January 5th, Minor Cold, Wednesday.

Arthur Norwood lay sprawled on his dorm bed, bored out of his mind.

"Hey, Arthur. Finals are done, it’s break time. You heading home or staying on campus?"

His roommate from the top bunk, Arkell White, suddenly chimed in.

Arthur sighed. "Already got it figured out. Gonna find a part-time job over winter break. Gotta save up for next semester’s meals."

"Got anything lined up yet?"

"Not really. But my younger brother’s senior said he might get me a gig at a securities firm..."

Before he could finish, Arkell shot up from his bed.

"A securities firm? You serious?"

"Dude, we’re just freshmen! Sure, we’re in finance, but those places usually only take juniors at the earliest!"

"Man, that kind of experience basically counts as an internship!"

"Bro, you're insane if you pull this off!"

Arthur was just about to explain more, when out of nowhere, a cold mechanical voice echoed in his head.

[Ding!]

[System detected that host has reached the basic financial knowledge threshold. Initializing Investment Simulator...]

Arthur froze.

What the hell? Simulator?

Was it because he got demolished in King's Glory last night and now he’s hallucinating?

He jolted upright, his brain spinning with even more absurd thoughts.

No way... could it really be...

Before he could process it, the same robotic-sounding voice spoke again in his mind.

[Investment Simulator activation complete. Binding in progress...]

[Binding complete.]

[Congratulations, Arthur Norwood. You have successfully bound to the Investment Simulator. You’ve taken your first step toward becoming the King of Wealth.]

Arthur just sat there, dumbfounded, his brain full-on blank.

His head felt like it was buzzing.

Investment Simulator?

What the heck is that supposed to mean?

Investing? Simulator?

Seriously? This has got to be some kind of cheat straight out of a webnovel.

As a hardcore fiction reader, Arthur was no stranger to this kind of setup.

He quickly muttered in his mind, “Simulator.”

In an instant, a massive virtual screen popped up in front of his eyes.

A clean interface, showing only a few basic lines:

[Host: Arthur Norwood]

[Investment Field: Stocks]

[Simulator Level: 1. Level 1 simulator has real-time monitoring capabilities, accurately displays daily and next-day gains and losses, and provides future trend predictions.]

Yup, definitely a cheat.

Arthur sucked in a breath, heart pounding as he stared at the screen and asked seriously:

“Hey, Simulator boss, mind telling me what exactly you can do?”

And then...

He waited.

Nothing.

Not a single response.Alright, now Arthur Norwood finally got it—this thing was just some icy cold program.

Or well, let's be real, it acted like a moody diva.

“Arthur?”

From the top bunk, Arkell White, his buddy, leaned over, confused by Arthur’s silence and self-talk, giving him a weird look.

Arthur was sitting on his bed, staring blankly at the bare white wall in front of him.

“Hey, Arthur, you good? Did you party too hard last night and fry your brain or what?”

“I told you to chill with those sketchy late-night videos, but nooo, you didn’t listen. Now look at you…”

Arkell grinned playfully, lips curled with amusement.

Arthur forced a smile and rolled his eyes.

“I’m fine, more than fine actually. Kinda feeling unstoppable right now.”

Truth was, his brain had kicked every other thought out. His mind was all about the investment simulator now.

His heart was pounding like it had its own DJ, and images of financial freedom, champagne dreams and luxury life zipped across his head.

If this simulator really could predict the stock market, his life wasn’t just taking a turn—it was flipping the whole script.

Designer brands, penthouses, luxury cars... the whole high-end lifestyle seemed to be waving at him.

He hurried to grab his phone and tapped open the trading app Xiwuxiucai.

As freshmen in finance, their professor had made sure every student opened a trading account in the first week “for hands-on learning.”

The idea sounded cool—let them throw in their pocket money and learn from real trades.

Reality check? Brutal.

By the end of the semester, pretty much everyone had taken hits.

Arthur’s losses weren’t exactly tragic, but those few hundred bucks in red still stung.

When the app opened and a wave of ugly green numbers splashed across the screen, Arthur winced.

He figured he'd use one of his loss-making stocks to test the simulator. Time to see if this mysterious thing actually held up.

And bam—the simulator kicked in as soon as he looked at his phone:

[Wanhen Group

001258

]

[Current price: ¥1.61/share. Starting tomorrow, major funds will begin pulling out, leading to a slow price decline. Opening price: ¥1.59. Closing price: ¥1.55.]

[Simulation advice: Cut losses. Exit immediately.]

Arthur stared at the cold, clinical prompt. His heart dropped.

Wanhen Group—the one lousy stock he still held—and the simulator just put it on death row.

A 3.7% drop didn’t seem huge, but those words “slow price decline” hit him like a gut punch.

Classic market trap—tiny dips every day to fool small investors into thinking it’s just a shakeout, keeping them hopeful for a bounce-back.The big players had already slipped out quietly, leaving retail investors to either cut their losses or hold on, hoping for a miracle.

Arthur Norwood glanced at his phone—2:45 PM. Just fifteen minutes until the market closed.

He hesitated for a moment.

“Screw it.”

Clenching his teeth, he tapped the “Sell” button and cleared out all of his holdings in Wanheng Group—gone, every last share.

Right after, he switched to the main market page and started scrolling through other stocks.

One code immediately caught his eye:

【Yuanchuan Co.

602131

】

【Current price: ¥2.34/share. This morning, major funds completed accumulation. Starting tomorrow, the main investor will begin the first round of price lifting to test the market.】

【At tomorrow’s open, the stock will hit the upper limit at ¥2.57. Midday, there’ll be a brief pullback of 5% before it surges again, closing back at limit-up.】

【Simulation advice: Buy full position.】

Arthur stared at the info for several minutes, completely zoned out.

In the end, he gave in.

His account only had a bit over ten grand left, and it was already down below nine thousand. Even if this stock crashed at open tomorrow, the worst-case loss would just be a few hundred yuan.

He could handle that.

But on the flip side, if this investment simulator was actually legit…

He wouldn’t just avoid losses—he could make serious cash.

And if it worked once, why not throw in more money next time? The idea had him fired up. Forget that he’d just lost a few hundred on Wanheng—that was yesterday’s problem.

Without wasting time, Arthur launched the Xiwuxiucai trading app, hit “Buy,” and keyed in Yuanchuan Co.’s code.

The best offer was right at ¥2.34.

He punched in the price, went all-in, and confirmed the order.

The trade went through in a flash.

He quickly checked his holdings:

Stock: Yuanchuan Co.

602131

Held/Available: 4000/0

shares

Price/Cost: ¥2.34/¥2.35

Market Value: ¥9360.00

Unrealized P/L: -¥382.39

-4.1%

Today’s P/L: -¥37.31

-0.40%

Position % / Holding Days: 94.94% / 0

Total Assets: ¥9858.51

After double-checking the numbers, Arthur turned his eyes back to the real-time chart.

The stock price stayed flat, barely moving.

Then came the closing bell—still no change.

Arthur let out a deep breath. It was past 3 PM. Market closed. Everything sealed.

Too late for regrets now.

Was this whole system real… or just in his head?

He’d have to wait until tomorrow to find out.