Chapter 45: Pickup

“Phew~ phew~”

A young man, drenched in sweat, continued to jog while panting on the field track amidst the sunset.

Ding dong!

It seemed like the young man’s ringtone had destroyed his willpower as he fell onto the ground.

“… Oh no, I played myself!”

After resting for some time, Lin Yu got up and with wobbly legs, walked slowly to the campus entrance. He wanted to buy a bottle of water from a small supermarket, but his expression changed the moment he opened the fridge.

He had transferred all his money to his parents and did not have a single cent in his wallet at the moment. To make it more balls-aching, he set the Academic Genius System’s redemption ratio to a minimum of 100 points per transaction.

Together with the time he spent studying, he had only completed five Pomodoro Intervals for the day. This was the most basic daily time frame, and every Pomodoro Interval would only provide 10 system points to the user so Lin Yu could not redeem anything at the moment.

This was no longer about buying a bottle of water. He…seemed like he could not afford to go home anymore, nor could he afford dinner.

“Does that mean I need to do this for another two hours?”

Spending required money was logical but given his fatigue, Lin Yu had forgotten that taking public transport no longer required instant debit. He felt helpless as he stared at the Academic Genius System’s interface.

He felt like half his soul had been taken away by studying for two hours and exercising for half an hour. He felt like he would die If he were to do it for another two hours.

“You have a call~ You have a call~”

Thankfully, his phone rang right at this moment and he was pulled out of desperation.

Caller: Father.

This was the light at the end of his tunnel.

“Hello, father!”

Lin Yu picked up the call right away.

“Little Yu, why did you transfer money to me? Is school over?”

Lin Jin’s voice could be heard amidst the noise from his surroundings. He did not beat around the bush at all and directly asked Lin Yu the question. It was as if he saw the SMS from Lin Yu’s WeChat transaction.

Yes, this was very father of him—it was a huge improvement for him to address Lin Yu as “Little Yu”. Prior to this, he would not even address Lin Yu at all and would just talk about urgent matters before hanging up right away.

This was not born out of distance or hate and was just how he was. This ‘cold’ aura of his was one of the reasons why Lin Yu used to be ‘afraid’ of his own father.

“It’s what I told you about before this. I’ve finished developing the software. That is why I transferred the money to you and mother.”

Lin Yu explained himself before asking in embarrassment, “So, father, can you transfer a bit of money back to me? I forgot to save some for myself for traveling home.”

“Where are you? I’m at your campus entrance and was about to pick you up on the way home.”

Lin Jin did not sound like he wanted to transfer the money at all.

Lin Yu had spoken to him about the Academic Genius System and when Lin Yu handed over his cards, he was terribly negative about his willpower. He stressed to his father that he should not transfer any money back to Lin Yu no matter how much he begged.

If it was his mother, she would have given in after two sentences but Lin Jin was stubborn. If he was told not to transfer, he was not going to; moreover, this act was for the purpose of ‘improving his studies’.

“Father, you’re here? Which entrance are you at?”

Lin Yu was shocked to hear what Lin Jin said. He stopped talking about the transaction as well as he only needed the money to go home anyway. It was the best case scenario for Lin Yu to be able to go home without ruining the rules of the Academic Genius System. Nonetheless, he had already realized that he could just pay for the trip back after reaching home.

“The front entrance, come over.”

Lin Jin said and after Lin Yu replied “Oh, alright,”, he hung up.

Lin Yu was at the back entrance, and he jogged through the campus before arriving at the front entrance. He saw a familiar white van across the road.

His father usually used this van to purchase food ingredients in bulk, and it was impossible for him to miss it. He slowed down his jog and walked across the road toward the van.

It was around the time where the polytechnic students in the area finished school. The area across the main entrance of Changhai Vocational College was rented by several polytechnics to be used as dormitory buildings. The management of these polytechnics were peculiar; perhaps due to the long distance between the school and the dorm, the polytechnic students were required to walk in a long line back to their dorms. It seemed like military training and was quite spectacular.

However, this spectacular view was interrupted by chaos.

Approaching the van, Lin Yu found that one side of the vehicle was surrounded by a huge group of students.

“Uncle, are you the Cards Uncle?”

“You’re definitely it. I’ve watched the Cards Uncle’s livestream!”

“Cards Uncle, can you show us your card-throwing skills?”

A group of students surrounded the area outside the driving seat of the van, and there were girls clad in school uniform as well. They seemed as if they were a celebrity’s loyal fans.

As for Lin Yu’s father, Lin Jin, he had no experience in this and could only force a smile in the face of the students.

“Father, let’s go.”

Lin Yu wanted to laugh upon seeing this scene. It was rare for him to see his father caught in such a scenario.

“Okay.”

Lin Jin seemed like he was saved by the bell as he saw Lin Yu open the van’s door and he sat in the passenger’s seat. He waved at the polytechnic students outside the van and began driving.

“Wow, was that the son of Cards Uncle? Is he studying here?”

As the van moved, the chatter of the polytechnic students could still be heard from a distance.

“Father, are you live?”

Lin Yu spotted the floating little rocket in the backseat, his gaze landing on the phone holder in front of him.

The holder held a phone which showed Lin Jin’s livestream. It was a holder he had made for his father.

“Yes. I had nothing to do anyway so I decided to go live.”

Lin Jin nodded while his hands were on the steering wheel. His eyes were fixated on the road.

He was always rigid in the way he did things and that applied to SLSH as well. It was a job to him and was why he treated it seriously.

Of course, he was only being ‘serious’. For example, he was doing his own thing with the camera on and did not interact with the audience at all.

However, this was a small matter given the popularity of Awakened Superpowers at the moment. If one were to talk about popularity, Lin Jin would have probably won over Xu Zhaoyang in terms of audience size.

As the saying went, being strong is temporary, but being cool lasts forever.

Lin Jin was pretty good looking and in terms of visual satisfaction, he could win Xu Zhaoyang just by showing off a few card-throwing tricks. In the face of these things, being able to enlarge one’s leg was at the bottom of the barrel.