ABSML Chapter 3: First Encounter

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Chen Zhan had no idea that his article had caused trouble for the male lead—twice. At the moment, he was fully committed to making a living.

After drinking the night before, his head was still throbbing, making it hard to focus on writing. He managed to jot down a few lines before another knock on the door disrupted his progress.

"Xiao Chen, you home?" The old man’s voice was strong and full of energy.

Chen Zhan opened the door, his messy hair curling slightly. "Good morning."

The old man scoffed and pointed at his watch. "It’s almost eleven."

Chen Zhan stretched lazily, but when he noticed the man standing behind the old man, his drowsy expression sharpened slightly.

Tall, with slightly long hair.

How did that line from a novel go…?

A pair of stunning, phoenix-shaped eyes.

The thought made him smirk. Maybe he had been reading too many brainless romance novels lately.

Perhaps because they had shared a drink, the old man was now treating him with a bit more warmth. "This is the person I mentioned to you," he said.

Chen Zhan gave the man a quick once-over. A dress shirt with black trousers—aside from his face, everything else was quite ordinary.

"Hello." The man smiled and nodded in greeting.

Chen Zhan was silent for two seconds. He had greeted him first, and there was no hidden contempt in his gaze. It seemed that, like his original self, this man was just another insignificant character in the story.

"Chen Zhan," he introduced himself, extending his hand.

The man gave it a light shake. "My surname is Yin. Yin Ronglan."

Chen Zhan withdrew his hand and studied the man for a moment before hesitantly asking, "Is there no internet in your village yet?"

Yin Ronglan let out a soft "hmm?"—his tone rising slightly, revealing confusion.

"Nothing." Chen Zhan casually found an excuse. "When I don't sleep well, I tend to talk nonsense."

Judging from his expression, this man clearly hadn't seen his past scandals. Maybe he wasn't online much.

With several pieces of information stacking up, Chen Zhan couldn't help but grow suspicious about Yin Ronglan's reasons for getting close to the old man.

The old man ushered them into his room, not noticing Chen Zhan’s complex gaze. Yin Ronglan, however, gave him a subtle glance while he locked the door, taking in all the emotions in his eyes.

Beside the table was another box—this time filled with milk, probably brought by Yin Ronglan.

These days, people visiting others mostly brought such ordinary gifts. Chen Zhan found it oddly perfunctory. He wasn't good at keeping a conversation going, so he just crossed his arms and sat in silence, exuding a faint air of a gang leader.

The old man had long since labeled Chen Zhan as "eccentric," ever since he had competed with him over scavenging from the garbage bins. This kind of behavior no longer surprised him.

Considering that Yin Ronglan wasn’t the flashy type and that Chen Zhan was living in rather poor conditions, the old man simplified the introduction to avoid making Chen Zhan feel inferior. "Ronglan runs some pretty remarkable businesses. If you’re thinking about doing business, you can learn from him."

Yin Ronglan's smile was laced with deeper meaning. That statement seemed directed at Chen Zhan, but it was also subtly suggesting that he should take the young man under his wing. He gave Chen Zhan another glance, curious about what was so special about him.

Chen Zhan, meanwhile, remained as relaxed as ever. He appeared indifferent, yet managed to feign a humble and eager-to-learn attitude.

Yin Ronglan seemed very approachable. "What kind of business are you interested in starting?" he asked.

Chen Zhan, who had no real head for business, thought for a moment before replying, "Let’s add each other. Once I’ve decided, I’ll ask you privately."

His real motive was much simpler—if he got lucky, he might be able to learn more about this person through his social media posts.

If someone else had made this request, there was an 80% chance they were looking to latch onto a powerful figure. But when Yin Ronglan looked at Chen Zhan's expression, he saw something else—defensiveness.

The realization was both absurd and amusing.

With the old man acting as a mediator, Yin Ronglan was agreeable and added him on WeChat.

Their conversation didn’t last long before Yin Ronglan received a call and had to leave.

Casually, Chen Zhan remarked, "Mr. Yin seems very busy."

The old man replied, "Big company."

Chen Zhan suddenly asked, "Have you ever visited his company?"

The old man chuckled. "Of course not."

Chen Zhan was thoughtful. The old man then brought up another topic: "You should find a proper job. I see you staying home all the time—how do you even make a living?"

Chen Zhan answered seriously, "I do have an income."

The old man was skeptical. "What, by daydreaming?"

Chen Zhan shook his head. "Living off my ex-girlfriend’s money." Then, thinking that wasn't quite accurate, he corrected himself: "Or rather, my former crush."

The old man was speechless.

Back in his youth, he could have knocked out ten of these unserious young men with one punch.

Because of the earlier interruption, Chen Zhan had to get back to writing as soon as he returned to his room.

【System: Every time the host completes a mission, they will earn male supporting character redemption points, which can be used to exchange for items. Completing the mission may also provide a chance to return to the original world.】

Chen Zhan, his tone not exactly pleasant while rushing to meet a deadline, asked, "How many redemption points do I have now?"

【System: 60.】

If you were hated enough, people would naturally start to sympathize with you. It seemed that some readers had developed a slightly better opinion of him because of his writing.

Casually, he asked, "How many points would I get for completing that 'atonement' mission?"

【System: ...30.】

His fingers froze on the keyboard. "Then what’s the point of you?"

Might as well just focus on writing.

The system fell silent for a long time.

Chen Zhan didn’t care. He was still new to the platform, but the website had been paying close attention to his work. Given his already infamous reputation, if he stopped updating without reason, he might lose the readers who were genuinely interested in his story.

He wrote intermittently until 8 PM, but suddenly got stuck on a word.

"A term that expresses unexpected praise… what was it again?"

Silence. No response.

Chen Zhan called out, "System."

【System: Why are you asking me? I'm a system, not a dictionary!】

Chen Zhan rolled his eyes and decided to just look it up online.

After finishing the chapter and proofreading, another half hour had passed.

Stretching, he rolled his stiff neck. Then, he suddenly realized something off. He froze. "System."

【System: Don’t ask if I’m here. Just say what you need!】

Chen Zhan’s expression darkened. "Where’s the previous system?"

From the way it spoke, it was clearly a different one. The previous one had been timid, while this one was irritable.

【System: It shut down. Now I’m in charge.】

"…"

Chen Zhan could vaguely guess why the previous system had "shut down," but he rationally chose not to ask.

【System: Mission 1 (Male Supporting Character Redemption): The host is required to engage in public welfare.】

Chen Zhan: "Wasn’t the 'atonement' mission still unfinished?"

【System: Redemption points have reached the completion threshold, triggering an automatic task refresh.】

Chen Zhan suddenly opened a new door of possibilities. "In other words, as long as I can gain redemption points, it doesn’t matter if I complete your assigned missions or not?"

【System: …Just keep it to yourself and shut up!】

After a brief silence, Chen Zhan couldn’t help but miss his previous system.

·

Lin Family.

After finishing a long day of work, Lin Chiang hesitated about checking his phone.

In his eyes, Chen Zhan was nothing more than a petty clown. Lin Chiang had even considered reporting and getting the novel taken down, but unfortunately, Chen Zhan’s writing was highly realistic and subtly critical of him.

Yet, after just two chapters, he had first been scolded by his girlfriend and then had several of his credit cards frozen.

Frowning, Lin Chiang debated whether to read Chapter Three.

Seeing the red timestamp, he ultimately clicked in—

The first few hundred words were just the author ranting about his disdain for people who throw money but don’t take their change.

Lin Chiang shook his head and continued reading:

After buying band-aids, I rushed out, just in time to see her hailing a taxi. Casually, she tossed a blood-stained tissue into the trash bin.

I stood there, feeling a bit lost.

Just then, a man wearing a baseball cap and a face mask walked past the trash bin. As he threw away his coffee cup, he accidentally dropped his phone in as well.

The passersby stifled their laughter, politely pretending not to notice, sparing the man from the full embarrassment of digging through the trash.

Out of boredom, I leaned against a pillar and watched.

When the man retrieved his phone, he sighed in relief. Just as I was about to look away, I noticed something—a crumpled tissue with faint traces of blood between his fingers.

Somehow, I had a gut feeling. This was the same tissue the woman had just discarded before getting into the taxi.

My body moved before my mind could process it. When the man boarded a bus to leave, I followed.

Flipping to the next page, a notification popped up: "The author has only written up to this point."

Lin Chiang was stunned. Holding onto a glimmer of hope, he refreshed the page again, only to confirm that Chapter Three indeed ended there.

His expression turned complicated as he scrolled through the comments:

【Maria’s Hair】: Leaving it here? The author is inhumane!

【Jinshu】: Hah, just a cheap trick. By the way, is there a fixed update schedule?

【Tianxia Yi’an】: Stopping here—what kind of man does that?

The angry comments had decreased by half, now replaced with an influx of demands for updates.

Staring at the screen for a few seconds, Lin Chiang set his phone down, ready to sleep.

But around 11 p.m., he opened his eyes in the darkness… still wanting to know what happened next.

Because his girlfriend was involved, he couldn’t help but pay extra attention. He considered calling Jiang Ying to ask if she remembered anything from that night. But recalling how she had scolded him earlier, his fingers hovered over the dial pad without pressing the button.

With a strange sense of frustration, he registered an account on the website.

【Willows by the Pond】: Tossing a deepwater reward. If the author updates another chapter, I’ll send ten more.

After completing the comment, an inexplicable sense of guilt washed over him.

Lying back down, the cold sheets wouldn’t warm no matter how he curled up. Ten minutes later, he checked his comment again, only to find it buried beneath new demands for updates.

Seeing this, he let out a small sigh of relief.

Just before putting his phone down, he habitually refreshed the page—only to discover that the author had replied to him ten seconds ago.

【Author Reply】: Are you… lonely?

Another reader quickly joined in on the fun:

"When your nightlife consists of reading novels, how can you not be lonely?"

Within a minute, the comment section had already exploded with seven or eight more replies.

Pressing his fingers against his temple, Lin Chiang wondered if he and Chen Zhan were destined to clash. After a moment, he let out a cold chuckle. Between the reader and the writer, who was lonelier was still up for debate.

·

Meanwhile, Chen Zhan had simply replied absentmindedly while battling insomnia.

"Staying up late for work is really a bad habit," he muttered, staring at the ceiling. "System."

【System: Shut it!】

Chen Zhan: "I can’t sleep. Let’s chat."

【System: What do you even take us systems for?】

Chen Zhan: "The most beautiful companion."

【System: …Be honest.】

This time, Chen Zhan didn’t answer immediately. After some thought, he replied slowly, "A free professional chatting service."

______

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