For the first time in over a year, Li Yan actually enjoyed waking up early.
It was the joy of having plenty of time—no more sleeping until afternoon only to watch darkness fall in what felt like minutes.
Sure, he was still tired, but that didn't stop him from enthusiastically cleaning his room.
Li Yan usually changed his sheets and bedding once a month, sometimes even longer.
He wasn't a neat freak. He showered daily, so waiting a month or more to change his sheets never seemed like a big deal.
Of course, changing them more often would be better—no argument there. It just came down to how lazy he felt.
He stripped off the bedding and hauled it to the washing machine on the living room balcony.
Then he grabbed the broom and mop from the bathroom and headed back to his room.
When Li Yan wasn't actively cleaning, his bedroom actually looked pretty decent. Even when other people came in, they wouldn't call it dirty or messy.
Just a bit cluttered, that's all.
Like the crooked tissue box on his nightstand.
A few shirts draped over his desk chair.
A pair of socks lying on the floor.
His unmade bed.
A water cup sitting randomly on his computer desk, with occasional water stains beside it, and tangled laptop cables plus mouse and keyboard cords.
A messy pile of bestselling books he'd bought on impulse but only read a few pages of.
Several dusty figurines—Charizard, Gengar, and some Minions.
Li Yan started cleaning at eleven in the morning. By twelve-thirty, he was rubbing his sore back and admiring his room, which now looked spotless enough to belong in a magazine.
He deliberately grabbed some air freshener from the living room—no idea who'd bought it—and let it work in his closed room while he headed to the bathroom to freshen up.
When he emerged feeling refreshed, Li Yan returned to his bedroom. The room was clean, tidy, and odor-free. He checked his phone and sure enough, there was a notification for twenty thousand yuan deposited into his account.
[Task Complete. Reward: 20,000 RMB]
[Keep yourself constantly polished, let no dust settle. The same goes for both your room and your soul.]
Li Yan collapsed onto his bed with its fresh sheets and covers, gripping his phone as he stared at his Alipay balance after the transfer. He felt completely satisfied.
That balance of 48,000 yuan gave him his first real sense of contentment about his savings.
Maybe forty-eight thousand didn't sound like much to some people, but for Li Yan—just another working stiff—it was serious money.
Especially watching that balance grow bigger and bigger, especially knowing it would keep growing.
The satisfaction was like a little hamster preparing for winter, storing up hazelnuts one by one in its tree hollow.
Fifty thousand yuan wouldn't buy him a car, couldn't get him an apartment, definitely couldn't afford any luxury goods. It wouldn't dramatically improve his quality of life right now.
But watching his little money tree grow taller and taller—that sense of security and satisfaction was where the real emotional value came from.
Between last night's hangover, this morning's early start, and a whole morning of work, Li Yan felt drowsiness creeping in.
The sunlight filtering through his curtains made the sleepiness even more overwhelming.
Maybe I can buy a car before I go home next month...
His fantasies didn't stop the approaching sleep, and sleep didn't block out the fantasies.
On this bright, clear afternoon, Li Yan drifted off with exhaustion in his body and satisfaction in his heart.
Sunlight, a future, contentment, and comfortable sleep—life felt almost perfect.
...
When Li Yan woke up, only the tail end of sunlight remained outside his window.
His habitual reach for his phone stopped midway as he focused intently on the new task that had appeared in his mind.
Phone? TikTok? Never heard of them.
[Personally prepare a dinner. Task reward: 40,000 yuan]
[Working the night shift requires a meal that may not be delicious, but made with your own hands. It will let you experience the happiness of eating self-made food after your own labor.]
First, Li Yan didn't pay much attention to the specific task details.
He had to admit the system's task descriptions were often healing or thought-provoking.
But right now he couldn't really appreciate those qualities, or maybe just couldn't relate to those words yet.
Li Yan's main focus was still on the reward amount.
If he hadn't found a pattern in the system's rewards after the first two tasks, this third task made it simple—it was doubling each time, right?
Following this logic, the next task would probably reward 80,000, then the one after that would be 160,000.
Then 320,000, 640,000, 1.28 million, 2.56 million, 5.12 million, 10.24 million???
At this rate, Li Yan wouldn't even need to wait for the sixth task to achieve the epic milestone of ten million in savings!
While Li Yan still had some reservations about this idea, it didn't stop him from thinking his luxury car and mansion were just around the corner.
His earlier drowsy state completely vanished under money's stimulation.
Sleeping in? Lying in bed scrolling TikTok and checking out girls?
None of that mattered now!
He jumped out of bed and pulled back the curtains to check the weather. No wind, probably not cold.
He put on a simple white shirt and black casual pants, washed up as usual, and fixed his hair.
Li Yan glanced around the silent apartment—his three roommates were probably still asleep.
That made sense. For people who worked nights, 4:30 PM was way too early to get up.
Just yesterday, Li Yan had the same schedule. No difference.
At most he'd get up and lie in bed playing on his phone, dawdling around until it was almost time for work, then get up and get ready for another mind-numbingly boring day.
Sometimes Li Yan couldn't help wondering: which genius had invented this thing called "going to work"?
But now, Li Yan felt his life had real purpose.
The good life was about to arrive right on schedule.
The four-person shared apartment had all the pots, pans, and seasonings you could want.
But throughout the year, the most they'd ever cook together was frozen dumplings.
They were even too lazy to boil instant noodles in a pot—just used the cup method instead.
So Li Yan first needed to navigate to find the nearest market...