In the first year after crossing over, you were an ordinary person, but from the moment the Genius Simulator awakened, your life was destined to be anything but ordinary.
Because from this moment on, you would learn, under the simulator's urging, to pre-tend! To be! A ge-nius!
A distinctly artificial-intelligence-flavored voice rang out in the mind of one-year-old Wangshu, its noise making her clench her chubby little fists.
"Who are you? You say pretend and I pretend?"
But the movement was too big—her tiny fist whacked the other little baby sleeping beside her, and that baby immediately let out a piercing shriek.
As everyone knows, a baby's cry is a group attack.
Soon, all the babies woke from their sleep, and the place that looked like a nursery erupted in a cacophony of devilish wailing.
The wet nurses rushed over quickly, soothed the crying babies one by one, then began to single out Wangshu for special attention.
They moved her bedding to the largest open space in the middle of the kang, and moved the other babies far away from her.
[Sure enough, your mouth says no, but your actions speak louder. You defeated the baby rivals competing for your sleeping spot and began to enjoy three berths all to yourself. This means you have already grasped the initial essentials of pretending to be a genius—even a one-year-old infant must display extraordinary bearing!]
[Genius Points +1]
"Who said I'm not a ge—wait, did you just say Genius Points?"
Wangshu's pure black-and-white eyes rolled, a glint of thought shining through. She instinctively glanced around—all the other babies were beyond her little arm's reach, and she herself was swaddled so tightly she couldn't move.
What a pity. She could have hit one more time, snatched another Genius Point...
Starting from age one, displaying extraordinary bearing, huh?
Wangshu thought for a moment, then let out a loud wail.
Three days later, Wangshu was moved to a small separate room, tended by three wet nurses on rotation.
Because the moment she was left alone, Wangshu would start crying, and then the entire nursery's babies would be set off, all crying at once.
The nurses had no choice but to separate her. But as long as someone was beside her, Wangshu was indescribably well-behaved—big eyes like black grapes, gazing at people with a sparkle, her tiny soft hands wrapping around one of the nurses' fingers, as if begging them not to leave.
The nurses' hearts melted, and they couldn't help but favor her.
Word of this eventually reached the head of the nursery, who came to see Wangshu in person, laughing and commenting, "What a little tyrant."
[You have successfully mastered the infant survival rule: the crying child gets the milk. You have been promoted to the Most Fearless Little Tyrant. Genius Points +2]
Wangshu gradually figured out the simulator's point-giving logic, and spent quite a stretch of time in the nursery as a little terror.
Finally, when her Genius Points accumulated to 10, the simulator underwent some changes.
[The true essence of pretending is nine parts fake, one part real. But right now, we are still truly and thoroughly ordinary. It's time to up the game! You may now use Genius Points to exchange for chances at "Extraordinary Features."]
[A: Extraordinary Appetite.]
[B: Extraordinary Strength.]
[C: Extraordinary Stamina.]
[D: Extraordinary Appearance.]
Wangshu's first reaction to seeing the options was confusion—why A, B, C, D? Shouldn't it be 1, 2, 3, 4 or something?
Wait. The room she was in... its style didn't seem modern...
The simulator heard her thoughts and began displaying more text.
[You are slowly realizing that the world you crossed into is not a normal modern society. It is absolutely ancient, possibly with a touch of the mystical. For a genius in an ancient mystical world, what kind of Extraordinary Feature would you need to arm yourself with?]
That's a pretty blatant hint. Wangshu bared her baby teeth in a grin and chose without hesitation: "I want Extraordinary Strength."
The next day, when a nurse finished feeding Wangshu and, as per routine, went to change her diaper, Wangshu swung her little fist with a look of firm refusal.
—No!
The nurse's arm absorbed the hit from Wangshu's tiny fist, instantly turning red, and the nurse's eyes widened in shock.
This child's strength was astonishing.
...
The shameless infant life went on for a whole year. During that time, Wangshu used her accumulated Genius Points to exchange for more "Extraordinary Features."
Still the same options as before. The simulator wouldn't refresh the choices, as if it were forcibly requiring her to exchange all four Extraordinary Features before unlocking the next simulation stage.
Over the course of a year, Wangshu successfully exchanged for "A, B, C, D" and became: an insanely hungry, shockingly strong, endlessly energetic, and utterly adorable—Super Little Tyrant of the nursery.
The nurses had to feed her every half-hour; because she ate so much, she grew fast, learning to walk and talk sooner than the others. There wasn't a child in the nursery she hadn't smacked;
Her energy was like a little cannonball—three nurses couldn't hold her down, and the head eventually had to add two more people, who became Wangshu's dedicated nurses.
This wasn't a matter of favoritism. Without such measures, the entire nursery would be in chaos.
After all four Extraordinary Features were exchanged, Wangshu entered a period of steady development. The simulator had no new content, but using her perspective as a one-year-old, she managed to piece together limited information.
This was an ancient clan.
Whether this clan's child-rearing method was ahead of its time or whether the entire world did it this way, a portion of the clan's toddlers were gathered in a nursery and collectively cared for by dedicated staff.
Some of the children here clearly had parents, who would come visit periodically, bring little gifts, and give the nurses or the head instructions on various matters.
But no one ever came to visit Wangshu.
Wangshu slowly realized: in this life, she was an orphan again. Yet throughout her stay in the nursery, she never once received any sort of negative treatment because of her orphan status.
...The special treatment she got was all positive.
The head in charge would come check on her occasionally, and he repeatedly instructed her dedicated nurses to keep a careful eye on her.
Wangshu vaguely sensed something—the future performance of the children in the nursery seemed tied to the head's "performance record."
So the head was happy to see a robust little tyrant like her amongst the kids—perhaps that itself meant something.
Wangshu also confirmed that this world had mystical elements. Because from the parents who came to visit, she occasionally caught words like "Dao Palace" and "Seed."
But limited by her infant status and her environment, she couldn't learn much more for now.
Wangshu's life of a fake genius saw its first real change around her second birthday.
That day, her nurse made her a bowl of finely chopped, mushy longevity noodles. Because it was her birthday, in addition to the daily ration, she was given two extra portions of spiritual food.
The three portions of spiritual food were: a spiritual milk with a unique, refreshingly sweet scent; a bowl of minced meat porridge carrying gentle energy; and a small plate of peeled, cut spiritual fruit.
Wangshu knew they were spiritual foods because the head had already explained that this was an "advance investment" in her—a visionary, bold, resourceful genius-infancy investor!
That day, the steward said to her very seriously: “I know you understand everything, child. You don’t look ordinary. You’re bound to go far. I can feel that your spirit seed has already awakened...”
The steward used his own resources to specially prepare spirit food for Wangshu that was excellent for a child’s development. Normally, she got only one serving a day, but because it was her birthday, she got two extra.
Because of this special treatment, the simulator generously gave her ten genius points — after all, geniuses are meant to be exceptional.
Wangshu stared at the spirit food, and a ravenous hunger surged from the depths of her heart, as if these things before her were exactly what she urgently needed.
She had already awakened the trait “extraordinary appetite,” so this much food put no pressure on her at all. She started by drinking the milk, then moved to her favorite meat paste — though what she really wanted were the fried meatballs. Next came the spirit fruit, and finally the main course: soft, mushy noodles.
The steward watched her eat from the side. He almost tried to stop her after she finished the second serving, but Wangshu’s “I’m starving” aura genuinely held him back.
Just as the steward was starting to wonder whether the nurses had secretly skimped on Wangshu’s meals when he wasn’t around, she let out a burp and suddenly felt a wave of heat rise from her lower abdomen.
She reached out to brace herself against the table’s edge, intending to get off the stool and go outside for some air, but today the table might as well have been made of paper — with a loud crash, it tipped over sideways.
A solid one-meter wooden table slammed heavily to the floor, and the bowls and dishes on it shattered into pieces with a clatter.
The nurses jumped in fright, Wangshu jumped in fright.
And the steward? He jumped too.
But judging by his expression, it wasn’t just shock.
It was more like:
“The lottery ticket I bought actually hit the jackpot”
“The stocks I went all-in on are soaring”
“Could it be that my good days are finally here...” That kind of feeling.
Then, Wangshu’s simulator, which had been quiet for a while, suddenly chimed.
[Here it comes, here it comes — the scene where a genius child, out of nowhere, reveals their extraordinary ability — it’s finally here! As an ordinary child with a touch of uniqueness, on the day of her second birthday, she has finally touched the... doorknob to genius.]
[A solid wooden table overturned by a two-year-old’s bare hand — just what kind of “extraordinary” is this?]
[Is it time to immediately use genius points to elevate this “extraordinary,” or should you hold back for now, using this accident to wait for the perfect moment...]
