Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Getting Rich Overnight?
Whether in his past life on Earth or in this life on Blue Star,
immortality has always been humanity’s ultimate pursuit.
Throughout history, countless princes and generals, ministers and nobles have longed for immortality, chased after deathlessness.
But in the end, dust returns to dust and earth to earth.
Su Yuan, naturally, was no exception; if it were possible, he would want to live forever too.
Hum— the surface of the gray mirror grew hazy again.
Su Yuan stared at the mirror surface intently.
[Method One: Achieve physical immortality by raising the body into the Immortal Realm; this accomplishes narrow-sense immortality]
[Method Two: Raise the will into the Unquenchable Realm; this accomplishes narrow-sense immortality]
...
One line after another of text surfaced.
Su Yuan fell silent.
Clearly, the gray mirror’s methods might actually be real.
But Su Yuan couldn’t do any of them.
Physical immortality?
An undying will?
Soul merging with the Great Dao?
He didn’t even know what those meant.
“How can I achieve immortality?”
“Constraint: Only methods I can perform now.”
Su Yuan looked back at the gray mirror and asked.
Hum— the mirror surface blurred and soon another string of words appeared.
[Method One: Click this link to enter the corresponding webpage, fill out your personal information to register; the next day someone will collect you to participate in a “consciousness transfer” experiment. Your consciousness will be transferred into the Blue Star network...transforming into information-life. After a century, the Blue Star network will connect to the macroscopic network of the Human Empire. If your information merges with the macroscopic network’s information matrix, this accomplishes narrow-sense immortality]
[Method Two: Sacrifice ten million humans in blood rituals to summon an extracosmic evil god. Your will will be seized and devoured by the evil god; you and the god will be one and the same, you within me and I within you. This accomplishes narrow-sense immortality]
...
Reading the words emerging on the misty mirror surface,
Su Yuan’s mouth twitched slightly.
Compared to the earlier answerless queries,
this time the gray mirror’s replies were understandable.
And even feasible.
But without thinking, he knew there were huge traps.
Method One would transfer Su Yuan’s consciousness into the Blue Star network, turning him into an information-based lifeform?
Losing his body and the pleasures of reality—what meaning would immortality have then?
And finally fusing into a macroscopic information matrix—would he still be himself?
Method Two was even more absurd: summon an extracosmic evil god and be willingly devoured? Whose immortality would that be—the evil god’s or Su Yuan’s?
...
Afterwards,
Su Yuan tried asking about immortality from different angles.
All under the premise of what he could do right now.
But the answers the gray mirror provided either came with heavy restrictions
or contained massive hidden dangers, requiring Su Yuan to lose his selfhood to achieve them.
“Forget it.”
Su Yuan sighed inwardly.
“Take it slow.”
He composed himself.
After a short pause, he resumed questioning the gray mirror.
“I want a cultivation method or an evolution path that directly leads to immortality.”
“Prerequisite: This method or path must be best suited to my current state.”
“Prerequisite: This method or path must be fast in cultivation, with no hidden dangers and no adverse effects on me.”
“Prerequisite: This method or path must have infinite potential; immortality should be only an auxiliary capability.”
...
Su Yuan settled for a second-best plan: a cultivation method or an evolution path.
From the hundreds of prior queries, he knew civilizations higher than Blue Star existed outside it.
And across the vast cosmos there were individual beings of terrifying power, casually wiping out stars.
To become such a being—
either be born that way,
or evolve the lifeform through postnatal cultivation.
He had no choice for the former, so he had to attempt the latter.
Hum— the gray mirror blurred and soon another set of words appeared.
...
“This is too much, stop for now.”
Two hours had passed and the mirror’s output had not ceased; Su Yuan immediately called it off.
Given the constraints and standards he’d provided, the cultivation methods the mirror produced were too vast to memorize.
“With my current memory, I can’t remember all of this.”
“Focus on Level 1 lifeform to Level 10 lifeform first.”
No sooner had Su Yuan said this than the words on the hazy mirror slowed.
Then they began from the start.
The so-called Level 1 to Level 10 lifeforms are the gray mirror’s classification of individual life strength.
It’s also the preliminary life tier classification used by many civilizations across the vast universe.
A top Level 10 lifeform already has the ability to temporarily leave its home planet and roam the stars and cosmos.
Of course,
Su Yuan was not even a Level 1 lifeform.
To be precise, the vast majority of life on Blue Star today are Level 0 lifeforms—by the standards of true cosmic civilizations, they don’t even count as life.
“Level 0 lifeform to Level 1 lifeform...”
Su Yuan watched as the gray mirror displayed, in detail, the step-by-step procedure for evolving from Level 0 to Level 1.
“According to this method, I could transform into a Level 1 lifeform in about half a month, but...”
Su Yuan shook his head. “It needs money.”
The essence of life’s transformation and evolution is consuming external materials to supplement oneself.
What are those externals? They must be substances containing abundant, refined energy.
Like a hundred-year-old ginseng? Spirit mushrooms from deep mountains, and so on.
These things cost hundreds of thousands, even millions—far beyond what Su Yuan could afford now.
“Money...”
He looked at the gray mirror.
If this mirror truly knew everything, he wouldn’t be short of money.
“I’ll think about how to ask.”
Su Yuan pondered a bit.
Getting money shouldn’t be hard.
The crucial part is that it must be legal and without hidden dangers.
“Lottery?”
His eyes lit up.
He thought of this sudden-wealth route.
Lottery winnings are what every Xia Country citizen dreams about.
It’s the most legitimate, least risky way to get rich.
After all, lottery winnings are taxed—clean and aboveboard.
“I remember the double-color ball draw is at six tonight?”
Su Yuan took out his phone and logged in to check immediately.
After confirming, he looked back at the gray mirror and asked:
“For draw number 2025910 of the double-color ball, what are the first-prize winning numbers?”
Su Yuan stared intently at the gray mirror.
The next moment,
the mirror surface blurred and quickly displayed a string of numbers.
[1125312423.....]
“Done.”
Seeing the mirror’s answer, Su Yuan was certain.
He immediately put all his current savings—all 238 yuan—into the bet.
“By lottery rules, if I win the first prize, the jackpot will exceed ninety-six million. After taxes, I’d still get over fifty million.”
A smile appeared on Su Yuan’s face.
An amount like that most people never see in a lifetime.
“Now just wait.”
He glanced at the time; there were still more than two hours until the six o’clock draw.
...
“What is the highest lifeform level in Xia Country?”
While waiting, Su Yuan began asking the gray mirror many questions.
[Currently, the strongest lifeform within Xia Country is a Level 4 lifeform]
“What about worldwide? The strongest lifeform in the world is what level?”
Su Yuan asked next.
[Level 4]
The gray mirror continued displaying one line after another of text.
...
Time passed.
It quickly reached six o’clock.
Su Yuan gathered his thoughts and stared at the double-color ball results page.
At this moment, countless people across Xia Country were also focused on it.
Clack-clack.
As each number was announced,
Su Yuan’s expression shifted from excitement to confusion, suspicion, and then disbelief...
“How is it different from the numbers you gave me?”
He immediately looked at the nearby gray mirror.
The publicly announced first-prize numbers for the double-color ball
were completely different from what the gray mirror had given.
Hum— the gray mirror’s surface churned and grew hazy, and soon another set of words surfaced.