Gao Fei's head was splitting, and he was in great pain.
His entire body felt as if it were being crushed by a demon, conscious and experiencing pain, but unable to control his own body.
Even the simplest movement of a finger was difficult for him to achieve.
The five faces, with their eerie smiles, seemed to have manifested from illusion into reality.
Their laughter echoed in Gao Fei's ears.
The identical faces made him feel a chill.
"Who... are... you...?"
An invisible weight pressed down on Gao Fei.
He found it difficult even to speak, each word emerging one by one.
But the five eerie smiling faces did not answer.
The eyes on their smiling faces stared at him with resentment, anger, unwillingness, and many other emotions.
"Speak... who... are... you..."
Tormented by the headache, Gao Fei's consciousness remained clear.
He was certain he did not recognize these five identical faces and had never seen them before.
"Heh heh..."
"Jie jie..."
"Ha ha..."
The five faces let out strange laughter again.
Accompanying the eerie laughter, their faces began to elongate and distort, appearing truly horrifying.
"Speak... who... are... you... people..."
The five distorted faces continued to emit eerie laughter.
"You are us, and we are you!"
Five replies, with different accents, sounded in Gao Fei's ears.
He widened his eyes abruptly, looking at the five distorted faces, his heart filled with shock.
But as the pain in his head intensified, his eyes went black, and he finally lost consciousness, unable to hold on any longer.
...
"Thank heavens, Xiao Fei, you're finally awake!"
"Boss, you scared us to death!"
Jin Qiqi and Zeng Keming breathed a sigh of relief, seeing their boss wake up.
Gao Fei, slowly regaining consciousness, looked at the two worried faces with confusion.
He looked around and realized he was not at home but in a hospital ward.
'Didn't I just simulate a profession? Why am I in a hospital room? What's going on?'
Gao Fei was filled with curiosity and asked Jin Qiqi and Zeng Keming, "Sister Jin, Brother Ming, why am I in the hospital? What happened?"
Seeing his bewildered state, the two recounted the events before arriving at the hospital.
A day earlier, Jin Qiqi had received a collaboration project for a film song from a production crew.
After discussing the terms, she went to see Gao Fei to ask if he would authorize "Chizi Xin" for the crew.
But upon entering his room, she found Gao Fei, pale, collapsed on the bed.
Moreover, his seven orifices—eyes, nose, ears, and mouth—were all bleeding, a terrifying sight.
He was rushed to the hospital, and after examination by the doctor, it was determined that he was merely overworked and otherwise unharmed.
Listening to Jin Qiqi's account, Gao Fei sat on the hospital bed, lost in thought.
He recalled the events of his profession simulation yesterday.
However, his memory only went as far as the moment he decided to simulate five professions.
He had no recollection of what happened in between, not even a single trace of memory.
But Gao Fei vaguely felt that something unexpected must have happened during yesterday's simulation.
The memory gap was likely the system's doing.
He would have to ask this damned system what had happened during the simulation.
After the doctor's examination, Gao Fei was cleared for discharge.
However, as he was leaving, the doctor advised him to take care of himself, avoid overexertion, and find a girlfriend to settle down if possible.
Hearing the doctor's advice, Gao Fei's face turned red, and he quickly fled the hospital after offering his thanks.
Jin Qiqi and Zeng Keming pretended not to have heard, but they now had a different understanding of their boss.
Leaving the hospital, the three found a restaurant to eat.
While waiting for the food, Jin Qiqi discussed the authorization of the song "Chizi Xin" for the movie.
After hearing about the film's plot and the revenue-sharing ratio, Gao Fei agreed to authorize the song.
The song collaboration discussed, the dishes on the table were all served.
Looking at the spread of food, Gao Fei, who hadn't eaten for a day and a night, was eager and picked up his chopsticks, starting to eat heartily.
But after just one bite, he suddenly stopped.
Jin Qiqi looked at him curiously and asked, "Boss, why aren't you eating? Don't you like the food?"
Gao Fei was about to point out a dish, but noticing the glances from the others, he shook his head and continued to eat.
Throughout the meal, Jin Qiqi and Zeng Keming ate with relish.
In contrast, for Gao Fei, the once delicious food tasted extremely unpleasant as soon as it entered his mouth.
The change in his taste made him feel wary, suspecting it was a lingering issue from yesterday's profession simulation.
After the meal.
Gao Fei and Jin Qiqi returned to the villa, while Zeng Keming went back to his law firm.
The studio's projects were now on track, requiring only daily data recording.
The studio employees had essentially started their year-end holidays early.
Back at the villa, Jin Qiqi put on a face mask and began her midday beauty sleep.
Gao Fei lay in his room and asked the system why he had fainted yesterday during the simulation.
[Prompt: Because the host was simultaneously simulating five professions, the body could not withstand the high load of simulation, which caused the host to faint.]
"Did you erase my memory?"
[Yes!]
"Why?"
[Because the host could not withstand the simulation of five professions. The feedback from the simulator would have caused memory confusion. To prevent this, the system automatically deleted the memories related to the feedback.]
"Then is the change in my taste also related to the simulator's feedback?"
[Once the host's body recovers, the sequelae caused by the simulator's feedback will automatically disappear!]
Hearing the system's answer, Gao Fei breathed a sigh of relief.
The peculiar taste he experienced during dinner had made him very uncomfortable.
It felt as though everything tasted bad, which was already affecting his normal life.
Fortunately, it was just a sequela that would resolve on its own.
But Gao Fei also understood one thing clearly.
He could no longer simulate five professions at once in the future.
Otherwise, not only would his body be in grave danger, but the feedback from the simulator would also severely impact his real life.
As the fatigue had not yet subsided, Gao Fei fell into a deep sleep within three minutes of lying on the bed.
When he woke up, it was dark, almost seven in the evening.
Gao Fei went downstairs and saw Jin Qiqi, dressed in loungewear, watching her phone while adding seasoning to the dishes in the pot.
On the dining table were various purchased seasonings, as well as vegetables, fish, and other ingredients.
"Sister Jin, are you learning to cook?"
"I'm free anyway, so why not learn a bit! Besides, eating out every day is expensive. It's better to learn myself, saving money and effort."
Gao Fei frowned as he watched Jin Qiqi's unfamiliar cooking movements. "Sister Jin, let me do it. I'm afraid if I eat your cooking, I'll end up in the hospital again!"
"What are you talking about! At most, you'll get an upset stomach!"
Jin Qiqi rolled her eyes at him but still took off her apron, saying with curiosity, "It's rare to find a boy who can cook. Don't be surprised if your cooking isn't as good as mine."
"Don't worry, it definitely won't kill you!"
"Alright, I'll go make the rice!"
Gao Fei put on an apron and discarded the burnt black mass in the pot, unsure of what it was.
Then he began to prepare the vegetables and ingredients.
As Gao Fei picked up the cleaver and prepared to start cooking, a fleeting image of a man in golden silk chef's attire appeared in his mind.
But the man's figure vanished in an instant.
Looking at the cleaned sea fish placed on the cutting board, Gao Fei quickly separated the flesh from the bones, his movements swift and practiced.
Potatoes, tomatoes, and tofu were cut into cubes and slivers under his skilled knife work.
This effortless flow felt different from the crude feedback of the sharpshooter experience from the simulator, which had required Gao Fei to calm himself and immerse himself before he could even begin.
The feedback from the culinary master felt as if it had merged with his body.
All the skills seemed innate, as if he had been born a master, capable of handling any dish with ease.
Jin Qiqi, having finished cooking the rice, approached the stove, ready to observe her boss's culinary skills.
But with just one glance, her expression turned to shock.
In the clear water, the tofu, cut into slivers, swayed faintly in the ripples.
Cutting tofu into slivers required years of accumulated practice and knife skills.
Gao Fei was only eighteen. Could he have started practicing cooking at eleven or twelve?
Jin Qiqi was filled with questions.
At the same time, she noticed that Gao Fei, engrossed in cooking, seemed to have transformed, his expression incredibly serious.
Even when she approached the stove, he sternly shooed her away.
It was as if the kitchen was a sacred space, not to be violated by someone like her who didn't understand cooking.
Gao Fei also noticed his sternness toward Jin Qiqi and his sudden change in demeanor.
It was as if he had become a different person, unable to control his inner emotions.
At this moment, he realized how severe the sequelae of simulating five professions at extreme physical load were.
As he tried to suppress the sudden surge of emotions and added a few lighthearted jokes, the atmosphere finally eased.
Once Jin Qiqi tasted the meal cooked by the culinary master, she began to praise Gao Fei profusely, even forgetting the earlier unpleasantness.
"Oh my god, it's divine! Boss, your cooking is the best I've ever tasted in my life, hands down! I think I'll be relying on you from now on, I'll cough if I eat anything else!"
"Hahaha, thank you for the compliment. I'm glad you like it!"
Gao Fei nodded in agreement.
But in his heart, he evaluated the sequelae of the simulator's feedback from exceeding his physical limits.
The sequelae brought trouble, but also benefits.
Besides personality changes, the feedback on skills was truly integrated with the body.
Compared to previous experiences, there was much less awkwardness.
...
The next day.
To verify if the sequelae from simulating other professions would be similar to those from the culinary master profession.
Gao Fei went alone to a shopping plaza in the city.
Wearing sunglasses and a mask, Gao Fei roamed the mall, looking for a piano store.
He didn't find a piano store, but he spotted a piano in a corner on the first floor of the shopping center.
As Gao Fei approached the piano, he was stopped by a security guard who seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"Excuse me, sir. This piano is for appreciation only, not for playing!"
"What happens if I play it?"
The security guard, unlike the petty characters in novels, patiently explained, "This is a piano handcrafted by the foreign master Bork. Even with money, you can't play it. It's for appreciation only!"
He then pointed to a small piano in the corner on the left. "To satisfy the curiosity of our customers, the shopping center has prepared an ordinary piano for you. If you wish to play, you can try that one."
Gao Fei didn't waste any more words and walked directly to the ordinary piano prepared by the shopping center and sat down.
He intended to verify whether the top pianist experience provided by the simulator under normal feedback would be the same as the experience gained from exceeding his physical limits.