Chapter 58: Black Screen (Vote Request)

"System," Li He called out softly in his heart.

In the next instant, a clear light swept over Li He's dark eyes, as if he were wearing colored contacts inscribed with intricate patterns.

A simple system interface appeared before him.

[Name: Li He]
[Age: 20/44]
[Negative Emotion Value: 1,170,250]
[Skills: Piano Level 9]
[Inventory: "Ten Years," "Canon"]

So much negative emotion value?

Li He was somewhat astonished—the negative emotion value had actually surpassed a million this time.

He was now a millionaire, just like that.

But Li He dared not get cocky; he’d learned all too well the nature of this damned system.

Over a million negative emotion points—who knew how many useful things could actually be drawn? For all he knew, it would just cough up another useless capsule.

He still remembered the time he drew the "Dense Hair Capsule"—what a pain that had been.

Before trying his luck, Li He first shared a lucky koi post in his social circle, hoping to catch a bit of good fortune.

Whether it worked or not, it at least made him feel more at ease.

He’d even thought of sharing something about Yang Chaoyue, but in this world, there wasn’t an artist of her type—so he had no chance to forward anything.

"It’s definitely because I don’t have the lottery battle anthem 'Good Luck Comes,' otherwise my luck wouldn’t be this bad." Li He blamed his non-lucky streak on the absence of a battle song.

With preparations done, Li He took a deep breath, shouting in his heart, "Ten draws in a row."

The wheel spun rapidly, making a 'ka-ka-ka' sound.

Li He was stunned.

When the damned system first started the lottery, the wheel would just spark a little, but now it was making weird noises—at this rate, next time it might just fall apart.

Could this system even function properly?

You’re supposed to be a system that lets people marry a rich, beautiful woman and reach the pinnacle of life!

The more Li He used it, the more he realized this system was an unfinished defective product. If there were after-sales service, he’d have returned it by now.

It was simply outrageous.

Li He felt utterly resigned—every time he did a lottery draw, his mentality took a hit.

"Stop."

The wheel shot out little sparks.

[Negative Emotion Value +10]
[Negative Emotion Value +10]
[Negative Emotion Value +10]
[Bronze Chest x1]
[...]
[...]

Li He ignored the bronze chest added to his inventory and went for another ten draws.

Swish.

[Negative Emotion Value +10]
[Negative Emotion Value +10]
[Bronze Chest x1]
[Negative Emotion Value +10]
[...]
[...]

...

...

...

[Negative Emotion Value +10]

Eleven ten-draws in one go—the prizes aside, Li He thoroughly enjoyed the process.

"System," he called out internally.

The lottery interface shattered, reassembling into the streamlined system page.

[Name: Li He]
[Age: 20/44]
[Negative Emotion Value: 71,250]
[Skills: Piano Level 9]
[Inventory: "Ten Years," "Canon," "Bronze Chest x11"]

Li He glanced at the remaining negative emotion value, feeling conflicted.

"Should I try a single draw? What if a miracle happens?" The gambler’s mindset gnawed at him.

It was just like buying a lottery ticket—knowing full well the odds were slim, but what if...

What if he won?

"Seventy thousand negative emotion value can’t do much anyway, might as well try. Besides, I shared the lucky koi..." With no sense of reality, Li He decided to gamble.

"Single draw."

Li He shouted with determination.

The wheel spun.

"Stop."

Swish.

[Negative Emotion Value +10]

"Single draw."

"Stop."

[Negative Emotion Value +11]

Li He: ?????

The extra 1 point of negative emotion value—was the system pitying him?

Much appreciated!

With a steadfast heart, Li He exited the lottery screen, vowing never to do a single draw again.

This was too much.

+10 was bad enough, but the last one was +11. Who did the system think it was mocking?

Did he really need that 1 extra point?

Li He’s composure was on the verge of collapse.

Then he opened the notification bar.

[Negative Emotion Value +0.01 from Hu Lan]
[Negative Emotion Value +0.01 from Zhang Wei]
[Negative Emotion Value +0.01 from Liu Huo Huo]
[Negative Emotion Value +0.01 from Li Si]

Ten minutes later...

Li He felt much better.

He opened the system inventory: eleven bronze chests lay quietly inside.

"Extract all."

Eleven bronze chests opened with cheap special effects under Li He’s expectant gaze.

Swish.

[Advanced Music Theory Knowledge Capsule]
[Advanced Signature Technique Capsule]
[Advanced Guitar Skill Capsule]
[Advanced Vocal Cord Restoration Capsule]
[Park Tree Singing Technique Capsule (Upper Half)]
[Park Tree Singing Technique Capsule (Lower Half)]
[Novel: The Return of the Condor Heroes]
[Novel: Jade Dynasty]
[Comic: Naruto]
[Variety Show: Planning for Longing for Life]
[Song: Ordinary Road (audio and sheet music)]

Li He was petrified on the spot.

This damned system was getting more outrageous with each draw.

Advanced music theory and advanced signature technique—what the hell?

He was already a composition major—did he really not understand music theory? Or did sticking "advanced" in front make it truly advanced?

It wasn’t that Li He thought he knew all there was to music theory, but to spend such precious ten-draws to get music theory knowledge just felt like a waste.

And as for signature techniques—how fancy did a signature need to be? One was enough.

Did signing in a flashy way attract masses of fans...? Li He didn’t even want to comment.

He could put up with those.

But the Park Tree singing technique was split into two halves?

Li He was indignant.

If it was an upgraded version or something, that would be fine—even if the meaning was similar, it would at least look better.

From regular to advanced, compared to upper and lower halves, the latter just made him feel the system was playing him.

He’d never seen a system bully its host like this.

So frustrated by the system, Li He didn’t even notice the "Advanced Vocal Cord Restoration Capsule."

"System, do you know how infuriating you are?" Li He gritted his teeth inwardly.

System: [Host, please keep your composure. Besides, you can't hit the system anyway.]

Li He: ?????

So that was where your arrogance came from.

Unwilling to give up, Li He asked, "What does the 'Advanced Signature Technique Capsule' do?"

System: [It allows the host to master various advanced signature techniques.]

Li He: ?????

Did he need the system to tell him that?

He could analyze the words himself.

"Extract all capsules."

Having given up, Li He let out a soft sigh.

In the next moment, four whole capsules and two halves suddenly appeared in his hand.

Familiar with the process, Li He poured them straight into his mouth.

They dissolved instantly.

A warm current flowed through his body, and soon, Li He felt a tickling sensation in his throat, making him want to scratch.

After a minute, the warm feeling and tickle faded, leaving only a coolness, as if he’d sucked on a mint.

Li He knew well how powerful the system's capsules were—though the process seemed ordinary, the effects were always astonishing.

He tried singing a few lines of "Bubble."

His throat and vocal cords no longer felt irritated, and the pain he’d felt when speaking was gone.

"It’s really healed," Li He said, a joyful smile spreading across his face.

Too much smoke had damaged his vocal cords, affecting both singing and ordinary speech.

Now, not only were his damaged vocal cords repaired, but they’d been strengthened in the process.

Where others might struggle after singing for two hours, Li He could go three without issue.

He had gained endurance.

And that wasn’t all.

The Advanced Music Theory Knowledge Capsule and Park Tree Singing Technique Capsule brought a flood of knowledge, making his head feel a little swollen.

At this moment, Li He was like someone who’d starved themselves for a day to eat their fill at a buffet, forcing down so much food that his stomach ached.

His brain now felt the same way—too much knowledge at once, and it was a bit much to handle.

The mouth was too small, the serving too large.

This was different from last time with the Piano Level 9 knowledge.

Piano Level 9 required skills and techniques rather than rote knowledge, taking up less mental space.

The same applied to guitar skills.

What took up massive mental space were the Park Tree singing techniques. Advanced music theory also took up a lot, but much of Park Tree’s singing overlapped with it.

Relatively speaking, Park Tree’s singing techniques consumed more brain capacity.

Here, "singing techniques" referred not only to breath, vocalization, resonance, enunciation, and emotional expression, but everything related to music except his creative abilities—such as vocal styles, range, timbre, musical understanding...

It made sense that Park Tree’s creative abilities were excluded—if the system truly copied those over, what need would there be for the system itself?

"Two bronze chests—totally worth it."

Though it took up two bronze chests, Park Tree’s singing technique was worth much more. Li He would have traded ten chests for it.

This was the accumulation of most of Park Tree’s life—ten bronze chests would be a good deal.

After half an hour, the feeling of mental bloating finally faded.

"Next time, I need to be careful. You can’t get fat in one bite, and you can’t cram all this knowledge in at once," Li He reminded himself.

This time, there weren’t that many capsules, but if he wasn’t careful next time and took more, his brain might actually explode from the sudden influx of knowledge.

In other words, he’d become an idiot.

Li He picked up a pen, ready to test out how advanced the signature technique capsule really was.

The moment the pen touched paper, hundreds of different "Jia Bei" signature styles flashed through his mind.

Depending on the need, his right hand would instantly select and sign the most suitable, stylish version for the situation.

This process required no thought—it was pure muscle memory.

It seemed a bit flashy, but at least it was somewhat useful... The previous skills had raised Li He’s expectations so high that even fancy signature techniques failed to impress.

He was getting carried away.

There was nothing to check for the novels "Jade Dynasty" and "The Return of the Condor Heroes"—the plots didn’t need any changes. With Bi Yao’s death in one and Xiao Longnv’s tragedy in the other, these two scenes alone were enough to push all the readers’ emotions to the breaking point, maxing out negative emotion values.

What surprised Li He most was drawing the variety show planning for "Longing for Life" and the manga "Naruto."

This reminded Li He of the day he first encountered the system.

Back then, it claimed the three standard lottery prizes were: novel, song, and film/TV.

At first, Li He believed it, until the later, increasingly unreliable capsules appeared.

But now, variety shows and comics had entered the mix—yet there was still no sign of a film or TV script.

"System, I’m convinced I’m your very first host," Li He thought, increasingly certain this system was unfinished, released before it was ready.

Now, not only did the lottery wheel spark, it even made creaking noises when it spun.

Li He wondered if the next spin would make it explode outright.

Such a safety hazard.

At that moment—

As if to answer Li He’s doubts, the system interface, running perfectly fine a second before, suddenly went black.

Li He: ?????

What the hell did that mean?

———
PS: First draft, will revise later