Chapter Seven: The Health Bar—Infinitely Powerful Like a Monster, Impossible to Defeat Even at Full Strength

As expected of Mao Dou, the game has suddenly become much better.

Full of interest, full of zest.

However, just as Gou Tong was about to take control of his character and begin his grand ambition of becoming a playboy, he was apprehended by the police who arrived on the scene.

Damn it. Having grown familiar with the game mechanics, he immediately realized that the heroine had triggered the "reporting to the police" plot!

Despicable! He may have been largely responsible for the assault, but did the heroine not share any of the blame?

He would settle the score with her later!

In the past, when he controlled the male lead to steal batteries and got caught on the spot, he wouldn't even dare to dream of fighting back; he knew he couldn't win against the police, and it would only lead to further charges.

But now... could he win?

With a sharp blade in hand, the urge to kill arises.

Today, he would test just how much "sound" these police officers really had!

Gou Tong checked the male lead's character sheet, noting the staggering 5,000 points in strength and physique.

5,000 points of strength was a thousand times that of an average laborer. When factoring in the bonus from professional-level combat skills...

"Can you handle this punch, with the force of two hundred tons?!"

Hmph, victory was certain!

"Can't win at all?" I don't understand that language!

Attempting to activate combat mode!

Great, it works!

It turns out this game isn't a "Pure Love Simulator," nor a "Cuckold Simulator," and certainly not a "Honest Laborer Simulator." It’s an "Outlaw Simulator"!

Activate!

So satisfying, combat, so satisfying!

...After a battle that grew more desperate with every exchange...

No, he couldn't win. He absolutely couldn't win.

The male lead lay flat on the ground, having been forcibly fitted with silver bracelets.

Near the Qingchun City University, he had encountered a few police officers who surrounded and captured him.

The "Four Heavenly Kings" all possessed infinite health bars and were as strong as monsters.

Even after giving it his all, he couldn't defeat them...

It wasn't that he couldn't... no, he truly couldn't. They were invincible existences!

No, wait, I have 5,000 points of combat power! Shouldn't I be the Homelander?

I, Zhang San, don't eat beef!

Punching power, surge within me!

Let me win just once! Love is infinite!

...

It was over. The male lead was detained for fifteen days for assault stemming from a romantic dispute.

It was only detention; the game could technically continue.

But he had also assaulted the police. Faced with five officers in pursuit, instead of fleeing, he had dared to fight back.

He was sentenced to prison.

A screen appeared showing the male lead entering prison for assaulting an officer. Game over.

Another bad ending unlocked—[Such Audacity].

After staring blankly for two seconds, Gou Tong suddenly smiled with a sense of relief.

Forget it, forget it. The combat power gained from a bug was ultimately illusory; it couldn't defeat the reality of societal harmony.

What was 5,000 points of combat power worth anyway?

To survive on these streets, you need influence, you need connections.

"Which gang are you from?"

"I’m a laborer from Chenghua Avenue!"

Haha, he should have known it would be like this.

He reloaded the save, returned to the start of the day, and continued playing.

...

With the "super-model" high-mentality buff, and having already played for two and a half years in-game, as long as the player wasn't pushing to the absolute limit, the protagonist's build was guaranteed to be formidable by this point. He should have been able to unlock multiple high-level professions.

Players with good management skills like Gou Tong could even manage to scrape together enough capital to start a business, like opening a restaurant.

Less skilled players could simply cling to the coattails of wealthy women or rich young heiresses to secure startup capital.

Now that he wasn't burdened by dowry demands or periodic event-based financial deductions, Gou Tong quickly amassed a large sum of money.

Afterward, he hit a plateau. While the game had high freedom, there were limits to development.

For instance, attributes were hard to increase past twenty, and there were only two maps—the area around Qingchun City University and Happiness Town. The ceiling was visible.

The profit margins for various industries in the small town all had caps.

Even in the livestreaming industry, although Gou Tong’s charm attribute could exceed a hundred at night due to his buffs, and his follower growth rate was many times faster than it had been at level twenty, he still felt it wasn't fast enough. He thought back to those 5,000 attribute points...

Gou Tong controlled the male lead to make a phone call and summoned the heroine once again.

This time, he wouldn't hit her so hard. Could he avoid the police?

...

Half an hour later, after repeated comparative experiments and controlling the intensity of the abuse, Gou Tong had self-taught a complete "boxing" workflow.

Transfer money before "boxing."

As long as he gave the heroine more than she asked for—for example, if she requested 20,000 for monthly expenses, giving her double, 40,000—she would happily accept it, even if the male lead chose aggressive response options.

"Darling, you're so domineering today. I love you even more."

The voice acting by Teacher Bu Feiyan was quite stimulating when she put on that affected tone, but Gou Tong still preferred her original, haughty, and cold voice.

If he increased the money to over three times the amount, all available options—slapping, binding attacks, light, continuous strikes to certain areas—would be happily accepted as long as he stopped before her health bar dropped by a third.

It wouldn't even decrease her favorability.

"Darling, you're amazing, I love it."

Money makes the devil turn the mill, indeed!

If he increased it to five times the amount for three consecutive months, the heroine would stop going to school and follow the male lead every day.

He tried it out: even if the male lead was with other female NPCs, she would watch from the side to spice up the atmosphere.

However, no matter how much she craved it, she could only watch because she was "Holy."

If one didn't want to play in such a twisted way, one could order the heroine to stay at the male lead's house and handle the chores.

All it took was more money!

Previously, the heroine was the one giving the male lead tasks, but now the roles had reversed; all of the heroine's actions were the male lead's tasks.

Standing by 007, it was magical.

By continuously giving the heroine large sums of money, she would do anything.

It seemed that to her, money was more important than "freedom."

Gou Tong named this strategy "The Sugar Daddy's Maintenance."

Uh, saying "maintenance" didn't sound very good... let's call it "investing in oneself" instead.

The blows fell on the heroine, but the pain was in the male lead's heart. Therefore, conversely, maintaining the heroine was investing in himself. It was perfectly logical.

From then on, the male lead's daily routine was—

Boxing, buffing, making money, picking up girls, and "driving piles." So satisfying!

Sleep, boxing, buffing... So satisfying!

In a repeating cycle, the male lead could have more and more girlfriends.

Ultimately, all the beautiful NPCs in the small town became the player's harem. This was a truly fulfilled life.

So satisfying!

The most satisfying installment of Mao Dou!

There was no penalty for having many girlfriends in this game; all harem members coexisted harmoniously.

Through the male lead's introductions, the harem members could even develop into bosom friends.

Because in the standard flow, as long as the male lead flirted with others, his mentality would quickly collapse and the game would end, so there were no other counter-punishment mechanisms. It was too logical.

What constrains relationships between men and women is morality; the heroine had no morality, so she was very free.

The male lead now had a mentality that not only symbolized zero morality but was even negative, so he was even freer.

And the freest man on this great sea is the Play King!

Besides, even players who sought immersion and narrative logic wouldn't find it strange that the male lead never crashed and burned.

"Logic" players would also think: "Come on, I have 5,000 points of charm!"

This is a humanoid succubus.

Often, the moment the male lead sat down, those female NPCs would approach him to strike up a conversation. Some would want to confess their feelings after just a few sentences, and they could go to a hotel on the same day.

Among the NPCs, the most beautiful school flower at Qingchun City University—whose face model was last year's Mao Dou Best Actress—only had a charm value of twenty-something, yet she was stunning even among female celebrities.

Even if one favored the past over the present, a historic-level beauty with over a hundred charm would be heaven-defying.

Calculated this way, the "Four Great Beauties" combined didn't have as much charm as the male lead.

Is it unreasonable for him to have many girlfriends in the small town?

...