"Brother Sheng?"
Qi Sheng felt his shoulder being shaken hard and dazedly opened his eyes.
Uh...
'Where the hell is this?'
He was in a standard hotel room, a little over thirty square meters.
A familiar, somewhat boyish figure came into view.
"Pengzai?"
Qi Sheng had a vague premonition that he had, in all likelihood, caught the trendy wave of rebirth.
'This scene... Am I here for my college roommate's wedding?'
"You gave me a scare. I thought you weren't feeling well. Hurry up and get ready, Brother Tong has been rushing us."
Wu Peng breathed a sigh of relief, turning to continue packing his things.
"Yeah, I need to use the bathroom first."
Still a bit out of it, Qi Sheng got up and walked to the bathroom.
SPLASH...
Qi Sheng cupped some water in his hands and splashed it on his face.
He looked at his plain, unremarkable self in the mirror—his face was even a bit chubby—and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
'Sigh... so what if I've been reborn?'
'Looks like making a living with my face is going to be impossible in this lifetime.'
[Ding... Infinite Modification System successfully loaded!]
A voice suddenly rang in Qi Sheng's ears.
Qi Sheng was dumbfounded.
'Have I turned into a web novel protagonist?'
The rebirth alone was a pleasant surprise.
And now he'd been given a system on top of it.
'It's like they're afraid I won't be able to reach the pinnacle of life!'
Qi Sheng eagerly checked to see what his system could do.
[Host: Qi Sheng]
[Age: 22]
[Modification Authority: Beginner]
[Height: 178cm (Modifiable)]
[Weight: 90kg (Modifiable)]
[Ability: Amateur Writer (Modifiable)]
[Monthly Income: 6,000 Yuan (Modifiable)]
[Looks: 61 (Modifiable)]
[Physique: 55 (Modifiable)]
[Intelligence: 62 (Modifiable)]
[Special: 60 (Modifiable)]
(Note: The average for all attributes in a normal, healthy adult male is 60.)
He had to admit, the system panel was astonishingly accurate.
Not long after graduating, Qi Sheng had switched careers to become a full-time writer, living a miserable, hand-to-mouth existence.
He was constantly staying up late, had an irregular sleep schedule, and didn't control his diet.
Coupled with his reliance on sweets to relieve stress, his weight had skyrocketed.
Even up until his rebirth, he'd never managed to shed much of his 90kg weight.
Losing weight tested not only one's willpower, but also one's wallet.
For an ordinary person, just getting by was already hard enough.
Compared to losing weight, making money was Qi Sheng's main interest.
"Are you done yet?"
Just as Qi Sheng's mind was wandering, Wu Peng came over and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Just a minute."
Qi Sheng collected his thoughts and began to ponder the modification authority on the system panel.
The moment the system bound to him, it had also transmitted some necessary information to Qi Sheng.
The Beginner Modification Authority could only raise his various abilities to the Professional Level.
It wasn't hard to tell from the information on the system panel.
Aside from his amateur writer ability, his other skills were atrocious.
They weren't even good enough to be listed on the stats panel.
But with the system, none of that was a problem.
'Karaoke with friends?'
'Professional Level singing skills, guaranteed to leave your friends stunned!'
'Playing pool with friends?'
'Professional Level pool skills—clearing the table in one break would no longer be a dream.'
He could worry about abilities later, though.
The Monthly Income column was what Qi Sheng was really focused on.
People always say that if you're reborn, getting rich is a piece of cake.
But an ordinary person was still an ordinary person, especially since it was already 2018.
Even the damn World Cup was long over.
Flipping real estate was a dead end in the future, too.
Even if he could make money that way, it would be a small profit at best.
The Beginner Modification Authority could directly change his monthly income to 200,000.
That was 2.4 million a year!
In this country, that would absolutely make him part of the upper-middle-class elite, with a rather high social status.
Within his family, he'd become a legendary figure people would talk about endlessly.
Qi Sheng didn't hesitate, directly modifying his monthly income to the maximum limit of his current authority.
[Ding, monthly income successfully modified!]
[Current Monthly Income: 200,000]
'Nice!'
"Your card ending in 6088 received a deposit of 200,000.00 yuan (Family Trust Dividend) on August 26 at 06:30. Current balance: 214,889.73 yuan. [ICBC]"
Qi Sheng was surprised; he hadn't expected the system to deposit the money into his account this way.
As for the security of the funds' source, the system's explanation was another pleasant surprise for Qi Sheng.
According to the law of conservation of energy.
The system's money didn't just appear out of thin air.
The more money Qi Sheng 'farmed', the more the wealth of foreign tycoons would shrink.
The anonymous accounts in Swiss banks were a particular paradise for the system to fleece.
He was fleecing the capitalists, making the great Western powers pay back their historical debts, with interest.
Qi Sheng was tempted to call this the Patriot System!
With money, Qi Sheng's confidence instantly soared.
Money is a hero's courage.
Without it, you can't get anywhere.
To the rich, a monthly income of 200,000 was nothing.
An annual income of 2.4 million wasn't even worth mentioning.
But for 99% of the world's ordinary people...
...it was an astronomical sum they could never earn in a lifetime.
Even without any future upgrades, an annual income of 2.4 million was enough for Qi Sheng to live a very comfortable life.
Besides height and weight, the Beginner Modification Authority could also raise his other attributes to a maximum of 69.
"System, modify everything!"
[Ding! Looks successfully modified: 61 → 69!]
[Ding! Physique successfully modified: 55 → 69!]
[Ding! Intelligence Attribute successfully modified: 62 → 69!]
[Ding! Special Attributes successfully modified: 60 → 69!]
[Ding! Height successfully modified: 178cm → 181cm!]
[Ding! Weight successfully modified: 90kg → 85kg]
After the series of modifications, a warm current instantly coursed through his body.
His face became unbearably itchy as visible black impurities were expelled from his pores.
"Holy shit!"
Qi Sheng suddenly felt his stomach churn violently, and his expression changed in an instant.
He quickly turned on the bathroom's exhaust fan and sat on the toilet to purge his system.
"Cough... Damn, that stinks."
After flushing the toilet, Qi Sheng pinched his nose and walked over to the mirror.
He was stunned by his own reflection.
Compared to before, the lines of his face were much softer.
His formerly indistinct jawline was gradually becoming defined.
His double chin, moreover, was gone.
The acne scars and pimples on his face had also vanished completely.
The overall structure of his facial features hadn't changed much, however.
It was more of an internal renewal of his skin quality, which made him look much fairer.
And that was just the change to his face.
The changes to his body were even more pronounced.
His height had been changed to 181cm, bringing him one step closer to the ideal man standard that girls dreamed of.
As for his weight, with the expulsion of so many toxins, it had plummeted from 90 kg to 85 kg.
Combined with the 3cm increase in height and the refined features from his Looks upgrade, it was like he had become a completely different person.
Fortunately, the system would automatically blur the perceptions of people familiar with him, so they wouldn't notice such a drastic change.
Qi Sheng packed his personal belongings.
Just three T-shirts, a pair of pants, and a pair of shorts—he was certainly traveling light.
"Alright, I'm ready. Let's head down."
Qi Sheng stuffed his clothes and charger into his backpack, calling out to Wu Peng, who was gleefully chatting away in a group chat.
"Hey, Brother Sheng, a few of us are planning to give 2,000. Is that okay with you?"
Wu Peng said this while furtively glancing at Qi Sheng's expression.
Among their group, Qi Sheng's income was the least stable.
"Yeah, that's fine. Whatever you guys decide."
Qi Sheng smiled, agreeing without the slightest hesitation.
Before, he might have felt the pinch.
But now?
As a big shot earning 2.4 million a year...
...chipping in for a wedding gift was chump change.