I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 74
I ate the remaining strawberries, poured the leftover food that some unscrupulous girl didn’t finish, washed the dishes and utensils, tidied up the table. I washed my hands and came to the computer desk wearing a rabbit-themed nightgown.
Why do I have a feeling that I’ve been deceived? She promised the latest model of a phone, but she left without even asking about the model and specifications. Is she hiding in some corner to lick her wounds, or is she planning to steal a phone from an outside store?
Moreover, wasn’t she already seriously injured by that so-called demon king? Her clothes are all torn up. She can’t possibly go to a phone store like this, can she?
In my mind, I imagine the following scene: A girl covered in wounds, barely clothed, even her black stockings are tattered. She enters a luxury brand cellphone store with a sickle in one hand and a wad of cash in the other, speaking with the tone of a menacing mob boss: ‘Give me the latest model of the phone, money is not an issue!’
…
Speaking of the situation just now, the Miss Grim Reaper most likely didn’t leave through the main door of the room. If her ability to use spatial fissures can disregard distance and have no limitations, doesn’t that mean she can come and go freely even in a bank’s vault?”
In that case, if I take her phone, wouldn’t that make me an accomplice? If the Grim Reaper is sentenced for a significant theft with aggravated circumstances, how should she be sentenced? The death penalty? What happens if a person is executed and then comes back to life? Does the previous death penalty still count?
Feeling somewhat conflicted, I glanced at the pouring rain outside. I can’t put all my hopes in the “Grim Reaper”. That person is unreliable, and if I rely on her to give me a phone and then order food and clothes using that phone, who knows how long I’ll have to wait?
In the current situation, I have the habit of keeping food stocked, so theoretically, if this rain continues, I won’t starve for a short period. After all, I have eggs and rice in the house, and even if I’m in a hurry, it’s just a matter of wasting a bit of electricity, like before when I washed all my clothes and dried them in front of the little heater.
Alternatively… I could use the computer to log in to a food delivery app or a “local express” platform, order new clothes, and specify in the notes: “Don’t call, come to 3rd floor, Room 301, and knock.” As long as I have clothes, I can go out, and there’s always a way to deal with the money situation.
At least for now, a phone isn’t an absolute necessity for me, although it might make shopping more complicated in the future. By the way, did I leave my umbrella at that breakfast shop near Wanghai Park’s entrance? If I need to go out, I’ll have to buy a new one?
It’s been such a chaotic day. Oh well, let’s wash the clothes I changed out of and get back to writing. If that person doesn’t return around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, I’ll just turn on the heater to dry the clothes and go out to buy groceries.
As for the “women-clothing and changing the phone” thing, as long as the Grim Reaper dares to give me a phone, I dare to wear any woman’s clothes! It’s just changing into a different outfit and making a video, right? If one video doesn’t get more than 100,000 views, then I’ll upload two. If two don’t work, then I’ll try three. Besides, qualities like “macho charisma” aren’t erased just by wearing women’s clothes. I’ll wear women’s clothes for the video, get a free phone, and after that, I can change back to my usual clothes. The Grim Reaper never required me to maintain that appearance for a whole week, and you can’t get addicted to cross-dressing, can you? All in all, it’s like getting a free phone.
With this thought, my mood suddenly improved a lot. Losing an umbrella and an old phone but gaining a new one, it seems like my luck isn’t too bad today. I took the clothes and underwear I changed out of to the bathroom, added some hot water, and spent about half an hour cleaning them. I hung the clothes up with a hanger in the room. So, let’s get to work now.
Wearing my soft and comfy rabbit-themed nightgown, I hopped onto the computer chair. I opened the word processing software and the author backend on the website. First, I went through the reader comments, novel feedback, and chapter critiques from yesterday, and then I entered the word processing software. I checked for typos and grammatical errors in the corresponding chapters on both sides, put the revised drafts into the author backend for corrections, and then used a professional website to check for spelling and grammar errors to ensure there weren’t any major issues before uploading the chapters.
Next, it was time for the routine of listening to music, watching videos to get into the right mood, and then I began writing.
…
Until noon, I looked at the “Today’s Input: 3700 words” displayed in the upper right corner of my computer and stretched lazily on the small chair. Hasn’t that Grim Reaper come back yet?
Wait, why did I use the word “come back”? I reached out and playfully slapped my chubby cheeks. Even though in that Grim Reaper’s eyes, I might be the reincarnation of some “hero,” I don’t have his memories, I don’t know any magic or swordsmanship, and I can’t even recall what the so-called “demon race” friends look like. When I first met that Grim Reaper, she was a completely unfamiliar person to me. Where did I get the idea that she should “come back”?
“Ugh…”
With a little yawn, I went to my bedroom and opened the snack box. I took out a small container filled with mixed grains. Let’s have a simple lunch and then take a nap.
Carrying the small container to the kitchen, I washed the rice cooker, poured in some eight-treasure porridge, added a bit of tangerine peel and brown sugar, covered it, set the timer, and returned to my computer. I casually picked up the “Shangjing Cat Café” promotional flyer from my desk that Pepe gave me yesterday and double-clicked to open QQ.
“Shenzhen City, Nanqi District, Shangjing Cat Café is recruiting maids. Appearance and physique are preferred, no educational requirements, no gender requirements….”
While waiting for QQ to open, I quietly read through the recruitment information on the flyer.
“No gender requirements? Does that mean even guys can apply? What kind of café is this, a confused café?” I mused.
Intrigued, I read further:
“Shifts are divided into morning, afternoon, and night shifts. Morning shift is from 8 AM to 4 PM, afternoon shift is from 4 PM to midnight, and night shift is from midnight to 8 AM. Eight days off per month, scheduling can be requested at the beginning of each month according to your needs and approval by the manager. One-month probation period, meals and accommodation can be provided, with benefits including five insurances and one fund…”
“It seems quite regular, three shifts, each eight hours. If I choose the morning shift, I could go to work in the morning and come back to write after having lunch at 4 PM. Double the salary?”
“Ding ding ding ding…”
Just as I was contemplating whether to apply for a job at this café funded by “Tongmeng Net,” a message from “Marisa’s Iron Butt @ All Members” suddenly popped up in the QQ group at the bottom right corner of my computer:
?Marisa’s Iron Butt invites you to join QQ Voice?
What’s going on? Why is he initiating a voice call in the middle of the day? Seeing Jiang Wei’s message, I felt puzzled. Typically, we only have voice calls and play games or chat after 9 PM, because that’s when Pipi’s daughter is usually asleep, and he, as a father, finally has some personal time.
As an author, the best time for writing and updating is during the day or late at night. Authors working during the late night hours often face issues like disrupted sleep patterns and fatigue, which can have a significant impact on their health. Therefore, most authors prefer to write during the daytime, from 9 AM to 5 PM.
After 5 PM, there are noises all around, with office workers returning home, car horns blaring outside, kids playing downstairs, the sounds of cooking, and parents scolding. Even after dinner, you have residents in apartments like mine, the “song gods,” who sing off-key… In short, mature authors tend to choose quieter times to write, as all these various noises can be quite distracting.
So, why did Jiang Wei suddenly break this routine and initiate a QQ voice call in the middle of the day? “What’s up with you?” I asked.
Just as I entered the voice call, Pipi, who had entered the call almost simultaneously, spoke, “I just got my daughter to sleep. Are you up for some gaming?”
“No, buddy, listen to me, there’s something…”
Jiang Wei sounded excited in the voice call, “I think I’m about to get out of the single status.”
“What?” Pipi sounded somewhat disbelieving. “You confessed to Nuo’er?”
“Get out of here, Nuo’er is our good buddy, such a cute and adorable loli. What are you thinking? I’m may a lolicon, but not a beast.”
Jiang Wei playfully scolded, then continued, “Listen to me. Just a moment ago, a girl came to my computer shop, and she looked really familiar. Before I could figure out who she was, this girl confessed to me directly. She said she and I were classmates in junior high, and she had been secretly in love with me for two years. She regretted not leaving her contact information when I dropped out of school. Recently, when she needed to buy a computer, she saw my shop’s owner and realized it looked really familiar, so she immediately took a train to confirm.”
“Is it for real?” Pipi seemed genuinely happy for his friend. “Did you accept? What does she look like? Were you secretly in love with her too?”
“No, I told her to let me think about it. As for her looks… she’s quite attractive, although not as cute and astonishing as Nuo’er. But I remember her having a really good personality. Back in junior high, there were some troublemakers bothering her, and I taught those troublemakers a lesson. Little did I know, she remembered me from that time.”
“Why did you start this voice call now?”
As soon as Jiang Wei finished speaking, accompanied by a “ding dong,” Su Yunjin’s voice came through the headphones, “Are we playing games now?”
“Jituto, Marisa’s Iron Butt has some good fortune.”
Pipi explained, “His childhood sweetheart from junior high came to confess.”
“Really?”
Su Yunjin also seemed pleasantly surprised, “Is our brother Jiang Wei finally getting out of singledom? Weren’t we all planning on staying single for life?”
“Staying single for life means not meeting a girl you like, right?” Jiang Wei’s voice had a hint of embarrassment. “I actually like that girl quite a bit, but it was back in junior high, and we spent a lot of time together. Those were the best memories of my school days. It’s just that I was just a kid back then, what did I know? Now that I’m out in the real world, I thought she must have been married by now, but I never expected…”
“What are you planning to do?” Su Yunjin was quite interested. “When’s the wedding? I’ll send you the biggest red envelope.”
“I… I haven’t decided, and she hasn’t either.” Jiang Wei sounded nervous. “Do you know? I’ve actually never really considered dating and marriage. I had a friend back in the day, and we were really poor at the time. He got dumped by his girlfriend because of our poverty. My friend told me that it’s truly pathetic for a man to be in love when he’s poor because the difference between being poor and being rich is just the choice between eating steamed buns and steak for dinner. We could still play games and chat with our buddies, and it didn’t affect our happiness too much… But once you have someone you like, as a man, you easily realize that kind of deep-seated self-doubt brought by poverty.”
“…”
For some reason, Jiang Wei’s words left me in silence. Afterward, I instinctively glanced around my modest rented room near the computer. In my mind, I kept repeating what Jiang Wei had just said:
“Once you have someone you like, as a man, you easily realize that kind of deep-seated self-doubt brought by poverty.”
“Uncle, uh, Nuo’er, Nuo’er?”
“Nuo’er, are you there?”
At this point, Pipi’s voice came through the headphones, “Nuo’er?”
“Huh?”
I snapped out of it, “I’m here.”
“What do you think?” Pipi asked with a coaxing tone. “Does Marisa’s Iron Butt have a chance this time?”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
I adjusted my mindset slightly and said, “Hasn’t he always been working hard for a living? After so many years of toiling, love has come knocking. He can hold on to it firmly now.”