After completing my life's work, I achieved financial freedom.

Forty minutes later.

Southwest entrance of Hangzhou Hubin in77.

Gu Bai watched the taxi drive away and fell into deep thought.

"My previous workplace was only about ten kilometers away from here, so why did the driver charge me seventy yuan? And the time seems off too. Ten kilometers took forty minutes? Even riding an electric scooter wouldn't take that long..."

Something's not right...

Something's nine out of ten wrong...

"Am I going to get ripped off?!"

The thought of this possibility made Gu Bai feel terrible. He used to always take the bus or subway when he went out, and now, finally indulging himself by taking a taxi, he'd encountered a rip-off...

"Holy shit!" Gu Bai, standing on the roadside, snapped in anger...

It would be a lie to say he wasn't heartbroken. Before today, seventy yuan would have been enough for him to have a nice meal and a cup of milk tea...

Before he could feel any pity, the rumbling in his stomach abruptly interrupted his heartache.

Because of the project plan revisions, Gu Bai hadn't been eating breakfast much lately, just snacking on biscuits when he was hungry. This morning, before he even had a chance to eat biscuits, a series of things happened, including being chased by security guards for a kilometer or two. The fact that he didn't experience low blood sugar is a testament to his good physical condition...

"Forget it, I'll settle the score with him next time I see him! I'd better go find somewhere to get something to eat..."

Gu Bai came here mainly to celebrate his release from the status of a slave, and also to see if he could trigger any system tasks.

After all, the first main quest given by the system was to host a banquet for his younger self.

He felt that to trigger the related side quests of this main quest, he should make up for the regrets of his youth and buy the things he wanted but couldn't buy when he was a child.

As expected, as soon as Gu Bai stepped through the gates of in77, relevant mission information popped up in front of him.

[Task Two: Obtain what you could not have in your youth]

[Task Description: Have you ever desperately wanted something but ultimately didn't get it for various reasons? A perfect life shouldn't be haunted by things you couldn't have in your youth. Pay the price for your younger self!]

[Task Requirement: Purchase 10 items you longed for in your youth]

[Task Rewards: Rewards will be randomly awarded based on factors such as item prices and the intensity of one's childhood desires.]

.......

Good news: Gu Bai guessed correctly how the system task was triggered.

Bad news: Gu Bai couldn't immediately recall what he had longed for most when he was young.

It's not that Gu Bai didn't have things he wanted but couldn't get in his childhood, but rather that there were too many things he wanted but couldn't get, making it too difficult to find his favorite among them.

After racking his brains for a while without finding an answer, Gu Bai turned his attention to the words "item price".

"Since you don't know what your favorite thing was when you were a kid, just buy what you wanted as a kid, something that wasn't cheap either, that can't be wrong, right...?"

Having come up with a solution, Gu Bai inwardly gave himself a narcissistic thumbs-up, then turned left and walked into a ramen restaurant with a decent number of customers.

As soon as he entered, Gu Bai instinctively wanted to order his favorite braised beef noodles.

But he swallowed the words back down his throat.

He's no longer the good-for-nothing he used to be. How can he eat that 15-yuan braised beef noodle soup like cattle and horses?

Thinking of this, Gu Bai spoke to the receptionist.

"Boss lady, a bowl of braised beef noodles, one pound of beef and two fried eggs, please!"

The moment the words left his mouth, Gu Bai wondered if he was hallucinating, but he felt the air around him freeze for a moment, and the once bustling ramen shop became eerily quiet for two seconds.

A chubby boy sitting near Gu Bai almost spat out his Vita Milk after taking a sip and only drinking half of it.

Completely ignoring the surprised looks from others, and paying no attention to the chubby boy who was frantically looking for tissues to wipe his mouth, he glanced at the menu for a moment and continued speaking to the proprietress.

"Another braised chicken leg, and a bottle of iced tea for four yuan and fifty cents."

The chubby boy, who had just wiped his mouth, looked at him with a shocked expression, as if to say, "Brother, how much did you splurge to eat like that?"

"Young man, are you sure you want a bowl of braised beef noodles, with a pound of beef, two fried eggs, a braised chicken leg, and a bottle of iced tea?" the proprietress asked with a strange look in her eyes.

"Hmm." Gu Bai nodded, indicating that he was not joking.

"But our beef noodles come in generous portions. If you order that much, I'm afraid you won't be able to finish it..."

Seeing the proprietress's serious expression, Gu Bai glanced at the beef noodles in front of the other diners and knew that what the proprietress said was true; the portions were indeed very generous.

After thinking for a moment, Gu Bai decided to back down.

"It's okay, just make sure there's less noodles."

If it weren't for the odd feeling of wanting only beef and no noodles, Gu Bai would have almost ordered braised beef noodles without noodles...

Hilarious! Only cows and horses care about how much noodles are in a braised beef noodle soup.

A cheater like him, with all his cheat codes, just goes straight for the meat.

Scan the code to pay – the whole process is seamless and incredibly smooth.

But to Gu Bai's surprise, the system's task progress notification popped up right after he finished paying.

[Task 2: Obtain something unattainable in youth (Progress 1/10)]

........

Holy crap!

Gu Bai couldn't help but swear.

That was so hasty!

I never imagined that a bowl of ramen would count towards the task progress. If I had known, he would have insisted on waiting until after buying everything before eating breakfast...

Fortunately, Gu Bai wasn't one to dwell on things. After a brief moment of distress, he quickly recovered. In any case, with the system in hand, financial freedom was just a matter of time, so there was no need to worry about temporary gains or losses.

Forehead......

Well, even if I care, it won't change anything.

"Dude, judging by your appearance, you probably don't eat noodles like this often."

Just as Gu Bai was trying to convince himself to be more open-minded, a cheeky voice suddenly came to his ear.

Looking up, he saw that the chubby boy had somehow moved to his side with the bottle of Vitasoy, and in his other hand he was holding a DJI camera.

The chubby boy should be around 1.7 meters tall, and as for his weight... based on Gu Bai's experience, he's probably over 170 pounds.

He spoke with a grin, clearly a cheerful fat man.

In the past, if someone inexplicably came up to talk to him, Gu Bai would most likely ignore them. But today, with a series of good things happening, Gu Bai was in a good mood and was willing to chat with the other person, treating them as a dining companion.

Gu Bai rolled his eyes at the other person and asked curiously, "Oh?! How did you know I don't eat this often?"

"Hehe, buddy, that expression on your face just now was clearly one of regret. You managed to suppress it quickly, but I still saw it. What do you think? I wasn't wrong, was I?"

After the chubby boy finished speaking, he picked up the bottle of Vitasoy that still had a third of its contents and gulped it down in one go. After finishing it, he looked at Gu Bai with a satisfied expression and a happy smile.