Chapter 201: 48

    After that interesting slip of the tongue, Jessica and Jia Hyson decided to part ways for now, not forgetting to exchange phone numbers at the end. Embarrassment aside, it was clear their talk went well and both were confident in the other as an ally.

    Left alone in the room, Jia Hyson looks at the phone in his hand, expression hesitant. He opens up the contact list, gaze lingering to a certain name for a few moments before turning the phone off.

    Moving to wash both cups, Jia Hyson lowers his eyes to silently watch his hands move mechanically. The water under the tap was hot but he couldn''t barely register it, it was as if he was wearing gloves on his hands, knowing but not really feeling. Numb.

    "Host... you''ve stopped moving." Bebe suddenly spoke up.

    "...ah, right." Jia Hyson mutters, his hands which had slowly become motionless flexed their fingers before picking up the now clean cups to dry on the rack.

    "Bebe," Jia Hyson breathes out deeply, but it wasn''t enough to ease the stuffiness inside him, "I regret it a little bit."

    He felt unwilling to say it but to the system who was his closest companion, Jia Hyson still admitted it. Even so, just having the words come out made him feel ashamed and bitter and ugly.

    I regret it.

    Regret falling in love.

    Bebe was neither surprised nor unsurprised by this confession and sighs as well. Its'' host was at least self aware of himself if nothing else.

    Hearing its system sigh, Jia Hyson''s lips curl up wryly. He''s a selfish man at heart, if he wasn''t then how can it take him so long to admit to loving someone?

    If this was another world, another situation, no stakes, no responsibilities, then maybe he wouldn''t regret having this sweet feeling beating in his chest.

    It was so beautiful. And it made him feel that maybe he too was beautiful, capable of holding something so pure in the space between his ribs and spine.

    But it was also so very... troublesome.

    Jia Hyson was used to doing what he wanted within reason, and while he showed care and thought for others they were also within reason. Everything was like a toy that can be played or thrown away at will, he may like some toys more than others, and even grow fond of them, sacrificing a little to keep them close, but he would not cut off his wings for a toy either.

    Da Gong... he probably loved him too, right?

    But it turns out the appreciation of love really is different depending on the circumstances.

    Jia Hyson didn''t like trouble, he didn''t like doing things too out of his control, he was the type who would bring an anchor and a life jacket if he chose to dive into the unpredictable rough seas, having the decision to go freely while also holding safety nets to assure his health and comfort.

    His choices can be changed, his freedom can be restrained and his life can be cast away.

    But only if he wants it to be.

    In the end it was always for himself.

    "Host, don''t do this." Bebe who can feel the directions of his thoughts sighed heavily again. "Love is a privilege to those who can afford it. People who have their basic needs and sense of protection being threatened will naturally tend to discard the superfluous thing called love to survive."

    Jia Hyson hums lowly in response. "Of course I know that." As a cynical and critical person at heart, how can he not understand this psychology? A logical part of him knows that this was actually very normal. Love is not all powerful and external pressures can easily make it bend and break.

    Both himself and Mr Garth were similar in that aspect, but it''s because they held similar opinions on love that they want to believe otherwise, even harder. To believe that because of this critical ideology they can somehow be above it.

    But this was just the sunk-cost fallacy trap that many lovers in relationships will often fall into.

    They weren''t special or one of a kind in this aspect at all.

    Jia Hyson is warm on the surface but no matter how much he wants to pretend otherwise, he was actually very cold-blooded. Worst of all, he was extremely self-aware of it.

    He sighs again. Either way, regret or no regret. He did really believe he fell in love with Darrian Garth. And so in respect to that alone he should at least do his best to uphold himself to be worthy of the other''s affection.@@@@

    He had many lifetimes to live hedonistically but this was Mr Garth''s original and possibly only world. Jia Hyson may admit he regrets but he will just as readily admit he still is in love. At the very least he wants the man to live safe and happy in this life, in his coven.

    Even if it meant he wasn''t necessarily a part of it.

    Irritated by the dense feelings weighing down on his chest and throat, Jia Hyson slaps the side of his face mercilessly hard. "FUCK!" He curses loudly.

    The pain was sharp and biting but coupled with the release of his shouting, he suddenly felt a little less erratic, and anxious.

    Feeling better he goes to his bedroom and scrummages his desk to rip out a piece of notebook paper and begins writing. While his mind was not bad, sometimes it was just better to write everything out in order to see things with more clarity.

    He may be the type to write freely but it''s also natural to dot down any key points in order to avoid overlooking any vital information that can be used in a future plot twist.

    Bebe, whose memory is naturally superior, did not hesitate to help add things on, tactfully not bringing up the previous emotional topic from before and allowing itself to be a patient sounding board to it''s host.

    However secretly it felt both a little relieved and a little sad.

    While the system did not have faith in a lot of aspects in its host. In this context, it really did believe that Jia Hyson has indeed given some form of sincere love to Darrian Garth. After all, it''s true when your in love you can give beautiful gifts, say heartwarming words and even intimately explore bodies- but there were many relationships and emotions that can lead to this too that were not necessarily love either. It was a very strange and complex thing, and many living and sentient beings, not just humans, have struggled to fully define this tangled horizon of a word called love.

    But, to Bebe at least, a love that can easily be given up on when things are a little difficult would definitely not be able to fall under the vast genre that is love. And at least in this simple definition, for a fickle person like Jia Hyson who was like water that prefers to flow around obstacles rather then face them, this may be just enough.

    "It''s impossible to keep relying on system items to distract Prince Silas, nor is it feasible to avoid him completely." Jia Hyson mutters, the piece of notebook paper had quickly become multiple pages of scribbles. Silas'' name was written and circled in large lettering and many key traits were listed and connected with him as well as his strengths, weaknesses and people who could control him.

    Unfortunately the people that could were very few.

    Prince Rigel had a chance, he should have woken up by now and with new dreams he would have a new skillset unbeknownst to the Golden Rose''s crown prince. However it''s a gamble in many ways, both in what Rigel had dreamed of, what Silas'' current powers contained and if Prince Rigel was even going to be helpful in the first place.

    The Golden Rose Coven king can only hold Prince Silas back with emotions and public pressure... This was really limited in both strength and usage.

    His brother''s Prince Damien and Prince Kieran... Hah, Kieran''s powers have been completely sealed and even then his skill Midas Authority only worked for inanimate objects and, while flashy, was inherently a little useless so it barely showed up in the original plot. Even in reality, the prince rarely used this power as it held too much rather negative symbolic implications on his personality.

    (8,000 p)

    Depraved Company''s Monster Fucking Manual, ew you actually have the audacity to carry this around? - Holding this book can increase the chance of deterring any monster kin who see it from approaching you. There is a 25% failure rate which increases depending on the personality of the individual monster kin. There is a 0.8% chance the monster kin may be stimulated by the book, in this case please click here for a pack of Depraved Company''s Flexible Monster Condoms at 70% off as compensation.

    (5,000 p)

    Holy Crepe, that tastes amazing! - Delicious crepe using holy water, and various pure ingredients sourced from places of blessing and prayer. Halal and kosher. Emits a mouthwatering tempting aroma and emits an aura of innocence. If creatures of dark affinity, or individuals with dark hearts eat this they will undergo a cleansing where the aftereffects would last for half a day.

    (2,100 p)

    Stunning Flash Bomb, sure to dazzle anyone''s eyes - An explosive device that emits a bright flash of light that adjusts to individual victim''s eyesight in order to safely temporarily blind them and avoid burning their eyes out. Sunglasses and other transparent surfaces will not be effective against this bomb.

    (999 p)

    Jia Hyson carefully read through the item descriptions. To be honest some of the items were naturally a bit ridiculous but as a fairly experienced host now, he was more or less used to the funny and absurd variety of items in the store so he forcefully ignored the humour of it and focused on contemplating the practicality for his situation. His serious expression only breaking at the Monster fucking manual item.

    ''What is this? Depraved Company?'' He can''t help but once again shift his line of focus helplessly. It wasn''t his fault. Such an item... there was perverted ones in the store but Jia Hyson felt he''s never seen one so blatantly perverted ah! Not only that they have the audacity to try sell you condoms if the manual fails. It''s not even free! You still would have to buy them! How obscene!

    ..He liked it so much, haha! (/▽\*)。o○?

    ''It''s a relatively new company.'' Bebe sighs, knowing full well it''s host''s tastes. ''A group of young graduate systems decided to boldly go independent and start the Depraved Company, which specialises in niche R18 goods. A lot of big companies are a bit disdainful but Overlord Li Jun has praised their group for their fun, innovative designs so a lot of eyes are on them. Right now we have to wait for a few more weeks to hear about their sales report but Bebe heard that the HellS designers are already considering collaborating with them.''

    Jia Hyson clicks his tongue with great interest. ''That''s pretty fun, it sounds a bit like a business war novel. Is starting a new company as a graduate in the system world quite uncommon?''

    ''Bebe would say it''s pretty rare, almost nonexistent.'' Bebe admits easily, earning a raised brow from its'' host. The beta system understood, in the human world there were many young entrepreneurs, and in novels it was even more common to have young, self-made CEOs of big businesses everywhere. Jia Hyson''s perspective on start ups was thus very different to the system world''s views. ''As systems we have built a society where it''s the norm for 98% of products to be sold from the main system company.''

    ''To oversimplify it, it''s like your equivalent to D*sney but instead of a monopoly of range of media and IPs it''s pretty much almost anything else, except for certain recreational services which is where most small businesses can be seen.''

    Jia Hyson clicks his tongue. "Isn''t a monopoly really bad for the economy?"

    Bebe clicks its tongue back at him. ''What''s so bad? Everything is regulated, 80% of all profits from sales goes to the teams who designed, produced and coded whatever products with a strict checking system to make sure systems don''t get unfairly taken advantage of or get credit stolen. Not to mention other than some quite ambitious systems who enjoy power or have personal stakes, everyone''s there just to pay for their next vacation or to pursue their passions anyway.''

    The concept was still a bit strange to accept but Jia Hyson more or less understood. After being with Bebe for such a long time he knew that systems while able to be enthusiastic for their work also don''t depend on it like how many humans tend to. Systems when born are automatically assigned a space and gain free basic education and program checkups. Food isn''t a necessity but merely added spice to their life, and most of their earned points mainly go into pleasure, useful additional or trendy upgrades, fun holidays and hobbies or decorations to their own space.

    Thus in retrospect, it does make sense why most systems don''t choose to become their own boss. At most they can become a team leader or aim for upper management in the main company, and given the number of systems and almost infinite amount of products and various departments, those titles probably hold the same amount of responsibility as a boss in a medium to large company anyway- but with the safety net of the main company able to help if things go awry.

    Think about it, if your paid well, have no worries about food, shelter, medical expenses or education, most people will not choose to struggle in starting a company that would eat up money for a period of time. Especially when individual product designers and freelance creators can still submit their works into the main company just as easily as those who have a company or work in the main company. Overall Jia Hyson still thinks the fame and long term steady shared profits from starting a successful company is good, but it''s still fairly unpopular among systems because of lifestyle differences.

    "Bebe, add the Depraved Company to my following list for now." Jia Hyson finally decides after some musing. All products in the shop are credited and the teams, creators, artists, designers, scientists and so on generally have a profile that can be followed in order for users to see what is the latest things they''ve produced.

    Because this is from a company, individual efforts are not credited though in the company profile a list of employees who wish to be named are present. This is probably another reason why companies are less popular, since it''s less convenient to gain notice as an individual. Of course given the nature of this company... maybe these systems don''t want to be noticed for such things either.

    Either way, while Jia Hyson would like to support small businesses, the product recommended was really not useful to him at all. He''s pretty sure if he carried around the Monster Fucking Manual and Prince Silas saw it... Haha, forget deterrence, Jia Hyson is confident he would be able to see that 0.8% failure rate turn into a 99.2% failure rate almost immediately.

    After some thought he purchases 5 Holy Crepes, 2 Stunning Flash Bombs, and a Vampire Caterpillar for 32,498p.

    Jia Hyson: Ah... it''s less than I expected, but seeing so much money leave me still hurts. _(:3」∠)_

    Still, if needed at least he can still afford to buy a big item later. However such a thing was for the future, he had once again had his thoughts drift away from his original train of thought. Contacting the vampire hunters.

    Still, it wasn''t all in vain, having a moment to think of other things had inspired him a little bit to consider alternate ideas as well.

    "Bebe... is it possible..." Jia Hyson touches his lips absentmindedly as he furrows his brows in thought, "Is it possible for you check the identities of all my fans and determine if they''re hunters, vampires and so on?"

    His Green Tea blog attracted the protagonist after all. And Prince Silas, and Kylan, two important characters, had found his Jasmine blog as well. Therefore it''s not that strange if there were other fairly important or minor characters who has also followed these things without his awareness. After all, characters will tend to attract other characters in some way or form on stories via luck or fate or coincidence, allowing the plot to conveniently introduce new people and creates new connections among the cast.

    And, while Jia Hyson doesn''t want to brag, his popularity in both respective niches was very good, so the chances of having a few fans in the same vampiric related circles as him is also not bad in general.

    Bebe thinks for a moment, "It''s not impossible, but it requires breaching many people''s privacy and constructing algorithms to determine the most likely to fit the bill, and codes to weed out the real vampires from the edgy vampire enthusiasts. Given the numbers and varying levels of privacy everyone has, Bebe would need a few hours to construct the relavant programs, let the programs attach to everyone''s IP, let the programs then run and then sort through the feedback and resulting best candidates personally."

    "That''s perfectly fine." Jia Hyson smiles, "However not everyone is an active fan, so I''ll upload some posts for the blog and chapters for my most popular works, then you can use those as a way to attach your stuff to whoever clicks in."

    Before Bebe could agree, Jia Hyson then heaved a big sigh of annoyance. "Wait, open the system shop again."

    Slightly surprised by the sudden change of mood, Bebe obediently complies nonetheless. ''Do you want Bebe to bring back the previous list of items?'' It considerately asks.

    "No, no." Jia Hyson waved his system off, "I''ll need... some energy and motivation tablets or something."

    The Jasmine blog wasn''t a problem, while they''re in the process of slowly closing it down it''s still active enough that they have a lot of photographs and other material they haven''t used yet, Bebe can easily work on that. But the stories.. For someone like himself, it''s one thing to casually gain inspiration and ideas for interesting new plots and stories, but it''s a whole other thing to casually write up a bunch of different story chapters in a day or two.

    Purchasing a 12-hour, Fast-acting, High Energy, Higher Motivation Lozenge for 500p and a Focus Band (White) for 1,200p, Jia Hyson felt like he was inflicting his own punishment on behalf of all the readers he''s left hanging in this world. Setting up his desk with a cup of hot herbal tea and a cute water bottle filled with cold honey lemon water, he cracks his neck and sits down.

    "Well, it''s going to be a fairly long night. Tsk, the things people do for love I guess."

    Popping the candy in his mouth and tying the Focus band on his forehead he''s eyes alight with determination as he opens his laptop and begins to type.

    ...

    Little Theatre:

    All of Jia Hyson''s reader fans: If this is what you do for love, then we wish you true love! We bless you for a thousand years! QAQ

    All of LittleBlueLake''s reader fans: ...So does that the slow updates are all because you''re a single dog? ???_???

    LittleBlueLake: ...