After exiting the game, Zhou Ming stretched lazily and opened the Game Panel.
Mission Map: "Zhang Ergou's Counterattack Life" Game Character: Zhang Ergou Game Status: Ended Assets: 710 (You owned 80 mu of paddy fields, 160 mu of poor land, five brick houses, sixteen workshops, and various treasures of gold and silver.) Status: 48 (Your assets, family, and reputation had brought you lofty status.) Reputation: 560 (Your name was known far and wide; you were a famous philanthropist.) Partners: 4 (You had a perfect marriage, as well as three lovers who accompanied you for life. +250 Achievement Points) Descendants: 152 (Congratulations. You had left behind an enormous bloodline, and your family would continue to thrive for generations.) Lifespan: 67 (Your lifespan exceeded that of 99% of the villagers. You were a rare long-lived person.) Achievements Earned: 3587 Game Rating: SSS (Your life was like the blazing sun in the sky, radiating boundless light and forever shining upon the world.) Highest Achievement: 3587 (Lord's Dispute could be unlocked.) Total Achievement Points: 3920
"Yes!" Zhou Ming threw a fierce punch and sprang excitedly off the bed.
He had been playing the beginner map, "Zhang Ergou's Counterattack Life," for nearly a month. Today, he had finally cleared it perfectly!
The highest 3S game rating had finally swept away all the pent-up frustration in his chest. After wiping out the entire Li family in the later stages of the game, he had felt even more exhilarated. In tiny Niu Family Village, he had been the sky above their heads and the earth beneath their feet. No one could deal with him, and no one could stop him.
This round, he had been the complete winner!
"Congratulations to the host for receiving the highest rating. It seems the host has already found some secrets to success. Congratulations, congratulations," the system's voice rang in his mind.
"Yeah. After playing so many rounds, I've paid all the tuition I needed to pay. Even an idiot should have figured out a few tricks by now, right?"
Zhou Ming laughed self-mockingly. After playing "Zhang Ergou's Counterattack Life" eight or nine times, he had practically memorized what would happen to every villager in little Niu Family Village. Every villager was almost transparent to him. With such an absolute god's-eye view of the game, how could he possibly fail to get a high rating?
Yet it had taken him eight or nine rounds to earn that 3S rating. His efficiency was appallingly low.
If it had been someone else, even if they were sent back ten years—a completely ordinary person whose life was full of setbacks, regrets, and failures—they would seemingly activate some kind of cheat immediately, crushing everything in their path and rising against the odds at lightning speed, shocking the entire world.
But in The Sims, Zhou Ming had been reborn eight or nine times. The total time he had spent in the game added up to more than three or four hundred years, yet his growth had been so slow. Only recently had he broken through that ceiling.
By comparison, his speed could only be described as utter trash.
Zhou Ming gave a bitter smile. Maybe I really am a little dumber than other people.
"Host, your thinking is very mistaken. As a life-experience game developed by a higher-dimensional civilization, The Sims fully considered social and humanistic rationality during its design. Every decision made by a player corresponds to probability events of varying magnitudes. In some circumstances, even if the player makes the wisest and most correct decision, if an unpredictable low-probability event occurs, the final outcome may still be different. Sometimes, luck is also an important factor in obtaining a high game rating."
Seeing Zhou Ming somewhat dejected, the system explained.
"You mean the butterfly effect and the story of the king's horseshoe?"
(The butterfly effect refers to a butterfly in the primitive forests of South America flapping its wings and causing a hurricane on the eastern coast of the Pacific. The king's horseshoe refers to a war that broke out in a certain country, where the king's horse lost a horseshoe, stumbled, lost a crucial battle, and ultimately lost the entire country.)
"Yes, Host's description is very fitting," the system praised.
"If that's the case, then this game isn't as fun as I imagined, is it? What if some low-probability event suddenly happens while I'm playing? Like Zhou Shizu, who died young, Huo Qubing, whose talent was envied by heaven, or Alexander the Great, who built a vast empire—they were all famously short-lived... If something like that happened when things were going so well, then all that hard work would be wasted."
Zhou Ming spoke with some concern. After all, he had played "Zhang Ergou's Counterattack Life" eight or nine times, and in four of those rounds, he had died from various murders or accidents. Besides, living through the days one by one in this game was difficult. Even though twenty years in the game only equaled one day in the outside world, the problem was that the game was far too realistic. If he really had to keep enduring life from infancy to old age and death, repeating such a long process several times would drive any normal person insane.
"Host, characters automatically matched by the system can generally live past the age of thirty. If the game ends prematurely due to various unexpected circumstances, the host may choose to purchase a Character Card from the system store and select a character more likely to survive."
Seeing Zhou Ming's concern, the system explained.
"Character Cards? Those things are way too expensive. I can't even afford the cheapest one, Son of Landlord's Butler. Where would I get that many Achievement Points?"
Zhou Ming shook his head and complained. The game was fun, sure, but it was such a rip-off. Everything cost a fortune.
"Please accumulate them slowly," the system said flatly.
Damn it, that was the same as saying nothing.
Knock, knock, knock!
At that moment, someone knocked on the door.
"Zhou Ming! Zhou Ming, are you home? This month's rent is due. If you're there, hurry up and open the door," said the voice of a middle-aged woman from outside.
"The landlord?" Zhou Ming's expression changed. The landlord had come to collect the rent.
"I'm here, I'm here!"
Opening the door, Zhou Ming let in the landlord, who was so fat she nearly squeezed through the doorframe, greeting her with a smile.
Taking out a rental contract from her bag, the landlord pointed at the words on it with a finger as thick as a carrot. "Rent is paid every three months. It's five hundred a month, so that's fifteen hundred. Add the past few months' water and electricity bills, another one hundred and fifty, and the total is sixteen hundred and fifty. Zhou Ming, are you transferring it or paying cash?"
The landlord glared at Zhou Ming with an unfriendly expression, as though she would immediately throw him out of the rental if he did not pay.
"I'll pay, I'll pay! I'll pay right away!" Zhou Ming gave a bitter smile and quickly grabbed his phone. "Wait a moment. I'll transfer it to you through Bao Payment."
Fifteen minutes later, the landlord waddled out the door with satisfaction, her buttocks swaying like a kayak. Zhou Ming was left standing there with an empty wallet in hand, counting the few small bills inside with a bitter smile.
"Now I'm truly at the end of my rope. If I don't find some work soon, I'll probably starve to death in a few days."
Zhou Ming had only just emerged from the excitement of receiving a perfect 3S rating in "Zhang Ergou's Counterattack Life," but now he had once again fallen into gloomy worry.
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