Chapter 5: "Come on, man, is it really that serious?"

The Chen family’s living room was quiet.

Chen Jin broke the silence: "Mom, I’m taking the art exam no matter what!"

He spoke in a normal tone this time, yet his voice sounded far more pleasant than before. It was simply more comfortable to listen to. While some people’s voices are grating or unremarkable, Chen Jin’s current voice made people want to take a second look at him. If Su Wanyu and Chen Xianqi didn’t know their son so well, any stranger would have remarked, "What a wonderful voice that person has."

Before either of them could react, Chen Jin dashed upstairs. Why stay a moment longer than necessary? Acting cool and then making a quick exit—that was truly a thrill. More importantly, he needed to study this system; it was absolutely incredible. The two rewards had already transformed his voice; if the transformation was completed, who knew what would happen?

"Wife, Xiao Jin’s voice really has changed, hasn't it?"

Chen Xianqi was still savoring the sound of his son's recent words, but Su Wanyu scoffed, "If he put this much effort into his pronunciation toward his English grades, he’d be ahead by now. He’s not going into broadcasting or singing—your son wants to be an actor! What does an actor need a nice voice for?"

She remained firmly against the idea of Chen Jin applying to the performance department; it was pure frustration speaking. "I finally understand why his English grades never go up; he spends every waking moment thinking about this!"

"His tutor told me that if he isn't learning English well, it’s just because he’s lazy and doesn't want to study!"

The more Su Wanyu thought about it, the angrier she became. Beside her, Chen Xianqi spoke up, albeit a bit weakly, "Well... honestly, you can't put it that way. Being an actor has been Xiao Jin’s interest since he was a child. Of course he’d be more focused on his interests—"

"You knew he wanted to be an actor?"

Su Wanyu shot a sharp glare at Chen Xianqi. He jumped and hurriedly denied it, "No, no! The kid has always liked watching movies, that’s all I meant!"

"He’s already signed up for the exam!"

"And he wants to..."

Su Wanyu was beyond annoyed. The very thought of Chen Jin taking the art exam struck her as completely unrealistic. While she didn't know the difficulty of the art exam, as a teacher, she knew one thing for certain: people usually spent over a decade planning for this, studying dance and performing on stage, accumulating years of experience before daring to take that path. Her son was no genius—why should he compete for a spot against those people? Could he really measure up?

Su Wanyu didn't even need to think about it; he was destined for failure. Even if Chen Jin practiced his pronunciation all day, it was nothing but a waste of time.

"Regardless, I will never agree to it!"

As Su Wanyu laid down the law, Chen Xianqi wrinkled his nose. "What’s that smell? Did you burn something?"

"Oh no, the red-braised pork!"

"It’s all because of you two and your nonsense!"

Su Wanyu rushed toward the kitchen, scolding as she went, "Every day I rack my brain trying to make delicious meals for this child, and all he does is make me angry!"

Chen Xianqi spread his hands helplessly. He certainly didn't dare play with his phone anymore and hurried after her to see if there was any way he could help—or hinder.

***

Upstairs, Chen Jin was unaware of his mother's intense opposition. He locked his door and began studying the system.

[Task]: Spend more time with your parents. (In Progress)
[Acting/Line Delivery Skill +1!]
[Acting/Line Delivery Skill +1!]
...

The text on the virtual interface popped up periodically. At first, it was every minute, then five, then ten. In this short time, his line delivery skill had already increased by four points. Crucially, the task hadn't ended; it remained in the "In Progress" status. This meant that simply staying at home counted as spending time with his parents.

Chen Jin guessed that although his "Line Delivery Skill" was still at the beginner level, it was already at 5/10. He estimated that in a little while, it would level up.

"I wonder how my voice will change once the skill levels up?" Chen Jin wondered, filled with anticipation.

*Ding!*

A new task appeared.

[A qualified actor must maintain their professional standards daily: exercise, lines, vocal training, performance, etc.!]
[Daily Task]: Please commit to the actor’s daily routine for at least half an hour.
[Note]: The longer you maintain the daily streak, the greater the rewards.

"I knew it!" Chen Jin sighed. "Becoming an actor is definitely not easy."

However, looking at it this way: if he worked hard at English, he might succeed, but he might also fail. With this system, if he put in the effort, the rewards were guaranteed. It was a matter of subjective initiative. One was a pipe dream, the other offered a glimpse into the future—Chen Jin would definitely choose the latter.

But why not combine the two?

"I have to memorize and read English vocabulary anyway, so if I read them using acting techniques, that should count as practice, right?"

With that thought, Chen Jin picked up his English textbook and prepared to start.

"Wait, am I an idiot?"

Chen Jin suddenly realized a problem he had been overlooking. If this "old system" truly provided rewards and could actually transform him, that meant...

"The version of me in the future shown in those videos—that’s all actually going to happen, right?"

If he already held the future in his hands, why the hell would he want to be an actor? Wouldn't it be better to buy a winning lottery ticket and get rich? People naturally choose the path of least resistance; who would want to work so hard? Chen Jin would never choose to sit if he could lie down, but then again, he hadn't had the capital to lie down before, which was why he had been working so hard. Now that he had the system, if he could truly see the future, he could likely afford to just lie back and relax.

At that thought, he felt a surge of excitement.

"Hey, I can look at future events, right?"

Although he asked, he saw that the virtual interface did indeed contain timelines of his future. And the system had categorized them by year: 2010, 2011... all the way to 2030!

"2010 is the period from now until the end of the year, I suppose?"

Chen Jin had clicked to look at parts of it before, but he hadn't thought much of it at the time. He had watched it in fast-forward, and it had moved so quickly that an entire year passed in seconds. But he knew the system allowed for a detailed view because he had seen the art exam process in detail before.

[Host, would you like to view the detailed events of 2010? Yes or No?]

"Haha, it really works!"

Chen Jin was now quite agitated. Without a moment's hesitation, he tapped, "Yes!"

Suddenly, a figure appeared on the virtual interface—it was Chen Jin, looking exactly as he did now at eighteen years old. A second later, Su Wanyu appeared as well.

There was no sound, only the process. Even in the "detailed" mode, it was still like watching a fast-forward. The two seemed to be arguing intensely. Suddenly, Chen Jin ran upstairs and locked the door. It was unclear if anyone was knocking outside, but he started packing his things, and in the middle of the night, he climbed out the second-story window.

"Man, seriously? Was that necessary?"

Even if this was something he might do in the future, Chen Jin felt his brain was about to explode. Of course, when people are impulsive, they are capable of anything. Chen Jin realized that given his personality, this was exactly the kind of thing he would do. He could see now that this was likely for the art exam—he had actually snuck out?

"Damn, that’s brutal. Mom was that opposed to it?"

No wonder he had to take the exam so many times in the future and hadn't gone home for over a decade. It wasn't just an obsession; he must have been trying to prove himself to his mother. But the cost was far too high; his entire life had been ruined.

"Wait, what about the opportunities to get rich? Why am I watching my own miserable future instead?"

Chen Jin felt the system was infuriating. He hurriedly changed the channel. "Hey, can I see what happens to me on February 11, 2010?"

February 11th—that was tomorrow!