I am a Big Player

Chapter 30: 30. Select the reward direction!_1 Chapter 30: 30. Select the reward direction!_1 How difficult is it to write a song? Every year, countless new songs are born, yet only a few are pleasing to the ear, and those that become phenomenally popular hits are even rarer.

And after “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky” emerged in 2011, it became an instant hit across China as soon as it was released. Without a doubt, it was also one of Ren He’s favorite songs.

He didn’t know what melody was, or rather, he didn’t know how to judge whether a song was of professional quality; he only knew that sounding good was the most important thing.

“I feel like I still can’t quite grasp it. This song is your creation; could you sing it for me, so I can see what it should sound like in the eyes of its creator?” Yang Xi asked.

Uh, Ren He felt a bit embarrassed. His voice, although not unpleasant, was definitely not nice to listen to! Singing a car crash in front of someone he liked would be hilarious.

“Cough cough, in a couple of days, in a couple of days…” Ren He could only stall for time and quickly asked the Divine Punishment System in his mind, “Can I choose a reward?”

“Yes.”

What the hell, really?!

“You must sacrifice one reward opportunity. In the next mission, you can designate the direction of the reward,” the Divine Punishment System explained.

So Ren He understood. This meant that he could use the opportunity of one reward to choose the direction of a reward. During the next reward, the system would make a selection within that direction, and all he could choose was the direction itself.

This was a bit troubling. Looking at it now, the rewards from the Divine Punishment System seemed rather “Geili”, so giving up a reward was somewhat painful indeed.

But the feeling that he would have to demonstrate for Yang Xi in the future was unbearable, really couldn’t stand the idea of torturing someone with his terrible voice… Ren He gritted his teeth and said to the Divine Punishment System, “I give up the reward for the current task of climbing five floors with my bare hands in exchange for a talent in singing for my next reward.”

“Granted!” said the Divine Punishment System calmly.

The next day, the first thing Ren He did was to buy some magnesium powder and a magnesium powder bag that could hang at his waist. The chemical name for magnesium powder is “magnesium carbonate,” a white, tasteless powder whose function is to absorb the sweat on the hands, keeping the palms dry and ensuring friction between the hands and the rock, making climbing more effective. Magnesium powder comes in powdered form, block form, and liquid form. The powdered form is more common and is often used in sports like gymnastics and weightlifting. With the rise of rock climbing, magnesium powder has also been used to absorb sweat during climbs.

Last time he started sweating palms by the time he climbed to the third floor of the teaching building, and now that he was aiming for the fifth floor, magnesium powder was definitely needed.

It’s not that he couldn’t climb without magnesium powder; it was just for greater assurance of his own safety.

In the dead of night, when everything was quiet, Ren He warmed up with a nighttime run before starting to climb the apartment building where he lived. For him, who had climbed once before, there was no problem as long as he had enough strength.

As he was climbing past the second floor, he heard a man and a woman arguing inside…

“Sinful, sinful…” Ren He continued to climb upwards…

His home was on the fifth floor, in an old residential complex where the tallest building was only seven stories. He had already left the window of his apartment open, so when he reached the fifth floor, he could just climb in through it.

The Divine Punishment System had just rewarded his physical condition with a score of 4.12, so climbing up presented no difficulty for him. Ren He now possessed the physique of a young person, and even surpassed the physical quality of an ordinary adult.

However, just as he had reached the fourth floor, he suddenly saw a security guard below carrying a massive searchlight, patrolling the area. Due to the commotion caused by a resident on the second floor last time, they had complained to the property management, which resulted in security guards now being equipped with searchlights during their night patrols. They were also instructed to check for any burglars attempting to climb the building…

Seeing the searchlight was about to reach his position, Ren He, who could have otherwise climbed methodically, was now forced to take a risky move and race against time!

He had applied a bit of magnesium powder to his hands to increase the friction on his fingers, and with a forceful push of his feet against the anti-theft bars on the fourth floor, his body shot upward in an instant. He grabbed the edge of the fifth-floor windowsill and, with a sudden burst of strength in his arms, he leaped into his room like a nocturnal bird and swiftly closed the window behind him.

At that moment, the searchlight had just swept over the very spot where he had been!

The security guard felt as though he had seen something move a moment ago, but when the searchlight shone there, nothing was visible, and the window on the fifth floor was tightly shut. He could only shake his head, suspecting he might have had an illusion.

This damned property manager was really making life difficult. It used to be enough to patrol twice a night, but now it was required to do it six times!

Ren He was sweating bullets in his room, thinking how perilous the situation was. If the security guard had spotted him, he would have inevitably kicked up a fuss with his parents, and who knows what would be waiting for him then.

Yet that leap a moment ago was like a brief thrilling journey for Ren He. Despite the danger at the time, it felt incredibly exhilarating! He was now reveling in this life-or-death thrill!

“Host has completed the task. The next reward will be selected from singing talents.”

Done! Ren He didn’t wait any longer and immediately took out paper to draw the musical staff and wrote the title: South of South Mountain!

The song “Sesame Leaves,” just like in the parallel world, was popular throughout Jiang Nan, and it could definitely be considered as a phenomenon-level work! Moreover, folk songs fit Yang Xi’s taste perfectly. By writing this song so quickly, the next Divine Punishment Mission would be released sooner, and then he could sing for Yang Xi…

Who would have thought that the weakness of not daring to sing in his past life could be resolved in this life with the help of the Divine Punishment System.

As Ren He penned the last lyric, the Divine Punishment System had already released a new mission in his mind: “Mission: Climb the family building from the 1st to the 7th floor with bare hands, within one week. Failure will result in elimination!”

More climbing… Do you really want me to climb until I puke…?

Ren He decided not to sleep and took advantage of the end of the security patrol. With the next patrol an hour away, he might as well complete the task tonight!

He stealthily equipped his bag of magnesium powder and headed downstairs. His body was still warm, so there was no need for another warm-up. He started climbing directly!

There were no longer any sounds coming from the second-floor apartment; they must have tired of the commotion…

By the time Ren He reached the fifth floor again, he could already feel his muscles becoming slightly sore. If he counted the three floors of the school building he had climbed that morning, he had accumulated 13 floors climbed today. If he finished climbing the seventh floor, it would be 15 floors.

Honestly, the stamina of an ordinary adult wasn’t that great, so it was a good thing Ren He was lighter now, which contributed to the soreness in his muscles.