S.U.M.U Chapter 1 New Life

If you love someone, send him to New York because it is a paradise.

If you hate someone, send him to New York because it is hell.

Sitting in a chair and taking a picture of his chaotic head, He Yongzhi couldn’t help but think of the two sentences he saw on the Internet.

He just returned from the hospital to a small restaurant in Chinatown, New York. He is now trying to sort out the ‘ridiculous thing’ that happened to him not long ago.

Before this, he never thought that he would one day become a part of this bustling city…

One reason is the fact that he’s just an employee of a small-time company developing a mobile game in Volkswagen City. And the fact that he is still single despite already being in his thirties with barely enough savings in his bank account. He even manages to buy his own place, despite stressing out every day to the point that it causes hair loss, and of course, no woman would be attracted to him since most women prioritize looks above anything else.

And now all of a sudden he’s in someone else’s body, a half English – Chinese man. Just a glance at the mirror, and he immediately realized this body has very good genetics. The bright and white face, the cold and sharp eyes, the slightly arched and thick eyebrows, the long and intense eyelashes. The height of 185 cm which is considered to be excellent in any country. The straight and robust body matched with this handsome face. He’s delighted if nothing else.

However, He Yongzhi, who doesn’t even know how he ended up in this body, was not as excited as he thought. He’s still trying to remember the last scene before his crossing…

He vaguely remembers that it was the seventh day of the project developing a counterfeit game of the booming animation series “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure,” because they’re just a small-time company, so it’s really important to finish it as fast as possible.

Of course, without any licensed copyright and authorization, they will use another name for the game, something not so far-off he can’t really remember whether it is called YoYo’s wonderful adventure, or JoJo mainland?

This is not the first time his company developed a knockoff as they can just change the company’s name and do this again, and again, as long as it is not big, the original author would not notice this kind of piracy.

When the project is decided, and all that’s left is the development process, his boss held a party in his place. The purpose is to encourage his employees to finish this game as fast as possible despite their doubt. This kind of work is obviously illegal, and he can’t force the employees to finish this kind of job, that’s why he held a party.

These employees have no one to blame but themselves. They’re mostly those who weren’t accepted at better companies and ended up here because of their lack of skills, knowledge, and perhaps luck. After all, society nowadays demands hard work and talent. There’s nothing these failures can do but enjoy the food and drinks.

He Yongzhi’s last memory is when he went to bed that night.

When he woke up, he found himself in the hospital ward of New York. In someone else’s body to boot. He found out he was taken to the hospital by ambulance after asking a doctor. Both this body’s father and mother are from China, but both of them were not as lucky as him as they were treated too late and ended up dead. This small restaurant in Chinatown is probably the last asset they have left for their children.

“I’m supposed to be dead… Ironically I have watched a lot of anime where the protagonists enter someone else’s body when he’s about to die.” He never expected he would experience the same fate. He Yongzhi probably had a gist about the cause of his death, but he was not fazed by this.

After all, his own life was far from the word interesting or fulfilling. He can’t even call it living, all he did is wake up, go to work, and sleep repetitively every day. There are no relatives, no wives, and children. At most, there were only a few friends to eat and drink together with, and they’re not even that close to begin with.

When he touched his face, all of a sudden, all memories from this body surge into his brain. The first thing he knew is the fact that he was poisoned along with his parents. Nobody knew this fact, and even if he called the police, they wouldn’t believe him since the police here are pretty much all corrupt.

And if it weren’t for him, these three would have held their hands together and die.

In fact, even the doctor thought he’s already beyond saving as well. Fortunately, there’s a story of miracles occurred in the hospital, for example, a 70-year old woman who regained consciousness when she’s about to be buried. So the doctor had no choice but to accept this fact.

“Forget it, it’s useless to think about it right now, I’ll just do whatever I can do.”

He knew more bad news is waiting for him, and there’s no point in getting stressed thinking about all this. And it’s not like he doesn’t have anything. His parents owned a small restaurant with 6 or 7 tables, this is probably enough to sustain his basic needs in this bustling city. In case the business is not going well. He could sell the restaurant and then return to China as well.

Although technically it’s not his, since he’s stuck in this body now, he might as well use everything he can use.

In the middle of his deep thought, his phone rang.

He Yongzhi reached in his pocket to take out his phone.

“Hey, Dio, I heard you’ll get discharged today. Have you fully recovered? I’m sorry about Uncle Brando and Aunt He, don’t be such gloom. If you need money, I have a little of my savings here. Also, I know a good cemetery for both of them, the price is relatively low, of course, I didn’t mean to remind you about them or anything, I’m just…”

From the memories he got, He Yongzhi knows that he can’t hang up the phone now. The caller is Will Jos, his current body’s friend, a black guy who doesn’t know who his father is, he has been in a gang ever since he was a kid. But he is warm and caring, and he’s already grateful for being able to eat warm food at Dio’s place.