A youth who looked barely in his teens and stood about 1.5 meters tall lay on a rock, watching the white clouds drift across the sky. His pupils were unfocused, as if he were deep in thought.
His name was White Fish, and he seemed somewhat out of place in this world.
In fact, he was indeed different from this world; he was a transmigrator. A rather tragic one at that. In his past life, he was a corporate tool who worked himself to death, and his only joy outside of work was following anime.
He died suddenly after several consecutive days of overtime. His body already had issues, and after a thorough hospital check-up, he had stared at the results for a long time before crumpling them up and throwing them in the trash, choosing to live in denial.
He continued his daily routine of endless overtime, and then, it was over.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in this world, starting from infancy. Logically, transmigration should be a good thing, especially if it were into a slice-of-life anime. White Fish thought so too, but this world...
White Fish snapped back to reality and lowered his gaze from the sky. What met his eyes was a massive wall dozens of meters high. Behind him, on the distant city gate, hung an image of a goddess.
That's right, that was Wall Maria. The world he was in was the world of Attack on Titan. Yes, the world where the enemy is across the sea and the island outside the walls is filled with man-eating Titans. It was terrifying.
Of course, as a transmigrator, he naturally had his own 'cheat'—a system. A very, very serious system...
The system's purpose was made clear to him the moment he arrived.
Study hard...
It was the rigid type; it had a consciousness, but not much of one.
Unlike the systems in those novels where drinking water grants a divine artifact or walking down the street gets you a girl, this system gave him a virtual training ground.
The terrain inside could change according to his will. Furthermore, anything the system scanned in reality could appear in this virtual training ground for use. The time ratio was currently two-to-one; the system said this could change as his mental strength increased.
However, there was a time limit: he was given ten hours every day.
Nevertheless, any physical strength gained from training in the virtual system would be evaluated and transferred to his real body.
Then there were daily missions, which were optional. The rewards were extra time in the training ground and some strange books. It didn't just upload knowledge into his head; it literally gave him books that he had to read slowly himself. This made White Fish really want to complain.
But he had a rather easygoing personality. At least he had a system, right? Besides, some mission rewards included small gadgets that, while practically useless, White Fish quite liked.
As White Fish thought, he sat up from the grass. A breeze blew from afar, bringing a slight chill to his cheeks. There was a hint of fatigue in his eyes.
He had just come out of the training ground. His system's training ground currently contained a map of a portion of Wall Maria and the Shiganshina District, which he had mapped out by running around everywhere to let the system scan it.
The training content involved wearing the world's Omni-Directional Mobility Gear and surviving during a Titan invasion. He had just been killed by a Titan.
Since he knew he was in this cruel world, he wanted to survive. In this world, he wasn't alone.
The grandfather who took him in and raised him had passed away last year, following his grandmother. When he died, he looked at White Fish and his fellow adopted sister with worried eyes.
As for the grandfather's biological son, he was in the Survey Corps. White Fish had buried the grandfather next to their empty cenotaphs.
He had always lived an easygoing life; he was just living, without a goal. No, perhaps he had one: to protect Xiate and to enjoy this world a little.
He knew the plot and knew the time the wall would be breached was the year 845. Right now, it was 844.
Next year, huh?
Thinking of this, White Fish couldn't help but smile slightly and shake his head. He let out a relaxed breath, stretched his body vigorously, and lay back down on the grass, looking peacefully at the sky.
"A lot of people are going to die..."
he murmured.
The annoying kids who always picked on him would die; that stingy neighbor would die; the Garrison Regiment soldiers who were always drinking and the good-for-nothing drunks would die...
The old lady who helped him would die; the little tag-along who followed him shamelessly would die; the uncle who would occasionally laugh and chat with him would die; the doctor who cared for him from time to time would die...
"Why think so much? It's not like I can protect them all anyway, right?"
He wasn't some 'overpowered' protagonist who became a god after transmigrating, nor did he have their world-shattering power or world-turning wisdom. He was just himself, just White Fish.
His current desire to live was simply because he wanted to live. He was very casual; his past life had made him this way.
White Fish mocked himself slightly, but his eyes gradually relaxed. That was just the kind of person he was.
He turned his head to look into the distance, where there was a commotion. The gates of the Shiganshina District were slowly opening. It looked like the Survey Corps was heading out for another Expedition Beyond the Walls.
He took a pair of earphones out of his pocket and slowly closed his eyes again.
These earphones might seem strange; they were a reward from the system. They were a pair of wireless earphones that could play randomly or on a loop and never ran out of power. White Fish loved listening to music.
Because he had loved it in his past life too.
He didn't know how much time had passed...
"White Fish!"
A voice pulled White Fish out of his thoughts. He slowly opened his eyes to see a pair of calm eyes looking at him.
A trace of helplessness appeared in White Fish's eyes, but deep down, they softened involuntarily. He took off the earphones and put them back in his pocket.
"Yeah, what is it, Xiao Xi?"
The girl in front of him, slightly younger than White Fish, was the orphan his grandfather had adopted along with him. She was his sister, Shiat Doyle.
By the way, White Fish's full name now should also be Bai Yu Doyle.
"Time to go home,"
Xiate said calmly as she looked at her brother. She seemed a bit cold. White Fish scratched his cheek. When she was little, she used to call him 'Brother' with every breath, but at some point, she started calling him by his full name.
Sisters are truly like what people in his past life said: the more they grow up, the less cute they become. Of course, White Fish was referring to her personality; his sister's appearance was still very cute.
Xiate reached out and pulled him up from the ground. White Fish patted her head.
"Let's go, home."