My Endless Life.

Chapter 605 Promotion
Tick.

Tick.

The ticking of the clock filled the spacious practice room.

Sunlight streamed through the window, casting shadows on the ground, while a warm, comfortable breeze blew in from the open window, causing the curtains on either side to sway gently.

In the practice room, a young boy lay on the piano covered by a canopy, enjoying a comfortable afternoon nap.

Until a cold object touched his face.

"!!!"

Li Qi suddenly woke up and instinctively reached out to grab the wrist holding the cold object.

Then came the girl's scream of pain:

"what!"

thump.

A can of iced cola fell onto the carpet with a soft sound.

The girl with orange hair looked slightly pained, then looked up at Li Qi, who had suddenly stood up, and asked:

"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

"You...you are...Zhang Yang?"

Li Qi's gaze was unfocused as he stared at the orange-haired girl in front of him. The girl twisted her wrist and answered:
"Of course it's me! Are you out of your mind? Let go of me! It hurts!"

"..."

Li Qi then realized that he was tightly gripping the girl's wrist. He immediately let go and stared intently at the orange-haired girl in front of him.

The girl in front of me was not old, only about sixteen or seventeen years old, which is the age of a high school student.

She had orange hair that wouldn't exist in reality, and her long hair was tied into a single ponytail that bounced behind her.

Her eyebrows were orange, her eyes were bright yellow, and her features looked very harmonious. She wasn't exceptionally beautiful, but she gave off a cute and energetic vibe.

And when paired with a bright dress featuring orange polka dots, she looks even more energetic.

Zhang Yang...

I had almost forgotten you... Why are you here...?

Oh, I remember now. I was absorbing soul power, so this is a small world constructed from soul power?

Li Qi shifted his gaze away from Zhang Yang.

Li Qi feels nothing but nostalgia for his first love, whom he has not known how many lifetimes have passed since they were separated. Now that they are reunited, he feels nothing but a little nostalgia.

Or rather... he was getting a little tired of this routine.

"Hey! Stop spacing out! Pick up the Coke! Do you know how much effort I put into getting you this ice-cold Coke?! Your mom is so unreasonable..."

While swinging his wrist, Zhang Yang pointed at Li Qi.

Li Qi looked at her orange ponytail, which wasn't short yet, and realized the time period they were in.

This happened shortly after Li Qi met Zhang Yang in the first world.

Li Qi, who had been subjected to "elite education" by his mother since childhood, was not allowed to go out and play freely.

Junk food is off-limits, and carbohydrate drinks like cola are absolutely forbidden.

In order to lure Li Qi out, Zhang Yang came here as Li Qi's friend, and even secretly brought a bottle of Coke with him.

Zhang Yang didn't have a bag on him, and his clothes didn't have any pockets, so he needed to hide the chilled cola close to his body if he wanted to bring it over.

At that time, the parts of Zhang Yang's body that were hidden were already red from the cold, all so that Li Qi could drink the cola he wanted.

That was also the first time Li Qi's heart was moved by her.

Is the illusion created by the small world actually derived directly from the first world?
What unique power in this world is worth absorbing?
Li Qi picked up the cola, frowning as he sensed the possible power, but he couldn't sense anything.

"Great, you've got the Coke!" Suddenly, Zhang Yang raised the corners of his mouth and pointed at Li Qi, saying, "Then you'll have to form a band with me now! We're just missing you as the keyboardist!"

"...You haven't given up yet."

"I won't give up! I absolutely will not give up! Because I know you also yearn for freedom, right!"

Zhang Yang said very seriously.

Upon hearing this, Li Qi felt a mix of nostalgia and amusement.

He was getting restless at home and really wanted someone to take him out. So when Zhang Yang offered him a Coke, Li Qi went along with it and ran away with Zhang Yang.

The band was formed that day, and then a month later at the school festival, Li Qi and the band members performed a song in front of his mother.

Then, just like a common plot in anime, the mother understood Li Qi and stopped preventing him from contacting his friends...

Although his mother later found someone in the entertainment industry to help him get into it... it has to be said that he was quite happy during that period.

If he could repeat this kind of time, even without absorbing soul power, Li Qi felt that he would be much more relaxed.

With that in mind, Li Qi followed Zhang Yang out of his home, retraced his original experience, met his other teammates, and formed a campus band called 'Happy Band' just like before.

This little world, created by Li Qi and Xinlian, is unlike any illusion Li Qi has ever encountered before.

It is realistic enough that it strictly follows the rules of the real world in terms of time, and even the passers-by are people with status and their own lives.

Li Qi can even use other powers here.

For example, alchemy.

If Li Qi hadn't known that this was a real illusion created to allow him to absorb power, he probably would have truly believed that he had returned to the original world.

However, ignoring these benefits, there was one issue that Li Qi was very concerned about.

Where is the soul power I'm supposed to absorb? We were supposed to come in and absorb soul power, but why can't Li Qi sense even a trace of it?

Of course, the Soul Power Cultivation Method clearly states that if you want to cultivate soul power in a small world, you must first understand the rules and power system of that world.

First, cultivate according to the power system of that world, in harmony with your own soul power. Only in this way can your soul power steadily improve.

The problem is, the world of music is just an ordinary world...

Li Qi couldn't understand this problem at first.

It wasn't until he stood on the stage again and played music with his teammates that Li Qi understood... what exactly the 'power system' of this world was.

"Are you ready? It's about to begin!"

As lead singer and guitarist Zhang Yang's voice rang out, followed by Li Qi's keyboard playing, enthusiastic cheers erupted from the audience.

An invisible soul force emanated from the cheering crowd, and the more loyal and devoted the fans of Li Qi's band were, the purer the soul force they provided!

In the short time it took to listen to just one song, Li Qi felt his soul power increase significantly.

That's the difference between having nothing and having something.

"So that's how it is. The power of this world... is music?"

Looking at Zhang Yang, who was standing in the center of the band singing loudly, Li Qi suddenly realized what was going on.

That's true. The world's enthusiasm for music is abnormally high, like a gambling game in the gambling world.

It is something that is admired by everyone.

In such a world, the more popular something is, the more likely it is to become the mainstream system of the current world.

"...So, the hallucinations I occasionally saw when I played with them before weren't just illusions?"

Li Qi then thought that when he was in the world of music, whether he was singing or playing music, there was a chance that a certain degree of illusion would form around him.

However, it seems that only Li Qi can see this illusion; at least Zhang Yang and the others don't seem to have noticed anything.

This led Li Qi to believe that he had a mental problem.

In retrospect, that may have been a manifestation of the power of this world.

Music brings power!

As the power surged in, Li Qi's playing became increasingly skillful, and the sounds he produced seemed to possess a strange magic, driving the others into a frenzy.

Throughout this process of playing music, until Li Qi gradually became a superstar, he felt that he had mastered a quarter of his soul power.

Only after Li Qi absorbed this quarter of the soul power did the world begin to change.

The second small world appeared before Li Qi's eyes.

……

The sound of mahjong tiles hitting the table was dull yet thrilling.

Having been in the second world for some time, Li Qi sat at a corner of the mahjong table, looking at the other three people in the room.

We are now in the semi-finals of the World Gamblers Championship, which uses an elimination format.

The top eight teams from the preliminary rounds will be divided into two tables for a mahjong showdown. The top two teams with the highest scores will qualify for the finals and also win the title of World Gambling King.

Li Qi is currently on such a competition field.

And his opponent, coincidentally... is the chosen one of this world.

"Although the situation was similar back then..."

According to the original trajectory, Li Qi's opponents in the semi-finals were his childhood sweetheart Bai Shuangshuang, Jin Ming, one of the previous world gambling kings, and Zhou Chenxing, the world's chosen one, a high school student who had entered this supreme hall of fame after studying gambling for less than a year.

All four players are from China, so it wouldn't be wrong to call this semi-final an all-Chinese affair.

Normally it's just a game of mahjong, nothing to be afraid of.

Having experienced so much, Li Qi wouldn't be afraid of a game of mahjong, provided that his opponent is a normal person.

Leaving aside Li Qi's own superpower of judging the state and emotions of others, the other two alone possess abilities that can be described as world-class.

Jin Ming's ability is "Future Preview," which allows him to foresee the final outcome and the game's progress in a short period of time. By altering the flow of the game, he can turn the tide of battle in his favor.

As for Zhou Chenxing's abilities... Li Qi still finds them somewhat outrageous when he thinks about them now.

His ability is to copy.

He can copy all the abilities he has ever seen. Although he can only use a maximum of three abilities in each bet, even one ability is enough for him to enter the gambler's tournament, let alone three.

Furthermore, Li Qi remembered that Zhou Chenxing used three abilities in this competition: [Danger Prediction], [Game Fog], and [Targeting the Seal].

The ability to foresee danger allows Zhou Chenxing to avoid dangerous cards and ensures he never lets anyone else win.

The fog of war in a game can interfere with other gamblers' perception of the game's momentum, making it difficult for them to discern where the cards they want are.

The sealing ability was specifically designed for Jin Ming. It can temporarily seal someone's abilities. Initially, the seal is not strong, but it becomes more powerful as the battle goes on.

Until the last person with the ability can no longer use their ability.

A single ability is already difficult to deal with, let alone three.

But in reality, the truly dangerous people at the poker table are not them.

Instead, it was Bai Shuangshuang, Li Qi's childhood sweetheart in this life.

Because of her abilities.

It was a divine intervention.

(End of this chapter)