Chapter 1: Shocking! A 100,000 Yuan Annual Salary Job Actually...

2014, Huaguo, Jinling City.

The scorching June sun baked the earth, as if trying to evaporate the last trace of moisture from the asphalt road.

Watching the hurried pedestrians on the street and listening to the noisy honking of cars, William Carter, standing in front of the China Unicom business hall, stared blankly at the street. Although cool air occasionally drifted from behind, the thick mascot costume he wore made him completely oblivious to the air conditioning's gift.

Why was he standing here, you ask?

Of course, because of life...

Alright, to put it plainly.

During summer vacation, the Unicom business hall teamed up with vivo to run a promotion. As long as you stood at the entrance in a mascot costume, you’d earn 60 yuan an hour—almost double what you’d get for handing out flyers, and you didn’t have to put up with people’s dirty looks. Plus, with outdoor temperatures over 30 degrees, there was a 10 yuan per hour high-temperature bonus, making it 70 yuan an hour.

The moment William Carter heard this hourly wage, he didn’t hesitate for a second and took the job right away.

Let’s analyze this rationally: on average, working 5 hours a day means 350 yuan a day. If you work 30 days a month, that’s 10,500 yuan.

Who would have thought that a 100,000 yuan annual salary job was right at the entrance of the Unicom business hall?

Of course, William Carter knew that, let alone vivo, even a wealthy company like Huawei couldn’t run promotions every day.

But even if he only did it for a week, that was still about 2,600 yuan in income.

Just as William Carter was so bored he started counting the number of leaves on the plane tree at the entrance, a slightly dark-skinned chubby guy, wiping sweat from his face, walked over to William Carter.

This chubby guy’s name was Henry Clark, a math major at Jinling University like William Carter, but two years ahead—currently a junior, soon to be a senior in a few months. As the leader of these part-time students, he was the one who introduced this mascot job to William Carter.

"William Carter, are you okay? Should we find someone to take your shift so you can go inside and rest for a bit?" Because he was sensitive to heat, Henry Clark looked like he’d just been fished out of water, his whole body drenched.

Although he really wanted to rest, William Carter still shook his head. "I’m fine, I can hold on a bit longer."

"Are you really okay, or just pretending? You’ve been standing here almost all afternoon," Henry Clark said with a pained expression.

He was genuinely worried this guy might get heatstroke.

"I’m really fine, you don’t need to worry about me," William Carter said firmly, shaking his head. "There’s only one hour left until the shift ends. I’ve already stood here this long, what’s one more hour, right?"

Henry Clark hesitated, glanced at William Carter, and said, "Well... I really won’t worry about you then."

"Yeah, go do your thing."

Seeing how determined William Carter was, Henry Clark didn’t insist.

Actually, he couldn’t help but feel a bit lucky himself.

After all, in this kind of heat, it wasn’t easy to find someone to cover a shift. Although he had quite a few part-timers, there weren’t many as hardworking as William Carter. If things went wrong, he might have to wear this "big cotton coat" himself.

Watching the chubby guy’s retreating figure, William Carter withdrew his gaze and continued to stare blankly at the plane tree at the entrance of the business hall.

At that moment, he suddenly felt something was off with the scene before him.

Why were the pedestrians on the street... flying up into the sky?

His legs went weak, and he fell backward.

With the last bit of consciousness, he vaguely heard hurried footsteps and shouts coming from the business hall behind him.

"The mascot at the entrance has heatstroke!"

"Quick, take off his headpiece and get some water!"

"Damn, William Carter, you can’t have anything happen to you!"

"No response, hurry and get him to the hospital!"

"Get in my car!"

"..."

The last ray of light in his vision was cut off, and what followed was endless darkness...

...

William Carter, undergraduate in the Mathematics Department at Jinling University, currently a freshman, soon to be a sophomore in a few months. When he filled out his college application, he originally chose software engineering, but missed the cutoff by a few points and was assigned to the less popular mathematics department.

Sometimes, William Carter couldn’t help but ask himself: what use is there in spending four years on such a pointless major?

It seemed like an unsolvable question.

There were basically two conventional paths for math majors: either continue with further studies (abroad or for a master’s), or switch to another major.

There was actually a third option—staying at the university—but that wasn’t something undergraduates considered, unless you had a particularly close relationship with a professor. Even then, you’d just be doing odd jobs, so you might as well just take the graduate entrance exam at your own school.

But for William Carter, going to grad school wasn’t very realistic.

William Carter's hometown was Jiangling. Although it only differed from Jinling by one character, geographically they were worlds apart. His dad worked at the Jiangling Steel Plant as an ordinary worker, while his mom had long since been laid off and stayed at home. Her health had never been good, and they’d spent a lot of money on her medical treatment.