When she woke up the next morning, Nan Zhi discovered that she had actually slept directly on the floor the entire night.
A full night of peaceful sleep.
Corn lay belly-up at her feet, snoring soundly. Its chubby belly rose and fell with each breath, its long golden fur fluffed into a messy ball.
—Quite adorable.
Nan Zhi stretched lazily.
She had never felt so good before.
Her limbs, normally stiff from sitting at a desk for years on end, felt as limber as a high schooler's. When she straightened her arms, her joints even popped with satisfying, crisp cracks.
It felt so relieving, as if someone had massaged every single joint in her body and unblocked all of her meridians.
Nan Zhi could hardly wait to open the game and check her character profile.
【After a night of cultivation, the Cultivator has comprehended the technique 《Moon-Worshiping Breathing Method》 with deep insights. Constitution +7, combat power +10.】
【Achievement unlocked: “Second Cultivation Method”. Obtained Heavenly Treasure Tree Lottery Ticket ×3.】
【Cultivator: Nan Zhi】
【Bone age: 18】
【Level: 7】
...
【Currently Equipped: “Butcher’s Daughter”, “Nan Village Slaughtering Knife”】
【Cultivation: Qi Refinement level 2】
【Cultivated Techniques: 《Small Huanzhen Manual》, 《Moon-Worshiping Breathing Method》】
It worked!
Cultivating different methods simultaneously in reality and inside the game hadn't slowed down her cultivation speed at all; instead, it elevated her cultivation to the next level!
Nan Zhi was ecstatic.
At this rate, whether in the game or in reality, she had twice as much cultivation time as anyone else!
The phone ringing in her bedroom alerted her to the arrival of another wretched Monday.
Normally, Nan Zhi would have sprinted to the office at the last possible minute, aiming solely to clock in on time.
Today, however, she was in high spirits. She left twenty minutes early and even stopped at the breakfast shop downstairs for a piping hot meal.
The freshly prepared savory tofu pudding was snow-white, looking as delicate and silky as blocks of jade agar in the bowl.
Topped with fried peas, shredded wood ear mushrooms, pickled mustard tubers, chili oil, and chopped cilantro, then drenched in two generous ladles of rich gravy, it all came together with a quick stir of the spoon—
Taking a bite, the fragrance of soybeans and savory gravy danced across her palate. The crunchy peas, paired with crisp and slightly salty pickled mustard tuber and the refreshing note of cilantro, left an unforgettable aftertaste.
“Ding-dong!”
Just as Nan Zhi took a spoonful of savory tofu pudding, her phone's browser pushed a barrage of breaking headlines:
【Bigfoot Tracks Spotted in the Shennongjia Forestry District! Forest Ranger of 27 Years Speaks Out.】
【Mystery Behind the “Loch Ness Monster” Photo: A Clever Hoax, or Evidence Left by an Eyewitness?】
【Spate of Disappearances in the Tarim Basin: Audio and Video Recordings of Missing Tourists Revealed...】
【Major Breakthrough in Beihu Province Dismemberment Murder Case! Victim's Relatives Insist Victim's Ghost Appeared in a dream message—】
【“Angel Halo” Spotted in the Skies Over the Vatican, God Manifesting? St. Peter's Basilica Responds: “This Is God's Will.”】
“There are more and more bizarre events happening these past few years. It's almost like a Spiritual Resurgence is coming.
They push this stuff to my feed every day, as if it has anything to do with working stiffs like us.”
The commuter sitting across from her drinking soy milk had clearly received the same notifications and couldn't help grumbling.
Going to work on a Monday, the resentment radiating off him was heavier than that of an old ghost dead for centuries:
“If a Spiritual Resurgence really happened and everyone started cultivating immortality, I'd be the first to quit this garbage job and take my destiny into my own hands.”
“You're dreaming. Even if a Spiritual Resurgence really happened, we'd still be working like beasts of burden for capitalists. The job market might be even more cutthroat than it is now.”
A coworker beside him munching on a steamed bun remarked coolly:
“How do you know nobody in those capitalist families is cultivating? When the time comes, us working beasts will still be slaving away for them.”
“Sigh...”
“Way too real, sigh...”
“Hits right in the feels, bro.”
As soon as those words were uttered, a collective wave of sighs swept through the cramped breakfast diner, every face grim.
Nan Zhi, holding her bowl: “...”
Why did even the cilantro-topped savory tofu pudding suddenly lose its flavor?
...
Even though Nan Zhi was already at Qi Refinement level 2—which in classic cultivation novels could at least land her a gig as a minor minion—
reality was brutal: she had no money.
Mortgage, car loan, property management fees, water bill, electric bill, and daily living expenses.
It was easy to list them off with a casual flick of the tongue, but only when a single penny truly brought a hero to their knees did one understand the meaning of distress.
Nan Zhi had also pondered whether she should just surrender herself and the tablet directly to the state, lying flat to live happily as a pampered little freeloader under Motherland's loving care.
Yet on second thought, though the life of a pampered parasite sounded wonderful, every gain came with a loss.
If she actually did that, she would have zero privacy and freedom going forward.
Nan Zhi was inherently someone who despised being constrained. Taming her temper to obediently go to work was already the greatest compromise she had ever made with life.
Therefore, she would rather continue being an invisible nobody, a stray scrap of society, quietly developing and laying low while cultivating in secret.
By the time the others arrived at the office looking either thoroughly drained or deeply traumatized by existence, a refreshed and radiant Nan Zhi was already hard at work.
“Good lord, Nan Zhi, you're practically not human lately!”
Zhang Qiuyu wailed dramatically, raising both hands to shield her eyes from Nan Zhi’s glowing face:
“What kind of sane person comes to work on a Monday looking this energized? Wake up, my friend!
You are literally radiating holy light from head to toe—holy light!
I can't take it anymore! A bottom-feeding reptile like me, whose only goal is slacking off and whose head is full of degenerate trash, must retreat to my safe zone immediately—urgh!”
With that, she clutched her chest tightly and slumped over her desk, playing dead.
“Very good! Young people ought to have this kind of energy and drive!”
The supervisor strolled past the cubicles holding a thermos packed with goji berries and praised casually:
“Look at Little Nan. A neat, crisp ponytail, looking sharp and capable—how wonderful!
Don't always come to work wearing oversized sweaters and baggy shirts smothered under down coats. Where are your work uniforms? Where are your work pants?
Even though our department isn't client-facing, management said that starting this month, appearance and grooming will be assessed. Everyone needs to mind the company's image!
Also, to the male comrades in the office: stop wearing slippers to work. It's getting warmer, and your feet have an odor. How are we supposed to turn on the air conditioning like that...
Oh, speaking of air conditioning, who messed with the money tree on my desk a couple of days ago?
Didn't I already tell you? You can't just water a money tree whenever you feel like it. It's just like how a person swells up if they soak in water for too long...”
The supervisor was a middle-aged man in his early fifties with a good temper, a son and a daughter, and an extremely blissful family life.
However, this also led him to develop a nagging, long-winded habit.
Every meeting went off-topic without fail, and once derailed, he would ramble for over half an hour, pivoting effortlessly from client demands to the current state of the global economy.
From office plant maintenance to the prospects of new energy vehicles.
He was practically Tang Seng reincarnated.
In the office, everyone let his words go in one ear and out the other, completely tuning him out.
“Working is annoying enough as it is, and now they want to evaluate appearance and grooming too? I seriously can't stand another single day in this trash company.”
Zhang Qiuyu let out a groan and buried her head in a stack of documents in protest:
“Why do humans have to work? Why can't our bank balances just increase automatically without us doing anything?”
“Keep dreaming. That kind of life only exists in fantasy.”
Nan Zhi chimed in while taking a brief breath from her tasks.
Look at her: even at Qi Refinement level 2, she still had to work.
Nan Zhi felt clear-headed and sharp, her logic lucid as she handled her workload with effortless dexterity.
What would normally have taken two days of work was completely finished before the workday even ended.
Could it be...
that the true purpose of cultivating immortality is just to become a more efficient beast of burden?
Is the end of the universe really wage labor?
Nan Zhi fell into deep thought.
Rate on N.U.
