In Lin City, inside a small apartment, Gu Zhinan sat up in bed, his hair messy and his eyes still drowsy. He casually picked up his phone from the bedside table and checked the time—1 PM.

  Waking up naturally… no longer a corporate sve.

  Gu Zhinan, 22 years old, had just graduated from university. Looking at himself in the mirror, he smiled, all cleaned up, he wasn’t bad looking. Otherwise, the original owner of this body wouldn’t have had so many girls confessing to him in college.

  Unfortunately, the previous owner was a hardcore straight guy, utterly oblivious to romance. He was only focused on writing novels, shutting out the world around him like an old school schor.

  "Two months already..." Gu Zhinan muttered after washing up, opening his ptop and checking the calendar. He had crossed over during the height of the transmigration trend in novels. While saving a drowning little girl, he had somehow ended up in a parallel world, taking over the body of another Gu Zhinan—along with all his memories.

  This world was Earth 2.0, identical to Earth 1 in every way. No mystical energy revival, no dystopian sci-fi setting. Just an ordinary modern world.

  In his previous life, he had been a proper corporate worker, struggling to survive under the infamous 9-9-6 work schedule. Even Wall Street capitalists would shed a tear at his suffering.

  Now, given a second chance at life, he felt like saying to the heavens, “Alright, you still have a shred of conscience left!”

  The original owner had been an unknown web novelist on a certain ptform, spending everyday typing endlessly, uploading chapters, and repeating the cycle until exhaustion. That was probably how Gu Zhinan ended up possessing his body, because the guy had literally worked himself to death.

  There were still hundreds of thousands of words in the draft folder. Gu Zhinan couldn’t help but be amazed. "Damn, the original owner was a beast!"

  He opened the ptform, uploaded a pre-scheduled chapter, and set it for automatic release. The original novel, Qin’s Moon, is a fantasy wuxia story set in ancient times. It wasn’t hugely popur, but it made enough to live on, which expined why the original owner had gone full-time as a writer.

  Gu Zhinan isn’t in a rush to continue writing just yet. This time around, he wanted to develop good habits; especially sleeping early. As for waking up early? Nah, why bother?

  "In this life, I’ll just write novels, travel, and enjoy the beauty of the world. Like that quote from my previous world—chop wood, feed horses, roam the world, and watch the flowers bloom by the sea." Gu Zhinan thought contentedly.

  The apartment was a two bedroom unit. He lived in the secondary bedroom, while the master bedroom had always been empty. Even in the original owner’s memories, no one had ever stayed there. He had tried to check it out once but found it locked. Oh well.

  The rent was already paid for a year in advance. If it were up to Gu Zhinan now, he’d definitely opt for a monthly payment instead—why drain the family’s savings in one go? Looking at his bank bance, he sighed. If only he could bring over his savings from his past life!

  Back then, he had worked tirelessly, saving up to buy a house in his hometown and retire early.

  “Well, at least I’m a veteran bookworm.” He csped his hands together in mock prayer. “Thank you, legendary authors of my old world!”

  After discovering he was now a web novelist, Gu Zhinan had thought about recreating the best selling books from his past world. After searching, he realized none of them existed here, making him so excited he lost sleep for nights!

  Over the past month, he had been piecing together memories of those novels, ensuring the themes and main plotlines remained intact, even if he couldn’t recall them word-for-word.

  His memory, he suspected, had improved thanks to the fusion of two lives. Whenever he focused on recalling something, it was like a loading screen, fast when smooth, ggy when stuck.

  "Today was a good day!" At 11 PM, Gu Zhinan stretched, looking at the dense lines of text on his screen with satisfaction. Before shutting down, he gnced at the title of his test project, The Legend of Sword and Fairy!

  In his previous world, this story had been a legend, adapted from a game and ter turned into a hit drama. Fans had called it the pinnacle of the Xianxia genre, introducing iconic characters like Li Xiaoyao, Zhao Ling’er, and Lin Yueru. The antagonist, the Moon Worship Cult Leader, was even famous for his line about proving the Earth was round.

  Netizens had once said, "I thought this was the beginning of Xianxia… I didn’t expect it to be the peak!"

  Terrifyingly good.

  "A masterpiece worthy of reward!"

  Lying in bed, Gu Zhinan continued organizing the plot for The Legend of Sword and Fairy while pnning to wrap up Qin’s Moon. According to the draft folder, it was already in the te stages, just missing a proper ending, something he would take care of.

  "Once I’ve outlined The Legend of Sword and Fairy, I’ll finish Qin’s Moon. My writing was decent before, and the original owner had some ideas for the finale. Should be easy!" he thought.

  His recall ability had already brought most of the Legend of Sword and Fairy storyline back into his mind. He was confident he could remember everything with time.

  No cheats, no system, no mysterious old mentor, just his freakishly enhanced memory, his only golden finger in this new world.

  Plus, in his past life, he had been 28, already on the verge of uncle status. Now, at 22, he was young again—was this a transmigration perk?

  "A wonderful day has ended. Tomorrow, let’s keep up the energy!" Gu Zhinan whispered to the ceiling before closing his eyes.

  One thing was certain, he would never stay up te again.

  And he was never going near water. Ever.