Chapter 1: Breakup, Activating the Replication System

(Brain storage place, after reading please remember to come claim……)

Blue Star, year 2016 AD, Yanhuang Guo, Zhou Cheng.

Inside a rented house in the urban village.

Qin Hao, who had finished a day's tiring work, was about to lie on the bed to rest a bit when, unexpectedly, his phone rang.

He picked it up and saw it was his girlfriend of three years, Tang Xiao Lin, calling.

So, without bothering to rest, Qin Hao hurriedly answered and said:

"Hey, Linlin, you said you were going shopping with your best friend, right? Why are you calling me? Do you miss me again?"

After a few seconds of silence on the other end, Tang Xiao Lin's guilty voice came through:

"Qin Hao, we… let's break up!"

Hearing those words, Qin Hao felt as if struck by lightning, instantly dazed.

"Why… why?" His voice was a little hoarse, with a barely perceptible tremor.

"No reason, we just aren't suited."

Tang Xiao Lin's voice was unusually calm at this moment, but her words were like a dull knife, cutting into Qin Hao's heart over and over,

"My mom doesn't agree; she says… you can't give me the future I want. She's set me up with someone whose family is well‑off, with a house and car, and a high salary."

"Future? Just because I have no money, no house, no car?"

Qin Hao's voice rose involuntarily, tinged with suppressed anger and deep helplessness.

He knew Tang Xiao Lin's mother had always looked down on him, a poor kid raised in an orphanage.

"Qin Hao, don't be like this, can't you be more realistic?"

Tang Xiao Lin sighed, "I don't want to keep living these hopeless days. Every time I go out with you, I have to think about whether this is too expensive, whether I can afford that. I'm exhausted, truly exhausted."

Qin Hao opened his mouth, wanting to retort, to say he'd been working hard, to say he could give her a better life, but the words died on his lips.

Yeah, what could he guarantee? Just a few thousand dollars a month from tightening screws?

Or this rented place of only a dozen square meters?

"I understand."

Qin Hao's voice sank, hoarse with resignation: "Xiao Lin, I wish you… happiness."

After hanging up, Qin Hao felt drained of all strength, collapsing limp on the bed, eyes vacant.

He slowly recalled the bits and pieces of their three years together.

"Sigh… in the end we still lost to reality."

After a long while, Qin Hao gave a self‑mocking remark, figured things out, and then pulled himself together.

Looking at his phone with little battery left, he picked up the charger to charge it.

But he noticed the socket was a bit loose.

So he reached out to straighten the socket; the cheap socket's casing had long since aged, with some damage at the edges.

The instant his finger touched the exposed copper inside the socket and the metal edge of the charging phone, a strong current surged through his whole body!

"Ugh—!"

Qin Hao felt a violent numbness and stabbing pain all over, stars flashing before his eyes, his body convulsing uncontrollably.

The intense current prevented him from even crying out; his consciousness faded, and he finally slipped into unconsciousness.

At this moment Qin Hao felt himself drifting in an endless dark space.

After an unknown amount of time, a soft white light suddenly appeared deep in his consciousness.

Immediately after,

a series of cold, mechanical prompts rang in his mind.

【All-Thing Replication System activating…】

【System activation successful, bound host: Qin Hao】

【Replication function enabled; please check the details yourself…】

Qin Hao snapped his eyes open, gasping violently, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

He still held the posture from the electric shock; his body, stiff from the prolonged tension, felt somewhat numb.

"I remember I seemed to have been electrocuted, but I'm lucky not to have died? And those sounds just now… what's going on?"

He shook his still‑somewhat‑dazed head, trying to recall everything that happened before he passed out.

The pain from the shock still lingered in his body, while that string of mechanical sounds in his mind felt all too real.

He struggled to sit up, instantly feeling sore all over, especially his right hand that had been hit by the current, which still trembled slightly.

He looked around; the rented room was still the same rented room, nothing had changed.

Could he have been shocked silly and be hallucinating?

Qin Hao gave a self‑deprecating chuckle; maybe he'd read too many web novels lately, day‑thinking leads to night‑dreaming.

He rubbed his temples, and his gaze unintentionally fell on the wallet lying on the bed.

Instantly an absurd idea popped up from the depths of his heart.

Wait… what if that system is real?

Once that thought appeared, it spread like wild weeds and could no longer be contained.

Qin Hao's heart began to race uncontrollably; he took a deep breath, striving to stay calm.

Then, imitating the plots from novels, he called out in his mind: "Hey, whatever replication system, are you there?"

The next moment, a virtual panel visible only to Qin Hao appeared before his eyes.

【All-Thing Replication System host: Qin Hao, age twenty‑one】

【Basic replication function description: can scan any non‑living object touched, then copy it; the copy is completely identical to the original.】

Each replication consumes Energy Points, depending on complexity and value.

Remaining Energy Reserve: 1 point.

Notice: Energy Points can be replenished by contacting a power source. When Energy Points accumulate to ten billion, the next-stage function will be unlocked; specific details will be known after unlocking.

"So this isn't a hallucination; I really have a Replication System for all things?"

Looking at everything on the system panel, Qin Hao was instantly overjoyed.

He hurriedly took out a fifty-yuan banknote from his wallet, and following the system's instructions, he first scanned it.

Soon the system emitted a prompt tone:

【Target item: fifty-yuan Yanhuang currency; replication consumes 1 Energy Point.】

Qin Hao also did not hesitate, directly ordering replication.

In the next moment, he felt something extra in his hand; looking down, his pupils suddenly contracted and his breath caught.

Because in his palm, besides the original fifty yuan, there suddenly appeared another banknote, identical in every way.

Whether size, pattern, color, or even wear and tear, no difference could be seen.

"This… this…"

Qin Hao's lips trembled, shocked speechless.

He picked up the newly appeared money, turning it over and over to examine it carefully; the real tactile sensation told him he could be certain this was absolutely not an illusion!

Really… a fifty-yuan Yanhuang currency note had been replicated!

The Replication System for all things, it really did it!

The immense joy, like a tsunami, swept over his inner self, dispelling the sorrow from the recent breakup.

Qin Hao fiercely pinched his own thigh; the sharp pain told him this was no dream!

"I'm going to get rich! I'm going to get rich!"

Qin Hao let out a low roar, suppressing his inner ecstasy.

His eyes shining, he stared at the banknote in his hand, as if he saw countless money beckoning to him.

He could replicate endless money, buy a big house, buy a luxury car, and live a life he previously dared not even imagine!

However, just as he was immersed in this wonderful fantasy, he suddenly noticed a detail.

He picked up the two bills and carefully compared their serial numbers.

"The serial numbers… they're actually the same!"

The smile on Qin Hao's face froze instantly. The two banknotes, their most crucial serial numbers, were actually identical!

What does this mean?

This means the money he replicated cannot circulate normally at all!

If used excessively, it would easily be detected by the bank or by those with ill intent. Then what awaits him would likely not be wealth and honor, but a cold iron cell.

This discovery was like a bucket of cold water, dousing from head to toe the excitement he had just ignited.

Qin Hao slumped, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at the two banknotes in his hand with identical serial numbers, his heart filled with helplessness.

To possess such heaven-defying ability yet be unable to use it to replicate banknotes—this is practically the biggest joke in the world.