Chapter 13 Itchy Head
An hour later.
Zhou Yuan handed over the lost orange cat to Ms. Wang downstairs.
With the Eyes of Identification, this mission was just too easy.
Go downstairs → find the cat finding notice in the community to confirm the look of the lost cat → find the stray cats in the community → identify the hangout clues of a few cats through the Eyes of Identification → track the Meow Meow Team → successfully find the lost orange cat → return it to Ms. Wang and casually accept a thank you fee of 3000 yuan.
The whole process felt like he was really doing a side quest in a game.
[Mission "Cat Finding Notice" completed]
[Mission Reward 1: Experience Points*10]
[Mission Reward 2: Star Coins*100]
[Experience: 50/350]
[Star Coins: 5500]
Since daily tasks were too simple, there was no grading system, otherwise, Zhou Yuan would have tried to score an S grade.
"If I sell the health apple, that will be 5800, just 200 short."
Zhou Yuan had already picked his next mission—
[Mission Name: "Yellow Flash"]
[Mission Objective: Deliver 20 takeout orders within one hour 0/20]
[Mission Reward 1: Experience Points*20]
[Mission Reward 2: Star Coins*200]
A normal dedicated delivery person, in normal weather, with the system assigning orders normally, and without too many unforeseen events, could deliver about 3-5 orders in an hour.
If they were crowdsourced, the number of orders might drop by 1-2.
If they encountered extreme weather, or the system assigned orders at random, the number of orders would be even lower.
Only those "gods of delivery" could achieve the terrifying record of an average of 8 orders per hour.
And to exceed 10 orders in one hour, not only would one's own strength and mount's strength need to be strong, but also several factors such as the right time, place, and people would need to align, and there would likely be only a few chances within a year.
Therefore, even the "gods of delivery" dared not guarantee that they could deliver 10 orders within an hour, let alone surpass that number.
But now.
Zhou Yuan was going to challenge the impossible!
Deliver 20 orders in one hour!
·
Inside a convenience store.
"You have a new takeout order, please check in time..."
As the alert sounded, the machine printed out a receipt.
The convenience store clerk frowned, tore off the receipt, found the items according to the purchase listed, packed them, and then placed them on the counter to wait for the delivery driver to pick them up.
At this moment, a customer walked into the store and was taken aback by the scene at the counter.
The counter was crowded with paper bags waiting to be picked up, almost running out of space.
"What's going on here?" the customer asked, puzzled.
"Some idiot placed twenty orders, each order with just one item," the clerk couldn't help cursing, "And he used a coupon for every single order! Every single one!!!"
"Damn." The customer was dumbfounded, who does that?
Suddenly, the door opened automatically, and a delivery man clad in a yellow uniform, holding a box, walked in, rattling off a string of order numbers as if calling out a grocery list.
"These are all yours." The clerk pointed to the twenty paper bags on the counter, "This guy is nuts, patiently placing twenty orders."
To everyone's surprise, the delivery man did not appear overly shocked but calmly started packing the paper bags into the box.
The clerk and customer found it strange but did not ask, thinking the guy was just cool-headed... Wait a minute!
They suddenly realized, of course, the delivery man was cool-headed—these were twenty orders after all!
Delivering to the same place twenty times, that's like hitting the jackpot!
Very quickly.
Zhou Yuan finished picking up the orders and hurriedly left with the box, sprinting back home, and took out his phone to click that the orders were delivered.
That's right, all these twenty orders were placed by himself and accepted by himself.
The system had no rules about whom to deliver to; delivering to himself still counts as delivery, doesn't it?
When the last order was marked as delivered, the system's prompt sounded.
[Mission "Yellow Flash" completed]
[Mission Reward 1: Experience Points*20]
[Mission Reward 2: Star Coins*200]
```
[Experience: 70/350]
[Star Coins: 5700]
"Less than two hours to complete two quests, it seems that I don't need to sell health apples to gather enough Star Coins quickly."
Thus, Zhou Yuan decisively took on another quest he had his eye on for some time.
[Quest Name: "Blue Flash"]
...
Noon.
Zhou Yuan completed "Blue Flash" and another quest called "Crazy Thursday."
Like "Yellow Flash," "Blue Flash" required the delivery of 20 takeaway orders within one hour. Though the two quests were for different platforms, he used the same tactic and easily completed the quest.
"Crazy Thursday" required him to have a meal on Crazy Thursday and randomly tip someone 50 bucks.
What puzzled Zhou Yuan was that the latter quest was obviously easier than the former, yet the rewards were inexplicably the same.
Perhaps... because Crazy Thursday is a limited-time event?
So strange, just how many secret ingredients did the game designers add into "Child of Stardust"?
Back home, Zhou Yuan stopped fussing over these trivial matters and looked at his panel. His current Experience Points had reached 110, and his Star Coins were 6100.
He had finally saved up enough!
He couldn't wait to open the game's store and purchase the Super Soldier Serum.
[Name: Super Soldier Serum (Improved Version)]
[Quality: Rare]
[Effect: Only usable by those under level 10. Upon injection, Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, and Perception stats are increased to 10 points each.]
[Note: I can keep up with you all day!]
The next second, an electronic syringe appeared in Zhou Yuan's hand, filled with blue liquid that resembled a tear from the deep sea, emanating a faint glow, profound and enchanting.
He rolled up his sleeve, aimed the syringe at the deltoid region of his left arm, took a deep breath, and pressed the button at the back.
Click.
The needle popped out in an instant, piercing through the barrier of skin and muscle. As pressure was applied, the blue serum inside the syringe slowly decreased.
A moment later, the injection was complete.
Zhou Yuan put away the syringe and lay down on the couch, waiting for the serum to take effect.
About ten seconds later, he felt his body temperature rapidly rise, and unbearable intense pain began to surge through various parts of his body.
It was like a blazing inferno, spreading wildly through his flesh and bones, intent on burning everything to ashes.
Every cell screamed in the searing pain, every nerve shook violently as though struck by electric current, and every bone seemed to melt in the flames. Even each heartbeat and breath came with excruciating agony.
An indescribable pain engulfed Zhou Yuan. His face turned deathly pale, his body trembled from the torment, feeling as if he were being flayed and cut to ribbons from the inside out, his entire body about to be torn apart.
Sweat poured out like waterfalls, soaking him through. He clenched his teeth and struggled to remain conscious.
The path to transcendence was inevitably thorny. If he could not withstand this pain, he was doomed to not go far. Only by enduring this could he be reborn.
Finally.
After what seemed like an endless ordeal, the suffocating pain gradually subsided like a receding tide, and his body temperature slowly returned to normal.
Zhou Yuan took deep breaths and waited a while before opening his player panel to check.
After confirming that the serum's enhancement process had ended, he immediately allocated the points.
Strength +1, Agility +1, Constitution +1, Intelligence +1.
In an instant.
He transcended the limits of the ordinary man.
Transformed, Zhou Yuan felt an unprecedented strength filling his body; every cell radiated with vigorous energy, rejoicing for the new life.
His sensory abilities were pushed to the extreme, every nerve amplified infinitely, and all stimulation from the outside world came as if through a high-powered amplifier.
Light and color intertwined before his eyes into a dazzling tapestry, each color infused with new life, pulsating, flickering, decorating the world in a riot of hues.
A myriad of complex sounds came from all directions, intertwining, colliding, forming into a cacophonous wave that relentlessly assaulted his auditory nerves.
Touch, taste, and smell also became extremely sensitive in this heightened state of senses.
Every inch of his skin could feel the subtle changes in air temperature, and every olfactory cell could distinguish the various scents mixed in the air.
An overwhelming stream of information continuously assaulted his brain. In the past, Zhou Yuan might have gone crazy, but now it was different.
The speed of his brain's operation and information processing was unimaginably fast – countless times faster than his peak in middle school. It was like upgrading an antique CPU to the latest super CPU, allowing him to easily adapt to his enhanced body.
"My head is so itchy, feels like I'm growing a brain."
With his thoughts racing, Zhou Yuan felt a bit unaccustomed.
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