Chapter 1

Update Time: October 11, 2012

A space battleship, nearly a thousand miles long and five hundred miles wide, with a hull pockmarked from battles, appeared like a ghost above the Earth. In the spacious and luxurious command room, the emotionless electronic voice of the AI brain reported: "Captain Nick, a newly formed planet has been detected. It is an irregular ellipse, with a maximum radius of about 6,378 kilometers, and is approximately 150 million kilometers from the star, the Sun. The light and temperature are suitable, and the probability of intelligent life evolving is 99.9%."

Captain Nick, dressed in a military uniform with a stern face, sat upright in a green command chair made of unknown material. He gazed intently at the image of Earth on the screen and said, "Very good. Release the primitive life factors, install a monitoring device, and record all changes on this planet from now on, as well as all data and videos of the life and death of all living beings. Preserve the essence of civilization and guide its progress at critical moments..."

Time rapidly advanced by 4.6 billion years, to the present year of 2012.

The monitoring device, which had been faithfully recording from a geostationary orbit above the Earth, suddenly detached and plummeted, crashing onto the green stone slab in front of a pavilion on the back mountain of Chun Cheng No. 1 High School with a loud boom.

The stone slab shattered!

A sharp piece of broken stone flew out, slicing across the hand of Zhang Dong, a delinquent high school senior who was sleeping on the white stone railing in the pavilion, causing a three-inch-long wound. Zhang Dong was jolted awake from his dream of embracing beautiful women, clutched his bleeding wound, and angrily shouted, "Who attacked me? Come out!"

The surroundings were silent, with no one in sight. Only the shadows of countless trees swayed in the darkness, and the air was filled with a mysterious aura.

Zhang Dong felt a chill and dared not stay there any longer. He ran towards the classroom, but after just three steps, he tripped over the monitoring device and fell to the ground. He cursed and got up, and under the dim light from a distance, he saw that what had tripped him was a strange object, about the size of a palm, gray and unremarkable.

Enraged, he kicked it.

"Whoosh~"

The monitoring device flew up and crashed into the bushes, startling a few birds that fluttered in the darkness.

Perhaps the kick had triggered a switch, for the monitoring device emitted a bright light upon landing, dispelling the darkness and illuminating the nearby flowers and grass with a clear green glow.

Zhang Dong, surprised, picked it up. The blood on his hand inevitably stained the surface of the monitoring device, which absorbed it. A clear and pleasant voice came from inside: "Analyzing blood... Confirming genes... Binding successful!"

"Whoosh~"

The monitoring device suddenly transformed into a beam of white light, shooting into Zhang Dong's nostrils like lightning, entering a mysterious area in his brain and beginning a mysterious communication with him.

Zhang Dong instantly understood the functions of the monitoring device. Because it was bound to him, he could access all the data stored in the monitoring device.

He could query any person or object that had ever existed in history, countless treasures, countless ancient tombs, countless historical secrets, and even all living beings currently on the planet. He could query them at any time and watch the monitoring videos, regardless of whether they were indoors or outdoors, day or night.

The query was very convenient. He just needed to say the name or a brief description of the object or person in his mind, or look at someone or something with his eyes.

"Am I dreaming?" Zhang Dong's eyes glowed with excitement. He pinched his thigh, jumped in pain, and felt that it wasn't a dream. Curiously, he thought, "Query Zhang Dong..."

A huge virtual screen appeared in Zhang Dong's mind, displaying his information.

【Name】: Zhang Dong

【Gender】: Male

【Place of Origin】: Huaguo

【Era of Existence】: 1992~

【Occupation】: Student

【Combat Power】: 1

【Special Skills】: None

【Current Mood】: Soaring to the sky is not a dream, bees flying into the flowers.

【Monitoring Video】: Playing...

The lower half of the screen was playing a movie. A male infant was born, crying loudly. This infant was indeed Zhang Dong. Then came his gradual growth, and finally, his current dazed and happy appearance.

Zhang Dong was overjoyed. He took a pen from his pocket and said, "Query this thing."

Soon, the query results appeared on the screen.

【Object Name】: Pen

【Era of Existence】: 2010~

【Purpose】: Writing

【Value】: 1 yuan

【Monitoring Video】: Playing...

"Everything, not just people, but all living beings can be queried, and all objects can be identified. Am I not like an omniscient God? Identifying antiques, digging for underground treasures, reconstructing history, stealing state or commercial secrets, solving mysteries, exposing corrupt officials, fortune-telling, and dating beautiful women... All these can be done with the monitoring device. How can I not become successful? Do I still need to worry about poor grades and not getting into a good university?" Zhang Dong laughed, feeling that life was full of hope and that his future had never been more beautiful. All his past disappointments would soon be far behind him.

"Everything you are thinking is not the main function of the monitoring device," the monitoring device said in its emotionless electronic voice. "The main function of the monitoring device is to make you powerful, and then guide and change the direction of civilization."

"Make me powerful? How?" Zhang Dong, delighted, automatically ignored the last part about 'guiding and changing the direction of civilization.' He was just a delinquent high school senior and lacked the awareness of a great person, but becoming powerful was something no one would refuse, and he was no exception.

"Very simple. The monitoring device has stored the monitoring videos of all human lives. You can categorize these people into various types and create various lists, such as mathematicians, linguists, physicists, politicians, martial arts experts, musicologists, painters, calligraphers, athletes... Then, you can transplant the life experiences of the best in each category into your memory cells, using a special method to let you experience their lives in a short time. This way, you will be like their rebirth, knowing all their skills. Becoming powerful is just a matter of time. However, you can only transplant once a month, or you risk mental confusion," the monitoring device answered.

Zhang Dong was stunned by this ability of the monitoring device. His breathing quickened, and his heart raced. He murmured, "Then I want to have Xiang Yu's combat power!"

"No problem."

"I want to have Wang Xizhi's calligraphy skills!"

"Of course."

"I want to know Tang Bohu's painting techniques."

"Simple."

"I want to know the medical skills of the divine doctor Hua Tuo."

"Easy."

"I, I, damn it, why hasn't this dream woken up yet?" Zhang Dong's silly smile suddenly disappeared. Too many good things were happening, and it felt too real to be a dream.

"You are not dreaming, but have obtained the monitoring device. You need to become powerful as soon as possible and then guide and change the direction of civilization's evolution..." the monitoring device began to lecture Zhang Dong about his duties and responsibilities.

But Zhang Dong let it go in one ear and out the other, even thinking he was still dreaming. A wicked smile appeared on his face as he said, "Create a beauty list and rank the top 100 most beautiful women on Earth from 1 to 100 for me to view and appreciate."

"Please provide the beauty standards," the monitoring device asked.

"18 to 25 years old, 1.65 to 1.75 meters tall, and the rest based on the aesthetic standards of our Huaguo," Zhang Dong said.

In less than a second, the images of 100 beauties from around the world were displayed on the left side of the screen, ranked from top to bottom.

The top-ranked beauty was named Shangguan Yan, 18 years old, 1.71 meters tall, and 110 pounds. She was currently in Xijing, Huaguo. She had a slender and graceful figure, a face that could topple kingdoms, skin as smooth as snow, and every smile and frown was captivating. Coincidentally, she was bathing at that moment, with steam rising and enveloping her flawless, slender, and beautiful body...

The other beauties were either seductive, alluring, pure, or stunning, each one a peerless beauty capable of capturing a man's heart.

Zhang Dong's face turned red, and his nose bled profusely. He exclaimed in his mind, "Ah, this dream is too vivid, actually dreaming of 100 different peerless beauties. How wonderful it would be if this weren't a dream?"

After being lost in admiration for a long time, he murmured, "Don't wake me up, don't wake me up. Now that I have the monitoring device in my dream, it seems easy to become powerful and wealthy. Let me see how other rich people live."

He gave another order, "Create a wealth list and display the top 100 richest people on Earth in real-time."

A wealth list was created, ranking from top to bottom, on the right side of the beauty list.

The top-ranked person was a Mi Guo (American) named Haoge, with a wealth of 20 trillion dollars, far surpassing the well-known Gates.

Gates was also on the wealth list, ranking fifth.

Huaguo had three people on the list, each with a wealth exceeding 300 billion dollars.

These wealthy individuals were all extraordinary, exuding confidence from their very bones. They were surrounded by entourages, had a wide variety of luxury cars, numerous mansions, exquisite food, and rich private lives, including movie stars, singers, models, and campus beauties...

Zhang Dong's eyes turned green with envy, thinking that since it was a dream, and such a vivid one, he might as well guide it to make the dream even more wonderful.

He began to mutter, "I am a tycoon, I am a tycoon, with beautiful wives and mistresses, luxury cars, and mansions..."

No matter how Zhang Dong tried to hint and guide, he did not become a tycoon. Instead, the monitoring device's stern electronic voice echoed in his mind: "Zhang Dong, to become a tycoon, you need to work hard. The monitoring device can only assist you. Please take action quickly. I remind you again, you are not dreaming, absolutely not dreaming, but experiencing a real event..."

"Rich, I am really rich, and it's not an exaggeration to say I have achieved success overnight!!" Zhang Dong's face gradually lit up with wild joy, his eyes glowing with intense heat, as if they could melt gold and iron...

Page AD begins

Page AD ends