After the popularity rankings were announced, the players quickly entered the reward space, just like last time.
The people around her disappeared, and a panel appeared before her. Li Zhi remained calm, but the panel flickered repeatedly, failing to directly present her with the reward based on her deepest desires, unlike the previous time.
Li Zhi raised an eyebrow and asked lazily, “What’s this? Can’t detect my deepest desire? Aren’t you supposed to be high-tech from a higher-dimensional world?”
The panel flickered again, but still nothing appeared.
The silence from the system was deafening.
After a long pause, the cold mechanical voice finally sounded in her ears. It was still that emotionless, robotic tone, but Li Zhi could somehow sense a hint of frustration.
“Player’s deepest desire violates the system’s operational rules. Request denied. The reward for clearing this round will be randomly assigned. Player Li Zhi is advised to follow the program’s rules and refrain from challenging the system’s authority. This is a warning. Any further violations will result in the initiation of punishment mechanisms.”
“You see, it was just a joke, and now you’re getting upset.”
Li Zhi’s tone remained unhurried, though if the system were a person, it probably would have jumped out and hit her by now.
“Fine, go ahead and give me the randomly assigned reward.”
Finally, a shiny golden item appeared on the silent panel, labeled “Eternal Thorned Red Rose.” Li Zhi reached out to claim it, and the rose fell into her hand. Though she was somewhat prepared, she still got pricked by one of the thorns.
She sucked on her finger and looked at the item’s description: A thorned red rose that never withers and will always hurt you.
Li Zhi: “……..”
She glanced around and asked, “Is this revenge? Can this even be considered a reward? Is there a complaint channel? I want to report your personal vendetta.”
The only response was cold, indifferent silence.
Li Zhi sighed, carefully putting away the rose, then looked back at the panel.
Two items requiring points had appeared at random. One was a “Pillow of Sleeplessness” that cost 599 points. The other was a “Ghost Attraction Talisman,” priced at 699 points.
The Pillow of Sleeplessness was usable in the real world, and its function was exactly as its name suggested: simple and straightforward.
The Ghost Attraction Talisman could only be used in-game, drawing all nearby ghosts within a hundred-mile radius to its vicinity for ten minutes.
After some thought, Li Zhi exchanged 1.3 million popularity points for 1,298 game points and bought both items. As a result, she was left with just over 1.1 million popularity points, making her chances of climbing the overall popularity leaderboard even more distant.
Once the reward collection ended, the four players reappeared in the safehouse.
Despite redeeming over a million popularity points, Li Zhi still held the top spot in the rankings. The other three players’ positions remained unchanged as well. Judging from the reduction in their popularity points, it seemed that each of them had exchanged points for an item.
Tian Mingjie looked pleased, probably having obtained the item he wanted. Zhao Luan’s long facial scar had already scabbed over, making him look even more fearsome. Li Zhi guessed that he had redeemed a healing item, which explained why he seemed so calm.
At this point in the game, the players didn’t have many items yet, and there was no need for any exchanges.
The countdown to close appeared on the safehouse screen. Tian Mingjie excitedly exclaimed, “Big Sis Zhi, Brother Luan, thank you both for helping me clear this round! If we get a chance next time, let’s team up again!”
Zhao Luan ignored him, while Li Zhi smiled and said, “Sure.”
Chi Yi tugged on Li Zhi’s sleeve and whispered, “When we get out, I’ll call you. Remember to check your phone.”
Li Zhi nodded.
When the countdown ended, the safehouse closed, and when Li Zhi opened her eyes, she found herself sitting on the couch in her living room. The three people surrounding her looked at her anxiously.
The moment she appeared, Li Shuang cried out, “Sis!”
She then lunged forward, giving her a big bear hug, almost sinking Li Zhi into the couch. Li Zhi smiled and gently patted the back of her head.
Of course, as expected, Li Shuang was quickly pulled away by Li Feng, who sternly reprimanded her, “Stop jumping on your sister every time!”
Like a little puppy, Li Shuang snuggled back up to Li Zhi, clinging to her arm.
“I was just too excited! Sis, you’re amazing! You know, everyone on the livestream was praising you! Your popularity has skyrocketed again, and the viewers love you. I even sent a bunch of comments to hype things up for you, hehe.”
Li Zhi, enjoying her sister’s clinginess, affectionately cuddled her before pulling out the Pillow of Sleeplessness she had redeemed.
“Mom, with this pillow, you won’t have any more trouble sleeping.”
Shang Jinru had trouble sleeping as she got older, always waking up easily. On the worst days, she barely got three hours of sleep. Though she had seen doctors, it was better to avoid relying too much on sleep medications. Now, with this pillow, Li Zhi no longer had to worry about her mother’s health.
Shang Jinru was taken aback. Although she had heard from her children about the magical nature of these items, she was still surprised to see such a practical object.
“Really? Just this pillow, and I won’t have insomnia? It doesn’t look that special.”
Li Zhi replied, “Try it out. You’ll know by tomorrow if it works.”
Shang Jinru stared at the pillow in awe for a while, then, realizing its worth, began to worry.
“This must have cost a lot of points, right? Why spend so much on this for me? I can still sleep, and your points are precious. You should save them for game-related items!”
She tried to hand the pillow back to Li Zhi. “Can you return it?”
Her reaction was the same as every time Li Zhi had bought her something expensive in the past.
Li Zhi chuckled. “It can’t be returned. Just use it. I still have plenty of points.”
The usually calm and composed Li Zhi from the game now revealed a bit of a daughter’s playful side in front of her mother. “I earn popularity points quickly; you saw that, didn’t you?”
Shang Jinru looked at her lovingly and reached out to stroke her daughter’s head. Her voice suddenly choked up. “When you entered that Infant Tower, were you scared?”
Li Zhi shook her head.
The previously excited Li Shuang suddenly erupted with anger. “The system did this on purpose, didn’t it? Setting up a game level related to the Infant Tower—I bet it’s targeting you specifically! So malicious!”
Li Zhi chuckled. “How could that be? I should thank it for sending me into that level; otherwise, I wouldn’t have cleared it so easily.”
Li Feng frowned and said, “You were too reckless. Even if… you can’t guarantee that just because you entered the tower before, you’d be able to enter it in the game. What if you went in and couldn’t come out?”
Li Zhi responded, “When I got near the tower, I felt something, so I dared to enter. Maybe it was all meant to be?” She didn’t seem too concerned and spoke openly about the matter.
“It’s probably because I’m the only one who survived being thrown into the Infant Tower. Even though it was a game level, the tower and the babies were real—they could sense me.”
Chi Yi had asked her twice why only she could enter that tower.
At the time, Li Zhi hadn’t answered.
It was a live broadcast in the game, and she didn’t want the entire audience to know about her past.
But now, with her family, there was no need to hide anything.
She could enter the Infant Tower because she had been in one before. When she was born, just like the girls in the game, her parents had thrown her into one.
In those days, the brutal custom of killing baby girls was still rampant in many remote areas.
What could a newborn baby possibly remember? She couldn’t even open her eyes yet.
But many times later, Li Zhi would have the same dream. In the dream, she was held in someone’s arms, hurriedly carried along a road. She squinted, able to see nothing but a patch of bright blue sky above.
The warm, gentle sunlight bathed her face, and it felt comforting.
Yet the road was far too short. So short that she couldn’t even remember the shape of a cloud before everything spun around. The light vanished, and she was thrown into a cold, hard, pitch-black place. It was like a bottomless abyss—once you fell in, there was no coming back.
The baby in the dream wailed.
She cried for a long time, her voice hoarse from the effort. Finally, her cries caught the attention of a passerby.
“Why is there a baby crying in the tower?”
“Who on earth would throw a living baby in there?!”
“Hurry! Get the baby out!”
And so, a sliver of light broke into the abyss, and Li Zhi followed that light, waking from the nightmare.
That was how she survived. The two people who saved her couldn’t find her parents, so they took her to the local police station. After several twists and turns, she was sent to an orphanage, where she lived until she was six years old, when the Li family adopted her.
Li Zhi never felt unlucky. In fact, she always considered herself quite fortunate.
Fortunate that someone found her in the Infant Tower. Fortunate that the Li family adopted her. Fortunate that she regained a loving family.
If, back then, she hadn’t been abandoned by her biological parents and had somehow survived in that household—a family capable of throwing away a baby girl—her life wouldn’t have turned out any better than it did now.
When she grew up, Li Zhi reached out to the police officer who had taken her to the orphanage through the orphanage director. Following the officer’s directions, she eventually found her birthplace.
The retired officer thought the child had come back to find her biological family and felt quite comforted.
That day, Li Zhi arrived at the deserted outskirts of the area with a demolition team.
With a cheerful smile, she had the Infant Tower torn down.
she is so courageous, how many people dare to confront their trauma and solve it