[Sarah: Beauty 8.7 points, can bind as a consumption rebate target. Do you want to bind?]
"Bind."
[Binding successful, received reward: a box of tea]
Bruce was surprised by the meager thing he received as a reward. Every time he bound a woman, he would receive a reward. Last time the reward was one million dollars, so he had his hopes high, but this time it was just a box of tea. His hopes of getting something of good value were completely shattered...
'So the system gives useless things too...' Stan sighed inwardly.
Meanwhile, after binding, a notification appeared...
[Sarah: Favorability −10]
'Negative? That's a first. I've not even spoken to her yet.' Stan frowned upon seeing it. He was a bit confused; this was his first time encountering negative favorability.
'Is my infamous reputation that bad that a girl will have negative favorability towards me when I've done nothing wrong to her...'
The video call hung in silence for a beat too long. Stan was still processing the negative notification, and the pause stretched into something awkward. Sarah, apparently tired of waiting, spoke first.
"Can you lend me the money or not? If you can't, I'm deleting your number." Her voice carried a dull edge of disappointment, not quite hostile, but close.
Stan's expression cooled. "Is that how you talk to someone who's offering to help? Keep that up and I might just change my mind."
Sarah froze. The words hit her like cold water.
She thought of how many times she'd reached out to people recently, how many of them had turned her down, strung her along, or flat-out ignored her. Somewhere along the way, she'd stopped expecting anything good. And now she'd nearly pushed away the one person who might actually come through.
She bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I've been let down too many times, and I took it out on you."
Stan waved it off. "It's fine. Just send me your card number. Let's get this done."
The heaviness in Sarah's face vanished instantly. She sent her details without a second thought.
"Sent."
"Got it. Transferring now."
[Sarah: Favorability +10]
[Sarah: Favorability +20]
Stan completed the transfer.
A few seconds later, Sarah let out a sharp breath.
"Ten million dollars?! Did you, did you type the wrong amount?"
She stared at the balance on her screen like it might glitch and correct itself. Ten million?! She had never seen that many digits attached to her name!
"I accidentally added an extra zero," Stan said casually.
That was a lie. The extra zero was very much intentional.
[Consumed $10,000,000.]
[Double rebate received: $20,000,000.]
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Sarah, meanwhile, was reeling. 'He haven't asked for an IOU. Haven't set conditions. Just sent the money. Like it was nothing. Does he... have feelings for me?'
It was only natural she thought like this, after all It's the only explanation that made sense. If not, why else would anyone be this generous?
"I can't accept this much. Let me transfer the extra back..."
[Warning: Funds spent on a consumption rebate target are non-recoverable. Attempted recovery will incur a penalty of 100× the consumed amount.]
Stan's stomach dropped. 'A billion-dollar penalty. Wonderful.'
"Don't," he said, sharper than he intended.
Sarah flinched. "What's wrong?"
"Just because I typed an extra zero, you want to throw it back in my face? Are you looking down on me?"
"No need to pay it back."
Sarah was stunned for a moment. 'Ten million dollars is not a small amount, yet he was actually telling her not to pay it back. Could there be some kind of trap? Could Stan be trying to use ten million dollars to coerce her into doing something lewd?'
[Sarah: Favorability 18]
[Sarah: Favorability 15]
Seeing Sarah's favorability dropping, Stan knew he must have said the wrong thing and quickly corrected himself.
"You don't need to pay it back for now. When I ask you for the money, then you can give it to me."
Sarah hesitated for a moment and replied, "Alright!"
"Thank you. How about I treat you to a meal tomorrow?"
"Sure," Stan readily agreed.
"Stan! Someone is here for you!" His roommate Zack's voice rang from the hallway.
'Why are women's minds so complicated? Despite having sent her that huge amount, her favorability still dropped. Whatever, It's a good thing it didn't drop by much.' Stan sighed as he set his phone down, stood up from his bed, and headed for the door. Upon coming out he looked at the figure waiting for him with furrowed brows.
A man in a tailored black suit stood waiting outside the dormitory, sunglasses on despite the overcast sky. He carried a bottle of red wine like it was a scepter.
"Mr. Harrison." The man smiled. "I'm here on behalf of the Chairman. He asked me to deliver this as a welcoming gift."
Stan stared at the bottle, then at the man. "Chairman? I think you've got the wrong person."
"You are Stan Harrison, correct?"
"...Yeah."
"Then there's no mistake. Our Chairman is Maya's father."
Stan went quiet. 'Maya's father sent someone to find me?'
"The Chairman hopes you'll accept this small token of goodwill." The man extended the bottle again.
"I don't drink. But thank you."
As the saying goes, taking gifts from others makes one feel indebted. Receiving a gift for no reason just felt wrong.
There was no reason to accept gifts from strangers, especially strangers with money and motives he didn't understand.
At the same time, the suit-clad man's eyes flashed, and he revealed a meaningful smile. "You don't have to drink it. A 1997 Romanée-Conti goes for over two hundred thousand on the open market."