On the 16th, Monday, after school, Xia Yu took leave from his part-time job and Kong Hanyue, and arrived at an office building.
He was waiting for the first target to appear.
At 3:30 PM, three men in suits walked out of the office building. One of them was exactly who Xia Yu was looking for—the top translator in Zilang.
She was a middle-aged woman. Novel translation was only one of her small hobbies; she was also a well-known professional translator.
Xia Yu clicked on the game.
[Please select the target for exchange]
[Random selection / Free selection]
Of course, free selection.
[Please face the target’s body directly and click confirm]
Facing the woman’s body directly, Xia Yu clicked confirm again.
[Single player mode / Multiplayer mode]
Single player mode.
[Matching]
[Match complete]
[Before starting the game, please confirm the following terms:]
[…]
[Body exchange successful]
After a brief moment of darkness, Xia Yu found himself inside the middle-aged woman’s body.
Standing beside her were apparently company executives, inviting Xia Yu to dinner that evening.
“Sorry, I’m not feeling well,” Xia Yu declined.
The two men didn’t insist further. One of them drove Xia Yu to the building where the woman lived.
Knowing exactly which floor she lived on, Xia Yu rummaged through her bag, found the keys, and opened the apartment door.
He looked at the interface.
[Generating buffs based on the target’s body…]
[Buffs generated successfully]
[Acquired buffs: Go level 1, Chess level 1, Gomoku level 1]
[Enjoy your game!]
“…”
What kind of buffs were these?!
Although Xia Yu had mentally prepared that the buffs might not relate to translation, he hadn’t expected them to be completely unrelated.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged woman, now pushed out of control of her own body, regained her senses.
“Who are you?” she asked in six different languages.
“I’m an alien. My spaceship passed by the edge of the Milky Way, and I transferred my consciousness into your body to explore your civilization,” Xia Yu made up on the spot.
“Not a ghost?” she asked.
“Ghosts aren’t allowed to exist,” Xia Yu replied.
“Then, since you’re using my body, what compensation are you offering?”
“???”
The woman continued, “I don’t want much—just give me some technology from a dozen years ahead, preferably civilian lifestyle tech.”
You wish!
“Can’t do a dozen years? Then how about at least five years advanced? Or if the Galactic Federation doesn’t allow tech disclosure, just give me a feasible research direction, and I’ll gather people to study it myself.”
Thinking for a moment, Xia Yu opened the woman’s phone and indeed found the Qidian Reading app in the applications.
She must have read too much online fiction and actually believed that aliens would possess human bodies.
Not only was Xia Yu not an alien, but even if he were, he’d more likely have sinister intentions rather than come to Earth to gift technology to humans.
“Alright, after I’ve experienced enough of your planet’s culture and customs, I’ll give you a research direction—maybe something feasible in artificial intelligence.”
Originally just joking, Xia Yu didn’t expect the woman to actually believe him. Well then, he might as well go along with what she imagined.
Uninterested in chess, go, or gomoku skills, Xia Yu picked up the woman’s notebook.
“Oh, by the way, do you know any translators for alien languages?”
“There’s no such profession on Earth,” the woman said, now even more convinced of Xia Yu’s alien identity.
“There might be. You just don’t know about it,” Xia Yu lied again, revealing his true purpose, “Do you know any of those simultaneous interpreters? Do you know where they live? If there’s a young one with high translation skills, that would work too.”
He wanted to use the woman to obtain information about truly high-level translators.
After thinking for a moment, the woman said, “I know a simultaneous interpreter. He visits Kaiyang every month to see one of his girlfriends.”
Hearing that she knew someone, Xia Yu felt happy for a moment, but his joy disappeared when he heard the word “girlfriend.” Having a girlfriend meant he was a man, and a male translator wouldn’t help Xia Yu.
Opening the woman’s notebook, Xia Yu said he would first experience Earth’s gaming culture and began playing a game.
Looking at the time on the notebook, realizing it was almost reaching eight hours, Xia Yu tensed all his muscles.
“What’s wrong?” the woman asked, somewhat alarmed.
With his body frozen stiff, Xia Yu stammered in reply, “N-no… the internet connection is lagging. Damn China Unicom, I…”
The woman suddenly felt a flash before her eyes, and her body returned to her control.
She sat in front of the computer, hugging her head.
Once upon a time, an alien wanted to give me a golden opportunity, but due to cosmic internet lag, he logged out.
What network did he mention again? China Unicom? Do aliens use China Unicom too?!
At this moment, the screen in front of the woman changed, and a line of text appeared.
『Stop dreaming about falling pies from the sky! Just work hard!』
This was the gift Xia Yu left her using programming.
Unaware of the woman’s confusion, Xia Yu returned to his own body and crossed off the woman’s name on the notebook.
The next day, Xia Yu went to another woman—this time the youngest one. This time the buffs were slightly better but still unrelated to translation or foreign languages—rapping, dancing, and basketball.
Returning to his body again, Xia Yu crossed off this name too. Looking at the remaining two names on the notebook, he felt somewhat troubled.
He guessed that the remaining two probably wouldn’t help either.
The top translator should be in Apang or Yaoguang. Should he go to these two cities?
If only there were an opportunity to search for body exchanges directly.
However, if he did have a search opportunity, he definitely wouldn’t waste such a precious search on foreign languages. Instead, he would choose business or medical skills.
After acquiring programming, adding business skills could quickly generate money, which was one of the most important things in modern society.
As for medical skills, low levels weren’t very useful, but high levels would surely bring surprises. Compared to money, life itself was the most important.
Well, enough thinking.
Lying on the bed, he fell asleep.
The next morning, as usual, he went to school, but his mood was low.
“Xia Yu!” At noon, Yan Wei came to him and handed him a book.
Seeing Xia Yu’s confusion, she said, “This is the English version of Wen Ziying’s ‘White Bird.’ The club president gave it out.”
Wen Ziying was a student in the senior second grade at their school. She debuted in her first year of high school and had now become a relatively well-known bestselling author.
Taking the book, Xia Yu looked at the title—《White Bird》, a very literal translation.
“This was translated by Wen Ziying herself, but I can’t understand it,” Yan Wei said regretfully while flipping through her own copy of “White Bird.”
“Wen Ziying translated it herself?” Xia Yu raised his head.
“Yep.” Seeing Xia Yu suddenly become interested, Yan Wei thought she had successfully drawn him into the conversation.
She knew Xia Yu really liked the book “White Bird,” so she spent some time studying it. As long as the conversation started, she was sure they could keep talking!
However, Xia Yu didn’t engage in the book topic but instead asked, “Which class is Wen Ziying in?”
A strong sense of crisis arose in Yan Wei’s heart.
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