Chapter 1: This Is Not a Dream
The ground looked wavy under the burning summer sun.
September was the time for freshman military training at Qingnan University.
The sports field was covered with groups of students wearing camouflage uniforms. Even from far away, loud shouts of "One, two, three, four!" could be heard.
Lin Wan pulled down the hood on his head to hide his face and quickly walked along the road beside the field.
Dormitory Building, Room 205.
After returning to his dorm, Lin Wan put down the bag in his hand. He stood in front of the mirror behind the door and took off his hood.
A thin face appeared in the mirror. His skin was a little pale. He had large, bright almond-shaped eyes that gave his small face a somewhat gender-neutral look. However, there was deep tiredness in his eyes that could not be hidden.
Lin Wan brushed his hair forward until his bangs covered his eyes, hiding the feature that had brought him both praise and ridicule.
He did not like his eyes.
When he was little, people often praised how beautiful his eyes were. If they had stopped there, he would have been happy. But they always added, "They look like a little girl's." After he became old enough to understand the difference between boys and girls, those words started to hurt.
He had also been born small and weak. The children who played with him often teased him by calling him "sissy" because he was different. As time went on, he became quiet and withdrawn, and hated his eyes even more.
He once asked his mother why everyone called him that. He thought he was no different from the others.
His mother told him that they were just jealous. She told him to eat well, grow taller and stronger, and if anyone bullied him again, he should fight back.
After that, Lin Wan began to enjoy eating. He looked forward to growing taller and stronger. He believed that one day he could play with friends just like everyone else. After all, his father was tall and strong.
But dreams are beautiful, while reality can be cruel.
As soon as he entered puberty, before his body had even fully developed, sharp pain began to appear from time to time. At first, Lin Wan did not think much of it. Because he was shy and quiet, and also embarrassed by the changes of puberty, he never told his parents.
Then one day, while eating, the pain suddenly spread through his entire body. He fell off his chair and lay on the floor shaking.
Every part of his body felt as if it were burning and being stabbed by countless needles. The pain was unbearable. At that moment, Lin Wan thought he was going to die.
His parents rushed him to the hospital. After many tests, the doctors still could not find anything wrong. Yet the pain he felt and the sweat pouring from his body were very real.
Perhaps the hospital in their small county was not advanced enough, so his parents took him to the provincial hospital. Even there, no one could discover what was causing his illness.
After that, the family traveled from one hospital to another. Endless tests, long waits, and the disappointment of finding no answers became part of their everyday life.
Just when they were becoming numb and almost losing hope, their hard work finally paid off. At a hospital in the capital, they finally found the reason for Lin Wan's pain.
His chromosomes were slightly different from those of ordinary people.
To be exact, there was a problem with the DNA in his chromosomes. The spaces between the base pairs in his DNA were slightly larger than normal. (The author made up this illness for the story. Please don't take it seriously.)
It was like building blocks. A normal person's blocks fit tightly together, but Lin Wan's were loose, as if they could fall apart at any time.
Because of this, his genes could break down at any moment, which also meant he could die at any time.
For Lin Wan's family, the news was like a bolt from the blue.
Just when the whole family was covered in despair, the hospital also gave them a small ray of hope.
Although Lin Wan's illness was incredibly rare, affecting only about one person in hundreds of millions, and there was no medicine made especially for it, there was a special medicine from overseas that could reduce the symptoms and help patients live longer.
The only problem was the price.
One bottle cost nearly 100,000 yuan, and each bottle only lasted for two months.
When Lin Wan heard this, his first thought was to give up treatment. But when he saw his mother crying, he could not bring himself to say it.
From that day on, the whole family lived as frugally as possible. After two years, Lin Wan's condition slowly became more stable.
By the time he entered university, his health had improved enough that he only needed to take the medicine once every few months. The doctor also told him that if he continued with his treatment, living past the age of thirty-five would not be a problem.
His parents were happy to hear that. At least their son could survive now. In another ten years or so, medicine might improve enough to completely cure him.
But Lin Wan felt even more depressed.
He believed he was useless, only a burden to his family. If he had never been born, his parents' lives would surely have been much easier and they would not have had to work so hard.
Over the years, all of the family's savings had been spent on his treatment, and they had also fallen deeply into debt.
At first, Lin Wan did not want to go to university. He wanted to find a job and help support the family. But because of his illness, he could not do physically demanding work, and a high school graduate like him could not find an easy job. His father persuaded him, saying, "If you want an easier job in the future, study hard now." In the end, Lin Wan continued his education.
Because money was always so tight, Lin Wan became extremely careful with every cent. He wished he could split one coin into two before spending it.
Since he could not join military training because of his illness, on his first day at school he quickly joined the university's part-time job group. During the two weeks of military training, he hoped to earn some living expenses and reduce the burden on his family.
Sitting down on his chair, Lin Wan took his lunch box out of the bag he had just brought back.
One vegetable dish and one small serving of rice cost 2.4 yuan. Even so, he felt it was too expensive. He sighed with regret. He had planned to wait until the cafeteria was less crowded before buying steamed buns that morning, but the students in military training had bought them all. Otherwise, three buns would have been enough food for the whole day.
As he ate, he turned on his laptop and looked through the messages in the part-time job group, searching for work that suited him.
His family could not actually afford a computer.
The laptop had been a gift from his cousin.
His cousin said he had bought a new desktop computer and no longer needed his laptop after graduating from university, so he gave it to Lin Wan.
But Lin Wan knew the truth. His cousin knew he had chosen computer science, where a computer was necessary. The laptop looked almost brand new.
Lin Wan wanted to refuse it, but his cousin laughed and said, "If you don't take it, I'll just throw it away. I don't need it anymore." Lin Wan had no choice but to accept it. He silently promised himself that after earning money in the future, he would pay his cousin back.
"Handing out flyers. Must wear a mascot costume..."
"Sorting packages at the logistics center. 10 p.m. to 6 a.m...."
"Invite new users to download an app. Ten yuan for each new user..."
"Campus food delivery. Free meals included. Must be able to run fast..."
Lin Wan looked at the job listings with a troubled expression. Most of them required good physical strength, which he did not have.
The few jobs that did not require much physical effort needed someone who was outgoing and good at talking to strangers, and he was not like that either.
Because of his illness, Lin Wan had become even more shy and lacked confidence over the years. It was as though he had built an invisible prison around his heart. No one could enter, and he could not escape.
Asking someone with social anxiety to start conversations with strangers was worse than asking him to die.
After finding nothing suitable, Lin Wan scrolled further up the chat history, hoping there might be other job offers.
Bang!
Just as he was completely focused on the screen, the dorm room door suddenly slammed open. The loud noise of the door hitting the wall startled him so much that he almost bit through his chopsticks.
"Dorm 205! Your emperor has returned!" A tall, skinny student in camouflage walked in.
"And the retired emperor too!" Zhang Dingding pushed Qiu Cheng aside, put his hands on his waist, and looked unbelievably full of himself. Seeing his acne-covered face made people want to smack him with a slipper.
Before Zhang Dingding could act proud for long, Sun Mao, whose round body looked like a gourd with arms and legs, bumped him aside with his stomach.
"And your great ancestor is here!"
"Damn! Trying to take advantage of your dad, huh?" the other two shouted at the same time.
The first sentence came from Qiu Cheng to Zhang Dingding.
The second came from Zhang Dingding to Sun Mao.
Both of them twisted their mouths in annoyance, their eyes filled with resentment.
Then they looked at each other, grinned mischievously, and reached out with evil intentions toward the chubby Sun Mao.
One grabbed his butt while the other rubbed his stomach. Sun Mao immediately cried out, "Yamete! I can't take it anymore!" Only after admitting, "Dad, I was wrong," did the other two finally let him go.
Although school had only started a few days ago, the three roommates had already become very close. Only Lin Wan was still shy and reserved. The other three had already begun calling each other "dad" as a joke.
That's just how boys are. If one game isn't enough to become friends, then play two. After spending several days together, they were already comfortable joking around with the roommates they would live with for the next four years.
"Your lunches are on this table," Lin Wan quietly reminded them while watching them play around.
That morning, before leaving for military training, Sun Mao had left his meal card behind.
He had asked Lin Wan to buy lunch for all of them if he went to the cafeteria because they really did not want to squeeze through the crowds of freshmen.
Lin Wan's first thought had been to refuse, but the words never came out. Sun Mao kept calling him "Brother Wan" while holding his arm and acting cute. Before he knew it, Lin Wan had agreed.
After all, he had never experienced anything like that before. He simply could not deal with it.
It was not a question of whether a grown man acting cute was adorable.
It was just very disgusting!
Qiu Cheng: "Thanks, Brother Wan!"
Zhang Dingding: "Woo! Brother Wan is the best!"
Sun Mao: "You're my dad!"
After thanking him, the three grabbed their lunches and started eating at amazing speed. After a whole morning of military training, the three hungry guys were starving.
"I-It's nothing," Lin Wan replied quietly.
After finishing his meal and washing his lunch box, Lin Wan opened his browser and searched online for part-time jobs around Qingnan University. Since nothing in the group suited him, he could only hope to find something elsewhere.
"Hey, Brother Wan, looking for a part-time job?" Qiu Cheng asked after coming back from the bathroom and noticing the screen on Lin Wan's laptop.
Supporting his face with one hand while scrolling with the other, Lin Wan answered, "Yeah."
"What? A part-time job? Brother Wan, you just started university and you're already working this hard?" Zhang Dingding shouted in surprise.
"N-No, it's just that I don't have military training. Since I'm free anyway, I thought I'd see if there are any jobs I can do," Lin Wan quickly explained. He was afraid his roommates would think he was too competitive and end up disliking him.
Because he lacked confidence and was so quiet, Lin Wan had become extremely sensitive. He was always afraid of making other people dislike him. Over the years, this had turned him into someone who always tried to please others. He found it hard to refuse requests, feared conflict, and even when something was not his fault, he was usually the first person to apologize.
Hearing what everyone said, Sun Mao put down the figure in his hand, wiped the loving smile off his face, and hurried over behind Lin Wan. After looking at the webpage for a few seconds, he said,
"Brother Wan, you can't trust random part-time jobs you find online! A lot of them are run by agencies that cheat people out of money. Some even take a huge cut of your pay. There may not be many bad people these days, but there are still plenty of dishonest ones!"
As he spoke, Sun Mao pointed at several job listings.
"Look at these. What kind of job pays several hundred yuan at the end of the day? They'll probably ask you to pay an agency fee first. Then they'll tell you the positions are already full and ask you to wait. After that, they'll just throw you into some random job like moving packages."
"Wow! Brother Mao, you're a real veteran!" Zhang Dingding said in surprise, cupping his hands together in respect.
Sun Mao rubbed his stomach and laughed.
"Haha, not really! My uncle is a police officer, and he told me about these scams. Every year, lots of college students get tricked like this."
After hearing Sun Mao's warning, Lin Wan looked at the online job listings again. The more he looked, the more they all seemed like scams.
He lowered his eyes, looking troubled.
If he couldn't find a part-time job, he couldn't earn money.
So what was he supposed to do?
"Brother Wan, if you really want to make money, why not try making short videos? Look at platforms like Chanyin or Bilibili. If one of your videos goes viral, the money will keep coming in!" Sun Mao suggested after noticing Lin Wan's low mood.
"But... I don't have any experience, and I don't know what kind of videos I could make..."
"Hmm..." Qiu Cheng thought for a moment before speaking.
"Brother Wan, aren't you pretty good at Honor of Kings? You could make videos about that."
As soon as he said that, the other three all looked at the phone lying on Lin Wan's desk.
The screen was small. The paint around the edges had already worn off in several places, and there were a few cracks in the upper-left corner.
It was a phone that was already several years old. The last time Lin Wan played games with them, it lagged for about five minutes every match. Sometimes it was so slow that it looked like the game was missing frames.
Although they still won more games than they lost, it seriously affected the gaming experience.
After that, Lin Wan stopped joining them. Their four-player team became a three-player team.
"Ahem... Brother Wan, I don't mean to make fun of you," Zhang Dingding said as he rubbed his nose. "But... using this phone to record gameplay videos sounds pretty difficult, doesn't it?"
Sun Mao looked at Zhang Dingding and Qiu Cheng with disgust.
"You two are roommates with a genius like me, and this is the best you can think of? If the phone can't handle games, doesn't he have a computer? Isn't that enough? Brother Wan, have you ever played League of Legends?"
Lin Wan shook his head in confusion. He had rarely used a computer before, let alone played games on one.
"Come on, Brother Wan. This game is easy. It's almost the same as Honor of Kings. The only difference is that you use a keyboard instead of touching the screen. Since you're so good at Honor of Kings, you'll learn it quickly."
Sun Mao pulled Lin Wan over to his desk, which was covered with figures and snacks, and sat him down. Then he opened the League of Legends client on his computer.
In fact, Sun Mao had wanted to get his roommates into League of Legends for a long time. It was his favorite game. But since everyone else only played Honor of Kings, he had been playing alone. Now that he finally had someone to queue with, he couldn't have been happier.
"Brother Wan, let me tell you. If you get really good at this game, you can not only make tutorial videos, but you can also become a game booster. It makes a lot of money. Earning over ten thousand yuan a month isn't a problem."
Sun Mao patiently tried to persuade him, afraid that Lin Wan would lose interest and leave him to play alone forever.
Once he got Lin Wan on board, would he still have to worry about the other two roommates joining?
Then the four of them could queue together. He would play Yasuo, one roommate could play Malphite, another Lee Sin, and the last one Janna.
Oh, damn. Just imagining that team made Sun Mao grin from ear to ear.
During the rest of the lunch break, Sun Mao kept teaching Lin Wan how to play against AI opponents and practice different champions in training mode.
It wasn't until it was time for afternoon military training that Sun Mao finally left the dorm. Before leaving, besides helping Lin Wan install the game, he reminded him several times to memorize every champion (character)'s skills and passive abilities.
As the freshmen left, the once lively dormitory building gradually became quiet.
Time slowly passed.
The shadows outside the window grew longer, and the loud shouts from the training field became weaker and weaker as everyone grew tired.
Lin Wan continued studying every champion's skills with complete focus.
His mind could no longer think about anything else. The words "earn over ten thousand yuan a month" kept repeating in his head, filling him with motivation. He wanted to learn the game as quickly as possible so he could start making money.
Poor Lin Wan had completely fallen for Sun Mao's sales pitch.
He never stopped to think that the people who earned over ten thousand yuan a month through gaming were among the very best players. Reaching that level required not only talent, but also years of practice, unless someone cheated.
The sunlight outside gradually turned warm as evening arrived.
Lin Wan moved on to another champion.
This one was called Yuumi, a blue-and-white cat with sparkling eyes that made people want to pet her the moment they saw her.
Lin Wan slowly learned Yuumi's skills. When the training ended, the cat in the game suddenly turned around and seemed to look beyond the screen.
"You're special. I think I've met someone like you before. I'll come find you!"
Since Lin Wan didn't know the champions' voice lines, he didn't think much of it. Every champion said different lines from time to time. That was just part of the game.
Click.
The dorm door opened.
The three roommates stumbled back into the room looking completely worn out, like stray dogs that had just survived a disaster. Each of them was carrying a cup of instant noodles.
"We still have training tonight! God! Please save us!" Qiu Cheng complained the moment he sat down.
"Iron door... iron window... iron chains..." Zhang Dingding stared blankly into space, speaking one word at a time as though his soul were leaving his body.
"Ugh..." Sun Mao let out a strange sound the moment he sat down, enough to give anyone goosebumps. "Damn it! They said, 'Squat down and rest.' Since when is that called resting? That's pure torture! What kind of rest is that? Fairy tales are all lies!"
Seeing how miserable they looked, the small bit of excitement Lin Wan had felt about military training disappeared instantly.
He had once thought that if his body were healthier, training together with everyone would be a wonderful youth memory.
But looking at them now...
If he had gone out there, he would probably have died.
Probably.
"Brother Wan, I'm seriously jealous of you right now. How about we switch bodies? I don't want to march under the blazing sun anymore. I just want to stay in the dark dorm room and slowly waste away."
Sun Mao lifted up a layer of belly fat to cool himself.
"It's still better to have a healthy body," Lin Wan said after returning to his desk. Looking at Sun Mao, he asked, "Now that I've learned the champions' skills, what should I do next?"
Hearing this, Sun Mao's eyes lit up. His dream of having a Yasuo teammate was one step closer.
"Play more matches against AI. Practice your movement. Last-hitting minions is also very important, so keep practicing that too."
"Okay."
Lin Wan installed the game, created his own account, and chose the name 【Tomorrow Will Be Better】.
Then he focused on practicing again.
Before he knew it, the evening military training had already ended.
When Sun Mao returned to the dorm and saw Lin Wan still practicing so seriously, he felt deeply satisfied. He praised Lin Wan nonstop.
Lin Wan naturally felt happy after hearing all the compliments. He had no idea what Sun Mao was really thinking.
That night, after everyone finished washing up and the lights were turned off, Lin Wan lay in bed feeling mentally exhausted.
He had memorized far too many things during the day.
With dreams of saving enough money for his parents before he died, and surrounded by the sound of his roommates snoring, he slowly drifted to sleep.
……………………
"Found you~"
Half asleep, Lin Wan thought he heard one of his roommates talking in his sleep. He didn't pay attention, turned over, and continued sleeping.
"Purr, purr! Meow~"
A cat? Did a cat get into the dorm?
Still half asleep, Lin Wan slowly opened his eyes.
Everything around him was completely dark. Without thinking, he reached under his pillow for his phone.
Huh?
Where's my phone?
Wait...
Where's my pillow?
Why does the bed feel wet?
And why is it so soft, almost like jelly?
Did... did I wet the bed?
Lin Wan's sleepy eyes became completely clear. His mind woke up instantly.
If that really happened, it would be the most embarrassing thing ever.
Plop.
The sound of a drop of water falling into water echoed through the silent darkness.
Ripples glowing with soft light slowly spread through the endless blackness.
Using the faint light, Lin Wan nervously looked around. In front of him was an endless black space.
This wasn't the dorm.
Then... where was this?
Had he already died?
No.
If I die, what will happen to Mom and Dad?
This is a dream. It has to be a dream.
His heart raced. He raised his hand, planning to slap himself awake.
Smack.
Instead of feeling his own hand, something wet flopped against the right side of his face.
Lin Wan raised both hands. They weren't human hands with five fingers anymore. They had become fish fins.
"Hello?"
"Is anyone there?"
"Where is this?"
"Hello!"
For the first time, Lin Wan was truly terrified. The real feeling of the fish fins told him one thing. This was not a dream.
"First, my name isn't 'Hello'."
"Second, my name is The All-World Ever-Changing Perfect-Life Master Spirit!"
Lin Wan: "???"
The sudden voice startled him.
"W-Was it you who brought me here?"
"Nope~ You heard my guidance and came here by yourself~"
"Then... how do I go back?"
"See the fishing rod in front of you? Lift up the thing hanging from it, and you can go back~"
Lin Wan swallowed nervously but didn't move.
The whole scene looked exactly like a demon tricking an innocent villager into breaking an ancient seal.
What if the voice was lying?
What if he died the moment he pulled it up?
"As long as you lift it up, you can get whatever you want~"
Lin Wan still didn't move.
"Let me see what you want. Health, money, happiness, joy, a true friend. I can give you all of those~"
Lin Wan still refused to move.
"Meow!! Do you really think you have another choice? You can't leave anyway!"
Lin Wan blinked. The voice seemed to have a point. Right now, he was completely at its mercy. It didn't seem like he had any other choice.
After waiting for a while longer, the voice said nothing else, and he was still trapped in the dark space.
In the end, Lin Wan slowly walked toward the fishing rod. He could only hope the voice wasn't lying.
When he reached it, the glowing ripples were spreading out from that exact spot.
Using his fins, he picked up the fishing rod. The fishing line stretched down into the ground, which looked like the surface of water.
Looking at his reflection, he realized...
He had become a fish.
A completely black fish.
A strong pull suddenly came from the fishing rod, as if it wanted to drag him into the ground.
Lin Wan quickly used all his strength to fight against it.
Luckily, the force wasn't too strong.
Little by little, he pulled the catch out of the watery ground.
"Meow~"
A ball of black-and-white light burst out of the ground and shot straight into Lin Wan's body.
"Your perfect life officially begins now~"
……………………
"Haa..."
Lin Wan suddenly opened his eyes and sat upright in bed, covered in sweat.
That dream...
It had felt so real. The helplessness he felt in that dream was terrifying.
Thank goodness. It was only a dream.
"It wasn't a dream~"
A voice suddenly echoed inside his mind. Lin Wan's eyes widened.
Could it be... He was still dreaming?