A Different Choice

Chen Yuanguang typed the last character, then checked the entire piece again for grammatical errors and typos. After correcting the problematic areas, he thought for a moment and added a paragraph to the author's notes:

"That's all for today, everyone, don't wait up."

Yes, Chen Yuanguang was a somewhat well-known writer on Qidian. He made a decent living writing niche content in a specific genre, earning one to two tens of thousands a month.

For a family, this could be considered a high income. For him, a senior university student, it was quite substantial, enough for him to live a life of a higher standard compared to his classmates.

Moreover, with the accumulation of readers and his increasing proficiency in commercial writing, there was still considerable room for this income to grow in the foreseeable future.

The sun outside the window cast a pale golden light. Chen Yuanguang glanced at it before getting up and returning to another room.

After his writing income surpassed the 5,000 threshold, Chen Yuanguang no longer wanted to live with roommates and rented a two-bedroom apartment off-campus.

One room was specifically used as a study, furnished with a computer and bookshelves. For convenience while reading, he specifically bought a beanbag chair.

The other room was the bedroom. Since moving out and entering his senior year, with no other coursework besides writing his graduation thesis, Chen Yuanguang's routine gradually shifted to sleeping during the day and writing at night.

Inspiration was indeed better at night.

Before his 6 PM alarm went off, around a little before 5 PM, Chen Yuanguang opened his eyes, picked up the phone beside him, and saw several missed calls, some from his counselor, and others from roommates and friends.

No, they were former roommates now.

He saw that in the missed call information, his counselor had three missed calls, each about ten minutes apart.

Prioritizing by urgency, Chen Yuanguang called his counselor back first: "Director Liu, I was sleeping earlier. What is it? Just tell me directly."

"Yuanguang, there's something like this now. Professor Xia Haibin's team hasn't filled all their spots and wants to recruit a student from our department. You have a chance to compete for it. If you're interested, you can come to my office tomorrow to learn more about the details," the counselor said.

Chen Yuanguang first calculated internally. Xia Haibin, a young professor, without tenure yet, on a publish-or-perish contract. Wouldn't that just grind me to death?

The university treats young scholars as consumables, and young scholars find graduate students as consumables, layer by layer of exploitation. To get a degree, you're relentlessly pushed. Writing web novels is still more appealing.

"Counselor, you know I plan to go home and lie flat. I'll leave this opportunity to other students who need it," Chen Yuanguang said.

2018 was still in the golden age of the last wave of growth dividends. Even a bachelor's degree from a 985 university meant no shortage of good places to go. Many companies were willing to give you a chance, giving you opportunities to train based on the fundamental qualities that allowed you to get into a 985.

This was completely different from the era of zero-sum competition a few years later, when companies wished you could graduate with three years of work experience already.

The biggest advantage of Jiang University was its freedom. No one cared if you didn't attend classes, no one cared if you didn't live in the dorms, and if you didn't have a job after graduation, no one cared either. The counselor wouldn't call you like a debt collector just because you weren't pursuing graduate studies or hadn't signed a three-party agreement, fearing that one student's unemployment would affect the school's reputation.

So, the counselor surnamed Liu didn't say much. He wasn't surprised by Chen Yuanguang's answer; he had heard about this student doing well in the web novel industry a long time ago.

Being able to persist for three years, and in his senior year not participating in recruitment or applying for postgraduate recommendation, clearly meant he was doing well. Not to mention Chen Yuanguang was often with Lin Jia; if he wasn't making money, he couldn't possibly support Lin Jia.

The counselor still wanted to persuade him one more time: "Yuanguang, your grades are just a little short of the requirement for postgraduate recommendation. If Professor Xia takes a liking to you, postgraduate recommendation should be stable. Writing web novels is a highly uncertain industry. Doing well now doesn't mean you can maintain this level in the future.

Since you are currently writing web novels while studying, and your grades are still above average, I suggest you consider it more and observe for a few more years in the ivory tower."

Chen Yuanguang politely declined: "Director Liu, thank you very much. I will think about it carefully."

The counselor surnamed Liu felt he had fulfilled his duty and didn't say anything more.

"Graduate school, it sounds pretty good, but the problem is that graduate studies in biology, chemistry, environment, and materials are a bit of a trap," Chen Yuanguang still planned to give up this opportunity.

Having tasted freedom, Chen Yuanguang no longer wanted to be bound by a mechanized life, not to mention that the graduate stage was not as relaxed as undergraduate, and young scholars without titles would push you to the extreme.

He understood everything the counselor said. Wasn't it for this unparalleled freedom that he chose the web novel industry without hesitation?

Self-media might still be constrained by MCNs, but webnovel authors can come up with a thousand excuses to fob off their readers.

Chen Yuanguang got up, vaguely remembering someone knocking on the door. "It must be the express delivery. Lin Jia's birthday gift for me must have arrived."

He glanced at his phone and saw a text message: "Mr. Chen, I called you earlier but you didn't answer. There's a package for you here. I've put it in the express locker. Please remember to pick it up."

Chen Yuanguang felt a surge of anticipation after seeing the message. This should be the birthday gift from Lin Jia.

"Huh? Didn't it say it was put in the express locker? Why is it just left at the door?"

Chen Yuanguang saw a large box directly outside his door.

"The box is a bit big. Could it be a bag?" Chen Yuanguang looked at the pure black packaging box and guessed based on its weight.

There was only a logo on the surface of the box. The logo was a single word: Matrix.

"What brand is this? I've never heard of it before."

After opening it, he discovered it was a helmet. It felt like a metallic texture to the touch, but it seemed slightly different from common metals.

Someone who studied materials science had a natural sensitivity to this.

Like the box, the matte black helmet also had a silver logo printed on it: Matrix.

Chen Yuanguang thought, A helmet? But I don't even have a motorcycle.

Chen Yuanguang estimated that Lin Jia should still be on the plane and didn't call her to ask.

He walked directly to the mirror, put on the helmet, and planned to admire how he looked wearing it.

"Mr. Chen, determined to be in a state of unconsciousness. Awakening procedure is now being performed using B1-74 medication. This procedure is authorized by Article 389 of Chapter 29 of the Robot Medical Emergency Response Regulations."

Chen Yuanguang only felt that after putting on the helmet, he didn't know what happened, as if he had lost consciousness. When he woke up again, not only had his surroundings changed, but the first thing he saw was a futuristic-looking bionic robot.

Then, some memories were inserted into his brain. These memories felt as if they were innate, without pain or tearing, only the dizziness caused by thinking too much.

The crow is back. Please collect and follow.