System Only Gives Me Useless Gifts

"I heard your roommate is Song Meilin, what is she like?" A group of girls chatted. "Her livestream was just featured on the local news!"

Jing Lin shrugged, she didn't like to talk about her roommate. Jing Lin barely knew Song Meilin as she stayed out late and returned only to sleep. On the weekend, she disappeared completely.

"Her content is getting really good lately," the other girls commented. "She's doing cooking and makeup tutorials."

"I love the ones where she makes homemade perfumes from herbs," the other girl chimed in. "She has been going around the Caoben street to interview the different shop owners. I want to visit there during the weekend."

Jing Lin sighed. She was annoyed that her friends were talking about her roommate. It didn't help that her boyfriend also started to watch the broadcast and asked her about it. Song Meilin was considered a local celebrity after her live broadcasting was getting more attention. Wu Ling was a popular weekly guest on her broadcast.

"Ah, Jing Lin, can you ask for us where she gets her herbs from?" One of the girls asked.

"Can you guys shut up?" Jing Lin was already irritated by the thought of her boyfriend. "Song Meilin is a total w****, she's a complete fake."

The girls wondered what Jing Lin was talking about and egged her to spill some of the more juicy gossips.

Jing Lin didn't know much, but looking at their expectant eyes, she rehashed some gossip she had read online, "She rarely comes back to the dorm, and when she does it is usually after midnight. There are rumors that she slept with our archaeology professor to get her grades."

"No way! She seems so sweet," the other girls pretended to be shocked. "But I guess you can't really judge a cover."

"No wonder her boyfriends all cheated on her."

On the opposite side of the dining hall, the detective club had just finished closing another cold case. With the five girls working to interview witnesses and neighbors of each case, they were able to piece together timelines better than most people. Talking to witnesses required not only communication skills but the ability to dissect gossip. Gossips often revealed more facts than truths.

The five girls were naturally in their elements. An Zhang Mi majored in law, Li Ching majored in human resources, Zhu Ah Nin majored in journalism, and Wu Ling majored in business administration. Rouxi was an archaeology major but also minored in business. All the majors required a lot of human interactions and communication skills.

"Is there a reason we have to meet here?" Ju De asked. He didn't like going to the dining hall to eat, much less to work on criminal cases. After they had acquired official permission from the school and local police station to look over publicly available cases, the detective club officially commenced.

"Your girlfriend and president of the detective club prefer the dining hall," Rouxi replied.

Ju De wrapped up his binder and stood up. "I'm going to talk to Li Yun in a more quiet place."

After Ju De left, Rouxi looked at Zhu Ah Nin. "So why can't we have our own club room again?" She asked, also siding with Ju De about the oddity of having a designated table in the cafeteria for the detective club.

"Since I am voted in as the president, naturally I wanted the dining hall," Zhu Ah Nin replied.

"Technically we picked Wu Ling, but she declined," An Zhang Mi clarified. "And your boyfriend voted for you, so you won by default."

Zhu Ah Nin glared at An Zhang Mi. "Hpmh! You guys do not know what a goldmine this place is, it operates from 7am to 6pm. People come in here to talk all the time."

"But it's noisy," even Wu Ling thought it was odd to pick the dining hall as the official meeting place.

"Yep, isn't it wonderful!" Zhu Ah Nin felt the most alive when she was around people, it was almost the complete opposite of Ju De.

"Not when we need to discuss a murder case."

"Oh come on, being in this room, and I can see that the girls in the economics major are gossiping about their professors again. The boys in the basketball club are currently ranking the cheerleaders. And the girls from archaeology are currently talking about you, Ms. Song."

Rouxi was amused. She could only pick up a couple of words, but the gossip queen lived up to her name, being able to keep track of multiple conversations at the same time. "What are they saying?"

"They said you are a w**** who is rarely in the dorm, and that you slept with your archaeology professor to get your grades," Zhu Ah Nin revealed.

Rouxi burst out laughing. "There's only one that doesn't need viagira, and it's easier to bribe all of them."

"You're not even upset?" Zhu Ah Nin asked. "I believe the one spreading the rumor is your roommate."

Rouxi shrugged. She barely stayed in the assigned dorm and had only met her roommate a few times. The roommate was the type who was easily jealous, but never tried to stand out on her old. It wasn't worth her time to deal with deal like that. "It doesn't bother me."

"It bothers me," Wu Ling said as she suddenly got up.

"Lingling, what are you doing?" Rouxi and the other girls quickly followed Wu Ling as she dashed to the girls from across the cafeteria.

"Ah Nin, what table?" Wu Ling paused midway when she realized that she had no idea where she was heading.

"Jing Lin, that way," Zhu Ah Nin pointed to the group of girls, and Wu Ling approached them.

"Hey!" Wu Ling banged her hands on their table to grab the girls' attention.

The girls from archaeology suddenly hushed up with Jing Lin feeling particularly uncomfortable. Everyone knew Wu Ling was the queen of the campus, but she was also a wushu competitor.

"Who's Jing Lin?" Wu Ling asked in a confrontational tone.

Everyone pointed to Jing Lin, who bitterly felt like she was being bullied.

"I understand the need to gossip, but if you're going to gossip, at least make it even remotely believable," Wu Ling stated. "Look at the other girls selling you out so quickly, do you know why? It's because none of them believe you. If you have ever watched Meilin's stream, then you will see her out late at night on her excursions. As soon as she finished, she would return to the dorm. Who the f****** have time to mess around?"

Jing Lin snorted. "You're her friend, of course you will defend her. But what about during the weekend?"

"What? She couldn't return home to her family? You're either really stupid or insanely jealous."

"It's obvious she's both," Zhu Ah Nin added. "She how green her face is? That's envy."

Jing Lin looked around the cafeteria. Everyone was looking at the table, whispering amongst themselves about the impending catfight. None of her so-called friends stood up to defend her. Jing Lin flushed with embarrassment, ready to tear up.

"Don't even dare to act like a victim when you're the one who is spreading rumors," Wu Ling continued. "Apologize."

Jing Lin didn't want to be in the dining hall anymore. She quickly apologized and ran off. The other girls also stood up and apologized. Rouxi accepted their apology and waved for them to sit down.

"Lingling, people are going to call you a bully if you don't calm down," said Rouxi.

In the meanwhile, Ju De returned back to the table. His face scrunched in annoyance. The table was vacant, but a messy pile of documents and forms was exposed for the world to see. Albeit, they were all cold cases that no way cared about. Bu Tao was still going to nag at him if he knew that police documents were left unattended in the university dining hall.

"Why am I here?" he thought.