What’s it like to discover that all your roommates are big shots on your first day of college?

When it comes to this question, Yvonne Harris probably has the most to say.

After being struck by the Hidden Expert System, he unexpectedly gains the ability to see others’ future potential, only to find that every one of his dorm mates is a future big shot with off-the-charts potential.

So why bother working hard?

Just latch onto a big shot’s coattails and you’re set, right?

That’s what any normal person would think, and Yvonne Harris is no exception.

However, just when Yvonne Harris thinks that from now on, all he needs to do is cling to these big shots to easily become a winner in life, he’s shocked to find that these so-called “big shots” are all even weaker than he is.

And those who, after relentless effort and a bit of “serendipity,” finally stand at the pinnacle of life as great artists, pop superstars, academic giants, and the world’s richest people, all express in interviews how lucky they are to have such a hidden expert by their side...

Turns out, after all this time, I’m actually your stroke of luck!

Chapter 001: Why Am I the Only Loser?

Jiangcheng, New Calendar Year 18, summer.

Dragging his suitcase with his right hand and clutching the Jiangcheng University freshman handbook in his left, Yvonne Harris, nearly drained of his last ounce of strength by the summer heat, trudged wearily along the scorching asphalt road.

Today was the first day of freshman orientation.

As for why all the other freshmen had bright, beaming faces while Yvonne Harris looked so listless, the reason was actually quite simple.

Partly, it was because the weather was just too hot. But more importantly, although this was his first time stepping through a university gate in this life, it wasn’t his first time attending college.

That might sound a bit convoluted.

In short, he was a reborn person.

And he came from a parallel world.

In his previous life, he had completed college, worked as a planner at a game company after graduation, and ultimately died of a cerebral hemorrhage at his desk from overwork at the age of thirty.

In this life, his father gave him the same name: Yvonne Harris.

But aside from that, everything else was different from his previous life.

In the first year of the New Calendar, the Human Alliance was established, the world achieved harmonious unity, and humanity joined hands to explore a bright future together.

That same year, as a newborn, he was born in a small southern city called Jiangling in Xia Country, crying his heart out all night and burning through countless diapers before his family could finally get some rest.

Unlike his previous life, in this world, Xia Country was the world’s number one superpower, leading in aerospace, military, and technology competitions, and was also one of the main leaders of the Human Alliance.

Thanks to rapid advances in science and technology, productivity was changing at a dizzying pace, and this era was more prosperous and affluent than ever before.

By comparison, the development of the spiritual world lagged a bit behind—at least, it was outpaced by material progress.

After all, before the first year of the New Calendar, countries that hadn’t reached consensus on key issues were all busy with technological races and military standoffs, leaving no time for anything beyond basic survival.

It was only in recent years that a series of cutting-edge technologies from the “Era of Competition”—electronics, communications, and so on—gradually entered the civilian market, eventually becoming smart home appliances and computers and phones, making their way into ordinary households.

All in all, ignoring the political factors, the first year of the New Calendar was a bit like the millennium in his previous life.

Although the next eighteen years developed differently, the details weren’t all that different.

In a nutshell: science and technology had advanced further, but the entertainment industry started late and lagged behind.

For artists, this world was simply paradise!

Rebirth was supposed to be a joyful thing, and at first, Yvonne Harris thought so too.

After all, he’d read plenty of web novels in his previous life. Those reborn protagonists didn’t even need to have a head full of world-changing business ideas—just copying books or singing songs could put them at the top of the literary or music world, win countless fans, and become a winner in life.

He believed that even if he didn’t do as well as them, living comfortably as a minor success should be no problem.

Unfortunately, things weren’t as simple as he imagined.

When the nurse carried him to his mother’s arms, he was horrified to find that his memories of his previous life were shrouded in a thin veil.

He could vaguely remember some things had happened, and some slideshow-like images would flash through his mind, but when he tried to recall the details, he couldn’t remember a single one.

It was as if all his memories had shattered into fragments.

He could remember that his favorite game in his previous life was called “LoL,” abbreviated with three letters, but he couldn’t recall how the game was played, how many heroes there were—or even what a “hero” was supposed to be.

Novels and music, things without visuals, were even blurrier. He even had to relearn how to speak around the age of one.

If it weren’t for his maturity far beyond his peers and those occasional flashes of images in his mind, he would have started to doubt whether this so-called rebirth was just his own hallucination.

In short, these eighteen years had passed by in a muddled blur.