Chapter 181: Unexpected Fortune
An Han never believed in things like “money falling from the sky.”
It’s like those “systems” in novels, everyone wants one when they read about it, but when it really happens, it ends up being a mess.
In recent years, anti-fraud campaigns had been everywhere. Even the police were doing livestreams about scams, and every platform kept promoting anti-fraud education.
If she still got tricked now, that would mean she was truly dumb. Besides, she was sure she hadn’t joined any kind of lottery or lucky draw.
“Let’s just hear what he wants to say first,” An Han said, nodding.
Even though she knew it was probably fake, she still pricked up her ears, her eyes shining a little with hope.
Maybe… the “unexpected fortune” mentioned by the system didn’t mean Wang Sheng’s prize money after all?
Even if she didn’t remember entering any raffle, maybe the system had entered one for her!
“Sir, since your prize amount is quite large, you are required by law to pay a tax on unexpected income.”
Everyone standing around got angry and rolled up their sleeves, ready to curse.
“Don’t worry,” the voice continued, “we can help you pay the tax. You just need to send us a small service fee of one thousand yuan—”
An Han’s face instantly darkened. “Where the hell would I even get a thousand yuan!?”
“Sir, you can download an app to—”
She already expected this outcome, but when it really turned out to be the usual scam, she still felt insulted, like her intelligence was being mocked.
How could anyone have the guts to use such a stupid scam?!
“*******!” Chen Junjie was the first to lose his temper, shouting straight into the phone, “Are you brain-dead or what!?”
“Sir, please let me expla—”
“Shut up, you ugly idiot!” Long Xing cursed too, his voice loud and fierce.
The two of them took turns yelling into An Han’s phone.
Especially Chen Junjie, his mouth was always fast, and after all those years of arguing with An Han, he was like a verbal machine gun, firing insults nonstop until the scammer couldn’t even talk back.
The scammer probably tried to keep going at first, but under their storm of curses, he finally hung up.
“Crazy person!”
An Han nodded in full agreement.
“Yeah, total psycho! Still trying to trick me into taking a loan!”
Looks like the system really was stingy, the “unexpected fortune” reward from the second task was less than a thousand yuan. What was she even expecting?
Sighing, she stood up. “Alright, show’s over. Nothing more to see.”
“Let’s go.”
“Damn, that felt great to yell,” Chen Junjie said proudly, still thrilled by his “victory.”
“Did you see that scammer? Couldn’t even say a word back to me!”
An Han rolled her eyes. “You’re proud just because you cursed someone out…?”
“I did it for you! You’re welcome!” he replied.
They laughed and chatted as they walked toward the canteen entrance. But suddenly, Long Xing stopped in his tracks, staring at a big cabinet by the wall.
“A vending machine?” He walked closer and realized, “Oh, it’s for blind boxes.”
Chen Junjie stuffed his hands in his pockets and strolled up lazily.
“Brother Long, those blind boxes are scams too.”
“Only twenty yuan each, not that expensive. I’ll just try one for fun.”
Long Xing pulled out his phone to scan the code, smiling as he said, “It says the top prize is an iPhone 13, who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky?”
“Yeah, right… what are the chances?” An Han muttered.
Those kinds of blind box sellers never lose money. Even if there really was an iPhone 13, the chance of winning it was probably one in ten thousand.
Still, when it came to lotteries, everyone got excited, even if it was just for fun.
Like when Wang Sheng opened CS:GO cases, even though she had no idea which weapons were valuable, she’d still get excited watching him.
Curious, she leaned closer as Long Xing pulled a small yellow box from the vending machine.
When he opened it, inside was a pair of earphones that actually looked… pretty decent.
Long Xing looked quite satisfied as he examined the small and well-made earphones. He nodded and said, “Just right, I was missing a pair of earphones. Buying this for twenty yuan isn’t a loss.”
But Chen Junjie couldn’t stop his mouth from running. “Brother Long, this kind of earphone costs at most three yuan in bulk. You basically gave them money for free!”
His face suddenly stiffened, and he quickly avoided Long Xing’s stare. “Then… I’ll draw one too.”
Chen Junjie’s blind box turned out to have a phone holder inside.
“This is worse than the earphones! Damn it!”
Seeing them having fun, An Han couldn’t resist joining in. She leaned forward excitedly. “Move aside, let me try one too!”
“Try my ass, this thing’s for fools!”
“Brother Long, he just called you stupid!”
“I was calling myself stupid…” Chen Junjie sighed hopelessly.
At least Long Xing’s earphones were useful, but a phone holder? He had no use for it, even tossing it in the trash felt like a waste of space.
Wang Sheng, who had opened plenty of loot boxes in games, wasn’t interested in real-life blind boxes at all. He yawned while watching from the side.
After paying by scanning her phone, An Han took out her own blind box from the vending machine, her eyes full of expectation.
She didn’t open it right away. Instead, she shook it gently. “Feels solid! Heavy! Must be something good!”
“I bet fifty yuan it’s just two decks of cards.”
An Han glared at Chen Junjie. “Can’t you say something nice for once?”
She carefully opened the blind box and then froze.
“What’s inside?”
She lifted her head in shock, as if dreaming, and murmured, “An iPhone… 13…”
“What the hell!”
“Holy crap, amazing!”
Their sudden shouting drew everyone’s attention in the cafeteria. Wang Sheng rushed over and peeked into the box, seeing the Apple packaging inside.
Soon, a curious crowd gathered around An Han, forming a large circle. Everyone craned their necks like geese, eager to witness the birth of a lucky winner.
“It can’t really be just cards… right?” An Han swallowed nervously and took out the Apple box, examining it carefully.
Her heart was pounding.
“The plastic wrap looks fine,” Wang Sheng reminded her.
“The box isn’t dirty either, so it probably wasn’t opened,” Long Xing added. “Come on, open it and see what it is.”
Chen Junjie muttered unwillingly, “I’ll double my bet — still two decks of cards.”
The crowd cheered for her to open it. Unable to hold back her curiosity and excitement, An Han carefully unwrapped the seal and opened the box.
Inside lay a pink iPhone 13.
As the crowd erupted into wild cheers, she still couldn’t believe it and pressed the power button with her thumb.
It turned on! Not an Android! Brand new and unactivated!
Overjoyed, An Han lifted her head, realizing this might actually be the “unexpected fortune” the system had promised.
“You have to treat us to dinner today!”
“And it’s a Pro Max! That’s at least ten thousand yuan!”
“Wow! Let me touch it!”
“You pervert!” An Han kicked Chen Junjie away. She tried to look calm and composed, but a bright smile still bloomed across her face. She almost wanted to jump in excitement while hugging her new phone.
Then suddenly, she looked around instinctively. “Where’s Su Peng? I want him to see my luck!”
Wang Sheng muttered, “Didn’t he leave a while ago?”
“Huh?”
For some reason, the joy that had filled her completely a moment ago faded a little, and even her smile froze for a second.