Didn't Close It ≠ Turned It On; the Inequality One-Shotted It
Sunday, March 1, 2009. Clear.
This small coastal city had unexpectedly escaped this year's cold wave. There had only been a light dusting of snow, and by March, it had almost completely melted.
Outside a two-story red-brick house, lush green ivy swayed in the wind, bringing a hint of spring. The afternoon sunlight was like milk freshly heated in a microwave and brought out, flowing through gaps in the ivy to the window, passing through the glass and falling on the young man. It was warm enough to make him yawn.
"Tch, were there really so few ways to pass the time at this hour?"
The young man clicked his tongue helplessly. The pirated comic book before him flipped a page without any wind, as if an invisible hand were controlling it.
The young man who had just uttered that rather chuuni-sounding line was named Chu Ke. He was eighteen this year, and a genuine transmigrator.
In his previous life, Chu Ke had been a product designer treated worse than livestock. After revising a client's draft for the twentieth time late at night, heaven had finally smiled upon him, allowing him to die suddenly and be released from his sentence.
When he opened his eyes again, he had arrived in this world, and his body had reverted to the age of eighteen.
Penniless, with all the clothes on him worth less than thirty yuan—and not even wearing underwear—Chu Ke had stood helplessly on the streets of 2009.
After feeling around for a while, Chu Ke found a slip of paper with an address written on it and a thumb-sized key in his jacket pocket.
Following the address on the note, Chu Ke inherited a tiny Stationery Store and finally had a place to settle down in this world.
At the same time, he awakened his cheat.
Fundamental Forces—that was what Chu Ke called it.
It was an extremely high-level special existence. Its initial manifestation resembled telekinesis from the superpower movies of his previous life, yet differed from it.
So far, he knew that the Fundamental Forces would not disappear and could affect and identify matter.
This included, but was not limited to, physically deforming and manipulating matter without consuming energy. As Chu Ke used it and time passed, the range and precision of the Fundamental Forces gradually increased as well.
Moreover, Chu Ke's consciousness was carried within the Fundamental Forces. In other words, the Fundamental Forces were Chu Ke's true body. Even if this fleshly body exploded the next second, Chu Ke would still survive.
Then there was the Nixie tube timer in his mind.
Ever since Chu Ke awakened the Fundamental Forces, a Nixie tube-style timer had appeared in his mind. Nixie tubes as long as a middle finger were embedded in a wooden base, while a red round-handled lever extended from the side of the base.
A red number 1 glowed on the Nixie tube. After comparing the results, Chu Ke concluded that it represented the level of his Fundamental Forces.
The lever on the side of the base could be pulled once each day. Every pull doubled the level of the Fundamental Forces.
That was a terrifying rate of growth.
On the first day, Chu Ke's Fundamental Forces could affect one kilogram of matter, and their speed after leaving his body was one meter per second. Just six days later, Chu Ke could already manipulate sixty-four kilograms of matter at a speed of sixty-four meters per second, while his precision had reached the molecular level.
At this absurd rate of growth, even without accounting for Chu Ke increasing the Fundamental Forces through training, it would take only twenty-nine days—less than a month—for their speed outside his body to exceed the speed of light. After one hundred seventy-seven days, the matter they could affect would exceed the total mass of the entire universe.
Question: When an existence knew the following two things—1. It would not die. 2. As long as it lived, it would become invincible—what would it do?
Chu Ke could not answer that question, because he did not know what other people thought.
But if this happened to him, Chu Ke would answer with two words: lie flat.
There was a saying that put it well: Before the Imperial Army came, you bullied me. After the Imperial Army came, you still bullied me. Then didn't the Imperial Army come for fucking nothing?
Likewise, when I didn't have cheats, I had to work hard. Now that I have cheats, I still have to work hard. Then didn't I activate my fucking cheats for nothing?
Chu Ke had never had any grand ambitions. As an orphan in his previous life, his greatest dream had been to earn enough money and live happily. Yet before he could earn enough, he was the one who left first.
In this life, Chu Ke was still alone, with only himself to feed, so he could live even more freely. There would be none of that melodramatic "not strong enough to protect my family" nonsense, either.
To be fair, Chu Ke had even considered that if he got another chance to transmigrate, and was still an orphan in his next life, perhaps he could synthesize into a two-star orphan?
Of course, that was just self-deprecating humor.
For now, Chu Ke was living quite comfortably. This "beginner's gift pack" Stationery Store had two floors. The first floor was open to customers as the storefront, while the second was the living area. It mainly sold stationery and comics. Since the shop was located behind a middle school and was the only Stationery Store for miles around, its income was quite impressive.
Most of the comics were pirated, of course, though there were also a few genuine editions from Taiwan, translated from the original Japanese versions. Their quality was far beyond comparison with pirated copies. Several separate bookshelves stood at the back of the Stationery Store, holding high-end official comics that were generally not open to the public. Chu Ke planned to take the VIP harvesting route, so only customers who had spent enough would receive his formal invitation to buy them.
Chu Ke also wrapped the official comics in small gift boxes. Just holding one made a person seem classy, which catered to the vanity of people that age.
After reading another volume of "X Decline" as a bit of childhood nostalgia, Chu Ke glanced at the clock beside him. Guessing that the nearby middle school should be letting out soon, he stretched and went downstairs to open the shop.
With a casual toss, the comic floated back onto its shelf.
Just as Chu Ke's hand touched the rolling shutter, his vision suddenly blurred.
Before the thing that had appeared out of nowhere could fully reveal itself, the identification function of the Fundamental Forces activated automatically. Only after determining that it was harmless did it release the thing, transmitting the identification result at the same time.
A wild Multiverse Chat Group.
"Huh? What the hell was that?" Chu Ke froze. Although the identification function of the Fundamental Forces came with built-in comprehension, seeing that name still made his brain shrink a little.
Wait, there were more cheats? Whose was this? Should he hand it in at the lost-and-found desk by the security booth?
Mine? No, that couldn't be right. He already had one, didn't he? At that moment, the thing called "A Wild Multiverse Chat Group" slowly unfolded.
A small yet extraordinarily clear screen appeared before Chu Ke. It was the UI interface of a certain penguin app from his memories.
Seeing that, Chu Ke let out a relieved sigh.
Good thing it wasn't a certain messaging app. Otherwise, Chu Ke would have to worry about whether his brain's storage would inexplicably fill up.
"Cough, cough, cough." A familiar notification sound rang out beside Chu Ke.
[I Am the Famous _(Group Owner): Welcome, newcomer.] [Upright Person: Welcome, newcomer.] [Captain: Welcome, newcomer.] [I Want to Eat Hamburger Steak: Welcome, newcomer.] [I Am the Famous _(Group Owner): No, wait!] [Upright Person: Indeed, that's not right!] [I Am the Famous _(Group Owner): Holy shit?! An Outlier-level big shot?!] [I Am the Famous _(Group Owner): Wait a second, from Dragon Blood World? Is it the Dragon Raja I'm thinking of? Since when did that world have a big shot like this?]
Watching the Multiverse Chat Group suddenly flood with messages, Chu Ke cautiously typed a question mark.
[Salted Fish Fun Person: ?]
"..."
What kind of garbage name was that? He'd sue them for slander!
New author, new book, please support it in every way! Onegai, onegai, onegai, onegai!