1 Chapter 1: Prisoners of Life Bank

[Remaining survival time: 167 days, six hours. Life-points: 4965 (-5000).]

[The rule-level life bank is at your service. Your current assets are negative. Please turn losses into profits as soon as possible, otherwise, you'll face bankruptcy.]

[Expected income today: 0. Expected expenses today: 1.]

[There are 47 days left until the end of the month. The expected repayment for this period is 1000 points. Please make sure to keep your account balance positive.]

Lu Ping'an, awakened from a deep sleep, instinctively opened his panel.

"...Ah, another day broke from poverty."

Lu Ping'an was stimulated by the -5000 on his panel as soon as he woke up.

Other transmigrators, flaunt and enjoy their new life relying on the system, but I was greeted with a death countdown after transmigrating.

Life-points, straightforward. One point per day, zero means the end.

I owed 6000 points (approximately 20 years, already repaid 1000), must repay 1000 points every month. At most, six months left before bankruptcy liquidation if nothing goes wrong, leading to my end.

"Ah, this cursed thing is a top-level ability? It's nothing but a Z-level pollutant, a severe threat that has restricted my life..."

"Stop mumbling, Ping'an. Breakfast is ready."

The shouting outside forced Lu Ping'an to get up reluctantly. Ever since he started "living together" with that person, things like staying up late to play games have become memories.

"Your favorite dish is here today."

"...With your skills, every dish tastes the same. I even suspect that your 'trade-off' has sacrificed your sense of taste."

"Then don't eat, I'll feed the cat next door."

"I'll eat, I'll eat."

Lu Ping'an felt helpless, bowed his head and ate.

Xia Qin sat at the other end, seemingly delighted with the improvement in her cooking skills.

A melon seed face, slightly thick red lips, long eyebrows and eyes, no makeup on the clean face, but full of energy and spirit.

Her normally well-kept short hair was slightly messy, and a bob with slanted bangs covered her right eye.

Even the tiredness didn't tarnish her clean personality and beautiful face that couldn't be mistaken for the other sex.

Her luscious lips and the mysterious mole under her left eye made people who saw her for the first time feel an inexplicable sense of astonishment.

For Lu Ping'an, the lady before his eyes was a beauty. With her black pupils, short hair, and long legs, she was his type. If only she was not like a nagging mom.

"...What time did you come back last night?"

After taking a bite of rice, Lu Ping'an glanced at the television. The news was reporting a serious pollution accident in a certain mall, and many people had died.

"Around three thirty, there was a bit of a troublesome assignment."

Xia Qin yawned. Working overtime was normal for her. As the deputy captain of the Bureau of Anomaly Management's Special Service Team in the ancient Zion District, her days and nights were turned upside down.

After all, incidents of supernatural pollution and crimes were more common at night than during the day.

Lu Ping'an sighed, gently pat Xia Qin's shoulder.

The next moment, she instantly felt energetic. Her originally pale face turned rosy, and her hair regained its gloss. She looked spirited, as if she had a good beauty sleep for a day.

"Thank you! Your ability really comes in handy."

"Hmm, otherwise, why would you imprison me illegally..."

"What? What are you saying, the application for you to live under supervision, I ensured that by providing a huge guarantee, without me, you would be..."

After hesitating for a while, she still didn't speak it out. Lu Ping'an was aware of the unsaid words - "Eliminated".

In a sense, the fact that he could survive after that super-scale pollution event was indeed thanks to the secret keeper deputy captain in front of him, who vouched for him.

Xia Qin happily stood up. She felt full of energy and felt like she could work all day ... so excited, she went to catch up on her TV series!

She had worked the night shift yesterday and was off duty today. Even though she had recovered, there was no need to be a corporate slave.

But Lu Ping'an swept another glance at the invisible panel, and indeed saw the anticipated "Life-points -1" notification.

"Ah, I'm going to live one day less...."

Lu Ping'an's ghostly system isn't the standard welfare system that comes with transmigrators, but a different type of abnormal ability from this world. From a certain point of view, it's also a curse on himself.

Currently, Lu Ping'an's "Life Bank" reduces by "-1" every day, and the abilities he can use all have just the "spending money" effect.

[Life Bank sub-ability 1, Life's Deferred Payment: Staggers the inevitable cost of life, with a current maximum of six installments for six months and a minimum of three installments for three days. ]

[Sub-ability 2, Investing Life: Investing in a creditworthy target with a guaranteed return rate of 10%, and a maximum return rate of 20%. The current investment limit is three people, with Xia Qin (earning 1 point per day) and Lei Huoren (also earning 1 point per day) as the people invested in. ]

The current Lu Ping'an has only these two abilities, both of which are poorly powered, especially the latter, which involves giving life to others, a painfully self-sacrificial act.

But it's necessary for him to use them, and he needs to use them hard, desperately reducing his lifespan.

"Isn't it said that using abilities often might lead to an upgrade? I've already wasted more than 30 points, but there's no change yet."

If he can't awaken a new sub-ability, increase life-points, Lu Ping'an will likely be done for in six months. But if he struggles hard, there may still be hope.

However, if just this were the case, Lu Ping'an would still hesitate because each point consumed means living one less day.

At this moment, seeing that it was eight o'clock on the clock in the room, Lu Ping'an took a deep breath, lay back in his chair, and prepared to face the onslaught.

"System, settle yesterday's income."

[The earnings from Xia Qin's investment are being settled. Please remain calm, host. The calculation of yesterday's investment income will now begin. ]

Lu Ping'an didn't have the strength to look at his panel. A flood of memories struck his brain in an instant, his body spasming as if electrified.

"Damn, what a fierce woman...."

In the fragments of memory, Captain Xia fought fiercely, taking the lead at the forefront. Beating up hooligans in the first half of the night and fighting magic monsters in the second half, from the west of the city to the east, making both the monsters and the underworld call her "auntie."

These memories are incredibly fragmented, with no clear storyline, mostly comprising battle scenes, how she punches, how she exerts force, and how she moves.

[Gains minimal fighting experiences, gains minimal shooting experiences, gains a trace of taboo knowledge....]

Instantly, there's a barrage of notifications on the panel. When things settled down, Lu Ping'an strangely had the urge to beat someone up... in fact, he had indeed become better at fighting.

[Fighting skills (Secret Keeper style): Level 2, 6/100]

[Shooting skills (handguns): Level 1, 87/100]

Given the increase in "experience", Lu Ping'an, who never fights, now knows how to shoot and engage in hand-to-hand combat.

This is the return on investment from "investing". Lu Ping'an exchanged a day's life for a lot of combat experiences, skills, and a panel-acknowledged professional skill enhancement.

And these professional skills are stepping stones to higher professional tiers and his reliance for ability evolution.

"Once my hand-to-hand combat and shooting reach level 10, I can try to become a 'gunfighter', which is relatively useful among the first-tier extraordinary professions."

The next moment another wave of spasms hit, the "dividends" from the second investor had arrived.

Those who could receive Lu Ping'an's investment naturally were not ordinary people.

This time, it was a supernatural professional, a Runner.

[Settling the earnings from yesterday's investment in Lei Huoren, gaining minimal running skills, gaining minimal breathing technique skills, gaining minimal innate spatial perception skills....]

Unexpectedly, a lot of Spider-Man-esque experiences and skills filled Lu Ping'an's mind.

But what delighted Lu Ping'an was the last hint.

[Gained a trace of the black-iron level spell, 'Shrinking Ground', current progress at 58/100.]

This also meant that Lu Ping'an was getting closer to becoming a true "professional".

"There are 15 days until the college entrance exam. It appears I need to find more "leeks" to harvest experience from. That also means I'm getting closer to death, my life getting shorter."

But Lu Ping'an had no dissatisfaction. After all, every day he's alive felt like a jackpot.

This all started 13 days ago when he was still a cancer patient.

At that time, he was still struggling to make it till dawn.