HSB Chapter 19

Chapter 19

“Your Highness, your mask has fallen off.“ The AI butler picked up the mask on the ground, scanned it with his pupils, and said, “You can still use it.”

“Your Highness, do you need me to reapply it for you?”

“Take it away! ”

Julius couldn’t be bothered about the facial mask. He stepped out of the massage chair and turned the LUX screen to the AI butler. “What do you see?” 

The AI butler folded the mask neatly and read the words on the screen. “Intimacy+50.”

“……”

Confirming it wasn’t a hallucination from exhaustion, Julius stared at the +50 intimacy for a long time, until the prompt disappeared,  and the original -10 intimacy in the upper right corner now became 40. 

The negative number became positive.

He didn’t enter the game for half a day. Why did the intimacy suddenly increase so much?

Suddenly, Julius remembered the ugly undead beast. 

His baby girl must have realized that he helped her fight the undead beast, 

But…why didn’t it increase when he was online at that time? 

Was the intimacy meter delayed?

Julius had a mess of thoughts in his head, and then these thoughts were tossed out of his mind, leaving only joy that was bursting from within.

Despite the delay in intimacy, now that he had intimacy, he could finally buy delicious food for his baby daughter! 

Julius went to the black market again this afternoon, but the owner who sold the NR equipment still didn’t come, so he made a trip for nothing, while he still had to deal with Tara, which annoyed him. 

But now, his troubles all vanished from this large sum of +50 intimacy points, so much so that he was feeling at ease that the unpleasantness that lurked in his body disappeared. 

Just as he clicked on the store to see what he could buy, a prompt suddenly popped up again: [Ivan is infected with the virus. In order not to make Bambi sad and scared, he chose to leave by himself. ]

Julius paused.

？

Ivan was infected and turned into a zombie?

Like Hugh?

“How can this be?” Julius’s brows furrowed tightly, and his relaxed and joyful expression was replaced by solemnity. Besides Ivan’s departure leaving Bambi all by herself, how did Ivan get infected?

When Julius logged out of the game, it was clear that everything was over. Based on that fact, nothing should have happened.

Without waiting for him to think about it, the System once again prompted: [Ivan’s departure hit Bambi very hard, causing her to get sick and have a high fever at night. Fortunately, the fever has now subsided and Bambi is fine, but her body has lost too much energy. Please provide energy for Bambi. ]

Compared to Ivan, his baby girl was much more important. Julius didn’t continue to ponder on this subject and immediately clicked into the store. 

“Why are the other columns still gray?” Julius was speechless. Besides food, he wanted to buy other things for his precious daughter too. “Don’t I have enough intimacy?”

The system was silent.

Julius clicked on the food column. The icons in the first row finally all lit up. There are a total of four icons. Except for the first which was a red apple, the remaining three icons were as follows:

[Organic Mineral Water]: [100 S-Dollars], [Organic mineral water contains special minerals. It is suitable for children from one to five years old and can enhance physical fitness. Limited to one bottle at a time.]

[Magic Jumping Sausage]: [200 S-Dollars], [The Magic Jumping Sausage is made of special quality meat. It can help children one to five years old absorb nutrients for healthy bone growth. Limited to one purchase at a time.]

[Neuro Baby Formula.]: [500 S-Dollars], [Baby formula is one of the essential energy intakes for infants and toddlers. It can help children one to five years old develop their brains, making the child smarter in the process of growth. Limited to one can at a time.]

……

After reading this, Julius was dissatisfied. “Why are the others still gray?”

He wanted to give his baby daughter a big meal!

Not these shabby foods that didn’t look appetizing at all!

[First of all, your intimacy is not enough to open the remaining icons. Secondly, Bambi is still small. Her body can’t handle it. Foods that are too high in energy will give her side effects. Note that the backlash caused by side effects cannot be recovered. Player One, please raise Bambi reasonably.]

Julius: ”……” 

So, it was persuading him to be rational in the process of spending and not to act like an upstart that has a ton of money, doing nothing else but buying things that would only end up harming Bambi? Was this what it meant?

[Yes. ]

Julius:”……”

Julius couldn’t be bothered to deal with the useless System.

He was raising a daughter, not a pig. He had his own judgments on what he could or couldn’t buy. He just wanted to have more options and have Bambi try more abundant foods so that he could raise his baby daughter to be cute and plump.

The remaining icons were all gray. Julius had no idea what they were. He asked, “How much intimacy would I need for them to show?”

The System replied cheerfully, [500].

The +50 increase in intimacy boosted Julius’ confidence and made him think that 500 intimacy points was nothing. His precious daughter was aware of his presence and knew he wouldn’t hurt her, so intimacy would be an easy thing to earn.

500…was a piece of cake.

Julius clicked on the payment interface, followed by a swipe and the payment was successful.

Just as he happily slid the three things he had purchased onto the table, a message quickly popped up on the screen: [Intimacy zeroed]

Julius watched as the [40] in the upper right corner became [0]. 

“……”

In addition to deducting money, the useless system also deducted intimacy!

The System: [Naturally, you need to spend money to buy a ticket into the black market. Once you enter the market, you need money to buy things. Intimacy and S-dollars, one opens the purchasing channel and the other pays for the price, do not conflict with each other.]

Julius frowned and accepted the explanation.

Wait a minute…

“You even know about me going to the black market?” Julius stared suspiciously at the game screen. “Are you an AI System?” ”

The System︰….

System: [I thought you knew from the first time we had a conversation. ]

“Compared to Jellal’s IQ, Julius’s is sorely lacking, like heaven and earth,” the System thought silently, “but at least there are some advantages, like easy to fool and control.”

Julius snorted. He was just momentarily surprised that the system of an ordinary game turned out to be an AI system.

No game developer would use an AI system on an ordinary game because the server of ordinary games couldn’t handle such a large amount of data that an AI system had.

Then again, he understood.

It was probably because it was incompatible that resulted in this situation with the spending portion of the game. It wasn’t the game that didn’t allow him to spend money but the server couldn’t handle it. The AI system could only be set in this mode.

Thinking about it this way, Julius was not so angry with the useless System.

Once he found out which company developed this game, he would buy the game and have a professional team work on it.

Even if it was an in-game daughter, he still must give her the best, not just through spending, but also by replacing this base apocalypse map and giving his baby daughter a whole new world.

Julius’s thoughts ran wild, but his hands were not idle. He slid the purchased things onto the table, and then carefully looked at the expression on his baby daughter’s face.

She wouldn’t be frightened would she?

Bambi had untwisted the cap of the water bottle, turning her palms red in the process, and was drinking it when she saw the three things that suddenly appeared. She didn’t immediately go check what they were but  joyfully and excitedly, mixed with uneasiness, asked, “Mister, are you here?”

An idea popped up in Julius’ mind and he pushed the Organic Mineral Water towards Bambi, indicating for her to come get it.

 Bambi’s eyes lit up, and the clever little girl understood what he meant. Looking around, her eyes curved into crescent moons, showing her little white teeth that were like glutinous rice, and twisted her little finger and said, “Can I meet you?”

Bambi didn’t know why the mister didn’t let her see him but she wanted to meet him to thank him. Grandpa said she must thank those who helped her. She wanted to see the mister with her own eyes and thank him.

Saying this, she straightened her back and said in a sweet voice, “Mister, my name is Bambi. I am five years old this year.” 

She acted so serious and mature.

Then she quickly added, “No matter what Mister looks like, Bambi will not be afraid.”

She thought that this invisible mister might not be good-looking, so he didn’t let her see him.

When it came to appearance, Julius had an unparalleled acumen from childhood to adulthood, thanks to Tristan. 

So, miraculously, he understood the meaning behind his daughter’s words.

 Bambi thought he was ugly, so he didn’t show his face to see her?

How could he allow that?

As the most handsome prince of the royal family voted by the majority of the people, how could he leave such an impression in the heart of his precious daughter?

He thought of the self-portrait he had drawn behind the wardrobe.

To prompt Bambi, Julius picked up the Jumping Sausage and pointed to the bedroom door. 

 Bambi watched curiously as the Jumping Sausage flew up and levitated at the bedroom door and sniffed through her little nose. It smelled so good…

However, a certain father was bent on proving his good looks, and did not pay attention to the little girl’s expression, so Bambi entered the bedroom with the magic ball in hand.

Julius shoved the Jumping Sausage into Bambi’s hand and manipulated the screen with his fingers for a while before finally moving the wardrobe away.

The self-portrait from the last time was revealed.

 Bambi held the Jumping Sausage. She didn’t take a bite out of it, even though the fragrance from the sausage kept tempting her.

Then she walked to the wall and looked at the self-portrait.

“Mister, are you trying to tell Bambi that you look like the person in this drawing?”  Bambi asked. 

The previously normal portrait, for some reason, had marks all over the face, making it appear like there were several scars on the face while the right eye was smudged as if it was blind and wearing an eyepatch.

It had no resemblance to the word “handsome.”

Julius: “……”

“No, that’s not me!” he roared loudly.