Rebate King: Every Beauty I Spoil Makes Me a Billionaire

Together, Stan and Amelia crossed back toward the waiting convoy.

She stopped beside the rear door of the lead vehicle.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Amelia removed her sunglasses and hooked them onto the collar of her coat.

Her eyes met his. There was something there. Something she almost said.

Stan saw it. The hesitation. The impulse. The words that rose and then retreated. A heartbeat later, whatever it was disappeared behind her usual composure.

”I’ll start the operation immediately,” she said quietly. ”The moment we identify the people behind the impersonations, you’ll know.”

”I know you will.”

”And, Stan.”

”Yes.”

She drew a small breath. ”Thank you.”

His expression softened slightly. ”For letting me help.”

Her gaze dropped briefly before returning to his.

”Not just because of this situation. Because of everything.”

She gestured vaguely, searching for words. ”I needed somewhere to put what I’ve been carrying. You gave me that.”

For a moment, neither spoke. Then Stan inclined his head. ”You’re welcome.”

The answer was simple. But somehow it felt sufficient.

Amelia held his gaze for another second. Then a small smile appeared.

Not quite shy. Not quite confident. Something in between. Something that belonged only to him.

She slid into the back seat and closed the door. The convoy pulled away moments later.

One vehicle after another merged into traffic and disappeared down the avenue.

Stan remained where he was. Watching. Only when the final vehicle vanished around the corner did he turn away.

His phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket.

A new Snapchat notification waited on the screen.

[Amelia: I’ll update you the moment we have anything.]

The contact name made him pause.

Then, despite himself, he smiled.

A small smile.

The sort that appeared only when nobody was around to see it.

He slipped the phone back into his pocket and headed toward Aurelia Heights.

The morning had delivered considerably more than he had expected when he woke up at Maya’s apartment.

A Vivian crisis.

A Wanhai meeting.

A private investment opportunity in Maya’s cosmetics venture.

A face-to-face meeting with Amelia.

A new operation targeting the Streak impersonators.

And a favorability counter that was somehow creeping toward one hundred and thirty on yet another bound target.

Not bad for a morning’s work.

By his watch, it still wasn’t noon.

He rode the elevator up to his floor and let himself into the apartment.

The familiar quiet settled around him.

For the first time all day, there was nothing demanding his attention.

No meetings. No crises. No decisions. Only silence.

In the corner of his vision, the system upgrade notification remained patiently waiting.

He ignored it. Whatever it brought would arrive soon enough.

For now, he dropped onto the couch and allowed himself a rare moment of simple satisfaction.

The world could wait a little longer. He had earned the quiet.

But Stan had barely crossed the threshold of his apartment when the notifications began arriving in rapid succession.

[Ding!]

[System upgrade complete.]

[New features unlocked: Points System Shop.]

[Ding!]

[Issuing pending rewards.]

[Reward for Sophie Youngs crossing favorability threshold 125: Divine Bronze Bone-Tempering Pill (×1).]

[Reward for Amelia Don crossing favorability threshold 125: Jade Purity Elixir (×1).]

Stan stopped in the middle of the entrance corridor.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then faint light gathered above his palms. A shimmer formed in his left hand. Another in his right. The light condensed and solidified.

And abruptly became real.

In his left palm rested a small bronze-colored pill.

It was perfectly round, smooth to the touch, and faintly warm. The surface possessed a metallic sheen that seemed entirely inappropriate for medicine. Delicate patterns were etched across it, so fine they appeared almost woven into the material itself.

In his right hand sat a slender glass vial no taller than his thumb.

Inside swirled a clear jade-green liquid. The color was strange. Not bright. Not glowing. Yet somehow more vivid than any shade of green he had ever seen.

The liquid appeared to possess depth far beyond the confines of the tiny bottle, as though light was passing through layers that shouldn’t physically exist.

The stopper was sealed with the same intricate markings found on the pill.

Stan stared at both objects. Then at his hands. Then back at the objects.

Several seconds passed Finally, he exhaled.

”You have got to be kidding me.”

The items felt real. Not visually real. Physically real. They possessed weight. Texture and temperature.

The pill pressed lightly against his skin. The glass bottle felt cool beneath his fingers. This was not augmented reality.

Not a hologram. Not another floating notification window. These things existed. And that was a problem.

Because the names attached to them were ridiculous.

’Divine Bronze Bone-Tempering Pill.’

’Jade Purity Elixir.’

The names sounded as though someone had stolen them directly from a cultivation novel.

Stan had read enough webnovels growing up to recognize the pattern instantly.

Bone tempering. Body refinement. Purification elixirs. Ancient medicines.

The sort of treasures old monsters fought over atop mist-covered mountains.

Not items that should be materializing in the hands of a university student standing in the entryway of an apartment building in modern Inksea.

For several moments, he simply stood there. Then his gaze narrowed slightly. The truly disturbing part wasn’t the items. The truly disturbing part was what they implied.

The system had already demonstrated abilities that violated every known law of reality.

Money appearing from nowhere. Until now, however, those miracles had remained largely invisible. Easy to mentally categorize as ”system nonsense” and move on.

This was different. This was a physical object, not that he haven’t gotten something physical from the system, but this was completely unexpected, it wasn’t like the tea leaves reward he gained last time.

It was an impossible object. Something he thought always belonged to fiction and fiction alone.

Stan lowered his gaze to the bronze pill. ”Are there really things about this world that aren’t public knowledge?”

His voice was quiet in the empty apartment. ”Other people like me?”

His eyes shifted to the vial. ”Other systems?”

A pause.

”Other things?”

The silence offered no answer. The system rarely explained itself.