Reborn not to be a beast of burden, I set the rules.

Ye Ming pushed open the door to the server room, and the familiar cold air rushed in.

The morning sunlight slanted in through the window and fell on the three computers side by side.

Two or three computers in the corner were dimly lit, and the sound of keyboards was particularly clear in the empty room.

He walked inside.

He leaned slightly to the left as he entered, not intentionally, but because his back injury prevented him from standing upright. He also walked more slowly than usual, taking each step carefully.

Li Yue was typing code on the screen when she heard the noise, looked up, and her gaze lingered on him for a moment.

"Huh? What happened yesterday?" She put down the mouse. "I waited for you for ages and you didn't show up, and you didn't answer my calls either."

As soon as she finished speaking, she noticed that Ye Ming's walking style was off.

Zhang Yuan also turned his head, his gaze sweeping from Ye Ming's shoulder to his waist.

Ye Ming walked to his seat and put down his laptop bag. As he bent over, a dull pain shot through his back. He frowned slightly, paused for a moment, and then slowly straightened up.

Li Yue walked over and asked, "What happened to your hand?"

"It's nothing," Ye Ming said.

Zhang Yuan didn't say anything, but got up to pour a glass of warm water and placed it on Ye Ming's desk.

Ye Ming glanced at the glass of water.

Brother Yuan is so caring! It's so heartwarming.

He sat down and explained, "On the way back yesterday, Xu Wei was almost hit by a bicycle. We went to the hospital and then took her home. It was quite late, and my phone broke too."

As he spoke, he subconsciously moved his wrist, his elbow injury not yet fully healed.

Li Yue was taken aback: "Xu Wei? The class's Youth League secretary?"

Ye Ming nodded.

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine." Ye Ming flexed his wrist. "I just brushed against her."

Li Yue stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly laughed: "Ye Ming, Ye Ming, you saved someone on Zhujiang Road last time, and you saved someone again this time. Both times you got injured. Is this good luck with women or bad luck with women?"

I've never had any romantic entanglements or good fortune with women, neither in this life nor the last. Stay away from beautiful women; they'll only slow down my money-making pace!

Ye Ming did not respond.

Li Yue waved her hand: "Okay, okay, I won't tease you anymore. Hurry up and catch up on what you missed yesterday."

Zhang Yuan brought up the code interface: "While we were waiting for you yesterday, we connected the front-end and back-end, but we haven't run it through completely yet. There's a logic problem with the registration interface. Your arrival is perfect; let's take a look together."

Ye Ming leaned closer to look at the screen.

"Let's register an account first." Zhang Yuan typed "test001".

Click to register.

The page is spinning.

"It's stuck." Zhang Yuan opened the backend logs. "The SQL statement is missing a comma."

He modified and restarted the service, and successfully registered again.

Log in to enter the main interface:

[Rebirth Simulator] - Welcome back, test001

═══════════════════════════

Start a new life

My cards

Buddy

Leaderboard

lend me life

Win-win life

Personal center

═══════════════════════════

"Let's start a game," Ye Ming said.

Zhang Yuan clicked "Start a New Life" to enter the attribute allocation interface:

Please allocate your initial attributes (available points: 20, maximum per attribute: 10):

Face value: 0

Intelligence: 0

Physical condition: 0

Family status: 0

Please enter a value (format: appearance, intelligence, physical condition, family background):

Li Yue thought for a moment: "Looks 5, Intelligence 5, Physique 5, Family background 5, a balanced approach."

Zhang Yuan typed and clicked "Start".

Lines of text flashed across the screen:

0 years old: You were born, and you are a girl.

3 years old: You started kindergarten.

6 years old: You started elementary school.

Several option buttons pop up in the center of the screen:

Study hard, make more friends, cultivate special talents, and live a simple and ordinary life.

All options are highlighted, making them appear clickable.

Li Yue said, "I choose to study hard."

Zhang Yuan nodded.

System notification: You study diligently every day, but your learning methods are incorrect, causing your grades to decline. (Intelligence -1, Stress +15)

"Stress?" Li Yue looked at the screen. "This game has a stress level?"

Ye Ming nodded: "Too much pressure will affect your choices in subsequent events; excessive pressure may lead to premature death."

"Okay." Li Yue remembered.

The screen continues:

13 years old: You entered a regular junior high school.

16 years old: The high school entrance exam is approaching—

A new set of options pops up on the screen:

[Aiming for top high schools][Training in sports][Learning technical skills at vocational high schools][Finding jobs directly]

Li Yue reached out and tapped "Strive for Top High Schools," and a line of small text popped up on the screen:

"Your intelligence is not yet sufficient; this path is not feasible for the time being."

"Why can't we order this?"

Zhang Yuan glanced at the screen: "A certain level of intelligence is required to make this selection."

Li Yue had no choice but to choose "attending a vocational high school to learn technical skills".

System notification: You have entered a vocational high school and learned a skill. (Intelligence +1, Family Background +1)

"So that's how it is." She said thoughtfully.

18 years old: You've graduated.

Options:

[Find a job][Start your own business][Further education][Try your way into a big city]

All the options were lit up this time, and Li Yue chose "Find a job".

System notification: You have joined a factory as a technician with a stable income.

22 years old: After working for a few years.

Options:

[Job change to a big company][Get married through blind date][Save money to open a shop][Take the civil service exam]

Li Yue tried clicking "Switch to a big company," and another line of small print popped up:

"Your abilities aren't quite there yet. Take a few more years to hone your skills."

She had no choice but to choose "arranged marriage".

System notification: You met someone through an introduction, got married two years later, and are now living a stable and peaceful life.

The screen continued to flash, and seven or eight more options appeared one after another: change jobs, invest, take care of parents, send children to school... Some could be clicked, some could not.

Once, when I clicked on "Invest in Startup", a pop-up appeared on the screen: "Insufficient ability, startup failed, and some money was lost."

Li Yue sighed, "Failed again."

Ye Ming said, "If your attributes aren't good enough, some paths simply won't work."

The screen starts jumping faster as the characters jump all the way to old age.

You've retired.

Your spouse is in poor health, so you start taking care of her.

My spouse passed away before me.

The child will come to live with you.

Your health is deteriorating.

You passed away peacefully in your sleep.

The end of life slowly emerges:

Life's End

Lifespan: 78

Wealth: 7

Reputation: 15

Family: 5

Health: 5

Happiness: 62

Pressure: 48

You lived to be seventy-eight years old.

He worked diligently throughout his life and built a comfortable life for his family.

When your neighbors talk about you, they all say you're an honest and upright person.

He has a son and a daughter, both of whom are married.

Surrounded by three grandchildren, the family is always lively during holidays and festivals.

Your spouse has been with you for most of your life.

But in her final years, she passed away first.

Looking back on my life, it can't be described as spectacular.

But we've been safe and sound, and I'm content.

Overall: An ordinary family

Gold coins earned: 245

Share Your Life – Double Your Gold Coins

Li Yue stared at the screen and remained silent for a few seconds.

Zhang Yuan said, "It's like this the first time you play. You'll get used to it once you figure out the pattern."

"Let's test the gacha system again," Ye Ming said.

Zhang Yuan clicked "My Cards" to enter the card interface. His gold coin balance was 245.

Click on "Talent Card Pool".

The screen displays:

Congratulations on obtaining the Talent Card: ��������

"Gibberish?" Li Yue leaned closer to take a look.

Zhang Yuan opened the configuration file: "Character set issue; the database format is different from the one displayed on the page."

He modified the configuration and restarted the service.

The card draw was successful the next time.

Congratulations on obtaining the talent card: [Early Bird] (Normal)

Spending two extra hours each day compared to others can sometimes lead to unexpected rewards.

After several draws, I got a few more common cards and a decent blue card.

"Let's try choosing one out of ten," Ye Ming said.

Zhang Yuan clicked "Choose one out of ten for a guaranteed minimum," spending coins to enter the selection interface. The screen displayed ten cards; he selected the middle one, and the page froze.

After refreshing, I found that the coins had been deducted, but the card hadn't been credited.

"The transaction wasn't committed." Zhang Yuan added the code and retested.

It's normal this time.

Time passed slowly, and they tested the friend system, borrow my life, win-win life... The sound of keyboards rose and fell, occasionally interspersed with a few words of discussion.

Zhang Yuan rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. The sunlight outside the window was even higher than before.

"I still need to change the way I use the 'life' analogy," he said, staring at the screen.

Ye Ming nodded, and the three of them buried their heads in the screen, the sound of keyboards clicking never stopping.

The sunlight retreated through the windows of the server room.

It swept past the leaves of the sycamore trees outside the window, through the quiet paths of the campus, past the increasing number of pedestrians and vehicles on the streets, and headed west.

It landed on the windowsill of a building in Longjiang Community.

A little further in.

It landed on a mobile phone.

The white shell gleamed with a warm light in the morning glow.

The alarm clock suddenly went off.

Xu Wei suddenly opened her eyes.

The sunlight was falling on her face.

Nine o'clock sharp.

Sunlight streamed in at an angle through the gaps in the curtains, landing on the white Apple 3G phone beside the pillow.

She stared at the ceiling for two seconds, then smiled slightly.

It wasn't for any other reason than the memory of yesterday: when he turned his face away and said "I didn't say," the blush spreading across his neck.

She sat up and rubbed her hair.

The sky outside the window was a deep, clear blue, the kind of vastness and brightness unique to autumn. The sycamore leaves swayed gently in the wind, and sunlight filtered through the window, falling on the floor at her feet, pulsating like her heart at that moment.

She got up and opened the wardrobe, her gaze sweeping over the batwing-sleeved knit top she had worn yesterday. She paused for a second, then reached out and took out another piece: a beige fitted knit cardigan.

She compared herself to the mirror and then pulled out a light gray crew neck T-shirt to wear underneath.

She was still wearing the same dark pleated mini skirt, but today she changed into a pair of white canvas shoes.

She looked at herself in the mirror; a section of her smooth calves was visible beneath her skirt, and her canvas shoes were clean and tidy. She looked both gentle and energetic.

She smiled slightly, picked up her phone, and sent a message to her cousin: "Sis, I'm up. 10 o'clock at Zhujiang Road?"

After sending it, I went to wash up.

I looked at myself in the mirror while brushing my teeth. My hair was a little messy, but my eyes were bright.

She felt a little nervous, like she was carrying a rabbit in her heart, thinking about what she was going to buy later.