around, the stunned Chen Jiahao's vision swam, and he saw a new message notification in the client column.
He opened it, and his scalp tingled. The avatar was unmistakably the kind looking old man, and even more bizarrely, the name saved in his contacts was also Chen Jiahao.
There were only two messages, leaving him baffled:
"First, I am not what you call a ghost. Of course, I am also not what you call a human, nor am I any carbon-based life form in the traditional sense."
"Second, don't be afraid. Firmly believe that you are the chosen one. This is a gift from yourself."
These words... Chen Jiahao's anxiety eased, but he just didn't know how to make sense of them.
If it wasn't a ghost, how could he explain the strange phenomena? And the phrase "a gift from yourself" made no logical sense at all.
After the two messages were marked as read, they suddenly vanished into thin air.
This time, Chen Jiahao didn't make a fuss. He felt a strange numbness because of these messages.
Zhang Wei returned soon, carrying two bottles of Red Star Erguotou, a bag of peanuts, and some appetizers like a few packs of braised chicken feet.
Zhang Jiaqiang pulled the still-dazed Chen Jiahao over and said, "Third Brother, stop dwelling on it. A good sleep will fix everything."
Chen Jiahao's mind was a muddle right then. He sat down and started drinking with them.
Watching a boring variety show together, eating and drinking, they were full and tipsy, and started to feel drowsy within an hour.
The three of them each went back to their beds. Chen Jiahao had just taken off his clothes and lain down when something hard poked him in the waist.
A little drunk, Chen Jiahao casually picked it up. The alcohol vanished in an instant. In his hand was the phone box that had been thrown into the trash can.
"Ding... Detection beginning!!!"
A cold, mechanical voice sounded in his mind, and Chen Jiahao felt his entire body freeze instantly.
He opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that boss, Zhang Jiaqiang, and Second Brother, Zhang Wei, were both sound asleep in their beds, so he couldn't call for help.
Under Chen Jiahao's terrified gaze, the box in his hand floated into mid-air.
The box opened to reveal a phone with no logo, made of a beautiful, solid feeling metal.
The phone was already on, its camera pointed at Chen Jiahao's face. Chen Jiahao watched in fear as his own face appeared clearly on the screen.
"Ding... Detection complete. Host, Chen Jiahao, confirmed."
Then, Chen Jiahao's hand rose uncontrollably and gently pressed against the fingerprint sensor.
"Ding... Collecting genetic sample."
Chen Jiahao felt a sharp pain in his hand, as if pricked by a needle, and a few drops of blood emerged, which were quickly absorbed by the phone.
"Ding... Detection complete. Host, Chen Jiahao, Earthling, a carbon-based life form with a 2.1 billion base pair structure."
At that moment, Chen Jiahao watched helplessly as his own Xiaomi 6, its screen shattered beyond recognition, vibrated and floated up.
It instantly shattered into countless fragments that flew towards and were absorbed by the strange phone floating in mid-air.
"Ding... Beginning big data scan of host's world dimension information."
"Ding... Information scan complete. Now beginning to match a suitable system for the host."
"Ding... Match successful. Host has obtained the 'Sugar Daddy System'."
A series of sounds kept ringing out. Chen Jiahao felt his head buzzing, completely unable to make out what the voice was saying.
"Ding... Host's body has reached its limit. Forced sleep mode initiated."
Chen Jiahao's vision went black as he lost consciousness, collapsing and unable to do anything.
When he opened his eyes again, he felt incredibly thirsty. He raised his hand, feeling extremely weak.
"Third Brother, you're awake!!!"
Zhang Wei, who was playing on his phone by the hospital bed, immediately put it down in delight and ran to call a nurse as soon as he saw Chen Jiahao move.
The nurse and doctor rushed over together, taking Chen Jiahao's blood pressure and temperature as if facing a great enemy.
After they finished their flurry of activity, Chen Jiahao, still on an IV drip, was helped to sit up. After drinking a little water, he felt much better.
"Second Brother, what happened to me?"
Chen Jiahao looked around and realized he was in a hospital ward.