The cold was the first thing Lin Yan felt—a biting, damp chill that seeped through his marrow, smelling of wet straw and stagnant earth.
He tried to draw a breath, but his lungs felt like rusted bellows. His head throbbed with the rhythmic pulse of two lives colliding. One was a blur of neon lights, flickering spreadsheets, and the sudden, sharp pain in his chest as he collapsed over his keyboard at 3:00 AM. The other was a slow, agonizing crawl through a year of famine, the taste of tree bark, and the sight of a weeping mother.
"Yan'er... Yan'er, wake up. Just one sip."
The voice was raspy, cracked like parched earth.
Lin Yan forced his eyes open. The ceiling wasn't the acoustic tiles of an office; it was a chaotic weave of blackened thatch and rotting beams. A dim, grey light filtered through a window hole covered with a ragged piece of oiled paper.
An elderly face hovered over him. This was Lin Shun, his father in this world. The man looked sixty but was likely barely forty, his skin a roadmap of deep-set wrinkles and sun-scorched leather. He held a chipped porcelain bowl with trembling hands.
Inside the bowl was a greyish liquid—thin porridge so watery that the few grains of broken rice at the bottom were visible, like pebbles in a stream.
"Drink," Lin Shun whispered, his stomach letting out a treacherous, hollow growl that echoed in the silent room.
Lin Yan looked at his father's sunken cheeks and then at the bowl. In his past life, he had complained when his $15 artisan coffee wasn't hot enough. Here, this bowl of "shadow soup" was the thin line between the world of the living and the yellow springs.
"Father... you eat," Lin Yan croaked, his voice sounding like sandpaper.
"I've eaten," Lin Shun lied, his eyes casting downward. "Your brothers brought back some wild greens. Drink. You've had the fever for three days."
Lin Yan knew it was a lie. The "wild greens" in this village had been picked clean weeks ago. As he reached out to push the bowl back, his fingers brushed the dirt floor.
[叮! Ranch Development System Initialized.]
[Scanning Environment... Host Vitality: 8% (Critical)]
[Location: Northern Frontier, Great Yan Dynasty.]
[Land Status: Grade F (Barren/Alkali). Potential: Unlimited.]
A translucent blue screen flickered in his vision, sharp and steady against the gloom of the hut. Lin Yan froze. He was a modern man; he knew what this was. A lifeline.
System? he thought frantically. If you're real, help me. I don't want to die twice.
[Starter Quest: The First Spark of Life.]
[Task: Consume nutrients and declare your intent to cultivate the land.]
[Reward: 10x 'Vitality' Chicken Seeds (High-survival chicks) & 1x Pouch of Soil Revitalizer.]
Lin Yan didn't hesitate. He grabbed the bowl. The porridge was cold and tasted of wood ash, but he swallowed it with a ferocity that surprised him. As the meager calories hit his system, a tiny spark of warmth bloomed in his chest.
"I'll... I'll get better, Father," Lin Yan said, his eyes sharpening. "The land... we'll make it grow. I won't let us starve."
Lin Shun's eyes welled with tears. He wiped them with a callous-hardened hand and nodded. "Good boy. Just rest. Your brothers are out back trying to dig up the frozen roots in the north field."
The door creaked open, admitting a blast of winter wind. Two tall, gaunt figures entered.
"Father, the ground is like iron," the taller one said, dropping a rusted hoe. This was Lin Da, the eldest brother. Behind him was Lin Er, whose clothes were so patched that the original fabric was a mystery.
"Yan'er is awake!" Lin Er shouted, his weary face lighting up.
Behind them, the rest of the clan shuffled in. His mother, Zhao Mei, rushed to the bedside, clutching a tattered blanket. His sisters, Yue and Hua, stood by the door, their eyes wide and hungry but filled with a profound relief. Even the youngest, Lin Xiao, who usually spent his days trying to read by the light of the doorway, dropped his charred stick and ran to the bed.
Looking at them—ten people crammed into a space that wouldn't fit a modern walk-in closet—Lin Yan felt a weight heavier than the "overwork" that had killed him before. It was the weight of responsibility.
System, Lin Yan commanded internally. Accept quest.
[Quest Accepted. Intent Confirmed.]
[Reward Issued: Items stored in System Space. Please find a secluded 'Patch of Land' to begin your first ranching operation.]
Lin Yan looked out the window at the desolate, grey expanse of the Lin family's "property." To anyone else, it was a graveyard for dreams. To him, with the system humming in his mind, it looked like the start of an empire.
He wouldn't just plant wheat. He would build a ranch that would make the Emperor's stables look like a backyard coop.
"Brother Da," Lin Yan said, his voice gaining a sliver of strength. "Tomorrow, don't go to the quarry for labor. Help me clear the rocks in the small patch behind the house. We're going to start raising livestock."
Lin Da paused, a bitter smile on his face. "With what, Yan'er? We don't even have an egg, let alone a hen."
Lin Yan leaned back against the straw pillow, a faint, determined glint in his eyes. "Just trust me. I have a way."
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