Little Four Wants to Earn Money
Little Four rolled around the floor once sheepishly, before rolling over to Ling Lan's side. "It's okay. After fighting with you, I feel much better. I was really very unhappy before ..."
"How so?"
"When we were in the hover car earlier and Ling-Zero-Seven spoke, I had thought that this world had someone like me. I was so happy ... since leaving Mandora, I have never met another of my kind, I was so lonely ... but, after secretly talking to Ling-Zero-Seven, I found that Ling-Zero-Seven is not the kin I'm looking for. Although he is very similar, but it's just ... different ... not the same ... do you understand what I'm saying?" Little Four asked, somewhat incoherently, his face full of hope. He couldn't be blamed for his confusion; his mental intelligence was at the level of a five to six year old child at the moment.
Ling Lan replied jokingly, "Just like a human and a monkey?"
Little Four's eyes brightened and he nodded vigorously, saying, "Yeah, just like that."
Ling Lan patted Little Four's head affectionately. "Little Four, you forget, I am also a solitary existence in this world. Since you are also alone, and I am also alone, let us continue walking forward as companions."
Little Four was puzzled. "You are my host, of course I will continue to be bound to you in contract and never leave."
Ling Lan pulled Little Four into an embrace, saying softly, "That's not what I'm saying. I mean like family, like siblings, like the best of friends. Let's entrust our backs to each other, and become each other's most trusted person." Ling Lan was willing to put her faith in Little Four, for Little Four was the one who had accompanied her through the end of her last life, and he was also the one who had given her this new life. All these experiences had made Ling Lan accept Little Four, viewing him as a younger brother.
Ling Lan was determined to compensate for the regrets of the past life with her new life, and so she wanted a healthy body, freedom and space, and also a friend she could talk to about anything. A younger brother who trusted her, who she could also trust in return ...
Laying in Ling Lan's arms, Little Four was a little lost. He could not understand — his core dictated that he must be loyal to his host, so why did Ling Lan say they should become each other's most trustworthy person? Did they not already have that sort of relationship?
This was the first time Little Four was thinking with his full processing power — even if his core chip became overheated, even if his processes started to slow, he still wanted the answer to this question. Because of this, he knew what it was to want for the first time. He did not want to see Ling Lan disappointed. Even though he knew this was against regulations, he wanted to be selfish just this once.
********
It was now two months after the fight, and during this time, Little Four had managed to infiltrate this world's internet through the bed's equipped network. Under Little Four's clarifications, Ling Lan had learned that the virtual net here was already very developed, fully able to stand as a secondary world on its own.
Ling Lan highly suspected that her mum was able to confine herself at home most likely because of the existence of this virtual network, allowing her to do whatever she wanted to without needing to step foot out of her home. Moreover, she wouldn't have to worry about her identity, and could choose to live freely.
From the information he gleaned on the internet, Little Four had discovered the true value of the gene stimulating agents, and had also found out the typical absorption rate of the infants here. After Ling Lan was informed, she thought back to her first session with fear — they had overdid it with the absorption of the agent that time after all. Fortunately, throughout history, there were still a few babies who had absorbed even more agent than her, so at least she wasn't breaking any records.
The two of them conferred, coming to a decision that no matter how many tubes of agent the military brought next month, they would only absorb ten.
Actually, Ling Lan didn't even want to absorb ten tubes. She only wanted to absorb about six or seven tubes, an amount which would match up with her original assessment results. However, Little Four was firmly against it. Because from the information he had gathered, as they grew, the number of tubes an average baby absorbed would only increase rather than decrease after their first time. Only after they had matured would the number gradually fall and taper off, ending when they could finally no longer absorb any.
Since Ling Lan had already absorbed ten tubes her first time, it would make no sense for the number to decrease the second time. Rather than risk looking even more abnormal, she might as well continue absorbing ten tubes. After all, that number had already been established the first time, so it wouldn't be any more surprising to the military. Furthermore, Ling Lan's body really needed that agent — Little Four had found that ever since Ling Lan started training in physical skills, her spiritual power had started growing at an even more rapid pace. Little Four was worried that Ling Lan's body growth would not be able to keep up with the growth of her spiritual power.
After some internal debate, Ling Lan decided to accept Little Four's suggestion. Meanwhile, to better support Ling Lan, Little Four was struggling over how to earn money on the internet. This was because he had discovered suppliers for the agent on the net, and although the impurities in those agents were much higher than the ones provided by the military, that was not a problem for Little Four who could clear away those impurities as easily as he could eat a carrot.
Erm, well, he couldn't really eat human food, so ... alright, let's just assume it's a virtual carrot. The point is, it was very easy for him.
For this grand ambition, Little Four had even secretly created a bank account by hacking into the system of the Centre of the Federation Banking Alliance. Naturally, bypassing the defences of the system was like child's play to him, as easy as eating a virtual carrot. To ensure the security of the account, without any approval, he had set the account's level to triple-S. It wasn't that he didn't want to set it higher, but only one five-S account existed at the moment, which was the account of the Prime Minister of the Federation, so Little Four knew he couldn't go that far.
Ling Lan observed as Little Four did all this and finally understood how amazing Little Four actually was — in the virtual world, Little Four was a god.
However, no matter how amazing Little Four was, he still had no clue how to go about earning money, and so could only turn to Ling Lan for advice. Unfortunately, Ling Lan was also clueless about this. Think about it, her previous life was pretty much spent on a sickbed — other than learning about the world and getting information from the internet, she had basically spent the rest of her time reading novels and comics ... If she had known this day would come, she would have spent that time learning how to do business and looking up financial information instead ...
Thump thump thump! Ling Lan was startled by the sudden sounds beside her. Lifting her head, she was stunned by the pile of books that had appeared in the great hall of the mind-space ... Ling Lan picked up a random book from the pile. The cover read
Little Four looked at her with a face begging for praise, so proud of himself as if he had done a great thing.
Ling Lan said through gritted teeth, "Why did you bring out so many financial books? And where did you get these?"
Little Four said smugly, "Weren't you thinking about how you wanted to read more about these things? Luckily while you were in your previous body, I had downloaded and stored all the books I could get from the internet there. No matter what you want, I have it ..."
Ling Lan blew up. "You think if I finish reading these I can become a business expert overnight? I think you're dreaming! What good can books do?!"
Little Four drooped. "Are they useless?"
"Of course they are! It's all theory. It's not that easy in the real world — the most these books can do is just provide some entertainment," said Ling Lan, resigned. She knew very well that she had no talent in this area.
Little Four was very disappointed. With low spirits, he said, "So they are only for human entertainment. Looks like I've wasted my time. To get all these books, I have spent so much time ..."
Seeing this, Ling Lan felt sorry for Little Four, and quickly reassured him, "No no, there could still be some precious books in your collection. And some people who want these books may never be able to get them anymore ..."
A flash of inspiration rushed through Ling Lan's mind, but remained just out of her grasp.
Little Four sighed, "In your previous world, all these books were freely available on the internet, who wouldn't be able to get them? Stop trying to make me feel better ..."
"My previous world? 10000 years ago ..." Ling Lan finally caught hold of that spark. Excitedly, she said, "Little Four, I have figured out how we can earn money!"