Time passed.
One year.
Twelve months of quiet, mundane life.
Su Chen adapted.
At first, he had been restless, expecting something—anything—to happen. But as days turned into weeks and weeks into months, nothing changed.
No mysterious men watching him.
No strange occurrences.
No return of his old power.
Just an ordinary life.
He worked small jobs, moved into a tiny apartment, and lived paycheck to paycheck. There were no grand ambitions, no battles, no conspiracies.
Just survival.
At first, it had been suffocating.
But then… he started to get used to it.
The simple rhythm of waking up, working, eating, and sleeping became his new normal. There was a strange peace in it, a life without chaos.
Maybe this is how things were meant to be.
The Awakening
Su Chen gasped for air.
His head spun as he found himself in his old apartment again—the dim flickering bulb, the cracked walls, the suffocating air.
But this time… something was different.
His memories.
They were all there.
One year of living an ordinary life. One year of struggling, adapting, and finally finding some semblance of peace.
And yet, in an instant, it was gone.
Like it had never happened.
DING!
A crisp sound echoed in his mind.
[System Awakening…]
Su Chen's body went rigid.
[Congratulations, Host. You have completed the Trial of Truth.]
[The dream has ended. Reality resumes now.]
A deep chill spread through his veins.
"Trial…?" he muttered, his voice hoarse.
[Affirmative.]
[The life you lived for the past year was a test. A fabricated reality.]
Su Chen's breath hitched.
It had felt real. The pain, the struggle, the slow acceptance—it had all felt so damn real.
[The dream was designed to strip away everything—to see if you could endure a life without power, without purpose.]
[And you succeeded.]
His fingers trembled.
"So… none of it was real?"
[The emotions were real. The experiences were real. But the world itself was not.]
[You have always been here.]
Su Chen's vision blurred. The weight of those words crashed into him like a tidal wave.
A fabricated reality? A test?
All this time, he had been trying to move on. Trying to live a normal life.
Only to find out it had all been an illusion.
His nails dug into his palm.
Then that meant…
Ye Meng. Su Tian.
They had never existed.
A bitter laugh escaped his lips.
"This is cruel."
The system remained silent.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Su Chen! Open the damn door! I know you're in there!"
His head snapped toward the door.
The landlady's voice.
Just like before.
His breathing quickened.
It was happening again.
DING!
[God of Systems has been fully initialized.]
[Welcome back, Host.]
Su Chen's body trembled.
And then—
DING!
[Assigning initial rewards…]
[Congratulations! You have received:]
69% of Penguin Group shares
Ownership of Peninsula Hotel
Nangong Villa
10 billion yuan
The exact same rewards.
The exact same awakening.
Like the past had reset.
His mind buzzed.
He clenched his fists, his heart pounding with an overwhelming mixture of emotions.
Fear. Rage. Relief.
But most of all—determination.
This time…
This time, he would not hesitate.
If fate had given him a second chance, he would seize it with both hands.
No more tests. No more illusions.
His true beginning started now.