Evan Bennett slowly shook his head. “Your brother bought the computer for our son. Sigh, it’s not good to keep troubling others.”

A brief discussion was finally brought to an end by Julia Warren’s heavy snort.

An hour later.

The sound of his parents’ snoring gradually filled the room. Eric Bennett lifted the towel blanket and glanced over at the big bed, then quietly slipped out to the outer room. If history hadn’t changed, a month later, they would have bought a small two-bedroom apartment far from the city center. Since it was basically in the suburbs, the surrounding environment was poor and living there was uncomfortable.

How could Eric Bennett not know about his parents’ worries? In his previous life, he was just a student and powerless to help, but now things were different. He was an adult, capable of contributing to his family.

Eric Bennett racked his brains, pondering ways to make money.

Usually, besides his work at the publishing house, he liked to pass the time by watching anime and reading novels. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. Eric Bennett quickly turned on the desk lamp and grabbed pen and paper...

“DEATH NOTE”—this anime was once a huge hit in Japan, with manga, anime, novels, and movies; it couldn’t have been more popular. Eric Bennett thought, if he skipped the manga and directly wrote it as an animation script to sell to Japan, it would definitely be a big hit. In that case, he could surely earn no less than three hundred thousand.

For two whole days, Eric Bennett recalled the plot of the anime while putting it down on paper. The world of “DEATH NOTE” wasn’t particularly vast, but the character relationships were quite tangled, so it took a lot of effort to faithfully recreate the original without any bugs.

On the third day, August 23rd, Eric Bennett finally finished the draft of “DEATH NOTE.” Although it was still a rough outline, it was simple and sufficient for safety’s sake.

He turned on the BenQ computer his uncle had given him, typed the script into WORD under the nostalgic WINDOWS 98 system, then clicked the dial-up connection and started searching online for Japanese animation production companies.

With an average speed of 5K, the internet was ridiculously slow. After more than half an hour, Eric Bennett finally set his sights on a well-established Japanese company—BANDAI.

He found the email address of BANDAI’s headquarters at the bottom of the webpage. Eager for money, Eric Bennett didn’t care whether they could read Chinese or not and just sent the script over.

Letting out a breath, Eric Bennett disconnected from the internet.

Ring ring ring...

The phone rang.

Eric Bennett shut down the computer, turned around, and picked up the old-style BBK phone.

“Hello, is this Eric Bennett?”

“And you are?”

“I’m from the Public Security Bureau. The bonus was just approved today. You need to come to the bureau to sign for it.”

Eric Bennett was a bit excited. Taking advantage of his parents being at work, he quickly changed clothes and rushed out to collect the money.

“Mouse, are you home?”

Before Eric Bennett could even step out the door, Brian Harper strolled into the courtyard in a short-sleeved shirt. He had a small nose and small eyes, looking rather sly. The two had been classmates in junior high, got into the affiliated high school together, and even much later, their relationship remained close.

Seeing his old friend again, Eric Bennett was quite excited and gave Brian Harper a hard slap on the shoulder. “You didn’t even call before coming over.” But thinking about how he couldn’t remember many things that happened later, Eric Bennett felt a bit sentimental.

Gaining something always comes with losing something.

Eric Bennett now understood this saying on a deeper level.

Brian Harper grinned. “I was out shopping with my mom, and since we were driving by, I thought I’d drop in and see if you wanted to come.” His parents ran a company and were fairly well-off.

“It’s fine, I actually have something to do and was just about to head out. Say hi to your mom for me.”

At this moment, Brian Harper suddenly lowered his voice and grinned mischievously. “School starts again tomorrow. Remember to dress nicely, heh heh. Once we get our uniforms, there won’t be many chances left.”

Eric Bennett blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Playing dumb with me?” Brian Harper looked at him with disdain. “What did we say when we graduated? Didn’t we agree to find girlfriends in high school? With our looks, we’ll definitely impress those girls tomorrow. When we tell them to go east, they won’t dare go west; tell them to poop, they won’t dare have diarrhea. Tsk tsk, those days...”

“Don’t gross me out.”

Eric Bennett couldn’t help but laugh. Brian Harper was similar to him in personality—guys who had dirty minds but no guts. He only talked big; when it came down to it, he’d chicken out right away.

Still, Brian Harper’s words reminded Eric Bennett that now that the scar on his face was gone, it was time to find a girlfriend.

“All right, let’s pick a target tomorrow and go all out to pursue her. Sigh, I can’t be as cowardly as I was in junior high.” After saying this, Eric Bennett gritted his teeth and made a decision. The regrets of his previous life could only be made up for in this one.

After seeing Brian Harper off, Eric Bennett unlocked the bicycle in the front yard and pedaled toward the police station.

After giving his name, the officer who had called him soon came out and led him to an office.

“If everything looks fine, just sign here.”

Eric Bennett focused and took a look, and couldn’t help but be shocked. In black and white, the bonus amount was actually written as twenty thousand yuan!