Life Exchange Game - Chapter 1 - The Game

[Welcome to the Body Exchange Game]

[Here are some important notes:]

[This product is only for exchanging bodies with certain similar beings]

[If you offend the target, you will be kicked out of the body]

[You can unilaterally prevent the target from entering your body and let the system take over]

[Due to the anti-addiction policy, you can only play for eight hours a day]

[Due to unavoidable bugs, you may exchange bodies with non-human creatures, including but not limited to cats, fish, cockroaches, etc. Please do not panic, just wait for eight hours to pass]

[After a successful exchange, you will receive a bonus from the system]

[The developers may release some test tasks, which you can choose to accept]

[Wish you a pleasant game]

Staring at the text in front of him, Xia Yu leaned on the counter. The rough texture of the counter told him this was real, not a dream.

Eighteen years after crossing over, has the system finally activated?

The system may be late, but it never misses?

Compared to some who awaken their systems after a hundred years, he should consider himself lucky.

“What can you do?” he asked softly.

No text appeared.

“Open sesame?”

Still no response.

“Abra cadabra?”

Everything remained the same.

“Game start?”

As soon as he said this, new text appeared before Xia Yu.

[Please select the exchange target]

[Random selection/Free selection]

Random must mean the system assigns someone, while free means choosing for oneself.

Xia Yu clicked on free selection.

[Please face the target’s body, click confirm]

Xia Yu’s gaze swept around the store, randomly selecting a man.

[This product does not currently support this body]

He then randomly selected a woman.

[Single player mode/Dual player mode]

Single or dual?

As mentioned before, single means entering the other person’s body while letting the system take over his own body, and dual means the other person also enters his body?

Better not try it now; if something goes wrong in broad daylight, the police won’t be lenient.

Suppressing his excitement and curiosity, Xia Yu took the bottle of mineral water from the customer and scanned the barcode.

“Ten yuan, thank you.”

Taking the ten-yuan bill from the customer, Xia Yu placed it in the cash drawer.

He was currently working part-time at a convenience store.

In his previous life, at eighteen, he was buried in the sea of senior year exam papers; working part-time or doing chores was out of the question.

But in this life, he was no longer the only child of a middle-class family but the eldest son of a single-parent, impoverished household.

If not for this strange Body Exchange Game today, his crossing over would have been a losing deal.

However, this was still a modern society, and surviving on his unreliable father’s part-time jobs wasn’t an issue. Xia Yu worked part-time only to buy things beyond basic survival needs.

In this world, students working part-time was a completely normal thing.

After serving another customer with an ice cream bar, Xia Yu skillfully scanned it: “One yuan, thank you.”

At 5:30 PM, the next shift arrived, and Xia Yu headed to the changing room to swap out his store uniform before heading home.

His home was in an old neighborhood, an eighty-square-meter apartment.

Walking through the narrow hallway, Xia Yu took out his keys and opened the door.

His father, Xia Dongyang, glanced up from the couch, then continued looking at his phone.

Without greeting him, Xia Yu glanced at his sister in the kitchen and headed to his bedroom.

“I ate outside, I’m a bit tired today, going to sleep early.” With that, Xia Yu closed the door and locked it.

Lying on the bed, he sighed in relief. It was time to explore this Body Exchange Game.

Turning on the video recording on his phone, he aimed it at himself and placed it by the bed, then silently said, “Game start.”

[Please select the exchange target]

[Random selection/Free selection]

“Random selection.” Xia Yu didn’t have any particular person in mind to exchange bodies with, and free selection required facing the target’s body, which was quite troublesome.

[Single player mode/Dual player mode]

“Single player mode.” Xia Yu couldn’t imagine what a female would do in his body.

[Matching]

[Matching completed]

[Before starting the game, please confirm the following terms:]

[Game duration is eight hours, and cannot be exited midway]

[This product is dedicated to entertainment and mutual assistance. Please adhere to the rules during the game and refrain from misconduct (highlighted)]

[If you cause strong offense to the target, you will be kicked out of the body and not allowed to re-enter]

[If you trigger prohibited actions, even without causing offense, the system will kick you out]

[Prohibited actions include…]

[…]

After browsing through the terms, Xia Yu said, “Confirm.”

Immediately, his vision went black.

When he opened his eyes again, Xia Yu saw what looked like the top of a tent.

Sitting up, he realized this wasn’t a tent but a large bed draped with sheer curtains.

This bed alone took up half the space of Xia Yu’s room.

Pulling back the white sheer curtains, Xia Yu surveyed his surroundings. He was in a European-style room with a balcony, about half the size of his entire home.

It seemed he had exchanged with someone quite significant.

Getting out of bed, he approached a mirror and looked at the reflection.

It was a young girl with long black hair, wearing a pink nightgown.

The girl seemed about his age, with beautiful features and a slender build, embodying a delicate beauty.

Reaching out, Xia Yu touched his cheek, confirming that he was indeed in control of this body.

This was quite something.

[Body exchange completed]

[Based on the target body, generating bonus…]

[Bonus generation complete]

[Bonus acquired: music bonus Lv1, drawing bonus Lv1, flower arrangement bonus Lv1]

[Wish you a pleasant game]

Bonus? Watching the text slowly fade away, Xia Yu pondered.

Originally, he had thought about what benefits he could gain from body exchange-perhaps controlling the body owner to take out a loan or sell a kidney?

But now it seemed the bonuses were the real advantage?

Making an innocent person do such things would weigh on Xia Yu’s conscience.

“What use are the bonuses?” Xia Yu attempted to communicate with the game system, but it still ignored him.

He would have to figure it out himself. For now, he should try out these bonuses!

Approaching the desk, Xia Yu pulled out a wooden chair and sat down.

The chair was heavy, made of real wood, not the paper-filled fake kind.

Sitting on the chair, he glanced over the desk’s layout.

The desktop was very tidy, with only a photo in the corner and a lamp.

Xia Yu picked up the photo.

In the photo was a little girl in kindergarten with two adults. The girl was likely this body’s younger self, and the two adults were presumably her parents.

The background was a maple forest, the ground covered densely with fiery red leaves. The girl pouted, holding a maple leaf by a tree, her mother crouching beside her, seemingly comforting her, while her father stood expressionless behind them.

This was a photo with a story.

Putting down the photo, he opened a drawer and found the paper and pen he needed.

The paper was very smooth, and the pen was exquisite. As Xia Yu marveled, a timid female voice sounded in his mind.

“Um, who are you?”