Chapter 2: At Last, Barely Considered Human

In the alley.

Shen He, lifting a garbage bin full to the brim up to his chest, suddenly felt a surge of wild joy flood his face. His strength had truly increased—it wasn’t some “floaters” in his eyes conjured up by the Trisolarans. This thing was real!

Damn it, “Earth Online” had appeared two years early—this was his golden cheat.

A burst of laughter tore from his chest as he hefted the bulging garbage bin.

Just then, a window on the second floor to the side suddenly creaked open. A woman with a head of unruly curls, about to toss out a trash bag, caught sight of Shen He laughing maniacally with the garbage bin. She shuddered in fright, then started cursing under her breath, “What kind of lunatic is this, even stealing garbage bins…”

Shen He snapped out of his frenzy. The bin thudded to the ground with a crash, sending trash spilling out.

The tremendous noise startled the curly-haired woman, who swiftly drew her hand back inside, slammed the window shut, and scurried away. Patting her chest in lingering fear, she muttered, “Scared me half to death! Are young people these days under so much pressure? Playing with garbage bins to vent their stress—could he really be insane?”

Ignoring the woman’s voice from above, Shen He wiped his face and lowered his head, hurrying toward his rented room.

He lived in what could loosely be called a village within the city—a hodgepodge of apartment blocks, some decent, most not. His own choice wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t great either.

Climbing to the second floor, Shen He quickly took out his keys and unlocked his door.

Just as he did so, the door next to his opened. Out shuffled a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, head down, walking as if he could barely support himself, his legs as limp as noodles.

Leaning in the doorframe, a cigarette dangling from her lips, Lele glanced at Shen He. She grinned, “Hey, didn't the company have an awards ceremony tonight? Why are you back so early, soaking wet? Want to come over to my place to warm up? I won’t charge you.”

Shen He straightened his back and retorted, full of bravado, “If you’re not charging me, maybe I should charge you instead.”

Lele’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Well, well, if you really are a virgin, your big sister here will give you a hefty red envelope. You’ve been out of college three years, must be about twenty-five now? Virgin men your age are rare—lucky me, maybe I’ve hit the jackpot…”

At that, Shen He ducked into his room and slammed the door shut.

Lele rolled her eyes and said, “After all this time, he’s still so thin-skinned. No fun at all.” She leaned in the doorway, exhaled a ring of smoke, and gazed out at the steady drizzle, lost in thought.

Inside the room.

Shen He took a deep breath, grabbed some clothes, and headed to the bathroom. After a shower and a change, he flopped down on the sofa.

He pulled out his laptop and sent an email to Zhao Hu—the one with a fondness for schoolgirls. Attached was all the evidence he’d collected over the years.

He didn’t ask for much. Even though he’d thrown his company badge down with flair earlier, he was still owed his commissions—money he’d worked hard for. No way would he let that bastard use it to chase after schoolgirls.

If Zhao Hu refused, this evidence would go public.

Zhao Hu had always been careful, but as long as you did something, there’d always be traces. There weren’t many big pieces of evidence, but the small ones added up—enough to give him real trouble.

Once this was done, Shen He finally pulled up the glowing screen before his eyes.

Back in the alley, he’d thought he was seeing things. He never imagined this “Earth Online” would turn out to be real. It looked like a game, but the time shown was two years in the future.

If this was real, then everything displayed on it would likely come to pass. Would the world truly experience a spiritual awakening in two years? Would those monsters described in the logs appear, turning the world upside down?

Shen He swallowed hard.

He’d thought his life would drift by in mediocrity, but never expected such a chance to come his way.

Drawing a deep breath, he began to study his personal stats.

[Player: Shen He]
[Strength: 1.0]
[Stamina: 0.6]
[Agility: 0.5]
[Mental: 1.2]
[Available Points: 0.7]
(Evaluation: Though you’ve never given up on exercise despite years spent at the drinking table, frequent drinking has left you in suboptimal health.)

Based on his own experience, Shen He figured a healthy adult male would have base stats of 1. Because of his years of social drinking, he fell short in most areas, except strength, which had reached the standard after his earlier point allocation. Only his mental stat, apparently representing intelligence, was above average—hardly surprising for a graduate of a top university.

With the world about to change and luck now on his side, he had to seize the advantage. As for going to work? Not a chance.

Looking at his remaining 0.7 points, he put enough into agility to bring it to 1, and the leftover 0.2 into stamina, raising it to 0.8.

Beneath his skin, his muscles began to transform in subtle, mysterious ways. His long-lost eight-pack abs, once merged into a single mass, started to reemerge. His slightly clouded eyes cleared, returning to the youthful clarity and vigor he’d had at eighteen—brimming with energy, feeling unstoppable.

It had been so long since he’d felt this way.

Excited, Shen He reopened his personal stats panel, curious if the system’s snide assessment had changed.

[Player: Shen He]
[Strength: 1.0]
[Stamina: 0.8]
[Agility: 1.0]
[Mental: 1.2]
[Available Points: 0.0]
(Evaluation: Now in a weak sub-healthy state, close to the standard for a healthy adult male—you finally barely count as a human.)

He let out a long breath as he read the stats, particularly the last line.

A flash of irritation sparked in his heart. This damn system, couldn’t it be a little more serious? What did it mean by “finally barely count as a human”?

He was a bona fide man, full of courage—after all, he’d laughed fearlessly at the sky today. Who was it to mock him?

Ding! “You have a new email!”

Turning to his laptop, Shen He saw it was a response from Zhao Hu.

It was an invitation to meet. It was about nine in the evening—the company’s awards ceremony would be over by now. Zhao Hu had clearly seen his message.

Shen He grinned, ignored the email, and began exercising in his room, even practicing a few Tai Chi moves he’d learned in PE class.

Before long, a shout echoed from below, “It’s late! Are you going to sleep or not?”

Yunding Tower.

Bang!

Zhao Hu slammed his fist onto the desk, glaring at the email in front of him.

He looked up at Wang Long, who shrank his neck like a quail, and cursed, “Useless fool! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be putting up with this! If this stuff goes public, not only you, but I’ll be out as general manager!”

Wang Long protested, “Brother-in-law, you promised me this before. Besides, doesn’t he just want his commission? We can just give it to him.”

Zhao Hu’s eyes flashed. “Do you know how much commission he’s owed? Eight hundred thousand! Now that he’s left, it’s all supposed to come to me.”

Wang Long’s eyes lit up. “Then let’s get someone to teach him a lesson. I’ll handle it.”

After a moment’s silence, Zhao Hu said, “Call him tomorrow, set up a meeting. Talk first, and if that doesn’t work, then we’ll see.”

Wang Long nodded. “Brother-in-law, are we still having our language lesson tonight? The blonde exchange student from the north—fair skin, long legs—I worked hard to find her.”

Zhao Hu slapped the table. “Of course we’re studying—learning is like rowing upstream; if you don’t advance, you fall behind!”

Wang Long immediately gave a thumbs-up. “Brother-in-law, you really are cultured.”