Chapter 1: Two Years of Waiting
It was August, and the weather remained hot and dry.
Han Zhou sat under a sun umbrella on the commercial street, sipping iced water to cool down, while observing the passersby, occasionally pulling out his phone to check messages.
His phone looked quite battered and old; not only that, the screen was cracked in the bottom left corner, though it fortunately didn't affect its use.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Han Zhou scrutinized everyone who passed by, like a police officer searching for a suspect.
Seeing this, Lin An-yu, who was beside him, smiled with relief, thinking, 'This kid has finally wised up. On such a hot day, the streets are full of beautiful women with bare arms and legs. Isn't it better to look at them instead of being a simp for that strongwoman?'
Thinking this, he no longer found the scorching place unbearable. It was all for his brother, after all. So, he put on his sunglasses and also silently enjoyed the sight of beautiful women while munching on an ice pop.
However, if one were to look closely at Han Zhou's gaze, they would realize that he wasn't looking at arms and legs, as Lin An-yu thought, but at the top of everyone's heads.
Name: Lin Xiao-xiao
Name: Cheng Zi-yan
Name: Lin Nan
Name: Zhang Wei
Name: Mo Yi-xia (Unlockable)
Name: Li Da-lei
...
From Han Zhou's perspective, everyone who passed by had their names floating above their heads, accompanied by other information below, though most of it was invisible.
However, none of that was the main point. The main point was the three words: "Unlockable."
When Han Zhou saw those three words, he was almost moved to tears, so excited that he nearly dropped his phone. His gaze quickly shifted downwards, looking at the owner of the name, the girl named Mo Yi-xia.
Strangely, despite the hot weather, she wore a baseball cap and a mask, making her face unclear. She carried a large backpack and held a black sun umbrella.
The Linbei Middle School uniform on her indicated her identity: she was a high school student.
"Is she going for tutoring?"
Han Zhou was a bit puzzled, but mostly excited—two years, a full two years, and he had finally found a second unlockable target!
Han Zhou wasn't sure if he was a reincarnator or a transmigrator. First, he died unfortunately before graduating from university, and then he lived for eighteen years in this Earth-like world, having just finished recalling the terror of being dominated by the college entrance exam.
No superpowers, no monsters, no childhood sweethearts, not even troublemaking ruffians. Han Zhou's two lives could be summarized in four words: "utterly ordinary."
But there was nothing wrong with that. Han Zhou had originally thought he could live a stable life, but in his second year of high school, he was diagnosed with an incurable disease, and his body rapidly weakened.
At the same time, his golden finger finally arrived.
After repeated research, Han Zhou discovered that he could see anyone's status bar, but only his own was the clearest. To see others' detailed information, he needed to have a sufficiently deep connection with them; the more familiar the person, the more information he could see.
The ability of a Level 1 status bar was limited to this, and it wasn't very useful. To upgrade the status bar, he needed to spend points, but points could only be obtained from unlockable individuals.
Fortunately, Han Zhou quickly found an unlockable person, the strongwoman Lin An-yu mentioned, their high school class monitor, Gu Zheng.
So, starting from his second year of high school, Han Zhou was completely branded with the title 'Gu Zheng's loyal simp.' Even their homeroom teacher spoke to him several times, earnestly telling him to learn self-control and that romance should wait until university.
Lin An-yu was even more exasperated; once, he even lost his temper, angrily asking, 'Can't you live without that woman?'
To this, Han Zhou gave an affirmative answer.
It was no exaggeration to say that he truly couldn't live without Gu Zheng.
Name: Han Zhou
Intelligence: 7
Charm: 7
Stamina: 3 (Weak)
Skills: Efficient Learning, Culinary Proficiency, Fast Reading, Doctor of Long Illness, Powerful Throw
Current Status: Dying (Modified) → Ten Breaths Remaining: Ten breaths remaining, can survive for one day, enters critical condition after twenty-four hours.
Status Bar Level: 2, Current Points Remaining: 1
As mentioned before, Han Zhou was diagnosed with a terminal illness in his second year of high school. The reason he was still alive was entirely due to the status bar's ability—status modification.
A Level 2 status bar possessed the ability to modify status. Han Zhou could add or remove strokes or modify characters in the current status within the status bar and assign them new definitions. As long as the definition was fundamentally sound, the modified status would take effect.
For example, "Dying" modified into "Ten Breaths Remaining" had its definition changed from 'imminent death' to 'can survive for twenty-four hours.'
This was undoubtedly a terrifying ability. Han Zhou even immediately had the thought of whether to write "Invincible" in his status bar.
However, unfortunately, modifying status required spending points. Adding a stroke cost two points, and the modified status was not permanent, lasting only twenty-four hours. This meant that to stay alive, Han Zhou had to spend two points every day to modify his status.
The embarrassing part was that he could only get two points a day.
The points required by the status bar could only be obtained from unlockable target individuals. Without triggering side quests, Han Zhou could only earn two points daily from Gu Zheng through fixed daily quests and use them to modify his status.
He earned them and used them on the same day, a true day-to-day existence.
So, regarding the statement that he couldn't live without Gu Zheng, Han Zhou not only didn't deny it but said it constantly.
He had no extra points; the points obtained from unlocking were all used to upgrade the status bar. Therefore, he had no choice but to rely on Gu Zheng to earn points every day to sustain his life.
Of course, calling him a simp was an exaggeration. He and Gu Zheng were genuine friends, and he was very careful to maintain boundaries and didn't affect her studies. At most, he would talk to her every day, ask her to eat together, and visit her house during holidays, come rain or shine, always worried about not seeing her every day...
Could this be called being a simp?
From his second year of high school until graduation, Han Zhou never slept well. Only he knew the hardships involved. He had been searching for new unlockable individuals, as he couldn't keep relying on just one person. Besides, if he couldn't see Gu Zheng one day and couldn't get points, he would simply die.
Yet, for two full years, he hadn't found a single unlockable person, even at one point doubting if Gu Zheng was the only one.
And just when he had resigned himself to being Gu Zheng's appendage for life, this girl named Mo Yi-xia appeared, with the glaring words "Unlockable" above her head, brighter than the sun.
Han Zhou's mood at that moment was imaginable; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had seen an angel.
He didn't hesitate, immediately deciding to take action, his eyes like a hungry wolf seeing a lamb—he had finally found an unlockable person, and he couldn't let her get away, no matter what!
However, before he could make a move, the high school girl wearing a mask actually walked straight towards them, closed her umbrella, and sat down on the chair next to him.
Han Zhou was startled. After a moment's thought, he handed her an unopened bottle of water and asked, "Would you like some water?"
Lin An-yu, beside him, gaped, his ice pop falling to the ground. He thought, 'No way, brother, is this how you hit on girls?'
"You shouldn't drink water given by strangers; even children know that."
Sure enough, the masked girl refused Han Zhou's water. Perhaps because of the mask, her voice sounded a bit strange.
Han Zhou didn't mind. He placed the water on the table and asked, "It's still summer vacation, right? Are you guys having tutoring?"
"There's no 'guys,' only me having tutoring."
Mo Yi-xia's tone was calm, but she clearly had some resentment about it, lightly kicking the table leg off and on.
"Then you're still slacking off here, aren't you afraid of being late?" Lin An-yu, on the side, adopted the posture of an experienced elder, recalling his homeroom teacher's tone, and said in an old-fashioned manner, "It looks like you should be in your final year of high school, the last year, just persevere..."
"I know you."
Mo Yi-xia ignored the guy wearing sunglasses and looked at Han Zhou beside her. "Your photo and name are on the Qinghai Middle School bulletin board. I remember you scored very high."
"And then?"
Han Zhou became interested. He was just racking his brain for a topic, but this person actually brought one up, and it seemed like she had more to say.
Mo Yi-xia glanced at the dilapidated phone on his table and said directly, "Are you willing to be my tutor? My family is very rich, and my mom will never be stingy if she thinks it's effective, especially for a poor bookworm like you."
Lin An-yu was already a bit unhappy about being ignored. Upon hearing this, he immediately frowned and stood up, saying, "You little girl, don't look down on people. What do you mean by 'bookworm'? If you're so rich, why are you walking to tutoring..."
To his surprise, Han Zhou quickly covered his mouth, looked at Mo Yi-xia, and said, "I accept. When do we start classes?"
He wondered if it was his lucky day; this was exactly the direction he had hoped for.
"What are you doing, kid? Ptooey, ptooey!" Lin An-yu quickly pulled his hand away, looking disgusted. "You have sweat on your hand, it's so dirty."
Mo Yi-xia took out a pen and paper from her bag, writing as she spoke, "This is the address of my residential complex and my contact information. I'm going back now to sort things out with my mom. You can come the day after tomorrow at eight in the morning."
Han Zhou took the note and looked into her eyes. "Although I know you're probably not really looking for a tutor, I'll be there on time."
Mo Yi-xia was noncommittal. She put on her backpack and stood up, asking, "Oh, by the way, what's your name? I remember your face, but I forgot your name."
"Han Zhou. And you?"
"Mo Yi-xia. Remember to come on time."
Looking up at the dazzling sun, the girl opened her black sun umbrella and prepared to leave.
Seeing the words "Unlockable" above her head, Han Zhou suddenly remembered the most important thing he hadn't done yet. After a moment's thought, he quickly found Lin An-yu's contact in his phone and subtly dialed his number.
A gentle female voice quickly rang from Lin An-yu's phone. He picked it up and his expression became strange.
Without giving him a chance to speak, Han Zhou suddenly raised his voice and asked, pretending, "Don't tell me, your ringtone is quite nice. What's the name of the song again?"
Lin An-yu couldn't help but say, "Didn't you tell me to change my ringtone? What the hell are you doing, you..."
"I want to fall in love."
Mo Yi-xia, who was about to leave, stopped, looked at the two with an expression like she was looking at idiots, and said, "This song is called 'I Want to Fall in Love.' It is indeed very nice."
With that, she left without looking back.
At the same time, a series of characters flashed before Han Zhou's eyes.
Keyword triggered. Target Mo Yi-xia unlocked. Gained 10 points.
Daily Quest One (Mo Yi-xia): Get ten smiles from the target. Gain 1 point.
Daily Quest Two (Mo Yi-xia): Get ten 'likes' from the target. Gain 1 point.
Side Quest Activated: Target Mo Yi-xia is extremely rebellious and has developed a slight sense of world-weariness. Please ensure she at least doesn't dislike you. Upon completion, gain 50 points and extract one enhanced skill from the target.
"Hiss... 50 points?"
Han Zhou wasn't deliberately acting strange just now; it was because the status bar's unlock condition was too outrageous: getting the target to say the words 'I want to fall in love.'
He had long wanted to complain about this, at one point suspecting something was wrong with it. However, the 50-point reward instantly caught his attention. He had actually completed a side quest with Gu Zheng before, but the reward was only 20 points, and the difficulty wasn't high.
This quest being worth 50 points actually implied its difficulty.
As for the so-called enhanced skill, Han Zhou had already experienced it. In short, it was an upgraded version of someone else's skill.
The "Powerful Throw" in his skill bar was extracted from Gu Zheng, but it wasn't very useful, at least his current sickly physique couldn't support such strength.
He clearly couldn't do Mo Yi-xia's daily quests today, but at least he had 10 points from unlocking, which greatly uplifted Han Zhou's spirits.
At least he could sleep a little more soundly.
Having a new source of points was significant, meaning he would no longer be living hand-to-mouth. He could accumulate points to continue upgrading the status bar, or drastically modify his status, perhaps even permanently getting rid of his "dying" state in the future.
It would be best to complete the side quest before school starts, and also seize the opportunity to quickly accumulate some backup points, otherwise, he might not see Mo Yi-xia often later...
As Han Zhou pondered, Lin An-yu, who had been staring at him for a long time, suddenly showed a relieved smile and patted his shoulder, saying, "Han Zhou, you've grown up."
"Huh?" Han Zhou snapped back to reality.
"I was wondering why you were suddenly so strange, even asking me the song title out of nowhere. Turns out you, kid, fell in love at first sight." Lin An-yu chuckled.
Han Zhou said helplessly, "I haven't even seen what she looks like."
Lin An-yu might seem unreliable, even willing to endure the heat to accompany him on the street to "look at beautiful women," but he was actually a genuine rich second generation.
"That's why it's called love at first sight, not lust at first sight."
He looked solemn, seemingly convinced that his friend liked the girl named Mo Yi-xia, and winked, "It's a good thing to like a girl. Love at first sight is always better than being a simp, but don't affect her college entrance exam, okay?"
Anyway, anything that made Han Zhou forget that strongwoman was a good thing. What wasn't better than being a simp these days?
"I told you it's not what you think."
"Anyway, I support you!" Lin An-yu said with an 'I understand, bro' expression. "Let's go, let's find a place with air conditioning to get some coffee. This place is killing me with heat."
"No, I have something to do later, and I don't like coffee."
"Then I'll have the driver take you. We'll go for barbecue later to celebrate properly." Lin An-yu seemed very happy.
Han Zhou didn't know what this guy was celebrating. He shook his head and said, "The subway is fine. I need to go to Huadu Community."
"Huadu Commu..."
Lin An-yu's smile froze, and a big question mark appeared above his head.
"That's right."
Han Zhou patted his shoulder and nodded seriously, "I haven't seen Gu Zheng today yet."
