At night, after finishing his day's official duties, Chu Chen returned to the Prime Minister's mansion but did not go to sleep.
Instead, he activated the Life Simulator system, intending to simulate a round to earn some points.
[Simulation loading complete, protagonist: Chu Chen!]
[Please select mode: Self-Life Simulation or Second Life Simulation!]
[You have chosen Self-Life Simulation!]
[Year 3242 of the Qingzhou Continent, you are 23 years old...]
[...]
[You died of natural causes, at the age of 120.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining 1200 points!]
[Congratulations to the host for successfully completing the life simulation. You can choose one of the following three rewards.]
The result of this life simulation did not surprise Chu Chen in the slightest; it was a rare ending of dying of natural causes.
"A good omen. It seems as long as I'm not assassinated midway, with the achievement of dying of natural causes, I can generally live to a hundred in life simulations."
"It's just that martial arts and cultivation don't have lifespan bonuses. This is really frustrating. Other immortal cultivation worlds can live for hundreds or thousands of years, but here it's just a hundred years and I turn to dust."
Chu Chen sighed about the issue of lifespan more than once, but unfortunately, the environment was like this, and he could do nothing about it.
Suddenly, Chu Chen thought of the mysterious small black box that appeared in the last life simulation. He thought, "I wonder if, with this thing, if I opened it when I was a hundred years old, would the entire style shift from martial arts and cultivation to immortal cultivation?"
"If that were the case, with my current foundation for immortal cultivation, I should be able to live two to three hundred years longer, and with the power of the system daddy, becoming an immortal wouldn't be a dream!"
"It's a pity that it can only be used at a hundred years old. Choosing it now is useless."
Chu Chen sighed repeatedly and continued to perform self-life simulations.
After several more attempts, the rewards were not very good, as if his luck had been used up by the two purple rewards last time.
Only the mysterious small black box appeared with increasing frequency. Now it appeared in almost every life simulation, yet Chu Chen did not choose this reward.
"Now this is bad. Not only did no top-tier talent appear, but because the mysterious small black box likely occupies one of the selectable slots, there are only two talents to choose from in each life simulation."
Chu Chen was a little annoyed, thinking that even for the third choice slot, he had to get this mysterious small black box even if it was useless in the early and mid-game!
[Simulation loading complete, protagonist: Chu Chen!]
[...]
[You died of natural causes, at the age of 120.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining 1200 points! Current points: 23000.]
[Congratulations to the host for successfully completing the life simulation. You can choose one of the following three rewards.]
[Unranked Mysterious Small Black Box: Unknown, do not open lightly, otherwise the world will be turned upside down and the sun and moon will be extraordinary.]
[Blue-ranked Talent: Golden Right Leg: Makes the host's right leg have an 80% hit rate when kicking spherical objects.]
[White-ranked Talent: Underwater Breathing: Allows the host to convert oxygen from water, capable of converting enough oxygen for ten minutes of breathing.]
"Damn it, it's you! Always taking up space, and probably dragging my luck down with you!"
As expected, Chu Chen saw the mysterious small black box appear again. Annoyed, he directly chose it.
He took out the mysterious small black box from the system space and examined it carefully.
Chu Chen found it to be ordinary, with only common flowers and plants carved as decoration on the outside, and it was completely black, matching its name perfectly.
"This thing?"
Chu Chen fiddled with the clasp and found it to be a bit loose, as if it could be opened at any moment.
This surprised Chu Chen, who said, "No way? Doesn't this thing need to be opened at a hundred years old?"
Chu Chen frowned and recalled, then looked at the system's description of this item.
Only then did he realize that the system daddy hadn't said it needed to be opened at a hundred years old.
"This... I seem to have fallen into a trap of habitual thinking. This thing doesn't need to be opened at a hundred years old, the condition has just changed. Does that mean the effect will also change?"
"Originally, after opening it, the world environment would change drastically, allowing one to enter immortal cultivation, which is a spiritual energy recovery to some extent. So the question is, what will be the effect after opening this small black box now?"
Chu Chen's expression became serious. He carefully thought and analyzed, even activating his锦囊 (jin nang - strategy/skill) to enhance his reasoning and observation abilities.
"First, there's a certain probability that the original effect will still occur. After opening it, the spiritual energy concentration or quantity, or both, will increase, indirectly leading to spiritual energy recovery, but the system will remain martial arts and cultivation."
"Second, same as above, but the system will become the immortal path system."
"Third, it's possible that something terrifying is sealed inside. Once opened, it won't be spiritual energy recovery, but something world-destroying that brings disaster to the entire Qingzhou Continent."
"Fourth, there's a very small chance it could allow me to transmigrate again. The reasoning is based on the system daddy's Second Life Simulation!"
"Fifth, opening it will lead to the arrival of the Age of Dharma Decline, where the entire Qingzhou Continent will be unable to cultivate, truly returning to ancient times, and only the technological route can be taken."
"Sixth, it will directly strengthen my own strength."
With his skills activated, Chu Chen quickly deduced six possibilities. In reality, there were other deductions, but their probability was almost nil, and there wasn't even a theory to support them, just wild ideas.
For example, it might turn him into a woman, a beast, reveal another continent, alien invasion, invasion from other worlds, and so on.
"Forget it. Even with the skills activated, I still can't figure it out. Thinking so much is not as good as opening it directly to find out."
Chu Chen hesitated for a moment, placed his finger on the clasp, and gently pushed it halfway.
"By the way, system daddy shouldn't betray me, right? Absolutely not, right?"
After some internal struggle, Chu Chen couldn't suppress his curiosity. He closed his eyes, flicked his finger upwards to open the clasp, then held the edge of the box and violently opened it.
A moment later, his closed eyes did not feel any strong light, he himself was not attacked, nor did he hear any strange sounds.
Chu Chen opened his eyes in confusion and looked down.
He saw that inside the opened small black box, there was nothing. It was completely empty, just a plain black box.
"What does this mean? What's going on? There's nothing inside? Or did something slip away while my eyes were closed? That's impossible! I'm in the Qi Transformation realm, and something couldn't have slipped away at such close range without me noticing!"
"This small black box is indeed very mysterious. Opening it is like not opening it at all?"
"Or, does it need some time for the bullet to fly? Will the changes and effects appear after a while?"