The building in front of him made Eric Bennett feel a bit excited. In fact, if it weren’t for the fresh paint and the familiar elders in the community—who now looked a decade younger—greeting him as he walked in, Eric Bennett might have thought he hadn’t arrived eleven years in the future, might have thought he was still in 2009.

“Mom... I’m home.” There was still a stove in the kitchen, specially used for simmering things and burning honeycomb coal. Such a stove didn’t really match a kitchen with tiled floors, but back then, it was chosen for its electricity-saving benefits, even though it was later removed. Eric Bennett looked at his parents, busy in the kitchen chopping vegetables, the air filled with the aroma of chicken stewed with mushrooms, and his eyes grew moist again.

The two turned around, and his mother was already beaming. “Why are you home a bit later than usual today? Dinner will be ready soon. I made chicken stew for you. My son is about to take the high school entrance exam, so you need to nourish your brain. Mom is hoping you’ll bring home a good score!”

His mother looked eleven years younger. Although she was already showing a bit of plumpness, there was still charm in her features. There was also a hint of shrewdness—later, after being laid off, she opened a small shop herself, and the business managed to get by. But that’s a story for another time.

His father, however, sighed. “Sigh, ever since kindergarten, your parents have been paying high tuition for you. This high school entrance exam, it’s all up to you, son. Sigh, but with your grades right now, I’m really worried...”

His mother secretly pinched his father’s side, her expression changing. “See, this is just like you! At a time like this, you can’t even encourage your son. What do you want him to do, not work hard and end up at a lousy school? What’s the point of that!?”

Realizing he’d misspoken, his father nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, you’re right. We’re counting on you this time!”

Looking at his father’s square face, the handsome features still carrying a trace of the military spirit of his youth, Eric Bennett nodded hard, also trying hard to hold back his tears. Eleven years later, his father’s face would be covered in wrinkles, his once-straight back hunched, and he’d suffer from cervical spondylosis. Many nights he couldn’t sleep, but he’d just endure it until dawn.

He worked at a construction company, which later went bankrupt and was restructured. He was too honest and upright, lacking the cunning of others in the workplace, and in the end was just a minor security staff member, often facing the embarrassment of unpaid wages.

Eating the fragrant, heartwarming chicken stew with mushrooms.

Eric Bennett tried to hold back, but in the end, he couldn’t. Tears fell in big drops into the slightly salty chicken soup.

Chapter 5: Slaying Demons and Monsters

From the kitchen corridor outside Eric Bennett’s bedroom window, his mother occasionally passed by and was surprised to find Eric Bennett studying at his desk under the yellowish lamp.

In her memory, Eric Bennett was never so careful and focused when reviewing his schoolwork. Before every exam, big or small, Eric Bennett would always find various “ways” to relax. For something like the high school entrance exam, he could have easily used “resting his brain” as an excuse to watch TV.

But as night fell, her son not only wasn’t playing around, he was actually shut in his room, diligently working on problems and reviewing. This gave Mrs. Bennett a sense of comfort and relief.

Back in the living room, Mrs. Bennett Zeng Ke quietly said to Mr. Bennett Richard Bennett, “Our son knows how to work hard now. He’s studying and reviewing properly. This kid has never been so diligent before. He finally knows he needs to put in effort!”

Richard Bennett’s face relaxed a little as he glanced at the door to Eric Bennett’s bedroom. First, there was the same comfort in his eyes, but then a trace of worry appeared. He hesitated, then finally sighed, “There are only three days left. If only he’d worked this hard earlier...”

Eric Bennett’s desk was covered with all the textbooks he could find from his three years of junior high, stacked on the table beside him. It looked rather impressive: Chinese, English, Math, History, Politics, Chemistry, Physics. Fortunately, Geography and Biology were already completed and wouldn’t be on the entrance exam, so that was two fewer subjects. Still, looking at all these textbooks in front of him, Eric Bennett instinctively felt a headache coming on.

Thinking about it, it was a bit funny. In 2009, there were countless novels about time travel and reincarnation, whether online or traditionally published. But they all had something in common: when people traveled back, they were either born into official families, had some position, or seized business opportunities to develop across eras and make their first pot of gold in the tide of the times. Or they’d just go further back, to another dynasty, to stir up trouble among foreign tribes or pacify the country.

But he, inexplicably sent back eleven years, was now sitting at a desk, staring at thick textbooks, all for the purpose of reliving the crushing defeat of the exam-oriented education system from eleven years ago!

Eric Bennett felt that if he told anyone about this experience, no one would believe him. Even in 2009, people would say he’d read too many novels and was crazy.

But life had to go on. If the old man upstairs—God—really existed, then letting him go through reincarnation again probably wasn’t just to deepen the impression of a painful life. Otherwise, that old man would be way too bored.