The 90 Billion Devotion System

Chapter 6: A Knock and a Name

Chapter 6: A Knock and a Name

The morning inside Dormitory 9-2 still wore the stale perfume of indulgence, thick with the fermented scent of yesterday’s rebellion. Cheap beer had seeped into the walls, and traces of imported liquor still curled like ghosts in the air. Leo Xu lay buried beneath an avalanche of crumpled blankets, his breathing slow, the rhythm of exhaustion.

Bai Zheli had rolled off the edge of his bed at some point and now lay face-down on a floor mat like a fallen warrior. Luo Peng snored in sync with the hum of a nearby power strip. Peace, if one could call it that, reigned for a few final moments.

Then came the pounding.

Violent and insistent, it slapped the dorm door like a declaration of war.

“Leo Xu! Leo! Open up, man! This is urgent!”

Luo Peng groaned, fingers massaging his temple as he stumbled to the door in a haze of resentment. He yanked it open, barely awake, revealing a wide-eyed guy from the next dorm over.

The visitor’s expression was an intriguing cocktail of exasperation and disbelief.

“Do you even know what time it is? You’re still snoring like corpses in here.”

“Drank too much,” Luo Peng said through a yawn, his tone deadpan.

“Where’s Leo Xu?”

“Still asleep. What’s it to you?”

The guy shoved past him with zero ceremony, marched right over to Leo’s bunk, and peeled off the blanket like he was exorcising a demon.

“Get your ass up, Leo! Something wild is happening!”

Leo stirred, blinking slowly as if waking from a dream not quite finished. The alcohol still swam in his bloodstream, especially the three shots of foreign liquor he’d downed with Shu Rui the night before, which had been far more potent than anything domestic.

Bai Zheli sat up, hair askew, his eyes still caught in limbo between sleep and wakefulness. Luo Peng leaned against the doorframe, trying to process what had just happened.

“What’s going on?” Leo asked, voice hoarse.

“Shu Rui is downstairs.”

“Who?”

Luo Peng squinted as if mishearing.

“Shu Rui! From the Arts Department! She’s been standing outside your building for over ten minutes. Alone.”

The visitor could barely contain his disbelief.

Everyone on campus knew Shu Rui. Gorgeous. Untouchable. Lethally elegant. Her reputation for luxury was only rivaled by the mystery surrounding her love life.

And she was waiting for Leo Xu?

Luo Peng dashed to the balcony, eyes scanning the courtyard. Beneath the ancient camphor tree, her silhouette shimmered like a mirage, magnetic enough to make passersby twist their necks.

Shu Rui’s eyes flicked upward at that precise moment.

Luo Peng ducked back behind the wall with a gasp.

“No way…” he murmured.

Li Shao now joined the cluster of stunned faces, and even he had to pause to process the reality.

Leo Xu, however, simply ran a hand through his messy hair, swung his legs out of bed, and mumbled, “I’ll brush my teeth first.”

Fifteen minutes later, he was finally strolling out the door, freshly scrubbed and somehow unaffected, leaving a trail of shocked silence behind him.

“Since when did Leo Xu and Shu Rui start hanging out?” one of the guys asked.

“Beats me,” Luo Peng muttered. “Last I checked, he was broke and harmless.”

The crew huddled by the window, watching.

Downstairs, Leo stepped into the morning light with the swagger of a man completely unbothered by social gravity.

“Shu Rui.”

She stood with her arms crossed, her expression unreadable, the sun catching the edge of her sunglasses.

“You already know why I’m here, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

Leo stopped two steps short of her, precisely calculated to seem respectful, detached, and oddly warm.

“No need for drama. It was just dinner. A kind gesture, nothing more.”

His tone was velvet over steel.

Watching Leo behave as if generosity cost him nothing, Shu Rui let out a soft laugh laced with disbelief.

She was radiant: minimal makeup, flawless skin, and an aura of wealth that shimmered invisibly in the air around her. One guy walking by was so mesmerized he collided with a bicycle rack.

“I hate three kinds of people,” she said, voice flat. “Those who overreach, those who fake sincerity, and those who think paying for dinner makes them significant.”

Leo didn’t flinch. His calmness was almost infuriating.

“I never wanted to be significant. I just wanted to give. No strings attached.”

His gaze was direct, vulnerable without appearing weak.

Shu Rui’s brow creased. It was not what she’d expected. Most guys folded beneath her indifference, but Leo stood still.

“Do you know the third kind of person I hate the most?” she asked again.

“What kind?”

“Idiots.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Six thousand yuan. To you, that’s a huge sum. You might act indifferent now, but will you feel the same when you can’t afford lunch next week?”

Leo lifted a brow. He had done his homework on Shu Rui: designer shoes, high-end perfume, weekend getaways, and a love for gifts wrapped in ribbon. Superficial? Maybe. But honest about it? Absolutely.

Unlike his ex-girlfriend Bella Zhao, who played the innocent while draining him dry.

“I probably check all your hate boxes,” he said with a crooked smile.

Shu Rui reached into her Chanel tote and pulled out a neat stack of crisp bills.

“This is six thousand. Take it.”

Leo hesitated.

“You really don’t have to—”

“Do you want an audience?” she said icily.

He took the money. Not because he wanted it, but because refusing would only escalate the scene.

Interestingly, after everything, he’d actually earned a hundred more than he spent.

A loophole, he mused.

“We’re not from the same world,” Shu Rui said, slipping her sunglasses back on. “I hope you won’t bother me again.”

Leo remained unmoved.

“Then what does it take to be part of your world?”

“A million-dollar car, maybe,” she replied, pausing.

He stepped closer.

“Shu Rui, I’m not giving up. You may look down on me now, but I’ll climb high enough to change that.”

She turned halfway, expression unreadable.

“You don’t have what it takes. Maybe you’ll be rich someday, but I won’t wait around for a ‘maybe.’”

With that, she walked away, heels clicking like punctuation marks on pavement. Leo stood motionless until she disappeared beyond the courtyard.

Back in the dorm, Bai Zheli’s eyes widened as Leo returned.

“What did she want?”

Leo tossed the stack of bills onto his bed.

“She gave me money. To stay out of her life.”

Silence fell.

Luo Peng stared at the notes.

“She really did that?”

Leo leaned against his bunk.

“She wanted no connection, no debt, no conversation.”

He chuckled.

“Turns out, being a simp is a profitable career after all.”

Then he clapped his hands.

“Breakfast, boys. My treat.”