lerbook Chapter 1 End and Beginning
Chapter 1 End and Beginning
A smell of burnt plastic filled my nostrils, mixed with a strange, indescribable aroma of flesh being instantly carbonized.
Ling Yun's last consciousness was of that humid and sultry summer night in 2025, the blinding sparks from the cheap soldering iron in his hand, and the excruciating pain that swept through his body and tore at his soul.
"Damn... if I'd known this would happen, I should have just replaced the motherboard..."
This was his last thought, filled with deep regret and a sense of absurdity, before his mind completely sank into darkness.
It felt like being stuffed into a high-speed spinning washing machine, or like falling into an endless, viscous abyss.
Countless fragments of images, sounds, and emotions collide and churn wildly—mountains of code piled high, the Nth version of the proposal rejected by the client, the cold and ruthless "optimization" notice from HR, the glaring green in the stock account, the suppressed sighs at the bedside of parents…
Intertwined with another, distinct yet equally surging torrent of memories—the ink-scented textbooks in the university dormitory, the sweat and shouts on the playground, the always dusty main street of the county town, Grandpa's stern face, and the concerned yet expectant eyes of my parents…
"Well…!"
He had a severe headache and tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as if they were welded shut.
After several struggles, my vision finally began to focus from blurry.
The first thing that caught his eye was the dim, yellowish light emanating from the ceiling… an incandescent light bulb? The lampshade was made of old-fashioned frosted glass with a tacky peony pattern, and a wisp of cobweb hung from its edge. In his memory of 2025, this thing should have been in a museum long ago.
His gaze fell upon a wall painted green, upon which hung a slightly curled world map, next to which hung a thick, yellowed calendar. Ling Yun's eyes moved with difficulty, his gaze finally settling on the large red numbers on the calendar.
1996 3 Month 3 Day.
"Well……"
He remained silent for a full ten seconds, then suddenly sat up abruptly from the hard bed!
The movement was too fast, and a violent wave of dizziness hit him, almost causing him to fall back down. He braced himself against the bed frame with both hands, panting heavily, and looked around.
The room was small and simply furnished. There was an old-fashioned wooden writing desk, a chair, and a wardrobe in a mahogany color that clearly bore the marks of its time. A tall stack of books was piled on the writing desk, the top one being "Principles of Marxist Philosophy," and next to it was a white enamel mug with "Shandong University" printed on it.
A crisp "ding-a-ling" sound came from outside the window—the bell of a bicycle. Interspersed among it were the drawn-out cries of vendors in their local dialect: "Sharpening—scissors—la—clang—kitten knives—!"
The shouts outside the window... Sharpening scissors and knives? This craft is almost lost, isn't it?
Ling Yun lowered his head and looked at his hands. His skin was a healthy wheat color, his knuckles were well-defined, and he exuded youthful energy. There were no calluses from long hours of coding, and no slight trembling from staying up late or feeling anxious.
He threw off the heavy quilt covering him and stumbled to the mottled mirror in the wardrobe.
In the mirror was a slightly immature face, yet with clear and bright features. Short hair stood upright, and her eyes held the dazed look of someone just waking up, but more than anything, they possessed the sharpness of youth, a vitality untouched by life's hardships. She seemed taller than in her previous life, and her shoulders were broader.
He touched his face; the sensation was terrifyingly real.
This is not a dream.
Ling Yun, the unfortunate programmer who died in 2025 after trying to save money by repairing his own computer, has really... returned? Back to 1996? Into the body of another... college senior with the same name, Ling Yun?
"I... damn it..."
He murmured to himself, his voice hoarse and trembling with disbelief. All the vocabulary he had accumulated in his thirty-seven years of past life seemed to have dwindled to just these two simple, unadorned words at this moment.
Absurd, bizarre, unbelievable... yet it also brought a kind of ecstatic joy that made his heart pound and his blood boil!
He pinched his thigh hard.
"hiss--!"
The intense pain made him gasp, but he couldn't help but let a wild smile spread across his face.
It hurts! It fucking hurts! But it fucking feels so good!
It's not a dream! This is not a dream!
The original owner of this body's memories were like an old movie that had been forcibly fast-forwarded and chaotically edited, constantly flooding into his mind: his grandfather's authority, his uncle's concern, his father's beaming face when boasting about his business, his mother's gentle nagging, and his older sister Ling Yujin, a top student far away in Beijing with exceptional intelligence who had been his "childhood nightmare" since childhood...
The memory fusion process was still somewhat chaotic and painful, but Ling Yun (the 2025 version of the soul) had quickly accepted reality. He even had the leisure to begin comparative analysis:
"Hmm, the original owner of this body has pretty good physical fitness, much better than my sub-healthy self in my previous life."
"1996..." Ling Yun took a deep breath, feeling the comfort of his lungs being filled with pure air. His eyes gradually became sharp and bright. "Was Jack Ma still running his translation agency? Was Pony Ma still tinkering with that internet pager? And those stocks that later skyrocketed... Changhong? Shenzhen Development Bank? Shenzhen Tech?"
He counted on his fingers, his eyes growing brighter with each count.
Gold is everywhere! This is truly an era where gold is everywhere!
In his past life, he struggled for half his life, ultimately ending up with a pathetic death by electrocution. All those regrets, resentments, and dreams... now, they all have a chance to start over!
"A second chance at life..." He clenched his fist, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force. A radiance, completely different from the weariness and dejection of his previous life, shone on his young face—a radiance mingled with ambition, excitement, and unwavering conviction. "This time, I'm going to live a completely different life!"
He was no longer a frustrated programmer, nor a middle-aged corporate slave repeatedly battered by life.
He is Ling Yun, twenty-two years old, in excellent health, with a future full of endless possibilities!
"First, we need to figure out the specific situation and what the family's attitude is, and then... make money! We have to make money!" He rubbed his chin and began searching the room for more information.
"Job assignment after graduation..." He recalled his uncle Ling Jun's gentle yet unwavering suggestion during the Spring Festival, "Go to the Industrial Bureau? Get a secure job?"
He scoffed.
Holding the "Sky Eye" script for the next thirty years in one's hands, why would one go and work within the system, methodically accumulating seniority? For a stable life? For the five social insurances and one housing fund? That's practically begging for food while holding a golden rice bowl!
His stage should be the upcoming wave of the Internet, the burgeoning capital market, and the vast and boundless blue ocean of commerce waiting to be explored!
but……
Ling Yun calmed down and sat back down on the edge of the bed. After the impulsiveness and ecstasy came deeper reflection.
His brain began to work at breakneck speed, like a supercomputer loaded with a database of the future, filtering through various business opportunities around 1996.
Stocks, futures, gold, oil, and Bitcoin—these capital market products are like ATMs to me. As long as my capital isn't too large, when a big market opportunity comes, I can profit from it all. Just thinking about it makes me incredibly happy, and my mouth waters.
There are many industries to choose from, including computers, the Internet, mobile phones, mobile Internet, consumer electronics components, chips, and lithium batteries. No matter which industry you choose, you can avoid taking detours compared to others.
Lingyun looked out the window at the setting sun, its afterglow painting the small town in a warm golden hue.
"1996," he murmured to himself, his voice filled with unwavering determination, "I came."