Lu Chuyu felt as if her consciousness were being torn apart, her entire skull feeling as though it had exploded. Enduring the excruciating pain, she forced herself to absorb as much of the original body’s memories as possible.
After an unknown amount of time, accompanied by an indescribable sensation of falling, Lu Chuyu snapped her eyes open. She gasped for air, her clothes soaked in sweat and clinging to her skin in a sticky, uncomfortable mess.
Lu Chuyu raised her hand to wipe the fine cold sweat from her forehead and scanned the room. Her nose was filled with a damp, rotting stench—both strange and familiar.
She understood her current situation. As a long-time enthusiast of web novels who frequented various literary sites, she had read countless stories about transmigration and rebirth. Therefore, she was certain that she wasn’t having a psychotic break, nor was this some elaborate prank.
She had transmigrated. She had transmigrated to the United States in 1979.
The original owner of this body was a “mole person” in the US, living with her mother in a “little house” made of a few sheets of iron and wooden boards, located in the flood diversion tunnels of Las Vegas.
To prevent flooding, the US had built hundreds of miles of diversion tunnels in Las Vegas, with the underground sections making up the majority. Naturally, this became the headquarters for the city’s homeless. [Note 1]
Lu Chuyu truly admired the original body’s mother. For a Chinese woman in a racially discriminatory America, and in such a chaotic environment, to raise the original owner to adulthood was nothing short of a miracle.
One had to consider the kind of people who lived in these hundreds of miles of underground tunnels: criminals, addicts, and survivors who might greet you one second and kill you for a piece of bread the next.
Two days ago, the original owner’s mother had been stabbed to death by an addict while trying to protect her daughter. Fortunately, the Las Vegas government provided free basic cremation; otherwise, the original owner might have actually had to “sell herself to bury her mother.”
Using the only 19 dollars she had, the original owner bought the cheapest urn. Upon returning “home,” she developed a high fever, and it was this fever that brought Lu Chuyu—who had died from overwork while enjoying the “996 blessing”—into this body.
Lu Chuyu took a deep breath. She couldn’t stay in this place for long. Her greatest strength was her self-awareness; in these dim, damp underground tunnels, every extra minute was an extra minute of danger. She had no desire to become a “Gundam” of 1979.
Moreover, she was bound to a Tycoon System. Unlike the tycoon novels she had read, there were no spending missions. Instead, she needed to earn “Emotion Points” to exchange for “Life Points” or US dollars through the system, and she could purchase items from the System Mall.
Additionally, she had one check-in opportunity per day to receive a random reward.
There was no “Newbie Gift Pack” as described in novels, and the Tycoon System she was bound to provided absolutely no “communication function.” The idea of bargaining with the system was out of the question.
Looking at the semi-transparent system panel appearing out of thin air, and the Life Points highlighted in red, she couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
Her first priority was figuring out how to survive.
Life Countdown: 24 hours.
Living miserably was better than being dead; who would choose death if they could live? Furthermore, she possessed the Tycoon System. Even if it was completely different from the one she had imagined, as long as she used it correctly, it wouldn’t be difficult to make a name for herself in the late seventies—an era where gold was everywhere.
Although there was no “Newbie Gift Pack” and no way to communicate with the system, looking at the dazzling array of items in the System Mall and the illuminated “Novice Check-in” button, Lu Chuyu’s confidence grew.
After carefully reading the Tycoon System’s functional introduction, the parts currently useful to her were: 1 Emotion Point could be exchanged for 10 USD, 10 Emotion Points could be exchanged for 1 Life Point, and 1 Life Point could extend her life by 24 hours.
As long as someone felt an emotion toward her—such as anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shyness, cowardice, jealousy, malice, or admiration—Lu Chuyu would automatically collect 1 Emotion Point. The only restriction was that a single person could provide a maximum of 3 Emotion Points.
If there weren’t a cap on the Life Points on the system panel, she felt she might actually be able to “live as long as the heavens.”
Lu Chuyu didn’t dare make a scene. In the dark, she quickly changed her clothes. Relying on the original body’s memories, she stealthily took out a set of clothes wrapped tightly in a plastic bag from a cardboard box. It was a Chanel black-and-white polka-dot dress that the original owner’s mother had scavenged two weeks ago from the back alley of the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel, along with a matching short cardigan.
It had likely fallen from the window of a guest staying on a high floor of the Flamingo. The mother had planned to take it to a resale shop later to exchange it for dollars. With luck, this Chanel set could fetch several hundred dollars. In 1979 America, a few hundred dollars could rent a small apartment, providing a fixed address, which would allow them to apply for aid and find a job to survive.
They had been so close. The original owner and her mother were almost out of the diversion tunnels, almost living in the sunlight.
At this thought, Lu Chuyu’s eyes reddened slightly, and her nose felt sour.
She rubbed her face, put on her backpack, and stealthily climbed out of the underground tunnel.
Checking the watch left by the original owner’s mother, it was 4:19. Using the original body’s memories, Lu Chuyu familiarly slipped into the public restroom of a gas station. Shivering, she scrubbed herself clean and gritted her teeth to wash her hair with cold water.
Once cleaned up, Lu Chuyu put on the Chanel suit. She took out a pair of black pointed-toe leather shoes from her backpack, which the mother had bought for her 18th birthday from a resale shop for 7 dollars. Standing before the mirror at the sink, she realized she was truly beautiful.
This face was a genetic lottery win, possessing the deep, three-dimensional bone structure of Westerners and the soft, fluid lines of Easterners. Her pupils weren’t pure black; under the light, they shimmered with a hint of dark green. Her skin was a sickly, pale white—likely due to years of living in the lightless tunnels.
When she smiled, two shallow dimples appeared. What Lu Chuyu liked most was the original body’s hair color: a dark brown.
After admiring her beautiful face for a while, Lu Chuyu fished four chips out of her backpack: two 1-dollar chips, one 5-dollar chip, and one 20-dollar chip.
These were things the original owner and her mother had found when they were lucky, but they didn’t dare take them to the casinos to exchange. In those days, the Mayor of Las Vegas had built his career defending the mob; for “female mole people” like them, going to the casinos was absolutely forbidden. It was too dangerous.
Turning on the faucet, Lu Chuyu rinsed the chips clean and placed them in her dress pocket. She casually tied her hair into a lazy low bun with a black hair tie, then took out a small bottle of vodka from her backpack. She rinsed her mouth and poured some onto her hands, rubbing it onto her neck and wrists like perfume.
After securing her documents, she placed the small tin box left by the mother into a relatively new kraft paper bag. After all, a woman wearing Chanel wouldn’t be carrying a tattered backpack.
Lu Chuyu took a deep breath, pretended to be slightly tipsy, and walked openly out of the gas station restroom.
“Hi, miss, were you left behind by your friends? Do you need help?”
Liam, the gas station employee, put down his oil gun and turned around, looking at Lu Chuyu with a shocked expression.
Emotion Points +1
Lu Chuyu raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “Obviously, they forgot me. They only remembered that the car was running out of gas.”
From a few meters away, Liam could smell the faint scent of vodka. He hurried forward to support Lu Chuyu, who was walking with a slight sway. This woman was truly beautiful.
Emotion Points +1
“To forget such a beautiful lady… even God wouldn’t forgive them.”
“I think so too. Help me call a taxi.” Lu Chuyu used 1 Emotion Point to exchange for 10 USD and casually pressed it into Liam’s hand.
Liam took it with surprise. “My pleasure, miss.”
His night shift hourly wage was only 2.9 USD. She was truly a beautiful and generous woman.
Emotion Points +1
Lu Chuyu didn’t hide the system panel floating before her; others couldn’t see it anyway. Seeing the number 2 behind the Emotion Points, she curled her lips slightly.
Liam very attentively helped Lu Chuyu into the taxi. After the door closed, Lu Chuyu leaned back lazily in the rear seat. “Caesars Palace, please.”
Caesars Palace was currently the most luxurious themed hotel in Las Vegas. Even the cheapest room cost dozens of dollars. Naturally, this earned the envy of the taxi driver. Emotion Points +1.
The meter showed 2.6 USD. When Lu Chuyu got out, she casually tossed the driver 10 USD. Emotion Points +1. The cost came from the profit.
Pretending to be unable to stand steadily, she entered Caesars Palace supported by a doorman, and the Emotion Points on the system panel continued to grow.
The doormen and receptionists working at Caesars Palace naturally had some discernment. They recognized at a glance that Lu Chuyu was wearing this year’s spring Chanel suit, worth over a thousand dollars.
The number behind the Emotion Points on the system panel had already reached 17.
Lu Chuyu was led by two receptionists to a sofa in the lobby lounge. She found a comfortable position and pretended to sleep, though she eventually actually fell asleep. She was truly exhausted, both physically and mentally.
The two receptionists, wearing exquisite makeup, looked at each other and shrugged, then thoughtfully covered Lu Chuyu with a thin blanket.
Lu Chuyu was woken up by a burning sensation in her stomach—more accurately, she woke up from hunger.
The number behind the Emotion Points on the system panel had actually reached 189. It made sense; anyone seeing a beautiful woman in Chanel sleeping in the Caesars Palace lounge would feel curiosity or even disdain.
“You’re awake, miss.” The receptionist, Amelia, walked over carrying a glass of water.
Lu Chuyu raised her hand to rub her head, frowning slightly and pretending to be waking up from a hangover. She took the glass of water from Amelia. The cold water entering her stomach made it hurt more; Americans didn’t have the habit of drinking hot water.
“I think I need a comfortable bed.”
“It would be my pleasure to assist you.” Amelia went to the front desk to handle the accommodation. Lu Chuyu chose a Palace Deluxe room, which cost 160 USD per night. She booked it for two nights.
After casually giving Amelia a 10-dollar tip, Lu Chuyu closed the room door, threw herself onto the comfortable Simmons bed, rolled around once, and opened the system panel. She exchanged for 8 days of Life Points and 1,000 USD.