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"You want me to turn around just because you said so?"

Ye Ling raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

’Little girl, do you have any idea what kind of situation you’re in?’

"W-what... are you trying to do?"

Ning Ruoxi clutched the blanket even tighter, her face beet-red as she spoke.

"HAHAHAHA..."

Seeing Ning Ruoxi’s reaction, Ye Ling couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

At that moment, Ning Ruoxi realized Ye Ling was just teasing her and couldn’t stop herself from shooting him a vicious glare.

"Alright, alright. I’m turning around."

Ye Ling didn’t tease the girl any further and turned around.

Staring at Ye Ling’s back, Ning Ruoxi gritted her teeth and huffed. Wrapping the bathrobe around herself, she dashed straight into the bathroom.

Around ten o’clock, Ye Ling checked out of the room. He took Ning Ruoxi to breakfast, and only then did they head home.

...

Back home, Ye Ling flopped onto his bed and pulled out his phone.

He had spent all of yesterday with Ning Ruoxi, so he hadn’t checked his phone. The moment he opened his messaging app, he saw countless notifications pop up.

Seeing this, Ye Ling couldn’t help but rub the bridge of his nose and start dealing with the messages.

First was a friend request. The name on it was Zhou Xing.

Ye Ling had given him his contact info after their half-day discussion.

Ye Ling casually accepted the friend request and sent a "Hello, Professor," as a simple greeting.

Next up was the "3222 Demon Lords of Chaos" group chat. In just the past day, those guys had somehow managed to rack up 99+ notifications.

Ye Ling was left speechless.

Uhh...

Getting 99+ messages in a single day would be normal under ordinary circumstances.

’But the crucial thing is, you three live in the same dorm. How can you still rack up 99+ messages?’

’Are you guys messaging each other from across the room?’

Ye Ling tapped into the chat and skimmed through it. They were mostly talking about the joint social event for next week.

With Ye Ling confirming he would attend, the joint social between the School of Arts and the School of Information Science was officially set for next Thursday.

’He Jian: Hehe, I have a feeling I can finally escape singlehood!’

’Yang Yu: I have a good feeling too. To be honest, I’ve already got a target. That Lin Xue from the School of Arts, I think she’s totally my type!’

’Yang Yefeng: What a coincidence. I think that Lin Xue is pretty too, though nowhere near as beautiful as Sister-in-law Ruoxi.’

’Yang Yu: @Ye Ling, some mofo here has his eyes on your girl!’

’He Jian: @Ye Ling, Brother Ling, hurry up and teach this psycho a lesson!’

’Yang Yefeng: Uh... is it too late for me to unsend that message?’

...

Reading their conversation, Ye Ling couldn’t help but let out a resigned smile.

’As expected,’ he thought. ’Every single one of them is a damn clown!’

Ye Ling leisurely typed out a reply.

’Ye Ling: It’s fine, go ahead and discuss all you want. It’s not like any of the girls will be interested in you anyway.’

DING!

Just a few seconds after Ye Ling sent his message, replies from He Jian and the others came pouring in.

’He Jian: Can you at least try to be human?’

’Yang Yu: Can you at least try to be human?’

’Yang Yefeng: So, there’s still hope for me?’

’Yang Yu: @Yang Yefeng, you idiot. Brother Ling means that even if you have ideas, it’s useless. None of those girls would be into you, let alone a top-tier beauty like Sister-in-law Ruoxi~’

’Yang Yefeng: I really wasn’t thinking anything like that... This is so unfair. I was just making a comparison.’

’Ye Ling: Alright, stop spouting this damn nonsense. I’m calling it now: you guys are destined to be single for all four years of college. I’ve spoken, and not even Jesus can change it!’

With that, Ye Ling muted the group chat without a second thought.

Without their constant, annoying chatter, Ye Ling’s messaging app looked much cleaner. Only a single red notification dot remained.

’At that moment, Ye Ling felt he should have muted the group ages ago. Damn it, those guys could talk way too much!’

The last red dot was a message from Zhu Yun, giving Ye Ling a rough report on Shengding Group’s recent decisions and moves.

Net Entertainment Group was basically finished. Their game, Yulian, had been found guilty of infringement, their stock had hit its daily downward limit several days in a row, and countless shareholders were dumping their stock...

At a time like this, Shengding Group naturally didn’t hesitate to make its move.

By the time of Zhu Yun’s report, Shengding Group had already acquired ten percent of Net Entertainment Group’s shares!

The reason they had been able to acquire so many shares so easily was mainly because Net Entertainment Group was the result of a merger between two companies, which meant its stock ownership was relatively dispersed.

’Otherwise, it really wouldn’t have been this easy!’

As Ye Ling thought about this, he searched online for more information about Net Entertainment Group.

These days, the internet wasn’t just interested in celebrity gossip. News about major corporations like this was also very popular with the media.

Take Net Entertainment Group’s current situation, for example. All sorts of news about them was circulating across the entire web.

Some of these stories were true, while others were just clickbait.

For example, there were rumors that the head of Net Entertainment Group owed tens of billions and ran off with his wife’s younger sister... Ahem, sorry, got my stories mixed up.

In short, all kinds of rumors were flying around.

Right now, Net Entertainment Group was well and truly in the eye of the storm.

"The Jiang Family must be going insane right about now, huh?"

A smile touched the corners of Ye Ling’s lips.

’The Jiang Family had created Net Entertainment Group specifically to target Shengding Group, and now, it was about to be swallowed whole by Shengding Group instead.’

’They did all the hard work, and I’m the one reaping the rewards. Funny how that works.’

However, Ye Ling wasn’t completely relaxed yet.

’Acquiring Net Entertainment Group was just one small step.’

’If the Jiang Family was the final boss, then Net Entertainment Group was merely a pawn.’

Next, he needed to figure out how to handle the Jiang Family’s inevitable retaliation.

After all, they were one of the capital’s Eight Great Families. The power they wielded was far beyond anything he could currently match.

’Because while he had money now, he had no real authority!’

"Ding! A change has been detected in the Host’s life goals. Automatically triggering system upgrade mission."

"Ding! System Upgrade Mission: Bring Net Entertainment Group under your control!"

"Ding! Completion Reward: 1. System will be upgraded to Version 2.0. 2. Host will receive one Upgrade Grand Gift Pack."

Just then, a series of notifications suddenly rang out in his mind.

Instantly, Ye Ling’s eyes lit up.

’Holy crap.’

’Is this system finally going to stop slacking off?’

’Is it finally going to start pulling its weight?’

’System, what’s the difference between Version 2.0 and Version 1.0?’

Ye Ling asked inwardly.

"Ding! In response to Host’s question: Host will find out after the system upgrade is complete."

The system’s cold, mechanical voice echoed in Ye Ling’s mind.

’Fine, don’t tell me then.’

Ye Ling pouted, clearly annoyed.

’Isn’t that just a load of crap?’

’It’s the same as saying nothing at all!’

Still, Ye Ling couldn’t help but feel a little excited about this so-called Version 2.0 of the system.