Life Simulator: Cheats Enabled

Lin Wan is 26, graduated from a second-tier university, and has spent three years in an administrative job. She's sent out countless resumes, but never makes it past the first round of interviews.

She loses one jin only to gain two back. She reads two pages of a book, then spends three hours daydreaming. She's taken swimming lessons for three summers and can still only splash around in the shallow end. It's not that she doesn't try. She just can't even figure out what direction to try in.

Then, late one night, a game cartridge appears out of thin air on an open practice exam paper.

The Sims System, dual-world mode. Skills learned, fat lost, and money earned in the game all carry over to the real world.

Lin Wan thinks her hard times are finally over.

But the rules of the game world are ten thousand times harsher than she imagined. Food restores hunger but not energy. Without money, she can't even afford a taxi. If her fun level is too low, her study efficiency is cut in half. And when her social meter stays in the red for too long, she can trigger the negative "Lonely" state.

No golden finger, no instant max level. First, she has to find a way to survive in this world.

Fortunately, there are scattered gemstones and meteorites by the roadside in Sunset Valley, flowers by the pond that sell for a high price, and novels at the library that she can borrow for free for 90 days. She even adopts a dog in the game world.

In the real world, all she has is an empty room, a freestanding clothes rack, and a little sunlight.

Starting with English exams, then pets, fishing, gardening, cooking, writing... One skill after another lights up, and life gets a little better inch by inch. When her in-game skill tree finally reaches the entrance to a career path, Lin Wan realizes that the real world she's been avoiding for 26 years might not be so frightening after all.

Theme: Rebuild your true self in a virtual world