Lucky billion players, you've never seen one before / I can accumulate my own luck

Samael is very likely the mastermind behind Star Memory City. He's just a nobody from the Sword Tomb, and since this is a place of memories, he naturally won't meddle in other people's business.

After taking a few steps forward, the surrounding environment began to change, and a new scene quickly appeared—the same scene of the boy being bullied in various ways.

Through snippets of conversation from the bullies, Fan Xiao quickly learned the background of this world of memories.

This world is in an era where genetic modification technology is widely accepted. The bullied boy is named Samael Ang, and he is an extremely rare pure human—the kind whose ancestors for eighteen generations have never undergone genetic modification.

In this era, such pure-blooded humans are extremely rare. However, they are not valued because of their scarcity; instead, they are relegated to the lowest rungs of society.

Because they are average in appearance, average in physical fitness, average in intelligence, average in artistic talent... everything about them is average.

They might even be called inferior or lowly by people who hold prejudices against them.

This is an era where genetic talents can be customized.

With money and status, you can become anyone you want to be.

The offspring of genetically modified humans will inherit the superior genes of their parents, and even without any further genetic customization, they will be far superior to purebred humans.

Of course, in order to make their offspring more outstanding, when their economic conditions allow, parents will almost always decide in advance on the genetic talents of their children and plan their corresponding lives.

In some cases, the genetic modification is even completed in the womb before the child is born.

However, many parents still value human rights and insist on letting their children grow up freely first, and then let them choose their own future development path after they reach a certain age and have acquired certain knowledge.

Schools are specifically designed for children like this.

Samael, being a pure human, lacks superior genes and therefore can only study at school with other children of this type.

Fan Xiao couldn't help but think of the "Kryptonian civilization" from a certain Superman movie.

The same applies to Kryptonian society. The genes of Kryptonians are planned in advance, and once they have grown up, they automatically go to their corresponding positions to shine.

Workers will always be workers, generals will always be generals, scientists will always be scientists... Even the Kryptonian civilization went even further than this memory world, directly abolishing natural reproduction and using cold instruments to mass-produce its people based on data from the gene bank.

"Samael, you're the oldest in the class, so take care of the younger students. You'll be doing the cleaning duty today."

Before you know it, the scene has changed again.

Fan Xiao saw the female teacher smilingly assign Samael a cleaning duty again... Yes, this wasn't the first time.

This semester, most of the cleaning duties were assigned to Samael.

At this school, not only did the students discriminate against Samael, but even the teachers didn't really like him.

The only person who treated him like a human being was Juno, who would stay in the classroom for a long time after school every day before leaving.

After Samael finished cleaning Juno's seat, he tapped on her desk and whispered, "Juno, wake up, it's almost six o'clock, aren't you going back yet?"

"Little Sa?" Juno looked up. "Did that old woman make you do chores again?"

"Shh... It seems the teacher has a gene module that enhances her hearing. Last time, she was outside the teaching building and heard the children playing in the classroom. She came over immediately to scold them." Samael said nervously, "Let's not talk bad about her behind her back."

"She's the one who bullied you, and you still let her get away with it!" Juno sighed. "I'll help you clean up."

"Huh? No need..."

Before Samael could refuse, Juno grabbed the cleaning tools without a word and got to work efficiently.

Juno is 15 years old and a very beautiful girl. Thanks to the powerful genes modified by her parents, she was born very talented. She passed the piano level 10 at the age of ten and won a gold medal in the city's math Olympiad at the age of twelve, which is more impressive than many people who have undergone genetic modification.

She was the only one in the class who was willing to interact normally with Samael.

While cleaning the classroom, Juno said to Samael, "Samael, what's so good about genetic modification? Why are all the students and adults at school so enthusiastic about it? You said the teacher has a hearing enhancement module... isn't that just dog genes? Making herself look neither human nor dog, I think she's just an idiot!"

Samael dared not respond.

Juno's parents are very powerful, and she herself comes from a wealthy family. Even if she insults a teacher and is overheard, she will at most receive a verbal warning, unlike him who was born into a poor family.

"Juno, why won't you accept the customized genetic talent?" Samael changed the subject. "Your family shouldn't be short of money, right?"

“My dad is a mathematician and my mom is a pianist. They both hoped that I would follow in their footsteps. The reason I didn’t undergo genetic modification surgery before I was born was not because they were enlightened or concerned about human rights, but because they disagreed.”

Juno sighed again as she spoke: "After I was born, they finally decided to let me grow up and make my own choices. From childhood to adulthood, my mother never cooked a meal for me, and my father never told me a story. They were always busy, leaving me with a nanny, and we saw each other no more than ten times a year."

"Everyone in this world is busy. Genetic modification has given them the opportunity to achieve success, but they only remember their jobs and have absolutely no humanity! Not even a little bit!"

"Xiao Sa, I just want to be like you, an ordinary person, with friends and family, with feelings and happiness. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"I hate cold, hard genetic modification!"

"..."

Samael lowered his head, feeling a surge of bitterness and shame.

He actually... didn't want to be an ordinary person.

There was only one reason why he didn't have the surgery—his family was poor! His father was an alcoholic who only knew how to beat and scold him to vent his frustrations when he came home. How could he possibly spend the effort to save money to buy him a gene customization project?

Over the past few years, he has been collecting plastic bottles outside and selling them at recycling stations to earn money—he wants to slowly save up money to customize a genetic modification project that can improve his physical fitness.

If he gets stronger, those bullies at school won't dare to bully him anymore, right?

"Ugh, it's so late, I have to go home," Juno suddenly said. "Ugh, I don't want to go home at all!"

Upon hearing this, Samael looked at the distressed girl and instinctively reached out to pat her head.

He quickly withdrew his hand.

Juno was too dazzling, so dazzling that he dared not touch her.

"Ha, coward!"

Juno gave a reprimand and left the classroom.

Chapter 658 Different Stories, Same Fate

Fan Xiao continued walking forward along the gray path.

The surrounding memory scenes begin to change, showing Samael returning home and being beaten by his alcoholic father.

Perhaps because it was a subjective memory, some of Samael's inner thoughts entered his ears in the form of specific sounds.

This guy is questioning whether there's any point in continuing his life.

He was beaten at home by his alcoholic father, and at school he was dragged to a secluded corner and beaten by the school bullies. Other classmates looked down on him and secretly cursed him as a lowly bastard... He lived a very tiring life.

Sometimes he really agreed with what Juno said: genetic modification has made the world colder, and after class discrimination, skin color discrimination, and religious discrimination, humanity has now developed genetic discrimination.

"It'll be soon, very soon... Soon no one will dare to bully me."

Samael took a deep breath, pulled out his worn-out piggy bank from under the bed, and hugged it tightly to his chest.

This is the money he earned from selling the scrap he collected; it is his hope.

He looked up and saw a huge lightbox billboard outside the window displaying the advertising slogan that haunted his dreams: "What your parents can't give you, we will."

Once his body's genes are modified and strengthened, and he becomes stronger, he will no longer be a pushover.

Samael's eyes were shining.

However, the light in his eyes soon dimmed again—he thought of Juno.

Juno is so averse to genetic modification, if he were to undergo the modification, then... would Juno never speak to him again?

Samael hugged the piggy bank even tighter, the sharp edges digging painfully into his fingers.

Unconsciously, he recalled the pain of being beaten in a secluded alley by his classmates with superior genes, and his eyes hardened again.

……

The scene shifts, and we are back at the school.

Samael was attacked again.

Fan Xiao found it quite amusing.

Don't let his pitiful appearance fool you. When he grows up, he'll commit heinous crimes in the amusement park, and even a year of execution wouldn't be enough to atone for them.

Being beaten up in the memories doesn't even count as paying off a debt in advance.

Because the memory scenes weren't displayed one day at a time, Fan Xiao didn't know how many more times Samael had been beaten by the school bullies after the previous piggy bank scene disappeared.

From the bullies' conversation, he deduced that almost a week had passed.

"You lowly bastard! Juno went crazy and tried to protect you before, which made us afraid to lay a hand on you at school. I was so frustrated! Now look what's happened, no one can protect you anymore! Haha."

"A bastard is a bastard! How dare you seduce our campus goddess! Don't you even take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror? Besides, did I give you permission to seduce her?!"

"Tsk tsk, look at this bastard's expression. The goddess was just teasing him, and he actually took it seriously?"

"Haha, that's hilarious! Does Juno even belong in the same league as a bastard like you? You idiot! Her parents decided on her genetic modification four days ago, and she's never coming to school again. Haha, let's see who can protect you now!"

"..."

Samael tightly protected his head, curling up his body to provide some defense, which reduced the pain from the beating.

At this moment, he didn't scream or wail; his mind was completely focused on what these bastards were saying.

Juno... is it time to start genetic modification?

No wonder she hasn't come to school these past few days.

She won't be coming again...

More than the physical pain, Samael felt an unbearable tearing sensation in his heart.

……

The scene changes again.

Samael appeared at the landfill carrying a large nylon bag and began scavenging through the garbage for scraps he could sell.

He has almost saved up his money.

He will soon be able to customize a basic body gene enhancement package to significantly improve his physical fitness.

By then, he would have the strength to fight back. As long as he could beat those bastards hard, he would never be beaten again.

Next, he will continue to save money slowly to buy a gene therapy package to improve his memory.

Next are specific genetic talents, such as artistic talent, mathematical talent, etc.

"Little Sa?"

A faint voice brought Samael back to reality from his reverie.

Samael shuddered and looked down at a corner of the garbage heap, where he saw Juno's figure.

Juno was wearing a dirty, oversized coat and holding a half-eaten loaf of bread. The bread was filthy, like it had been found in a garbage dump… no, not just like, it was!

He often comes here looking for food because he's always hungry, so he would never mistake that sour smell.

"Zhu... Nuo!?"

Samael cried out in a trembling voice.

Upon hearing the response, Juno finally realized that she shouldn't have uttered that cry in her current disheveled state.

She's too ashamed to show her face in public now!

Juno stood up, dropped half a loaf of bread, and ran away.

However, she seemed very weak and was quickly caught up by Samael, who grabbed her arm.

"Juno! It's me! Why are you running? What...what happened to you? What are you doing here..."

"Aren't you here too?"

"I……"

Samael didn't know how to respond.

He didn't want Juno to know about his scavenging and selling of trash.

Fortunately, Juno's attention wasn't on that.

The girl explained her situation: "My parents forced me to have the modification surgery. I didn't want to become a cold person like them, like a machine with a bunch of parts installed on me, gradually becoming an emotionless screw, so... so I ran away."

"Little Sa, let's run together! I know you don't like this place either, and you've been resisting having the surgery, haven't you?"

"Let's leave here together and live somewhere where genetic modification isn't so important, okay?"

Juno grabbed Samael's hand in return. In just a few days, she had lost a lot of weight, but her eyes were full of light, as if she was about to find her own life and freedom.

"..."