[Run 10 kilometers, do 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 pull-ups.]
[Completion reward: secret.]
[Mission failure penalty: divorce from your wife.]
Erland was stunned. Was this system a personal trainer? Why was it giving him tasks like an athlete's workout routine? The most annoying part of the mission was the penalty: divorce from his wife.
[Player Erland Colvin, the system will start the countdown. Complete your daily mission target before the time runs out.]
The screen turned into a timer. He had 24 hours to complete the mission. Erland didn’t want a divorce; even if he had to die, he would never let Ainsley go.
"Arghhh! Crazy system!"
"Erland!"
Ainsley was shocked as Erland suddenly ran out of the room, sprinting at full speed. He hadn't even finished his fried rice.
"What’s going on?" Ainsley worried.
Due to the daily mission, Erland spent his day exercising.
Erland's breath was heavy, sweat pouring down his temples. He had run 8 kilometers in a marathon.
Two more kilometers to complete the daily mission, not to mention the push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups. His energy was drained.
"This is torture!" Erland collapsed on the grass. He stopped in a park, his vision starting to blur.
[Player Erland Colvin, you have completed 25% of your daily mission. 75% of the tasks remain.]
"I know! You don’t need to remind me!"
The transparent screen changed messages.
[The penalty of divorce awaits you.]
"Yes! I remember! I won’t fail! I don't want to divorce Ainsley! Hah, hah, hah." Erland wiped his sweat.
[18 hours remaining.]
Erland got up, feeling like he was carrying a heavy load of hundreds of kilos. His legs were cramping, his muscles screaming in pain, unable to run anymore.
"For my marriage with Ainsley!" Erland shouted. He had been running from morning till noon.
Damn, he had to finish his daily mission before evening. Erland had a night shift at work. He couldn't skip because his family needed the money.
"Run! Run! Run! Even if my legs break, I must run!" he screamed.
By six in the evening, Erland finally completed the daily mission. He was completely out of energy. His body collapsed in the sand.
Erland passed out for an hour in front of an elementary school. He woke up at seven in the evening.
"In thirty minutes, I'll be late to the factory!" Erland quickly ran. His body reeked of sweat. He hadn't bathed.
Without much ado, Erland got ready hastily. He took a quick shower, barely scrubbing with soap and water. His shoes were mismatched. He was in a rush.
"Honey, I’m leaving now! Please take care of the house. Lock the door from inside. Don’t open it for anyone except me or Mom!"
Ainsley nodded obediently. Erland kissed her forehead and quickly rode his old scooter. The factory was quite close to their rented house, as Erland had chosen to live in the industrial area.
The system hadn’t appeared yet, though Erland was eagerly awaiting the secret reward.
Erland sped up his scooter. The supervisors had already arrived. Other factory workers were lining up.
"Boss, here comes the kid now."
Erland was shocked when Mr. Teddy approached. The fat man with a big belly suddenly smacked Erland's helmeted head.
"Idiot!"
"Sir! What did I do wrong?"
"Still asking? Don’t you see the time? The factory opened ten minutes ago. Do you think this is your parents' factory? Coming late as you please! Lazy!"
Erland's forehead was poked, belittled.
"This is my in-laws' factory."
"Oh, nice, nice, admitting to being the in-law of the factory owner?"
Erland got hit again.
"Don't you realize you're just considered trash by the Thompson family?" The supervisor spat.
"If you were really their in-law, you'd be working here as a boss, not a laborer!"
Mr. Teddy looked smug when Erland saw the job title pin he wore.
"Aren't you jealous? Just admit it, because your position is lower than mine."
Erland smiled thinly. "Why would I be jealous? You’re a supervisor because you suck up to the Thompsons. You’re lower than me, Sir."
"You little bastard!"
The man tried to hit Erland again, but this time Erland dodged.
"You dare to fight back now?" Teddy challenged angrily.
Because the factory’s alarm started ringing, indicating work was beginning. Teddy, who had raised his hand to hit Erland, stopped his action. He smirked, "Get in there! Poor laborer!"
Erland remained silent, his fists clenched. If that fat man wasn’t his superior, Erland would have hit him.
Other factory workers began lifting coal to the furnace. Erland did the same. But something was different; all the coal felt quite light.
"Usually, I would struggle, but this time my body feels so light."
Erland smiled and started working seriously. Within an hour, he had moved more than 2 tons of coal.
"What’s happening to that loser? Where is he getting the strength to carry all that coal alone? Is someone secretly helping him?"
Six senior men watched with hatred. They were seniors who always bullied Erland at the factory, paid by Teddy to harass Erland.
[Player Erland Colvin, your stamina has been restored. Stamina increased tenfold. Congratulations on completing the daily mission. The secret reward has been sent to the storage menu.]
The system’s storage menu appeared, containing a Pandora's box with an unknown content.
'Will I get money again?' Erland hoped the secret reward would be a large amount of cash.
"Hey loser, why are you grinning to yourself?"
One of the senior leaders put his arm around Erland’s shoulder.
"Half of the coal you moved today, add it to our performance record. You should know you have to pay a tax. Remember, you have to respect your seniors here."
"Hahaha, right! As a junior, you must obey Erland!"
"These seniors will let you go today if you comply."
"Just accept it, man. You're lucky your seniors only ask you to give up half your bonus. Better than going home beaten up."
"Besides, all that money will be wasted on your wife's treatment. Instead of spending your money on a dying woman, why don't you come with us to the night club? Lots of sexy women there. You can choose one with big boobs, a nice ass, or who’s wild in bed."
Erland clenched his fists, his neck veins bulging, and his face darkened with rage.
"Buddy, I know your wife Ainsley is sickly. She probably can't please you in bed. That's why we’re inviting you to find a healthy, sexy woman to satisfy you. If you're confused about choosing, we'll help. We know some beautiful prostitutes there."
"Bastards!"
Blam! Two of the six seniors were flung backward, almost into the coal furnace. Erland had hit them simultaneously.
"You scum! My wife Ainsley can’t be replaced by cheap women like them! My wife is too noble to be compared to such whores!"
[System synchronization in progress. Pandora's box opened. Secret reward activated.]
[Player absorbed bronze combat mode. Defense and attack increased.] Erland could feel a surge of strength spreading throughout his body. He felt his power multiply several times over.Besides feeling lighter, his agility also increased significantly. "Damn! That loser hit us!" "Erland!" shouted the senior leader, enraged. He had just gotten up after being hit by Erland. "Boss! Your teeth are gone!"Two front teeth had fallen to the floor. The senior leader glared at his lost teeth with anger. "That bastard made me lose my teeth. You want to die!" Without thinking, he lunged at Erland, trying to punch him. But before his punch could reach Erland’s face, he was already kicked by Erland. This time, the senior’s body wasn’t just thrown back; his bones were broken.The senior's subordinates, seeing how strong Erland’s attack was, began to back away, keeping their distance out of fear. "Come at me, all of you! Don't be cowards! Haven't you been bullying me all this time because I st
Everyone stared at each other, then looked at Erland before bursting into laughter. The workers, including Teddy, thought Erland was out of his mind, crushed by the burdens of his family's life."Hahaha! Erland, you're so ridiculous! You're going to get 100 Bitcoins from Mr. Teddy?""Hey buddy, do you think Mr. Teddy will generously give you Bitcoins? He wouldn't even deign to give you a single dollar!""What does Erland know about Bitcoin anyway? He must be bluffing! Pretending to know about Bitcoin, when in reality he's too dumb to go to college! He only graduated high school! What does he understand?"Teddy, hearing Erland being mocked by the workers, just smiled contentedly, feeling superior because of his education. Teddy was a college graduate, which is why he was able to hold the position of factory foreman now."Enough, Erland, there's no need to be embarrassed to apologize to me. Stop your nonsensical talk. Let me tell you, Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency. Your salary i
Two hours ago, after the incident at the factory, Erland didn't go straight home. He decided to go to the nearest convenience store and buy a cup of ramen noodles and a bottle of soda. He had something to check."How much money did I get when I sold this coin?"Erland opened the system's cash-box menu. It was 160 bitcoins. Erland ruffled his hair, he felt dizzy. How do I convert these bitcoins into dollars?"System, do you know how? I want to exchange these coins for real money! Not virtual money!"[Go to sales menu].Erland was surprised when the blue transparent screen changed to the sales menu. There were many items to buy or sell. This menu was similar to an online store, except that not all items could be sold."Are you serious? There's a menu like that?"Erland tried to touch the cryptocurrency sales image. A wide variety of crypto coins appeared. The price of each coin was listed in world currencies, not just dollars."This is amazing!" Erland exclaimed in amazement. He searche
"You must be lying! How could Erland have such a large balance! His salary as a factory worker is very low!""If you don't believe me, you can check."Anne's two friends looked at the computer screen in front of the cashier, their eyes perfectly round at the balance of $8,800,000. They were embarrassed.'Did this poor man secretly have a second job all this time? How does he have that much money?''Maybe Erland is lying to us with his shabby appearance. He's actually a rich man hiding his identity.'Erland who could read their hearts smiled, “Count all the groceries of my wife and these two women. It looks like they're daydreaming because they can't pay for their groceries.”“We don't need your money. We'll pay for it ourselves!”The two women hurriedly gave their credit cards, but strangely enough, their credit cards suddenly became unusable."Sorry, your credit card cannot be used for payment. Your card has been blocked by the bank.""What?""Maybe you owe a lot of money to the bank.
"Honey, I really don't want any secrets between us. But right now, I still can't tell you where the money came from. But I can promise you that I didn't get it by stealing or borrowing from loan sharks. I got a good paying job. I got out of the factory. This $8,800,000 I got as a bonus from my job.""What kind of job can pay that much, Erland? You scare me. I don't want you to get involved in anything dangerous."“Ainsley, listen to me. Look into my eyes. Do I look like a man who likes to do dirty work?”Ainsley shook her head. Erland grasped her hand tighter.“I won't do bad things or commit crimes just because of money. Trust me, this money is clean. You can trust me, right?”Ainsley paused, she hesitated but remembering all of Erland's struggles working hard to pay for her medical expenses, Ainsley had to trust her husband.“I believe you.”Erland smiled, "Thank you dear, thank you for believing in me."The transparent screen message disappeared and Erland breathed a sigh of relief
Ronald followed them into the bar, where some of the men from the group were smoking outside the singing room. They were dressed in dark gray clothes, with prominent snake tattoos on their hands."What are you looking at? Move it! Boss Jefrey is on the second floor."Several men in suits with guns surrounded the second floor, presumably those in charge of guarding the floor."Is that him?""Yes, boss."The dark-haired man with burns on parts of his face crossed his legs. He put out his cigarette, "How much money do you have to come looking for me?"Ronald took out a picture of Erland, "If you can confirm that he is disabled, I'll give you any amount!"Jefrey laughed, "Pft, hahaha, are you serious? You'll pay any amount? No nominal limit?"Ronald took out a blank check, "You can write the amount yourself. But if this plan fails, until the police find out. You will die.""Dead?" Jefrey smiled."Who do you think you are to hurt the boss?" Jefrey's men were angry."Before you kill the boss
"Mr. Erland, your father's operation will cost $50 million, including hospital fees. And I want to inform you that the operation requires payment in advance.""50 million dollars? Can I pay in installments, Nurse? I promise I'll pay it off soon, just please operate on my father's leg! His leg must not be amputated!""Only if you pay in full, Mr. Erland.""Please, allow me to pay in installments, Nurse.""I'm sorry, but our hospital does not offer a credit system.” One of the hospital visitors rushed forward and became angry."Damn you! This is a high-class hospital, you have to pay in advance, there's no negotiation. If you can't afford it, you should check the hospital's background before bringing your father here. If you're poor, you better take him to a county hospital that receives government subsidies. You're just making a fool of yourself!" "Knowing that you are poor, why did you bring him to an elite hospital? Are you trying to act like a rich person? You should know your pla
"She is here for work," Ronald answered. "We are short of servants." "What do you mean, Ronald?" Erland probed, trying to connect their shortage of servants with his sick wife's presence in that place. Ronald smirked. "What else do you think? Of course, Ainsley is here being a servant!" Erland's hands clenched tightly. Ronald enjoyed making the poor man angry. "The Thompson family is not a charity organization, we can't give out free money. If Ainsley asked for money to buy medicine, she has to work for it." Erland's patience was wearing thin. He quickly stepped forward and grabbed Ronald by the collar, pushing his body against the wall until he almost fell to the floor. "My wife is not just anyone! She is a daughter of the Thompson family! Your family too! Giving her a little money for medicine won't make you poor! Especially since she's sick! How could you make your sick sister work? What if her condition worsens! Heart failure is not a trivial disease." Ronald just laughed.