“First of all, what I need is a grand entrance.”
“Not getting thrown into prison right at the start.”
The black-haired youth said as much.
He twisted his neck uncomfortably.
The pitch-black metal collar was buckled too tightly, making it hard for him to breathe.
Before him stretched a dark, damp passageway, with faint, blackened bloodstains.
It looked like it led underground.
Trailing behind him were two strangely shaped humanoid creatures, their clothes torn to shreds, irregular red crystals jutting nakedly from their bodies.
They looked more like monsters than humans—but they spoke human language.
Seemingly certain the youth wouldn’t resist, the two “monsters” were chatting idly.
“This batch of meat looks good. The boss says there’ll be a lively opening banquet in a couple of days.”
“I liked that short-haired woman from yesterday’s haul. She looked delicious.”
“That’s the boss’s, but you can try for her. I don’t mind more meat at the banquet.”
“Pah, just make sure you don’t sleep too deeply tonight, or if you’re missing an arm or a leg, don’t blame me…”
The more the youth listened, the colder he felt inside.
Too scared to draw the pair’s attention with any unnecessary movement, he could only wail frantically in his heart.
Wonderful. He hadn’t landed in prison; he’d landed in the cooking pot of cannibals!
Damn it, where’s the System?
Where’s the System!!
Why did it vanish the moment he crossed over after binding to it?!
Shoved into an old-fashioned dungeon cell, the youth walked dazedly to a corner, squatted down, and started drawing circles, silently cursing the mysteriously vanished System.
It was a simple story.
The youth’s name was Chu Xiuyan, an ordinary soon-to-be college freshman from a peaceful era.
He’d successfully passed his college entrance exams and received his university admission letter.
On the very first day of school, he was hit by a car.
He didn’t die.
Instead, a glowing orb claiming to be a “Comic System” bound itself to him, declaring, “As long as you create an amazing story in another world and publish it as a comic in your original world, attracting a huge following, your life will be saved.”
Then it tossed him into this post-apocalyptic world.
World background?
Unknown.
Cheat? None.
System? Gone.
Current situation?
In a couple of days, he’ll become a pot of Meat Soup.
Heaven damn it.
Chu Xiuyan smacked his head against the wall, making a rhythmic thunk-thunk-thunk.
It even had a kind of beat to it.
Occasionally, a few “grumble grumble” sounds slipped in.
Chu Xiuyan felt even more miserable.
If he’d known he’d get hit by a car as soon as he walked out, he would’ve bought two buns from the breakfast shop under the hotel. If he had to die, he wanted to be a full ghost.
At that moment, a rough hand reached over beside him, holding out a small pack of compressed biscuits. The brand was unfamiliar, looking quite obscure.
“Eat. Make do for now.”
A scruffy, bearded Mysterious Uncle squatted beside him.
His messy hair nearly covered his eyes, leaving only heavy dark circles vaguely visible.
He had a large, imposing build, giving off an intense sense of pressure.
Chu Xiuyan was deeply moved.
Anyone with such a frightening aura had to be a super-mysterious big shot!
“Sob, Uncle, you really are a good person.”
The stranger’s mouth twitched at being called a good person, but he said nothing, just sat beside the newly arrived youth and sized him up.
Looked about eighteen or nineteen, striking features, delicate skin, clothes of good quality—likely a direct relative or plaything of some Great Base ruler.
But even for the latter, it didn’t make sense for him to be reduced to being food for Mutants.
Moreover…
When the man met the youth’s grateful gaze, he felt helpless again.
This brat’s eyes had a kind of innocence that didn’t belong in this era.
After Chu Xiuyan put something in his stomach, he felt steadier and began considering ways to save himself.
Thinking calmly, he realized that relying on himself alone—knowing nothing, having no skills, and unable to adapt to this world—escaping was just a daydream.
So the first step was to win over this seemingly very mysterious local—the kind-hearted cellmate Uncle!
So, little by little, he scooted closer to the Mysterious Uncle and whispered, “Uncle, in a couple of days, we might both die, you know.”
Uncle: “Mm, I know.”
“Then shouldn’t we try to find a way to escape?”
Uncle: “Ah.”
Chu Xiuyan pondered plans.
Digging a tunnel, like in movies and comics, was impossible in the time they had.
Next would be faking illness to create an opening, but since they were being kept as food, the captors probably wouldn’t care if they were sick.
Last was divine intervention… so could the System send him a cheat before he died?
Chu Xiuyan muttered to himself, running through every escape plan except those involving the System. To the man, though, it all sounded like naïve daydreams.
He hadn’t wanted to get involved—the kid’s origins were unknown and could compromise his own plans—but Chu Xiuyan kept chattering, fast and erratic, often jumping topics, so much that the man got a headache.
So he muttered, “If… just follow me.”
Chu Xiuyan didn’t catch the words in the middle, but the last few were crystal clear.
That meant the Uncle was going to look out for him!
Yes!
Chu Xiuyan clenched his fists in excitement.
“Uncle, don’t worry. From now on, I’ll go through fire and water for you—no questions asked!”
Uncle: “…That’s not necessary. Just stay quiet.”
So Chu Xiuyan shut his mouth tight, sitting obediently beside the man.
His lips went still, but his mind buzzed with wild thoughts.
As he thought and thought, his eyelids started drooping.
The man saw all this and only felt more helpless.
How did this kid have no wariness at all?
Though he was tempted to slap him awake, after a moment’s hesitation, he lowered his hand.
Listening to the soft snores gradually sounding nearby, the man drummed his knuckles on the ground in a regular rhythm.
Time ticked by. Soon it was dusk.
Footsteps and conversation echoed from the far end of the dungeon passage, drawing closer.
“…This is such a waste. There are only about ten people left in the cell. Anyone who could awaken already has. No matter how much pollution, it’s impossible for any of them to become Evolved Kind like us.”
“The boss says to try anyway. Lately, the nearby Gathering Places have been raiding more and more. We’ve lost a lot of people. If we can’t fill the gap, we’ll have to give up here. But we all know, this place has…”
The rest was lost.
Three tall men walked in from the corridor, different from the ones who’d imprisoned Chu Xiuyan earlier.
Though their skin, too, was covered in red crystals, they looked less like monsters with hideous tentacles and more like humans clad in blood-red armor.
Their features were extremely human, but deathly pale, with unsettling blood-red eyes.
Chu Xiuyan was nudged awake by Uncle.
Wiping away his drool, he called for the System in his heart, but got no reply.
He was even getting used to it.
“What happened?” he whispered.
The Mysterious Uncle said gravely, “Don’t say anything in a moment. Just do as I do.”
Chu Xiuyan nodded, feeling a bit nervous now too.
The footsteps drew closer, stopping before their cell.
A gray-haired Mutant tossed a palm-sized blood-red crystal inside. Looking over the clean-faced Chu Xiuyan and the filthy, burly, bearded man, he considered for a moment, then fixed his gaze on the man and said emotionlessly, “Pick it up.”
Uncle avoided meeting his eyes, lowered his head, stood, and picked up the Blood Crystal by the door, holding it in his palm for a full ten seconds—no reaction at all.
A flicker of disappointment flashed in the gray-haired Mutant’s eyes.
Casually, he said, “Hand the Blood Crystal to the human behind you.”
Uncle turned around.
Chu Xiuyan had already tiptoed behind him, mouthing silently: ‘What’s this?’
Uncle shook his head, signaling with his eyes for Chu Xiuyan to take the Blood Crystal.
Seeing Chu Xiuyan hesitate, Uncle mouthed some reassurance.
‘It’s fine.’
It was just a low-concentration Blood Crystal.
In this world, humans were constantly exposed to Blood Crystal Energy.
Only infants unable to adapt, or those who failed to awaken or who overloaded their abilities, would be polluted by low-concentration Blood Crystals and turn into monsters.
Even for an ordinary person, holding a low-concentration Blood Crystal would feel no more than like holding a slightly warm stone.
As for these Mutants using low-concentration Blood Crystals to “test” the prisoners… they were probably just trying their luck.
The man wasn’t nervous at all—he just wanted to get this over with.
Encouraged by Uncle, Chu Xiuyan relaxed and grabbed the blood-red stone from his palm.
But the instant his skin touched it, his smile faded.
A scorching pain spread from his palm up his entire arm.
In the blink of an eye, his face felt feverish.
Panicking, he looked up at Uncle, only to find the man had already stepped a pace away.
The Mutants outside the cell, on the other hand, were gripping the bars in excitement.
One even opened the cell door, beaming, “Little… brother, come out!”
Chu Xiuyan didn’t want to go out.
He felt like something was wrong.
Uncle avoided his gaze.
Damn it, a mere stone, and it had shaken the bond between them.
So what if—it just melted into his skin!
Nothing weird had happened yet.
Wasn’t it normal for a mysterious stone to fuse with his body when his cheat was about to awaken?
Very normal!
The long-overdue System: [No, that thing just shot your pollution level up to 93%. By the way, are you still alive?]
Chu Xiuyan forced a smile: “I think… I might still be salvageable.”