My Fate

Early the next morning.

After three hours of medical examinations, Luo Ji returned to his office and poured himself a glass of liquor.

The test results showed that everything was normal.

It was not a physical problem, nor had he developed hallucinations or a mental disorder.

That left only one possibility.

All of this was real!

Luo Ji drained the liquor in his glass, then closed his eyes.

He detached his thoughts from his body and looked down upon everything from a higher-dimensional perspective.

It was a talent he had possessed since childhood: detaching himself from his body and observing everything from a third-person perspective. In fantasy terms, it was soul projection; in light novels, it was called an omniscient perspective.

In the end, he reached a conclusion: it was beneficial and harmless!

Luo Ji refocused his attention on the chat group panel in his mind.

Xiao Yan: Luo Ji hasn't said a word all day. Did he leave the group?

Huang Rong: Newcomers are always like this. Give him some time.

Zhang Sanfeng: When this old man first joined the group, it also took me several days to accept it. His reaction is perfectly normal.

Luo Ji: I'm here.

Xiao Yan: You finally spoke! So? Do you understand now?

Luo Ji: I do.

Luo Ji: Though it is difficult to believe, based on the available evidence, there is a high probability that this chat group truly exists.

Xiao Yan: Available evidence... You didn't go get a medical checkup, did you?

Luo Ji: I did. I underwent a full-body examination.

Huang Rong: You're far too thorough, aren't you?

Sun Wukong: What's a medical checkup? Checking your body? Old Sun has never needed such a thing!

Huang Rong: You're a Saiyan. Of course you don't need one.

Luo Ji: I need to understand this group's functions. Could someone introduce them to me?

Xiao Yan: Me, me!

Xiao Yan: The most important function of this group is crossing the myriad heavens and worlds—sharing information and benefiting one another!

Xiao Yan: There's also the "Group Space," where you can cultivate. At the highest level, time flows more than ten thousand times faster than in the outside world! Impressive, right?

Xiao Yan: There's also the "Points Mall," where you can use points to buy cultivation techniques, pills, and the like. But you have to save up points yourself. Checking in, sending messages, sending red packets, or selling items and knowledge can all earn you points.

Luo Ji: Points Mall? How do I enter it?

Xiao Yan: Just tap the "Mall" button.

Luo Ji found the button and tapped it.

The Points Mall appeared before him.

There were not many items, but every single one made Luo Ji's pupils contract slightly.

Primordial Unity Creation Immortal Scripture (Celestial Immortal Grade), Price: 100,000 points.

Great Burning Heaven Chapter (Human Immortal Grade), Price: 10,000 points (welfare price: 10 points, limited to one purchase).

One Qi Profound Mystery Scripture (Human Immortal Grade), Price: 10,000 points (welfare price: 10 points, limited to one purchase).

True Exposition of Tai Chi Creation (Human Immortal Grade), Price: 10,000 points (welfare price: 10 points, limited to one purchase).

Burning Formula, Price: 1,000 points.

Spirit Medicine Life-Transformation Method, Price: 880 points.

Tai Chi Mental Method, Price: 100 points.

Great Cosmic Shift, Price: 80 points.

There were also all manner of pills, priced from 10 points to over 100 points.

They had all been voluntarily uploaded to the mall for sale by the group members.

What shocked Luo Ji most was that the four cultivation techniques capable of turning a person into an immortal had all come from an administrator called "Immortal."

His gaze lingered longest on True Exposition of Tai Chi Creation, because its description attracted him the most.

Yin and yang, transformation, the union of hardness and softness, impervious to all techniques—it could be said to be the cultivation method best suited for ordinary people...

"I need points to buy one and verify it."

Luo Ji muttered.

He glanced at his points balance: 0.

Then he looked at the ways to earn points: checking in, sending messages, sending red packets, completing group missions.

Check-in: 1 point.

Sending messages: 0.1 point per message.

Sending red packets: 5 points each time.

Group missions: Pending release.

The usual methods of earning points were far too slow.

Luo Ji frowned.

Checking in for a month would only earn 30 points, while he would need to send 500 messages to scrape together 50 points.

If he spammed the chat, he would definitely get kicked from the group.

So he needed a faster method.

Luo Ji went through the Points Mall rules again.

He found the section on selling various items. It seemed that selling was the only way to quickly obtain a large number of points, and an idea immediately formed in his mind.

He now possessed the finest resources of all Earth civilization—knowledge of weapons, medicine, biology, and countless other technologies...

If these crystallizations of human technology were placed in the Points Mall, how much would they be worth?

Luo Ji decided to give it a try. It would also let him further test whether this was real.

He turned on his phone and contacted his assistant. "Help me compile a complete collection of existing human technological knowledge. Bring me everything from D-rank to SSS-rank."

Very soon, Luo Ji began uploading items one by one.

He started with D-rank items: pistols, pistol blueprints... Such items were worth between 1 and 3 points, and could only be sold once, not repeatedly. Still, through these items, he earned 132 points.

As for higher-level items and knowledge, he was not prepared to sell them before confirming the truth.

Luo Ji opened True Exposition of Tai Chi Creation again and carefully read the product details.

"Price: 10,000 points (welfare price: 10 points, limited to one purchase)."

This was clearly a welfare setting provided by the administrator "Immortal" for the group members.

Without hesitation, he selected True Exposition of Tai Chi Creation for purchase.

Ding! 10 points consumed. Purchase successful. The cultivation technique has been stored in your personal space and can be viewed at any time.

Luo Ji did not immediately open the cultivation technique. Instead, he continued browsing the mall.

Besides cultivation techniques, there were several types of pills: Spirit Gathering Pills, Essence Nurturing Pills, Foundation Establishment Pills... They ranged in price from 10 to 100 points and had basically all been uploaded by Xiao Yan.

The descriptions of the pills were simple: "Can increase cultivation speed and improve one's physique."

Luo Ji spent another 53 points and bought one of each.

Points Balance: 69

He exited the mall and returned to the group chat.

Xiao Yan: Luo Ji, did you buy a cultivation technique?

Luo Ji: I did. True Exposition of Tai Chi Creation, along with some pills.

Xiao Yan: You moved pretty fast! Are you planning to start cultivating?

Luo Ji: I'll take a look first. There's no rush.

Xiao Yan: Fair enough. You've got Trisolarans watching you over there, so you need to be careful.

Luo Ji: How do you know about the Trisolarans?

Xiao Yan: The group leader told us. The group leader can read fate scripts, so he told us all about you.

Luo Ji fell silent for a moment. Instinctively, he opened the group member list, his gaze settling on the name "Senior-Year Powerhouse."

The group leader.

Fate scripts.

He recalled how, when he joined the group, the system had stated that "the group leader can view the fates of the worlds inhabited by each member."

That meant this group leader knew of the Trisolaran Civilization's existence. Which also meant that he knew... what Luo Ji would do in the future.

Luo Ji took a deep breath and typed a line.

Luo Ji: Group leader, would it be convenient to chat privately?

Senior-Year Powerhouse: Yes.

Luo Ji opened the private chat window. After hesitating for several seconds, he sent the message anyway.

Luo Ji: You know about the Trisolaran Civilization?

Senior-Year Powerhouse: I do.

Luo Ji: You know that their Sophons are monitoring Earth?

Senior-Year Powerhouse: I do. The Sophons have locked down Earth's fundamental physics and are monitoring all key figures. But don't worry—the chat group exists beyond dimensions, so Sophons cannot monitor it.

Luo Ji: Are you sure?

Senior-Year Powerhouse: I'm sure. If the Sophons could monitor it, you would already be under special scrutiny from the Trisolaran World. But the Trisolaran Civilization currently has no abnormal reaction to you.

Luo Ji: ...

Luo Ji: I need to verify that.

Senior-Year Powerhouse: Of course you can verify it. But what I want to say is that your joining was not an accident.

Luo Ji: What do you mean?

Senior-Year Powerhouse: Every time the system invites a newcomer, it randomly selects one from the myriad heavens and worlds. But I later discovered that this "randomness" actually has preferences. The system prioritizes people whose worlds are "about to be destroyed."

Senior-Year Powerhouse: In other words, joining this group means that your world—or rather, your civilization—will suffer destruction in the future.

Luo Ji leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

He remembered what United Nations Secretary-General Sa Yi had said to him on the day he became a Wallfacer: "You are humanity's hope."

At the time, he had found those words laughable.

He had always been nothing more than an ordinary student, a cynical intellectual, a "Wallfacer" forced into the role like a duck driven onto a perch.

If he could choose, he did not want to be a savior, nor did he want to be a Wallfacer.

But now, there was a chat group connecting countless worlds, unfathomable immortals, and a group leader capable of reading fate scripts...

"I want to know my fate. The fate of the world."

Luo Ji regretted it the moment he sent the message.