After the breakup, I was taken in by a group of trendy young women.

"Hey bro, wanna have a cigarette?"

A crisp voice came from above.

Lin Ye looked up and froze.

There was a girl standing in front of me, who looked to be no more than eighteen or nineteen years old.

She had dyed her hair blonde with a black patch growing out from the roots, wore a wrinkled Lolita dress, fishnet stockings, and dirty canvas shoes.

Behind her stood two more people, one with green hair and the other with pink hair. The three of them, like people running a dye shop, stared intently at the cigarette box in Lin Ye's hand.

"Break one."

The blond-haired man repeated it again, pointing a finger at the smoke in the woods.

"It means to divide one branch."

Lin Ye knew.

I took one out and handed it to her.

She took it and put it in her mouth, then pulled a lighter out of her pocket, lit it, took a deep drag, and exhaled a standard smoke ring.

"Bro, just broke up?"

How did you know?

"His eyes were red, his phone screen was still lit up with the breakup message, and he was squatting here smoking like he was in a movie."

She squatted down next to Lin Ye. "It's no big deal. Come on, let's go play."

"What do you want to play?"

"Two hundred yuan for a day of fun."

She blinked. "I've given you maximum emotional value."

Lin Ye almost choked on the smoke.

Two hundred yuan? For a whole day of fun? Emotional value?

"I'm not going."

"Hey, let's go."

Huang Mao stood up and grabbed Lin Ye's arm.

"What's the point of you squatting here smoking all by yourself? Come hang out with us, I guarantee you'll have a good time."

The green-haired and pink-haired guys chimed in, "That's right, bro, you're not bad looking either, it's a waste for you to be sitting here."

Lin Ye glanced at his phone.

My ex-girlfriend updated her WeChat Moments with a photo and the caption: "A new life begins."

In the photo, she leans on the shoulder of a man in a shirt, smiling like a flower.

Lin Ye put his phone back in his pocket.

"Walk."

Huang Mao and her friends live not far from here; it's a shared apartment in an old neighborhood.

Lin Ye was stunned when he pushed open the door.

There were three other people sitting in the living room. A woman with tattooed arms was playing games cross-legged on the sofa, a woman with tattooed legs was squatting by the coffee table slurping noodles, and a man with bangs was leaning against the balcony door, grooming a stray cat.

Including the three brought by Lin Ye, there are six in total.

They all looked up at the woods.

"Hey, blondie brought a man back?"

"You're quite handsome. Is this your new boyfriend?"

"Don't talk nonsense, I picked him up on the street, he just broke up with his girlfriend."

The blond-haired guy plopped down on the sofa.

"Sisters, we've got a sucker to pay the bill today, so tell us what you want to eat and drink!"

Six pairs of eyes turned to Lin Ye.

The girl with the tattooed arms was the first to speak: "Brother, I want to eat barbecue."

The girl with tattooed legs raised her hand: "I want to drink milk tea, a large one."

Green Hair shouted, "Fried chicken! Fried chicken!"

Pink-haired girl: "Can you pop open a bag of potato chips?"

With bangs, he hugged the cat and whispered, "We're out of cat food..."

Lin Ye looked at the six girls.

"OK."

Lin Ye took out his phone. "It's my treat."

The blond-haired guy's eyes lit up: "Bro, you're really a virgin?"

"What do you mean by 'friends'? It's just a meal."

I opened the food delivery app, and there was nothing missing: barbecue, milk tea, fried chicken, potato chips, and cat food.

The checkout page displayed: 186.5 yuan.

Lin Ye glanced at his balance; he only had 217 yuan left.

Clicked.

At the very moment the payment was successful,

【Ding! 】

A cold, electronic voice suddenly exploded in his mind. Lin Ye froze.

[Newbie quest complete: Treat six energetic young women to a meal.]

[10x bonus triggered, 1865 yuan has been credited to your account.]

Lin Ye looked down at his phone.

A bank notification popped up: 1865.00 yuan has been transferred to your account ending in 3827, leaving a balance of 2082.00 yuan.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

The blond-haired guy leaned closer and waved his hand in front of Lin Ye's eyes. "What are you daydreaming about?"

Lin Ye looked up at the six colorful girls in front of him.

They were eagerly waiting for their takeout.

The girl with the tattooed legs even made a heart shape with her hands at him: "Thank you, bro, you're a good person."

[Ding! Emotional value feedback detected, triggering an additional 3x rebate; 558 yuan has been credited to your account.]

My phone vibrated again.

Lin Ye looked down at his balance: 2640 yuan.

Then I looked up at this group of energetic young women.

"fine."

Lin Ye put his phone back in his pocket. "Eat whatever you want today, and we'll add more if you're not full."

Yellow Hair blinked, then suddenly leaned close to Lin Ye's ear and whispered, "Brother, if you're really generous, there's something else I want to discuss with you tonight."

"What is it?"

She pointed to the table.

Lin Ye looked in that direction and saw a piece of paper pasted there, with a few words scrawled on it:

"Rent is due, or you're out. Landlord here."

Yellow Hair counted on his fingers: "There are six of us, and we owe half a month's worth, totaling one hundred and twenty."

The six girls fell silent again, and the living room became quiet.

Only the stray cat meowed once.

[Ding! New quest triggered!]

[Task: Help six young women resolve their rent crisis.]

[Task Rewards: Random rebate multiplier (10-50x) + Hidden Rewards.]

Lin Ye looked at the task panel that appeared in his mind, and then looked at the six girls whose eyes were filled with expectation.

As darkness fell outside the window, the delivery driver's phone rang.

Huang Mao was still squatting next to Lin Ye, whispering, "Brother, if you can't do it, then don't force yourself."

Lin Ye stood up and went to the door to get the takeout.

As I turned around, I put the takeout on the coffee table and watched as the six girls rushed over.

"Eat."

"We'll talk about the rent after we finish eating."

The takeout boxes were piled up on the coffee table.

The barbecue skewers lay scattered about, the milk tea cup was empty, the fried chicken was reduced to bones, and the potato chip bag was licked clean.

The six girls were eating with great enthusiasm. The girl with tattooed arms was still gnawing on a chicken wing with her mouth full of oil, the girl with tattooed legs was slurping the last pearl with a loud slurping sound, the green-haired and pink-haired girls almost got into a fight over the last skewer of beef, and the girl with bangs was quietly peeling a shrimp and feeding it to the stray cat at her feet.

Yellow Hair leaned against the woods, legs crossed, a roasted leek dangling from his mouth, eating with a nodding and swaying head.

Lin Ye barely touched his chopsticks, and subconsciously glanced at his mobile banking balance again.

2640 yuan.

Half an hour ago, all he had was 217 yuan.

After paying the rent, I have to think twice before even eating at Shaxian snack shops.

Now, the six of them are eating their fill, not only have they gotten back ten times the money they spent, but the girl with the tattooed legs also said, "Thank you, brother, you're a good person," and the system gave him an extra five hundred yuan.

Emotional value feedback. An ex-girlfriend uses it as an excuse for a breakup fee; the system uses it as a pretext for rebates.

The same word, two different lives.