From now on, I've got to grind Merit Points, and that thought was the only thing in Ryan Ling's head all afternoon in class.
But how the heck do I rack them up fast?
Ryan Ling thought it over: every time he’d scored Merit Points, it was either saving lives, doing good, or punishing evil. But ever since Big Fly got his face smashed in, school was suddenly peaceful—so punishing evil wasn’t really an option.
So his only move now was to do good deeds—tons of them—and grind those Merit Points like crazy.
That evening, after his classmates left, Ryan Ling went on a cleaning spree—sweeping, wiping desks, mopping, hauling trash, you name it. But even after working himself to death, he only got 7 Merit Points. The System popped up: "Too basic. Next time you won’t get any merit for this."
Ryan nearly lost it, but then had a brainwave: make Big Fly and his newly loyal punks do good deeds. That had to count as punishing evil and promoting good, right? Plus, having bad guys do good should earn extra merit.
Sure enough, the next day when Big Fly and his crew were forced to do good deeds around school, Ryan’s Merit Points spiked.
His Merit Points shot up from 307 to 391, almost breaking the 400 mark. At this rate, 2,000 Merit Points actually looked doable.
But then, in the afternoon, his Merit Points suddenly tanked—by half.
Ryan’s face went ghost-white. Turns out Big Fly and his crew were so good at being bad, they sucked at being good—they kept messing things up, like dragging an old lady across the street when she didn’t want to go. Stuff like that actually cost him merit, even going negative.
Ryan had no choice but to tell them to stop. His mood hit rock bottom.
He’d known Merit Points were tough to grind, but at this rate, hitting 2,000 in a week felt about as likely as ascending to heaven.
He’d busted his butt all day and didn’t even get fifty points!
After school, Ryan wandered the streets, racking his brain for ideas.
Just as he was getting frustrated, he suddenly heard cries for help and saw thick smoke billowing from a residential building—there was a raging fire.
Ryan’s eyes widened and he sprinted over.
"That fire’s brutal, and it’s a high-rise too. Hope no one gets hurt!" an old guy prayed nearby.
People scattered in panic, but suddenly a middle-aged man bolted toward the flames.
"What are you doing? You can’t go up there now!" a firefighter stopped him.
"My wife and three kids are up there—that burning area is my home! I have to go!" The man was already in tears.