Chapter 1

June 2014. Huaguo. City X, Province J, 1:20 PM.

"Jing Tian! Jing Tian!"

It was just after lunch, and Jing Tian was heading to his office in the labor protection department when he heard someone calling him. He looked up and saw the deputy director of the maintenance department waving at him from the third floor.

"Brother Fei, what's up?"

The deputy director of the maintenance department, surnamed Liang, was a big, fat man in his thirties, a second-generation rich kid. Although his family had forced him to work, he was a good person, friendly and cheerful to everyone. He and Jing Tian were both semi-otakus, so they often went out for drinks and talked about things that men should understand... you know...

"Boss said to send some mineral water to the West 4 transformer group for maintenance. You can take a detour and go there directly. I'll be there later, but I'm bummed because I just started watching 'Transformers 4.'" The fat director said with a conflicted look.

'...Hey, is it okay to say that so openly...' Jing Tian thought to himself, shaking his head as he walked to the labor protection warehouse.

Wearing his work protective suit and carrying two boxes of mineral water, Jing Tian arrived at West 4. He greeted the workers and distributed the water. With nothing else to do, Jing Tian wandered around, watching the workers maintain the equipment and chatting with them.

He noticed a black spot on a transformer and walked over to see what it was. It turned out to be a small black bead, stuck to the transformer. He picked it up, but before he could examine it, the fat director's voice came from nearby.

"What are you looking at?"

"I don't know, I just saw this thing stuck on it." He opened his palm to show the other.

"It's probably a clump of iron filings attracted by the magnetic field. Just take it out and throw it away. By the way, did you download anything good this month? As usual, bring a USB drive tomorrow, and I'll treat you to a big meal tonight." The fat director said with a sly smile.

"Your grandpa... Every time it's a street stall. Can't you do me a favor and find a place with a roof this time?" Jing Tian said, casually putting the small black bead in his shirt pocket.

"Sure, this time we'll find a place with an umbrella." The fat director said seriously.

...Speechless...

"Hey, damn!" A cry of surprise came from the maintenance area.

"What's wrong?" The two of them quickly looked over. This was a high-voltage transformer group, so if something happened, it would be serious.

"Nothing, just a static shock." A maintenance worker said.

"Damn, you scared me to death." The fat director exhaled. Jing Tian's heart, which had been racing, also calmed down.

"Let's go, this place doesn't feel safe." Jing Tian said as he walked toward the outer area.

"Damn, you coward, you're wearing a protective suit, what are you afraid of a little static?" The fat director rolled his eyes and turned to the maintenance group.

Jing Tian pouted, thinking, 'Static won't kill you, but who knows if you might hit your head when you fall.' He thought, 'This time, I'll add some cavalry scenes to your stuff to make you feel sick.' He couldn't help but chuckle. But just as he finished laughing, he suddenly felt the world darken. He shook his head and looked around, but saw nothing unusual. "Strange, maybe I had the wrong position last night? Yeah, decided, next time I'll use my right hand..."

After work, he robotically went to the market to buy groceries, went home, turned on his computer, and continued downloading torrents. He went to the kitchen to wash vegetables and cook. At 26, Jing Tian had already gotten used to this repetitive, seemingly endless life.

Since his parents died in a plane accident four years ago, Jing Tian had been living comfortably off the 80-square-meter house they left him and the compensation from the airline. Two years ago, he got a part-time job in the labor protection department of the power supply bureau through connections. He spent his days reading novels, watching movies, and reading comics, living a very leisurely life.

Jing Tian was somewhat lazy, but not in a do-nothing way. For example, if there was a task at work, he would always make a plan and complete it quickly, and then he could be lazy for the rest of the time. Of course, he would always submit the task at the last minute, otherwise, the boss might see how diligent he was and give him more tasks, which would be counterproductive.

As for girlfriends, well, Jing Tian had been very popular in high school and college, dating five girls. But now, he felt that after experiencing it, it was just that. The excitement at the beginning of a relationship, the romantic moments, then the return to normalcy, and finally the discovery of personality mismatches, leading to coldness, arguments, and breakups...

He said that he wanted to give himself more free time and find a suitable partner to marry when he was over 30. Now, it was better to watch more movies, anime, and novels, and imagine himself in those stories, then he could delude himself by saying, "Look, I've dated so many girls..."

He put the cooked food on the computer desk, sat down, and opened a novel, eating and reading at the same time. Indeed, the concepts of dining table and TV had long disappeared from Jing Tian's world.

After finishing today's novel update, Jing Tian said somewhat dejectedly, "Sigh, it's getting harder to find good novels." But just as he finished speaking, his computer screen went black...

"It seems you agree with me... Please, boss, just a like would be enough, no need to crash the system. Without you, I can't live tonight..." Jing Tian looked at the silent computer with a conflicted expression.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, followed by the loud voice of the gossipy aunt next door: "Xiao Tian, Xiao Tian, the power is out again. What's going on with your power supply bureau? Do you know today is the last episode of 'X from Mars'? You #￥%&×%&×%&×..."

Jing Tian, who had activated his automatic ignore function, patted his chest in relief. "At least it's not the computer, just a power outage. Now I can have a fun night." He walked to the door with dead fish eyes, and when he opened it, his face bloomed like a flower. "Aiyah, Aunt Liu, I'm just a temporary worker, how would I know what those big bosses are doing? I'm waiting to see if he goes back to Mars too. Wait, I'll go check it out." He put on his shirt and ran down the