Free Web NovelChapter 1: Wealth System
"Women aren’t all that."
Those were the last words Chrome Langley said before he woke up in the body of a young man.
There’s so much to take in. Like the smell of damp concrete and cheap, stale instant noodles.
He blinked against the harsh glare of the cheap lightbulb directly above him. The ceiling was cracked. It’s not like he was rich, but since when was his house this rundown? It doesn’t matter how much you cleaned a place like this, it would still look like it was dirty.
’Where the hell am I?’
He asked himself as he rubbed his temples.
Then the memories came rushing in. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
He had transmigrated. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Worse, he’d transmigrated into a parallel world where the traditional societal roles were inverted. Here, women had naturally higher spiritual and physical ceilings. They were the CEOs, military generals, head of households, and primary breadwinners.
Men were just supposed to look pretty and clean the house like good little boys.
His new identity shared his name.
Chrome Langley.
A 20-year-old student at the prestigious Blue University.
But that’s where the perks ended. His family was dirt poor, his mother gambled away their savings before vanishing, and he was currently surviving on a bank balance of exactly $3.50.
’Great. From an independent corporate climber in my past life to a broke, bottom-tier trophy-husband in training. This fucking sucks.’
A ding! went off in his head.
Chrome got startled and jumped behind his rickety bed that has been chewed down by termites.
"Why did I just do that?"
That is something called a poor man’s reflex. This current body must be so used to hiding from his landlady whenever he heard noise at home. No rest for a poor man. But if that’s not the doorbell, what was that sound?
[DING! The Absolute Rejection System has successfully bonded with the Host!]
[Independece. Men are not commodities! Break the chains of matriarchal dependency!]
A longer panel appeared before him with rules:
1. If the Host rejects advances, gifts, or proposals from high-status women, he’ll receive unlimited cash rewards and ultimate mythic skills!
2. If the Host establishes a romantic or sexual relationship with a woman, she is added to the Taxed Harem Inventory and the system will levy a progressive weekly tax on her head based on her societal status. Tax doubles every week. Failure to pay results in total system liquidation.
Chrome’s eyes widened. A system! And a highly volatile one at that. The tax mechanic was a terrifying double-edged sword, but the reward for rejection?
"Oooooooo!"
That was a golden ticket.
He chuckled softly.
It only makes sense there’d be a system in this world if transmigration of all things is possible.
He stroked his chin and mumbled.
"Hmm, so how do we start?"
[Mission: Host has a week to pay $300,000 worth of taxes for Lana Slot, your girlfriend who works as a small but hardworking secretary at Freya Cosmetics!]
Chrome tilted his head and groaned.
"I even have to pay taxes for my own girlfriend??"
The badluck of the original owner of this body must be passing on to him.
"That’s unfair."
He shook his head and sighed.
A little girl with brown pigtails and big green eyes barged into the room and shouted.
"CHROOOMEEEE!"
She ran over and gave him a big hug.
This is Lili Langley. Chrome’s little sister.
He chuckled happily and gave her some head pats as she snuggled against him like a dog.
"Honestly, Lili. You’re so energetic, what’s going on?"
"Tee-heehee!"
She laughed with a "heehee" that would instantly make you remember a certain Michael Jackson.
Although young, Lili is clearly a fan.
"Your girlfriend is waiting for you downstairs so she can take you to school, or did you forget?!"
She frowned down at him like an Orc Chieftain.
Yikes. Why can a little girl this scary?
That was probably Chrome’s first thought.
As for the second...
’Why the fuck do I have to be in college again? I wish that part of my life was over. Sigh~ at least I’m not in the body of some horny high schooler.’
He carried Lili like she was as light as a teddy bear and she happily threw her little arms around. Her clothes didn’t look good. Not in the slightest. Washed-up overalls on a yellow top that’s been washed so much it’s lost its shine. To think people can live like this.
At least she’s happy.
Then again, children are always ignorant like that.
Chrome gently placed her aside, took his backpack, then headed out of the apartment to see this girlfriend that a broke Chrome was able to bag.
So far, he had no memories of her, which made him a bit worried. What if she treated the previous owner of this body like a piece of crap? Well, that might not be too bad since he could use her to test if this system actually worked or not.
But one thing Chrome was sure of was that Lana was likely going to treat him badly and embarrass him. This was a women’s world after all, so seeing a lot of arrogant women here should be very much commonplace.
"Tch. She better not try to humiliate me in public. Maybe the previous owner might take her shit, but I won’t tolerate such nonsense!"
Not long, he was downstairs and out of the dilapidated apartment complex. He looked around for the arrogant bitch but caught no sight of her.
There’s only this magnificently beautiful and polite woman with dark brown hair tied in a ponytail and brown eyes that could light up a room. She wore a blue top and tight red skirt over black thigh socks and sexy heels.
The lady waved at him with a smile.
TEMPTATION!
’Control yourself, woman! Do you want to use your charms to get me in trouble with my girlfriend?!’
She must be a succubus with the face of an angel.
Chrome was very experienced in these things, so he knew his girlfriend probably paid off some of his debts and treated him like she owned him. With how poor he was, it’d be unwise to offend her by acknowledging the greetings of another woman.
Chrome steeled himself and walked past the beautiful brunette like she was nobody.
Suddenly, a sylph-like hand grabbed his wrist and very cute groan broke his defenses.
"Sheesh. How can I be right in front of you and you still don’t notice me at all? Honestly, babe."
Such a voice...
Chrome looked back and saw that same beautiful lady staring up at him with her big brown eyes that look like diamonds.
Babe. Babe. BABE?!
What did he do in his past life to be called babe by such a beautiful and angelic woman?
And finally, all the memories came in.
This was his perfect, lovely, kind-hearted girlfriend that had been doing her hardest best to support him and his family since she got a job.
Chrome’s childhood sweetheart. Lana Slot.
[Host walked past his girlfriend like she’s useless. Would you like to dump her?]
Chrome’s face hardened till it was stone.
"Silence, system." ಠ_ಠ
