"Well done, take a short break." Shi Qianjin stood nearby and clapped for Ruan Shiyu, who was sweating profusely on the stationary bike, signaling her to pause.
Ruan Shiyu pressed the brake on the bike to stop, her entire back soaked with sweat by the time she stepped down.
She walked to the side, did a few light stretches, picked up her water bottle from the floor, and took a few small sips.
Shi Qianjin also walked over and sat down beside her. "In a good mood today?"
Ruan Shiyu had just taken a couple of sips and hadn't yet spoken when her phone rang.
Looking at the numberless incoming call on her screen, Ruan Shiyu felt a chill run across her scalp. She gave Shi Qianjin a brief gesture and turned to walk outside.
"What is it now? Why do you have so many things to deal with today?" Ruan Shiyu said impatiently. Since morning, she had already received no less than five calls from the System.
"Congratulations to the host for completing the first stage of the exercise mission. Next, issuing the second-stage mandatory mission..." The System completely ignored Ruan Shiyu's complaint, its electronic voice entirely devoid of fluctuation.
Instead, Ruan Shiyu panicked upon hearing this. "How is there a second stage? You didn't mention this to me at the beginning."
The System remained unfazed. "Starting today, all three meals must strictly follow the System's meal plan. Tentative duration: two weeks."
"Wait," Ruan Shiyu instantly exploded. "You said before that you wouldn't control my diet as long as I didn't drop below the minimum limit. Why are you suddenly making it mandatory to follow a meal plan now?"
Upon hearing this, the System's electronic voice finally fluctuated. "Does the host even have the nerve to say that? Has the host checked her weight on the body composition analyzer lately?"
"..." Ruan Shiyu had always known how to read the room. Although she didn't know what had happened, she still felt a bit guilty. "W-what's wrong? Just yesterday the trainer even said I look much healthier than before."
"Your weight is a full ten pounds heavier than it was last month!"
"That's impossible!" Ruan Shiyu's first reaction upon hearing this was denial, followed by an attempt to argue her case. "You must have gotten it wrong. Besides, aren't I in a muscle-building phase right now? Even if I did gain weight, it's definitely muscle."
"Heh." Having spent so much time with Ruan Shiyu, the System had even learned how to sneer. "Whether it's muscle or not, you know best. Anyway, that's the mandatory mission, do as you see fit."
"Hey, wait," Ruan Shiyu secretly patted her lower belly, softening her tone as she tried desperately to win back System Daddy's love. "System, Tong-tong~"
"..." The System remained silent.
Ruan Shiyu gritted her teeth and tried to bargain further. "You know how much I hate eating those salads and stuff. Can we... make the duration of this mandatory mission a tiny bit shorter? For example, how about a week?"
"A week?" The muffled voice of the System came through. Ruan Shiyu thought she could detect a hint of hidden hesitation in it, and she nodded excitedly, already plotting how to reward herself with extra meals after this week was over.
"Ruan Shiyu." The System rarely called her by her full name. "Your mandatory mission duration has been extended by another week.""Okay, wait!" Ruan Shiyu was just about to happily agree when she suddenly registered what the System had actually said. She panicked instantly. "I was wrong! Can I have the original two weeks back? Wait, no—you haven't even given me the reward from before! I don't want the reward anymore, just give me the two weeks, okay?"
The only response was the dial tone of a disconnected call.
Ruan Shiyu pulled the phone away from her ear in frustration, only to receive a text message.
Curious, she opened it, but her face turned pale as soon as she finished reading.
"Forgot to give the host the reward earlier. Congratulations to the host for successfully completing the mission. Mission reward: one System-specialized dinner recipe. First-stage completion reward: two weeks of System-specialized three-meal recipes. Keep up the good work, Host~"
Looking at that eerie tilde at the end of the text, Ruan Shiyu could practically see the insufferable face of the System hiding inside her device.
Yet, there was nothing she could do about the System. She couldn't hit it, she couldn't delete it, and at the end of the day, it was technically doing this for her own good.
Thinking of this, despite all her reluctance, she could only sigh at how hard life was. She turned around, headed back into the gym, and began to practice, gritting her teeth.
As for the connection between this person and the System, that is a story that goes back several months.
It was ten o'clock in the morning, and the day was already bright outside.
Two heavy curtains blocked out all light, leaving the cramped room in total darkness.
The entire space was a mess, with clothes piled everywhere—it was clear the owner hadn't cleaned up in ages.
On the large bed, which took up half the room, a digital drawing tablet sat on the left. On the right, the owner was tightly bundled inside a quilt, with only a mop of dry, frizzy, yellowish hair poking out.
The owner of this place was Ruan Shiyu, a freelance illustrator who made a living drawing comics. She was an influential artist on Weibo with over a million followers.
Oh, and this influential artist had turned her current boyfriend into an ex-boyfriend just two days ago. In common parlance: she was heartbroken.
"Ding-dong~" A cheerful ringtone echoed through the room. The person who had completely buried herself in the quilt tried to burrow even deeper, attempting to escape the annoying sound.
After a long while, the noisy ringing finally stopped. The tightly wrapped quilt uncoiled slightly as Ruan Shiyu frowned, turned over, and intended to spend a little more time with the God of Dreams.
But the caller was persistent. Two seconds later, the phone began to ring again.
Ruan Shiyu grumbled in annoyance and abruptly pulled the quilt over her head, but she still couldn't block the sound from drilling into her ears.
She laid there for a moment. With eyes still squinted shut, she reached a pale hand out from the quilt, fumbling blindly across the nightstand.
"Hello, who is this?" Ruan Shiyu managed to find the phone, swiped to answer, and asked with zero patience.
A voice came through the phone—one that sounded annoyed at first, but upon closer inspection, carried a hint of schadenfreude: "Shiyu, do you have any idea who I just saw?"
Ruan Shiyu was still dazed and didn't even recognize who was on the other end. She drifted along with the conversation, hazy and confused: "Who?"
"Zhan An!" the voice on the other end spiked in volume. "Your boyfriend, Zhan An!"
Zhan An... Zhan An! Hearing that name, Ruan Shiyu's muddled brain finally cleared. Her voice dropped, becoming deathly cold: "Oh, and what about Zhan An?"The person on the other end seemed to have been waiting for her to ask that exact question. She spilled everything she had seen in a rapid-fire stream: "It was the weekend yesterday, right? I went out shopping with my boyfriend, and we planned to catch a movie. That film, *Survival*, just came out, so we bought tickets. You have no idea how good it actually was..."
The woman had only managed a few sentences before veering off into a tangent about recent movies. Ruan Shiyu hurriedly interjected to steer the conversation back.
"Oh, right, Zhan An! My memory is terrible. Anyway, my boyfriend and I were at the theater, and I saw Zhan An there with a young girl. At first, she looked so short that I thought it was his younger sister, but then you’ll never guess what I saw!"
Ruan Shiyu leaned back against her cushion, absentmindedly picking up her graphics tablet from her left. She stared at yesterday’s artwork while asking, "What did you see?"
The woman’s voice grew even more excited. "The girl was Chu Li! Those two were acting so intimate! You wouldn't believe it—right there in the crowded theater lobby, they just leaned in and kissed. And Chu Li was the one who initiated it!"
Chu Li was the person Ruan Shiyu hated most. For years, the two of them had never been able to stand each other.
At the mention of that name, Ruan Shiyu tightened her grip. With a sharp *snap*, the stylus in her hand broke. The jagged edge pierced her skin, and blood began to ooze out a moment later.
Ruan Shiyu seemed not to feel it. She tossed the broken stylus aside, wiped her hand on the pillow next to her, and remained silent.
Having received no reply for a long while, the person on the other end began to worry she had overstepped. Fearing that Ruan Shiyu might do something reckless, she hurriedly asked, "Shiyu? Shiyu, are you alright? Don't get upset—maybe I just saw it wrong."
Ruan Shiyu cast the tablet aside, closed her eyes, and replied, "Mm. I'm fine."
Hearing her voice, the woman on the other end let out a sigh of relief and took the opportunity to analyze the situation: "I’m glad you’re okay, you scared me to death. Listen, even if Zhan An really did do something wrong, don't panic. Maybe Chu Li was the one seducing him? She doesn't hold a candle to you. When he gets back, just ask him about it. If he admits he was wrong, let it go. Don't bring it up again..."
As the woman rambled on, Ruan Shiyu remained silent for a while before finally identifying the voice. She cut her off: "Ma Ru."
"Huh?" Ma Ru was caught off guard, momentarily stunned by the interruption.
"Don't ever mention Zhan An to me again." Ruan Shiyu’s tone was gentle, yet it carried a chill that made Ma Ru shiver. She couldn't help but pull a blanket from her drawer and wrap it around her shoulders.
"But... isn't he your boyfriend?" Ma Ru asked, confused.
Ruan Shiyu let out a soft, mocking laugh. "My boyfriend died the day before yesterday."
With that, Ruan Shiyu hung up the phone, lay down on her bed, and pulled the covers over her head once more.
Left holding a phone that was now dead, Ma Ru muttered into the receiver for a long time. Seeing that the call had truly ended, she lowered the phone, deflated. She still didn't understand—Zhan An was clearly alive and well, so how could he be dead?
A colleague walking by noticed her hanging up and, drawn by the scent of gossip, leaned in. "What was that call about?"
Ma Ru didn't answer directly. Instead, she posed a question: "If someone says their boyfriend is dead for no reason, what do you think they mean?"
The colleague scoffed and shrugged, looking at Ma Ru as if she were a fool. "You don't get it? It means they broke up. If you broke up with someone, wouldn't you want your ex to be dead to you? That’s all it means—the boyfriend is as good as dead."
"Oh... so that’s what it means." Ma Ru had a sudden realization. Then, remembering who had said it, she jumped up, looking completely shocked. "Did Shiyu break up with Zhan An?!"
There were two former classmates working in the same studio, and upon hearing this, they froze and crowded around. "What did you say? Ruan Shiyu and Zhan An broke up? Are you sure?"
Before Ruan Shiyu knew it, the news of her breakup had spread like wildfire. Everyone who knew them heard about it, yet Ruan Shiyu remained buried in her work until a phone call from Mu Xiaoxiao dragged her out.
Compared to that morning, Ruan Shiyu looked slightly more human sitting in the cafe—at least, no one would glance at her out of concern for her haggard appearance. She sat at the table, idly playing with her fingers while waiting for Mu Xiaoxiao.
"I’m late!" The cafe door swung open with a melodic chime. Mu Xiaoxiao, laden with bags, struggled to close the door behind her before sitting across from Ruan Shiyu.
Ruan Shiyu couldn't help but yawn. She looked up at Mu Xiaoxiao, listless. "You're here."
Mu Xiaoxiao set her bags down, picked up Ruan Shiyu’s coffee, finished it in a few gulps, and signaled the waiter to order before finally noticing Ruan Shiyu’s state. She frowned, worried. "What happened to you? Why did you suddenly break up with Zhan An?"
At the mention of his name, the expression on Ruan Shiyu’s face vanished. She slumped over the table, burying her head in her arms, and remained silent for a long time.
Sensing something was wrong, Mu Xiaoxiao sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "What's going on? Did Zhan An treat you badly?"
Seeing that Ruan Shiyu still wouldn't speak, Mu Xiaoxiao’s frustration grew. A surge of anger flared up, and she stood up abruptly. "I’m going to go have it out with Zhan An!"
Ruan Shiyu reached out and grabbed her.
Mu Xiaoxiao was agitated, but she didn't dare pull away too forcefully. She snapped, "Let go of me!"
Ruan Shiyu looked up and shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears. She felt exhausted, unable to fathom how the two of them had reached this point. "Don't go. There’s nothing left to say."
"But!" Mu Xiaoxiao remained furious. Back when he was chasing Ruan Shiyu, he’d said such sweet things. After all these years, had he just thrown all his promises to the dogs? Ruan Shiyu pulled her back into her seat. Just then, the waiter brought over the iced coffee they had ordered. Ruan Shiyu pushed it toward Mu Xiaoxiao and, once she had taken a few sips, said, "It’s over now. Stop being angry."