Farming Points

The news was playing on the television.

City leaders were inspecting a Charity Porridge Shop, engaging in warm conversations with the volunteers.

The accompanying photo showed a group of people in red vests surrounding a grey-haired elderly man, everyone wearing a smile.

Above the photo, numbers floated over everyone's heads.

The grey-haired city leader had a 9842 above his head, while his subordinates had scores of 3120, 2988, and 2754, respectively.

The magnitude of the numbers was tied directly to official rank; not a single subordinate’s score exceeded that of their superior.

...

A murder occurred in the city yesterday. The perpetrator, a man surnamed Zhang, got into a dispute with the victim, a man surnamed Li, over a debt. Zhang stabbed Li, resulting in his death.

During the trial, the court found that the killer, Zhang, had a score of 742 on his Good Person Card, while the victim, Li, had a score of 31.

The killer's moral score was significantly higher than the victim's.

Ultimately, the court sentenced Zhang to three years in prison with four years of probation for the crime of negligent homicide.

In the gallery, the victim's family raised no objections, and the observing public remarked that the verdict was just.

...

At a certain charity donation gala, a well-known entrepreneur surnamed Chen donated eight million yuan on the spot to cover the medical expenses of children with rare diseases.

Chen was immediately awarded an 'Ambassador of Compassion' certificate by the organizers.

The number above Chen's head jumped from 2150 to 2180, an increase of thirty points.

The score above the organizer's head jumped from 876 to 886, an increase of ten points.

Reporters interviewed several guests at the scene, and everyone agreed that "CEO Chen has always been passionate about public welfare; this certificate is well-deserved."

The children with rare diseases did not receive the donation.

...

Through the internet, Yue Shi peeked at the various bizarre phenomena of this world.

He felt they were bizarre, but in the eyes of the locals, these things were perfectly normal.

“This world is very well-suited for the survival of hypocrites. The higher a person's number, the easier it is for them to get even higher. The lower the number, the easier it is to be trampled even lower,” Yue Shi remarked.

“An incisive summary,” Ghost said.

Yue Shi: “Now, I’m going to go do some good deeds. Who knows, I might just become the kindest, kindest, kindest person in the world.”

...

After some friendly negotiations, the bald man from the Moral Accelerator company decided to help Yue Shi become a good person.

The venue he arranged was in an abandoned factory building.

When Yue Shi arrived, the scene was already set.

Twenty employees stood there, ranging across all ages and genders, wearing various outfits to play the roles of street sweepers, delivery drivers, students, office workers, and lonely elderly people...

They stood in two rows, leaving a path in the middle. At the end of the path was a table with cash and a stack of “Thank-you certificates.”

Seeing Yue Shi, the bald man came forward to greet him. “Boss, this is the team serving you today—twenty people in total. You can choose a single thank-you or a ‘Scenario Simulation’.”

“We will design a complete scenario of doing a good deed for you. You will play the helper in the scene, and they will play the helped. Afterward, they will express their gratitude to you.”

“The effect of Scenario Simulation is much better than a single thank-you. Because the people playing the helped can settle for higher wages, their gratitude is more authentic and heartfelt.”

Yue Shi glanced at the twenty people. Their expressions were very professional, and the numbers above their heads weren't high, mostly ranging between the teens and thirties. There was a girl in a school uniform with an 8, and an old man with a 5.

“Let’s begin,” Yue Shi said.

The first scenario: Helping an elderly person cross the street.

An old woman in a grey cotton shirt stood at one end of the road, hunched over and leaning on a cane, looking quite frail and shaky.

Yue Shi walked over, reached out to support her arm, and accompanied her as she slowly walked across the zebra crossing made of white tape.

The old woman walked very slowly, each step making a scuffing sound on the ground. When they reached the other side, she stopped, turned around, and grasped Yue Shi's hand. There was actually a glint of tears in her cloudy eyes.

“Thank you, young man. You really are a good person, and a handsome one at that...”

The number above Yue Shi's head flickered. 0.03.

“Huh? Why are there decimals? And two decimal places at that!” Yue Shi was very dissatisfied.

The old woman beside him got anxious first. “Boss, what I said just now was from the bottom of my heart! My gratitude to you is for real!”

Getting paid just for acting out a scene was easy money, and the lad really was handsome. The old woman was quite satisfied with today's work, yet she hadn't expected it to only increase his score by 0.03.

The bald man wiped sweat from his brow. He had rarely seen such a situation. “Normally, a person's score increases or decreases by whole integers. But our employees are absolutely sincere. Look at this old lady; her tears are real. Her performance in the 'helping an old lady cross the street' scene is her signature act.”

“Fine, keep going,” Yue Shi waved his hand.

The second scenario: Finding a wallet and returning it to the owner.

A middle-aged man played the owner, and Yue Shi played the person who found the wallet.

Yue Shi picked up a black leather wallet from the ground, glanced inside, and then called out to the middle-aged man walking briskly ahead. “Sir, you dropped your wallet.”

The middle-aged man turned around, took the wallet, and flipped it open to check. Then, he wore an expression of relief. “Thank you. My ID and credit cards are in here. It would have been a real hassle if I’d lost it.”

The number above Yue Shi's head went from 0.03 to 0.04.

The bald man stood by with a forced smile. It seemed there was nothing wrong with his employees; the problem lay with this boss.

The third scenario: Helping a lost child find their mother.

A little girl with twin ponytails crouched by the roadside crying. Yue Shi walked over, squatted down, and asked her what was wrong. She said she couldn't find her mother.

Yue Shi led her by the hand for fifty meters to a mall service desk. A woman in a uniform came forward and said, “This is Mrs. Wang's daughter. Mrs. Wang is looking for her in the broadcast room.”

Before the little girl was taken away, she turned back and bowed to Yue Shi. “Thank you, Big Brother.”

The number above Yue Shi's head became 0.1.

The bald man comforted him from the side. “The first step is always the hardest. Going from 0 to 1 is always full of hardships. Perhaps once you get over this hurdle, things will get much easier.”

The number 0.1 was so dazzling that Yue Shi suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. “Again.”

For half a day, from noon until dusk, Yue Shi repeated over thirty scenarios.

Each scenario was meticulously designed, and every expression of gratitude from the helped was rehearsed countless times.

His score gradually climbed from 0.1 to 0.2, then to 0.3. On average, it took three to five scenarios to gain 0.1 points. Each scenario required paying the actors a thank-you fee ranging from 50 to 100 yuan.

At dusk, Yue Shi sat on the steps at the factory entrance.

After this half-day of hard work, he had finally gone from 0 to 1.