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Time flew, and the years slipped by.

That was the sentence Wang Yan remembered using most often in his school essays.

The older he got, the more he understood what it meant for time to fly and the years to slip by.

More than three years had passed since the Gleevec incident had caused such an uproar. Today was January 28, 2006—New Year's Eve.

On this annual day of celebration, amid the joyous din of firecrackers, the long-silent System finally announced that his mission was complete. He had 24 hours to leave this world, just in time to celebrate the New Year.

He had undergone a stem cell transplant a year ago, and after a year of recuperation, his recovery was going very well. Besides, he wasn't short on money anymore. If he got sick, he could afford treatment and had good coverage. Wang Jia and Lü Shouyi's son was now four and a half, the same age he had been in this world. The little guy had grown into a lively, sturdy child, full of energy. Wang Jia had nothing left to worry about. Her wish had come true.

Liu Tiantian, who had suffered from the same illness, had also undergone surgery. The little girl, nearly ten now, spent her days bouncing around. She was nothing like the way she'd been as a child.

Wang Yan was bursting with excitement. In the blink of an eye, he'd spent more than four years in this world. Back then, he'd thought he would just take things one step at a time. Who could have guessed that one step would last more than three years?

Wang Yan missed his parents back home, along with all his real and not-so-real friends.

Over the past three years, Wang Yan had finally experienced the joys of having money to spare and lived a life he hadn't known in his first thirty years. The life he'd led these past few years was nothing like what you could see in short videos. After all, a clip lasting just a few dozen seconds could only show so much. Besides, the rich were either getting old, spending all day figuring out how to make more money, hide their wealth, or move their assets. Who had time to go out and shoot the breeze?

He'd gotten a glimpse of what it was like. Poverty really did limit the imagination. All that mattered was enjoying himself.

Wang Yan hadn't let himself be corrupted. He'd never slacked off over the years. Apart from indulging himself now and then, he spent most of his time exercising and studying, making decisions, and going out to negotiate deals. He'd kept busy and felt fulfilled.

Wang Yan's businesses had grown rapidly over the past few years. The logistics company managed by Lü Shouyi had expanded into major cities across the country and now had tens of thousands of employees. It was fiercely competing with Shunfeng in China, and it had plenty of muscle. The Clothing Factory, managed by Liu Sihui, had also grown quickly. It now had a complete industrial chain, from raw materials and manufacturing to finished clothes and sales. It had even launched its own brand, which was selling well.

Wang Yan had also founded a tech company. It was aggressively recruiting people in an effort to develop a smartphone before anyone else. He had also set up research labs for chips, new materials, and other fields. The company worked with major universities and offered high salaries to recruit talent from abroad. It had achieved a few things over the past couple of years, but high-tech research needed a foundation to build on. Top talent was hard to pry loose, and it had taken a tremendous amount of effort for Wang Yan to bring in just a handful of people.

Wang Yan had also made a killing in the stock market. Using what he remembered, he'd quietly taken money from investors in the US Stock Market and earned a fortune.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten his compatriots who were suffering. In 2003, Wang Yan had donated five million, and he'd given plenty more in the years that followed. He didn't want to get involved in the dirty dealings that went on behind the scenes, and he didn't have the capacity to handle them anyway. At least some of the money would reach the people who needed it.

After years of tireless effort, Wang Yan reckoned his net worth had reached several hundred million dollars. That included plenty of real estate and properties, as well as stock in companies that would soar in value in the future. All of it was in Wang Jia and Liu Sihui's names. He couldn't take any of it with him, and he'd never been too attached to it.

He'd kept in touch with Cheng Yong and Peng Hao, too.

The two of them had gotten married the year before last. It was Peng Hao's first marriage and Cheng Yong's second. Peng Hao's son had been born this year, and Wang Yan had given a gift when the boy turned a hundred days old. Both men were running small businesses now, and they were living very happy lives.

They were genuinely grateful to Wang Yan. One of them had been spared death, treated for his illness, and able to marry and have a child. The other had plenty of money now and didn't have to sing Tears Behind Bars. Wang Yan had truly changed their lives.

Wang Yan was quite satisfied with all this. His abilities were the main limitation. Otherwise, he believed he could have done even more. At the end of the day, he simply wasn't capable enough.

He stopped daydreaming and went on celebrating the New Year, enjoying himself.

For the past few years, he'd spent New Year's with Wang Jia and Lü Shouyi, along with Liu Sihui and her daughter, Liu Tiantian. This year was no exception.

Wang Yan and the others chatted and laughed. The children didn't eat much, so Liu Tiantian took Xiao Lüping off to play nearby.

"Life just keeps getting better and better. This is what life's supposed to be like," Lü Shouyi said with a sigh, raising his glass.

"Come on, big brother, let me toast you. I won't bother with the words of thanks."

Over the years, the logistics company under Lü Shouyi's management had grown bigger and bigger, and he'd become more and more confident. Even the way he carried himself had changed. He was no longer the hunched, desperate man he'd once been. But as the business grew, he had less and less time to spend with his wife and child. That was probably one of the troubles success brought.

Wang Yan smiled, raised his glass to clink with Lü Shouyi's, and drained it. "You thank me every year. When will it end? Do you think I did it for you?"

"I did it for my little sister. You'd be better off spending that time with your wife and kid instead of wasting it on all this."

As they'd spent more time together, Wang Yan had come to regard Wang Jia as his younger sister. He no longer felt the awkwardness he'd experienced when they first met. He was genuinely fond of her. In his real life, Wang Yan had been an only child. As a boy, he'd envied his friends who had older or younger siblings. He'd never had an older sister to dote on him or a younger sister to love him, but now he'd finally gotten to live that dream.

Wang Jia simply smiled and poured them both more wine, saying nothing.

She had nothing left to wish for. As life had gotten better and better over the years, she'd also taken on more and more of a wealthy wife's elegance. That was no surprise, given the company Lü Shouyi kept.

She had a brother who cared for her, a husband who loved her, and a child who adored her. What could make her happier?

Watching them together, Wang Yan couldn't help taking Liu Sihui's hand. She felt his touch and wrapped her arm around him, leaning against his side.

Wang Yan smiled faintly and patted Liu Sihui. They continued eating and drinking.

When the New Year's bell rang, Wang Yan saw Wang Jia, Lü Shouyi, and their son off.

Liu Sihui put the already-sleeping Liu Tiantian to bed, then came out and met Wang Yan's gaze.

Without a word, Wang Yan picked Liu Sihui up and carried her to the bedroom.

The physical fitness he'd gained through exercise had also been reflected in his System stats, evenly improving everything from his internal organs and bones to his muscles and stamina. After more than four years of training, Wang Yan was no longer the man he'd been.

He was about to leave this world, and there was little chance he'd ever return.

After all these years together, Liu Sihui knew Wang Yan very well. She could tell he had something on his mind. But she didn't ask. That was what he found most charming about her.

Wang Yan sat beside Liu Sihui, watching her sleep. She was so captivating, in every way, including all the little things about her life.

The movie never revealed what happened to Liu Sihui. Wang Yan didn't think it had been good.

Though the story ended by saying that Gleevec would be added to the medical insurance program, that was a long process. Even the changes Wang Yan had made, which came much faster than they had in the original story, had taken a while to come into effect. In the meantime, countless people would still be left waiting to die. It was easy to imagine what had happened to the original Liu Sihui.

At first, Wang Yan's motives hadn't been pure. But the longer they'd been together, the more important Liu Sihui had become to him.

As he thought about all the moments they'd shared over the past four years, Wang Yan was filled with longing. He understood that this was only one stop on his journey through life.

"Still, I have to go." He sighed.

Wang Yan gently kissed Liu Sihui as she slept. She seemed to feel it and furrowed her brow.

After taking one last wistful look at Liu Sihui, Wang Yan opened the System Panel and chose to leave.

Blue light flashed, and Wang Yan disappeared.

With a flash of blue light, Wang Yan appeared back in his own bed.

He could feel the System repairing his body. It completely healed the injuries he'd accumulated from years of training.

The repairs continued for a while, then countless memories interwove in his mind, leaving him dizzy.

It took a long time for Wang Yan to recover enough to sit up, rubbing his head.

"It's already this bad after only four years. What'll happen when I spend even longer in there and go through even more?" Wang Yan wondered.

He shook his head hard, got out of bed, and poured himself a glass of water. Then he checked the time.

Five-oh-five.

"Counting the time it took me to adjust and pour the water, does that mean that however long I spend in the movie world, only an instant passes in reality?"

That was a good thing. Setting aside all that mystical soul stuff, it meant Wang Yan's life was longer and richer. He couldn't have asked for more.

"I'm just worried that after I've been through too much, it'll overwhelm the memories of my short thirty years. Even the home I grew up in feels a little unfamiliar now."

Thinking about it strengthened Wang Yan's resolve to build up his spirit. A high spirit stat could improve his memory, maybe even give him photographic recall, and expand his memory capacity. But remembering too much wasn't necessarily good. The more Wang Yan experienced, the more he'd suffer.

"If I get the chance, I'll have to improve my outlook on life. Otherwise, I could end up going crazy," Wang Yan resolved.

He opened the System Panel.

Wang Yan

Stats: Strength 12

Agility 12

Constitution 13

Spirit 13

Unallocated Points 4

Storage Space 1m

Skills: English LV3

Fighting LV2

Management LV2

Sales LV2

Japanese LV1

... A bunch of omitted zero-level skills.

After several years of learning and training in Dying to Survive, Wang Yan had gained a great deal.

Thanks to his tireless training, Wang Yan was no longer in poor health. His constitution, strength, and agility had all improved, reaching the level of someone who exercised regularly. He now weighed 160, but his appearance hadn't changed much. Under his clothes, he was all lean muscle. Perhaps the System had something to do with it, but his muscles weren't bulky like a bodybuilder's. They were more like those of a street-workout athlete, only better-looking—somewhere between the two styles.

His skills had improved even more.

First, his English skill had reached LV3, the professional level. Though he'd only just reached it, he could work as a translator. Then there was Fighting. After years of study, he'd reached LV2, the proficient level. He'd put more effort into fighting than anything else. Over the years, he'd hired plenty of professional martial arts and combat experts from China and abroad, as well as nutritionists. That was also why his physical fitness and English skills had improved.

Wang Yan had learned all kinds of things, including Sanda, traditional martial arts, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, judo, Muay Thai, and more. If he'd focused on a single discipline, he could have reached a professional level in it by now. But trying to learn too much at once had made it hard to master anything, which was why he was still at LV2. Fortunately, he had plenty of time to study, and eventually he could sort it all out and put together a system of his own.

What Wang Yan lacked now was real combat experience. Wasn't fighting about taking someone down in the most effective way, with the least effort and the smallest cost? He still had a long way to go. But he believed he'd have plenty of chances to fight in the future, maybe even to kill.

Of course, he could also lose himself in it and end up with a hodgepodge of skills. But that was a long way off. People needed goals, even if they didn't know whether they could achieve them. At least it was a good goal. Who knew? He might even become a grandmaster someday.

As for other skills, like management and finance, there were too many to list. He'd picked up a smattering of all kinds of things.

His Sales skill was worth mentioning. It was his livelihood, and it had reached LV2. Wang Yan guessed that was because he'd never handled sales involving especially large sums before.

In the Dying to Survive world, Wang Yan had moved in relatively high circles and negotiated plenty of deals. After all, every business needed sales to make money. The deals ranged from tens of millions to over a hundred million. Given the price of housing in Lüda, where a single home could cost millions, the System didn't recognize those as sales on a high enough scale.

His years of experience had also greatly improved his ability to read people and understand their motives. He was sure life in the real world would only get better.

All in all, Wang Yan's progress was plain to see, and he was extremely satisfied with it. What could make someone happier than seeing his own steady improvement day after day? It was a sense of achievement all his own, impossible to put into words.

Completing Wang Jia's wish had earned him four free attribute points and nothing else. Wang Yan didn't resent that. He'd learned so much already. What more could he ask for? The most important thing was to be content.

Wang Yan didn't rush to allocate the points. He would wait and see what the next wish mission was like before deciding.

The memory rush had left Wang Yan exhausted. He lay down and soon fell asleep.