The Grand Awakening Hall of Jiangnan Third High was flooded with cadets how had trained very hard from the young age, some were very eager but other were not so much so.
Lu Fan stood in line, his palms sweating against the fabric of his trousers.
'Damn, this is hard!'
Around him, the air hummed with the low-frequency vibration of the Genetic Resonance Chamber—a massive, coffin-shaped machine made of cold tung-alloy.
Every time the heavy door hissed open, a student walked out either crying tears of joy or looking like their soul had been evicted.
"Next! Number 402, Lu Fan!"
Mr. Wang's voice cut through the murmurs like a whip.
Lu Fan took a breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Just like the free tutorials on the Holo-Net.
This is it. The bottleneck.
His mind flashed to his mother. He thought of her hands, stained a permanent, sickly blue from the chemical dyes at the textile factory.
She worked twelve-hour shifts, destroying her joints just to afford his generic nutrient tubes. If he failed today, those blue hands would keep working until they crippled. He would be sent to the factory right beside her.
'No. Not happening.'
"Move it, Lu Fan," a voice sneered from behind him.
Gao Hao leaned against a pillar, checking his expensive smartwatch. He had already awakened a C-Grade affinity last week—a ticket to a comfortable life in the Logistics Corps.
"Don't look so grim," Gao Hao whispered, loud enough for the girls nearby to hear. "Even if you fail, my dad's company is hiring. We always need people to... manage waste disposal."
Lu Fan's expression didn't flicker. 'You rich parasite. I hope your C-Grade talent is 'Premature Balding'.
He plastered on a polite, customer-service smile.
"Thanks, Class Rep," Lu Fan said, his voice steady. "I'll keep your toilet-scrubbing offer in the 'Emergency' folder. Right next to 'Sell Kidney'."
"Haha!"
"Gao Hao always get's humbled!"
Lu Fan may be poor but his trash talking skills were always one step above others, few chuckles rang out int the auditorium but was quickly interrupted by Mr.Wang stern voice.
"Quiet, you brats! And you, get on we don't time!"
Lu Fan turned and stepped onto the platform. The metal floor was freezing through his thin shoes.
"Insert your hand," Mr. Wang droned, looking bored. "Don't move."
Lu Fan shoved his hand into the sensor port. It felt like sticking his fingers into a bucket of ice water. He closed his eyes, waiting for the surge.
He waited for the burning heat of Genetic Energy—the power that let humans punch through tank armor and fly without wings.
He waited.
And waited.
Beep.
The machine let out a sound that could only be described as a digital fart.
[Genetic Resonance: 0.03%]
[Evaluation: F-Grade]
[Status: Non-Awakened]
The silence in the hall was absolute. Then, a snicker started from the back row. Then, laughter.
"Zero point zero three?" someone whispered. "That's lower than a lab rat."
Lu Fan stood frozen. The numbers on the screen burned into his retinas.
It's over.
The factory. The blue dye. The poverty. It all came crashing down on him like a collapsing building. His knees felt weak.
Mr. Wang sighed, tapping his clipboard. "Lu Fan. Step down. Next."
Lu Fan tried to move his legs, but they wouldn't obey. The shame was a physical weight, pressing the air out of his lungs.
He was trash. Confirmed, certified, pure trash.
Ping.
A sound rang out. Not from the machine. From inside his head.
A translucent blue window, sharper than reality, flickered into existence in the top left corner of his vision.
[System Booting...]
[Host Detected. Emotional Entropy: Critical Levels.]
[Welcome to the Emotional Entropy System. I am ARIA.]
Lu Fan blinked. He looked at Mr. Wang. The teacher didn't see the screen.
[Quest Generated: The Show Must Go On.]
[Condition: Do not leave the stage in shame.]
[Objective: Harvest 500 Emotional Points from the audience.]
[Reward: 1x Random World Travel Ticket (Trial).]
[Time Limit: 60 Seconds.]
Emotional Points?
Lu Fan's brain, usually running on anxiety and caffeine, stalled. Then, it rebooted.
'I can walk off this stage and be a loser forever. Or... I can listen to the hallucination in my head and be a problem.'
He looked at the laughing crowd. He looked at Gao Hao's smug face.
Trash-talking wasn't a skill for Lu Fan. It was a birthright.
It doesn't pay the rent. But apparently, this System does.
Lu Fan didn't step down. Instead, he lifted his leg and kicked the million-credit Resonance Machine. Hard.
CLANG!
The laughter died instantly. Mr. Wang jumped. "Lu Fan! What are you doing?"
Lu Fan turned to the teacher, his face the picture of calm, academic seriousness. He adjusted his collar.
"Sir, this machine is clearly defective," Lu Fan announced, his voice projecting to the back of the room. "It needs a firmware update."
"Defective?" Mr. Wang sputtered, his face turning red. "It's calibrated daily by the Military! You just have zero talent!"
"Zero?" Lu Fan scoffed, shaking his head with pity. "Sir, think about it mathematically."
The hall went quiet. Everyone looked confused.
"I have too much talent," Lu Fan lied, channelling every ounce of confidence he possessed. "My energy levels exceeded the maximum value of the sensor, so it looped back around to zero. It's a common software bug in these older models. Really, the school should invest in better tech. It's embarrassing."
For three seconds, nobody spoke. The sheer audacity of the lie short-circuited their brains.
[System: Confusion +100 from Mr. Wang.]
[System: Second-hand Embarrassment +50 from Student A.]
[System: Second-hand Embarrassment +50 from Student B.]
"You... you..." Mr. Wang stuttered, veins popping in his forehead. "Get off the stage! Now!"
Lu Fan sighed, dusting off his shoulder. "Fine. I'll go. But when the military recruiters come looking for the S-Class talent you lost, don't say I didn't warn you."
He walked down the stairs, not with his head down, but with the stride of a CEO closing a deal.
Gao Hao stepped into his path; his face twisted in annoyance. "You're delusional, Lu Fan. Overflow error? Do you think we're idiots?"
Lu Fan stopped. He looked Gao Hao up and down.
"I don't think you're an idiot, Gao Hao," Lu Fan said warmly. "I just think your C-Grade talent is limiting your ability to understand complex bio-digital mechanics. It's not your fault. We can't all be outliers."
[System: Anger +200 from Gao Hao.]
[System: Shock +100 from Crowd.]
[Quest Complete. Total Points: 500.]
Lu Fan pushed past the stunned class rep and walked out the double doors.
The moment the heavy doors closed behind him, Lu Fan collapsed against the cool tiles of the hallway wall, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
He was shaking.
'I just insulted a Federation Instructor. I'm dead. I'm actually dead.'
[Congratulations, Host.]
The robotic, feminine voice echoed in his skull. It sounded bored.
[That was... adequate. Though your understanding of computer science is offensive.]
Lu Fan looked around the empty hallway. "Who are you? Are you an AI chip?"
[I am ARIA. I am the manager of your Emotional Entropy. And currently, the only thing standing between you and a career in waste management.]
A small, golden ticket materialized in the air, rotating slowly. It looked like an old movie ticket, but it glowed with eldritch light.
[Reward: Random World Travel Ticket (1 Hour).]
[Destination: Unknown.]
Lu Fan stared at it. "World Travel? You mean like... a portal?"
[Correct. This world is boring, Host. And you are weak. If you want to change your fate, you must outsource your education.]
"Outsource?"
[Genetic Energy is not the only power system in the multiverse. The locals here punch rocks to get stronger. How primitive. Do you wish to learn something... better?]
Lu Fan looked at his hands. They were shaking, but not from fear anymore.
He thought of the F-Grade on the screen. He thought of his mom's blue hands. He thought of Gao Hao's sneer.
"If I use this," Lu Fan whispered, "Will I be strong enough to make them shut up?"
[Host, if you use this correctly, you won't just make them shut up.]
ARIA's voice dropped an octave, sounding almost amused.
[You'll make them pay.]
Lu Fan reached out. His fingers brushed the cold light of the ticket.
"Activate."