Chapter 35: The 35th Day of Livestream Selling
1114 struck first with a question. “I chose the chase toys from the supermarket for Third Aunt because these are things Third Aunt doesn’t like playing with. Xiaoman already picked her up, so they won’t be used in the future anyway.” Anyone who had raised a kitten knew that no matter how expensive or nice the toy was, a kitten’s favorite thing would always be the box the toy came in. “The Biography of Wu Zetian doesn’t fit, does it?”
Lin Zhao said nothing. He simply reached into this room that had belonged to him for many years—or more accurately, reached to the very top of the custom wardrobe that went all the way up to the ceiling—and pulled out a large cardboard box that had long since gathered dust.
A portable DVD player.
Or rather, an all-in-one DVD player. It looked more or less like a laptop. Put in a disc, and it could play video.
This thing was truly an old object from a distant era. Many people born after the twenty-first century might not even know what it was. It was the kind of thing that could be put into the Shenzhen Museum.
And inside Lin Zhao’s box, there were many other pieces of old-fashioned “high tech” like this. His mother’s brick phone, his father’s pager, his MP3 player, MP4 player, and so on. If they went to the storage room to search, they could probably find larger items too, like a radio, an old television, an old computer, and the like.
Little Lin Zhao’s childhood was typical of being better off than some, worse off than others. His family had basically not missed any technological product that emerged under the waves of the times.
And underneath this portable DVD player, there were also quite a few genuine drama DVDs treasured by Lin Zhao’s mother and aunt. Among them was a copy of The Biography of Wu Zetian, a drama basically centered on power struggles and political schemes.
Lin Zhao: Tell me this isn’t turning waste into treasure?
1114 expressed agreement on the “waste” part. The only problem was that while DVDs were things from an old era to Lin Zhao, they would not be anything new to Ms. Hu on the other side either, right? She lived overseas, not in the last century.
Jiangzuo Special Management Bureau, Special Research Office First Laboratory.
Lin Xiang was showing his older brother’s gene sequence analysis report to his senior sister, along with a detailed set of physiological monitoring data—muscle density undergoing minute but continuous loss, telomeres wearing down at an abnormally accelerated rate, and unexplained information entropy increase in specific non-coding DNA regions. All of this pointed to one cruel conclusion: early signs of progressive gene collapse.
Beside these biological data readouts, there was also a small window displaying sensor readings from his mother’s house in real time. The concentration of the natural energy field was currently stable enough. Everything seemed to be within a controllable range.
But that was precisely the strangest part.
“You’re sure your brother’s special ability has always been externally manifested?” Zhou Mingda, the senior sister with a neat ponytail and also a member of the Special Management Bureau, was not part of the Special Research Office nor the action team, but belonged to the Gene Office. She was currently among the top experts in the country in the field of genetic diseases. Strictly speaking, she was not Lin Xiang’s senior sister, but a student of Lin Xiang’s shimu.
Looking at this twenty-four-hour energy reading report, Dr. Zhou sounded puzzled. Her finger slid over the abnormal data and finally stopped on the energy flow of the external structure.
Lin Xiang nodded. Of course he was certain, because…
He directly pulled up a photo of himself and 1114 together. It was one he had found an excuse to take with 1114 on New Year’s Eve, before he realized his brother was sick. The entire blue-and-white ball looked very happy, wearing a red New Year scarf and looking at the phone camera with him. It had even projected a mechanical hand to make a V sign. It was lively beyond words.
Dr. Zhou exclaimed in admiration. “A continuously materialized ability? It’s always there? Never disappeared? Then your brother’s ability level must be at least mid-tier, right? How impressive. According to what you said, he hasn’t fully awakened yet, and this is only an unconscious state accompanying the early signs of gene collapse?”
Generally, when a special ability had just awakened, it would be low-tier. For example, Qin Xiaoman’s Third Aunt was low-tier level three. The highest known initial awakening level so far was mid-tier level two.
Lin Xiang nodded. “It’s very likely he’ll be high-tier as soon as he awakens.”
This should have been something that made everyone happy. No one would fail to appreciate such strength. But the problem was whether his brother still had a chance to awaken. It was even possible that the root cause of his current gene collapse was precisely this excessive strength.
Yes, in Lin Xiang’s view, 1114 was his brother’s ability. Just as he had told his brother, the awakening of these special abilities strongly depended on the individual’s consciousness, culture, and beliefs.
External manifestations varied from person to person. It could be a superpower. It could be magic. Of course, it could also be technology.
Lin Xiang’s shimu had undergone brain-domain evolution and was now under high-level protection, working in a secure base on genetic research that was racing against death.
What Lin Xiang had not told his brother was that these special abilities born from personal belief could also develop all sorts of problems if the person realized they were not what they believed them to be.
On the table before Lin Xiang were many related encrypted files. These were all contents that he and Zhou Mingda had permission to access.
Case A43: Country A, believer, self-proclaimed “divine favored one,” firmly believed the ability came from a god’s blessing. After the Sinar-Nomos Laboratory repeatedly proved that the ability had nothing to do with specific prayer rituals and was only related to concentration and the manipulation of the natural energy field, the subject’s faith collapsed. One week later, ability lost control and backlashed, causing severe organ fibrosis and a sharp rise in the gene collapse index. Currently under emergency treatment.
Case B17: Huaguo, Daoist priest, believed he had successfully drawn qi into his body and finally completed cultivation. After being told by local Special Management Bureau staff that it was merely a special ability, his ability declined to nearly nothing within three days, accompanied by mild genetic disorder. Currently recovering.
“Cognitive anchoring effect, or rather… belief-dependent personalized ability syndrome.” A friend of Zhou Mingda’s who studied psychology abroad was the one who named this new psychological condition.
Her friend said that when an individual placed complete faith in the source of their ability being a concrete system beyond their own understanding, that system would become the psychological cornerstone of the stable output of their ability. Once this cornerstone was scientifically analyzed and proven to be an illusion, the collapse of their mental world would directly lead to disharmony in the natural energy field, thereby causing chain-reaction physiological collapse.
“And your brother firmly believes that is his system.” Zhou Mingda looked at some public information about Lin Zhao that could be disclosed. “Considering he liked these things since childhood, and later worked in programming, it isn’t surprising.”
“Right.” Lin Xiang walked to the coffee machine, poured two cups of black coffee, and handed one to his senior sister. “I observed him. My brother’s ability is a little like that case where someone could convert fat into their own beauty. My brother is similar, except he uses a ‘system’ to convert supplies into money. He even pays taxes on time. There probably isn’t a more law-abiding good citizen than him.”
“Cognitive anchoring effect is still a minority case, after all.” Zhou Mingda comforted Lin Xiang. Ordinary people did not cling too strongly to whether their ability was a superpower or genetic evolution caused by the natural energy field. Telling them directly would not cause many problems.
So far, the Special Management Bureau only adopted a strategy of observing first and contacting later when dealing with people who had special beliefs, relatively extreme personalities, or existing psychological issues.
Before going home, Lin Xiang already knew there was an unidentified flying object around his brother. After all, Lin Zhao had not really hidden this matter. Without a doubt, Lin Xiang thought this was his brother’s special ability—he had naturally awakened. Only, out of caution, Lin Xiang planned to tell his brother personally during the New Year.
He had not expected a series of things to happen that night, and his brother had seemed completely unaware of ability awakening. This was what made Lin Xiang become a little wary. He used the plan originally meant only to awaken his mother to indirectly and gradually remind his brother.
Everything had gone smoothly during the explanation. His brother accepted it well, and Lin Xiang did not think his brother had any firm belief.
But…
“He already has early signs of gene collapse. To be precise, it was late-stage gene collapse.” After seeing the examination results, the first one to nearly collapse was Lin Xiang. He had now pulled up his brother’s examination records from last year and confirmed this matter.
The comparison of the two gene maps was laid out in front of Zhou Mingda.
“He really is getting better.” Zhou Mingda carefully looked at the two reports and was quite surprised. “He firmly believes this is a change brought by the system? The body restoration medicine was something he converted from supplies, right? Then your arrangement is correct. If it were me, I would probably try to keep everything unchanged as much as possible too, and wait for him to further ‘self-heal.’ Once his genes are stable, then slowly reveal the truth to him.”
The only contradiction was that although Lin Zhao’s ability was so externally manifested, the natural energy field readings were about the same as normal values.
That was indeed abnormal.
But Dr. Zhou currently could not find the specific reason either. After all, personal abilities were strange and varied, and their research in this field had only just begun more than a year ago. If not for her brain-domain-evolved teacher, the results of their research would only be even more pitiful. She thought of countless possibilities, then suddenly had a whimsical thought. “Is there a possibility that your brother really obtained a system?”
“Then you might as well believe I’m Qin Shi Huang. Send me fifty, and I’ll unify the world.” In any case, given that his brother currently took in far more than he gave out most of the time, he could not be convinced.
“Okay, Emperor Lin. I’ll work hard to think of a solution for you. Take this back and let your brother take it first. If nothing works, once Teacher finishes with her current matter, I’ll call her.” Senior Sister Zhou saw through Lin Xiang’s little scheme at a glance. It was not that he had faith in her personal ability, but rather faith in her ability to call in reinforcements.
Lin Xiang smiled and did not deny it.
“Actually, you could call her yourself. Teacher thinks highly of you. It’s just that you also know she’s been very busy lately. The natural energy field is becoming denser and denser, more and more people are awakening, and more and more people are suffering gene collapse…”
She had been trying to find a method that could allow everyone to naturally pass through this difficult awakening period.
Lin Zhao followed the principle of trying everything, because trying would not lose them anything, and showed Ms. Hu both his and 1114’s different ideas.
As for Lady Hu…
At this moment, she was still staring in a daze at the treasure her father had left her, which had suddenly begun to glow. It was a stone that looked extremely smooth, but whose only advantage seemed to be that smoothness. It was about the size of an ordinary egg, small enough to be held in one fist. Its exterior was pitch-black, and its shape was not particularly regular, yet it seemed naturally formed.
Now, the surface of the strange stone rippled like a lake, and a clear, bizarrely colorful scene was projected above it.
The leopard cat in her arms was badly startled. Although it looked very large, it was actually timid and quite useless.
But even though it was so frightened, this sleek, well-fed big cat raised by Lady Hu did not intend to abandon its master and flee on its own. It only trembled while trying to make itself look bigger, just like when Li Fantian had visited before. It wanted to protect its master.
Hu Qingxuan continuously soothed her cat while also thinking in her heart: could it be that her father could finally contact the lower realm?
Of course, after seeing the image on the light screen, Lady Hu quickly dismissed this unrealistic thought. Then only one possibility remained…
This was another life-saving measure her father had left her.
Hu Qingxuan’s biological father had once been a demon cultivator of immense fame, hated by the orthodox sects so much they gnashed their teeth, and capable of truly stopping children from crying at night. He really was not a good demon. But toward his only daughter, he had indeed been good. Before ascending, he had left her everything he could. Various cultivation methods, secret medicines, rare treasures.
Only, she had been too disappointing in the past. Thinking of her ridiculous past, Hu Qingxuan herself wanted to laugh. The past could not be pursued. Thinking too much was useless. She should focus more on the present.
She had heard before about legends such as remnant souls carried around by one’s side. She simply did not know what this “senior” residing in the stone—this overly young and good-looking senior—wanted. In the end, the senior asked her what she wanted.
It was like that river god story her daughter loved listening to. Did she want this DVD, or this electric bird?
Was that even a question?
She wanted both.
It was not as if she could not afford the demon stones.
But the other party did not want demon stones and only wanted to exchange equivalent items with her. She did not know the value of the other party’s objects, nor how great the other party’s appetite was, so she could only try one item after another.
Then…
The more she tried, the cheaper it got. Even after she used the most unremarkable bone hairpin on her head for exchange, it still did not work. It exceeded the value too much, and the other side would not accept it.
Lady Hu: ???
If at the beginning she had still thought this might be some kind of exhilarating scam, now she only felt that this “grandpa” her father left her did not seem to have seen much of the world.
But thinking about it, that also made sense. Who knew how many years he had slept inside this stone? How much insight could he possibly have into the present?
Lady Hu could only try typing with her mind to ask the other party: [Then what do you want? I no longer have anything cheaper on me.]
Lin Zhao and 1114 looked at each other.
They had encountered another rich lady.
Just then, Lady Hu’s daughter stumbled into the warm chamber. The little girl looked only a few years old, about the same age as Qin Xiaoman’s niece Nannan. She really was not very old. She was the product left behind by Lady Hu’s extremely failed relationship.
She hated that scumbag man to the bone, yet she could not blame her innocent daughter in the slightest.
Because the child was far too fragile. So fragile that not long after birth, she had been sealed inside the ice lake in the sect’s forbidden grounds. Lady Hu had not participated much in the Demon Sect’s affairs these years, partly because she had been doing everything she could to save her daughter and had no time to care about anything else.
Now, Yaya could finally grow up like a normal child.
“Mother! Mother!” The carved-jade-like child rushed over holding a copy of Basic Body Tempering Art, proudly declaring, “I couldn’t understand a single word Senior Sister said.”
No one knew what exactly she was proud of.
Hu Qingxuan’s heart unconsciously softened. While holding her daughter and letting her play the game of “cat paw always on top” with the leopard cat, she suddenly had an idea and tried using her daughter’s beginner cultivation manual.
This kind of cultivation method, which almost everyone in the Zuowang Small World had a copy of, was so basic that it did not distinguish between righteous cultivation and demon cultivation. Even mortals could try practicing it, so it should count as cheap, right?
Sure enough, the exchange succeeded in one try.
What a strange remnant soul, Lady Hu thought.
Meanwhile, Lin Zhao looked at the Basic Body Tempering Art, which 1114 had tested and confirmed was harmless to the human body. The ancient-looking cover, the traditional thread-bound bookbinding, the magical-looking small seal script—at least, it should be small seal script. He did not know either; it just looked like it.
For the first time, he began to seriously think. “Are you sure the other side is really just another region on Blue Star?”
“Hm?” 1114 froze. What else could it be?
Author’s Note:
There was related foreshadowing during the New Year’s Eve dinner—his younger brother did not show much confusion about 1114’s existence, as if 1114 had always been part of the family, and even chatted with 1114 about web novels for quite a while. Hope some dear readers still remember this233333.
Also, a little extra explanation, in case it wasn’t clear in the text: it’s not that the younger brother didn’t notice anything abnormal about his brother. It’s just that because it involved his work, he subconsciously assumed the system was his brother’s special ability. And because of the series of events on New Year’s Eve, he was afraid his brother’s belief would collapse, so he didn’t dare dig deeper and chose the relatively conservative option of continuing to observe. The observation here is not surveillance, just monitoring natural energy field readings.
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