The Workplace Rookie Mentor

Chen Zhuo, a cultural relic restorer who worked himself blind under a 996 schedule, is thrown out by his unscrupulous boss.

While rummaging through a trash can on a rainy night, he finds a rusty Warring States bronze goose-and-fish lamp.

The instant his fingertip blood seeps into the inscription on the lamp, “Shouzhuo,” a cold mechanical voice explodes in his mind:

[Cultural Relic Artisan Soul System bound! The soul of “Shouzhuo” detected. Would you like to merge with the lifelong memories of Ou Yue, the Warring States swordsmith?]

The next day, his vision is restored. The moment his fingertips touch a fake bronze artifact,

the patina on a Western Zhou square ding with animal-mask patterns flakes away layer by layer before his eyes, exposing crude modern welds underneath.

“Fake,” Chen Zhuo says, turning away from the auction house's outrageously expensive piece. “The welds are too new, and the acid-aging job is amateurish.”

As the crowd erupts in shock, a mysterious call comes through on his old phone, which has just 38 yuan left on it:

“Mr. Chen, I have the genuine article. Would you like to see a rubbing of the inscription?”