Chapter 164: Mooching Songs to Grind Experience

Chapter 164: Song-Snatching for Experience

From a little past eleven until two in the morning, Meng Fan lost count of how much he had drunk, but he knew exactly how many songs he had sung: thirty-six in total. This was largely because, in the latter half of the night, few people fought him for the microphone after that pretty girl sang a duet with him; otherwise, the count would have been even lower.

Meng Fan had originally estimated twenty songs an hour. Factoring in breaks for messages and such, he had expected to grind out at least fifty experience points in three hours. This was significantly less than his projections.

Of course, if Brother Pao and the others hadn't shown up, he would have been forced to crash other private rooms to sing, which might have been more efficient, though admittedly a bit shameful.

After leaving the KTV, Brother Pao and Da Fei split the girls into two cars to take them home, while Meng Fan walked back alone; it was quite close.

On the way back, Meng Fan finally remembered the rental app. He had been checking WeChat during the singing—mostly chatting with Wu Tong—and had completely forgotten about the app. Opening it, he saw a notification: someone had accepted his order, but the person had messaged him saying the phone number provided was unreachable.

Meng Fan gave a wry smile; his phone had long been set to block unknown numbers, so of course it wouldn't go through.

He had effectively stood the person up.

He quickly replied: "Something came up unexpectedly, my apologies. If you're free tomorrow, I'll double your fee as compensation."

As for the "no-show," there was naturally a cost—a six-yuan deposit as a gesture of good faith.

This made Meng Fan feel rather embarrassed.

After getting home and changing into his slippers, he saw a reply: two characters—"Heh heh."

The guy who took the order had a surprisingly good temper.

The next morning, after his run, he spent the morning finishing the follow-up work on the posters he had accepted, sending them off to the respective contacts with a note that they could reach out anytime if they had more work.

These promotional posters were high-paying and quick to turn around; they were currently his fastest way to make money, so he naturally wanted to take on as many as possible.

After his afternoon class, Meng Fan grabbed Zhang Zhouwei and Xing Tage, refusing to let them leave: "You two are coming to sing with me!"

As for Chen Daqiang, he was stuck in the misery of editing manga.

Xing Tage shook his head firmly: "Are you crazy? Going to sing in broad daylight!"

Zhang Zhouwei, however, was highly enthusiastic: "How did you suddenly think of singing? Let's go, let's go, of course! But you have to tell Yanan that you needed me for something."

Clearly, Zhang Zhouwei’s original plan for the afternoon—or rather, the plan Wang Yanan had made for him—was to be in the library.

And so, with Meng Fan and Zhang Zhouwei flanking him, they dragged Xing Tage to the KTV near the school.

The KTV was open in the afternoon as well.

"Fatty, what’s going on with you? Why the sudden urge to sing?" Xing Tage really couldn't figure it out.

Meng Fan let out a long sigh: "I've been feeling too tense lately, so I thought I'd relax a bit."

"Right, right, you must relax!" Zhang Zhouwei supported him with both hands and feet. "You've been working so hard lately that we barely recognize you! You should take a break! Why work so hard? You’ve made Yanan use you as an example to lecture me every day! In a word, Fatty, whenever you want to relax, just call me, I'm at your beck and call! I can't help much when you're working, but for relaxing, I'm absolutely on point!"

Zhang Zhouwei had always been quick-witted when it came to slacking off.

In response, Meng Fan and Xing Tage both gave him the middle finger.

Three people in one room meant Meng Fan could sing the entire time!

In the three hours from a little past two until five, Meng Fan grinded out forty-six experience points—far more efficient than the day before.

That brought his total to 117.

After singing, he went for a run, ate, and then called Senior A-Ning to arrange a return treat, inviting the basketball team and the cheerleaders to the KTV.

A return treat?

Senior A-Ning wondered if that was even possible, considering the school had paid for the previous outing.

Still, since "Iron Brother" had spoken, everyone gave him face and agreed to go.

This session lasted from just before seven in the evening until nearly eleven, breaking up just before the dormitory curfew.

Meng Fan grinded out sixty-four experience points; the efficiency was decent.

After everyone dispersed, Meng Fan walked to the entrance of his residential complex, thought for a moment, and turned back toward the KTV. This time, he put on the hat that made his presence fade.

He had nothing to do back home and couldn't sleep anyway, so he decided to keep grinding—shameful or not.

However, just as he reached the KTV entrance, he backed out, walked to the roadside, took off his hat, and hailed a taxi. "Take me to a KTV with a bit more business, please."

A rabbit doesn't eat the grass around its own burrow; Meng Fan decided to grind in a place further away.

The driver was stunned—this place had plenty of business—but after a moment, he suggested another KTV and, seeing Meng Fan nod, drove him there.

Of course, seeing that Meng Fan looked like a student, the driver didn't take him to any place offering "escort" services; he just took him to a slightly more distant KTV.

After getting out, Meng Fan put on his hat and went inside.

"Careful."

Meng Fan saw a man who had likely come from the restroom, swaying heavily after having had too much to drink, and reached out to steady him.

"Hm? Oh, thanks."

The man’s eyes were unfocused. He glanced at Meng Fan, but the moment he turned his head, he forgot him. His mind was hazy, and thanks to Meng Fan's hat, he completely forgot that someone had just helped him.

Pushing open a door, the man paused, laughed, and cupped his hands in apology: "My bad, my bad, wrong room."

He pushed open the adjacent door—this time, he was right.

Meng Fan helped the man inside. It was a large room with over a dozen people, the atmosphere already quite high.

"Brother Chen, where did you go? There's a bathroom in the room! Did you go to puke? Hahaha, puking is good, you can drink more after."

A woman at least ten years younger than the man came over and took him from Meng Fan. As for Meng Fan, she glanced at him, but assuming he was with the man, she turned away and promptly forgot him too.

Seeing the atmosphere was so lively and that many were already drunk, Meng Fan felt it was perfect. A bit embarrassed, he found a corner seat, took out his own microphone, connected it to the equipment, and started singing.

He sang five or six songs in a row, even picking his own tracks, yet no one in the room noticed anything amiss. The atmosphere remained unchanged.

After singing for a while, Meng Fan noticed the drinks on the table were empty. He pressed the service button, and when the waiter arrived, he took off his hat, ordered two crates of beer and some snacks, paid with his phone, and put his hat back on to continue singing.

The order was recorded in the system; the waiter might forget who ordered it, but they wouldn't fail to see which room it was for.

Even though no one there cared about the cost of a few drinks, Meng Fan felt that since he was crashing their party, buying some booze was the right thing to do.

Well, and he also happened to complete a "spend wealth" task.

The group in this room was incredibly energetic. They were already high on drink but managed to keep going until past two in the morning, leaving one by one, swaying but happy.

Another fifty-plus experience points were added, bringing his total to 232/1000. It wasn't quite the 200 points a day he had hoped for, but it wasn't slow either.