Chapter 94 - 92: Watching the Show and Transformation

Chapter 94: Chapter 92: Watching the Show and Transformation

...

He had thought the farce ended there.

But the unexpected happened!

The next day, after Chen Jingle finished his morning run and returned from grocery shopping, he heard a rumor at the village entrance’s "women’s intelligence center" that was even more outrageous than the one from last night.

Old Mr. Chen Xi, who had won the eight thousand yuan, ultimately couldn’t hold back. He had sneaked out in the middle of the night to have some fun.

What was even crazier was that halfway through the deed, he reportedly suffered a stroke! It scared the service provider so much that she called the police on the spot, and he was later rushed to the hospital in an ambulance for emergency resuscitation.

After receiving the call, his two sons rushed to the hospital overnight to keep watch. Who knew how he was doing now? His wife didn’t go. She had stayed home cursing him out all night and was still cursing him this morning, saying he might as well just die. The eight thousand yuan he won yesterday probably wasn’t even enough to cover his medical bills; they would have to pay more out of pocket.

Chen Jingle was dumbfounded.

"Are you serious? Could this world get any crazier?"

For the first time, he doubted whether the world he lived in was actually real. Why did it feel like recent events were getting more and more absurd?

Right at this moment, Liang City sent a message.

"Holy crap, I just heard that an old man in Jiangbei had a stroke while soliciting a prostitute and was taken away by an ambulance!"

Chen Jingle was speechless. Wait, it had spread already? That fast? He wouldn’t dare admit the man was from his village; it was simply too embarrassing. He couldn’t help but ask, "Where did you hear about this?"

Liang City replied, "It’s all over Friends Circle and local group chats. Someone even posted it on TikTok, which is where I saw it. I’m dying of laughter."

Chen Jingle was speechless again. Hold on, don’t laugh yet. They didn’t mention the name of our village, did they? Please tell me they didn’t. If the village’s name was mentioned, wouldn’t he have to move away overnight?

Chen Jingle pinched the bridge of his nose. This was just too much to handle.

If this kind of gossip had happened somewhere else, he would have gladly joined in on the drama. But since it happened right next to him and involved his own village, being in the center of the gossip field wasn’t exactly a wonderful feeling. It was humiliating!

He opened TikTok and searched for it. Sure enough, he saw quite a few people discussing the incident, including many who claimed to be eyewitnesses. Fortunately, the village’s name wasn’t mentioned, nor did any of the villagers out themselves.

"Thank goodness," he muttered, feeling slightly relieved, though he was still curious. "Since this has blown up so much, I wonder if they’ll crack down on those underground lotteries?"

Hmm, the possibility felt very slim. At the very least, he shouldn’t get his hopes up too high. It was much more likely that they would strike hard against the illicit service industry instead.

"If nothing else, it’d be good if those in the village who are addicted to the underground lottery could take this as a cautionary tale and dial it back a bit."

However, Chen Jingle felt it was much more likely that they would only focus on the eight thousand yuan. Expecting a bunch of blind, greedy people to wake up on their own? That was a bit of a pipe dream.

"What are your plans for today?" Liang City asked.

"Just staying home to read. What about you?"

"I’m already at the hospital, bringing Mingyue in for a checkup."

Chen Jingle suddenly grew a little tense. "What’s wrong with Little Mingyue?"

"Nothing, just a routine pediatric checkup," Liang City replied.

Chen Jingle relaxed. "That’s good to hear."

"But I feel like there’s something wrong with me."

"Huh? What’s wrong with you?" Chen Jingle tensed up again.

Liang City sent an emoji with massive dark circles under its eyes. "My sleep quality has been terrible lately, and I just don’t feel right. I feel like I’m dying."

Chen Jingle was startled. "Don’t talk nonsense. You looked fine to me last night."

Liang City’s text exuded a sense of exhaustion. "Yeah, I might look fine on the surface, but I feel like there’s something wrong with my overall condition. I’m very anxious. My hyperthyroidism might have relapsed. I need to get checked out too."

Hearing this, Chen Jingle grew worried. Unfortunately, he didn’t know much about medicine, so he could only say, "Then get it checked first. Hopefully, it’s nothing."

Liang City replied, "It’s actually not that bad. I just hate taking medicine."

"You’re an adult now. Just follow the doctor’s orders. Even if you don’t like taking it, you have to. Focus on getting better first."

"..."

...

After ending the conversation, Chen Jingle stared blankly into space for a while.

He suddenly realized that the term "sub-health" seemed to be rarely mentioned these days. Was it because everyone had gotten used to it? Almost everyone seemed to have some sort of physical ailment—frozen shoulder, cervical spondylosis, lumbar muscle strain, and so on. Even if they were physically fine, they might have psychological issues like depression, manic depression, or bipolar disorder.

"It seems like everyone is living a hard life," he murmured.

Chen Jingle paused, a sudden realization dawning on him.

If it weren’t for the system’s appearance, he would be just like everyone else, struggling to get by with a host of non-fatal but troublesome ailments. It was the system that had given him a chance to start over and remake himself.

But more often than not, he had treated the system merely as an auxiliary learning tool to acquire various knowledge and build his own knowledge framework. He had been too focused on absorbing knowledge, neglecting the physical changes in his own body. Yet, the physical transformations the system had brought him were remarkably obvious.

Perhaps he had simply grown accustomed to the system’s presence, leading him to take all these changes for granted. Because he felt he had put in the effort and completed the tasks, receiving feedback and rewards felt normal. But these were opportunities ordinary people didn’t have.

He was the lucky one! The system had successfully helped him break free from his former, failure of a self.

Chen Jingle patted his head. "It seems like I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with everything lately. My mindset is slightly off."

In short, he had let it go to his head, blinded by temporary success. Of course, there was another reason. He had developed a bit of reward fatigue toward the system’s prizes. Although there were occasionally new rewards—like dispelling internal dampness, kidney health care, vision enhancement, and so on—his inflated ego was a direct manifestation of this reward fatigue.

However, when Chen Jingle truly took a serious look at the changes in himself and compared them to how he was two weeks ago, he finally realized just how massive and obvious these changes were. At the same time, he understood that aside from his own efforts, all of this was mostly bestowed by the system.

The system’s transformation of him was comprehensive and multifaceted, far more powerful than just targeting one specific area. In reality, his own efforts were far from enough!

Standing completely naked before the mirror after getting out of the shower, Chen Jingle inspected himself from head to toe.

The changes were extraordinary. His face was clean, exceptionally handsome, and pleasing to the eye. His complexion was vibrant. His skin was clear, healthy, and fair, and his muscle lines were gradually becoming defined... Compared to his past self, he was almost a completely different person.

He felt as though he was evolving. He was evolving toward a state of perfection, and in this process, all his imperfections would be weeded out.

He suddenly recalled a quote he used to have as his computer wallpaper: "I don’t seek a drastic change, only a slight metamorphosis."

This was the first time he had seen a quantitative change transform into a qualitative one so vividly within himself. He had previously thought about "internal drive" versus "external drive." Now, looking at his reflection, he felt his "internal drive" stronger than ever before.

"I need to work even harder!"

Even if it was just so he could lie flat and relax better in the future, the two goals weren’t entirely contradictory.

As a result, Chen Jingle’s motivation for his upcoming schedule skyrocketed. Besides tutoring Chen Qiyun with her homework, he also took his own tasks very seriously, including cooking. It was no longer just throwing something together to get by. Although he didn’t know how long this enthusiasm would last, for now, maintaining it for a while wouldn’t be a problem—at least until his next mental slump.

Chen Jingle felt a sense of enlightenment.

Life was precisely this process of constantly tempering oneself. One shouldn’t lose heart over temporary setbacks, nor become complacent over temporary gains. When solid ice still covered the North Sea, one had to envision the blooming plum blossoms; when standing at the mountain’s peak, one shouldn’t forget the path they took to get there. At the very least, when he looked back on the past and recalled an important moment, he wouldn’t feel regret for not trying his absolute best.

That was enough!

"Is dinner good tonight?" Chen Jingle asked Chen Qiyun at the dining table.

"It’s delicious! It tastes even better than lunch! And it looks so pretty too!"

"If it’s delicious, then eat up."

"Mhm! Does this dish have a name?"

"It’s called Jade Pearl Fish Flower."

A top-tier dish in Huaiyang cuisine. Since he said he was going to try his best, he naturally had to give it his all when cooking, too.