After a few minutes, Tony Snow realized that his impression of political science for the graduate entrance exam was much weaker than that of English. The truth was, the kind of politics tested for the exam wasn't very useful after it was over. English, on the other hand, remained valuable whether one was studying, watching TV, reading novels, or playing games.
Once immersed in something, time passed incredibly fast.
Tony felt he hadn't read much before the library was about to close.
Clara Quinn went to return the Cell Biology book Tony had lent her so she could borrow it again under her own library card. Tony, meanwhile, hoped to check whether anyone had returned Basic Life Sciences by Adrian Wells, Biochemistry by Rachel Stein, or the local translation of Genes VIII by Benjamin Lewin.
As expected, the availability of those titles remained zero.
Disappointed but not surprised, Tony left the library with Clara empty-handed.
"How about I add your contact info?" Tony suggested casually as they parted outside the dorm buildings. "We're both prepping for grad school—if we run into any trouble, we can help each other out."
"You want to add me on WaveChat or CampusLine?" Clara asked.
"WaveChat," Tony said. "For CampusLine, we can just connect through the class group later."
Clara nodded and held out her phone. The two added each other, and with a simple exchange, Tony walked back toward his dorm, a bit happier than usual.
When he stepped inside, his roommates immediately noticed something was off—he was smiling way too much.
"You're practically glowing. Something good happen today?" said Miles Turner, who was already climbing into bed.
His other roommate, Liam Shaw, was also settled in. Only Dylan Chase was still downstairs playing games on his laptop.
Tony shrugged. "Nothing big. Just had a productive day at the library."
"Heh, come on now," Dylan said, looking up from his respawn screen. "Don't act like we don't know. Who were you sitting with in the library today?"
Tony tried to brush it off. "No one. Just studying."
But Dylan wasn't having it. He ran over and blocked Tony's way before he could sneak into the bathroom.
"Don't go anywhere! I heard from someone you were with Clara Quinn all evening. That true?" Dylan grinned devilishly. "You seriously pulled that off without saying a word to your boys?"
"We were just talking about study stuff," Tony said quickly. He twisted free from Dylan's grip, darted into the bathroom, and locked the door in one smooth motion.
Back outside, Miles turned to Liam and said, "I thought he was just asking her for help with exam prep, but based on how he reacted just now... maybe there's more going on."
"Yeah, and you're the only one here with a girlfriend," Dylan added, now thoroughly invested. "What do you think their status is?"
"I don't know," Miles admitted. "But Clara's in the same dorm as my girlfriend. I'll ask her."
He opened CampusLine and messaged his girlfriend while continuing, "I told you guys back in freshman year we should've arranged a dorm meetup. But nooo, you all chickened out. If you hadn't, maybe you'd be the one in Tony's shoes right now."
"Hah, please. No offense, but there's not a single girl in our class I'd bother with," Dylan scoffed, returning to his game.
When Tony came out of the shower, he noticed that Dylan had cooled down and was no longer interrogating him. Relieved, he climbed into bed without saying a word.
"Uh… does anyone have 300 bucks? I need to borrow it," Tony asked from the top bunk a few minutes later. "I'll pay you back after my weekend shift."
"I got it," Dylan said without hesitation. "You need it now? Just let me finish this round—we've only got one defense tower left."
"Cool, thanks," Tony replied.
Miles furrowed his brow. "You okay, Tony? Everything alright? You've been talking about part-time jobs a lot lately."
"I'm fine," Tony said. "Just need some money for something urgent."
"You're not wrapped up in some crypto scam or betting site, are you?" Miles asked, half-joking, half-serious.
"No way," Tony said quickly. "Come on, I've been on campus the whole time. Besides, I'm not into gambling or that kind of stuff..."
He paused for a second.
"…and I don't take out loans. Never needed to."
"All right," Miles said, still a little skeptical. "But if something's up, talk to someone. Talk to us. Or the student advisor."
"Hear that?" Dylan piped up from downstairs. "This is why I never date. Girls are expensive. I'm saving my cash."
Tony, meanwhile, had briefly considered whether he could make money gambling if he mastered probability and statistics—but immediately dismissed the idea. If it were that easy, every math major would be living in a mansion by now.
"Sent it. Check your WaveChat," Dylan called out.
Tony checked and smiled. "Got it. Thanks, man!"
He took stock of his funds, set aside enough for meals, and then made the decision.
He spent 1000 credits.
"Do you want to use the life simulator? Each use costs 1000 credits."
"Yes."
"At twenty-one, you fell in love with a girl. Half a year later, you confessed. She said she wanted to focus on her graduate exam. You changed your plans and chose the same university she wanted to apply to."
"At twenty-two, you passed the exam and entered Zenith University's Bioengineering program, specializing in Cell and Genetic Engineering. You confessed again—and succeeded."
"At twenty-four, using future knowledge, you conducted groundbreaking experiments and published a paper in a top international journal. You earned your master's and PhD early."
"At twenty-five, you published another high-impact paper and became a junior faculty member at Zenith University."
"At twenty-six, you began supervising graduate students. You got married—your first love was your bride. You received a major national science grant."
"At twenty-seven, you fell seriously ill. You finally learned the cause of death from the previous simulation. You died from the same illness."
...
(To be continued)