Chapter 1

Jiang Xiaobai is now a bit dazed, looking at the balance of over a hundred thousand yuan displayed on the bank's self-service withdrawal machine, his mind in a mess.

Excitement? Nervousness? There's also a bit of doubt.

This matter has to start from yesterday noon.

Yesterday noon, he found a newly downloaded app on his phone called "Gold House in Books." He doesn't know how this app suddenly appeared on his phone; he remembers clearly that he didn't download it, and he searched through browsers and major app stores, but there was no such app.

When he opened the app, it was just a regular reading app, but it didn't require a recharge. The homepage was a book city with various categories of works, including novels, poetry, prose, notes, history, science, and theories.

He tried searching, and all the books he had read or knew about were there. Since there was nothing to do yesterday, he randomly opened a novel and started reading.

From yesterday noon until last night, he read about a hundred chapters. When he was about to exit the app, a notification appeared saying he had earned over a hundred thousand yuan. He was going out to eat at the time and didn't pay much attention to the number.

Until today at noon, after eating, he was bored and remembered the novel he read yesterday, which he thought was quite good, so he opened it and continued reading for a few more chapters. When he exited, another string of numbers appeared. Curious, he opened the personal center to check if the app charged or had any viruses that could affect his phone's security.

Seeing the personal center showing a profit of 135,000 RMB, he muttered to himself that this app was really misleading.

He then noticed a withdrawal option and couldn't help but laugh. He casually clicked on the withdrawal, and it prompted him to bind a bank card. For phone safety, he didn't click, but at that moment, a red light faintly flashed. Then a notification appeared saying the binding was successful. He carefully looked and saw that the bank card number was actually his own.

"Ah!"

Instinctively thinking his phone was infected with a virus, he hurriedly tried to delete and uninstall the app, but it failed. This app was even more rogue than some other apps.

He started the antivirus software on his phone, and after it ran, it indicated that the phone was safe with no viruses.

For a moment, he was truly at a loss.

Thinking that the bank card only had a single-digit balance, he didn't care. He clicked to withdraw 135,000 yuan to his bank card, wanting to see what this app could do. Other apps usually use units like gold coins or book coupons, but this one used RMB.

Could it be one of those schemes where you need ten thousand friends to help or invite ten thousand friends to register to withdraw? Why didn't a sharing or assistance window pop up?

While Jiang Xiaobai was puzzled, a surprising scene unfolded. His phone received a bank card deposit notification: "Your card ending in **** has received a deposit of 135,000 RMB."

Deposited?

Damn, the phone must be infected with a virus.

Jiang Xiaobai, who had been through the harsh realities of society, knew that there were scams everywhere and that there was no such thing as a free lunch.

The only possibility was that his phone was really infected with a virus. Even though the number sending the message was from the bank, it could have been altered by a virus.

Sigh, he should go to the bank and freeze this card to protect his meager deposit. At the bank, the queue at the counter was too long, so he went to the self-service withdrawal machine to check if there was really money in the card... despite the very low probability...

When he put the card in and checked... he was stunned...

Thus...

There was the scene seen at the beginning.

The screen really showed a balance of 135,007 RMB, with the original 7 RMB, meaning the card had 135,000 RMB more. This amount was exactly the same as the withdrawal amount from the reading app.

If the phone being infected with a virus was understandable, it couldn't be that the self-service withdrawal machine was also infected, right!

Just by reading for a while, he earned 135,000 RMB? Jiang Xiaobai was now overwhelmed with shock and surprise. His hands were trembling, and he bit his lip and directly withdrew 5,000 RMB from the self-service withdrawal machine.

It succeeded... really withdrew?

Looking at the money in his hand and the balance displayed on the self-service withdrawal machine, he was sure this wasn't a dream; it was real.

"Should I withdraw it all?"

Jiang Xiaobai bit his lip. He had been short of money for a while, and even though he was a bit suspicious about the source of the money, he decided to take the risk.

The self-service withdrawal machine had a limit, but the counter didn't. He nervously queued up at the counter, occasionally looking outside to see if any uniformed people would suddenly rush in and control him...

After twenty minutes, it was his turn. He handed over his card and ID and said he wanted to withdraw money. He originally wanted to withdraw it all, but the bank had a rule that withdrawals over 100,000 RMB required a reservation, so he only withdrew 99,000 RMB.

Stacks of money were handed to him, which he put into a black plastic bag he carried with him. After packing, he quickly left with his ID and bank card.

Finally, he was back home.

Jiang Xiaobai threw the bag of money on the bed and stared... stacks of red bills, with the elderly man on them looking as kind as ever.

"Did I really get so much money?"

Jiang Xiaobai still felt a bit incredulous.

Because of his poor family background, he hadn't asked his parents for living expenses after graduation. He finally found a job, but the salary during the internship was too low to sustain his life.

A few days ago, two close classmates were leaving the city and invited him and a few other male and female classmates to a KTV to sing and drink to say goodbye. In a moment of madness, he confessed to a female classmate named Bai Jie and kissed her. Embarrassingly, he didn't know that Bai Jie already had a boyfriend. Someone secretly sent a photo of him kissing Bai Jie to her boyfriend, and within twenty minutes, her boyfriend brought a dozen people to the KTV and beat him up. If it weren't for the efforts of two close male classmates and Bai Jie holding back her boyfriend, he would have ended up in the hospital that night. The next morning, with his body aching, he didn't have the strength to go to work and lost his job. Without a job and no money, he lay in his rented room in the countryside, and the landlord even called to ask for rent. It was a truly difficult time...

Now it's all good...

Could this be the "turning point" people often talk about? But what's going on with this thing? Should I read a bit more?

Jiang Xiaobai opened the "Gold House in Books" app on his phone and clicked on a book called "The Scroll of Leather." This was a self-help book about how to succeed, which he usually didn't like, but for the sake of earning money, he had to force himself.

He quickly finished reading the book, and it took less than an hour. He was surprised by his reading speed; he had read it word by word. The book had about 200,000 words, and under normal circumstances, it would take at least half a day to read it word by word. He finished it in less than an hour with this reading app. Moreover, the content of the book was clear in his mind, as if it had been branded there.

Thinking about the novel he read yesterday and this morning, every word of the novel was clear in his mind, as if it had been branded there.

"Is this reading app amazing, or has my memory changed?"

Jiang Xiaobai was confused again.

"Right, I haven't checked how much money I earned just now."

Jiang Xiaobai quickly opened the personal center and saw a cash balance of over 34,000 RMB.

"Damn..."

Jiang Xiaobai's heart rate instantly increased. In less than an hour, he earned 30,000 to 40,000 RMB. If he read for a whole day, he could earn hundreds of thousands...

Excited, he clicked on the withdrawal again. Just like before, after confirming the withdrawal, he immediately received a deposit notification. This time, he didn't go to the self-service withdrawal machine to check; instead, he directly called the bank's self-service inquiry service. The result showed that the money had indeed been deposited into his card. This made him believe in the magic of this app. It was real money, not a few cents to trick people. This app really paid out!

Since that's the case, I'll go crazy with reading and learning, hahaha!

Jiang Xiaobai was about to open another book when a new message appeared in the top right corner of the app. He opened the message, which read: "Congratulations, you have reached Level 1. Reading earnings have increased by 100%, and the mall has been activated."

"Mall? Selling things?"

Jiang Xiaobai half-believed and half-doubted as he found the new mall option in the personal center. When he opened it, there was only one item for sale: "Scan (Basic Version)."

It was a golden scanning icon, priced at 100,000 RMB.

"100,000 RMB? This is highway robbery. Just because it's gold, it's gilded? As expected, there's no such thing as a free lunch."

Jiang Xiaobai muttered and casually read the small print below.

The item description read: "After scanning the corresponding object, you can get information about its surface and hidden attributes."

"Can it reveal hidden attributes? This is a bit amazing... but I don't know if it's real... 100,000 RMB... At the reading speed from earlier, it would take two to three hours. Should I try it? I have nothing else to do. Right, the message said earnings increased by 100%, doubling? In that case, it would only take an hour and a half."

Jiang Xiaobai opened a medical book, "Compendium of Materia Medica," to earn 100,000 RMB and test if his memory had really improved.

In an hour, he finished the book and opened the personal center, where the balance showed 117,000 RMB.

"The earnings have increased! 117,000 RMB... Should I withdraw it again?"

Jiang Xiaobai was a bit tempted, hesitated for a moment, and decided to buy the "Scan" from the mall to see what it could do.

Purchase successful!

The golden "Scan" in the mall disappeared, and a QR code scanning icon appeared in the top left corner of the app.