r18novel Chapter 1: Living the Life of a Refreshing Novel
Chapter 1: Living the Life of a Refreshing Novel
Late autumn, 2026, on the banks of the Xiang River.
Liu Yu parked the car by the river on Xiaoxiang South Road, turned off the engine, and rolled down the window.
As dusk fell, lights began to illuminate both banks of the river, and the silhouette of Du Fu Pavilion in the distance was outlined by warm yellow lights and reflected on the river surface.
"Great." Liu Yu patted the steering wheel. "Let's go, I'll take you out for a spin."
The Xiaomi logo on the steering wheel was faintly visible in the dim light of the instrument panel.
This is the latest "Wave Chaser" series released by Xiaomi Motors. It is an amphibious production vehicle, priced in the millions, fully electric, and reportedly has a land range of 1,000 kilometers and a water range of 60 kilometers.
He was the first person in Changsha to pick up the car, after all, he was a distributor for Xiaomi in Changsha; Xiaomi's sales were dismal in the first half of the year, so in order to test the authenticity, Liu Yu, the boss, prepared to personally try out the difference between the car and the BYD one.
At 46 years old, Liu Yu has been driving cars his whole life, from the earliest Santana to the later BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi), and then to the rise of domestic new energy vehicles in the last two years. What kind of car hasn't he driven?
Half of the high-end cars belonging to Hunan Broadcasting System and Xiangya Hospital, those major clients, came from his hands.
Last year, his car trading company's annual turnover exceeded 5 billion yuan. He has been married and divorced, and his third wife is currently in divorce proceedings with him.
He didn't care; he ate and drank as he pleased, believing that one should enjoy life to the fullest when things are going well.
"Mr. Liu, are you really going to go into the water?" Xiao Zhou, in the passenger seat, shrank back a little.
Xiao Zhou was his newly hired photography assistant; she was 25 years old and timid.
"What are you afraid of? The manufacturer said this car is very stable even when drifting on water." Liu Yu smiled. "Are you getting off?"
Xiao Zhou shook his head vigorously, like a rattle-drum, and Liu Yu didn't force him.
He drove slowly along the slope next to him towards the river. The slope was specially built for towing boats, but in the past two years, more and more people have been riding amphibious vehicles and motorboats on both sides of the Xiangjiang River, and no one cares.
The tires rolled over the last stretch of concrete, and the front wheels went into the water.
"Switch to water mode." Liu Yu pressed a button on the central control screen.
The chassis emitted a muffled mechanical hum, a propeller extended from under the rear of the car, and the steering wheel instantly felt lighter.
The car body lifted slightly, the rear wheels left the ground, and the whole car floated up like a boat.
"Not bad, Brother Jun didn't brag this time." Liu Yu grinned.
......
Liu Yu lightly pressed the accelerator, the propeller stirred the river water, and the car steadily drove towards the center of the river.
The speedometer showed a speed of 15 kilometers per hour on the water, not fast, but exciting enough.
A few people taking a walk on the shore stopped to take pictures with their phones. Liu Yu honked the horn twice, feeling incredibly happy.
Water splashed from both sides of the front of the car, and the only sound inside was the rushing water. He took out a cigarette from the armrest box, lit it, and rolled down the window to let the river breeze in.
"This is life." He exhaled a puff of smoke and squinted at the lights in the distance.
A full moon rose over Yuelu Mountain, its clear light spilling onto the river, making the water shimmer.
Liu Yu slowed down the car and let it float slowly on the water; he thought of many things.
I remember when I was eighteen, I skipped class and got into a fight, and was expelled from school. My father, Liu Jianhui, smashed a teacup in the living room, and my mother, Zhang Yan, sat on the sofa with tears welling up in her eyes.
I remember being crammed onto a green train and sent to the Northwest to serve as a soldier. At the gate of the military camp, I turned around and cursed, "I hate you guys."
I remember spending half a year in Changsha after being discharged from the army, and then I started dealing in cars, working my way up from a small shop selling cars to the largest chain of high-end car dealerships in the province.
I remember ten years ago, on my mother's sixtieth birthday, she said at the dinner table, "Your sister is already a professor. Why don't you and that stable guy have a child and give me some peace of mind?"
......
As the car drifted near the end of Orange Isle, he felt a jolt in the chassis.
"Um?"
Before he could react, all the alarm lights on the instrument panel lit up.
"Warning: Impact of underwater obstacle. Hull integrity compromised."
Red text flashed on the screen, and a piercing buzzing sound rang out. The car lurched sharply to the right, and river water rushed in from under the chassis, instantly submerging the driver's ankles.
"Damn it!" Liu Yu stubbed out his cigarette and stomped on the switch.
The propeller was still spinning, but the vehicle stopped moving. It seemed as if something was jamming the chassis, or perhaps the hull had taken on too much water and was too heavy; the entire vehicle began to slowly sink.
"Amphibious vehicle, you motherfucker!" Liu Yu cursed, trying to open the car door.
The car doors wouldn't open; the electronic system had malfunctioned, and the mechanical lock wouldn't budge even after being pulled twice. The water was surging even faster, already up to my knees, icy cold.
He took a deep breath and pressed the window button, but nothing happened.
Liu Yu grabbed the safety hammer next to his seat and smashed it hard against the side window.
a bit.
Two times.
The glass is cracked, but not shattered; it's explosion-proof glass.
The water reached waist-deep, and with a third slam, the glass finally shattered, creating a hole. The river water surged in wildly as if it had come alive.
Liu Yu clung to the edge of the car window and tried to squeeze out, but his shoulder got stuck. He gritted his teeth, struggled, and was thrown out of the car.
The icy cold of the river water pierced my entire body like needles.
He kicked his way up into the water, his head breaking the surface as he gasped for breath. Looking back, he saw the Mitsubishi Wave Chaser rapidly sinking, its headlights still on, like a dying, glowing jellyfish slowly disappearing into the darkness.
There was someone shouting something on the shore, but I couldn't hear clearly.
Liu Yu sensed something was wrong; it was too cold. The Xiangjiang River in November was bitterly cold, and his limbs began to go numb. He found it increasingly difficult to breathe, and his body felt like it was filled with lead, causing him to sink downwards.
He paddled desperately, but the lights on the shore grew farther and farther away, becoming increasingly blurry.
A white light appeared before my eyes.
"No way..." he muttered, his voice so soft he could barely hear himself.
He lived for forty-six years, spent half his life playing with cars, and in the end, he was killed by a car.
This ending is darkly humorous; the white light swallowed everything.
......
"Beep...beep beep..."
The piercing whistle filled his ears, and Liu Yu suddenly opened his eyes.
The ceiling was grayish-white, and the fluorescent lights were blindingly bright.
The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant, and the bed beneath me was a hard wooden board. I was covered with a pitifully thin military blanket.
Someone was shouting, "Get up! Get up! Assemble in two minutes! Latecomers will have to do extra practice!"
Rows of green bed sheets, and figures leaping up at lightning speed.
Liu Yu froze, staring at his outstretched hand.
Not the hands of a forty-six-year-old, calloused and scarred.
These hands have smooth skin, distinct knuckles, and neatly trimmed nails, like those of a young boy.
He slowly sat up, his body feeling so light it didn't feel like his own.
The beer belly I'd accumulated from years of socializing is gone; my back is straight, and I can feel the muscle definition in my abdomen even through my thermal underwear.
He subconsciously touched his face; there were no wrinkles, and his jawline was clearly defined.
"Liu Yu! What are you dawdling for!"
A stern-faced platoon leader stormed over, his voice booming like thunder, "You've only been in basic training for six months and you're already itching for a beating? If you're not out here in thirty seconds, you're running five kilometers!"
New recruit company.
Half a year.
Liu Yu's brain felt like it had been twisted hard, all the gears snapping shut with a click.
2000 years.
July.
XJ.
Eighteen years old.
Because he skipped school, got into fights, and sold his family's cigarettes and alcohol, his parents forced him onto a green train bound for the Great Northwest.
Two days and two nights later, we got off the bus into the Gobi Desert, where the wind and sand felt like knives slicing our faces.
Shaving my head, receiving military uniform, being assigned to the recruit company—it all felt like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.
He cried, cursed, went on hunger strikes, and even tried to escape by climbing over the wall.
He was caught and put in solitary confinement for a week. The squad leader pointed at his nose and yelled, "Even if you're a mudfish, I'll twist you into a steel bar!"
These memories flooded back like a torrent, carrying with them another chapter of life from over forty years ago.
The car city, high-end customers, and the sunken amphibious vehicle on the banks of the Xiangjiang River; all of these things were mixed together, churning in his mind.
"Hurry!" the squad leader shouted again.
Liu Yu reflexively threw off the covers, put his feet on the ground, pulled on his pants and shoes, and rushed out the door.
These movements are as if they were etched into my bones for two years; even after more than twenty years, my body still remembers them.
On the playground, dawn is breaking over the Gobi Desert.
A sliver of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon, and the distant Qilian Mountains resembled a silent silhouette.
The wind was strong, whipping up small pebbles and sand that stung my face.
Hundreds of new recruits in camouflage uniforms were scattered in their platoons, standing ramrod straight in the biting wind.
Liu Yu stood in the queue, breathing in the dry, cold air.
This is not a dream.
He looked up at the dormitory building entrance. The electronic screen displayed: July 15, 2000, Thursday, 06:03.
2000 years.
He really did go back to 2000.
That absurd and bizarre fact crashed into his consciousness like a boulder.
He was an atheist who had sold cars his whole life. He believed in contracts, cash flow, and the exchange of benefits, and never believed in reincarnation.
At this moment, an eighteen-year-old body housed a forty-six-year-old soul; a cold wind blew into his collar, making him shiver. It all felt so real.
"stand at attention!"
The squad leader's command exploded behind him.
Liu Yu straightened his back, tucked his chin slightly, and pressed his hands tightly against the seams of his pants.
He gazed ahead, watching the golden morning light grow ever brighter on the distant mountains, and a slow smile crept onto his lips.
In his previous life, after leaving the military camp, he spent more than half a year in a daze before slowly finding his own path.
This lifetime.
He has the body of an eighteen-year-old and the mind of a forty-six-year-old.
He knew what would happen in China over the next twenty years; how real estate would rise and fall, how the internet would explode, how the entertainment industry would go from being dominated by television stations to being dominated by many other players, and how the mobile internet would disrupt everything.
He knows which movies will be hits, which songs will become popular, and which novels will have their copyrights sold for exorbitant prices.
He even knew what resources his family had: his mother worked in broadcasting, his father worked in a hospital, and his sister was about to study in the UK.
In his past life, he spent his entire life on the fringes of the entertainment industry, selling cars to hosts on Hunan TV, film and television company owners, and various celebrities.
"At ease!"
The squad leader's command rang out again.
The formation changed movements in unison, and Liu Yu moved as well, his expression changing.
There was a light in those eighteen-year-old eyes that didn't belong to that age.
Calm and sharp, like a newly sharpened knife.
He recalled something his squad leader, Old Zhao, had said on his first day of enlistment: "Soldiers aren't afraid of death, so what else is there to fear?"
The sun in the east finally rose above the horizon, its golden-red rays spreading across the Gobi Desert and illuminating the entire military camp.
Liu Yu stood in the morning breeze of July 2000, clenching his fists tightly.
"In this life, I want to live like a thrilling, satisfying novel."