Chapter 23: Abstract Daily Tasks-The System Arrived Two Years Early, and I Became a God!(Writing a book is truly difficult.)

Evening, around eight o’clock.

After dinner, Shen He made his way into the urban village, heading toward his rented apartment. Passing by a row of trash bins, he stopped, curiosity piqued as he smoothed out an A4 sheet posted above.

“Which shameless person upstairs keeps tossing garbage down? You splattered trash all over me and my son—disgusting! If you’ve got the guts, come out and see if I don’t set my son on you like a dog!”

Reading this, Shen He involuntarily shrank his neck. Thankfully, he hadn’t thrown a bag of trash that night—it had only been a brick. There really was no shortage of uncivilized people these days. Was it so hard to walk downstairs to dump your garbage?

Shen He made his way through the narrow alley and entered his building. As he reached his apartment door, he could still faintly hear the sound of Lele’s voice from her room: “Thanks, big brother!” It seemed she really had made some money live-streaming.

He entered his apartment and sank onto the sofa, letting out a breath. After a short rest, Shen He stood up and began his eight-step stance training in the room. He’d already learned it—no sense letting it go to waste.

Besides, he could feel that this practice benefited him even more than his usual Sanda routines. About three minutes in, Shen He again slipped into that mysterious, almost otherworldly state he’d experienced during the training class. He felt his blood surging through his veins, his muscles shifting and writhing, his heart beating powerfully in his chest. Energy seemed to be welling up within.

...

When Shen He slowly opened his eyes, it was nearly midnight. This time, he’d stood for almost four hours—a surprise, even to himself. Suddenly, his gaze fell upon the personal status panel before him:

[Player: Shen He]
[Strength: 3.1–3.2]
[Stamina: 5.0]
[Agility: 2.0–2.1]
[Mental: 3.2]
[Available Points: 0]
(Evaluation: You are a healthy adult male, your physical fitness far surpassing the average thanks to years of training. However, you still have a long road to the first tier.)

...

Both his strength and agility had each increased by 0.1. He’d vaguely sensed this while practicing the eight-step stance in the class, but at the time, the attributes panel had shown no change. Now it was clear: this stance did increase his attributes, but demanded significant time. The increments were also unclear, making it impossible to predict exact gains.

Shen He stroked his chin, calculating inwardly. The boosts might be uncertain, but if he practiced every day, he was sure he could accumulate a few attribute points over a month. That would ease the pressure of breaking through all attributes to 10 within a month.

He clapped his hands decisively.

That’s what he’d do. After all, he no longer had to submit to the daily grind—he had time in abundance.

Shen He went to the bathroom, washed up, and lay down in bed. The night passed without incident.

...

Morning, around eight o’clock.

Shen He sat up, skillfully calling up his light screen to check today’s daily tasks.

[Daily Task 1: Survive for seven days]
[Time Remaining: 4 days 15 hours 49 minutes 18 seconds]
[Potential Reward: 3 free attribute points]
[...]

The first daily task still occupied an extra slot, wasting another opportunity for a daily mission.

Yawning, Shen He scrolled down to check the refreshed second daily task.

[Daily Task 2: Reinforce the shelter]
[This city has been devastated. Without a strong enough force to purge the threats, reinforce your shelter and survive until you reach the first tier.]
[Task Reward: Alloy Longsword]
[...]

Reading the second task, Shen He fell silent.

Are you kidding me? First, they wanted him to explore the area, and now he was supposed to hole up and reinforce his shelter? What kind of erratic logic was this? Were they expecting him to inspect every room in the building with the last task? Where did such an abstract “golden finger” come from?

And why couldn’t he ever draw a task that rewarded free attribute points? Were those really that rare?

As for the alloy longsword as a reward—wasn’t that basically a regulated weapon? If he took it outside, he’d probably get arrested and be singing “Tears Behind Bars” while clutching the iron window before long.

After a long moment of indecision, Shen He sighed deeply. Whatever—if this thing appeared two years ahead of schedule, he might as well accept a bit of absurdity.

Reinforcing the shelter must refer to his own apartment. But how was he supposed to reinforce it? Any actual modifications and the landlord would probably come down on him like a vengeful storm. Maybe he could try taping up the windows later. He’d seen people along the coast do that during typhoon season; that ought to count as reinforcement, right?

Shen He thought about it and nodded to himself. Why wouldn’t it count?

Next up was Main Task 1. Other than the timer ticking down by a day, nothing had changed—still good as a countdown.

After ignoring the main task, he found there was more content.

[Side Task 1: The Beginning of the Martial Artist]
[With the revival of spiritual energy, true martial artists have emerged. Applaud them, cheer for them—who says those without supernatural powers aren’t heroes?]
[Task Requirement: Martial Artist, First Tier]
[Task Reward: Complete Guide to Martial Arts (Introductory Chapter)]
[Current Progress: Not yet initiated (25%)]
[...]

Shen He’s eyelids twitched as he read the new side task, a spark of delight lighting up his heart. The system’s designer might be abstract at times, but at critical moments, it didn’t hold back.

This side task was perfect, and the extra 5% progress surely came from his stance practice the night before. Progressing so easily—this mission didn’t seem hard. At last, the system was doing something right.

Shen He let out a long breath, got up, and went to wash up. Once ready, he headed out to grab breakfast, planning to pick up some tape as well to try marking a crosshatch on the windows and see if that would complete Daily Task 2.

After going downstairs, he ordered a bowl of tofu pudding mixed with spicy soup, then drowned a fried dough stick and a soup dumpling. Ten minutes later, breakfast finished, he bought a roll of tape and some snacks at the nearby convenience store before heading home.

Back in his apartment, he put away his things and started taping the windows. In just a few minutes, every window in his rental now sported a crosshatch pattern, looking distinctly odd.

As he stuck down the final piece of tape, he seemed to hear a soft “ding.”

He sat down on the sofa and called up his task menu.

Shen He’s eyes lit up.

It actually worked!

He claimed the task reward. In the next instant, a longsword in a scabbard clattered to the floor at his feet.

Shen He: “...”

So hasty?

He bent down, picked up the alloy longsword, drew it, and examined it closely. After a moment, he came to a conclusion.

A fine sword—sharpened and clearly a regulated weapon. It would have to stay at home collecting dust.

Only, the material seemed a little strange.

He sheathed the sword, placed it in his bedroom, and prepared to head out to the training class to practice boxing with Li Ding.

But as soon as he opened the door, he found his landlady standing outside, still graceful and charming. She had a handbag over her arm and a bunch of keys in her hand. Seeing Shen He, her eyes brightened instantly as she smiled and said, “Young man, it’s time to pay the rent!”