1: Chapter 1 Simulator

(Greats, it's been a day of using your brains, now let's put your brains in here to rest.)

(Brain storage unit booting up)

(Woo meow~)

(Don't scold the author if it's written poorly.)

(Otherwise the author will cry for you to see, wuwuwu...)

When Lin Heng dragged his luggage into the rented apartment, it was already past nine in the evening.

The room wasn't big, about twenty square meters, with a monthly rent of eight hundred. In a first-tier city like Fei City, that was already considered cheap.

The previous tenant had left in a hurry; takeout flyers and a few plastic packing straps were scattered on the floor, and half a bottle of unscrewed mineral water remained on the coffee table.

"Forget it, let's leave it at that for today."

He was a twenty-two-year-old college graduate with an ordinary bachelor's degree. He had come to this city called Fei City and submitted over a dozen resumes, but none had received any response.

Thinking about the current job market, Lin Heng sighed.

Just as he was thinking about it, his phone suddenly rang.

The screen displayed "Mom".

"Hello, Mom."

On the other end of the line was a familiar, slightly urgent voice: "Have you arrived? Have you eaten? How is the place you're staying? Did you find a job—"

"It's just like that," Lin Heng turned over, his tone somewhat heavy. "It's already very late, I have things to do, let me hang up first."

"Wait a minute—"

"Beep, beep, beep."

He had already pressed the hang-up button.

Lin Heng frowned; his mother seemed to want to say something, but the call had already ended.

It probably wasn't anything important.

Soon, a message popped up on WeChat.

[Is the money enough? Mom transferred ten thousand yuan to you. Eat well over there, don't skimp.]

Immediately followed by a transfer notification.

[Please receive payment 10,000 yuan]

Lin Heng stared at that string of numbers for several seconds, his nose suddenly feeling a bit sore.

He clicked to receive the payment.

[Received, thank you Mom.]

After sending this, he thought for a moment and added an emoji—the one with the cat holding a little red heart.

Mom replied with a smiley face in seconds.

Lin Heng put his phone by the pillow and lay back down.

Would he receive an interview notification tomorrow? He didn't know. Maybe, maybe not.

In a daze, his consciousness began to sink. The light in the room was still on, but he was too lazy to turn it off.

"Ding."

Lin Heng opened his eyes.

What sound was that?

He felt around for his phone, but the screen was black. Thinking it was an illusion, he closed his eyes again.

"Ding."

"Life simulator successfully bound."

Lin Heng sat up abruptly.

Who was talking?

This voice seemed to resonate directly in his brain. The feeling was hard to describe, just like how you usually only have your own voice in your head, but now there was suddenly another person.

He subconsciously looked around the room; nothing had changed, and his suitcase was still leaning against the corner.

Then, he saw the thing in front of him.

A blue screen.

He blinked at the blue screen, but in less than a second, he reacted.

"Holy shit." He blurted out, his voice sounding exceptionally loud in the small rented room.

The System was bound.

He had read countless novels online; he hadn't expected it to actually happen to him one day. Lin Heng took a deep breath, and his sleepiness vanished.

"System? Are you there?" He asked tentatively.

No response.

"If binding was successful, shouldn't you introduce yourself?"

Still quiet.

Lin Heng frowned. It didn't seem to be an intelligent System. That was fine; he would just look for himself.

He turned his gaze to the blue screen in front of him.

[Life simulator]

[Host: Lin Heng]

[Current Talent Points: 102]

[Consume 10 Talent Points to simulate? Yes/No]

The introduction on the simulator was very concise, only these few short lines.

He focused on "Talent Points".

102 points; it sounded like an initial value. If consuming 10 points allowed for one simulation, he could simulate ten times.

But what were Talent Points? Would there be any impact if they were consumed? And how could they be restored?

No one answered these questions.

Lin Heng shook his head. Forget about that for now; let's see what this simulation function was all about.

He clicked [Yes].

The text on the simulator changed.

[10 Talent Points consumed, simulation starting.]

Lin Heng blinked, feeling his brain get a bit dumber, though the impact wasn't major. He looked at the simulator.

[Dragon Country 2030, you looked at your body inside the rented room. There were no changes. You realized you had entered the simulator, and you called out to the simulator System a few times.]

[You blinked, but the System did not appear. Helplessly, you could not perform simulations within the simulator.]

[You sat down in front of the table and opened the learning website on your phone. You found that you had indeed become a bit dumber, but the knowledge you had previously learned was still there. Thinking of this, you cursed the original body outside the simulator.]

[%...#%]

Seeing the words he had cursed himself with on the simulator, Lin Heng touched his nose with a guilty conscience.

[The next day, you did not receive any interview notifications from any companies.]

[The third day was the same. You wouldn't give up and sent out even more resumes to companies. The fourth day was the same...]

[A month later, you had been lying at home for a month. You decided you couldn't keep going like this and planned to find a part-time job first. You found a job making milk tea, which paid about four thousand yuan a month.]

[You made milk tea for two months. Hard work pays off; finally, a company saw your resume and offered you an interview opportunity.]

[You passed the interview and became an employee of Lin Hang Robotics Company, with a salary of seven thousand per month.]

[You worked at this company for half a year, and your performance was average.]

[The colleagues were quite nice, but the boss was somewhat inhuman, and there was a lot of overtime.]

[Three years later, you were used to this life: taking the subway to work in the morning, scrolling on your phone when you got back at night, and occasionally eating with colleagues on weekends.]

[Another year passed, and you met a girl named Liu Ziyi.]

[You discovered that you seemed to have fallen for this girl, and you started pursuing her.]

[After a year of pursuit, she agreed to be your girlfriend. At that moment, you were so happy you could have flown.]

Lin Heng found it hard to believe. He actually had a girlfriend! He had never even held a girl's hand from childhood to adulthood, yet he had a girlfriend.

[You dated for a year, and Liu Ziyi took you to her home.]

[Her father was very imposing. You sat in front of her father feeling a bit timid. You gave her father a bottle of liquor, but he didn't even look at it.]

[Liu Ziyi was sent away by her father. Now you and her father were alone at home, and you felt somewhat awkward.]

[Her father demanded a bride price of five hundred thousand. You left Liu Ziyi's home alone.]

[Your parents heard about this and said it could be discussed, and if really necessary, they could sell the house.]

[Hearing your parents' words, you didn't speak.]

[The next day, you broke up with Liu Ziyi.]

[Days passed very plainly, and you continued to work.]

[A few years later, you were thirty. Although your salary had increased, you hadn't been promoted.]

[Your parents started arranging blind dates for you, but you didn't agree.]

[You were in a big city, your parents couldn't control you, and in the end, this matter fizzled out.]

[Ten years later, you were forty.]

[Housing prices had fallen rapidly over these years.]

[Your parents took out some money, and you had your own savings, so you bought a house.]

[Looking at your own house, you were very happy, feeling that you finally had a home in this city.]

[Five years later, you were forty-five. You were optimized out by the company. You actually felt that you couldn't compare to the young people nowadays, and you couldn't learn the new technologies either.]

[The company compensated you according to the contract, which was enough to live stably for a few years. You bought a second-hand car and started driving for a ride-hailing service in the city.]

[Five years later, you were fifty. You were driving the ride-hailing car when you suddenly saw a burst of white light.]

[You died.]

[Please choose a reward: 1. Detailed memory of the simulator mission; 2. Techniques learned in the simulator; 3. Increase 50 Talent Points]

"It must be Talent Points." Looking at the three rewards above, Lin Heng didn't hesitate at all and chose three.

[Ding, Talent Points +50, current Talent Points 142.]

Having just deducted ten points, Lin Heng hadn't felt much, but now that these fifty Talent Points were added, he instantly felt different.

This feeling wasn't just in his brain; it was also reflected in his body. Lin Heng felt he had inexhaustible strength at this moment.

Lin Heng looked at the simulator.

[Life simulator]

[Host: Lin Heng]

[Current Talent Points: 142]

[Consume 10 Talent Points to simulate? Yes/No]

He clicked Yes once more.

But this time, a different message came.

[Simulation failed, the number of simulations for today has been used up.]

Seeing the message above, Lin Heng blinked. It looked like he could only simulate once a day.

He checked the time; it was ten-thirty at night.

"I wonder if I can simulate once it hits twelve o'clock." He muttered to the simulator in front of him.

As he spoke, he started fiddling with the blue screen in front of him, but there wasn't anything fun; he only learned the technique of making this blue screen disappear and appear.

The first simulation indeed felt very normal, only his death at the end was a bit strange.

What was that white light?

"Could it be a nuclear war?" Lin Heng couldn't help but think. "Forget it, I should know after the second simulation."

Twelve o'clock at night.

Lin Heng had been watching his phone. Having finally obtained such a cheat, his sleepiness had vanished. He felt like a day lasted a year, waiting until now.

He brought up the blue screen in front of him.

[Life simulator]

[Host: Lin Heng]

[Current Talent Points: 142]

[Consume 10 Talent Points to simulate? Yes/No]

He clicked Yes once more.

[10 Talent Points consumed, simulation starting.]