Chapter 2: Three Wishes
Chapter 2: Three Wishes
Qin Yu was 23 years old.
He had just graduated from university and was originally planning to prepare for both the graduate school entrance exam and the civil servant exam.
Of course, now this idea had clearly changed.
His parents were both orphans and both had been very hardworking people.
His parents met in high school and later got into the same university.
There was no strange story between them; from getting to know each other and falling in love to getting married, they were always together and never separated for long, relying on each other.
Before Qin Yu turned ten, his family was very happy.
His father was an associate professor at Lingchuan University, and his mother was an employee at a state-owned company.
They were not very rich, but they had more wealth than most families in the world.
In Qin Yu’s memory, he never saw his parents argue or get angry at each other.
To put it plainly, his parents had true love between them, and he was completely an accident.
However, everything ended abruptly when he was ten years old.
His mother died from a serious illness.
His father did not seem very depressed in grief; instead, he worked very hard to build a career.
He directly resigned from Lingchuan University.
He worked extremely hard, even somewhat obsessively.
Then, on the day of Qin Yu’s eighteenth birthday,
his father sighed as if relieved and said a lot to him that very day.
Not long after, his father’s health suddenly collapsed, and in just two or three months, he was reunited with his mother.
He left Qin Yu with two apartments and a not huge but sufficient inheritance to make his life much easier.
It seemed as if it was prepared early.
When leaving, his father did not show much pain.
For Qin Yu, his father had no expectations, only hoping he would live a happy life.
If possible, Qin Yu should find someone to love together.
Under normal circumstances,
Qin Yu might have lived his life peacefully like this.
He was alone, and even though he felt lonely sometimes, he was mostly worry-free and lived quite freely.
He might not achieve any big success, but he didn’t seem to have many responsibilities to take on either.
At most, because of his parents, he became a bit more sensitive about the idea of accidents happening.
Of course,
all this was true only if no accidents happened…
But clearly, an accident had already happened.
Two days ago in the evening,
after spending half an hour reviewing material for the graduate exam,
he planned to spend another half an hour resting.
Then, naturally, he opened up this small online forum.
This forum was said to have originally been a place for military fans to chat.
Later, it became a forum for sci-fi work discussions.
By the time Qin Yu found it by chance while searching for resources online,
it had turned completely into a spot for casual chit-chat.
When he was bored or tired of watching videos, he opened it for fun.
Then,
this time while browsing the forum,
he saw a post.
“If you were given a chance to make three wishes, what would you wish for?”
It was a classic dream post.
Posts like this were always around on websites and forums.
Its purpose was probably for everyone to dream together.
Qin Yu naturally clicked into this post to see how others were dreaming up stuff.
He wanted to collect material for his own dreams when he slept that night.
But after opening the post, Qin Yu realized he might be too early.
There were no other replies in the post yet.
Just as he was about to leave a joking comment like “No cost?” or “From a magic lamp?”,
on a strange impulse that day,
he actually put real thought into the question for once.
He wrote three replies very carefully.
“For my first wish, I call it Absolute Immortality.”
“The reason for this wish is simple: to live forever, eternal life, is something humans have chased since they learned about death.”
“Whether it’s gods in myths or ghosts in scary tales, a lot of them reflect this wish.”
“The Absolute Immortality I want isn’t about aging forever, dying from being killed, or stopping thinking over the long years.”
“Absolute Immortality means not aging and not dying, unaffected by any environment or time, with my body and mind always fresh, always me, not becoming a monster.”
“It’s like in immortal stories, having both the body and heart-state of an immortal.”
“For my second wish, I call it Absolute Escape.”
“This is a backup for the first wish; even with Absolute Immortality, being trapped could hurt if I got sealed.”
“This wish would let me escape anytime.”
“For my third wish, I’d wish for adjustable intelligence growth.”
“With immortality and no traps, just getting stronger doesn’t matter as much; gaining smarts and IQ could mean more.”
“If it weren’t for the title saying to state all three at once, I’d ask for this first and use my new Super Brain to pick the other two.”
“Adjustable intelligence growth means growing smarter by a bit each period, like daily or monthly, with me in control of how much.”
“This is mostly to avoid me changing too fast and not being me anymore… The first wish prevents that, but better safe.”
“Also, it’s like gaming; starting with god-mode cheats right away gets boring fast.”
After this careful reply was written,
Qin Yu suddenly felt silly.
Damn, he’d really thought it out and planned it all.
But,
Since I had already typed it out, it would be a waste not to post it.
Qin Yu moved the mouse and clicked ‘Post,’ ready to discuss things with the internet users who might check the thread later.
Then… he clicked once. No response.
He clicked again… still no response.
Neither the three wishes he’d written went through as a reply, nor did the thread itself react.
Frozen?
His first reaction was to pick up the mouse and give it a look, casually unplugging and plugging the mouse cable back in after.
There was nothing wrong with the mouse. The cursor on the screen was still moving.
But just as Qin Yu was doing this,
as his gaze shifted away from the computer screen,
he noticed something a bit…weird and silent.
The thread he was just on, and his own written reply,
were still within his sight.
Even when he turned his head really far,
even when he had his back to the computer screen, even when he closed his eyes.
The thread and his own written reply were still right there in his field of vision, moving with wherever he looked.
This was…clearly not normal at all.
As a normal person, his first thought was that he must be seeing things.
But he quickly shut that idea down.
Because what he saw was super clear. His own written reply was sharp and detailed in his sight.
Seeing things just isn’t that sharp.
The human brain isn’t that powerful. Seeing things is like dreaming –
it doesn’t leave much room for clear thoughts.
Then, he saw a small ‘OK’ button under his reply in his vision.
After carefully reading over the reply he’d written,
he tentatively reached out, moving his hand towards that ‘OK’ button he could see in his vision.
Right after that, instantly,
the impossible thread, along with his own reply, shattered into tiny specks of light within his sight right before him,
like they were falling onto his body,
and then disappeared completely without a trace.
All that was left was this explanation that popped into his understanding…
…
“Absolute Immortality: You will be unaffected by any environment, changes of time or space, and achieve eternal life. Your consciousness will not be clouded, your body will remain forever young, and you will always harbor curiosity for the unknown. Your existence is not limited by any conditions.”
“Absolute Escape: You gain two abilities: ‘Intangibility’ and ‘Disguise’.
Intangibility: You may render your own body intangible, separating yourself from any solid matter or non-solid matter. While intangible, you may freely move your body in any direction, unaffected by any environment.
Disguise: You may alter your appearance in any way, without affecting the essence of your existence.”
“Intellect Growth: Each Earth month, your IQ increases by between 0% and 100% of your baseline IQ. You may adjust the growth rate once a year.”
“Your current IQ level is: 130. Would you like to set your IQ monthly growth rate for this year?”
Compared to what Qin Yu had originally written in his reply,
the descriptions of the three abilities he actually gained now were much more detailed.
But essentially, they perfectly matched what he had wanted in the first place.
Once the explanations for these three abilities settled into Qin Yu’s awareness,
he immediately tried out the effects, one by one.
Absolute Immortality was the most direct.
Almost as soon as he got it,
Qin Yu felt his body become much lighter and more energetic.
Like any average young guy these days, a fresh college grad,
he didn’t have any major problems, but small ailments plagued him constantly
After getting Absolute Immortality, those little annoyances were completely gone.
Then,
Qin Yu decided to test it hardcore. He picked up a knife and cut his own arm.
And found out one thing… well, he didn’t get injured, but it really hurt.
The knife went into his arm, but when he pulled it out, there wasn’t even a scratch left.
But oh boy, the pain had him hissing and gritting his teeth.
However, with a deliberate thought, the second time he plunged the knife straight into his own chest…
he felt absolutely no pain at all, and no wound appeared.
The third time, he deliberately thought differently, stabbed his own palm again, and immediately hopped around in intense pain again.
So beneath Absolute Immortality, suffering pain was optional. He could choose whether to feel it or not.
In a way, this was actually a good thing.
It didn’t take away his senses or make him like a rock, but it also kept him from being driven crazy by endless torture in really bad situations.
Next was the Absolute Escape ability.
Maybe because “Absolute Escape” was a slightly vague wish,
it actually showed up as two sub-abilities to pull it off.
The first one, Intangibility, worked exactly like its name suggests.
After Qin Yu tried it out, he discovered,
that once activated, his very existence seemed to peel away from the “layer” of reality itself.
He ceased to collide with buildings, people, anything physical.
But at the same time, he wouldn’t just fall through the ground either, lacking any support.
While Intangible, he could zip around anywhere in the world – up, down, left, right, north, south, east, west – purely guided by thought.
It was like he could embed himself deep underground one second, and rocket upwards the sky the next.
Also, this Intangibility seemed to come with an invisibility perk.
While he was intangible and couldn’t interact with anything, nothing could see him either.
The Disguise ability was more straightforward.
Simply by thinking it, he could transform his appearance into anything he wanted.
He could even change into something not quite… human.
This ability’s purpose was likely to let him hide well within human civilization over long periods,
avoiding being trapped under everyone’s gaze.
As for the intelligence-adjusting boost from his final wish,
Qin Yu hadn’t actually activated it yet.
With the first two abilities supporting him,
the world held no threats left.
Since he couldn’t die no matter what mischief he caused,
there wasn’t urgent need to load the Super Brain immediately either.
Most importantly,
with endless time stretching before Qin Yu now,
he could activate the Super Brain anytime.
But experiencing the world’s beauty?
Savoring simple joys?
That could only happen in his current state.
Once boosted, intelligence couldn’t be lowered—
even with eternal consciousness and an everlasting “self.”
Future-him might develop new perspectives, but that hardly mattered now.
What mattered was this:
After testing his abilities to ensure they worked perfectly,
confirming all three wishes had come true—
The guy who’d never even won “buy one get one free”
had just hit the ultimate jackpot.
A prize possibly unique throughout history,
claimed by none but Qin Yu himself.
That night,
excitement chased sleep far from Qin Yu.
Especially upon realizing sleep was now unnecessary,
He activated Intangibility, darting around like a rat—
zigzagging over, across, and under Lingchuan City repeatedly.
Phasing into the sky, he plunged from kilometers high,
feeling the frigid winds scream past during freefall.
After cratering some wilderness areas,
he dove into Lingchuan River for half an hour,
even snatching some chubby fish fed too well by anglers.
Honestly?
This was Qin Yu’s version of a lottery winner’s naked sprint.
Beyond testing his powers, he was burning through wild euphoria.
Instantly,
he felt every chain shatter—a freedom unknown to any but him.
Traditionally speaking?
Qin Yu touched true, boundless transcendence.
Except…this supreme freedom lasted barely half the night.
Then
a nagging worry surfaced in this immortal’s mind.
After venting his thrill and tasting novelty,
he’d opted for his old habit: sleeping at night.
But as he dozed on his rooftop terrace,
hovering near dreams,
cold clarity struck.
For him—
for an eternal being—
the first true crisis in his endless life…
the coming cataclysm…
Wouldn’t be when loved ones aged and died.
Nor when cities, villages, or human civilization transformed beyond recognition.
No.
It was when human civilization crumbles.
Watching familiar faces fade might ache,
but time would heal those wounds across his limitless existence.
New bonds would form ceaselessly; as one generation passed, another would rise.
Shifting environments and eras?
His youthful spirit could adapt.
But if human civilization perished altogether?
Everything changes.