Ceiling Dilemma

Seeing the familiar grayish-white walls of the rental apartment and feeling the intense hunger in his stomach, Zhou Ming hurriedly took several packs of crispy noodles from the wardrobe and wolfed them down with cold water.

The game-time flow of the "The Sims" system was not the same as the flow of time in the outside world. Since players could not quit midway through a game, twenty years spent in-game was equivalent to one day passing outside.

Fortunately, the system could place the host body into hibernation. During hibernation, the player's physiological consumption would drop to its lowest level. Generally speaking, as long as a player did not spend more than a hundred years in the game at once, two or three days of gameplay would only leave them feeling a little thirsty and hungry under the host body's hibernation function.

If a player truly defied the heavens and exceeded the maximum limit of the body's hibernation function, the system would forcibly terminate the game and pull the player back into reality to ensure the host body's health.

After finishing three packs of crispy noodles, Zhou Ming sat at the edge of the bed and pondered his next move while staring at the system panel in his mind.

Honestly, Zhou Ming felt that of the three games he had played so far, aside from the tragic first two rounds, the third had gone rather well. The couple had loved each other, children and grandchildren had filled the house, and he had died of old age. There had been some setbacks along the way, and he had worked tirelessly year-round without a moment's rest, but he had still been quite satisfied with the ending.

That was probably an ending most ordinary people could accept.

However, looking at the C-grade game evaluation and the total harvest of 246 Achievement Points, Zhou Ming knew that if he was content to be an ordinary person in the game and lived out his life honestly and dutifully, he would at most earn just over three hundred Achievement Points. There was no room for any major improvement.

Not to mention any kind of counterattack.

What was a counterattack? Aside from living long enough, it meant owning more wealth, gaining lofty status and prestige, and marrying the woman one most wanted to marry!

If he could not accomplish even one of those things, then this so-called counterattack would be nothing but fishing for the moon in the water or clouds floating in the sky.

After thinking for a while, Zhou Ming opened the skill section of the system shop and fixed his gaze on three skills.

"Elementary Farming Skill: Upon use, gain the farming techniques of a skilled farmer. Crop yield +5%. Exchange requirement: 100 Achievement Points."

"Elementary Blacksmithing Skill: Upon use, gain the smithing techniques of a skilled blacksmith. Smithing speed +5%. Exchange requirement: 100 Achievement Points."

"Elementary Carpentry Skill: Upon use, gain the carpentry techniques of a skilled carpenter. Toolmaking speed +5%. Exchange requirement: 100 Achievement Points."

These three skill cards could be said to be the cheapest items in the entire system shop.

And Zhou Ming's current Achievement Points balance was exactly 303, just over the three-hundred mark.

"Elementary Farming Skill purchased successfully. Achievement Points -100. Once bound to the corresponding mission map and used, it cannot be unbound or reclaimed!"

"Elementary Blacksmithing Skill purchased successfully. Achievement Points -100..."

"Elementary Carpentry Skill purchased successfully. Achievement Points -100..."

After purchasing all three skill cards, Zhou Ming's confidence increased greatly.

Over the previous three games, Zhou Ming had survived for more than eighty years in total. He knew farming, smithing, carpentry, fishing, hunting, and even more besides. Farming in particular was something he could do better than an ordinary skilled farmer... But aside from farming, he could hardly be considered proficient in smithing or carpentry. After all, he had never apprenticed under a professional blacksmith or carpenter in the game, and one could not master those handicrafts merely by imagining how they worked.

In the era of ancient agricultural civilization, craftsmen such as blacksmiths and carpenters could absolutely be considered "middle class." Relying solely on the refined skills in their hands, they could support an entire family.

If he also knew blacksmithing and carpentry, then combined with farming, his strong suit, supporting his family would not be a problem. He would surely be able to accumulate quite a bit of wealth as well!

With ample family wealth, he could support more descendants. With enough hands, he could reclaim more wasteland. Once that snowball effect took shape, obtaining a large number of Achievement Points would be no problem at all!

He entered the game again!

Ten days later, in the real world.

Zhou Ming opened his eyes and sat up from the single bed.

He opened the Game Panel.

Mission Map: "Zhang Ergou's Counterattack Life"

Game Character: Zhang Ergou

Game Status: Ended

Wealth: 82 (You own 5 mu of paddy fields, 40 mu of poor land, two large bamboo-and-wood houses, and some gold and silver assets.)

Status: 3 (Your wealth has brought you a little status.)

Prestige: 16 (You are rather well-known; your stories are being spread throughout the surrounding villages.)

Partner: 1 (You had a wonderful marriage and stayed with her until the end. +50 Achievement Points.)

Descendants: 26 (Congratulations, you have left behind a considerable bloodline. Your family will prosper for generations.)

Lifespan: 58 (Your lifespan exceeded that of 88% of the villagers. You were one of the rare long-lived people.)

Achievement Points Earned: 496

Game Evaluation: B (Your life was like the stars in the sky. Though their light was dim, they still shone upon the world for a long time.)

Highest Achievement: 496 (Reach 500 Achievement Points to unlock the next stage.)

"I've played five rounds in a row already. How am I still a few lousy points short of 500?"

Zhou Ming frowned deeply. Over the past ten-odd days, he had played five games in succession. He had not expected that even his best run would still fall just short of 500 Achievement Points.

Of those five games, one had ended with him dying young from a serious childhood illness, while another had ended with him being burned to death after the villagers invited the Shaman Woman to cast a spell because he had performed too monstrously well. The other three had basically proceeded steadily to the end, each earning more than three hundred Achievement Points.

Yet 500 Achievement Points remained like an invisible ceiling that he could never break through.

"That can't be right. In these games, I earned plenty of wealth and had no shortage of descendants through farming, smithing, and carpentry. I changed wives three or four times, never lacked food or clothing, and later even learned how to maintain my health, so I lived longer than before. Why?"

Zhou Ming was somewhat lost. In the game, he had constantly worked himself to the bone making money, reclaiming land, building houses, having children, then making more money, reclaiming land, buying fields, building houses, having children... There had barely been a pause in between. Yet all that effort had only earned him a B-grade evaluation in the end.

"Host, an A-grade evaluation is not particularly difficult to obtain. Please carefully examine your scores across the six categories during the game. Your overall score does not depend on which category scores the highest, but on which category scores the lowest."

Seeing that Zhou Ming seemed to have entered a dead end, the system kindly reminded him.

"The lowest score?"

Zhou Ming looked over the Game Panel. After seeing two somewhat meager numbers, he thought for a moment and said, "Only status and prestige are my lowest scores. Do I need to raise those two scores as well to successfully clear the stage?"

"System, how can I raise my status and prestige in the game?" Zhou Ming asked.

"This system cannot provide a precise method. However, status is composed of factors such as personal ability, resource support, controlled assets, and rights granted by the government..."

"Prestige is divided into positive prestige and negative prestige. Positive prestige includes the good deeds performed by the player and actions with a positive impact. Negative prestige is related to the player's evil deeds and harmful actions..."

"In other words, whether I do good or bad things in the game, as long as I create an impact, I can gain prestige?" Zhou Ming said.

"You may put it that way, Host."

Zhou Ming nodded as if he had gained some insight. After deciding on a plan, he said, "System, this time, I know what to do!"

However, before entering the game, Zhou Ming first spent 1,000 Achievement Points in the system shop to purchase an Elementary Hunting Card.