"Ahhh… whoa! That felt amazing! Why do I feel so refreshed this time?"
Chen Si rubbed his eyes, feeling incomparably energized. His body felt full of vitality, his spirit sharp and clear. This was extremely abnormal for him. Normally, whenever he woke up, he would still feel exhausted and immediately go back to sleep.
"Holy crap!"
He couldn't help swearing.
Chen Si looked around. What the hell was going on? He was inside a rather old-fashioned wooden room. After scanning the space, he saw only a small cabinet and a wooden rack beside it, with a pink little jacket hanging from it.
What was happening?
His mind began racing.
Was he locked up by a teacher? Did he oversleep and get thrown into some punishment room? But this place was far too shabby to be part of a school.
Kidnapped?
Impossible. He was a high school student—how could someone abduct him from school without anyone noticing? And human traffickers nowadays wouldn't dare target a healthy teenage boy. They usually went after physically weaker young girls.
As he instinctively fell into deep thought, he touched his chin—and suddenly froze.
He rubbed it again.
Why was it so smooth?
Where were his pimples?
He looked down at himself and spread his hands. His skin was delicate and tender.
"Holy crap!"
He leapt out of bed.
Bang!
His feet smashed straight through the wooden floor, splinters flying everywhere.
"What kind of cheap flooring is this?" he muttered.
He stretched lazily, and his hand brushed against the wooden hanger beside him.
Snap!
The hanger broke instantly.
Only then did Chen Si react. His pupils contracted sharply. He picked up the broken hanger and gently bent it.
Crack!
It snapped with almost no effort.
"This isn't right…"
He frowned.
"Even though it's wooden, I'd still have to use real strength to break it. Just now I used barely any force and it snapped. And… I've turned into a kid."
At that moment, the wooden door creaked open.
A delicate little girl stepped inside, revealing half her body before walking in completely.
So cute…
Chen Si couldn't help thinking. Was she a teacher's daughter? A classmate's little sister?
The girl looked at the broken hanger, then at the floor.
"Are you hurt? My name is Mikasa Ackerman. This is my home."
Then she turned her head and called out:
"Father! Mother! The boy has woken up!"
Mikasa Ackerman?!
That's impossible!
Chen Si's pupils shrank and widened repeatedly. Behind his back, he pinched his fingers hard.
Crack.
"Hiss—!"
That hurt.
This isn't a dream!!
A cheerful-looking man soon entered, glancing at Chen Si and then at the broken floor. He had blond hair, strong and handsome European features.
"Young man, are you alright? Dear, could you bring the medical kit?"
"Coming!"
A beautiful woman who resembled Mikasa by about seventy percent followed in.
These must be the Ackermans.
Chen Si wondered when this "dream" would finally end.
"Hello… my name is Chen Si."
"Where are your parents?" Mr. Ackerman asked kindly. "How did you end up alone in the forest? It's very dangerous. Luckily we still have the medical kit Doctor Yeager left us."
Mrs. Ackerman carefully applied medicinal alcohol to Chen Si's slightly swollen finger.
Mr. Ackerman lifted him back onto the bed. Mrs. Ackerman thoroughly checked him for injuries.
"You're quite heavy," Mr. Ackerman laughed.
"That just means little Chen Si is healthy," Mrs. Ackerman said with a smile. Then she shot her husband a glance. "I told you the floor needed replacing! What if Doctor Yeager sees this?"
"Been too busy with blacksmith orders lately," Mr. Ackerman scratched his head sheepishly. "I'll fix it soon."
As he left, he poked his head back in.
"Chen Si, just treat this place as your home. If you can't find your family, you can think of us as your family."
Then he ran off laughing.
Warmth spread in Chen Si's chest.
They're really good people.
"I'm sorry about the floor, I—"
"It's fine," Mrs. Ackerman interrupted gently. "It was old anyway. What matters is that you weren't hurt."
Mikasa stood quietly nearby, her large eyes watching him curiously.
Chen Si nodded.
Looking at eight- or nine-year-old Mikasa's bright, innocent eyes, he sighed inwardly.
"Mikasa, you're really cute."
Her face instantly turned red like a ripe apple.
"Th-thank you…"
She lowered her head shyly, occasionally sneaking glances at him.
So pure…
Eren, can you even handle this? Maybe I should take her instead.
Chen Si's inner devil grinned wickedly.
Three Days Later
Chen Si and Mikasa had grown close. They often ran through the nearby forest together, playing hide-and-seek.
He had discovered that his stamina never seemed to run out. He felt like a perpetual motion machine. His strength was immense—he could easily carry Mikasa and run without slowing down.
He had begun to accept that this "dream" wasn't ending.
This was a world where people were eaten.
If this was truly the world of Attack on Titan, survival would be everything.
One day by the river—
Splash!
Mikasa suddenly splashed water onto his face.
"Hey, little Mikasa!" he lunged playfully toward her sides.
"Ahahaha!"
She ran, but he caught her in an instant.
"Brother Chen Si, you're so fast!"
"Of course."
He suddenly remembered Mikasa's future—her tragic life, her ending with Eren.
His heart tightened.
He held her hand.
"Being with you makes me happy too. I promise I'll always stay with you."
Mikasa's eyes shimmered. To him, the words were simple. To her, they stirred ripples deep in her heart.
At the riverbank, Chen Si stared at his reflection.
Thankfully, he had crossed over with his childhood face—still handsome.
He focused on the water.
He had never properly caught fish before. Suddenly he saw ripples and lunged forward, hugging a fish.
It slipped away.
Embarrassed, he pounced again, slamming his hand into the mud.
His hand got stuck.
"What is this, a swamp?!"
For the first time in this world, he used his full strength.
His pupils flashed faint blue.
A surge of lightning crackled from his hand.
He tore free—holding a fish, charred black.
Ding.
"Congratulations, player, for your first kill of an otherworldly creature. One-time beginner tutorial activated.
You have entered the world of Attack on Titan created by Hajime Isayama.
To enhance your experience, you have been granted 100% Ackerman bloodline. (Levi Ackerman is currently at 90%.)
You have also obtained the ability to control lightning. You may integrate lightning's destructive power and speed into your own strength and agility, or use it directly—provided you can withstand the attention of this world's inhabitants.
Your abilities are not yet at full power.
To fully activate them, you must kill one Pure Titan.
Killing 100 Pure Titans or one Intelligent Titan will upgrade your abilities to their perfected state.
Each Pure Titan slain grants incremental improvement.
Current strength: capable of solo-killing one Pure Titan.
Now begin your game life."
All of this passed in less than a second.
Capable of solo-killing a Pure Titan…
Then maybe the Ackermans can be saved.
This world just became far more interesting.
Chen Si smiled faintly.
Then let my game begin.