My Orc Husband Dotes on Me Excessively

Chapter 10:Exploit System Loopholes

Anluo’s eyes lit up, and she silently commanded in her mind: “Archive it!” [Ding~ Ancient Mutant Fruit – Chili Peppers archived successfully. Ten Points credited. Current personal Points balance: minus sixty. Host, keep working hard to pay off your debt soon!] Anluo twitched the corner of her mouth. This system was truly the cheapest skinflint of all systems. So stingy! Yet soon she caught a crucial detail. “Erbao, how did the archiving work? The number of fruits here hasn’t decreased at all.” [For solanaceous plants like chili peppers, only the seeds inside get archived; the flesh remains for the Host to eat!] Her heart warmed at this explanation. Sure enough, Erbao was good—it was the system itself that was miserly. Just as she felt touched, a sudden shrill wail cut through the air. She spun around to see the cub’s face bright red, tongue lolling out nonstop, tears streaming down his cheeks. On the ground at his feet lay a chili pepper with a single bite taken out of it. The cub sobbed and stuck his tongue out repeatedly. “Wuuu, A-jie, this fruit… it burns my mouth… wuu…” The sight made Anluo stifle a laugh. Now was not the time to tease him, though. Chili peppers packed an intense heat, especially for a cub tasting them for the very first time. If she failed to soothe the burning properly, his stomach could be badly irritated. Luckily, she’d grabbed two fruits on her way out, worried they would have no lunch. They were sweet and juicy, perfect for neutralizing the spice. “Here, take a big bite to cool your mouth!” Anluo held the fruit out to him. The cub bit down hard while it was still in her hand, chewing slowly. The searing heat in his mouth faded noticeably, yet even the lingering spiciness left him miserable. He worked through nearly half the fruit before his discomfort eased. When he glanced at the discarded chili pepper on the ground, fear flickered across his eyes. After checking that he was feeling much better, Anluo picked up the chili to scold him gently. “Look at you—you pop anything unknown straight into your mouth. If this had been poisonous, you would’ve lost your life right here.” The cub tilted his head, big round eyes full of confusion. “A-jie, what does losing your life mean?” “It means you’d go to the Beast God and never get to see me again,” Anluo answered perfunctorily. At the mention of meeting the Beast God, the cub’s lips trembled, overcome with fright. Anluo paid no notice, however. Her gaze fixed on the half-eaten chili, and she voiced the doubt nagging at her. “Erbao, didn’t you say you archived the chili seeds? Why are there still seeds inside this one?” [That is correct, Host. Only one seed was archived; all the rest remain intact.] “I thought your world was in desperate need of these plants and creatures. One single chili seed can’t be enough—why not archive more?” Static crackled from Erbao for a long moment before it replied that no such program existed in its settings, and it could not understand the intentions of its superiors. Staring at the cluster of bright red chili peppers and thinking of her Points debt, Anluo’s eyes rolled as a clever scheme popped into her head. “Erbao, why don’t you archive another chili seed? Supervisors all love diligent, efficient subordinates. If you go above and beyond your assigned tasks, wouldn’t your superiors reward you handsomely…” Her voice carried a bewitching charm, endlessly coaxing Erbao. New to its “job”, Erbao had no grasp of human trickery. Worn down by her constant persuasion, it grew giddy and agreed to her plan. [Ding~ Ancient Mutant Fruit – Chili Peppers archived successfully. Ten Points credited. Current personal Points balance: minus fifty. Host, keep working hard to pay off your debt soon!] Hearing the notification chime, Anluo’s face lit up, looking utterly unsurprised. Eager to clear her debt faster, she launched into an effusive stream of flattery. “Wow! Erbao you’re amazing, so capable! Truly the number one Flora and Fauna Archiving System in existence! Incredible, keep up the fantastic work!” Egged on by the praise, Erbao worked with even greater zeal. A nonstop stream of notification chimes echoed inside her head. [Ding~ Ancient Mutant Fruit – Chili Peppers archived successfully. Ten Points credited. Current personal Points balance: minus forty. Host, keep working hard to pay off your debt soon!] [...] [Ding~ Ancient Mutant Fruit – Chili Peppers archived successfully. Ten Points credited. Points debt fully repaid. Current personal Points balance: zero. Host, keep working hard!] [...] [Ding~ Ancient Mutant Fruit – Chili Peppers archived successfully. Ten Points credited. Current personal Points balance: fifty. Host, keep up the great work!] [...] Anluo lost count of how many times the alert sounded. The chime sounded sweeter than any melody, and a grin never left her face. Then the alarms blared all at once. [Warning! Warning! Warning! System bug detected! System bug detected! Under maintenance… Under maintenance… Please stand by!] The rush of joy faded instantly from both Anluo and Erbao. Before she could ask what was wrong, Erbao hurriedly explained it would have to leave for several days. Its superiors were summoning it back to headquarters for mandatory rule retraining for exploiting system loopholes, and told her to stay safe while it was gone. Guilt washed over Anluo. She was the one who’d tricked the system to exploit loopholes, not Erbao. Unfortunately, Erbao cut off all contact before she could say a word. Anluo heaved a long sigh. She resolved to complete more collection missions and find plenty of rare flora and fauna to make it up to Erbao. With her mind made up, she pushed the incident aside and focused on what lay in front of her. When she’d coaxed Erbao into archiving chili seeds nonstop, she’d planned ahead. She kept the chili the cub had bitten into, saving its seeds to plant later. The seedless peppers she intended to take back to the tribe, dry and grind them into powder to sprinkle over roasted meat for extra flavor. Afraid the cub would grab random things to taste again, Anluo sent him off to play nearby before drawing near the chili bushes. They were more like small chili trees, standing a full meter tall with heavy branches laden with fruit. Each chili was as big as Anluo’s palm, which was why she’d mistaken them for ordinary wild fruit at first. Anluo huffed and puffed as she worked for ages, plucking every chili off the branches. Picking them had been fun, and she’d even wished there were more—but staring at the huge mound of red peppers now, she grew anxious, unsure how to haul all of them back to the tribe. The cub had long known this fiery “fruit” was edible if prepared properly and had been looking forward to tasting it. Seeing A-jie suddenly fall silent with a worried look, he piped up. “What’s wrong, A-jie?” Anluo sighed. “I’m trying to figure out how to carry all these chili peppers back to the tribe.” The cub tilted his head. “Put them in beast hides!” “Pack them up!” Anluo’s eyes lit up with sudden inspiration. “Right! We can wrap them in hides, or weave a carrying basket! How did I not think of that? My cub is so smart!” She reached down and ruffled his hair happily. Complimented, the cub giggled and ducked his head bashfully.