Virtual Evolution Chapter 1: Born Again? No crossing
China.
Southern Jaingsu, WX.
8 AM.
Situated on the outskirts of the city, within a certain district of a certain house of a certain bedroom, as the alarm rang, a young man grumbled, sitting up, “Why don’t I remember setting up an alarm clock? And such an vintage sound too… ” Despite his constant complaining, the drowsiness he felt started to wane as he stood.
This young man was named Le Yuan, and he lived alone since he was sixteen after his parents died in a traffic accident; there were no relatives around to take him in. His blood relatives aimed to deceive him and take his property. Fortunately, before his parent’s death, they managed to save and pay for insurance which was enough to settle the cost of living, especially adding the fact that Le Yuan did not splurge much on anything. And in spite being in high school at the time, he at least learned a thing or two on how to survive by himself.
As a result of his parent’s pa.s.sing, day by day, Le Yuan began to become more withdrawn; lonely. He had almost no friends, and spent most of his time watching shows, anime, and reading novels. After graduation, Le Yuan still had millions from what his parents had left him. Instead of going out and working, Le Yuan just stayed at home.
“On today’s schedule, don’t forget to finish reading that new fan from last night, and I have to update the novel too,” Le Yuan said sheepishly as he rubbed his eyes, and prepared to wash up.
But as he entered the bathroom, with one look in the mirror, any bit of drowsiness that he had had vanished. And that was because, in the mirror, instead of a face of that of a young man, the age of sixteen to seventeen year old face stared back at him. This was not an adult’s face. This was a teenager’s.
Le Yuan blinked, scratched his hair, pinched his cheeks, and moved his tongue round and round , but no matter what he did, every action he took was mirrored. He let out sounds whether it was surprise or wonder,“rest! You need rest.” And then he began to curse, and continued to pinch his face, but nothing. There was no difference.. Not believing this, he pulled his hair, and punched himself. It was soon he noticed something… The face in the mirror, was it not exactly his face when he was younger?
Realizing this, Le Yuan reacted immediately and ran to the living room looking everywhere for a calendar, and when he found one, the date said July 17th, 2010.
I’ve gone back? Le Yuan sat quietly on the sofa stunned. Ten years, if I read it right. I’ve gone back a decade… What am I going to do now?
Why wasn’t it earlier? If it was six months earlier, no, as long as it was three months, I could have found a way to gain the trust of my parents and save them from that tragedy.
Should I buy a lottery ticket? No, I only remember the occasional winning numbers but not the time they were placed.
How about s...o...b..z? No, I have no background or the capital to get into it. Singing. Le Yuan was pretty handsome, but not at idol level, and he did not have the vocals for it. That, and making a one of those famous comics was just too hard. All he could do was stick figures at best.
Seems I can only rely on becoming a web novelist. On the other hand, when I worked as a web novelist before there was just disappointment, only ending up as a third-rate writer. I wrote some books that were signed, but they did not do well.
But in the end, making up his mind, Le Yuan did not even eat breakfast, and rushed to the study and turned on the computer. He went to open the website for registered authors on original works, but after entering the url, the browser displayed a page, saying,
“Dear user: The domain name you entered is incorrect or the site has refused you access. Please try to re-enter or use the following service features…”
Original Works Society causes problems? Le Yuan aimed to change the way he entered it, and turned to using a search engine, but the results that appeared made beads of sweat pop on Le Yuan’s forehead.
From the search results, Le Yuan felt powerless, but at the same time, there was a hint of… pleasure.
He felt powerless because, despite the world still having seven continents and four oceans and the United States still being a world power, history was different from the time he knew it.
In the first world war, the country’s interests prevailed. Then there was civil war in which one side actually capitulated, and the country supported Europe in the second world war. Following the war, they quickly became one of the world’s leading powers.
After the reorganization of the Chinese government, economic advancement, focus on science and technology, comprehensive development of education, and a comprehensive national strength that could rival the United States, occurred as there was a no ten years of unrest within the Chinese court. The whole world seemed, because of this focus on technological advancement, ahead of the world he came from ten years in the future.
But although science and technology seemed to progress, the world of culture and entertainment fell into stagnation as if everyone’s potential was driven solely towards scientific research. The level of entertainment out there remained at the same level since during the first world war.
There were no games, and no web novels. And even animation, which should have advanced significantly after world war two had been in decline. Modern pop music was still budding little development, and movies, Tv shows, popular mainstream videos, broadcast only things related to war, and something akin to a mere shadow of the old martial arts film from the East.
Although history has changed, Le Yuan only maintained his original memories, so before he could became familiar with this new world, he had every intention to live his life in seclusion, fearing of getting into trouble.
With the change in history, although Le Yuan felt powerless given his position, he still felt a guilty pleasure. He couldn’t help but chuckle. If he made changes to the entertainment industry, he could lead the entertainment world into a revolution.
All kinds of things filled his head as he constantly browsed the internet, yearning to gain and organize information on this parallel world so that he wouldn’t become a joke in front of others.
While Le Yuan was drunk on the information he gained on the new world, a page suddenly popped up from an ad. The type of advertising was something Le Yuan had seen thousands of times, and was preparing to exit out of the ad when when he stopped.
This was a gaming ad. Yes, Le Yuan confirmed it several times, and in the desert like entertainment industry, seeing something that highlights a game was as if he had just seen a ghost.
Le Yuan was fl.u.s.tered as he read the game ad. ‘Do you want to know the meaning of life? Do you want to be truly… alive?’ Just seeing this phrase, Le Yuan’s heart nearly stopped.