Looking at the text in the simulator, Chen Pingchuan, who had just lain down, shot back up.
His eyes were red as several scenes from the text flashed through his mind. With questions burning in his heart, Chen Pingchuan read more intently.
[You searched every place you could think of but still couldn't find any trace of Xia Qingxue.]
[The chill of early spring pierced to the bone, yet it carried the promise of returning warmth. Your heart, however, was sealed in frost, without a single ray of light in sight.]
[Only now do you realize that you never truly understood Xia Qingxue. Apart from your nightly get-togethers, you didn't even know where she worked or anything about her family.]
[All you know is that she plays the flute and is a private music tutor.]
[You suddenly have a realization: in this dilapidated outer district, most people are just struggling to get by. Families that can afford music lessons are few and far between.]
[And Xia Qingxue's extraordinary demeanor clearly doesn't match the locals. You have an epiphany: she isn't from the outer district.]
[Your free trial of a blissful life has ended!]
[You are furious at Xia Qingxue's actions, believing that regardless of her reasons, she never should have left without a word.]
[You swear you will never fall for anyone again in this life and that you will take back double of what you lost.]
[You write furiously on a piece of paper.]
[As a modern man in another world, I'm going to sleep with a hundred beauties, make a few small fortunes, rob, seize territory, extort protection money, and commit every evil imaginable to make up for all the grievances I've suffered since transmigrating!]
[Still feeling unsatisfied after all your boasting on paper, you go downstairs, buy five bottles of Erguotou, and after downing a cup of liquor, you pass out and sleep like a log.]
[After several days of drowning your sorrows in alcohol, you have once again spent every last coin in your pocket.]
[You go back to laying bricks. Three months later, your strength has increased noticeably.]
[Feeling the sense of fulfillment your newfound strength brings you, you decide the time is right. You find a notorious local gang, the Purple Bird Gang, and demand one million Federation Coins.]
[They refuse to be extorted and instead plan to tear off one of your arms to teach you a lesson.]
[Although you've never learned any martial arts, you rely on your advantage of brute strength to beat down all the elite members of the outer district's Purple Bird Gang.]
[You were arrested!]
[You were sent to the slammer. You beat down your cellmates, then the boss of your cell's faction, and eventually all the prison gangs, turning your one-week sentence into three months.]
Reading this, Chen Pingchuan couldn't take it anymore, his face twisting in indignation.
He refused to be convinced! He would never admit that the fool in the simulator was him.
Chen Pingchuan furrowed his brow, sinking into thought.
There was indeed a gang called the Purple Bird Gang that had tyrannically ruled the outer district for decades, taking a twenty percent cut from every job the labor market offered to people like him.
Thinking about it that way, taking a shot at them was understandable.
Chen Pingchuan's gaze moved down the screen, wanting to see what other trouble his simulated self would cause.
[The warden, seeing your talent, secretly entrusts you with the management of the prison's inmates.]
[You become the uncrowned king of this prison. All prisoners must greet you, and you establish a series of new rules for being upstanding citizens.]
[Under your reign of terror, all the prisoners live in misery.]
[You are very satisfied with the current situation. You eat at regular times and have free punching bags to train with.]
[You discover a skinny, wiry old man and learn some flashy but impractical fighting moves from him.]
[Half a month later, while you and your fellow inmates are out in the yard for rec time, the sky suddenly darkens. You look up, and a cold raindrop splatters on your face.]
[You feel a wave of revulsion. Wiping your face, you notice the sticky residue on your hand. The rain is red.]
[You remember the note Xia Qingxue left behind, violently shove aside the inmate next to you, and flee back to your cell.]
[Most of the prisoners run back to their cells with you when the rain begins to pour, but there are a few exceptions.]
[Initially, everyone assumes it's just an ordinary downpour.]
[The red rain falls for three days and three nights before it finally stops!]
[During these three days, you cower in your cell, not taking a single step outside.]
[Night falls, and it's time for the inmates to shoot the breeze. You overhear some of them saying they actually drank the red rain, claiming it was sweet. This fills you with a sense of dread.]
[Sure enough, your fears come true. The day after the red rain stops, the weather takes a drastic turn. Temperatures soar past fifty-five degrees Celsius, and this heatwave lasts for a full week.]
[You suspect this isn't the end, but only the beginning.]
[Your suspicions are confirmed. The day after the extreme heat ends, despite it being the mid-summer month of May, it begins to snow heavily for several days straight.]
[You are no longer worried, because you've discovered that staying in prison means you don't need to worry about such things.]
[A month later, you are sitting with your legs crossed in the warden's leather chair, watching television with a solemn expression.]
[Through the Spring City TV Station's "Voice of Spring City" program, you learn about the situation in the surrounding city.]
[Due to the extreme weather, crop yields have been decimated and the livestock industry has been hit hard. Daily energy supply facilities have been damaged. Moreover, outbreaks of disease have begun to appear on various scales around the city, causing severe disruptions to public welfare.]
[A large crowd has gathered outside the Spring City Municipal Service Hall. The entire municipal service system is facing paralysis as countless citizens demand the government provide a solution.]
[Infected individuals show the following symptoms. Please handle with care. First, a high fever for several consecutive days. Second, violent aggre...]
[Before you can finish watching the report, your trusted subordinate, Scar, informs you that something is wrong with the cripple in the prison and that you should go take a look.]
[You know of the cripple. He's the idiot who said the rain tasted sweet and who has been running a fever for a few days after getting soaked.]
[Of course, you didn't pay it much mind, since everyone in the prison, including the staff, has come down with varying degrees of fever. Everyone assumed it was just the common flu.]
Reading this, Chen Pingchuan immediately realized something was wrong.
His simulated self didn't have a god's-eye view, making it difficult to spot suspicious details amidst the chaos. But the real him was different. He realized that most of the information provided by the simulator was useful. Many seemingly mundane statements held hidden meanings and were likely preconditions for future events. For instance, if he hadn't gone to the labor market today, he wouldn't have met Xia Qingxue, and none of this would have happened. But some events were clearly inevitable, like the red rain, the extreme heat, and the blizzard!
Chen Pingchuan calmed himself and read on. The text that followed made his pupils contract violently, his previously calm eyes filling with incredulous shock.