Smoke curled up from the roadside stalls, the hubbub of voices was boiling, and people rubbed shoulders.

In the early morning of Chengzhou, the old neighborhood near the Kuanzhai Alley had long awakened, full of a rich atmosphere of city life.

Smoke curled up from the roadside stalls, the hubbub of voices was boiling, and people rubbed shoulders.

Song Jiaru subconsciously wanted to shrink toward places with fewer people, her footsteps becoming hesitant.

Xu Yunzhou had already issued a command:

"Go to that stall on the right with the best business, line up and buy a bowl of Dandan noodles and a steamer of soy sauce meat buns. Remember, you must clearly express your preferences to the boss, you cannot be vague, much less casually make do because you are afraid."

Looking at that long line and the loud-voiced boss, Song Jiaru's heart beat like a drum, trying to bargain:

"Big Brother... can we go to the convenience store over there to buy? It's the same..."

Convenience stores are so great; you don't have to talk, just take the items, pay, and leave.

Xu Yunzhou's tone left no room for doubt:

"No. Either go line up and order, or I will log off right now, and I won't take you out to play today, tomorrow, or the day after! Choose yourself."

These words simply pinched the little rabbit's lifeline.

Song Jiaru panicked instantly:

"No no no! I'll go right now!"

For someone who had been lonely for too long, the companionship of "Big Brother" was the most important thing right now.

Biting the bullet, she squeezed into the crowd and stood at the end of the line, so nervous she almost walked with the same arm and leg forward.

The auntie in front was bargaining with the stall owner, the young guy behind was playing an "earthy divine song" out loud on his phone; various sounds surged in like a tide, making her dizzy.

It was her turn, and the boss didn't even raise his head:

"What are you eating?"

Her voice was like a mosquito:

"O-one bowl of Dandan noodles, one steamer of buns..."

"What? Speak louder! Didn't hear you!"

The boss's voice was loud and clear, vibrating her eardrums.

Song Jiaru held her breath until her face turned red, took a deep breath, as if using up her life's courage:

"One bowl of Dandan noodles! One steamer of soy sauce meat buns!"

"Ok!"

The boss nimbly cooked the noodles. The hot steam from the steamer rushed at her face, smoking her eyes until they felt sour.

Finally managing to hold the scalding hot bowl and find a corner seat to sit down, she felt like she had just fought a battle, her back completely soaked in sweat.

"How does it feel?"

Xu Yunzhou asked at the right time.

Song Jiaru looked at the Dandan noodles in the bowl, red oil and thick sauce, fragrant and appetizing. Then she looked at the people around her focusing on their own food.

Although her heartbeat was still very fast, she strangely discovered that the sense of panic trying to drown her seemed to have faded a bit.

"It seems... it's not that scary either."

She answered softly, picking up the disposable chopsticks and clumsily mixing the noodles,

"They... seem to be busy eating their own, nobody... nobody is paying special attention to me."

"Remember this feeling."

Xu Yunzhou's voice carried a smile,

"The world is very busy, there's no time to stare at you all the time. Treat yourself as an ordinary member among them, rather than the focus under a spotlight. After eating, we're going to the Panda Base!"

"Mhm mhm! Okay! I like pandas the most!"

Song Jiaru's eyes instantly lit up again, her mood jumping for joy along with it.

At the Panda Base, Song Jiaru completely let herself go.

She leaned on the railing watching pandas gnawing bamboo for half an hour, amused by the chubby cubs until she rocked back and forth, her silver bell-like laughter causing passersby to frequently look sideways.

However, good times are always short. A few "flies" buzzed and surrounded her.

"Beauty, strolling alone? So lonely, how about brothers play with you?"

A spirit guy with dyed yellow hair and tight pants spoke first.

(TL: "Spirit guy" / Jingshen xiaohuo is internet slang for young men who dress in a specific, often tacky, flashy style, similar to "chavs" or "gopniks.")

"Come with us, it's much more interesting than looking at these silly pandas!"

Another buck-toothed guy chimed in.

"We brothers can help you take photos, top-notch skills, free of charge!"

A third guy with a rosacea nose said this while his salty pig trotter reached toward Song Jiaru's shoulder.

Song Jiaru instantly froze, tears swirling in her eye rims, frantically crying for help in her heart:

"Big Brother! Big Brother! They... they came over! I'm so scared! What do I do? Save me!"

Listening to her plea for help carrying a crying tone, looking at those few deformed melons and cracked dates on the screen who still thought they were very handsome hooligans, Xu Yunzhou's eyes were icy cold.

He knew the other party wouldn't dare to mess around in this kind of venue; this was exactly an excellent actual combat opportunity.

"Listen!"

His voice was resolute and decisive,

"Roar back at them loudly! Just five words—'Please go away from me!' You must have sufficient breath and fierce momentum! This is your required course, I can't handle things for you forever!"

Song Jiaru shivered, carrying a crying tone, her voice thin and pitiful:

"S-sorry... please go away... okay..."

This soft, trembling refusal was instead like pouring oil into a fire.

"Yoho! This voice, love it, love it!"

The yellow hair became even more excited.

"Don't be afraid little sister, brother is a good person~"

The buck-toothed guy grinned, the visual effect startling.

Outside the screen, Xu Yunzhou supported his forehead with his hand, simply unable to look.

How is this a refusal? This is clearly the Plus version of the "Villain's Excitement Punch"!

Her tone was so soft you could pinch water out of it, and even added a coquettish trailing "okay," it was simply inviting the other party to "hurry up and bully me"!

Looking at Song Jiaru's appearance of being at a loss what to do, her tears about to burst the banks, Xu Yunzhou once again profoundly comprehended a truth—beauty is like wealth; if you don't have enough ability and temperament to protect it, what they attract might not be luck, but rather disaster.

"Agree to my consciousness synchronization."

Xu Yunzhou calmly issued the command,

"Let me teach these societal dregs a good lesson on what it means by 'your great-aunt is teaching you how to be a human today'."

Almost simultaneously, he quickly purchased the [Consciousness Synchronization] function in the System Mall again.

Song Jiaru only felt a wave of slight dizziness. In the next second, she found herself becoming a "bystander."

Exactly 0.01 seconds before that yellow hair's salty pig trotter was about to touch "her" shoulder!

"Song Jiaru" abruptly raised her head!

The gaze that was originally full of tears, cowardice, and panic disappeared, replaced by a line of sight carrying extreme impatience and contempt:

"Control your paws, otherwise I don't mind helping you twist them off as souvenirs."

The voice was still Song Jiaru's clear voice line, but the intonation carried a condescending venomous tongue and oppressiveness,

"That stench on your bodies mixing inferior tobacco, three-days-unwashed hair oil, and the unique foul odor of scum is simply a terrorist attack on the air. Please roll far away and biodegrade, OK?"

The playful smiles on the faces of those few people instantly froze, as if collectively having the pause button pressed on them.

This sudden change in style was too outrageous!

The leading yellow hair forcefully tried to save face, stiffening his neck:

"Yoho? The little chick is quite spicy..."

"Spicy?"

'Song Jiaru' sneered. Like hearing the biggest joke in the world, she interrupted unceremoniously,

"Just with your honorable visages, with an average altitude of less than 1.7 meters and looks so abstract it's as if destiny pressed them against the ground and rubbed them repeatedly, you're worthy of evaluating me?"

Her slender jade finger first pointed at the buck-toothed guy:

"You, your buck teeth protrude even more prominently than your IQ. Are you preparing to perform gnawing on iron railings live to prove your ancestors were rodents?"

Her fingertip turned to the prominent ears:

"You, your ears are flared like satellite receivers. Are you afraid others won't know your mom caught your head in the door when she gave birth to you?"

Her gaze locked onto the rosacea-nosed yellow hair:

"And you, your rosacea nose is as red as a monkey's butt. Are you afraid others can't tell you have liver and kidney failure and won't live long?"

Finally, she glanced at the one hiding at the very back wearing glasses and pretending to be refined:

"Oh, the four-eyed frog in the back, your lenses can't even cover the pus flowing in your eyes, and with your honorable visage you're copying others playing stalker paparazzi? I suggest you directly go register at a mental hospital, don't endanger society here."

Her speaking speed was extremely fast, like a Gatling gun sweeping across:

"Please form a group and go find a mirror, or just piss and look at your reflections, to sober up that blurry self-cognition."

"Looking this much like an eyesore and affecting the city's appearance isn't your fault, but teaming up to come out and scare kids and national treasures means your morals have slid and your humanity is annihilated! And you still dare to come hit on me?"

"I think the pandas over there, after seeing your 'hell-level visual boy band,' will be so scared they'll eat two fewer bamboos tonight and have nightmares overnight!"