The fox-girl next door was busy repaying a debt of gratitude by washing clothes and cooking, a truly elegant affair. But… what is this? She's repaying her debt using my family's rice and flour?
In a shabby straw hut, a gaunt young man wearing coarse linen clothes pressed against the wall, peering through a nearly invisible crack.
Next door, a young lady dressed in white, graceful as a goddess reborn, held an empty bowl and murmured softly. In the next moment, the bowl magically filled with brown rice.
She smiled at the sight, quickly poured the rice into a nearby basin, and continued her incantation.
On the other side of the wall, Zhang Chen scrambled to his own rice jar, his eyes fixed on the nearly empty container. Grain by grain, the last remaining rice disappeared before his hungry gaze. Not a single grain left—it was cleaner than a dog's tongue!
Frustrated, he returned to the wall crack just in time to see the girl's bowl fill with another bowl of rice.
"Damn it! You really want to starve me to death without leaving me a way out!" Zhang Chen gritted his teeth, furious, but too afraid to shout lest the girl hear him.
Before he could even curse further, a sudden tug at his side made him freeze, and the hanging cured meat disappeared before he could react.
Soon, the delicious aroma of cooked rice and meat drifted over from next door. The girl had prepared a fragrant claypot rice with cured meat, then transformed into a snow-white fox, obediently hopping into a nearby cage.
Zhang Chen pressed his eyes to the wall, staring at the fox with burning rage. He wasn't even shocked by her transformation—he had witnessed this scene for three whole months.
Three months! Do you have any idea how he had survived these three months?
"Damn Wang Wu! If he had just made a coat from that fox back then, none of this would have happened," Zhang Chen muttered.
It all began five years ago. On a rainy night, the neighboring hunter Wang Wu captured a white fox intending to make a fur collar. The impoverished scholar next door—Zhang Chen's neighbor—sold his meager two-acre field to buy that fox for reasons Zhang Chen didn't understand.
Since then, Zhang Chen's miserable life had begun. He became a chosen laborer, suffering hunger while feeding both the scholar and his fox. Three months ago, nearly starving to death, he awoke with memories of his past life on Earth.
With his modern consciousness guiding him, Zhang Chen continued hunting, initially unaware of the strange anomalies in his home. But after a few months, he noticed rice disappearing too fast and cured meat vanishing mysteriously.
At first, he suspected thieves. After several stakeouts with no sign of intruders, he realized the culprit was likely the neighboring scholar. He secretly drilled a tiny hole in the wall to investigate—and thus the current scene unfolded.
Sniffing the delicious aroma, Zhang Chen quickly blocked the crack with sand, afraid the fox would detect his spying.
"Damn fox spirit! If she doesn't kill me, she'll starve me to death. At this rate, I'll just be her daily servant," he muttered.
Rubbing his growling stomach, he reflected bitterly: earning money in this age is so difficult. He'd been scrimping and saving, only to feed the poor scholar next door. Counting the years under oppression, it had been five long years.
How could he possibly defeat a fox spirit? With her mastery of magic, she could easily kill him. He had no power over monsters.
Just as he was about to give up, he noticed something at the spot where the cured meat had vanished—a glowing, fire-red pearl, about the size of a pigeon egg, radiating a soft crimson light.
Most remarkably, a "+40" floated above it, like an experience drop from a game's boss.
Suddenly, his vision blurred, and a panel appeared before his eyes:
Name: Zhang ChenSkills: NonePoints: 0Strange drop detected. Collect?
"Collect!" Zhang Chen didn't hesitate.
The red pearl vanished, and the panel blinked:
Name: Zhang ChenSkills: NonePoints: 40
"My cheat code? This is my cheat code!" Zhang Chen's eyes sparkled with joy. Finally awakened, he could now hope to face even a fox spirit without fear.
The system was simple: any anomaly leaving behind points or skills could be collected. Points could be invested into skills, and skills could be upgraded infinitely.
But staring at the empty "None" skill slot, Zhang Chen growled, "Points without skills? Might as well throw this cheat code away."
Still, he realized his only path to gaining skills likely involved the fox spirit—she was his only accessible anomaly.
With his stomach rumbling, he comforted himself: "Five years have passed… a few more days won't matter. I'll awaken skills first, then settle the score with this fox. At least she gives me experience points, so it's not a total loss."
He resolved not to antagonize the fox for now. Before mastering any skills, it was better to be useful to her—otherwise, he'd be her next meal.
After finishing his meager meal, dusk fell. At the village entrance, he froze. Far ahead, a man with smooth, fair skin, elegant like a hero from a drama, carried a snow-white fox.
Zhang Chen's eyes reddened. That man—his rival—was the poor scholar next door, Zhang Chen. Despite being a weak, unworldly bookworm, he lived better than Zhang Chen, all thanks to the fox.
"Could that fox be fattening him up as food?" Zhang Chen muttered darkly.
"Hey, Zhang Chen! You're still alive? Not starved to death yet?" His rival teased, striding past with the fox in his arms.
The fox's intelligent eyes glimmered mockingly at him. Zhang Chen spat on the ground, frustrated: "Just wait! One day I'll make a fox-fur coat out of you!"
As he muttered, another red glow fell from the fox, unnoticed by both Zhang Chen and his rival.
"That's… another drop?" Zhang Chen's eyes widened with excitement.