The decay of rust mixed with the stench of dust, savagely stinging his nostrils, and a bout of heart-wrenching coughing forced Lin Yue to struggle awake from his stupor.
He opened his eyes, and it took a while for his blurry vision to focus.
What greeted his eyes was not the sterile white ceiling of a hospital, nor was it his rented room with its peeling, yellowed wallpaper.
It was the sky.
A vast, gray sky.
"Where... where am I?"
The voice he squeezed out of his throat was hoarse and dry, carrying a note of unfamiliarity.
He tried to sit up, but the intense pain covering his entire body instantly felt like countless red-hot steel needles savagely stabbing every nerve.
The last memory he had was the sharp, piercing horn of a truck, the massive vehicle losing control and barreling toward a little girl standing dazedly on the sidewalk, and the intense feeling of weightlessness as his body was thrown back when he lunged forward.
"So, I died?"
Lin Yue looked around.
Twisted rebar pierced concrete walls, and a half-collapsed pedestrian overpass lay across the center of the street like the skeleton of a giant beast.
Abandoned cars piled upon cars, forming cold, metal graveyards.
There were absolutely no signs of human activity here.
As an office worker, Lin Yue's only hobby was reading web novels.
Rebirth, transmigration, Systems, apocalypse—he was intimately familiar with all the tropes.
The sight before him allowed him to accept the most bizarre yet most logical explanation in less than three seconds.
He had transmigrated.
However, it seemed he had fallen from a peaceful world where he only worried about KPIs and mortgages, into a ruin that looked like it had just suffered a great catastrophe.
"Seriously, saving someone managed to count toward my transmigration performance quota?"
Lin Yue cursed self-deprecatingly, trying to use humor to suppress the fear in his heart.
"Hooowl—"
A low growl came from nearby, interrupting his scattered thoughts.
The hairs on Lin Yue's body immediately stood on end.
He stiffly turned his head, only to see a monster the size of an adult hyena slowly stepping out from behind a pile of construction debris.
The thing vaguely had the outline of a canine, but its muscles were twisted into hard knots, its skin was covered in patchy sores, its mouth was split all the way to its ears, and yellow-green drool dripped down its interlocking fangs, creating wet spots on the dusty ground.
Its eyes, those murky and savage pupils, were fixed firmly on Lin Yue.
It was the look of a hunter sizing up its prey.
"Damn it!"
The instinct for survival instantly overwhelmed the searing pain in his body.
"I just got here and I run into this? Are you messing with me?!"
Lin Yue scrambled, using all four limbs, and tumbled toward the nearest car wreckage beside him.
The Mutated Dog pushed off fiercely with its hind legs, transforming into a black shadow that charged viciously toward him.
In the nick of time, Lin Yue dove headfirst under the car.
"Bang!"
A heavy thud exploded above him, causing the entire car body to shake violently.
The Mutated Dog's claws scraped against the car door, creating a series of grating metal sounds.
Lin Yue curled up under the narrow space beneath the car, his heart pounding as if it would leap out of his throat.
He could clearly smell the strong, foul stench emanating from the monster, and through the gap in the car door, he could feel its heavy breathing laced with murderous intent.
He was trapped.
In this horrible place, unarmed, wounded all over, and trapped under a car by a monster, what suspense could there be about the outcome?
"Damn it, no way? I'm not going to die just like this, am I?"
Lin Yue cursed inwardly.
His previous life was as plain as a cup of water; he finally managed to do a good deed, and then he transmigrated.
Fine, transmigration is fine!
At least give him a better identity or a better starting point, considering he saved someone in his last life?
But what was this situation now?
To face this kind of situation right after transmigrating—he was so angry he was swearing violently.
Suddenly, his fingertips brushed against something cold and rough.
He subconsciously flinched, then used the faint light leaking through the gap beneath the car to see what it was.
It was a turtle.
It was a palm-sized Little Grass Turtle, its shell covered in cracks, and one of its hind legs was pinned firmly under the car wheel, already bloody and mangled, its breath so weak it was almost imperceptible.
It was also close to death.
Lin Yue was stunned.
"Little fellow, looks like you're pretty unlucky too!"
If he wasn't mistaken, the vast majority of people, animals, and plants in this world had mutated.
Of course, these mutations could be good or bad.
The remaining tiny minority belonged to the unlucky ones who failed to mutate.
Now, a small turtle that didn't appear mutated showed up before him in this situation, and a ridiculous feeling of shared misfortune welled up in his heart.
Perhaps it was the kindness that surfaces when a person is about to die.
Or perhaps he just didn't want to go on the road alone.
Lin Yue, driven by a strange impulse, reached into his pocket.
"Looks like I didn't soul transmigrate, I body transmigrated!"
It was the last cookie he had bought before transmigrating, rushing to catch the subway, and hadn't had time to eat.
During his recent tumble, the cookie had crumbled into crumbs, but that didn't stop it from being able to fill a stomach.
Lin Yue carefully pinched up the largest clump of crumbs, dipped his finger into a puddle of potentially unclean rainwater on the ground nearby, and, trembling, brought this bit of "delicacy" to the Little Grass Turtle's mouth.
"Eat, little fellow."
He said in a whisper,
"At least we'll have company on the Road to the Yellow Springs."
The Little Grass Turtle seemed to smell the food, struggling to open its tightly shut eyes into a slit, extending its shriveled head, and using its last bit of strength to lightly lick the cookie crumbs on Lin Yue's fingertip.
The moment it licked the crumbs.
A cold, emotionless mechanical voice exploded in his mind without warning.
[Detecting Host's first act of benevolent feeding...]
[Conditions met...]
[Pet Evolution System is activating... 10%... 50%... 100%...]
[Activation successful!]
[Binding Initial Pet: Mutated Grass Turtle (Dying State)]
Lin Yue's mind went blank.
Immediately afterward, a virtual panel, glowing with a faint blue light and visible only to him, floated before his eyes.
The panel was almost excessively simple.
[Host: Lin Yue]
[Bound Pet: Mutated Grass Turtle]
[Status: Dying (Crushing fracture of the hind leg, multiple internal organ ruptures, life force draining)]
[Evolution Requirement: 10 energy points]
[Current Energy: 0 / 10]
[Note: First evolution can repair all of the pet's injuries and unlock Growth Talent.]
A System?
It really was a System!
Web novels really didn't lie to me!
A wave of ecstasy surged through him.
Lin Yue nearly burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! I knew it! Heaven never seals off all the exits!"
He desperately suppressed his voice, but his body was trembling uncontrollably due to his excitement.
As long as he had a System, there was still hope to turn things around!
However, before he could celebrate for more than a few seconds.
"Boom—!!"
A crash louder and more violent than any before rang out, and the entire car body was shoved forward more than ten centimeters.
The Mutated Dog outside the car had run out of patience, and it began frantically using its body to ram against the fragile tin coffin.
The car body groaned under the strain, sounding as if it could be flipped over at any moment.
Lin Yue's face instantly turned pale.
He stared intently at the line of bright red text on the panel: [Evolution Requirement: 10 energy points].
"Oh crap! System Bro, where am I supposed to get 10 energy points right now? And most importantly, System Bro, you should at least tell me how to obtain energy points!"
Other Systems usually come with a Novice Gift Pack or something, but this System of mine gives nothing! The most crucial thing is, where am I supposed to get these 10 units of energy right now?
"Clang!"
There was another ferocious impact, and the car window glass shattered instantly, sending countless shards flying everywhere. One piece sliced across Lin Yue's cheek, leaving a burning trail of blood.
He didn't even dare to reach up and wipe it.
"It's over, it's over! I'm going to die, I'm going to die! Stupid System, completely unreliable."
The entire wreck was shaking violently, as if it would be completely flipped over in the next second.
By then, he truly would have no way to reach heaven and no door to enter the earth.
Sitting here and waiting for death was a dead end.
"Calm down... I have to calm down!"
Lin Yue bit down hard on his lower lip, the pain forcing his chaotic mind to resume thinking.
He focused all his attention on the faint blue virtual panel before him.
Finally, in the bottom right corner of the panel, he discovered an almost negligible question mark icon.
Lin Yue concentrated his thoughts on the question mark.
A new line of information appeared before his eyes.
[energy points Acquisition Instructions:]
[1. All life forms contain energy. The Host can directly absorb the dissipated energy of deceased life forms through the System.]
[2. Mutated life forms have an extremely high probability of condensing 'energy crystals.' Absorbing energy crystals is the most efficient method of acquisition.]
[3. energy crystal levels are linked to Mutated life form levels: 1 level 1 energy crystal = 10 energy points; 1 level 2 energy crystal = 20 energy points; 1 level 3 energy crystal = 40 energy points... Energy increases exponentially with level.]
[4. Friendly Reminder: Humans are also life forms.]
Lin Yue's breath suddenly caught.
His gaze passed through the gap beneath the car, looking once more at the frenzied Mutated Dog outside.
Those savage eyes, filled with murderous desire, now looked completely different to him.