Chapter 1: The Abject Youth

Bone chilling wind gusts in from an open window. The messy room looks like the aftermath of a great calamity.  A young man is curled up in a Fetal position trying to gain some warmth.

The fluttering curtains produced a constant “hula” sound. Occasionally a few dried leaves would float in to the room. As if the world has forgotten about the room.

Lin Han shivered, wrapping his arms around his chest, suddenly bolts up right in the sofa. Goose bumps appearing all over his body, rubbing his hands together to create warmth without any regard to dignity.

“Jesus F. Christ. What is this damn place? I’m freezing to death!”

He muttered as he swiftly avoided the obstacles in the room, when making his way to the open window. After closing the window to keep the cold wind out, He breathed in relief.

Standing next to the bed, Lin Han stared in confusion at the room before him. Being a “minor” neat freak he could not imagine that anyone can live in this place.

The casually scattered magazines and books on the floor. Clothing was everywhere and socks hidden in some obscure place provides foul odors. Coke and beer cans where in piles around the room.

Expired pizza can be somewhat seen on the table, potato chip crumbs buried the TV remote, Blue ray disk boxes are scattered around. Century old take out boxes are in the corner. Even instant noodle boxes still have soup in them.

With slovenly clothing, Lin Han felt as if he had fallen into hell. Looking down on his clothing. There are even paint and black stains, as if it has not been washed in a few days.

He began to lie to himself. “This must be a dream. A dream. A nightmarish dream!”

His hands are not his, the clothes he is wearing are definitely not his. Lin Han knew every single article of clothing in his closet. Turning his head around while sweeping his gaze over the room before heading to the bathroom. Looking at his reflection in the mirror Lin Han reached a conclusion. That he had been transported into another universe.

Such world changing revelations crushed his minor neat freakness. Not caring how dirty and messy the bathroom is Lin Han pulled on his face and bounced around to confirm that the body did indeed feel real.

The man in the mirror looks like Jesus. Uneven beard, messy hair, cannot have a lower score on looks. Giving one the feeling of looking at an abjected super model.

Lin Han could not figure out any reason for him to be warped through space time, but he could feel that his mind had something more in the memories. Entering deep thought memories with extreme clarity flooded his consciousness.

Leaning on the door frame, even if threatened by a massive migraine Lin Han could not bring himself to sit on the sofa. Already been harmed mentally once, he never wants to sit on it again.

After briefly organizing his memories,

Lin Han found that this guy with the same name as him was a once somewhat slightly famous. At least used to be.

The structure of the new world is near identical to his old world. Lin Han felt a small sense of familiarity, at least he is still in modern days. Much better than to be transported to the ancient past.

This current China have the same economic power as USA. When standard of living improved, entertainment became the focal point of society.

Movies, music, literature and arts are in full swing development. Just missing all the superstars Lin Han used to know.

In the memories of the original inhabitant of the body, every major person in history had different names, But the works of literature remained.

Not sure on where history took a different turn, over half of the important authors disappeared along with their works. Every modern star is alien to Lin Han. Only major historical works could provide familiarity.

In the booming economy, there naturally will be hundreds of different cultural arts, each with their own representative works. Great works are as common as water in a river.

Being a graduate of Huaxia Institute of Preforming Arts in Director major. He used to work as a helper for other directors until he directed the movie “Escaping Sol”. The movie was based on the top seller novel of the same name. With over 30 million in production costs, final ticket sales did not even reach 5 million. People gave it a rating of 4.8.

Normally only when ticket sales reach triple the production costs will the movie gain profit. With the ticket sales not even reaching one sixth of production costs, the investing company had to sell underwear to cover costs, even then they still declared bankruptcy.

Thus the original inhabitant became a unique and beautiful sight. Single handedly taking down a company. The epitome of disaster.

Not a single investor is willing to have him direct their movies, no set crew wanted him. Even in the television area not a single company wanted to hire him. He was extremely infamous.

Entertainment companies still pour salt into old wounds at times. Making top ten worst movies, most overly hyped director. Even the institute wanted to take back his graduation certificate.

After assimilating all the memories, Lin Han couldn’t stop himself from seeing the irony. Such a dramatic life the predecessor had. Impressive achievements at young age before becoming a drunkard 24/7.

Due to long term consumption of alcohol, his body was feeble, skin was ghostly white, messed up hair, unkempt beard. If went on the streets, he definitely would be a handsome vagabond.

Lin Han did not have much ambition. He just wanted to have the quiet life of being an author. But currently surviving became his first priority.

His stomach began to gurgle, but facing such hellish apartment, Lin Han just couldn’t bear to eat anything. Rolling up his sleeves, he readied himself to tidy up the place.

The place in front of him is just not a place for humans to live in. Totally impossible to bear.

Finding garbage bags from memory, he piled all the junk from the table and ground into the bag. and threw all the clothing into the washing machine.

Throwing out the pizza boxes, pouring soup out of instant noodle cups, compressing empty chip bags into the trash. There even was a new bag to take out containers.

After throwing out the large items, he began to sweep the room, paper off cuts, dust, plastic bags, peanuts, bread crumbs and cans were all herded together and thrown out. not a single one will be left inside.

After cleaning, he opened the doors and dragged the bags out into the large public bin. Looking up at the urban blue sky on his way.

Just doing a sweep is not enough, every single furniture needed a total wipe down. Even the floor boards were polished till they shone.

The loud spinning washing machine rumbled on continuously. Lin Han felt a tinge of disappointment. His first time traveling to another universe and the first thing he does is to clean the room. Is it really impossible for him to escape is neatness setting?

From some hidden place came the sound of his ringtone, a new unknown rhythm but still pleasing to the ear. Lin Han dug around in his sofa for some time before he found it hidden in a crevice.

Shockingly there was three missed calls and a few texts messages. They were all from his ex-agent Chen Jiaxuan. Chen Jiaxuan is an experienced agent in the entertainment business. She led two stars to glory. Her only failure was Lin Han.

“You bastard, pick up the damn phone. Don’t act dead to me. You’ve already been decadent for a year, it’s a damn good time for you to look for a job!”

Looking at the text, Lin Han could see Chen Jiaxuan’s raging face. His ex-agent is a great person, sure the old inhabitant has long lost the ability to pay her wages, she still worried about the life and death of the old Lin Han, even occasionally bring food for him.

Unable to decline help from a beauty, the third party Lin Han felt something was amiss. This level of care far exceeded the boundaries of occupational need. He is temporarily unsure on how to face Chen Jiaxuan. Thus he decided to pretend to not see the text, hoping to gain some time.