Chapter 66: More Than Master and Servant, They Are Friends

Shen Qi's eyes widened in shock.

What?

What did you just say?

Did you actually ask if I’d be willing to be your maid?

My God!

You dare say such a thing to the daughter of the Mayor of Lanyun City—aren’t you afraid my suitors will tear you to pieces if they find out?

How can you joke like this at a time like this?

Have you no compassion? Or perhaps, are you even human?

Just as Shen Qi was about to firmly shake her head in refusal, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly echoed in her mind:

“Player Chen Yun invites NPC Shen Qi to become his maid. Do you accept? If yes, nod your head. If not, shake your head. Please note: if NPC Shen Qi refuses, she will lose her only chance to cure her late-stage waterborne urticaria and will die in one year.”

Shen Qi was stunned. What was that voice? What did it mean? Could it be that this young man really had some special ability and could actually cure her illness?

Heavens!

The thought that she might have the chance to drink water, bathe, and use the restroom freely like a healthy girl sent her into a frenzy of excitement. If this strange illness could truly be cured, she wouldn’t hesitate to agree to anything—not just being a maid, even being his mistress!

After all, she had truly had enough of this inhuman suffering!

Moreover, hadn’t that strange mechanical voice said that if she refused, she would only have a year left to live? As the saying goes, better a miserable life than a good death. She was only eighteen, had never fallen in love, never married, and had so much left to experience in life—how could she just die like this?

Absolutely not!

With that thought, Ah Qi nodded her head vigorously.

“System notification! NPC Shen Qi has agreed to become Player Chen Yun’s maid. All abnormal status effects have been cleared. This segment of memory has been modified!”

“System notification! Player Chen Yun has recruited NPC Shen Qi as a maid. Attendant function activated. Current attendant slots: 1. One attendant owned. The number of attendants increases as the player levels up—one additional attendant for every 20 levels gained.”

“In daily life, NPC Shen Qi retains her current attributes. In combat, she possesses 20% of Player Chen Yun’s combat stats. As Chen Yun’s level and the maid’s loyalty increase, the attendant’s combat attributes will also rise, to a maximum of 50%. Currently, NPC Shen Qi’s loyalty to Player Ye Ming is 70 (for every 20 points of loyalty, relationship rank increases by one; current rank: fondness). If a maid’s loyalty drops below 50, there is a chance of defection. Please explore methods to increase maid loyalty on your own.”

“Player Chen Yun has completed stage two of the A-rank rescue chain quest. Second stage evaluation: S-tier. Final stage quest activated: eliminate the assassin from the Reaper Society. Quest countdown: 3 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds…”

A string of system notifications left Chen Yun momentarily dazed, but before he could fully process them, a sweet voice rang out at his side: “Maid Ah Qi greets her master.”

The system had already erased the previous segment of notifications from Shen Qi’s memory and implanted the maid setting deep in her mind. Now, apart from her closest family, the most important person in her world was her master—Chen Yun.

“Master, thank you for curing my illness. Now I can finally live like a normal girl again. I have dreamed of this day for so, so long,” Ah Qi said gratefully.

“Uh… no need to thank me. But could you please stop calling me ‘master’? I only did this because I had no other choice—if there were another way, I’d never have gone through with this,” Chen Yun replied seriously. As thrilling as it might be to have the mayor’s daughter as a maid, he was actually uncomfortable with this system’s design. In this day and age, who still talks about attendants and maids—had the system’s designer watched too many foreign cartoons?

“I understand. Ah Qi does not blame you, master. You gave me back my health; I am only grateful, not resentful. Since you dislike being called ‘master,’ please, give Ah Qi a different way to address you.”

“Oh, alright… But, could you let go of my arm first?” Chen Yun said, glancing at the arm Ah Qi was hugging to her chest.

“Yes, of course.” Ah Qi blushed and released him, a little embarrassed—she had simply been too overjoyed and acted on impulse.

“From now on, just call me Chen Yun. Forget all this master and maid nonsense—let’s not play those roles. From now on, we’re friends. How does that sound?” Chen Yun said with a smile.

“Hm? But if I do that, wouldn’t it be disrespectful to you?” Ah Qi hesitated.

“Don’t worry about respect. I only did this to help you—so it’s settled,” Chen Yun declared with a wave of his hand.

“From now on, you can live as you always have. The only difference is that you now have a friend named Chen Yun—nothing more.” He picked up a bottle of mineral water from the table and handed it to Ah Qi. “Drink this, and let’s see if you’re really cured.”

“Okay!” Without hesitation, Ah Qi took the bottle and drank half in one go. Two minutes passed—nothing happened.

“I’m really cured! I’m so happy!” Ah Qi burst into tears of joy.

“Yes, you’re truly cured. Now you can live like a normal girl. Let’s go out—your parents must be getting anxious,” Chen Yun said with a smile. He was glad too; he didn’t want to see such a beautiful girl suffer every day. In some way, he had done a good deed.

“Yes, yes! I want my mother to give you lots and lots of money—thank you, Chen Yun!” Ah Qi threw her arms around him and gave him a big, affectionate kiss.

Chen Yun was stunned, touching his cheek in disbelief. Since coming to this world, this was the first time a girl had kissed him—he couldn’t quite handle it!

Outside, Mr. and Mrs. Shen waited anxiously. Mr. Shen glanced at his watch every other minute, finally understanding what it meant for every second to feel like a year. Though only ten minutes had passed, it felt like a month to him.

“The door’s opening, the door’s opening!” Mrs. Shen cried excitedly, pointing at the door.

“Hurry, let’s go see!” Mr. Shen’s heart tightened as he and several others strode quickly toward the open door.

The remaining guests, who had not left and had caught wind of the news, gathered involuntarily, all eager to learn whether this master chef could truly accomplish what the world’s doctors could not—cure the strange illness of waterborne urticaria.

The door to the back room swung wide. A girl in a spotless white dress, tears streaming down her smiling face, ran out and threw herself into Mrs. Shen’s arms, shouting, “Mom, I’m cured! Chen Yun cured me! I can finally live like a healthy girl!”