Chapter 27: Stinginess and Generosity, So-Called Protagonist

Hearing the old man's furious scolding, a question mark slowly appeared on Qiao Jia's face.

This old man... is he out of his mind?

"I don't care, you killed them, so now you have to take full responsibility for us!" The old man had initially only meant himself, but after a moment's thought, he decided to drag the others in as well, hoping to use moral coercion against Qiao Jia.

"They could have protected us from those monstrous things, but now you've killed them all—what are we supposed to do, these old bones of ours?" he continued. "Anyway, you have to see us safely to somewhere secure. As the saying goes, help someone to the end, send the Buddha all the way to the west."

This withered old man, who hadn't dared utter a word in the face of those bandits, suddenly brimmed with vigor now that his audience was Qiao Jia.

Having not had a proper meal for many days, the old man tottered to his feet and tried to grab at Qiao Jia.

"That's right, that's right! I heard there’s a North Star Base outside the city, and also a Blue Tide Base—you have to take us there and settle us in!" The old man's shameless attempt at moral blackmail quickly found resonance among many other survivors in the room.

They didn’t think Qiao Jia would refuse.

This woman before them might get angry, but surely, after her anger passed, she would obediently do as they wished.

They cast furtive glances at the room full of supplies, noting that she hadn’t taken a single item with her. Wasn’t that just for them? This woman was simply cold on the surface, soft at heart.

As the saying goes, pick the softest persimmon to squeeze—so too should people be chosen for easy handling.

Their confidence was unshakable.

Qiao Jia noticed their looks and glanced at the system.

The system darted into the room, and from who-knows-where produced a tattered bundle, swiftly packing up every last item in the room!

"Ah, I almost forgot," Qiao Jia said politely, nodding to the survivors before calling the system to leave.

"Let's go."

Neither she nor the system needed food or water; the only thing they could use was points.

Earlier, she’d only cared about the crystal cores, conveniently ignoring the food. But on further thought, these could be used as welfare for the townsfolk!

Although the town had food blind boxes, their contents were random, after all.

Once she returned to the town, she’d set up a welfare agency and distribute these supplies as welfare packages to the townspeople.

Shen Tong and the other main and supporting characters wouldn’t lack these welfare packs, but the other survivors certainly would.

Even a mosquito’s leg is still meat.

The bandits had collected not just food, but also plenty of daily necessities—soap, body wash, shampoo, and the like, in surprising variety.

"Why are you taking everything?!" The old man, seeing what Qiao Jia was doing, blew up in rage, his hands outstretched to block her way.

Qiao Jia turned her head and shot him a frosty glance, a flash of impatience in her icy eyes.

She had given them their chance.

[System, scan these people—who’s connected to that old man?]

[Yes, Host.]

The system, with its tiny body and a bundle as big as a room slung over its back, lifted its head and swept its gaze around the room.

It quickly gave Qiao Jia its feedback.

"You, and you—leave," Qiao Jia said, pointing out a few survivors, signaling they could go.

Anyone related to the old man, who had joined his commotion, or was associated with the rabble-rousers, all of them would stay behind.

"Thank you, big sister," said the little girl who had earlier tipped off Qiao Jia about the room with supplies, and a little boy, both sensibly leaving with their grandmother.

As they passed Qiao Jia, they thanked her.

"For you," Qiao Jia said coldly, pulling a blind box from the bundle on her back and handing it to the little girl.

The system stared at Qiao Jia in astonishment—its host was actually giving something away, and to a survivor who had nothing to offer in return!

Every previous time Qiao Jia had given out water or weapon or medical blind boxes, there had been profit to be made.

Just look at who she’d chosen as her recipients.

After all this time with Qiao Jia, the system had learned that, despite her generous appearance, she was actually a miserly soul.

One only had to see the patchwork stitching hidden under her clothes to know—she couldn’t bear to spend points on repairs.

Any damage to her body was stitched up by the system or by herself, using thread and needles found along the way.

She called it “three years new, three years old, patched for another three.”

If she was so stingy with herself, how could she be generous with others?

Her apparent generosity had always yielded tenfold or hundredfold returns.

Even the system itself, a dignified new intermediate system, had to compete with a bunch of ancient basic systems in the system mall every day, just to save a little on shipping fees.

Still, Qiao Jia was a reliable host. Since the competition began, she had advanced steadily, now ranking in the top five thousand!

Many hosts, suddenly bound to a system, would quickly lose themselves.

There was another participant in the Strongest Post-Apocalyptic Town Competition, also with a blind box system, but that host had become addicted to opening blind boxes and couldn’t extricate himself.

He no longer thought of developing his town, only of earning points to open more blind boxes.

Another had a quest system, and after exploiting a loophole with the Main God’s tacit consent, thought only of getting something for nothing.

In the end, the Main God punished him, and he lost everything overnight.

Some hosts had even ended up being controlled by their own systems!

Compared to them, Qiao Jia, with her self-control, planning, and strength, was a dream come true.

From beginning to end the system had been only an assistant—Qiao Jia was in charge.

If it had been bound to one of those other hosts, there would be no hope for its entire system’s lifespan. With Qiao Jia, the system still hoped to be promoted and rise to Main God one day.

[Why are you looking at me with such a nauseating expression?] Qiao Jia asked, noticing the system’s odd stare.

[Host, I never thought you still possessed a sliver of untouched humanity.]

In essence, neither Qiao Jia nor the system were human at all—“humanity” did not apply.

[Oh, that,] Qiao Jia replied, setting down her bundle and calmly drawing her watermelon knife, closing the door.

As the survivors inside watched in terror, the blade in her hand gleamed with a chilling light.

[I just want to see if protagonist halos can really be cultivated.]

More precisely, she wanted to see whether she herself could influence the birth of a protagonist’s halo.

After all, everyone is supposed to be the protagonist of their own story—but some protagonists are favored by the world, blessed with a halo, while others are just mud flung at random.