Jackpot in one shot

The north wind howled.

Jiang Mi stood at the foot of a high wall, gazing up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle.

"Xixi, do you think we should take a gamble? If I'm the protagonist, I should be able to survive climbing out over this wall, right?"

"Host, I recommend maintaining a positive, optimistic outlook."

Jiang Mi sighed. She was sick to death of hearing that line. Whenever she complained about anything, her system gave her the same advice.

If she had truly been born and bred here, she might have accepted her fate.

But in her previous life, Jiang Mi had at least been a corporate drone with a degree from a Project 985 university. After twenty-six years of grinding, she had finally bought a small, old, rundown apartment outright, only for the heavens to make her wake up reincarnated from the womb as the youngest daughter of a poor family in Great Xia.

As she recalled the past, a notification that only she could see suddenly popped up before her eyes.

It was a notification from Xixi: "You can chop the tree now, Host."

Jiang Mi fell silent for a moment before opening the screen that only she could see.

It was the interface of a standard, shoddily made minigame.

There was a Divine Tree. Once every year, Jiang Mi could click to chop it, and it would drop all sorts of miraculous traits.

When Jiang Mi was one year old, she had still been full of hope for this cheat.

After all, with a Divine Tree and miraculous traits, she could hardly help having expectations.

If she got some invincible trait, wouldn't she be able to walk sideways through this world, with no one daring to cross her?

As it turned out, there were no invincible traits, but there was a Walk Sideways.

Jiang Mi looked at her equipment slots.

[Walk Sideways (white)]: Your walking posture will undergo a subtle change. Specifically, when your feet move, your torso will unconsciously remain facing forward, like a crab.

She genuinely had no idea what use this thing had.

Although she could chop the Divine Tree once a year, the problem was that the chance of getting a white trait was a staggering 99%!

Over the past fifteen years, Jiang Mi had chopped it fifteen times, and every single time, she had gotten trash traits just like [Walk Sideways]!

It wasn't as though there was no way to get something good.

Cultivate and raise her cultivation realm!

But Jiang Mi didn't even have a Spirit Root, let alone the ability to cultivate.

Actually, when she had first come to this world, Jiang Mi's life had been fairly tolerable.

Her family was poor, but they hadn't treated her too harshly. At least she had enough to eat.

When she turned eight, her eldest brother was getting married, and the village head had arranged to sell her to the Marquis's Household along with several other girls from the village.

The work in the Marquis's Household was grueling, and most of the young girls couldn't survive.

By now, Jiang Mi was the only one from her village still struggling on.

Seeing Jiang Mi spacing out, the matron walked over and slapped her. "Not working? Want your master to teach you a lesson personally?"

Jiang Mi tilted her head slightly, pretending the slap had hurt badly.

In truth, with the [Thick-Skinned (white)] trait, she hadn't felt any pain at all.

After fobbing the matron off, Jiang Mi clicked to chop the tree out of sheer boredom.

Having something was better than nothing, right?

She didn't want to squander her whole life here, either.

Jiang Mi prayed inwardly for a good trait, while remaining meticulous with the work in her hands.

How could she do it well without paying attention?

Obviously, anyone who chopped wood, boiled water, washed clothes, and swept floors every day for seven or eight years straight could do it with their eyes closed.

Jiang Mi stacked a pile of firewood, then casually opened the rewards from her latest chop.

Before she could see what they were, Xixi cried out in her ear, "You got gold! You got gold, Host!"

What?

Jiang Mi froze. Her hands slowed slightly, and the matron slapped her again.

Jiang Mi: "..."

If she hadn't been thick-skinned, that bitch really would have slapped her into a concussion.

But none of that mattered now.

What mattered was-

Gold?!

Fifteen years!

After fifteen years of cursed luck and fifteen years of white trash, was her luck finally turning today?!

Forcing down the wild joy in her heart, Jiang Mi kept her eyes lowered and her expression meek, mechanically continuing to stack firewood while opening the trait she had just obtained with her mind.

Then she saw that golden icon.

It glittered so brightly that it nearly blinded her eyes, which had spent fifteen years accustomed to white light.

The trait's name was only three characters long.

[Simulator (gold)]

Jiang Mi nearly lost control of her expression.

A Simulator!

This was a genuine god-tier cheat!

Based on her years of experience reading webnovels, something like a Simulator could let her learn how the future would unfold in advance, gaining experience, cultivation, and even physical rewards. Most importantly-

She could use trial and error!

In this cultivation world, where human lives were worth no more than weeds, rising above her station as a slave without a Spirit Root was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

But with a Simulator, she could keep trying out different possibilities in a safe environment and find the path to freedom and wealth!

Jiang Mi fought to keep her expression under control and continued mechanically stacking firewood.

Even if it didn't hurt, she didn't want to be slapped again.

With a pounding heart and trembling hands, Jiang Mi opened the trait's detailed description with her mind.

[Simulator (gold):

Congratulations on obtaining a brand-new cheat!

Equip the Simulator to run simulations.

Your first simulation has no requirements, but subsequent simulations require you to submit items of a certain value or complete guidance missions.

During a simulation, you may exert a degree of influence over your simulated self according to your wishes. However, equipped traits cannot be changed during a simulation. Please select your equipped traits before starting!

After a simulation ends, you may obtain everything acquired during the simulation except physical objects!]

After reading the description, Jiang Mi's heart skipped a beat.

She repeated that sentence in her mind, barely able to hold on to the firewood.

Smack!

Another slap.

Jiang Mi came back to her senses and found the matron glaring at her. "Are you deaf? I told you to take the firewood to the east courtyard!"

Jiang Mi lowered her head and answered, deftly picked up a bundle of firewood, and walked briskly toward the east courtyard.

Her mind raced the whole way.

If she could learn cultivation techniques in the simulation, get pills, or even find a way to leave the Marquis's Household, then-

No, she didn't even have a Spirit Root. What use would any of those things be, even if she got them?

Jiang Mi fell silent for a moment, then her eyes suddenly lit up.

If she could get a Spirit Root trait, wouldn't she be able to cultivate, regardless of what kind of Spirit Root it was?

The more Jiang Mi thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

But with only this body's lifespan to rely on, she would probably breathe her last before she ever caught sight of a Spirit Root.

Just as she was worrying, the final line of the Simulator's description resurfaced in her mind.

Traits certainly weren't physical objects!

In that case, she could also obtain traits acquired in a simulation.

Then what was she waiting for? Time to simulate!

Jiang Mi dropped the last bundle of firewood in a corner of the east courtyard's woodshed. After making sure no one was around, she took a deep breath and opened the shoddily made game interface deep in her consciousness.

Once she entered a simulation, she would no longer be able to change her traits.

Jiang Mi only had three equipment slots, and the Simulator had to occupy one of them, or she wouldn't be able to run a simulation.