Apocalyptic Wasteland Simulator

Chapter 1: Surprise! The Simulator Arrives
Federation Calendar, Year 1257, Month of Midsummer.

Great Ming, Spring City.

Outskirts, no-home zone, a certain rental apartment.

[Ding!]

Chen Pingchuan, who was sound asleep, was jerked awake by a sudden sound. Lying on his side, he shot up in a flash!

”Who’s there?”

He glanced around at the messy room, and checked inside and out once more.

No one!

Just as Chen Pingchuan relaxed a bit,

a series of sounds exploded in his mind. Suddenly, a sapphire-blue virtual panel popped up in his field of vision.

[Apocalyptic Wasteland Simulator is binding...]

[Binding host]

[Host: Chen Pingchuan]

[Age: 19]

[Occupation: Laborer]

[Simulation Attempts: 10]

[Simulation Points: 100]

[Introduction: Apocalyptic Wasteland Simulator. Using the current host’s state as the timeline starting point, it selects a period of your life trajectory and runs a text-based simulation. When the simulation ends the host can choose to inherit some of the rewards from the simulated results.]

[Simulation Attempt Refresh Time: One month]

[How to obtain simulation points: Unknown]

At first, Chen Pingchuan was numb. He even suspected that the ”reward” he gave himself last night had been a bit too generous, causing this kind of hallucination.

After he repeatedly checked,

It was real!

”Let’s see who still dares to say I don’t deserve to be a transmigrator. I call this biding my time for a shocking comeback.”

Looking back, Chen Pingchuan just felt a wave of bitterness in his heart.

He’d already been living in this parallel world for three years, and it was an utterly lousy experience.

Back in his previous life, at least Chen Pingchuan had been a white-collar office worker pulling a 9-9-6 schedule in a big city,

The work was tough, sure, but there was always a glimmer of hope.

However, this world was nothing like his previous one.

From Great Ming onward, the timeline went through a total upheaval. Back in what should’ve been an ancient era with zero tech,

They somehow achieved an insane world unification.

The history that followed made Chen Pingchuan’s jaw drop even more.

When he crossed over to this world, the rules and social classes were already frozen in place. Starting out as an orphaned transmigrator, he wasn’t given a shred of room to grow.

The more he remembered, the more bitter it felt inside.

Chen Pingchuan decided to carefully study his cheat.

His gaze followed the pupil’s cursor to the right side of the virtual panel.

[Enter simulation?]

[Yes][No]

Chen Pingchuan tried to tap the glowing panel with his hand, but ended up poking thin air. After a few fruitless attempts,

he focused his mind on the ”Yes” option, lips moving softly,

”Enter simulation—yes!”

[Simulation Points spent this time: 10]

[Remaining Simulations: 9]

[Simulation starting]

[Random Talent Drawing... This draw’s talent cost: 0]

[Ding! Congratulations, you’ve acquired a Green Talent, Strength Doubled!]

[Strength Doubled]: Green Talent. This talent has different effects on different people. The strong get stronger. The weak? Business as usual!

Looking at the words on the glowing screen, Chen Pingchuan felt like the entire world had changed.

He, Chen Pingchuan, would be the man who becomes a god!

Images flashed through his mind one after another. Chen Pingchuan wiped away the nonexistent drool at the corner of his mouth and kept reading.

[You’re thrilled to have awakened your cheat, and you believe from today on, you are a god.]

[All morning long, you bask in joy—even treat yourself to two bowls of tofu pudding, which you’d never splurge on before.]

[Originally you planned to eat one bowl and pour out the other, just to experience the high life, but finally still chose to be frugal, and polished off both bowls—all gone, two different flavors.]

[After wandering the streets all morning, you fail to find a job suited to your newfound talent.]

[Feeling broke, you’re left with no choice but to return to your old line of work.]

Reading this far, Chen Pingchuan was dumbfounded.

All that talk about ”I decide my fate, not the heavens,” about turning my life around—and I’m still just doing hard labor?

If this body wasn’t at least half-decent, with his previous one he’d probably have starved to death on the street.

Feeling a bit indignant, Chen Pingchuan kept reading.

[Face to face with reality, you skip lunch and hurry to the labor market looking for opportunities.]

[This time, your talent pays off. Thanks to your superhuman strength, you beat out all rivals, elbow into the crowd, and land a moving job.]

[The client is a mature, sophisticated lady, which fills you with boundless strength.]

[After an afternoon of work, you single-handedly complete a job that would normally take two movers.]

[During payment settlement, she doesn’t pay you in Federation Coins—instead, she laments cash flow and compliments your physique.]

[Bewitched by her words, you agree to let her play a song for you instead of payment.]

[Staring at her alluring figure and pretty face, you resign yourself to working for free today.]

[Five minutes later, you walk out of the apartment building with your head down.]

Checked the time—no mistake, it was five minutes.

Chen Pingchuan just felt his scalp go numb. He was only 19—how did it come to this?

Barely containing his shock, he continued the simulation.

[Walking down the avenue, you sigh, feeling as if she’d sucked your essence dry. You’re utterly drained.]

[The upstairs scene replays in your mind. When she took out the bamboo flute, you were dumbstruck.]

[Though her performance would move gods and spirits, you, considering her fair and flawless skin, still praised her anyway.]

[Big Sis’s eyes lit up. She gave you a thorough look and urged you to visit more in the future, promising she’d play even better next time!]

[You happily agreed, forcing a smile as you left her apartment.]

[Your mood took a nosedive. Back at your rental, you just scarfed down two buns and half a pack of pickled vegetables before falling fast asleep.]

[In the days that followed, unwilling to settle for mediocrity, you kept on trying.]

[You spent all your money.]

[Beaten down by life, you stopped daydreaming and continued with your old job.]

[With your extraordinary talent, six months later you’d saved up a bit, fully able to enjoy three meals a day.]

[Another bit of good news: six months of diligent music-listening not only let you learn her name—Xia Qingxue—but also gave you a thorough grasp of her personality and preferences.]

[Relying on memories from your past life, you dropped iconic lines one after another.]

[Xia Qingxue was dazzled by your wit and began to get curious about you.]

[In your free time, you and Xia Qingxue roamed every corner of the outer city, watched sunsets, and shared the flavors of life. Xia Qingxue was captivated by your charm.]

[You and Xia Qingxue finally fumbled your way through your first intimate moment. The bloodstain on the sheets left you a bit dazed.]

[The two of you grew more practiced with each other—and your ”performance” skills leveled up, too.]

Chen Pingchuan changed into a comfy position lying on his bed. He could already picture a happy life for decades to come.

Not exactly how he imagined it, but not bad at all.

However—

[You moved your stuff into her place and started working even harder as a brick-moving laborer.]

[That’s right—your job shifted from general laborer to brick mover, all because brickwork paid per piece. Every day’s wages went straight to Xia Qingxue for safekeeping.]

[You thought life would go on like this forever. But three months later, Xia Qingxue disappeared.]

[She left you a small vial of unknown liquid and a slip of paper with just two lines written on it.]

[Avoid the Red Rain!]

[Forget me!]