Chapter 115: Three whole years—a sow would have birthed several litters by now.

Although it was still more expensive than the state-run grain store, the grain store had strict quotas and required ration coupons, which he didn't have.

Seeing Qin Fang standing nearby, the buyer immediately said excitedly, "I'll take ten jin of rice and ten jin of white flour. No coupons."

"Sure, that will be thirteen yuan. Do you have bags?" Xu Lin asked.

"Yes, yes, I do!" The buyer immediately pulled out two cloth bags, his hands trembling with excitement as he remarked on his good luck today.

Xu Lin weighed the items, and with money and goods exchanged, both parties were very satisfied.

As the buyer walked away with his two bags of grain, he spat fiercely toward Qin Fang and cursed her as a profiteer.

Qin Fang was so angry her face turned green. How was she a profiteer? Was 1.5 yuan per jin of rice really that expensive? This was rice—the kind of rice you couldn't buy even if you had the money.

"Infuriating, simply infuriating!"

Qin Fang cast a vicious glare at Xu Lin, convinced that it was Xu Lin who had stolen her business. If Xu Lin hadn't appeared, that buyer would have surely gritted his teeth and paid her price.

"Hmph, damn old woman, where did you even crawl out from?"

"Hey, where did you come from?" Qin Fang demanded coldly. Her haughty attitude annoyed Xu Lin, who immediately retorted, "Where I come from is none of your damn business."

"Do you know how to speak? Do you have any manners? Do you believe I can make it so you can't survive in this black market?" Qin Fang threatened.

"I don't," Xu Lin replied with a massive eye roll. She wondered to herself if Qin Fang had made connections with the local black market bosses. That seemed impossible; if she had, there would be no reason for her to be squatting here running her own stall.

"Heh, you've got some nerve." Qin Fang pointed at Xu Lin, ready to hurl more insults, but another customer walked up to ask for prices.

This time, Qin Fang didn't insist on 1.5 yuan; she dropped the price to one yuan and began singing the praises of her rice. While the rice looked good, anyone who had eaten it knew it was all show and no substance, incomparable to natural, high-quality grain.

Even though Xu Lin's rice didn't look as polished as Qin Fang's, it tasted far better. Coupled with the lower price, no one was interested in Qin Fang's offerings, no matter how much she boasted.

Enraged, Qin Fang wanted to smash Xu Lin's stall. She actually tried to do just that, but the consequence was being pinned to the ground and beaten by Xu Lin.

As she beat Qin Fang, Xu Lin began to probe into her secrets.

For the sake of caution, Xu Lin employed one of the profound skills of the Mystic Sect: Mind-Reading. It was considered a "supreme skill" because it had long been lost to the public, known only to a select few. As far as Xu Lin knew, such arts did not exist in the Dragon Kingdom.

Soon, Qin Fang, who was being beaten and shrieking in pain, began calling for backup—or rather, calling for her system.

"Xiao Qi, Xiao Qi! Ah, help me! What do you mean you can't help me? Aren't you an omnipotent system? Why can't you help me?"

Faced with these accusations, the system was also annoyed and couldn't help but retort, "Host, you want me to help you, but do you have any points? Without points, what do you expect me to use to help you? I am a Conquest System; do you expect me to conjure magical treasures out of thin air?"

A Conquest System? Xu Lin’s almond-shaped eyes narrowed. She was all too familiar with these things. Conquest systems were the most disgusting of the lot; unlike other systems, their goal was to target people with strong luck, syphon that luck away after conquest, and then discard the target to move on to a new one. Sometimes they would even juggle multiple targets at once—insatiable and greedy.

Did Qin Fang have a system in her previous life? Xu Lin stroked her chin, thinking carefully. It seemed that in her past life, Qin Fang had been very popular, especially with the opposite sex. She had many "good brothers" who did countless favors for her in daily life. Was her system behind all that?

If a Conquest System usually discarded its targets, why hadn't Qin Fang abandoned the Qin family, Su Liang, and his family in her previous life? Or perhaps she had spent her whole life trying to conquer them and never fully succeeded? That was interesting.

Qin Fang was infuriated by the system’s retort, but she understood it was right—she was short on points. Looking at the rice before her, she regretted using points to exchange for it to sell. Although one point could trade for ten jin of rice, compared to life-saving items, she had suffered a massive loss. If she had the points, she could have exchanged them for something to save her life and overturn this old woman who was sitting on her, acting the tyrant.

Qin Fang whined in regret. "System, Xiao Qi, this is an emergency! Help me overturn this old woman, and I’ll pay you back double the points later."

Xu Lin, being called an old woman, immediately slapped Qin Fang across the mouth. She wouldn't tolerate being insulted, not even in thought.

"No. The system has rules; you cannot overdraw points."

This excuse made Xu Lin smile. She had once possessed a system herself and knew that they could be good or bad. She also knew that systems held a reserve of points for emergencies, even to save the host's life. Of course, saving a life was costly; unless the bond was deep, even a good system wouldn't want to pay that price. But the claim that points couldn't be overdrawn was something Xu Lin didn't believe for a second. This showed that the relationship between Qin Fang and her system was quite mediocre.

She wondered how long Qin Fang had possessed the system.

"Host, it's not that I want to lecture you, but I've been with you for three years. In these three years, have you ever saved more than a hundred points? Every time you earn a few, you either spend them on beauty, charm, or clothes and jewelry that don't exist in this world. You don't plan for yourself, so why should you expect me to overdraw points? And check your conscience—have you put any real effort into your missions?"

The system was getting worked up. Three years! Even a sow would have had several litters by now, yet this host hadn't fully conquered a single target. Those targets would either disappear halfway through the conquest, or the progress would stall at seventy or eighty percent. If the host lacked charm, why did she spend so many points on it? The system couldn't understand why not a single target could be fully conquered. It couldn't even absorb their luck properly. Bah, what a stroke of bad luck to be paired with this host.

When Xu Lin heard the mention of three years, she was also startled. Three years was indeed a long time. With the help of a system, failing to conquer even one target was highly suspicious. Either it was Qin Fang's problem, or the targets she chose were particularly self-centered or selfish. Even with all of Qin Fang's tricks, they refused to give their full trust.

She wondered which category Qin Fang's targets fell into. As Xu Lin pondered, Qin Fang’s defensive voice rang out.

"Can you blame me? Do you think I don't want to conquer them? Take Qin Zonghan, for example—he leaves for two or three years at a time. How am I supposed to conquer him when I don't even have the opportunity?"