The Imminent Big Shot

The midday sun in August and September was the hottest time of day in Shanghu City.

Hao Shuai sat blankly on a park bench, placing the bento box in his hands beside him. He unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and drank half of it in one go.

After screwing the cap back on the remaining half bottle, he stared ahead with vacant eyes.

On a nearby bench, a young couple was engrossed in a passionate kiss, completely oblivious to the people around them.

Hao Shuai felt a wave of disgust wash over him. He thought of his recently ended relationship and silently made a wish: "May all lovers in the world be siblings."

The reason for Hao Shuai's rather inhumane wish dated back two hours earlier: he had been on his way to deliver a homemade bento box to his tenth girlfriend, whom he had started dating at the beginning of the year.

His girlfriend had mentioned not wanting to eat takeout, so Hao Shuai had taken advantage of a business trip to return to his rented apartment and make her a special lunch.

As he neared his girlfriend's company building, he saw her from a distance, her arm around her boss's waist, walking out of the building with a blissful expression. She then got into a BMW and drove away.

"..."

The air fell silent.

Hao Shuai numbly walked to the park and stared blankly ahead. This was his tenth heartbreak. These ten breakups had led him to a realization: since he couldn't have love, he might as well become a scumbag!

Hao Shuai was 23 years old this year. His name, Hao Shuai, meant "handsome," and he lived up to it. Standing at 1.85 meters tall, with a face like an idol star and a physique honed by years of part-time work, Hao Shuai had never lacked attention from the opposite sex.

However, handsomeness couldn't buy groceries. Especially in modern society. While younger girls in middle and high school were content with just a handsome face, by college and after entering the workforce, looks alone weren't enough. Women started seeking material comforts.

In Hao Shuai's ten relationships, perhaps his girlfriends were initially attracted to his looks. But over time, they realized that being handsome was useless. You couldn't run on love alone to get through life!

As someone who grew up in an orphanage, funded his university tuition with loans, relied on weekend part-time jobs for living expenses, and could only afford to rent an apartment after graduation, Hao Shuai was a "three-no" person (no car, no house, no savings). Besides his boundless positive energy, even treating a girlfriend to Häagen-Dazs was a luxury, let alone buying her bags, clothes, or cosmetics.

Thus, every relationship ended without a resolution.

Some might ask, "If he's so handsome, why not find a rich girlfriend?"

Well, Hao Shuai never had that idea. As an orphan, Hao Shuai had always been proud, insecure, and a bit of a chauvinist.

Letting a woman support him was simply impossible.

Unless, of course, Hao Shuai developed a stomach problem someday.

"I'm looking up at the moon..."

Suddenly, a loud ringtone blared. Hao Shuai pulled out his knock-off phone, took a deep breath, and answered with a sweet, smiling voice, "Hello~~ Sister Cheng, hello."

"Xiao Shuai, are you at your rental apartment? I have something to tell you," the landlady said.

"Oh, I'm out. What is it?"

"Your rent is due in half a month. I'll be coming over to collect it all in a few days. I'm calling to remind you."

"Okay, I got it," Hao Shuai replied with a smile.

"Hey, Xiao Shuai, I know your job is tiring and life in Shanghu City is tough. Think about what I told you a few days ago. I'm always waiting for your call," the landlady said before hanging up.

Hao Shuai let out a sigh of relief after hanging up. The smile gradually faded from his face, replaced by a hint of worry. He recalled the landlady's visit a few nights ago, her words about owning over a dozen properties, feeling lonely after her husband's death, telling him not to work so hard, and that eating soft food was good for his stomach. Hao Shuai had actually been tempted at the time.

But then he looked at the landlady's nearly 200-pound, short, stout figure and her greasy face, and he could only chicken out.

Now, receiving her call again, he thought about the 1000 yuan left in his bank account, the 1500 yuan rent due next month, and his living expenses. And after losing faith in love, Hao Shuai really wanted to tell the landlady, "I have a bad stomach."

Recovering from his heartbreak, Hao Shuai, adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, picked up the bento box and ate it himself. He didn't return to his rented apartment but lay down on the park bench to rest his eyes, muttering, "I wish I had a system like in the novels that could let me travel between worlds. Then I could go to different worlds, collect all sorts of rare treasures and beauties, and even achieve immortality~~~~"

As Hao Shuai closed his eyes and daydreamed, he was unaware that a visible crack suddenly appeared in the sky. A bead passed through the spatial barrier and hurtled directly towards Hao Shuai below.

When the bead struck his forehead, Hao Shuai instantly fainted.

By the time Hao Shuai woke up, it was past 4 PM. As he regained consciousness, a message was transmitted to his brain from his forehead. From this message, he learned that the object that hit him was the legendary Chaos Bead.

The Chaos Bead was a primordial treasure, known as one of the Four Great Treasures of Chaos alongside the Sky-Opening Divine Axe, the Jade Butterfly of Creation, and the Primordial Green Lotus. The Heavenly Dao had fifty principles, with forty-nine derived and one hidden. The hidden one was the Chaos Bead, which could conceal heavenly secrets.

Therefore, the Chaos Bead possessed the ability to transport people between worlds without being detected by the Heavenly Dao of other worlds. It could also adjust the time flow between the real world and other worlds based on the user's strength. Currently, Hao Shuai could only experience a 1:1 time flow. It also contained an infinitely large space for storing items, but not living beings.

The Chaos Bead had been missing since Pangu created the heavens and earth. Why it fell onto Hao Shuai's head now was unknown. Perhaps it was heaven's comfort for his ten heartbreaks!

As Hao Shuai understood the functions of the Chaos Bead, he became uncontrollably excited. He thought that fate was treating him well. Although his first twenty-three years had been tough, wasn't his luck about to change?

Hao Shuai hailed a taxi by the roadside, intending to return to his rented apartment to test out traveling between worlds.

As for how to travel between worlds, he just needed to communicate with the Chaos Bead in his mind, thinking of the world he wanted to visit. The Chaos Bead would then search for a connection in the vastness of space and time. The duration of the connection would depend on the level of the world he wished to travel to and would be inversely proportional to Hao Shuai's strength.

In other words, the stronger Hao Shuai became, the shorter the connection time would be. Furthermore, once he visited a world, the Chaos Bead would leave a spatial coordinate, allowing him to revisit it without needing to re-establish a connection.

Upon returning to his rented apartment, Hao Shuai eagerly prepared to travel to his first world. As for which world to choose?

Drawing upon over a decade of reading novels and browsing various online forums and discussion boards about transmigration, Hao Shuai finally set his sights on a world that every novice traveler had to visit – "Chronicle."

Hao Shuai began to link to the Chronicle world. He opened his computer and rewatched the movie, after all, it was an old film from 2012, and it was good to refresh his memory.

The movie tells the story of Andrew, a teenage boy who, like most introverted young men, was shy and had mild social anxiety. The abuse from his father and his mother's serious illness made him wary of everything around him, turning him into a recluse who hid behind his camera, lost in his own little world.

To open up Andrew's future, his cousin Matt invited him to a party. During the party, at the suggestion of Matt's friend Steve, the three embarked on a thrilling cave exploration trip, where they unexpectedly gained the superpower to manipulate objects at will. This marked a turning point in their lives. Their intense curiosity and desire to show off pushed the trio to constantly challenge the limits of their abilities. Andrew's boundless creativity made him the standout among his companions, the star of the party. Unfortunately, their newfound powers didn't bring happiness. An unrestrained Andrew pushed his luck too far, ultimately embarking on a path of irreversible destruction.

Thinking about the telekinesis and high-speed flight abilities the three protagonists developed after gaining their powers, Hao Shuai's mouth began to water.

And this was with the superpower crystal split among three people. If one person had used it all, imagine what that person's powers would be like~~~