Reborn in 2010, the AI ​​in my mind is too powerful.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the alarm clock rang. Chen Yiran groggily got out of bed. Perhaps because of the effects of jasmine, he had slept well, vaguely remembering that in his previous life, due to jet lag, he hadn't slept at all.

After washing up and going outside, I found several students already sitting in the lobby, mostly Chinese students.

At exactly eight o'clock, a white van pulled up in front of Super 8. It wasn't the same van that picked him up last night, but the driver was similar—a middle-aged white man in an old jacket.

The van drove straight through Newark's main street without turning a single corner, and arrived at ELI's office.

It was a two-story house, looking no different from a typical American villa. There was a reception desk at the entrance, and the walls were covered with "Welcome" signs in various languages.

The receptionist was a friendly Black woman with a big smile. She handed each of them a form – a personal information form.

Then you just wait. Inside, the teachers test your English level one-on-one and divide students into different levels. There are generally six levels, but if you don't do well at levels 5 or 6, you'll have to take the test twice.

After waiting for about twenty minutes, a middle-aged female teacher wearing glasses came out with a stack of documents and called his name.

I followed the teacher into a small office. The door closed, and the two of us sat facing each other. On the table were a test paper and a pencil.

"Let's start with spoken English, don't be nervous."

English oral test.

In his previous life, Chen Yiran was assigned to Level 3, and his poor spoken English was one of the main reasons. In 2010, he could barely pronounce the word "comfortable," and when asked a question like "What is your favorite season?", he struggled for half a minute.

Things are different now.

The teacher asked a few standard questions—why did I come to the United States, where is my hometown, and what do I usually like to do?

Chen Yiran answered fluently; after all, he had spent so much time here in his previous life that his Chinese accent wasn't very strong anymore.

The teacher was clearly pleased and began asking him some questions that were not commonly asked.

Chen Yiran answered fluently, and the two even discussed in detail Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's collaboration on "Video Phone" at the end of last year.

Both felt that the song fell far short of the standards set by the two superstars in the past.

Then came the written test.

The reading comprehension section consisted of two articles, fifteen multiple-choice questions, and a writing exercise. The articles weren't difficult; it was quite easy.

But when it came to writing, I got stuck on the spelling...

Yes, what era are we living in? Everyone types using input methods. He even forgets how to write Chinese characters, let alone English, which he hasn't written in seven or eight years.

Oh no, oh no, is this going to be a tragedy?

Jasmine, hurry and save the day!

Jasmine suddenly popped into my head.

The words popped up like suggestions in a search engine dropdown menu.

Thank goodness, I forgot, but actually I didn't really forget.

Occasionally, a word or two will get stuck, and Jasmine will pop up quickly, running under light load, just like typing on a keyboard.

After finishing the paper and handing it in, the teacher looked at the answers, and his expression finally changed a little.

"Your reading and writing are both excellent, and your spoken language is very natural."

She adjusted her glasses and looked at him seriously: "To be honest, your English level far exceeds the average level of our freshmen. I think you could be admitted directly. But according to the rules, I can only recommend you to Level 6, which is our highest level."

Sure, you could have paid a year's tuition at ELI in your past life. But given your situation, TOEFL is a good alternative.

"When I applied, I was in a hurry and didn't take the TOEFL, so I applied for a bilingual program. Now, if I submit a TOEFL score, I should be able to enroll directly, right?"

The teacher handed over some documents from the side and said, "That's true, but it's not very helpful for you. You have to complete the ELI procedure today, otherwise there will be problems with your I-20. I don't believe your level will fail the test in two months, so taking the TOEFL or not doesn't make much difference. Of course, if you get a good TOEFL score, you can consider going to a better school."

Chen Yiran hadn't considered transferring schools yet, so she could only say, "I'll think about it."

"No rush, anytime is fine."

The teacher stood up, glanced at his test paper, and then sat down again.

"Wait a moment, I'll go tell Director ELI about your situation."

After saying that, he took the test paper and left the office.

Chen Yiran sat in the office for five minutes. The female teacher returned, followed by a white woman in her fifties with gray hair and gold-rimmed glasses. Oh, a familiar face! Wasn't she the one who taught him L6 in his past life?

"This is Dr. Henderson, the director of ELI."

"Hello." Dr. Henderson sat down, flipped through his test paper, and said, "Your speaking teacher told me you did exceptionally well. I'd like to speak with you for a bit."

Another round.

Dr. Henderson's questions were even more challenging than the previous teacher's—he even started to specifically discuss some specialized vocabulary that international students rarely encounter before university.

Chen Yiran answered fairly fluently, and when he forgot something, he pretended to organize his thoughts and asked Jasmine for a hint.

After listening, Dr. Henderson nodded and wrote something on the form.

"L6. We'll let you in directly to L6."

She handed the form to the female teacher: "Give him L6, no need to test again."

Then, looking at Chen Yiran, he said, "Your English is indeed very good. If you really take the TOEFL and get a good score, I can write you a letter of recommendation."

"Thanks."

That's right. Recommendation letters in the US aren't actually as valuable as people think. Basically, if you're shameless enough, you can find kind-hearted professors at research conferences to put in a good word for you.

Dr. Henderson stood up and left.

The female teacher picked up his form, looked at it, and said with a smile, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long. Because your grades are so good, our director personally came to review them. She confirmed L6."

Chen Yiran nodded.

The teacher led him out of the small office and into the ELI reception hall.

It's empty.

The white van outside has already driven away; the rest of the group has gone to get their student IDs.

Chen Yiran stood in the hall, dumbfounded.

Jasmine: [Because you took the exam twice, it took longer than others. They've already gone to get their student IDs.]

I'm not stupid! You don't need to tell me! I've only been reborn for two days, and things have already changed?

It seems so, judging from the movie "The Butterfly Effect"...

Stop! Can't you say something nice? That lousy movie didn't have a single happy ending.

[My advice is that in the event of an emergency, your priority should be to remain calm, rather than shifting blame onto me. I'm just an AI-assisted system, and besides, I'm using your brain as a model; my thoughts are primarily influenced by your personality.]

At this moment, the teacher inside came out and said, "It's okay, I'll drive you to get your student ID and bank card too."

We arrived at the student center in the teacher's car, moving slowly as the previous students had already finished and left.

"This student was just given an additional test by ELI, which caused a delay," the teacher said to the staff.

The staff didn't ask any questions, took a photo, and swiped the card. Chen Yiran received a blue student card. In the photo, he looked a bit thin, and his hair made him look like he had just come from an internet cafe.

"This photo is so ugly."

Jasmine: [This is what you look like.]

"...You didn't turn on your camera, did you?"

I'm receiving every single visual message from you; I just saw it in the mirror, and it matches the photograph.

The teacher was very responsible. Because Chen Yiran missed the bus, the teacher personally helped him complete all the necessary procedures.

The two most important things are the bank card and the bank card. The default bank on campus is WSFS, whose real name is probably unknown to Chinese students. They all call it "the lewd and sassy bank" because it is extremely unreliable. Chen Yiran has a very bad impression of it.

This bank card is naturally linked to the student card, but for convenience, it's still necessary to open a separate savings account. In my past life, the card never actually reached him; I don't know where it was sent. I went to the bank to ask, but they knew nothing. They resent it, but I still didn't receive it.

Chen Yiran felt that this life had given him a second chance, but just in case, he still needed to go to the Acme supermarket next to Green and get a Citizens card. He had used this bank all his life when he was in school and had never had any problems.

The second key point is phone cards. At the AT&T store on the main street, a row of mobile phones was displayed behind the counter, with Blackberries and iPhone 3GS prominently featured. A Middle Eastern man with a small mustache was very enthusiastic, eagerly recommending his national phone plan SIM card to him.

Having already been scammed before, Chen Yiran naturally refused and bought an iPhone, then signed up for the basic data plan.

It's painful. In my past life, Zhang Wei, Li Tian, ​​and Kevin met on their way to AT&T. They were all Level 3 employees, hit it off, went back to their hotel together, and signed up for their Family Plan while walking along this road. In this life, I can only sign up for the plan alone. It's a bit lonely, and the price is much higher too.

Anyway, all the necessary things were finally taken care of. The teacher took him to the final stop—Studio Green.

After saying goodbye to her teacher, Chen Yiran went into the office and found her box in the package delivery area.

The staff were very helpful in registering him and gave him a key for room C303.

Having already gained experience, Chen Yiran did not choose to check in directly, but instead asked if she could switch to the digital zone.

Studio Green is divided into two large areas, separated by a street, marked by numbers and letters respectively. Each building is three stories high, but the letter-marked area mostly has three units per floor, and the buildings are much older.

The digital area is much newer, and most of the units are only two units per floor.

The staff were surprised and moved him to room 303 in room 13. They even asked how he knew the difference between the two rooms.

Chen Yiran casually gave an excuse based on information he found online, then took the key and went to check in.

The room has a typical one-bedroom layout. To the left of the entrance is a small den, which is a room with a very small window. It's a bit cramped for living and is usually used for storing miscellaneous items.

The room was empty because it wasn't a room specifically for international students; there weren't even beds inside.

Chen Yiran suddenly felt a little lonely. In her previous life, she wasn't alone; she had a bunch of newly acquainted friends around her.

Is there such a big difference on the very first day?

However, he felt that his mindset had also changed a lot. Normally, he would run into a few senior students at the gym a few days later. Although they were senior students, they had only been there a few months longer than the senior students.

With their help, Chen Yiran obtained proof of address and took her driver's license test. They also helped her with her first move, her first trip to IKEA, and later, buying a car.

Now, do we still need to naturally attend classes and leave classes, getting to know them unintentionally?

Having lived two lives, Chen Yiran no longer had the patience to relive her past.

With a sigh, I picked up my laptop and went back to Studio Green's office.

This is actually a residents' activity center, with a gym and a small basketball court nearby. Of course, Chen Yiran came here to use the Wi-Fi.

I first registered online to schedule a Comcast network installation. Then I quickly Googled Bitcoin.

Several forum posts and an article popped up on the screen. Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block in January 2009, and in the year since then, the price of Bitcoin has been almost the same as zero.

Even the famous incident of buying two pizzas with 10,000 bitcoins didn't happen until May 22nd.

Chen Yiran didn't know what new developments this rebirth would bring, but buying some Bitcoin as a safety net was still necessary, at least to put his mind at ease.

The first thing to get is a car. In big cities it's not so bad, but in places like Newark, not having a car is practically the same as being dead. He's still hesitating, wondering whether to walk two kilometers to Acme; four kilometers round trip is quite tiring.

After resting for a while, Chen Yiran set off for Acme. Putting everything else aside, she needed to get a bank card quickly, otherwise she wouldn't feel the warmth of her parents' love.