Chapter 1

The sound of the TV came through the not-so-thick bathroom door. Zhang Yang sat on the toilet, holding a thick copy of *A History of Two Weeks*, and glanced at the cleaning log on the wall.

The log clearly and distinctly recorded the latest cleaning date: June 23, 1991.

The TV continued to play, the voice of a middle-aged man, calm and measured, resonating through the room: "The *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* is one of the most well-known and influential classical masterpieces in our country. Its adaptation has been widely anticipated. Our entire team has been dedicated to preserving the original work while presenting the most authentic, exciting, and grand scenes to everyone..."

Zhang Yang hadn't heard wrong.

"The course of history has changed, and the Ming Dynasty no longer exists, yet *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms* is still here?"

A slight doubt crossed Zhang Yang's mind, but he quickly understood. According to his memory of the original history, the author of *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, Luo Guanzhong, was born in the middle of the Yuan Dynasty. During the chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he served as a capable advisor to Zhang Shicheng. Later, due to Zhang Shicheng's refusal to heed his advice and insistence on declaring himself king, Luo Guanzhong lost all faith in him and left. He then wrote *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms* during the early Ming Dynasty, in the Hongwu era.

In this world, the history of the late Yuan Dynasty had taken a different path. The ambitious Zhu Chongba lost, and the person who unified the country and rebuilt the nation became Zhang Shicheng. Even if Luo Guanzhong wasn't a founding hero, he certainly wouldn't have fared worse than in the original history, so it wasn't surprising that he wrote *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms*.

"We have repeatedly discussed with several experts and still hope to use ancient poetry as the opening theme song, but we haven't found a satisfactory piece yet. However, since we started soliciting poems from the public last week, we have received many submissions from various people. On behalf of the entire *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* production team, I would like to express our sincere gratitude..."

Zhang Yang closed his eyes, trying to recall the memories of this world that he hadn't fully integrated yet. Suddenly, the bathroom door was knocked on twice, and he opened his eyes, closed the book, and placed it on the paper towel holder. He struggled to stand up.

His legs were a bit numb, and after pulling up his pants, he stood there for a moment before picking up the cane on his right side. He paused, turned around, flushed the empty toilet, and turned on the exhaust fan.

Amidst the sound of running water, he opened the bathroom door with one hand holding the book and the other leaning on the cane. Outside, he saw a young girl, about twenty-three or twenty-four years old.

She was dressed in ordinary jeans and a white shirt, with a ponytail, a slim figure, fair skin, and a few light freckles on her nose. Her features were delicate, and she was quite a pretty young woman.

Of course, given Zhang Yang's current age, calling her a "pretty young woman" was hard to interpret as "young" in terms of age, as he was just two months away from turning eighteen, a high school sophomore. It would be more normal for her to think of him as a "handsome young man."

Seeing him come out of the bathroom, the girl seemed a bit uncomfortable. Zhang Yang smiled awkwardly, raised the book in his hand, and said, "Sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay."

She quickly waved her hand, walked past him, and entered the bathroom.

The bathroom door of the ward opened into the foyer. Zhang Yang, leaning on his cane, took a few steps but couldn't see the large color TV on the table clearly. Then, a familiar voice sounded in his mind:

"Please choose to accept."

"Please choose to accept."

"Please choose to accept."

...

Since he mysteriously arrived in this world, this voice in his mind had never stopped. Over the past month, he had tried countless times to understand its intentions, but apart from deducing that it had some form of consciousness through their conversations, he had made no substantial progress.

Currently, they were in a standoff: one side harassing, the other ignoring.

After enduring the noise for so long, the initial fear, anxiety, or curiosity had largely faded. Now, Zhang Yang only felt increasingly impatient and annoyed.

Ignoring it, Zhang Yang dragged his leg in a cast to his bed, put down the cane, and carefully climbed onto the bed to lie down.

As a former popular online writer, he was not unfamiliar with the term "host." He had even written stories with "transmigration" and "system" settings. However, the most clear-headed liars were often the most awake. Transmigration might be explained by some theoretical basis, but "system" was purely a cheat code to lower the writing difficulty and help the author advance the plot, which is why it became so popular in online novels like a virus.

If someone heard the term "host" and immediately thought, "This is a system," "This is an opportunity," "This is the golden finger that will lead me to the peak of life," and got excited and accepted it... that would be pure foolishness from reading too many novels.

The origin of the voice was unknown, completely beyond Zhang Yang's comprehension. But apart from being noisy, it seemed to have no way to force him to agree. Since that was the case, he decided to remain unchanged and not give in until he understood its intentions, even if it meant hiding in the bathroom for peace.

The entertainment news on the TV had changed to another piece: "Lin Suyuan's new album will be released on July 1st. In recent years, the popularity of MP3 players and the emergence of smartphones have significantly impacted the physical music industry. Physical albums being replaced by digital albums seems to be the trend of the future, and overall sales have been declining year by year. According to last year's statistics, Lin Suyuan is one of the few singers who still maintains sales of over five million physical albums. It is rumored that Lin Suyuan's new album was produced by the renowned producer Zhang Tianyi, invited by Haigull International..."

The orthopedic ward had three beds. Bed 39, by the window, was occupied by a man in his sixties, accompanied by his wife. Bed 38, in the middle, was occupied by a man in his mid-twenties, accompanied by his young wife. The outermost bed was Zhang Yang's, with the bathroom as his companion.

And there was the "Please choose to accept."

Zhang Yang picked up his phone, a SkyHawk 7310 from Kunlun Electronics, one of the world's most well-known phone manufacturers. It had a 1.5-inch color screen, supported dual-band GSM, played MP3s, could take photos, and allowed for online chatting. With global sales exceeding 100 million units, it was clearly very popular, even though it was released in 1988.

This phone was a reward from his grandfather when he was admitted to a national key high school two years ago, costing nearly 3,000 yuan, which his sister Zhang Wei had envied for a long time.

He turned his head to look at the next bed. The young man, who was rumored to have mistaken the bridesmaid for the bride on his wedding night, held a sleek and elegant white phone with a 3.5-inch "large" screen, supporting multi-touch, front and rear cameras, a 5-megapixel rear camera, wireless internet, video calls, email, high-quality music, ultra-clear video, and a wide range of game applications...

This smartphone, the first of its kind released by Hongmeng last year, was hailed by the media as "a groundbreaking achievement" and "set to change the world."

Zhang Yang held his head.

When he woke up in the hospital, he thought he was dreaming and even secretly went to the psychiatric department for a check-up. The results were normal, but his reaction to the results was not.

For many days after accepting that this was reality, the mysterious voice, chaotic memories, and drastically changed world pushed his mental state to the brink of collapse. However, he had to act normal in front of his parents and sister, according to the memories of this world.

—This should be the only comfort: the world has changed, but the family is still here.

"Please choose to accept."

"Please choose to accept."

...

To be fair, the sweet and delicate girl's voice was very pleasant to hear, but the monotonous and mechanical tone, like an endless straight line, made it even more annoying.

Zhang Yang pulled the blanket over himself, reached into the bed, and skillfully took off his pants.

The sweet and delicate girl's voice abruptly stopped.

Without the noise, the world seemed especially beautiful, but... it shouldn't be like this!

I've worked so hard for so many years, almost turning an iron rod into a needle, to finally become popular. My new book hasn't even been written, but just by posting a title, I got a thousand-yuan tip from a reader and a copyright battle, how popular! How profitable! Do you know how much money that is? The film and television rights alone are in the eight figures! Do you know what eight figures mean?

I just signed the contract, went to the bathroom, and before I could calm down, I flushed the toilet and... ended up in the hospital?

And a nurse gently reminded me, "Remember to have a bowel movement tomorrow morning"...

"The food for bed 39 is here!"

The loud voice of the food delivery auntie pulled Zhang Yang back to reality. He checked his phone: 11:06 AM.

The distance from home to the hospital made it inconvenient for his family to bring him meals in the morning, so he had ordered breakfast. Today's breakfast was congee and two meat buns. He took a few bites but couldn't swallow, partly due to poor sleep and lack of appetite, and partly because it was just plain bad.

Although he didn't move much in the ward, being a teenage boy in his prime metabolism, he had only had a bowl of congee in the morning. Thinking about it, he suddenly felt very hungry.

Zhang Yang glanced at the two meat buns on the bedside cabinet, each with a bite taken out, and sighed inwardly.

He would rather go hungry than look at those buns again.

"Are you hungry?" a gentle female voice asked.

Zhang Yang turned his head.

The young man in the next bed, still playing on his phone, didn't even look up and said, "A bit."

"What do you want to eat? I'll go buy it."

"Whatever."

Zhang Yang looked at the white ceiling, silently guessing for a few seconds whether she was the bride or the bridesmaid, then pressed the blanket with one hand and supported himself on the bed with the other, slowly sitting up. He picked up *A History of Two Weeks* and continued to compare the memories of his two lives, studying the changes in history.

"Ding ding"

The message notification interrupted Zhang Yang's thoughts. He picked up his phone and saw a message from an unknown number: "Xiao Qi and I are eating. What do you want from the restaurant at the entrance?" — Zhang Wei

Zhang Yang checked the time: 11:21 AM. He laboriously typed, "Aren't you in class?"

"Are you crazy? It's Sunday, and I don't have to take extra classes like Mom and Dad. What do you want to eat?"

3G networks were just starting to be promoted, and smartphones were far from widespread. In an era where each message cost a dime, it was a good habit to get straight to the point. Unlike the internet age, where people would send a message with just one character.

Zhang Yang grumbled inwardly that she hadn't been in class yesterday either and that the food delivery was late, but since Zhang Wei was using someone else's phone, he couldn't chat idly. He typed back, "Bean sprouts stir-fried with shredded pork, two steamed buns."

Putting down his phone, he saw the girl accompanying the young man in the next bed walk in with a bag.

The weather in June was already quite hot, and she must have walked quickly, as she was sweating. After putting down the food, she went to the bathroom to wash her face, then came back and set up the dining board on the bed, placing two boxes of rice, a box of fish-flavored pork, a box of sweet and sour pork, and a box of scrambled eggs with cucumber. She urged the young man, who was still playing on his phone, "Stop playing and eat first."

"Got it!" The young man's tone sounded a bit impatient, probably annoyed at being interrupted.

The aroma of the food filled the ward, and Zhang Yang's stomach growled again. He sat at the head of the bed, stretching his arm to grab the plastic bag and take the two leftover buns from the morning.

He took a bite, but it wasn't appetizing at all.

He put the buns back on the bedside cabinet, lay down, and secretly pulled up his pants under the blanket, then realized he had just taken off his pants and grabbed the buns...

Fortunately, there was a plastic bag between them, and he hadn't eaten them yet.

Zhang Yang got out of bed and threw the buns in the trash, not because out of sight, out of mind, but to avoid Zhang Wei seeing them.

"Hasn't your sister brought you food yet?"

The girl accompanying the young man in the next bed smiled and said, "Do you want to share? I bought a lot."

This was just a polite offer, with only two boxes of rice and two pairs of chopsticks. Zhang Yang couldn't eat with his hands, so he said, "No, she's not in class today and will be here soon."

Zhang Yang climbed back into bed, hesitating whether to get back under the blanket and take off his pants again, as the voice had started again.

"Please choose to accept."

"Please choose to accept."

"Please choose to accept."

...

"Why don't you give me an option?"

Zhang Yang responded in his mind. After startling his roommates many times and having to wear headphones all day to cover it up, he had learned to handle this conversation.

"Please choose to accept."

"What's the point of having just one option? Can't you just say 'Please accept'?"

"This sounds a bit more democratic."

"What do you want from me?"

"Please choose to accept."

"Can you be quiet for a moment?"

"Please choose to accept."

"Don't make me take off my pants, I'm warning you!"

Zhang Yang had threatened before, but no threat or action had ever worked, except for actually taking off his pants, which never interrupted the repetition.

To his surprise, this time, the voice in his mind immediately stopped.

But soon, the next words made Zhang Yang realize that it had just paused to think: "Don't make me see you without pants."

——

The beginning is a bit complicated, and many people find it too discouraging, so following the advice of readers, those who don't like it can skip the first few chapters and start from the double-digit chapters... Of course, as the author, I won't admit this, but I'm just kindly sharing everyone's suggestions.