For the final draw, after clicking "Start," Lin Rui immediately closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, and silently chanted in his heart.
"Please God, anything but 'Thank you for your patronage' again!"
The wheel spun for a full minute before Lin Rui finally shouted, "Stop!"
Sure enough, this time the pointer didn't land on Thank you for your patronage, but on a bottle of milk.
"What the heck is this?"
After claiming the reward, the system's description appeared.
[Moomoo Milk]
[Description: Fresh milk produced in large quantities. 100% pure and natural. After a Pokémon drinks it, a large amount of stamina is restored.]
"…Huh?"
Lin Rui froze for a few seconds, then quickly comforted himself.
"Whatever. At least it's better than getting nothing."
Overall, this lottery experience was disastrous.
He had spent a total of 600 negative emotion points and only obtained one Poké Ball and one bottle of Moomoo Milk.
Exiting the lottery interface and looking at his remaining 42 points, Lin Rui couldn't help but sigh.
Gambling really does ruin lives.
Originally, he only needed to save a little over 300 more points to buy a Magic Candy.
But now? In a moment of impulse, he had blown everything on the lottery.
"Magikarp, I'm sorry… You were so close to leveling up. It's all my fault for being greedy…"
[Ding! Negative emotions from Magikarp: +99…]
"Whoa, what the hell?"
Lin Rui was startled.
"You can generate negative emotions even while you're inside the Poké Ball?"
He had only said it casually, yet Magikarp still contributed negative emotion points through the Poké Ball.
In the next instant, Lin Rui's lips curled upward.
A dangerous idea had formed.
"Magikarp… it's not that I want to boil you and eat you, but I really have no other choice…"
[Ding! Negative emotions from Magikarp: +299…]
There was hope!
"Magikarp, don't worry. I'll remember you. In the future, I'll burn paper money for you every year…"
[Ding! Negative emotions from Magikarp: +199…]
In less than two minutes, relying purely on his shameless acting, Lin Rui harvested nearly 600 points of negative emotions from Magikarp alone.
He instantly earned back everything he had spent on the lottery.
Just as he was about to continue, his mother's voice came from outside the room.
"Son, come out and eat!"
"Oh, got it!"
"Alright, let's stop here for today."
[Ding! Negative emotions from Magikarp: +99…]
When Lin Rui entered the dining room and saw a table full of his favorite dishes, he immediately reached out with his hand.
Smack!
"You little brat, did you wash your hands?"
[Ding! Negative emotions from Zhang Chunmei: +10…]
Lin Rui laughed awkwardly and hurried off to wash his hands.
Although his parents didn't say it outright, it was obvious that this meal had been specially prepared to celebrate him becoming a Pokémon trainer.
He used to worry about whether he could become an outstanding trainer and give his parents a better life.
But now that he had the system, what was there to worry about?
As he thought about the system, an idea suddenly popped into Lin Rui's head.
"Mom, today's rice is kind of hard."
"It does seem a bit hard," Lin Zhiguo replied reflexively.
[Ding! Negative emotions from Zhang Chunmei: +10…]
"This fish isn't very good either, it's too fishy!"
"And this meat is too salty!"
"And the radish is overcooked. It's not crunchy at all!"
+10, +10, +10, +10…
Watching the negative emotion points steadily increase before his eyes, Lin Rui felt thrilled.
"You little brat! If that's the case, then don't eat!"
As she spoke, Zhang Chunmei picked up the dishes from the table and angrily walked into the kitchen.
"You punk, are you deliberately trying to piss your mom off?"
Lin Zhiguo flicked Lin Rui on the forehead, then quickly followed her into the kitchen to comfort her.
Lin Rui rubbed his forehead.
Although he didn't get to eat his fill, this round wasn't a loss at all.
At this moment, his system balance was still steadily increasing.
It was about to break the thousand-point mark.
Inside the kitchen,
"Is it easy for me?" Zhang Chunmei cried angrily. "Work is already exhausting enough, and when I come home I still have to serve you two. Instead of thanking me, you complain about this and that!"
"Yes, yes, it's all my fault," Lin Zhiguo coaxed her. "I've already taught that brat a lesson. Don't be angry anymore."
Though in his heart, he was cursing Lin Rui nonstop.
At some point, Lin Rui also entered the kitchen and wrapped his arms around them both.
"Mom, it's all my fault. I'm sorry. The food you make is the best!"
"Hmph. Now you know you were wrong? Too late!" Zhang Chunmei snorted.
Lin Rui smiled and nuzzled into her arms, acting pitiful. "Mom, don't be mad anymore. Forgive me, okay?"
Pfft!
Seeing this, Zhang Chunmei immediately burst into laughter through her tears.
Seeing his wife finally smile, Lin Zhiguo let out a sigh of relief and scolded Lin Rui with a smile.
"You little brat. If you dare make your mom angry again, see if I don't beat you!"
"I know, I know! I won't dare again!" Lin Rui begged for mercy.
Looking at the warm and harmonious scene before him, Lin Rui smiled as well.
He really had no choice today, the system needed negative emotions, after all.
But after this incident, he made up his mind.
He couldn't casually mess with his family like this again.
The price was simply too high.
Being denied food was completely unacceptable.
After finally coaxing his mother, Lin Rui wanted to go back and keep eating.
Unfortunately, the food had already been dumped into the trash by Zhang Chunmei.
Looks like he'd be going to bed hungry tonight.
Just then, Lin Rui's best friend Sun Zhi called.
"Rui, have you eaten yet? Come out for a bit. I'll show you the Pokémon I just caught."
Sun Zhi was three months older than Lin Rui and had received his starter Pokémon three months earlier.
This guy had pretty good luck, because he arrived early, he chose Poliwag as his starter.
And now, in just three months, he had already caught a new Pokémon.
"Alright. Wait for me at the usual spot. I'll head over now."
After hanging up, Lin Rui informed his parents and headed toward the food street near the school.
Both he and Sun Zhi were seniors at Jianghai No. 1 High School. In half a year, they would be taking the college entrance exam.
The college entrance exam in this world was very different from the one in Lin Rui's original world.
In addition to Chinese, math, and English, students also had to take exams on Pokémon theory and Pokémon battles.
And Pokémon battle results accounted for a very large portion of the final score.
This was one of the main reasons Lin Rui had chosen Magikarp.
If he had chosen Caterpie, even if it evolved into Butterfree, he didn't think he would necessarily achieve good results.
That was why he chose Magikarp.
To gamble once.
To gamble that Magikarp could evolve into Gyarados before the college entrance exam.
"I wonder what kind of Pokémon Sun Zhi caught this time…"
As he walked, Lin Rui couldn't help feeling curious.