July, another graduation season.
Brilliant sunlight poured down from the high sky, landing on Li Mubai, who walked alone on the path back to his dormitory, feeling not a trace of warmth.
"I'm sorry, our company requires college graduates with at least three years of work experience. You don't meet our criteria!"
In his mind, the cold and ruthless rejections from several company HR representatives kept replaying.
"Damn it, I'm just a fresh graduate, where am I supposed to get three years of work experience?!"
A low, angry roar caused many passing students to cast curious glances his way.
As a time traveler, Li Mubai felt he had brought shame to all transmigrators.
He had been in this world for over three years, and not a single one of the grand ambitions he had when he first entered university had been realized.
What happened to achieving freedom in dating and standing out brilliantly before ordinary, muddled college students?
Those dreams seemed like nothing more than a fleeting slumber, and now that he had woken up, reality set in.
Aside from a fat body that left him breathless just climbing six flights of stairs, he was facing the nightmare of graduating straight into unemployment.
Returning to his dorm, Li Mubai looked around the long-since half-empty room, feeling an overwhelming sense of bitterness and desolation.
After the start of the senior year, his roommates had relied on family connections to secure ideal jobs one after another, moving out of the dorms early on.
And now, Li Mubai wouldn't even be able to stay in this modestly sized dorm much longer.
According to school regulations, senior dormitories had to be completely vacated before the summer vacation so the school could do a thorough cleaning to welcome the incoming freshmen.
So in a few days, if Li Mubai still couldn't find a job, he would either have to rent a place outside or...
"If I still can't find a job, I'll be sleeping under a bridge in the park!"
Looking at the meager two hundred and some yuan left on his phone, Li Mubai instantly felt depressed and disheartened.
His mom and dad were both farmers, and his four years of college had cost the family quite a bit of money. Every single yuan was earned through his parents' hard work, growing crops with their own hands.
Besides, as the only college student in the village, his parents had been exceptionally proud when he was accepted into university.
Throughout these past four years, he had carried his parents' wonderful hopes on his shoulders. Telling his mom and dad right now that he couldn't find a job and needed financial bailouts was simply impossible.
Anyway, Li Mubai couldn't bring himself to open his mouth.
Just as he was pondering, Li Mubai felt his stomach start to protest.
He decided he might as well go to the cafeteria for a meal.
Although the cafeteria food couldn't compare to eating out, it was at least cheap.
Besides, Li Mubai currently had a massive fortune of over a hundred yuan on his meal card. If he didn't spend this money before leaving school, it would go to waste.
The cafeteria at Huazhong University of Science and Technology was quite large.
The moment he stepped into the cafeteria, Li Mubai felt the urgent summons of food calling out to him.
"Auntie, the usual three items, extra food and rice!" Li Mubai said at a familiar serving window.
When the cafeteria worker saw Li Mubai, she began dishing out the food while asking with a smile, "Kiddo, found a job yet? Four years have passed, and you guys are finally stepping out into the real world!"
Those four years of meals hadn't been eaten in vain; the thick layer of subcutaneous tissue on Li Mubai's body was entirely the masterpiece of the auntie standing before him.
"Not yet. I've graduated right into unemployment!" Li Mubai gave a bitter laugh.
The auntie piled the food high onto Li Mubai's tray, seemingly making a special effort not to shake off too much of it this time, and smiled as she said, "Don't worry, you're all college students, cultured people. You'll definitely find a job; society needs you."
Holding his tray, Li Mubai found a nearby empty seat and sat down.
At that moment, a girl dressed in a JK outfit walked past, holding her phone up for a live stream.
"Babies, today I'm taking you all for a tour of our Huazhong University of Science and Technology cafeteria."
"Our cafeteria is going to be renovated again this summer vacation. I heard it's going to be remodeled into a shopping mall layout."
"This year's freshmen, if you have time, you can come to school early and hang out with me."
The girl was quite pretty. After she walked past Li Mubai, his gaze swept briefly over her slender legs.
"I hear live streaming is pretty popular right now. Since I haven't found a job anyway, should I give live streaming a try?"
Li Mubai quickly made up his mind. Glancing at his phone, which had only three percent battery left, he began to wolf down his food rapidly.
Back in the dormitory, Li Mubai plugged his phone in to charge while searching up the requirements for starting a live stream.
As for this world, whether in terms of culture or global structure, it wasn't much different from the world he had lived in before transmigrating.
If there was one single difference, it was that this world cared much more about physical appearance.
Take the guy living next door, for instance: he was very handsome and not the son of a rich family, yet he still managed to change girlfriends every three days.
His four-year college life had been exceptionally sweet and comfortable.
While Li Mubai had been struggling miserably to find job openings over the past few days, that guy had long since been taken home by a wealthy, attractive girl, and rumor had it the girl was even preparing to marry him.
She had even pulled out an entire building to use as a dowry!
And even with all that, the guy was still hesitating!
"Looks change destiny, appearance changes life!"
Li Mubai sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror.
Actually, Li Mubai's facial features weren't bad, but they didn't have the slightest thing to do with being handsome.
Thrown into a crowd on the street, absolutely no one would recognize him.
With such looks, Li Mubai felt somewhat apprehensive about starting a live stream.
Who knew, maybe his startup venture would abort halfway before it even truly began!
After sorting out his thoughts, Li Mubai picked up his phone and recorded a video.
"With my kind of looks, how can I become handsome? How can I get super rich? I'm about to graduate and feel like my life is totally hopeless. Waiting online, it's pretty urgent!"
After finishing the recording, Li Mubai uploaded the video through the currently most popular app, Douyin.
Li Mubai had registered his Douyin account three years ago and hadn't posted a single piece of content until now, yet his favorites folder contained thousands of pretty digital girlfriends.
Li Mubai didn't hold out much hope for anyone replying, but just a few minutes later, his phone suddenly vibrated.
He quickly opened it, and a message caught his eye.
"There's no saving this, I suggest you reroll."
"Damn you..."
Before a string of curses could leave his lips, a crisp electronic chime rang out in Li Mubai's mind.
[Listen to advice, get halfway there, taking advice makes you stronger!]
[Advice-Taking System activating... 100%]
[Congratulations to the host for successfully activating the Take Advice and Grow Stronger System!]