Common Sense Altering System

Ray clicked his tongue, then slowly tapped the air to pull up the system’s window interface. His finger hit Medium.

A system notification popped up right in front of him:

[Daily Mission - MEDIUM]

Objective: Change society’s common sense about how people greet each other.

Completion Requirement: Host (Ray) has to personally use this new greeting gesture 15 times.

"Even a kid could do this shit," Ray muttered behind his mask. "Just gotta greet fifteen people. Easy as hell."

He was about to fire up Global Alter to plant that idea across the whole city in one go. But before his finger even touched the screen, a hand yanked the back of his jacket collar and he jerked.

"The hell you think you’re doing?" Milady’s voice came out ice-cold right next to his ear.

"Just use Global Alter, duh," Ray said all casual, rolling his eyes. "One tap and everybody instantly gets it, then I just gotta greet fifteen people."

Milady stared at him with the sharpest look he’d seen all day. "You dumb or did you leave your brain in the woods yesterday?"

Ray raised an eyebrow behind the mask. "Why you calling me dumb?"

"You’re being hunted all over the internet! Your accounts vanished from socials, people are looking for any trace of you!" Milady snapped, keeping her voice low so the people on the sidewalk wouldn’t hear. "If some weird city-wide thing suddenly happens just over how folks greet each other, the smart people out there are gonna instantly clock that it’s your Alter. You trying to invite more trouble?"

Ray shut up. Had to admit the girl in front of him had a point. Scale too big and there’d be a pattern people could spot.

"So what do we use then?" Ray asked finally.

"Use Alter Building," Milady cut in quick. "Focus it on one closed-off area. The effect spreads gradual and slow without making a scene."

Ray let out a defeated sigh. "Fine. Alter Building."

Milady didn’t say anything else. She turned and walked through the residential area, leading Ray toward a small commercial strip on the edge of town. They stopped in front of an old Chinese food restaurant with a faded red awning that looked pretty packed with the lunch crowd.

"Chinese food joint?" Ray checked out the faded sign.

"Get in," Milady ordered short. "Do your mission inside. Remember, don’t stand out. Don’t cause a scene. Use that mask properly."

They stepped inside. The smell of spices, cooking wine, and stir-fried garlic hit their noses right away. Waiters hustled around carrying steaming plates. Milady picked a small table in a dim corner while Ray stayed standing.

"Imma hit the bathroom first to activate Alter Building," Ray whispered.

Milady just waved him off without even looking.

Ray walked slowly toward the back hallway near the toilets. The restaurant was packed enough, perfect spot to spread the Alter Building wave. He went into a stall, locked the door, then opened his system panel with a confident grin.

He selected Alter Building, set the radius to this restaurant building, and wrote the new common sense command: The polite way to greet someone is by winking your right eye.

Ray hit confirm.

[WARNING: ALTER POINTS INSUFFICIENT]

Required: 300 Alter Points (Updated duration: 30 minutes)

Current Points: 10 Alter Points

Failed to Process.

Ray’s eyes bugged out staring at the transparent screen in front of him.

"Fuck..." he swore under his breath.

He forgot. The system just got updated yesterday. Alter Building duration jumped to 30 minutes, but the point cost went crazy up to 300 points! Meanwhile he only had ten points left from leftovers yesterday.

With a sour face, Ray walked out of the bathroom and back to the corner table.

Milady, who was checking out the wall decorations, immediately glanced at him. Just seeing Ray’s lost-as-hell look behind the mask, the girl let out a long sigh, looking hella annoyed.

"What?" Milady asked cold. "Not enough points?"

Ray grimaced behind his mask and sat down on the wooden chair. "Forgot Alter Building needs 300 points now. I only got ten."

Milady pinched the bridge of her nose. The corner of her eye twitched, holding it in. "The original plan’s fucked because you never check your own status. Completely off script."

"My bad, how the hell was I supposed to remember every little update," Ray cut in quick. "So now what?"

Milady stared at the floor for a second, then looked straight up at Ray. "Fine. Just use Global Alter. No choice."

"Wait what? You just said it’s dangerous if—"

"Better than your mission failing and us wasting time here?" Milady cut him off sharp. "Use the smallest scale of Global Alter, sweep this area fast. After fifteen times, we bounce immediately. Move quick before anyone notices."

Ray didn’t argue anymore. He got up and headed back to the toilet. In the same stall, he opened the Global Alter function. Since it only needed a tiny bit of points for instant activation without long duration, his ten points were enough to inject that fake common sense into the surrounding area.

[10 Alter Points has been consumed]

[GLOBAL ALTER ACTIVATED - 00:10:00]

A faint buzzing sound echoed in his head for a second. Reality shifted just a little. Ray let out a breath, adjusted his mask so it covered from his nose down to his chin, then opened the bathroom door.

Time to wrap up this dumbass mission.

He walked out of the hallway and approached the cashier at the Chinese Food restaurant who was organizing receipts. A young woman in a red apron.

Ray stopped in front of the cashier counter. "Miss," he called softly.

The cashier looked up.

Ray smiled behind his mask, then firmly winked his right eye.

The cashier smiled friendly without any hesitation. She returned the gesture by winking her right eye back. "Yes, sir? Anything I can help you with?"

Holy shit, it worked, Ray thought, pumped. "Oh nah miss, just wanted to ask where the bathroom is, but I already found it. Thanks."

"No problem, sir," the cashier replied, winking her right eye one more time before Ray turned around.

One, Ray counted in his head.

Just as Ray turned to head toward the middle tables, a burly dude with a thick beard and tight black t-shirt suddenly popped out from behind a pillar. Ray was walking a bit rushed and didn’t have time to hit the brakes.

THUD!

Ray’s chest slammed into the guy’s beefy shoulder. Ray bounced back half a step.

"Ah shit, my bad bro!" Ray said fast.

The bearded guy looked down, staring at Ray with a pissed-off look and furrowed brows. The vibe instantly got tense. Ray, knowing he couldn’t start any drama, immediately applied the new logic. He put on the friendliest face possible and quickly winked his right eye.

The tension on the bearded guy’s face vanished instantly. His tough mug softened, replaced by a warm smile. The guy nodded slowly then winked his right eye back at Ray.

"It’s all good, bro. Chill," the bearded guy said in a deep voice that suddenly turned friendly.

Two.

Ray swallowed. This Alter effect was completely nuts if you looked at it from the outside, but his brain forced his body to keep moving. He had to finish 13 more greetings as fast as possible.

Ray started working the restaurant tables. He approached a table of aunties eating dim sum.

"Excuse me ladies, excuse me," Ray greeted friendly while winking his right eye three times in a row at the three aunties at the table.

The three aunties all stopped their chopsticks at the same time, smiled sweetly, and winked their right eyes together at Ray. "Yes..."

Three, four, five.

Ray shifted to another table. A middle-aged guy sipping hot tea looked up when Ray came close. Ray winked his right eye. The guy winked his right eye back while smiling.

Six.

Two young guys playing on their phones in the corner got greeted by Ray with a right-eye wink. Both of them synced up and winked their right eyes back without even pausing their game.

Seven, eight.

A male waiter carrying a tray of hot capcay walked past him. Ray tapped his shoulder lightly, "Yo, excuse me." Ray winked his right eye. The waiter stopped, winked his right eye with a professional smile, then kept walking.

Nine.

Ray ramped it up. He greeted a family of three near the window, two young couples at the middle table, and an old grandpa sitting alone. Ray kept winking his right eye like he had a serious twitch in his face. Everybody returned the same gesture, treating it like the most normal polite thing in the world.

Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen!

Right when the 15th wink got returned by the old grandpa at the corner table, a soft ding sounded in Ray’s head.

Without wasting another second, Ray immediately turned around and walked back to the table where Milady was waiting. He sat down in his chair a bit out of breath. Winking his eye fifteen times on purpose in a short time actually tired out his eyelid muscle pretty good.

"Done," Ray whispered from behind the mask. "Fifteen people."

Milady just glanced at him flat, no praise or criticism. Not long after, a waiter came over to their table with a big tray. Two bowls of seafood noodle soup and a portion of fu yung hai got placed on the table.

The waiter smiled friendly at both of them, winked his right eye toward Ray and Milady, then turned and left.

Milady froze for a split second seeing the waiter’s wink before finally picking up her chopsticks. "Eat," she said short.

Ray pulled his mask down under his chin. The smell of the hot savory broth made him hungry. But just as he grabbed his chopsticks and was about to slurp the first bite of noodles, a bright blue flash of light suddenly appeared in his vision.

[MISSION COMPLETED!]

Target Met: 15/15 Contacts

REWARD:

+50 Alter Points

+50 EXP

[LEVEL UP!]

Congrats, you have leveled up to Level 17.

Ray stared at the golden text with a satisfied spark in his eyes. The tiredness in his right eyelid suddenly disappeared, replaced by a warm sensation flowing through his whole body—the usual effect every time he leveled up.

He glanced at Milady who was calmly chewing her noodles.

"I leveled up," Ray said quietly, with a proud tone he couldn’t hide. "Level 17 now. My points went up by 50 too."

Milady swallowed her food, then looked up at Ray. Her gaze was still cold, but there was a tiny spark of satisfaction in her eyes.

"Good," Milady answered short. "At least your brain still works enough to finish a basic mission. Now finish your food. We don’t have much time before people start noticing something weird with their eyes."

Ray chuckled quietly, then dug into his steaming noodle soup.

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