The twilight sky above the metropolis cast a deep reddish hue, supposedly a perfect canvas for a moment I had woven countless times in my mind.
A scene I had polished until it gleamed, complete with an imaginary orchestra playing grandly and dramatic golden light refractions. That was the perfect scenario I built, a dream I nurtured for years, as if it could ward off the bitter reality that was always ready to slap me.
I, Chen Ming, a high school student whose name was no more special than a random attendance number, now stood before Mei Lin.
That girl. The girl who had been the center of gravity of my world since we were both snot-nosed kids in elementary school. She filled every crevice of my dreams until this grey and white uniform felt tight on my chest.
Every curve of her smile could churn my stomach, sending my heart soaring beyond the tallest building.
Her gaze? It was like an ancient spell that bound my entire soul, making me unable to think clearly.
My heart pounded wildly, beating against my ribs as if wanting to break out, its rhythm like war drums on a battlefield.
My palms were wet with cold sweat, dampening the edges of my uniform that I clutched tightly, sticky like after holding snail slime.
In my mouth, a piece of strawberry-flavored chewing gum—the last of my pocket money—I chewed slowly, hoping to quell the nausea churning in my stomach. I regulated my breathing, trying to calm myself. This was it.
The moment.
Under the old banyan tree in the corner of the city park, where we often shared stories after school, a place that was supposed to be a silent witness to the beginning of our love story, I stood tall. This dialogue I had practiced hundreds of times in front of the mirror, observing every detail of facial expression, imagining every blink of Mei Lin's eyes, every breath she took. A perfect fantasy that I hoped would become reality.
"Mei Lin... I..." My voice trembled at first, like a guitar string plucked hesitantly. "I like you! I like you very much! I want us to be more than just friends! I want us to... be together!" From somewhere, a burning determination filled every syllable, as if all my courage gathered in one short, hurried breath.
I had even imagined the scene where she would blush shyly, her cheeks turning red like a ripe peach ready to be picked. Then, she would hug me tightly, and we would walk towards a future full of laughter, perhaps even getting married and having cute twins. A hope that felt so real, so certain, that the deepest part of me refused to acknowledge any other possibility.
However, reality, as usual, had its own cruel way.
Mei Lin looked at me. That gaze... a look of pity. A gaze that was very familiar—exactly like the one she gave to a hungry stray cat on the street, or to an abandoned puppy. A faint, almost imperceptible smile, curved on her lips, but that smile pierced my heart like an ice knife suddenly drawn.
"I'm sorry, Chen Ming," she said, her voice soft but firm, as if breaking a fragile dry twig before me.
And then, the bomb was dropped.
"I have a boyfriend now."
Thump! My heart, which had been racing madly, now felt like it stopped, frozen in my chest. The world seemed to collapse, the romantic twilight sky suddenly lost its color, fading into empty grey.
The air around me instantly thinned, suffocating my lungs, as if all oxygen had been forcibly sucked from the atmosphere. Those words hit me like a giant hammer, shattering every shard of my hope into dust, leaving a painful emptiness.
Boyfriend? Since when? Why didn't I know? Why wasn't there an alarm screaming in my head, warning me about this catastrophe? My brain suddenly went blank, as white as cotton, unable to process such simple information.
All the beautiful scenarios I had built for years collapsed in an instant, replaced by a heartbreaking emptiness, as if a gaping black hole in my chest was sucking away all happiness, all dreams, all hope.
The strawberry chewing gum that had been my solace now felt like a lump of tire rubber stuck to my tongue.
My face felt like it was burning, not from the sunset, but from a wave of shame that crashed over me. Every fiber of my body felt like it wanted to disappear, vanish from the face of the earth. In that suffocating despair, my brain stopped working.
I swallowed. Not intentionally, but a desperate reflex, as if wanting to swallow all this pain and shame at once.
Damn it. The chewing gum got stuck.
The air seemed unwilling to enter my burning lungs, every effort only adding to the piercing pain. I coughed violently, gasping for breath, clawing at my own throat, desperately searching for air, but in vain.
My vision began to blur, black dots danced before my eyes, like fireflies in the darkness.
Mei Lin's rejecting face blurred, then darkened, swallowed by the creeping darkness.
My body trembled violently, my knees weak, unable to support my weight. I tried to reach for my throat, clawing at my own neck, desperately searching for air, but my body was already swaying, falling helplessly.
A shock attack, perhaps. Or perhaps just fate's way of laughing at me one last time, giving the most humiliating end to my ordinary life. I fell to the ground, lying helpless under the banyan tree that had once witnessed my hopes, now witnessing my ridiculous death.
Darkness.
Ngiung! Ngiung!
The piercing sound of an ambulance siren broke the silence of the night, pulling me back from the darkness. My mother's sorrowful cries sounded heartbreaking, tearing at my soul. And my father's voice, which sounded like he was trying to be strong but had a strange undertone... like holding back laughter.
Yes, they were sad, of course. Their only son had died. But I was sure, deep down, there was a hint of amusement, perhaps even a desire to burst out laughing. How could they not? Their beloved son died in the most ridiculous, most humiliating way: choking on chewing gum from the shock of being rejected in love. An epitaph that would surely become a family joke for generations, a story that would be retold with laughter and tears.
A floating sensation, like cotton blown by a gentle wind, filled the emptiness. I floated aimlessly, weightless, as if all ties to the old world had been severed. Then, a violent jolt, like falling from an infinite height, ended that strange journey.
"Ha... where am I?!"
That voice, my own voice, sounded unfamiliar to my ears. Younger. More squeaky. I tried to open my eyes, but my vision was still blurry, as if I had just woken up from a very long and strange sleep.
Slowly, shadows began to form, and I could see my own fingers. They were small, smooth, and showed no calluses from gaming or writing, completely different from my teenage hands before.
"Why do I look 15? I'm 18..." I mumbled, trying to get up, but my head throbbed violently, as if someone had hit it with a sledgehammer. Every small movement triggered a piercing pain, making me wince.
"Where is this? Why does my head hurt so much? And how did I get here? So many clouds and mist..." My eyes widened, trying to comprehend this strange environment.
I managed to sit up, swaying, my body feeling weak and unfamiliar. My still slightly blurry eyes caught the scenery around me, making me gasp, momentarily forgetting the pain in my head.
I was on a towering mountain peak, its summit piercing through thick layers of clouds that slowly rolled like a sea of cotton. White mist moved slowly, revealing a bottomless abyss gaping on one side, a terrifying darkness, and an endless dense forest on the other, stretching as far as the eye could see. The air here felt pure, bone-chillingly cold, yet strangely also filled with an unfamiliar energy, like invisible static electricity, making my hair stand on end.
A bone-piercing cold gust of wind made me shiver, sending tremors throughout my body. I turned, and my gaze fell upon myself.
My body... naked. Only a few dry leaves somehow covered my private parts, barely providing protection from the cold mountain air.
I touched my face. My skin felt smooth, my jawline slimmer, and as I tried to feel its shape, I sensed softer, more feminine features. I didn't even need a mirror to know: my face now... was beautiful. Very beautiful, even for a boy. A strange feeling washed over me, a mix of confusion, amusement, and a little horror. This isn't me!
"What the hell is this?! Why am I naked?! And why... why does my face look like this?!" I fumbled at my cheeks, feeling the smooth skin without a single pimple or scar.
This isn't my old face! My old face... well, it was decent, standard average guy. But this? This is like the face of a main character from a shoujo romance novel! A face that could make girls scream hysterically, and it's stuck on me!
I started to panic, trying to find something to cover my body, but there were only sharp rocks and some barren bushes. The cold air pierced my skin, making my hair stand on end and my teeth chatter uncontrollably.
I felt so vulnerable, stark naked on a mountain peak in the middle of nowhere, like a newborn baby in a snowstorm.
Grrrrummm!
A faint rumbling sound, like the hiss of wind carrying giant whispers, echoed from the depths of the mist below, sending shivers down my spine. This place felt... alive, and dangerous, as if every corner was lurking for prey.
Suddenly, amidst the escalating panic and confusion, a strange voice echoed in my mind. Not a voice I heard with my ears, but directly in my thoughts, emotionless, like a newly activated machine.
[Ding!]
[Strange System activated.]
A transparent panel, similar to a game interface, appeared before me, floating in the air. The panel shimmered with a faint golden light, radiating a mysterious aura.
[Welcome, User. You have successfully reincarnated to Tian Xuan Continent through a... strange path. As compensation for your... unique death, this System has been activated.]
I blinked several times, trying to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, not having a nightmare. "System? Is this a joke? I must still be unconscious and dreaming!" I mumbled, my eyes wide, my expression surely looking very foolish and dazed.
[Detection: User Confusion Level reached 99%. Gathering Strangeness Points...]
[+10 Strangeness Points.]
"Strangeness Points? What are those?!" I pointed at the transparent panel with trembling fingers, still disbelieving what I saw.
"Is this some kind of game? I never downloaded this!"
[Strangeness Points are this System's currency, obtained from situations that are very strange, embarrassing, or beyond logic that you experience. The stranger, the more points collected.]
I fell silent, my brain processing the information slowly. So, my ridiculous death... generated points? And my panic from being naked and having a beautiful face too? A strange turmoil arose in my chest, a mix of wanting to roar in frustration and burst out laughing in unbearable despair. This was the cruelest cosmic joke!
[Initial Mission Detected: Survive on Golden Dragon Peak for 1 day. Reward: System Starter Pack.]
"Survive here?! I don't even have clothes!" I screamed, my voice echoing among the thick mist. "This is the most dangerous place, right?! There's a golden dragon! A real dragon! I could die again in seconds!"
[Warning: Golden Dragon is a powerful entity. It is advised not to provoke. Finding clothes is the top priority to avoid hypothermia and... shame.]
The System sounded so flat, so logical, even as I was half-dead with panic, as if it were a patient but emotionless teacher.
I sighed, trying to calm myself. Naked on a dragon mountain peak, with a beautiful face, and a strange system that collects points from my every oddity.
This must be a dream. The worst dream ever, or perhaps the craziest and most absurd.
Suddenly, a faint whisper passed through my mind, a memory that wasn't mine, as if the wind carried an ancient legend deeply embedded in this soul.
Golden Dragon Peak.
The most dangerous place in the East of Tian Xuan Continent, avoided by all beasts and even the strongest cultivators. Guarded by a legendary entity: the Golden Dragon, one of the Four Guardians that maintain the balance of the world.
I, Chen Ming, who had just died from chewing gum, was now in a dragon's lair, naked, with a beautiful face, and a strange system.
Incredible. Truly, fate has a very strange sense of humor, and it seems my strangest adventure has just begun.
I can only hope this doesn't end with choking on chewing gum again.