Life in a Simulation - Chapter 8

After exiting the game, Zhou Ming stretched languidly and opened the game panel.

Mission Map: The Reversal Life of Zhang Ergou

Game Character: Zhang Ergou

Game Status: Ended

Property: 710 (You own 80 acres of paddy fields, 160 acres of thin land, five brick and tile houses, sixteen workshops, and a considerable amount of gold and silver treasures)

Status: 48 (Your wealth, family, and fame have brought you a high status)

Reputation: 560 (You are renowned far and wide as a great philanthropist)

Partner: 4 (You have a perfect marriage and three lifelong partners [ +250 Achievement Points ])

Offspring: 152 (Congratulations, you have left behind a vast lineage. Your family will continue to thrive)

Life Span: 67 (Your lifespan exceeds that of 99% of the villagers. You are a rare long-lived individual)

Achievement Points Earned: 3587

Game Evaluation: SSS (Your life is like the bright sun in the sky, shining brightly and forever illuminating the world)

Highest Achievement: 3587 (Unlocks the next level: The Feud of the Lords)

Total Achievement Points: 3920

“Yes!” Zhou Ming pumped his fist vigorously, excitedly jumping off the bed.

He had been playing the beginner map The Reversal Life of Zhang Ergou for nearly a month, and today he finally completed it perfectly!

The SSS-level highest game evaluation had finally cleared all the frustrations he had been holding in his heart. After wiping out the Li family in the late game, he felt incredibly refreshed. In the small Niujia Village, he was the sky above and the earth beneath; no one could defeat him or stand in his way.

In this round, he was the ultimate winner!

“Congratulations to the host for achieving the highest rating. It seems you have found some successful tricks. Congratulations,” the system’s voice echoed in his mind.

“Yeah, after playing so many rounds and paying all those ‘tuition fees,’ even a fool could find some tricks, right?”

Zhou Ming gave a self-mocking smile. After playing The Reversal Life of Zhang Ergou eight or nine times, he had memorized almost everything that would happen to each villager in the small Niujia Village. To him, all the villagers were almost transparent. Standing at an absolute god-like perspective, how could he not get a high score?

Yet, it took him eight or nine rounds to get this SSS rating, an efficiency that was laughably low.

Compared to others, even if given a chance to turn back time by ten years, an ordinary person who had experienced nothing but setbacks and was full of regrets and failures would seem to have suddenly activated a cheat code, rising to power so quickly that the whole world would be shocked.

But in the game Simulating Life, Zhou Ming had been reborn eight or nine times, with a total game time exceeding three or four hundred years, yet his growth was so slow, only recently breaking through that ceiling.

In comparison, his speed could only be described as pitiful.

Zhou Ming gave a wry smile. Perhaps, he really was a bit slower than others.

“Host, your thinking is quite mistaken. As a life experience game developed by a super-dimensional civilization, Simulating Life has fully considered the rationality of social humanities in its design.

Every decision made by the player corresponds to events with different probabilities. In some cases, even if the player makes the most brilliant and correct decisions, encountering unpredictable low-probability events can still lead to different outcomes. Sometimes, luck is also an important factor in obtaining a high score in the game,” the system explained to him, seeing Zhou Ming’s dejection.

“You’re referring to the butterfly effect and the story of the king’s horseshoe, right?”

(The butterfly effect refers to a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon rainforest, which can trigger a hurricane on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean. The story of the king’s horseshoe is about a war that broke out in a certain country, where the king’s horse lost a horseshoe, causing the horse to stumble and lose a crucial battle, ultimately leading to the loss of the entire kingdom.)

“Yes, your description is very apt,” the system praised.

“If that’s the case, then this game isn’t as fun as I imagined. If, while playing, a low-probability event suddenly occurs, like Emperor Zhou Shizhu who died young, Huo Qubing who was envied by heaven for his talent, or Alexander the Great who built a vast empire—all of them are famously short-lived… If such a situation arises when things are going well, then all that hard work would be in vain,” Zhou Ming said worriedly.

After all, he had played The Reversal Life of Zhang Ergou eight or nine times, and four times he had died from various murders or accidents. Counting the days in the game was also very tedious.

Even though twenty years in the game were equivalent to one day in the real world, the problem was that the game was too realistic. If he had to keep enduring the process from infancy to old age over and over again, even a normal person would be driven mad.

“Host, the characters automatically matched by the system to the player generally live past thirty years old. If there are indeed various sudden situations that cause the game to exit prematurely, the host can choose to purchase a Character Card in the system mall and select a character that is easier to survive,” the system explained, noticing Zhou Ming’s concern.

“Character Card? That stuff is too expensive. I can’t even afford the cheapest Son of the Landlord’s Steward. Where would I get so many achievement points?”

Zhou Ming shook his head and complained. The game was fun, but it was also too exploitative, with everything being extremely expensive.

“Please accumulate slowly, host,” the system said indifferently.

What a joke, that’s like saying nothing at all.

“Knock knock knock!”

At that moment, a series of knocks sounded from the door.

“Zhou Ming! Zhou Ming, are you home? This month’s rent is due. If you’re here, open the door quickly,” a middle-aged woman’s voice came from outside the door.

“Landlady?” Zhou Ming’s face changed. The landlady had arrived, which meant it was time to pay the rent.

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m home.”

He opened the door and let in the landlady, whose girth almost filled the doorway, and greeted her with a smile.

Taking out a copy of the lease from her bag, the landlady pointed to the text with her thick, radish-like finger and said, “The rent is paid quarterly. It’s five hundred per month, which adds up to fifteen hundred. Plus the electricity and water bills for the past few months, which are one hundred and fifty, that makes a total of sixteen hundred and fifty. Zhou Ming, are you planning to transfer the money or pay in cash?”

The landlady glared at Zhou Ming with an unpleasant expression, as if she would kick him out of the rental room immediately if he didn’t pay the rent right now.

“Pay, pay, pay, I’ll pay right away!” Zhou Ming laughed bitterly and quickly took out his phone, saying, “Wait a moment. I’ll transfer the money to you via Bao Payment.”

Fifteen minutes later, the landlady left with a satisfied expression, her buttocks swaying like a kayak, leaving Zhou Ming behind, holding an empty wallet and counting the few small bills inside with a wry smile.

“Now I’m really at my wit’s end. If I don’t find some work quickly, I might starve to death in a few days.”

Zhou Ming, who had just come out of the excitement of achieving a perfect SSS rating in the game The Reversal Life of Zhang Ergou, was now back to being worried and gloomy.

Life in a Simulation - Chapter 8

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Hate that cliffhanger, don’t you?

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