[System: Congratulations to the player for clearing the multiplayer game “Find Your Floor”. The rewards for this instance have been automatically added to your inventory.]
[System: Friendly Reminder — Since this game was not officially released by System User 009-000, the player will not receive any subsequent game revenue.]
Xu Dengming leaned back in her seat, crossed her legs, and casually glanced at the newly refreshed notifications.
She marveled at the system’s efficiency before opening her inventory.
This time, all she received was a colorless crystal stone — no additional items.
Her current crystal balance was 86 stones, with 50 from the previous game, six from small accumulations over the past few days, and 30 earned from the latest instance.
A single draw from the golden card pool required ten stones.
Xu Dengming was just thinking that one more game would get her enough for a ten-draw, when another notification popped up:
[System: First ten-draw comes with a 20% discount.]
With the discount, a ten-draw would only cost 80 stones.
Xu Dengming felt the system was deliberately tempting her — and she had evidence.
Concluding her thoughts, she decisively closed the panel, leaned back in her seat, and rested her eyes.
After all, even if she had enough stones, a public bus was hardly an appropriate place for a lucky draw.
***
Once at her stop, Xu Dengming picked up the items she had bought with the help of a white t-shirt-clad assistant and headed back to Sunflower Apartments.
Before going home, she made a quick detour to Wang Yanxing’s place to deliver the snacks she had been asked to bring.
Wang Yanxing took the bag with evident joy.
While most residents of Triangle Banyan City held a negative view of nutrient packs, lowering their standards in times of financial strain, Wang Yanxing belonged to the rare breed who would rather starve than compromise by consuming artificial supplements.
“You’re back pretty late today,” Wang Yanxing remarked casually.
Xu Dengming sighed.
“I took a little detour on the way to buy things.”
“What kind of detour?”
Wang Yanxing asked, puzzled.
“A philosophical one,” Xu Dengming replied.
Wang Yanxing took a deep breath.
Having known Xu Dengming for years, she often felt like her friend was a promising philosophy major who had somehow gone astray.
“By the way,” Wang Yanxing changed the subject, “I saw a message in the group chat. The school is holding another job fair in a couple of days. I’m planning to go. You should think about it too.”
Xu Dengming raised her brows.
“Didn’t you once say that companies coming to school job fairs are only interested in exploiting students for as little pay as possible, that every interview just reinforces our identity as cheap labor, and that you’d rather let your resume rot in a relief center than attend one?”
Wang Yanxing looked bewildered.
“I… I don’t remember saying it like that.”
“I simplified it for you,” Xu Dengming said with a slight smile.
“You also added a personal touch,” Wang Yanxing grumbled.
“My family’s been pressuring me a lot lately. I’m desperate enough to try anything.”
“Fair enough,” Xu Dengming nodded.
“I’ll go with you. Which company is it?”
“…I forgot to check.”
Xu Dengming chuckled.
“We can find out when we get there.”
***
Back in Room 403, Xu Dengming put away her purchases, washed her hands thoroughly, and settled on the sofa.
This time, she reopened her system panel and headed straight for the draw pool.
Without hesitation, she initiated a ten-draw.
Soon, her inventory displayed the results:
[System: Congratulations! You have obtained Skill Enhancement Experience Pack (Basic) × 5.]
[System: Congratulations! You have obtained Healing Agent (Basic) × 3.]
[System: Congratulations! You have obtained Shiny Eye Drops × 1.]
[System: Congratulations! User 009-000 has obtained the permanent skill “Fate’s Box (v.1)”.]
*Note: The skill cannot be activated due to the insufficient level of the prerequisite skill *“Eye of Observation”.]
Xu Dengming analyzed the results.
It was evident that the most common items were experience packs, followed by healing agents.
The system seemed to have clear expectations — survive, level up, and keep surviving.
Feeling the subtle pressure from the system, Xu Dengming shifted her focus to the two rarer rewards.
The Shiny Eye Drops were described as a fatigue-relieving item.
Her Eye of Observation often caused discomfort when used, and the drops could both extend her usage time and reset the cooldown.
As for Fate’s Box, the restriction was clear.
Without hesitation, she used the experience packs to level up her Eye of Observation.
One pack raised it to Level 2, two more brought it to Level 3, and a system prompt soon appeared:
[System: The conditions for activating Fate’s Box have been met.]
Xu Dengming finally grasped the connection between the two skills.
With the enhanced Eye of Observation, her perception of fate had grown stronger.
Looking at herself, she could now see three faint, mist-like lines extending from her body — the traces of fate.
The past shaped the present, and the present hinted at the future.
Misfortune and fortune coexisted in all lives.
Curious to test her new abilities, Xu Dengming decided to observe something close at hand.
She captured a few ants that resided along the walls and floors of Room 403.
Activating Eye of Observation alone wasn’t enough to see the ants’ fates.
Only by concentrating her attention on them did the lines of fate become visible.
However, the skill had its limits.
Creatures smaller than ants, as well as inanimate objects like plants and stones, held no discernible fate.
For now, understanding fate — even at the scale of an ant — would be her starting point.
After preliminary experiments and exploration, Xu Dengming had gained a basic understanding of her abilities.
Like humans, ants carried three lines of fate.
One shone brightly, symbolizing good fortune.
Another appeared dark and dull, representing misfortune.
The third line of fate remained faint and elusive, indicating an impending event that would significantly impact its owner.
For example, when Xu Dengming narrowly avoided a speeding car at an intersection, this third line of fate took on a dreadful hue, resembling the depths of the ocean, exuding a chilling aura of impending death.
As for the [Box of Fate], Xu Dengming had upgraded it to Level 2 using an experience pack.
This skill allowed her to temporarily store fate, but only the third line of fate could be stored.
Additionally, the storage time was limited to a maximum of fifteen seconds, and she could not store the fate of more than two targets simultaneously.
From her ant experiments, Xu Dengming concluded that for incidents of misfortune — such as an ant being about to be crushed by a falling stone — if she transferred the ant’s fate of death to the [Box of Fate], the stone would shift its trajectory, allowing the ant to survive.
Once stored, the deadly misfortune would transform into ordinary luck.
However, for predetermined deaths, like the natural end of life, even if Xu Dengming took away the fate of an ant about to die from exhaustion, the moment she returned the fate, the ant’s death would still arrive.
At most, she could delay the inevitable by fifteen seconds.
She could also choose to manipulate fate in other ways.
For instance, instead of removing the fate of death, she could take away the “climbing the slope” aspect of the ant’s fate.
The ant would then die on the spot, no longer progressing forward.
Her control over fate depended on the clarity of her observation, her current environment, and the characteristics of the target.
Xu Dengming mused that her skill would be particularly useful in those dramatic moments in fiction where crucial information is always left unsaid before a character’s death.
Next, she categorized fate based on its resistance to manipulation.
Natural life processes like birth, aging, illness, and death were highly resistant to change.
However, accidental events were far easier to manipulate.
She could not alter the former, but she could smooth out the latter.
The experiments consumed a significant amount of her time and energy.
Observing fate brought a stabbing pain to her temples.
She thought she had merely closed her eyes for a short rest on the sofa, but when she opened them again, the night had already fallen.
The room remained unlit.
Xu Dengming sat in the darkness.
She reached for her phone and glanced at the screen.
Its glow illuminated her face.
Reflexively, she looked toward the kitchen’s glass door and saw her reflection — a ghostly, floating head of light.
It was now 5:15 AM, that awkward hour when neither rising immediately nor returning to sleep felt quite right.
Xu Dengming sat up, stretching her stiff neck.
Despite a full night’s rest, the fatigue from the previous day lingered.
Using her skill drained considerable energy.
Right now, she could probably use the [Box of Fate] three times before her thoughts grew sluggish.
A fourth use would push her into a mental fog, forcing her to endure the crushing weight of exhaustion.
She suspected this limitation was linked to her mental state.
***
Dujun Street, Special Affairs Bureau.
The bureau was one of the oldest buildings in Sanjia Rong City, with a nostalgic architectural style.
Besides the above-ground structures, it also contained an extensive underground section, reportedly built to withstand acid rain.
A woman in a white T-shirt, now without the “Management Bureau” identification badge, entered the elevator.
After a fingerprint scan, the elevator descended to the thirteenth basement level.
The doors slid open.
The woman removed a jade pendant from her neck, its design possessing a fantastical, modernist style.
Immediately, her facial features shifted as if her skin, bones, and flesh melted and reformed.
Soon, the sharp features of the woman in the white T-shirt disappeared, revealing a face that Xu Dengming found somewhat familiar.
It resembled Ji Zizai from Find Your Floor, though this version of Ji Zizai appeared older and more mature.
A young man in a uniform stood waiting at the elevator doors.
His expression relaxed slightly upon seeing her, and he bowed slightly.”Minister Ji.”
Ji Zizai nodded.
“Secretary Fu.”
Fu Shouzhong, once from Core City, had followed Ji Zizai to Sanjia Rong City.
He now serves in the Secretariat Department.
“Group Leader Zhao hadn’t received your…”
Ji Zizai interrupted, “I just went out of the city. No need for a fuss. I walked back myself.”
Fu Shouzhong’s expression grew disapproving, but he simply said, “But your health… Shall I summon the medical department for a checkup?”
Ji Zizai shook her head.
“No rush. First, bring me the important reports from this period.”
Tftc!