Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 138 Monthly Shop Update
The weather is exceptionally nice today.

The white clouds were torn into pieces, drifting across the azure sky. Encouraged by the wind, they occasionally obscured the sun, and the remaining sunlight was torn into silhouettes by the branches and leaves of the trees. Tiny specks of light adorned the shade of the trees, swaying slightly from time to time.

And under such fine weather, the military parade was held as scheduled.

The freshmen, dressed in military training uniforms, stood tall and straight, forming orderly formations on the playground, listening solemnly to the leaders' speech on the stage.

Han Zhou sat under the shade of a tree, with Ouyang Lianyu in a wheelchair beside him. The two of them watched in silence as the students on the playground changed formations under the command of the head instructor, forming huge characters.

Spelling words during military training is a common event in the annual military parade of various universities. However, it is difficult to feel the awe without looking from a high place. You can see a black dot in mid-air, which is a drone taking pictures.

Han Zhou felt a little bored and couldn't help but yawn.

Ouyang Lianyu reminded her, "Be serious. Although you didn't directly participate in military training, you are still a freshman. Don't be so careless at this time."

"I know, I know."

Han Zhou sat upright, looking solemnly ahead, but he wasn't looking towards the playground; instead, he was looking at the characters in front of him.

Today is a special day.

Besides signifying the end of the two-week military training, it's also the day the monthly shop refreshes.

Unsure whether previous items would disappear after the store refreshed, Han Zhou spent a fortune last night to buy a large quantity of "Power Pills" as a backup, and also purchased two temporary status solidifiers.

However, as the shop refreshed, he realized he had worried too much. The previous items had not disappeared, but remained in the shop. He could open it for ten points and buy the items that had appeared before.

Just like last month, five new items have been added this month.

【Item 1: Mission Detector, a one-time use item. You can actively select any target to use it on. In the next twenty minutes, when the target makes a request to you, there is a high probability that an event/temporary mission will appear, a very small probability that a strategy mission will appear, and a certain probability that no mission will appear. The reward will be increased after the mission is completed. It can be used five times. It will disappear after the number of uses is exhausted. Price: 30 points】

【Item 2: Monthly Shop Refresher, a one-time use item. It refreshes the current monthly shop upon use and disappears afterward. Limited to 1 purchase per month. Price: 50 points】

【Item 3: Attribute Change Pill (Low-grade), a one-time use item. After taking it, any of your attributes will permanently increase or decrease by one. The maximum attribute cannot exceed 10. One pill can be taken every 24 hours. Price: 5 points】

【Item 4: Skill Refresh Pill (Low-grade), a one-time use item. After consumption, it will randomly select any of your skills to refresh and permanently acquire a brand new skill. The original skill will be permanently lost. Limited to 2 purchases per month. Price: 70 points. First purchase price: 20 points】

【Item 5: Product Level Upgrade Device, a one-time use item. It can be used on any product marked with a level in the current month. After use, there is a high probability that the product's level will be upgraded by one level, up to a maximum of advanced. It disappears after use. Price: 100 points. First purchase price: 20 points】

Han Zhou carefully browsed through all the product information, feeling somewhat disappointed, because there weren't many practical items among the refreshed products.

For him, the most useful thing is probably the first commodity task detector. Although he has a lot of tasks on his hands now, they are either side tasks that can't be completed in a short time, such as making Zhong Ling cry, or event tasks that don't give points, such as finding Xiao Xiaoxiao's memories. There are very few temporary tasks that can give points, and he can only trigger one occasionally, so his current point acquisition speed is quite slow.

With the mission detector, he can actively seek out missions, which will greatly increase the speed at which he earns points.

The mission detector costs only 30 points but can be used five times. If you're lucky, you might get a mission every time. Plus, it can increase mission rewards. If you get 20 points per mission, you can earn 70 points with one purchase. It's a sure-fire way to make a profit.

Even if he's unlucky and a mission detector can only trigger two or three missions, it's still a break-even situation. Not to mention that the mission detector can work on any target, which means he has a chance to farm points no matter where he is, instead of having to keep an eye on Gu Zheng, Mo Yixia, and the others all day long.

What the heck is this walkthrough quest...?

In conclusion, both the mission detector and the state temporary solidifier are cost-effective products and worth buying.

Other products were not as appealing to Han Zhou.

The monthly store refresher is an option, but he doesn't need it for now.

The other two types of pills require luck, and Han Zhou has always been wary of such things. The attribute-changing pill only costs five points, but it has the potential to increase an attribute by one point. Even if he loses the gamble and his attribute decreases, it doesn't matter. With his current points reserves, he can easily gamble a few more times to make it back. If he's lucky, it's not impossible to increase each attribute to ten points. This seems tempting, but Han Zhou has no intention of touching it.

Even lotteries give you a probability, but this thing doesn't disclose the probabilities of attribute increases and decreases at all. It only limits the highs and doesn't guarantee anything. If you're unlucky and your attributes keep dropping, your intelligence might drop to zero and you'll become an idiot, which would be ridiculous. You wouldn't even know how to use the status bar, and you wouldn't even have a chance to recover.

Or perhaps their already limited physical strength drops to zero, leaving them paralyzed and bedridden—the thought of that is terrifying.

In a sense, this is gambling with one's life, which is even more terrifying than gambling with money, so Han Zhou would never touch it.

He hates gambling the most, and he doesn't want to be ruined by it one day.

Compared to attribute-changing pills, skill refresh pills are less risky, but they are still essentially gambling. If he doesn't have any important skills, then refreshing them won't matter. However, skills like 'Experience Makes You a Doctor' and 'Photographic Memory' absolutely cannot be refreshed, so he still doesn't dare to gamble.

However, Han Zhou noticed something: both of these pills were low-level products. It was possible that their effects would be enhanced as they were upgraded, unlike now where their effectiveness depended entirely on luck. And coincidentally, the last item, the item upgrade device, had the effect of upgrading the item's level.

The product's effect is actually very strong. Han Zhou immediately thought of a low-level temporary status solidifier. However, unfortunately, the product level upgrade device only works on products refreshed in the current month. It won't work on products refreshed in the previous month, so he can't use it for the time being.

However, if needed in the future, he could try buying one to upgrade the skill refresh pill or attribute change pill. Perhaps upgrading to a mid-level pill would have a much better effect. If there are no problems, he could try taking it.

That said, online stores these days are quite modern, even offering discounts on first-time purchases. It's practically like some games blatantly enticing players to spend money for a chance to win prizes...

Han Zhou shook his head inwardly, spent thirty points to buy a mission detector, and used it on Ouyang Lianyu beside him without hesitation, then began to shake his head.

Ouyang Lianyu quickly noticed his fidgeting and reminded him, "You're not sitting still here. Sit up properly or the school leaders will see you."

"Let me sit down," that should be considered a request, right? But why didn't it trigger the task?

Was the way I made the request incorrect? Or do I need to proactively confirm it again?
Han Zhou was puzzled. His primary task was to figure out the trigger conditions for the mission probe. Hearing this, he asked in return, "Are you ordering me around?"

Ouyang Lianyu: "?"

Yes, perhaps sensing that she was left unattended, Han Zhou had brought the girl named Guzheng to visit her at the hospital quite a few times recently. She admitted that she was somewhat touched by this, but wasn't this guy getting too carried away? Did he not respect her at all?
She took a deep breath and said angrily, "Do you think your self-criticism isn't long enough?" Noticing that Ouyang Lianyu's tone was a bit off, Han Zhou immediately realized that his words had a big problem, sounding almost like a provocation. He quickly explained, "I'm sorry, Teacher Ouyang, that's not what I meant. I meant, are you making a request of me?"

Ouyang Lianyu was silent for a moment: "Is there any difference between these two sentences?"

"Of course there's a difference, but that's not important. I have a request. Could you rephrase your words and change what you just said to something like, 'I'm asking you to sit properly so the school leaders don't see you like that'?"

"You're the one who needs to reorganize your language..."

Ouyang Lianyu sighed. If it weren't for the sincerity in Han Zhou's eyes, she might have lost her temper. She said irritably, "Fine, I demand that you sit properly and not be seen by the school leaders."

As soon as he finished speaking, Han Zhou immediately stopped shaking his head and sat down properly, but soon looked somewhat disappointed, a thoughtful look appearing in his eyes.

The quest still hasn't been triggered.

This guy is acting strange... Is he troubled by something?

Ouyang Lianyu was puzzled when she heard Han Zhou suddenly say in a deep voice, "No, that's not enough. Teacher Ouyang, can you make an even more outrageous request of me?"

Even more outrageous demands?

Ouyang Lianyu was taken aback and asked worriedly, "What's wrong with you today?"

"Nothing, I just suddenly wanted to hear someone make a request of me, otherwise I feel uncomfortable." Han Zhou made up a couple of things and then said again, "Please, Teacher Ouyang, don't ask why, just make an even more outrageous request of me, using the kind of sentence structure I just mentioned."

Ouyang Lianyu hesitated for a moment before saying, "Then I ask that you respect me properly from now on, and you are not allowed to make jokes about your teacher or even laugh at her..."

Han Zhou waited for a while, then shook his head and muttered to himself, "No, it seems it's still not 'excessive' enough. Or perhaps it's not so much about being excessive or not; the focus should be on the sentence structure and the emotion..."

Requirements, requirements, tasks are formed...

Suddenly, as if struck by a sudden thought, his eyes lit up, and he looked intently at Ouyang Lianyu, saying expectantly, "Teacher, that request was quite good, but could you rephrase it?"

Ouyang Lianyu, unsure of what he was doing, nodded somewhat blankly: "Okay, what sentence structure?"

“Like this, let me demonstrate for you first.” Han Zhou cleared his throat and said seriously, “Han Zhou, please respect me from now on. You are not allowed to make jokes about the teacher or laugh at him.”

It must be said that his demonstration was quite skillful; he even copied Ouyang Lianyu's manner of speaking and tone, as if afraid that the other party would not grasp the essentials.

Ouyang Lianyu fell silent.

Han Zhou urged, "Hurry up, teacher, make demands of me like this already, there's no time to wait."

The time limit for triggering the mission is only twenty minutes. If the mission cannot be triggered within twenty minutes, it means that this opportunity has been wasted. Therefore, he needs to seize the time to make various attempts and prepare for the next use of the mission detector.

He wasn't making fun of Ouyang Lianyu; he just suddenly remembered that many NPCs in the game started their quests with a pleading tone like "please, please," so maybe he could get the quest that way?
But Ouyang Lianyu obviously didn't think that way. She felt that she had been tricked again. How could she, a dignified counselor, have to say such things to a student? What kind of behavior was that?

"Impossible!" she said coldly. "Even if I made demands of you, so what? You still wouldn't listen, and you still made fun of your teacher."

Han Zhou thought for a moment and tentatively asked, "How about you change your request?"

"Shut up and watch the military parade, that's my current requirement."

"That request is quite simple..."

Han Zhou remained silent for a few seconds, still feeling unwilling, and looked at Ouyang Lianyu pleadingly, "Can't you really say it again in the 'please' way?"

Ouyang Lianyu closed her eyes in pain: "Do you really have to write a self-criticism?"

Han Zhou didn't speak, he just stared blankly into the distance, remaining silent for several minutes.

Seeing his dejected expression, Ouyang Lianyu felt a little sorry for him and asked, "What's wrong with you today? Is something on your mind?"

Han Zhou remained silent for a long time, then said with a sorrowful expression, "Teacher, you probably don't know about my family situation, do you? My mother passed away a long time ago. I never met her when I was a child, never experienced maternal love, and never had the chance to repay her for giving birth to me. I only saw her face in photos, which is a great regret in my heart."

“I’ve always wanted to make up for this regret and do something for my mother as compensation, but she has passed away. So I can only put my thoughts of compensation on other people and find a spiritual support. However, I have never had any female elders. You are the first one and you are very much like my mother, so I want to do something for you to make up for this regret.”

His tone was sorrowful, and Ouyang Lianyu felt a pang of sympathy. She asked softly, "Are you telling the truth?"

"it is true."

Han Zhou nodded. It was true that his mother had passed away, and he wasn't afraid to verify that. However, what he said after that was obviously nonsense.

He didn't mean to deceive Ouyang Lianyu; he still felt somewhat apologetic. However, with twenty minutes almost up, he wanted to try a new approach.

"So, Professor Ouyang, I just want to fulfill one of your requests. I promise I have no other intentions. You can tell me whatever you want."

"is it?"

Ouyang Lianyu was a very gentle person. Even though she had been deceived once, she did not doubt Han Zhou's words. After thinking for a moment, she said, "How about this, you come out with me this afternoon. There's something you should be able to help with. Is that alright?"

[Temporary mission triggered]

(End of this chapter)