I'm Done Being Human!

The morning sun streamed in as Yuan Zhu woke up in his bed, having slept soundly through the night, an experience he hadn't had in ages. His sleep quality was off the charts, leaving him feeling energized and refreshed. He couldn't help but exclaim, "What a vibrant young body!"

"What time is it?"

The Little Elf chimed in, "9:30 AM, Monday. Your brother has already left for school."

Yuan Zhu suddenly realized something, "As my butler, shouldn't you have woken me up earlier?"

The Little Elf retorted, "Why would I do something so unnecessary? As a part of your soul, I also have the right to enjoy sleeping in. That feeling of a full night's sleep is just too good."

Yuan Zhu, somewhat convinced, nodded in agreement, but something still felt off.

"Wait, that's not right! It's Monday, and I have to go to work at the steam factory. Why didn't you remind me?"

The spirit of a wage slave, deeply ingrained in his bones, finally kicked in. Yuan Zhu realized what was wrong. The blood of a workaholic coursed through his veins, urging him to create value! The Little Elf countered, "Calm down, don't let the urge to work consume you. Think rationally. After inheriting the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture, do you really want to continue living the life of an overworked dog?"

Yuan Zhu carefully considered his situation and shook his head. "The previous owner of this body had ambitions too. He worked like a madman at the factory, not just for the 1.5x salary. Earning more was only a small part of it. His main goal was to understand the factory's operations, the technical challenges of production, the operation and maintenance of the steam engine production line, the management and scheduling of the workshop, and even took over the accounting for free, all to understand the sales channels and material procurement channels..."

Yuan Zhu continued to sift through his memories, and then his eyes lit up. "So, I was actually so ambitious, wanting to replace the boss. After figuring everything out, I would find an opportunity to hire someone to get rid of the old factory director, bring the factory to the brink of collapse, then step forward to save the day, gradually eroding the shares until I monopolized the entire factory and became the big boss! He really was ambitious and had ideas."

Having inherited the memories and body of his predecessor, Yuan Zhu now deeply appreciated his dreams and actions. He also had a deeper understanding of his own workaholic behavior.

So, I'm not a scab, but rather a juvenile capitalist who deserves to be hanged! Hiding among the workers, silently accumulating nutrients, waiting for a monstrous transformation to emerge from the cocoon.

Although, in Yuan Zhu's current view, acquiring an outdated old steam factory (lamp factory) wasn't very promising. But for a native of the lower class, to not only dare to make such grand aspirations (ambitions) but also put them into action, having already overcome several difficulties, truly made him admire himself! The Little Elf also browsed through the predecessor's memories and sighed, "The only disadvantage was the lack of vision. Even if you managed to take over this outdated factory, you wouldn't become one of the elite. At most, you'd live a moderately wealthy life and still bear the enormous pressure of product sales. But according to the predecessor's personality, after achieving this goal, he would definitely continue to work hard, using real business warfare to expand capital until the day of backlash."

Yuan Zhu deeply agreed. Even if he hadn't been caught up in the sacrificial ritual, with his predecessor's 'ambition' combined with his 'death-seeking behavior', he probably wouldn't have lived past 30.

Little Elf: "So, are you still planning to go to work at the factory now?"

Yuan Zhu thought seriously, then shook his head. "I'm not going. The work at the lamp factory is too tiring and hard, and I don't want to be a small factory director, trapping my infinite life in selling lamps. But the wages for the past half month must be recovered. Fortunately, the predecessor was well-prepared and secretly collected evidence of the factory's tax evasion. Originally intended for a betrayal, now it can be used to legally claim wages."

He got up, washed, and changed into his own clothes. The style was old and the material was ordinary, but it fit well, making him feel comfortable and pleasing to the eye.

Admiring himself in the mirror, looking at those wine-red eyes, Yuan Zhu gave himself an 8 out of 10. The remaining 2 points were reserved for future development.

After eating the breakfast his brother had left for him, he pulled out the medical card from under his pillow and decided to go to the City Second Hospital first. He wanted to experience what the 'Holy Light Exorcism Department' and the 'Holy Light' of this world were like. Exorcise demons if sick, strengthen the body if not.

After putting away his wallet, Yuan Zhu closed the door and headed for the nearest bus stop. Although Run Ning was known as a 2.5-tier city, its transportation facilities were always able to receive the leftovers from Tai Xi.

As a metropolis that ranked among the top in the world, the vehicles that Tai Xi eliminated every year were enough for Run Ning to feast on. Not to mention the widespread use of buses, there were even five subway lines, all converted from old underground mines, which was a natural advantage.

As a price, Run Ning had a nightmarishly complex and dangerous underground ecosystem. His first major mission after joining the Fire Fang was to wear a gas mask and frantically release poison in the subway tunnels. Using poisonous smoke to kill and drive away rampant Goblins, Great Horned Rats, crocodiles... and other dangerous creatures.

Every time local citizens waited for the subway, the front of the arriving train was covered with dense, fresh, and tragic collision marks of blood.

After spending 5 cents to buy a ticket, Yuan Zhu found an empty seat and stared blankly at the scenery outside the window. Streams of black smoke billowed from the factory chimneys, gradually dissipating and merging with the gray-white mist in the sky above the city.

His thoughts also drifted away.

He didn't plan to continue working at the steam factory. The job was not only hard but also took up a lot of his time, and the little bit of money he earned wasn't enough to motivate him.

As for the ambition to usurp the factory director's throne, and even go further to become a big boss, Yuan Zhu no longer cared about it. He possessed the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture, starting far ahead of many natives. Becoming a transcendent, doing evil (crossed out), doing whatever he wanted was the new dream.

The immediate priority was to familiarize himself with his powers, understand the Du Ling's transcendent system, and find an opportunity to integrate into it, so that their styles would remain consistent.

On the other hand, the Fire Fang's scavenger work could still be continued. This company had special channels, allowing him to come into contact with official organizations, the righteous faction, illegal transcendents in the gray area, and the heretical ways of the underground circle.

This was a way to contact and even learn transcendent knowledge.

He had also been taken to the Security Bureau for investigation due to his involvement in the sacrificial ritual. If he returned to Fire Fang again, he would likely be assigned some secret work that he hadn't been exposed to in the past.

Therefore, this job needed to be retained, and even considered for a full-time position.

Finally, he also had a part-time job in underground black boxing.

Yuan Zhu couldn't help but sigh, his predecessor was really a workaholic, holding multiple jobs at a young age, not only paying off his brother's tuition but also having a regular savings of five thousand yuan in the Tai Xi Bank.

Five thousand! That was the savings that an ordinary family could accumulate after five years of hard work. He only managed to scrape together a thousand yuan in cash from looting corpses at the sacrificial site. This dog thief was really too good at working!

Three thousand of the five thousand savings were earned by his predecessor through underground boxing matches.

Yuan Zhu participated in black boxing not only to earn the appearance fee but also to deliberately hone his own fighting skills.

He debuted underground at the age of 17 and had been fighting for 14 months, completing more than 50 matches. His record was 17 wins, 22 draws, and 13 losses. In the Old District's underground boxing scene, he was considered a minor celebrity, known for his steady style and emphasis on interpersonal relationships.

In order to earn money, Yuan Zhu frequently participated in matches to show his face, but he didn't have many enthusiastic fans. Half a year ago, he successfully evolved into a 'combat power measurement unit' due to his frequent appearances, used to raise the value of newcomers or strong fighters.

The predecessor was a boxer with solid technique, a steady style, and no aggression. He never risked a knockout, focusing on defense throughout, aiming for a points victory. In every match, he would drag it out to the last round, with the goal of honing his skills and gaining experience.

This turtle-style fighting was hard to get the audience excited about, but it was undeniable that in the Old District, he was a rare breed with the most standardized technique and considerable strength.

Gradually, he became a measuring tool, a gatekeeper, for assessing the strength of other boxers. No one liked to watch him fight, but they all liked to watch people beat him, as it reflected the opponent's true level.

Defeating him was a symbol of strength, which would increase viewership, raise the stakes for betting, and make the boss happy. Being defeated by him meant you were considered to have limited strength, labeled as a weakling. And opponents who drew with him were considered potential types, worth digging into.

Yuan Zhu relied on this 'steady gatekeeper' persona to start taking fake fight orders privately, putting on a thoroughly enjoyable fixed match, sending his opponent to the top of the strongman list. Or he would fight to a difficult draw, allowing newcomers to quickly rise to prominence and become newly emerging potential talents.

Underground black boxing, after all, had no fairness or justice to speak of. Relying on his 'combat power unit' persona, he easily made money and didn't suffer too many serious injuries, living a good life. He even started moonlighting as a coach, creating 'fake match scripts' for his opponents.

After reading through these memories, Yuan Zhu couldn't help but sigh at how his predecessor had abandoned all shame in order to make money. At a young age, he had summed up a set of traffic-generating tactics, charging high prices to create 'ascension packages' for newcomers, using himself as a stepping stone to highlight the strength of newcomers or veterans, without a shred of martial artist dignity.

The owner of the underground boxing gym also admired Yuan Zhu's shamelessness. He even intended to win him over, organizing larger-scale, more systematic fake match arrangements, even with the intention of developing in the direction of a WWE-style hot-blooded script.

Because Yuan Zhu, who had been evolving for more than a year, gradually shed the turtle title. His recent fake match scripts have been particularly 'intense', very capable of stirring the emotions of the audience.

Yuan Zhu had some talent in making money! Now it seems that the black boxing boss had an eye for talent and was a thoughtful person, already undertaking some marginalized formal competitions.

Unfortunately, Yuan Zhu had no intention of becoming a 'performing fake boxing fighter'; his greater dream was to usurp the Steam Factory, and fighting black fake boxing was just an evil way to earn extra money.

"I can't bear to look!"

After reading the predecessor's history of struggle (shameless money-making history) over the years, Yuan Zhu felt that his Earth life had all been lived in vain. No wonder the Little Elf believed that if he didn't absorb the predecessor's soul essence and cause a shift in personality, he simply wouldn't be able to survive in Du Ling.

Such a dog-like, upwardly mobile young man is still struggling at the bottom. If he wants to achieve something in this class-ossified backward era, he can't be human, he can only be more dog-like! Unconsciously, the steam bus had already entered the central area of the city, and it was still a two-station walk to City Second Hospital. So he decisively got off the bus and joined the crowd...

Monthly tickets, recommendations, collections, comments... whatever you have, I'll take it all.