The Turning Point of Life

As dusk fell, the bustling crowds dispersed.

On the ancient western road of Shili Street stood an unassuming shop, an old establishment that offered fortune-telling services—the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.

Inside, the room was dim. To save electricity, Shen Qiong never turned on the lights, and when night fell, he simply closed shop.

Shen Qiong rubbed his empty stomach, glancing back at the calligraphy hanging high on the wall.

Glimpse Heavenly Secrets, Tell Fortunes.

The six characters exuded an imposing aura, their strokes revealing the calligrapher's ethereal pride. Legend had it that this artwork was personally inscribed by the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's founder, Shen Qiong's great-grandfather, when the shop first opened, making it many years old.

"Glimpsing heavenly secrets, glimpsing heavenly secrets, it shortens one's lifespan," Shen Qiong murmured, a phrase his father used to say often.

His father was a truly skilled man, his fortune-telling for the villagers always accurate. When Shen Qiong was young, he'd pester his father to teach him, but his father refused, earnestly advising him to study hard to achieve success. As for these skills of pretending to be a god and deceiving neighbors, it was better not to learn them!

Only now did he understand his father's good intentions. Glimpsing heavenly secrets truly did shorten one's lifespan. His grandfather hadn't lived past sixty, and his father had died of a serious illness just two months ago, leaving Shen Qiong with only this lonely old shop.

All his family's savings had been spent on his father's medical treatment. Shen Qiong was now utterly penniless, struggling even to afford three meals a day.

Shen Qiong sighed and walked to the door. A light rain began to fall, pattering on the ground.

"It's raining, let's close up. No one will come anyway." This shop was the Shen family's legacy for many years. Even though Shen Qiong hadn't learned much from his father, he still didn't want the shop to go bankrupt under his care.

He lit a candle using the light filtering through the window and placed the book Six Arts of Yin and Yang back on the shelf. Though his father was gone, he had left behind many books, enough for Shen Qiong to study for several years.

Just as he was about to head home to cook some noodles, the sky suddenly rumbled with thunder.

BOOM! Lightning flashed and thunder roared!

Startled, Shen Qiong dropped his phone. A bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree, setting it ablaze. Shen Qiong quickly picked up his phone, intending to call the fire department, but found the screen flickering erratically.

"Did I break it?" He pressed it several times, but it remained unresponsive. His heart sank, and he dejectedly walked home.

Shen Qiong's residence was not far from the shop, only a five or six-minute walk. Ever since his parents divorced ten years ago, he had been living alone.

At the time, he had deeply resented his mother for abandoning them, but now he could understand. In this era of advanced technology, many people opposed superstition, and few people came for fortune-telling. Those who stubbornly clung to the old ways, like his father, naturally struggled to make a living.

He also had a sister. He had stayed with their father, while his sister went with their mother. He imagined his sister's life must be better living with their mother!

Upon returning home, he told himself not to overthink things and decided to take a hot shower to warm himself up first.

Splash, splash... The sound of running water.

"What the hell, why is the water cold? Did we run out of gas?" Shen Qiong grumbled as he dried himself and stepped out, only to find that they had indeed run out of gas.

What bad luck, his fortunes were truly at a low point!

He mustemed that this couldn't go on. He picked up his phone, intending to look for a part-time job to earn some living expenses. When he looked at his phone, he exclaimed, "Huh? My phone's working again? WeChat updated? What the heck..."

Using his neighbor Old Wang's Wi-Fi, Shen Qiong updated WeChat. He fiddled with it for a long time but couldn't find any changes until he noticed a small red dot next to "People Nearby."

"This thing updated?" Driven by his inherent curiosity, Shen Qiong tapped on it.

Suddenly, a prompt box popped up: The "People Nearby" function has been updated. You can now obtain information about people nearby through this function. This information is real; please do not disclose it arbitrarily.

He tapped again, entering the "People Nearby" interface.

User: Shen Qiong

Level: 0 (Completely Inept)

Increase your level by gaining fame and reputation. Current Reputation: 0 (Nobody)

Below are the profiles of people nearby:

1. Li Ruyu (within 100 meters), her profile picture is the aunt from the apartment next door.

2. Li Anping (within 100 meters), his profile picture is the uncle who collects utility bills on the seventh floor.

3. Qian Jun (within 500 meters), a stranger Shen Qiong has never seen before, likely just passing by downstairs.

4. Yan Fangming (within 500 meters), his profile picture is the owner of the convenience store downstairs.

5. Ren Xinghai (within 1000 meters), another stranger Shen Qiong has never seen before.

Shen Qiong kept refreshing, and then WeChat popped up a notification: Due to your low level, you can only detect five people. Increasing your level will allow you to detect more people and view more detailed information.

He tapped on Li Anping's profile, the uncle who collected utility bills. He was shocked by the amount of data. He could only see the most basic information: age, height, gender, and health value. All the other data, such as singing, education, acting, driving skills, cooking skills, etc., were displayed as question marks, indicating unknown.

Shen Qiong paid special attention to the other person's health value. This seemingly simple piece of information was actually very important. There were many definitions of health, and some latent illnesses couldn't be detected through ordinary check-ups. However, with his health value, he could tell at a glance whether someone was healthy.

Shen Qiong's heart warmed. The description stated that after increasing his level, he could observe more information, which should be these items marked with question marks. Those pieces of information were truly valuable. As the saying goes, heaven bestows talent, but in reality, people must strive through countless trials to discover what they are good at and what they are not.

And if he possessed this information, wouldn't that mean...

He swallowed excitedly, repeatedly murmuring, "Glimpsing heavenly secrets shortens one's lifespan. I need to take it easy."

"But this isn't glimpsing heavenly secrets, is it? WeChat is a technological product. This is a conclusion reached through technology," Shen Qiong comforted himself.

Truly, when one door closes, another opens. With this function, his Shen family's old shop would surely become famous throughout the land. Mansions, sports cars, and beautiful women would all be within his grasp!

In short, he was about to reach the pinnacle of his life.

Thinking of this, Shen Qiong couldn't help but burst into laughter. He instantly became energetic, feeling as if he could take down a few tigers.

He couldn't sleep that night, constantly refreshing "People Nearby." He discovered a pattern: the system refreshed every ten minutes, and at his current level, he could only search for five people.

He also found something interesting: the profile pictures of the people were their real faces, meaning, without makeup.