Chapter 1. Perfect Life Simutor

  A light rain pattered against the windowpane.

  Su Wu gazed at the streaks of rain, silently sighing. His mood was as gloomy as the weather outside.

  Three years ago today, it had also been raining lightly. That was the day the news of his parents' deaths had reached him at school.

  He sat at his desk and picked up a watch.

  It was an old timepiece. As a child, he'd seen his grandfather wearing it constantly. Later, it had passed to his father.

  And then, after his parents were gone, the watch had come to Su Wu.

  He'd kept it with him ever since, a small memento.

  The watch face was somewhat yellowed and cloudy, but the metal band still gleamed. The hands beneath the crystal were motionless, stubbornly fixed at 2:15.

  "Why did it stop?"

  Su Wu frowned at the stationary hands. Ever since he'd found the watch among his parents' belongings, it had been running continuously. This was the first time in three years it had stopped.

  Was it broken?

  He caught himself, his fingers gripping the crown on the right side of the watch face. He tried to turn it.

  But the crown felt as if it were welded to the case. No matter how hard Su Wu pressed, it wouldn't budge.

  He grew anxious, applying even more force.

  Suddenly, his finger slipped across a sharp edge on the side of the watch. The edge, normally harmless, sliced a small cut on his fingertip due to his excessive force.

  Blood welled up instantly, staining the crystal red.

  Su Wu quickly grabbed a tissue to wipe the blood from the face – but before he could, the blood congealed into a single bead. This bead of blood suddenly seeped into the watch, nding on the hands.

  Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock…

  The previously frozen hands began to move once more.

  As if fueled by that drop of blood.

  The entire watch face turned a vibrant red. Then, the crimson spread to the band, tightly wrapping around Su Wu's wrist.

  He saw the second hand, bathed in the bloody hue, spinning clockwise at a speed too fast for the eye to follow. It went around and around.

  The minute and hour hands also began to change rapidly.

  The hands continued to turn, and Su Wu's room plunged into boundless darkness.

  A gigantic watch face floated in the darkness. All the hands pointed to the number '0'. A mechanical, female voice sounded in Su Wu's mind: "Welcome to the Perfect Life Simutor!"

  "You can consume Yuan Jade to simute your own life or the lives of others, seeking solutions to various life problems!"

  "Currently, you can only simute your future life. Would you like to begin the simution?"

  The series of announcements from the female voice crashed against Su Wu's thoughts. He saw the second hand on the giant watch face point to the number '1'. Next to the '1', a dispy screen appeared.

  On the screen, Su Wu was sitting at his desk, staring at his empty palm with a furrowed brow, deep in thought.

  Was this the life he could currently choose to simute?

  Where did the Yuan Jade he needed to consume come from?

  How had the watch passed down from his grandfather become this so-called 'Perfect Life Simutor'?

  Su Wu's mind was filled with chaotic thoughts.

  These jumbled, disorganized thoughts were all swept away when the electronic voice spoke again: "After each simution, you will receive Yuan Jade and other rewards based on your rating."

  Hearing the electronic voice, Su Wu suddenly thought of his parents' bizarre deaths. Could they be reted to this simutor?

  His heart skipped a beat. He finally made up his mind.

  – Perhaps he could find some answers to the mysteries within this strangely appearing life simutor!

  "I want to start the simution!" he responded in his mind.

  "Detected that your Yuan Jade wallet bance is '5'. Simuting your personal life consumes one Yuan Jade."

  "This is your first time using the Perfect Life Simutor. You can consume one Yuan Jade to randomly obtain a permanent talent. Would you like to do so?"

  Su Wu hadn't even figured out why he had Yuan Jade in his wallet when he was suddenly faced with the simutor's question. Without hesitation, he chose to spend one Yuan Jade to draw a permanent talent.

  No matter what kind of game it was, to entice pyers to spend, the first-time rewards were always extremely valuable.

  "Talent drawing in progress…"

  "Drawing successful! You have obtained the permanent talent 'Calm (Green)'."

  "Calm (Green): You possess a cautious mindset that is above average among ordinary people. You can carefully observe your surroundings in chaotic situations and have some logical reasoning ability."

  The instant the talent drawing was complete, Su Wu's mind suddenly cleared. The many thoughts swirling in his consciousness subsided, allowing him to carefully assess the current situation.

  The Calm talent was only green quality now. Did that mean there were higher qualities like blue, purple, orange, etc.?

  The talents drawn by the simutor not only affected the simution game but also directly affected him in reality!

  "You can choose to consume a certain amount of Yuan Jade to bring items from reality into the simution game. The options are as follows…"

  Only one hand remained on the giant watch face, constantly spinning rapidly.

  The numbers around the watch face had all transformed into various items.

  Option 0: Your body (Consumes 10 Yuan Jade. You can personally experience the simuted life. Any positive or negative effects on your body in the simuted life are irreversible. If your body dies in the game, you also die in reality.)

  Option 1: Half a pack of tissues.

  Option 2: A watermelon knife.

  Option 3: A crafted Han Dynasty sword from a certain sword factory.

  Option 4: Three folding stools.

  Option 5: A set of cups.

  ...

  The options were densely packed around the watch face. Everything was an item from Su Wu's room in the real world.

  His gaze lingered on Option 0 for a long time.

  This game was gradually exceeding his expectations, giving him the intuition that the life he was about to simute might also be extraordinary.

  Apart from Option 0, all the remaining items only required one Yuan Jade to bring into the game.

  Even so, Su Wu ultimately chose none of them.

  He didn't have much Yuan Jade and needed to use it wisely. Things like watermelon knives and tissues… wouldn't they be avaible in the game?

  As for bringing his body into the game, that was even more out of the question.

  On his first entry into the game, how could he block his own escape route? Besides, he didn't have ten Yuan Jade.

  Su Wu saw the hand on the giant watch face rotate once, pointing to the number '1' each time.

  The watch face dissolved into shimmering particles, and a prompt sounded: "Your future life has been successfully loaded!"

  His surroundings were still so dark he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face. The scene he was in seemed unchanged from before.

  But listening carefully, he couldn't hear the sound of rain outside the window.

  He tried to stand up, groping his way through the dark space. He bumped into the desk in front of him, then used the edge of the desk to guide his steps. He found a switch on one wall.

  He pressed the switch, and the dark space was instantly illuminated.

  Su Wu saw two desks pushed together, flush against a wall, both made of棠色 (táng sè - a kind of reddish-brown, like crabapple wood). A few books were piled in the corner of the right desk.

  A ptop was closed and pced on the desk.

  A notebook y on top of it.

  He tilted his head slightly and saw a floor-to-ceiling bookcase, also棠色, filled with many books familiar to Su Wu, except these books were covered in yers of mold.

  All four walls had yellowed streaks like water damage, and clumps of greenish mold were spreading along those streaks.

  "This is my room."

  "Since I never had the thought to tidy up my room, it's normal for it to remain unchanged in the future."

  "But why is there so much mold in the room? Has there been a lot of rain in the future?"

  Su Wu's gaze swept over the window, but it was completely covered by opaque thick wooden boards.

  "Why is the window so tightly sealed?" He felt a little strange.

  He walked to the desk and looked at the calendar.

  The past dates had been crossed out with a red pen. The unmarked date showed 'Sor Calendar, April 17, 2030'.

  This date was exactly one week from the actual date in reality.

  But Su Wu couldn't be sure the calendar was correct – he sometimes went several days before remembering to cross out past dates.

  He picked up the notebook from the desk and flipped through the familiar handwriting.

  After his parents' deaths, Su Wu had started the habit of keeping a journal.

  He didn't write every day, but he would write two or three times a week.

  This habit, which wasn't particurly useful before, had now become an excellent tool for him to understand what had happened in the past period.

  'April 10, 2030.

  During the Monday morning meeting, the supervisor demanded that we keep our phones on during the weekend and check work group messages frequently.

  Hehe, he can dream. I'm not going to.'

  'April 13, 2030.

  It's almost Friday. I've decided to go to the countryside for an all-night fishing trip after work on Friday.

  Wang Zhiyou invited the supervisor to some club to have some fun this weekend. I overheard their whispers. Should I report them?'

  'April 14, 2030.

  I reported them.

  The weather seems to be getting really humid tely. There's a lot of mold on the walls, and many books on the bookshelf are damp. It's not supposed to be this humid in the south, is it?

  Remember to take the books out to dry tomorrow.'

  'April 16, 2030.

  I heard there have been several murders nearby, and the killer hasn't been found yet.

  I haven't looked into the specific locations, so I don't know.

  I forgot to dry the books. I'll do it next week.

  There's more and more mold on the walls.'

  'April 18, 2030.

  The couple living upstairs died.

  I didn't dare go and watch. I heard it was a very gruesome death. I'd definitely have nightmares if I saw it.

  Tenants on several floors are preparing to move out. There's a long line of moving trucks downstairs. Should I also move to a different pce?

  Is there something wrong with the structure of this room? It's been sunny these past few days, so why is mold still growing everywhere?'

  'April 19, 2030.

  I smelled a faint dead rat smell, but I couldn't find the rat.'

  Su Wu flipped to the st page.

  The text on the st page had no date. A line of words was hastily written in red pen: So many people have died recently. Is the killer really human?

  What did that mean?

  If it wasn't human, what could it be?

  A chill surged from the bottom of Su Wu's heart.

  He closed the notebook, the chill still lingering. Suddenly, he smelled a strong, overwhelming stench of dead rat.

  An even colder presence suddenly emerged from behind him, quickly pressing against his entire back!

  What was going on?!

  He turned his head hastily. His peripheral vision only caught a glimpse of a bck shadow rising up from the ground behind him. Then, a sharp pain, accompanied by the sound of flesh and bones being ripped and crushed, surged to his head!

  Su Wu looked down –

  A bloody hole bloomed on his chest.

  A hand, jet-bck without a speck of blood, with ten fingers, was wriggling inside his chest.

  Su Wu's vision went bck.