My Future Refreshes Weekly

Chapter 3: Money, and “My” Happiness

“Gulp gulp gulp……”

The white-haired young man devoured the cold noodles greedily, then lifted the large bowl and drained even the sesame paste soup mixed with chili oil in one gulp, letting out a satisfied groan.

“Ah, so refreshing. This is the taste I’ve been craving!”

Jiang He looked at White Crane, who was sitting on the sofa with a delighted expression, and asked strangely: “Sixty years later, is there really nothing delicious left to eat?”

Jiang He didn’t consider himself a foodie… How did sixty years pass, and suddenly he became like this?

Just how bad did food taste in the future?

“Food?” White Crane paused for a moment and sighed.

“Of course there is food, but it only serves to fill the stomach… Those things that could truly be called delicacies have nearly all vanished into the past.”

“Ah?”

Seeing Jiang He’s shocked expression, a shadow flickered across White Crane’s face as he explained: “On September 27th, 2066, Blue Star suffered the greatest and most vile catastrophic event in human history—an extraordinary being, infinitely close to super-S class, that is to say, a 【God-tier】 existence, fell into madness and rampage.”

“He slaughtered billions of innocents across the globe and nearly destroyed the entirety of human civilization.”

“In the end, through the efforts of countless S-rank Transcendents, that demon was finally slain, but the price paid was unbearably heavy… Human civilization was on the brink of ruin, and the world was reduced to a wasteland.”

“In that wasteland-like world, everything we once knew disappeared… food, least of all.”

“Now you understand, don’t you?”

What?

The world would be nearly destroyed in 2066?

Hearing such words so suddenly, Jiang He felt as if struck by lightning, his heart trembling.

The future White Crane spoke of almost confirmed the deepest fears in his heart, fears shared as well by many ordinary people in this world

【Transcendent Rampage】

In the extraordinary world, great power belonged to the individual, making personal will tower over the masses, and even over nature itself.

Even battles between A-rank Transcendents could at any moment annihilate a peninsula, create a strait, or cause the death of two hundred thousand civilians.

Not to mention those of S-rank.

They were hardly different from gods in the eyes of the ancients—capable of flying across the skies, burrowing into the earth, moving mountains, filling seas, even crossing the void with their bodies, traveling freely between Earth and the Moon.

The moment ill intent arose in them, the world could become purgatory in an instant.

Before Jiang He’s eyes appeared a scene from years ago

The earth quaked, flames blazed, skyscrapers collapsed.

In that apocalyptic sight, his ordinary parents only had time to push him away before being crushed by a falling boulder from above, blood splattering everywhere…

And that was merely the battle between two C-rank Transcendents.

Yet in 2066, thirty-seven years later, the catastrophe that would occur would be on a scale far beyond that.

Everything he was familiar with would cease to exist.

“Oh right, as for Uncle Cui’s family, they didn’t die in 2066.” White Crane suddenly spoke, as if having guessed Jiang He’s thoughts.

At those words, Jiang He felt a glimmer of joy.

After his parents’ deaths, Uncle Cui’s family had been among the few who gave him warmth. To know they would survive the future disaster…

But White Crane’s next words cut off Jiang He’s thoughts, plunging him into icy despair.

“On June 13th, 2029, at 12:17 noon, they had already died in a terrorist attack carried out by the extraordinary organization 【Arc Light】, along with the complete destruction of Lidu Community—the last memory our parents left us.”

White Crane glanced up at the time.

“From today, that’s about twenty-six days away.”

“What?!”

Jiang He shot to his feet in agitation, scalp tingling.

But he quickly calmed himself, relief welling up.

“Luckily, I awakened the 【Ferryman of Time】 gift and summoned you here, learning of this incident in advance.”

“As long as I call Uncle Cui’s family away beforehand, I can save them from the disaster…”

“Yes, with any excuse you could avoid their destined deaths, preserving their lives. Truly a cheating gift.” White Crane didn’t bother concealing the jealousy in his tone.

He too stood, meeting Jiang He’s eyes directly.

“But what use is it?”

“Uncle Cui’s family’s death wasn’t only because of the Arc Light organization, but, like our parents, because of 【weakness】.”

“In this extraordinary world, weakness itself is the original sin.”

“Even if not Arc Light, there will be Black Light, White Light, Color Light… Even just two passing Transcendents might trample them like ants.”

“Because of weakness, they died.”

“Because of weakness, we lost our parents.”

“Because of weakness, I lost my wife, along with my unborn child.”

“All of this stems from our weakness, our powerlessness.”

White Crane’s words carried unrestrained hostility and fury, a fury with nowhere to be vented, no target to strike, and so in the end it turned inward upon himself.

In that moment, facing such raw anger, Jiang He finally understood why he had earlier said words like “jealous of myself.”

He felt that suffocating rage and forced out his words with difficulty:

“…Wife?”

“…Yes.”

White Crane’s rage dissipated.

He lowered his eyes, unwilling to let Jiang He sense his emotions.

“In the disaster of 2066, that rampaging Transcendent killed my pregnant wife.”

“I hated him, and eventually slew him with my own hands, yet I could not undo it all, could not bring back my wife and child into this world.”

“So I hated my own weakness.”

“But you are different.”

“You are still young, standing at the beginning of everything, possessing a gift far greater than mine. Like a student about to sit for an exam, yet holding the ability to freely peek at the answers, free to choose the future you desire…”

“Truly cheating.”

White Crane’s words carried little emotion.

Yet Jiang He felt as though he could sense his fury, his grief, and his envy.

“You are me.” Jiang He said.

“You are not me.” White Crane replied.

“Unless you wish to become me.”

Become White Crane?

Jiang He fell silent.

Because it was himself, he could understand White Crane’s pain and emotions, could clearly feel his rage, and his helplessness.

Did he wish to become him? To reach that… sorrowful future?

“I don’t want to become you.”

White Crane smiled, a smile devoid of the slightest warmth.

“Is that so. Then you must use your gift to become stronger, to avoid becoming a weakling like me.”

Become stronger?

That had always been Jiang He’s desire.

He had wanted to awaken a powerful gift, to no longer be ridiculed and mocked in school, to no longer stand like a lackey in the corner…

And now, he already possessed a powerful gift, yet his desire hadn’t lessened in the slightest. On the contrary, under White Crane’s words, it was thoroughly ignited.

He wanted to become stronger, to not lose those he didn’t wish to lose because of 【weakness】, to not walk toward a sorrowful end.

Just like his awakened gift, 【Ferryman of Time】.

He wanted

A perfect future.

“White Crane, I need your gift, your extraordinary profession, your foresight of the future. Please entrust it all to me.”

“Greedy fellow.”

White Crane raised an eyebrow.

“Standing before you is the S-rank gift 【Word Spirit】 bearer, the creator of the S-rank profession 【Sacred Speaker】, the strongest S-rank Transcendent of later generations, the one closest to godhood… yet powerless.”

“If you want all of my strength, you must pay the price.”

“Money?” Jiang He asked.

White Crane smiled: “And ‘my’ happiness.”