Global Film Emperor

Chapter 3 Entering the Course
When Lu Ze opened his eyes again, all he saw was a vast expanse of white. Looking around, Lu Ze felt that he was in a very large, endless white space.

"So that's how the tutorial for entering sleep mode works."

Lu Ze smacked his lips, wanting to take a step in this white space. The first step onto the ground did not have the illusory feeling of walking in a dream; the sense of power given by the ground was no different from that in reality.

When you step on the ground, colorful ripples spread outwards, creating a futuristic effect!
At this moment, the system interface appeared in Lu Ze's line of sight, but this time it was different from the past, many times larger, almost the size of an LED display screen on a building.

Please select a course.

The electronic voice startled Lu Ze slightly. It was the first time he had heard the system's voice, but it wasn't as pleasant as he had imagined; it sounded similar to the voice of a "polyp."

When Lu Ze first entered the course, he didn't want to jump straight into courses like facial control; he wanted to see something more interesting.

After flipping through the course schedule, Lu Ze still found the course "Imitation of the Elderly's Actions and Expressions" more interesting and wanted to know exactly how it involved imitation.

After the course was selected, the interface disappeared, leaving only a loading progress bar, which was loading at an extremely fast speed from zero to one hundred. When it reached 100%, the white space turned dark, just like the lights in a dormitory were turned off.

Then a huge red 3 appeared in the space.

"Loading complete. Ready to enter the 'Imitation of Elderly Movements and Expressions' course. Course 321 begins."

During the countdown, the space would vibrate with each number that appeared, which undoubtedly increased Lu Ze's sense of tension. When the system counted down to 1, the space lit up again!

"Welcome to the course. You have twelve hours to observe. Please study diligently."

Lu Ze didn't know why the sudden brightness in the virtual space was so dazzling. After gradually adjusting to the light, Lu Ze opened his eyes and was dumbfounded. Was this really a virtual space?

"Di!"

A car drove by on the highway, and Lu Ze stood on the pedestrian crossing, staring blankly at the scene before him. This place was no different from the real city.

White-collar workers hurried by on their phones, a group of children ran around pulling on balloons floating in the sky, and the bustling atmosphere of deliverymen and food delivery workers made the place feel very human.

Then Lu Ze's gaze involuntarily shifted, and he saw an old man slowly crossing the zebra crossing. The old man looked somewhat familiar to Lu Ze. Wait a minute! Isn't that Lu Ze himself? An older version of himself?

The old man was wearing ordinary sneakers, black sweatpants, and a gray senior shirt. He was slightly hunched over, but seemed to be in good spirits.

As he grew older, he wandered further and further away, and then Lu Ze discovered that he could actually fly! He floated in the sky, following the old man and watching his every move.

First, he went to the park and played chess for two hours. Perhaps he was a little uncomfortable from sitting for so long, because Old Lu even rubbed his lower back.

Then Old Lu took out his old-fashioned mobile phone to check the time. It was already 11:30 a.m., so he went to the market to buy some vegetables. Lu Ze was a little doubtful when he saw this. Will I really be this stingy when I get old?
How much do tomatoes cost per pound?

The vegetable vendor recognized Old Lu and said with a smile, "Uncle Lu, these tomatoes just arrived today, they're very fresh. I'll give them to you for two yuan and forty cents a pound, is that alright?"

"It's so expensive. I won't buy it."

"Uncle Lu! Tomatoes have gone up in price now! You haven't seen cilantro yet, it's gone up to seventeen yuan a pound, there's nothing we can do about it."

"Then give me two smaller ones, just enough for one stir-fry. And some wood ear mushrooms, just give me two yuan's worth. And some eggs, give me five yuan's worth. How much are eggs per pound?"

"Eggs are four yuan and fifty cents now, that's expensive." "Let me look at your eggs, why are they so expensive? They don't even look fresh. Make it cheaper, four yuan a pound."

As Lu Ze looked at his twitching cheeks in his old age, he suddenly remembered a passage he had once read.

"If I become like this when I'm old, please kill me."

Although Old Lu wasn't about to be beaten to death, he was really too much of a jerk. He bought less than ten yuan worth of vegetables and even stole a bunch of scallions from the vendor. Seeing the vendor's helpless expression, Lu Ze was truly on the verge of tears.

Carrying a bag of groceries, I went home. My home is in an old building without an elevator. Old Lu lives on the fourth floor. After all, he is old and climbing stairs is really difficult for him. He held onto the railing and climbed up with all his might. By the time he got home, he was covered in sweat.

He took off his old-fashioned shirt, revealing a blue tank top underneath, turned on the radio to listen to storytelling, and sat on the sofa fanning himself.

Looking at the black and white photo hanging on the wall, Lu Ze realized that his wife had passed away. Looking at the unfamiliar woman in the photo, Lu Ze suddenly felt a sense of fear. Could it be that his old age would really become that of an empty-nest old man?
After the storyteller finished speaking, he turned off the radio, turned on the TV, and switched to CCTV12, the opera channel, where Peking Opera was playing. Old Lu got up, chopped the tomatoes, cracked the eggs into a bowl, chopped some scallions, and made a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes. He ate it quietly with rice that looked like it was steamed that morning or yesterday.

After finishing his meal, the old man immediately washed the dishes, and Lu Ze chuckled, thinking that the old man was quite diligent.

His children called in the evening, and seemed quite filial. Apart from not coming home, everything was fine. Old Lu answered the phone with a smile and listened to his grandson's voice.

In the evening, after dinner, Old Lu went downstairs for a walk, greeted the old men and women he knew, and saw the old men in the park spinning tops. Unfortunately, Old Lu didn't have one himself.

I walked home around 7 p.m., and picked up three plastic bottles from a trash can on the way. After getting home, I washed up a bit and then turned on the desk lamp to read my yellowed copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Everything was so ordinary and natural, yet so lonely and desolate. This was the old age of an ordinary empty-nest elderly person.

Lu Ze felt a little uneasy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was bothering him.

Lu Ze knew that he was not himself, and the era was obviously different, but looking at this face that was exactly the same as his own except for the age, he always felt particularly strange and full of sympathy.

Living like this for one day is comfortable, two days is comfortable, but try living like this for a year or two? It will really drive you crazy.

Before going to sleep, Old Lu lit incense for his deceased wife, then went to bed to rest, closed his eyes, and hummed an unknown tune.

At this point, the twelve-hour observation period had ended, and the space had once again turned pitch black from Old Lu's house.

"Observation complete. The score for this learning phase is 82 points, which is passing."

"Is that all? It seems like I didn't learn anything besides watching the old man play all day. What kind of lesson was this?"

Lu Ze thought to himself, and began to look down on the system a little. This course was useless. Had he wasted his money on tutoring?

But the system's next sentence completely stunned Lu Ze.

"Entering the first phase of simulation. The first phase will last 12 hours. Please prepare, host. 321"

The red countdown started ticking again, and the space trembled. Lu Ze hurriedly shouted, "I'm not ready yet! Wait a minute! How come it's already been 12 hours? Wait a minute! I'll fuck your grandpa!!!"

"."

(End of this chapter)