Lin Chen had never imagined he would fall to such a low point.

He was actually sitting in a dark, shabby little rental room that wasn’t even ten square meters.

In his head, a childish boy-ghost-like voice was cheering:
“Great! A new host! Finally, the mission in this plane can be saved!”

Lin Chen: “…?”

Inwardly, he recited to himself: “Since the founding of the nation, no monsters are allowed to appear. All ghosts and spirits are just feudal superstition.”

He stroked the peeling wall of the decrepit rental, where half the plaster had already fallen off.

Then, trembling, he mourned the brand-new apartment he had worked like an ox for years to save up and pay in full for — in the third ring of the capital.

At the same time, he asked aloud: “What the hell are you?”

The childish voice happily replied:
“Hello, host! I am System AC9999, and I’m very pleased to serve you!”

Lin Chen coldly: “An AI ghost?”

System AC9999:
“As you can see, the place you are in now is the novel-plane adaptation of the famous author Automatic Typing Keyboard’s work, The Fake Young Master’s Revenge Diary!”

Lin Chen was instantly bewildered: “…What?”

The system enthusiastically explained:
“Host, you haven’t read the original, right? Let me summarize it for you!

In the novel, the protagonist lived twenty full and happy years as the He family’s young master. He was intelligent, outstanding, and the model for all the rich young masters’ circle.

But on his twenty-first birthday, the He family discovered the real son who had been lost outside — they had switched babies all those years ago!

The fake young master (the protagonist) was kicked out of the family, mocked and trampled on by all the rich heirs and heiresses in the capital’s circle.

Enraged, he left the capital, started from nothing, and five years later returned, toppling and bankrupting the capital’s great families one after another!

And the character you’ve entered… is just a passerby who lost his job in the aftermath when the protagonist returned to settle accounts.”

Lin Chen nodded, listening: “Oh, a passerby.”

He paused. “The story’s very exciting, but what does it have to do with me? Looks like I even still have to pay my own rent.”

He pointed at his phone — his landlord had just sent a final warning via WeChat.

If he didn’t pay next month’s rent within three days, he’d be kicked out of this tiny, gloomy, under-ten-square-meter room.

System AC9999 gravely said:
“That’s right, host. Normally, no matter what happens to such a minor passerby, it wouldn’t affect the world’s progression.

But this passerby… he went way too far!!

After losing his job, he suffered a huge mental blow and drowned himself in alcohol.

One night, drunk, he saw the protagonist, stepped on the accelerator — and ran him over, sending him flying eighty li away!”

Lin Chen frowned: “Sorry, interrupting. Eighty li is forty kilometers. What was my body driving — a rocket car?”

The system coughed shyly:
“Aha… that was just the author’s exaggerated writing!”

Lin Chen coldly commented: “Completely illogical… Forget it, go on.”

The system continued, distressed:
“Normally, just rebooting the timeline would erase such accidents.

But!! This passerby is strange. Host, have you seen Final Destination?”

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow: “Oh? He also stole data from our world?”

The system cried:
“Your body was just like Death in those films — no matter how many times the timeline restarted, he always accidentally killed the protagonist in bizarre ways!

First time: drunk driving.
Second time: falling object from a high-rise.
Third time: tossing a cigarette butt, causing a forest fire that just happened to burn the protagonist alive.
Fourth time was—”

Lin Chen gasped:
“Shocking — after dying from overwork in 996 and transmigrating, I’ve become an urban hidden death god assassin!”

The system quickly tried to clarify:
“No, no, host! Your selected body is absolutely innocent!

Even in the past restarts, he never meant to harm the protagonist — it was just coincidence, every time, he somehow ended up killing him!”

Lin Chen asked:
“Excuse me, do I have any criminal record, or carry any manslaughter charges? I didn’t transmigrate just to serve a prison sentence, right?”

The system hurriedly reassured:
“No, no, no, of course not! Please don’t doubt yourself, host!”

System:
“…Anyway, this passerby’s ‘magnetic field’ is very strange. Once unemployed, he inevitably brings death to the protagonist, collapsing the whole timeline.

The Plane Management Bureau can’t directly interfere, can’t just hand him a stable job. So… we summoned you.

Your ultimate mission is: before the reckoning arrives, you must approach the protagonist, build a good relationship with him in advance, so that five years later he will spare your company — saving your job and preventing his death!”

Lin Chen: “Oh.”

He opened his banking app, fingerprint-unlocked it, and checked his balance.

Three seconds later, he asked the system:
“Do you know what job my body had?”

The system confidently:
“Of course! Host, you currently work at the capital’s best five-star hotel — the Himalaya Hotel!

This hotel belongs to the Vera Group, one of whose major shareholders is the You family — one of the aristocratic clans that wronged the protagonist. In other words, five years later, you’ll be dragged down and lose your job!”

Lin Chen pointed at his phone:
“Working at the best five-star hotel with a salary of only two thousand a month? Looks like I’m a dishwasher.”

He sneered:
“And you dragged me from my world here… just to protect a two-thousand-a-month job?”

The system stammered nervously:
“I-I… but keeping this job is really crucial for stabilizing the timeline! And besides, if I hadn’t brought you here, you would’ve died from overwork in your world anyway…”

Lin Chen reined in his cold laughter, his tone softening slightly:
“Sorry, it’s just — thinking about my newly purchased full-paid apartment in the third ring being wasted, and now starting over in a shabby rental under ten square meters… I got emotional. Please understand.”

He paused, then asked:
“So is my ultimate mission to keep this job, or to make sure five years later I don’t accidentally kill the protagonist?”

The system hesitated:
“Well… ultimately, the latter.

But on the recruitment form I wrote: ‘Before the original protagonist starts his revenge, raise his favorability above 80, while remaining employed with a stable income.’”

The system hurriedly added:
“But don’t worry! I’ve already arranged a perfect encounter plotline with the protagonist!

Just follow my mission prompts — you’re guaranteed to form a deep bond with him, and keeping your job will be easy! ^-^”

Lin Chen skipped the fluff, zeroing in:
“So, there’s no requirement that it must be this two-thousand-a-month job, right?”

System: “W-well, no…”

Lin Chen nodded: “Got it.”

The system brightened with expectation:
“Wow! Host, you already have a plan! Hold on, let me send you your first mission!”

[Ding! Mission 1: Three days later (Saturday), the protagonist will face his first difficulty after being expelled from home—

Qi family’s young master Qi Xiuyi has always despised him. To curry favor, Zhao family’s third young master Zhao Hui hires professional thieves to rob the protagonist’s rental, stealing his ID, bank card, and two winter coats.

Please seize the chance — after the protagonist’s property is stolen, show up at once, use your just-paid salary to buy him new winter clothes, and invite him to stay at your home, giving him warmth unlike in the original story!]

Lin Chen: “…”

He glanced at the body’s meager savings and blankly said:
“If I follow you, I’ll starve to death sooner or later.”

The system panicked: “Eh… Eh?!!”

Lin Chen sighed, stood, and began packing the few valuables in the tiny rental.

The system nervously: “Host, w-what are you doing?”

Lin Chen calmly:
“You didn’t set ‘keeping this dishwashing job’ as the final mission. That was smart.”

The system happily released a tiny firework in his mind: “Yay!”

Lin Chen:
“So, in order to quit this two-thousand-a-month job tomorrow, I’ve decided to find my own way.”

The system’s sky collapsed again: “Ah??”

It stammered:
“B-but the job market is terrible! Your body studied philosophy, one of the hardest majors to find work with!

Before landing this job, he sent out a thousand résumés with no response — only the Himalaya Hotel took him in… Where are you going to find another job?”

Lin Chen put on a down jacket, mask, earmuffs, and hat.

He asked the system:
“As a professional system, you must have plenty of skills, right?”

The system puffed up proudly:
“Of course! Look at my designation — I’m the newest and most advanced of the AC series!

I have full-text loading, 24/7 uptime, adaptive mission adjustment, and way more features than my cousins!”

Lin Chen asked:
“Can you disguise appearances? Connect to this plane’s internet? If I give you a target, can you find his phone number?”

The system hesitated:
“W-well… yes. But host, why do you need these?”

Lin Chen:
“Just being able to is enough.

Within five minutes, scan the original text. List every aristocratic family that ever bullied the protagonist.

Then connect to the internet, gather their basic info, locate the personal contact of each family’s top decision-maker, compile it into an Excel file, encrypt it, and send it to my work email. …No, just load it into my brain, I’ll check it later.”

The system dazedly obeyed:
“Uh… okay, host. But why do you need all this intel? We don’t need such complicated info to build favor with the protagonist!

Oh, wait! I get it — you’re gathering their info to help the protagonist get revenge, right?”

Lin Chen walked out with his bag, replying “ok” to his landlord on WeChat.

He calmly ignored the system’s question, saying:
“If there’s no demand in the market, then we create the demand.

Looks like the most relaxing and highest-paying job in this world is being a rich family’s young master.

Since that’s the case — let’s go be a young master.”

System: “…”

System, dumbfounded: “Ah???”