Film and Television: The Villain's Life Begins with Joy of Life

Chapter 100: Mission Settlement, Feature Upgrade

The cheap incandescent light shone on the equally cheap plastered wall, making it appear pale and empty.

A cool night breeze slipped in through the half-closed window and unexpectedly hit the man's face.

The man's eyelids twitched, his neck turned, and his eyes slowly focused.

On the balcony, the glass windows, still uncovered by curtains, reflect the distant, flickering lights against the backdrop of the deep, dark night.

Everything in front of me was so familiar, yet so strange.

"I'm back."

Zhou Cheng muttered to himself, his voice slightly hoarse.

It still feels like that night.

The body has automatically memorized the feeling of being downwind.

Time in reality seemed to have stood still, but his soul had journeyed through another century.

He moved slowly like a frail old man, sat down on the sofa, and sank heavily into the soft cushions.

He stared blankly into space, not knowing how much time had passed, before he finally noticed his phone lying to the side out of the corner of his eye.

I picked it up instinctively.

The lock screen password had long been buried in distant memories, but fortunately, his face remained unchanged, and facial recognition still accurately identified his face.

When I unlocked my phone, the screen was still stuck on the ending credits of that ancient costume martial arts drama whose name I'd forgotten.

The end credits song, lasting only a few dozen seconds, still lingers with its final echoes, marking the complete end of his century-long story in another world.

"Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly, and the butterfly dreamt he was Zhuang Zhou..."

'

For a moment, Zhou Cheng couldn't tell which was the real reality.

He had lived in another world for so long that the real world had become illusory and alienating.

Zhou Cheng looked down at his hand holding the phone.

Her hands were without a single wrinkle or blemish; they were hands that showed no signs of hard work, long and rosy.

Hands full of youthful energy.

He clenched his fist, but there was no surge of true energy, no resonance of vital energy, only ordinary, ordinary force.

The power screen is weak, yet it is full of vibrant energy.

Zhou Cheng felt no excitement at regaining this young body. Back in reality, while his body was indeed younger, his heart remained old and weary.

"system!"

He silently recited it in his mind, and then that familiar mechanical voice rang in his mind.

[Ding! Host has been detected to have returned to the real world. Settling the "Joy of Life" trial mission —]

A semi-transparent blue light curtain unfolded before his eyes, but Zhou Cheng's mood remained completely calm.

[Task 1: Before Fan Xian goes to the capital, he must break through to the Grandmaster level in martial arts - Completed]

[Task Reward: Random Talent Already Issued]

[Ding! The talent bar in the system panel has been opened]

[Congratulations, host, on acquiring the talent: New Human]

[Mission Two: Defeat Emperor Qing, seize the throne of Southern Qing, and rule the world - Part One Completed]

[Task Reward: 5 Free Attribute Points]

[Ding! System panel attribute point allocation function is now enabled]

Zhou Cheng stared quietly at the panel, watching the settlement progress bar slowly advance.

[Ding! The host has completed over 300 system lottery draws in the first trial, meeting the conditions for unlocking hidden features.]

[System lottery function upgraded, tiered prize pool enabled, prize pool optimization complete]

After the two notifications finished, the system screen changed, returning to its most familiar appearance, only with some minor changes compared to before.

Zhou Cheng stared intently.

【attribute】

Strength: 10/14

Physical condition: 10/14

Spirit: 16

Speed: 9/12

Coordination: 11

Free attribute: 5

【Skill】

Martial Arts (Hundred Refinements True Qi, exclusive to Joy of Life, already designated): Ma

【talent】

New Human: You are a successful evolver who has adapted to the new era. You have gained increased resistance in harsh environments, and you can be immune to and absorb high-intensity radiation. The upper limit of radiation energy utilization increases with physical and mental attributes.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Cheng's eyes flickered slightly.

The properties panel is easy to understand.

Strength, physique, and speed are the three attributes listed. The values ​​after the numbers represent his peak attributes in the Joy of Life world, while the values ​​before them represent his current attributes.

The attributes of spirit and coordination are quite unique and are not greatly affected by world changes, so they have never fallen.

In the world of Joy of Life, he had already thoroughly studied the attribute panel.

He knew that the average standard values ​​for healthy adults in reality were about 10 points, while the average for the natives in the world of Joy of Life was slightly higher, around 11 points.

Every slight increase in any value represents a significant improvement.

In terms of strength and speed alone, professional athletes in these areas typically have around 12 points, and even world champions rarely exceed 13 points.

A score of 13 is a true gift, almost reaching the limits of human potential.

Zhou Cheng's strength and physique are able to reach 14 points, which is entirely due to the benefits of the differences in the world.

Having just returned to reality, his three attributes were still a bit short of their peak, but with his foundation, he believed that with systematic training, these three attributes could still climb back to their peak level.

Needless to say, the martial arts skills in the skill bar are now completely dissipated upon returning to reality, leaving only very limited effects of the remaining martial arts skills.

As for the "New Human" talent, it's quite interesting. The note mentions that it can be immune to and absorb radiation. Zhou Cheng wonders if he can use this talent to re-condense his true qi in reality. He'll have to test it out when he has time.

Seeing this, Zhou Cheng remained calm and unmoved.

Then, he turned his gaze to the roulette icon on the panel.

The roulette wheel remained unchanged, showing no significant alterations. However, when Zhou Cheng's consciousness touched it, a notification immediately appeared on the panel.

[The trial world "Joy of Life" has been added to the prize pool. Please manually fill the secondary prize pool.]

Zhou Cheng followed the prompts and read on. Soon, his eyes grew brighter and brighter, his breathing became heavier and heavier, and finally he could no longer hold back and sprang up from the sofa!

He stared intently at the panel, his body trembling slightly uncontrollably.

[For every ten draws from the basic prize pool, you will receive one additional draw chance from the secondary prize pool.]

[Please select one hundred items from all the items you have acquired in the Joy of Life world and add them to the level two prize pool as rare rewards.]

You have previously acquired the following items:.....

Over the course of nearly a hundred years, Zhou Cheng has gained too much in the world of Joy of Life.

Among the densely packed images in the list were Barrett sniper rifles, temple messengers, and even the spaceship he last traveled on.

But none of these things could move him.

What truly made him lose his composure was seeing the most important person he thought he had lost forever and could never get back!

Yes, he saw Sang Wen, Si Lili, Ye Ling'er, Fan Ruoruo, and also that dog of a woman, Li Yunrui.

Zhou Cheng found it hard to believe that his system could actually extract people from the world of movies and TV shows!

What puzzled him was that, apart from his women, he quickly scanned the room but saw no other figures. There were no his children, no Fan Xian, no Emperor Qing, and no one else.

Zhou Cheng asked the system with his mind and quickly received a reply.

Only those who mutually acknowledge and possess each other will be included in the prize pool.

Zhou Cheng suddenly realized.

The reason why the prize pool only contains women from his harem is because he regards all his women as his own possessions.

And those women also acknowledge that they belong to him; only when both of these conditions are met can a character in the film and television world enter the prize pool.

As for his children and friends, they were excluded from the prize pool because they lacked that crucial condition.

Zhou Cheng admitted that his thoughts did indeed have the suspicion of objectifying women, and even his system was like that, but he didn't care. He only felt fortunate and satisfied!

"So you're all still here."

Zhou Cheng muttered to himself, his eyes becoming excited, and even his face flushed red.

It turns out he didn't lose them forever.

Those he loved were still with him in the system.

If he can win the lottery, he can bring back everything he has lost.

His excitement didn't last long, because he soon realized that he didn't know in what form the characters would appear if he drew them.

He nervously communicated with the system again.

"Unable to enter the real world, it can only consume a large amount of emotional value when the film/TV world is activated, thus immersing the viewer in it —"

Before Zhou Cheng could feel even a hint of disappointment, he had already completely accepted it in his heart.

The system has already done so much, what more could he want?

People should not be greedy!

Moreover, the character only consumes ordinary emotion points.

The special emotion points used for the lottery can only be obtained from characters in the story, making them quite precious. However, he has accumulated over 100 million ordinary emotion points in the Joy of Life world.

"System, oh system, I will never slander you again!"

Zhou Cheng was filled with excitement. Looking at the pictures in the list, his heart was pounding in his chest and his blood was rushing. His originally gloomy and dejected spirit had long since become extremely excited.

In just a few minutes, his entire mindset transformed from that of a listless centenarian back into that of a hopeful and energetic young man.

The second-tier prize pool requires him to choose one hundred items.

Without hesitation, Zhou Cheng first selected all his women. Then, he selected items such as the spaceship, the two temple messengers, and the Barrett missile, one by one, according to their value from highest to lowest.

Finally, he checked it several times to make sure there were no omissions before he decided to confirm.

Only then did Zhou Cheng secretly feel regret.

During his final time in the temple, he missed out on so many wonderful things.

At that time, he had no interest in anything, so he never thought of taking the things in the temple into his space, and he didn't even regard the temple, this huge museum, as his private property.

Otherwise, this secondary prize pool would truly be the epitome of extravagance.

Once the selection was made, the secondary prize pool transformed into a golden light and merged into the roulette wheel, instantly adding a touch of luxurious gold to the background of the prize wheel.

Other items that had been owned before also turned into a gray-white stream of light and merged into the roulette wheel. This time, the roulette wheel did not change much, except that the number of prizes in the base prize pool had increased several times.

Without hesitation, Zhou Cheng used up all the remaining emotion points on the panel to enter the roulette wheel.

After completing the mission that year, he no longer deliberately collected emotion points.

Most of the three hundred lottery draws he accumulated were won in the ten years before he ascended the throne.

As an emperor, his every move has too great an impact, so it's really not good to cause too much trouble for people.

Furthermore, as the characters in the storyline passed away or were exiled, his collection speed was greatly reduced.

So much so that by the time he left, he had only drawn 300 times in total, and he only had a little over 10 draws left over, as was his habit.

Zhou Cheng felt a pang of regret. If he had known the system lottery would develop this way, he wouldn't have been so soft-hearted back then.

"Draw ten times!"

Zhou Cheng had no choice but to silently repeat it to himself.

The roulette wheel then began to spin, faster and faster, until it transformed into a dazzling stream of light as it spun at high speed.

Three seconds later, the roulette wheel slowly came to a stop, a prompt appeared on the system panel, and ten more items appeared in the system space.

[Congratulations, host, you have obtained: Ivory Bone Folding Fan 1, Dove Chocolate Gift Box 1, Fruit Charger 1 ——————]

Zhou Cheng merely glanced at these items and didn't look at them much.

He drew a lot of random and nonsensical things in the lottery three hundred times.

His attention remained firmly fixed on the roulette wheel.

After ten draws, the roulette wheel's base color had completely turned pure gold, and its appearance had become extremely magnificent.

In his perception, the roulette wheel had also transformed from a basic roulette wheel into a secondary roulette wheel.

Zhou Cheng took a deep breath and, with a mix of excitement and trepidation, gave the command to the roulette wheel.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have obtained a rare reward: Temple Messenger 1]

"wipe!"

Zhou Cheng cursed under his breath, but he was too embarrassed to curse the system. He just sighed at his bad luck.

He did hope to draw any one of the concubines, but he knew that was only a one in ten chance.

His luck has always been average.

With over a hundred years of experience, Zhou Cheng's character has been tempered to be incredibly resilient, so he wouldn't be so easily discouraged by this small mistake.

He still has two chances to draw, but he can't activate the second-level roulette.

He did not continue.

Not winning once is nothing. As long as the system is still there, the people he cherishes are still there. He will continue to accumulate emotional value in the future, and one day he will bring them back to his side without any regrets.

"System, what is the next trial world?"

Zhou Cheng transmitted his thoughts to the system; he was already quite impatient.

Soon, the system sent back a message.

"Can you only travel through it once a month?"

Zhou Cheng's burning passion cooled down a bit, and the boiling emotions in his chest subsided somewhat, leaving him with a sense of disappointment.

"You can only travel through time once a month. Even if you can successfully complete the mission every time and stay for a hundred years each time, one year in my real world is only twelve hundred years in the movie world."

In reality, if I live to be 100, I still have 70 years left, and in the film and television world, it's only about 80,000 years...

'

Less than 100,000 years!

Before the prize pool was upgraded, he thought two hundred years was too long, but now, he thinks one hundred thousand years is too short!

"I wonder if I'll ever encounter a fantasy world of immortals and heroes in the future, where I can live for hundreds of thousands or millions of years at a time."

Zhou Cheng's thoughts raced, and then he realized he was thinking too far ahead.

"System, can you tell me what world the next one is?"

Zhou Cheng inquired with the system, wanting to prepare in advance.

He was tricked by the system at the time; his transmigration to the world of Joy of Life was too sudden, and he had no time to prepare.

In other words, he was extremely familiar with Joy of Life and did not wander around blindly. It was only by taking advantage of his prophetic abilities and the divine power of the system that he was able to successfully complete the mission.

If the world they had traveled to had been completely unfamiliar, without prior knowledge, the difficulty of completing the mission would have been on a completely different level.

[Ding! Selecting a new film and television world... Selection complete... Currently locked: Alleyway Dwellings]

[System task pending, countdown: 29 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes]

"A family living in a small alley?"

Zhou Cheng was stunned. He had no recollection of this TV series or whether he had ever heard of it.

A century later, there are very few films and television dramas that he can still clearly remember.

"The name sounds ordinary; it doesn't seem like a big-budget drama."

Zhou Cheng pondered for a moment.

He bent down to pick up his phone from the sofa, opened his browser, entered the title of the show, and quickly glanced at the synopsis.

"Period dramas —"

Zhou Cheng felt somewhat relieved.

Period dramas are alright. Although there are many rules and regulations, with the advantage of prior knowledge, the pitfalls can be cleverly avoided.

"Hopefully the task requirements can be a bit easier!"

Zhou Cheng prayed silently.

After finishing his prayers, he didn't immediately catch up on the TV series; instead, he checked his system space.

In the world of Joy of Life, his system space was almost completely filled with countless things.

Back in reality, he noticed that most of the space had suddenly become empty when he was drawing lots.

He had a guess in his mind.

Soon, after a thorough examination, the guess was confirmed.

Now, only the items won in the lottery remain in the space; none of the many things collected from the Joy of Life world have been left behind.

It seems that only items obtained through system lotteries can accompany him across different worlds.

If the prize pool hadn't been upgraded, Zhou Cheng would have been upset for quite some time.

After all, he had left quite a few things in the space as keepsakes.

But now that the system has been upgraded with improved settlement and functionality, and a secondary prize pool has been added, even the people you care about are still around, so those "thoughts" are no longer as indispensable.

"One month... what should I do this month?"

Zhou Cheng began planning his schedule for the next month.

Besides watching the show to get a feel for the plot, he decided to go back to his hometown to visit his parents.

In his timeline, it had indeed been far too long.

So much time has passed that even his memory of his parents' appearance has become blurry.

Zhou Cheng opened his phone and checked the balance of his bank card and Green Bubble.

A message popped up in the Green Bubble group chat asking for overtime work, and he glanced at it.

Then he remembered that he seemed to have another job.

As for what job he did, what company he worked for, and where the company was located, he had long forgotten.

He was too lazy to resign voluntarily; he'd deal with it when the company called.

Zhou Cheng put his phone into his spatial storage, and then took it out again.

He nodded in satisfaction.

If the system space can still be used in reality, then why does he need to go to work?

With that ability, he could make a fortune just by smuggling dozens of kilograms of boxed lunches every day near the special economic zone.