After the object-simulation dream-making assessment showcase ended, Luo Zhao was directly transported back into her personal space by the StarNet system.
Luo Zhao looked around. This was a room, her room on StarNet.
She realized that this place was still the virtual world rather than reality, and with a link of her mental power, she immediately exited StarNet.
Luo Zhao opened her eyes and took off the helmet. What entered her sight was a rather cramped room with very limited furniture. Behind her was a cold, silvery-white wall, and beneath her was a narrow bed that could not be considered comfortable.
Luo Zhao took a deep breath and looked at the strange helmet held in her hand, an indescribable look in her eyes.
At first, she thought she directly transmigrated to the assessment site.
That indeed was not wrong, but it was actually the assessment site within the virtual reality “StarNet.”
In other words, when other people transmigrated, they entered a real body, while Luo Zhao transmigrated into a consciousness body on the Internet.
Luo Zhao more or less read some transmigration novels before. In transmigration novels, they were generally divided into three situations: transmigration from birth, soul transmigration, and bodily transmigration.[1]胎穿 (tāi chuān), 魂穿 (hún chuān), 身穿 (shēn chuān) – Common Chinese transmigration-novel terms. 胎穿 means transmigrating from birth or as a baby, 魂穿 means one’s soul … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3685921_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3685921_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Transmigration from birth meant transmigrating into a little baby, soul transmigration meant the soul transmigrating into another person’s body, while bodily transmigration meant one’s own body and soul transmigrating together into another world.
And Luo Zhao’s current situation should obviously belong to soul transmigration, but it was also a little special.
She got up from the bed and found a mirror that reflected her current appearance.
An oval face and willow-leaf eyes, a thin figure, a pale face without any color, and waist-length hair that was somewhat dry and yellow. Ink-black eyes stared back at herself, carrying some indescribable meaning.
This was her face. Her appearance was almost exactly the same as Luo Zhao’s before transmigration. It could be said to be a “malnourished” version of herself.
Luo Zhao slightly pursed her lips. The throbbing pain in her brain from earlier during the dream-making assessment almost completely disappeared.
In ordinary transmigration novels, the moment a transmigrator obtained a body was often after the “original owner” died and the body regained life, or when the original owner was unconscious, mentally unclear, or in some other physical predicament, thereby borrowing a corpse to return the soul and creating a new life.[2]借尸还魂 (jiè shī huán hún) – Literally “borrow a corpse to return the soul,” referring here to a soul entering a dead or dying body and living again through it. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3685921_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3685921_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Luo Zhao was not stupid. As a graduate student who managed to enter the Department of Folklore at Huaxia University in modern society, at this moment she did not feel delighted because of transmigration, nor did she feel joy at arriving in a new world, because at this moment, many questions still surrounded this body of hers.
According to the common knowledge in the original body’s memories, if a person unexpectedly died in reality, the consciousness connected to StarNet would directly disconnect and disappear.
When Luo Zhao transmigrated over, the original owner’s consciousness clearly encountered some mishap, but she was not dead yet. Her life and consciousness signals did not disappear.
In this interstellar novel, the original owner’s predetermined ending was to be eliminated in the object-simulation dream-making assessment that just ended, and afterward be targeted by someone, have her mental power extracted, and die.
The Dream-Making Livestream Battle took place within the virtual StarNet, not in reality. Since “Luo Zhao” was going to have her mental power extracted by someone, was she already targeted in reality long ago?
When the original owner tested as having S-rank mental power a few days ago, because the administrative area she registered under had to be made public, did someone use that to find her offline from online?
Luo Zhao slightly lowered her eyes. From her memories and what was before her, it was clear that the original body lived quite frugally.
Since childhood, she was picked up and raised by Old Man Gu, a scavenger from the garbage station. Three years ago, Old Man Gu passed away, and the garbage station got a new station chief who no longer allowed the surrounding scavengers to “treasure hunt,”[3]“淘宝” (táobǎo) – “treasure hunting.” Here, it means scavenging through discarded items to find things of value. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3685921_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3685921_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); making it difficult for the original body to make a living.
Fortunately, Old Man Gu arranged an official identity for the original body early on, allowing her to access StarNet, and the original body successfully applied for minimum-guarantee housing and allowance for minors.
What she currently lived in was still minimum-guarantee housing provided by the Federation government. It was just that because she only reached adulthood one month ago and moved out of the protected area for minors, the minimum-guarantee housing after adulthood was no longer free. She had to pay a basic maintenance fee of 500 star coins every month and could not damage the furniture.
Unlike the area for minors, the minimum-guarantee housing area she lived in now had no security, no prosthetic eyes spread everywhere, and even less any guards patrolling. What public security was like depended entirely on people’s own self-discipline.
In the current interstellar era, ordinary humans who did not undergo special training could grow and live to one hundred and fifty years old, and her current age of twenty-five was exactly the age of adulthood.
At the same age in her previous life, she was already long since an adult, but now she only just reached adulthood. She did not know whether this counted as getting a younger version of herself for free.
The original body only just moved out of the protected area for minors, and something happened right after she became an adult. If this was a coincidence, Luo Zhao would not believe it even if she was beaten to death.
Luo Zhao swept her gaze over this minimum-guarantee housing. The most urgent matter was that she first needed to move.
In order not to attract attention, traveling light was best. Luo Zhao quickly gathered the personal belongings she carried with her from inside the room and packed them into a backpack, except for the helmet.
After reaching adulthood, there was no longer a minimum-living-guarantee allowance. During this period, the original body herself was also looking for work, so Luo Zhao going out with a bag on her back at this moment would not attract attention.
As for this guaranteed housing, she only needed to apply to check out of it on StarNet.
She went out and boarded a hover train heading toward the city center of Flying Fish Planet. Sitting on a silvery-white automatic seat, Luo Zhao looked thoughtfully at the portable smartbrain on her left hand.
From leaving home to boarding the train, Luo Zhao did not feel that anyone was watching her.
In the past, she spent long periods conducting field research in the countryside, moreover all by herself. For the sake of protecting herself, Luo Zhao was always especially sensitive to other people’s scrutiny and to her surroundings.
No one was watching her. Was she being overly sensitive?
Or could the other party not spare the manpower, or did they think she was already something in their grasp and only needed to wait to harvest her?
There was too little information around her, and the sample was limited. Luo Zhao narrowed her eyes. Looking at the checkout application on the portable smartbrain, she temporarily tapped exit.
After checking out of guaranteed housing, relevant Federation government personnel would come over to inspect and accept the property. People in uniforms coming over would definitely attract the attention of the surrounding residents.
In any case, this month’s housing maintenance fee was already paid. Luo Zhao looked at the date. There were still ten days left, so she would drag it out until the last day before dealing with it.
Sitting on the hover train and looking at the street scenery outside the window, Flying Fish Planet was well-known throughout the surrounding Xike Star Zone. Since it was named after “flying fish,” naturally this planet was closely connected to flying fish.
Flying Fish Planet’s largest industry was garbage processing. The large numbers of black-tailed flying fish raised and cultivated here could consume and process large quantities of interstellar garbage while at the same time producing a fertilizer called “Flying Fish Sand.” It could be said to be the pillar supporting Flying Fish Planet’s entire fiscal income.
Of course, besides garbage processing, Flying Fish Planet was likewise famous for “flying-fish breeding and cultivation.” Aside from dozens of common kinds of flying fish, there was also protection for endangered and rare flying-fish species.
However, because large amounts of interstellar garbage from the surrounding star zones were all dumped on Flying Fish Planet for processing, its nickname “garbage planet” was actually even more famous than Flying Fish Planet itself.
Residents of other planets thought that Flying Fish Planet relied on picking through their garbage to survive. Heh, garbage.
The residents of Flying Fish Planet thought, don’t the other planets still have to ask us to process their garbage? Heh, garbage.
Of course, there were also differing views among the residents of Flying Fish Planet themselves. Many people did not want to carry around the famous background of being from a “garbage planet” and tried every possible way to immigrate elsewhere.
Luo Zhao skimmed through information on a large number of flying-fish species on the portable smartbrain. Her fingers moved slightly. For ordinary residents, whose mental power was not high enough and who could not become Dream Makers, the industries they basically worked in on Flying Fish Planet were garbage processing and flying-fish breeding.
Now that she was a Dream Maker, she would have more choices.
“We have arrived at Flying Fish Plaza Station. Passengers getting off at this station, please take your personal belongings with you and look after your pets and young children.”
The hover train was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, Luo Zhao already arrived at the station.
“Citizen Luo Zhao, this travel segment cost 8 star coins. Credit account balance: 536 star coins.”
The instant she exited the station, a new message appeared on the portable smartbrain. Luo Zhao’s steps paused, and she almost stumbled.
How… how much balance did it say?
At this moment, Luo Zhao stood by the roadside and entered her personal credit account. The glaringly obvious 536 star coins laid her poverty completely bare.
For a moment, Luo Zhao greatly regretted not bringing the StarNet helmet out to sell secondhand. Because it was too large and she feared attracting attention, and because she also feared someone tampered with it, she directly left it behind in the minimum-guarantee housing.
Otherwise, no matter what, she could have sold it for a few hundred star coins to tide herself over.
While looking at the smartbrain on her hand, Luo Zhao noticed that her personal center received several new emails from the Sea of Stars Dream Maker Committee.
“Contestant Luo Zhao, during your dream-making showcase segment today, one StarNet user purchased the 【Immersive Sensory Link】 service. This service was priced at 1,000 star coins this time. Your contestant share of 800 star coins has been issued to your credit account. Please check and confirm receipt.”
Goodness, speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives.[4]说曹操曹操到 (shuō Cáo Cāo, Cáo Cāo dào) – A Chinese saying equivalent to “speak of the devil.” It means that the person or thing just being talked about appears immediately. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3685921_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3685921_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); She just said she was short of money, and money arrived.
Money came in! Luo Zhao’s eyes lit up, and she swiftly switched to her credit account to take a look. 1,336 star coins. Her wallet immediately became much fuller. Sure enough, it was not a scam email.
One email was for sending money, so what were the other few for? Luo Zhao read them one by one.
“Contestant Luo Zhao, the Sea of Stars Dream-Making Livestream Battle will enter the official competition ten days from now, at 8:00 on August 24, Sea of Stars Year 6588. At the same time, the Dream Maker Ranking Grand List will simultaneously open throughout the entire sea of stars……”
The next competition was coming in ten days? Luo Zhao’s gaze shifted slightly. These emails were sent just after she finished the previous competition, but at the time, Luo Zhao was in a hurry to exit StarNet and did not have time to look at them.
She looked at the text below this email: “The Sea of Stars Dream Maker Rankings, Star Region Rankings, and Star Zone Rankings will open simultaneously with the official competition. The competition-preparation zones and training camps belonging to each star region and star zone will also open simultaneously. Contestants who need them, please apply as soon as possible.”
Competition-preparation zones and training camps? Luo Zhao was just switching interfaces to search what these two places were for when, in the search bar, her gaze swept over StarNet’s regional trending searches and she slightly froze.
#Flying Fish Planet Contestant Luo Zhao#
#S-Rank Object-Simulation Dream-Making#
#Unknown Flying Fish S-Rank#
#Object-Simulation in the Final Three Minutes#
Casually clicking into any one of the trending entries, they were filled entirely with disbelief and doubt.
《Shocking! Rookie Dream Maker Luo Zhao from the Garbage Planet Completed S-Rank Object-Simulation in the Final Three Minutes. Is It Real or Fake?》
《Unknown Flying-Fish Object-Simulation Rated S-Rank? There May Be a Backer Behind the Genius Dream Maker! Sensationalism! Attention-Grabbing!》
《Contestant Luo Zhao Used a Special Intermediary Object for Assistance During Dream-Making. This Is Cheating!》
References[+]