Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hot..."

A kitten-weak whimper reached Kane Xiao's ears, yet it struck like a boulder crashing into murky waters, jolting him awake from his daze.

Following the sound, his gaze landed on a six or seven-year-old boy curled up on the bed, fragile as a delicate glass figurine, as if life might slip away at any moment.

The boy's pale face was flushed with fever, his damp black curls clinging to his forehead and neck. Faint, feverish breaths escaped his flushed lips, growing fainter by the second.

"Just die already. Death means no more pain," Kane murmured slowly as he walked over, standing by the bed. He pressed a hand against the burning forehead, his tone deceptively sweet yet utterly merciless.

Watching the child's brows furrow tighter, Kane's fingers twitched before he snatched his hand back as if scalded. A mocking laugh escaped him as he pressed his palm to his own forehead. Silent tears rolled from the shadows of his eyes, splashing onto the grayish-white sheets, leaving small dark stains.

Feeling the wetness on his face, Kane's forced smile twitched twice before forcibly flattening. He bit his lip, wiped his face roughly, and hurriedly stumbled out the door.

The boy on the bed parted his lips slightly, as if already resigned to despair, no longer uttering a sound.

For a moment, the room was filled only with labored breathing.

Then, abruptly, the creak of the door "disturbed" the silence. The "culprit" showed no remorse—instead, he unapologetically made even more noise.

"Since I came back today... I'll help you just this once. Your survival's your own problem."

Kane's expression was stiff, his face stern as he carefully wiped the boy's sweat away with a dry cloth before rummaging for his own clothes to dress the child.

He couldn’t even remember the boy’s name, let alone where his clothes were kept. For now, his own would have to do.

As he struggled to change the floppy child’s clothes, Kane’s expression soured further, muttering under his breath, "Such a pain."

Once the boy was dressed and a damp cloth was placed on his forehead, his pained expression seemed to ease slightly, his delicate brows gradually relaxing.

Seeing his efforts had some effect, Kane let out a childish "hmph," then grabbed the empty wooden cup to fetch more water.

As the light pattering of small footsteps faded from the wooden bed, the boy slowly opened his eyes.

In the dim light, his jade-green eyes darkened, more inscrutable.

The musty stench in the air gave Ning Chan a tangible sense of being alive. While the cat system had been explaining earlier, it had all felt like a dream—so surreal that he’d even wondered if it was an illusion conjured by that mental-type zombie.

But the foul odor flooding his nostrils, the scratchy fabric beneath his small hands, and the unmistakably antiquated Western ceiling painting above him all confirmed the "cat’s" words.

He was alive. Reborn in another world.

Ning Chan recalled what had happened before. His hand instinctively touched his forehead, fingers brushing the damp cloth and the fever beneath it. The harsh reality of survival weighed on him, and he sighed deeply. "Well, since I'm here, I'll settle in."

Earlier, just as Ning Chan had been preparing to take those zombies down with him, on the brink of annihilation, he’d heard a voice.

"Beep. Detected that the observation target has met assessment criteria. System AG806 initiating binding. Mental shield activated. Spacetime tunnel opening. Commencing transmission."

And just like that, Ning Chan had been hauled off by the system called AG806 to be resurrected in another world.

But if things had truly gone that smoothly, Ning Chan wouldn’t have woken up feeling so exasperated.

The moment he’d been transported into this body and absorbed its memories, he’d heard AG806 blaring in alarm.

"Ahhh! What’s going on? Why are you a Westerner now?! Oh, because—Error: Subject morphology mismatch with parameters. This violates my programming!"

"What's wrong?" Ning Chan was thrown off by AG806's random comment. Wasn't it the one who brought him here? Judging by its tone, was there some kind of problem?

Hearing Ning Chan's concerned voice, AG806 acted like a cat deprived of its favorite fish snacks, thrashing and rolling around in his consciousness, crying so hard its virtual form blurred.

Dammit! This damned coincidence! All I wanted was to follow in 404-senpai's footsteps and find a powerful mentor to show me the ropes! Is that so wrong?!

"Waaah, I'm part of the patriotic systems line, waaah! My programming only allows me to assist hosts with China nationality!

It must be because the explosion's energy was mixed with that space-warping zombie's energy, causing my teleportation to go haywire.

Originally, you were supposed to appear in China, with Chinese bloodline and nationality. Now everything's ruined.

Although you have a trace of Chinese ancestry, your nationality completely doesn't belong there.

Is my first mission going to fail just like this?

Will I shut down completely because I can't obtain energy?!

Waaah, my excellent graduation certificate might as well be toilet paper!"

Having roughly understood AG806's meaning, Ning Chan reached out to pet its ruffled fur, gently comforting it.

When it came to children and small animals, Ning Chan always had bottomless patience, let alone when the other party had saved his life.

"Don't panic, let's think of a solution together.

You said the host needs to have Chinese nationality - can you take me there again? Or I could make my own way there and try to obtain Chinese nationality?"

Hearing Ning Chan's words, AG806 first pricked up its ears, then drooped them dejectedly again.

"That won't work. I don't have enough energy now to transport another person over long distances.

As for you going to Porcelain Country on your own, that's probably impossible too.

The tectonic structure of this Earth is vastly different from your world.

The current Eastern and Western continents are practically cut off from each other.

If this were a modern era with advanced technology, there might be some way, but the era you're in now is like Europe’s Middle Ages—there's simply no such technology."

Thinking of the chaos of this era, AG806 couldn’t tell who had it worse—its own fate or Ning Chan's.

Ning Chan looked at the virtual map of this world, which was so alien it didn’t even look like Earth.

The scattered, irregularly sized continents from his memory had now been replaced by two mirror-image continents.

The entire planet was split by a ring-shaped sea into two parts—the Eastern continent and the Western continent.

The edges of the continents were sheer, vertical cliffs, plunging into darkness below when viewed from above.

The inland rivers, before reaching the edges, would plunge underground, leaving no chance for the two continents to connect.

Of course, many years ago, these two continents might have been one—otherwise, he wouldn't have kept that sliver of Porcelain Country blood.

Faced with such a situation, well-read as Ning Chan was, he couldn't think of a foolproof plan right now.

Seeing the system cat hanging its head, Ning Chan lowered his gaze and asked, "Can we unbind, then? You can go to Porcelain Country and find another suitable host."

AG806 blinked its watery, wide eyes. "Wait, seriously? Oh, hold up... that could work!"

However, a host who hasn't passed the evaluation can only unlock a portion of the system's functions.

Phew, at least I’m safe now—as long as I can still collect energy, it's fine.

But... what’ll happen to you? If I leave, you'll be all alone in this unfamiliar place!"

The little kitten hugged Ning Chan's hand, gently rubbing its head against him.

This was its first chosen host—someone so capable, so gentle, clearly destined to be a top-tier host. What a shame they couldn’t complete missions together.

Ning Chan pinched the system kitten’s pink paw pad, a faint smile curling at his lips. "It’s alright. I’ve spent so many years alone before. However bad this place is, it’s still better than the apocalypse."

During the apocalypse, surviving humans not only saw improvements in physical strength and Superpowers but also enhancements in psychic energy.

Almost as if to prevent the collapse of civilization, the most noticeable effect of heightened psychic energy was improved memory.

When people discovered that memorizing books and comprehending their knowledge could not only train psychic energy but also accelerate the advancement and usage of Superpowers, they picked up studying again.

That was why strike teams returned to cities to lecture, providing new knowledge.

Ning Chan excelled in this regard. To fully control his dual-type Superpower, even while eliminating zombie elites, he never stopped searching for books to expand his knowledge and strengthen his psychic energy.

Ning Chan had naturally studied Western history too. Just hearing the system mention the Middle Ages, he knew exactly where he’d landed.

Comparing the two, Ning Chan felt his words wasn’t a lie.

AG806 pondered and found his reasoning sound.

In the late stages of the apocalypse, even a scrap of fish jerky was impossible to find—it really was dull.

Ugh, it had only itself to blame for setting such high, strict binding activation requirements when leaving System Star, leading to only binding with Ning Chan at the last moment.

And because it had observed this first host for so long, feeling thoroughly satisfied and hoping for a long-term partnership, it had burned through its energy to preserve Ning Chan’s abilities—leaving its energy reserves empty with no room for flexibility.

The more AG806 thought about it, the sadder it became, shaking its little head like it wanted a factory reset.

"Ning-chan, take care of yourself here. Once I’ve saved up enough energy, I’ll come back to see you." Watching its energy box flicker yellow, AG806 pouted and chanted the unbinding spell.

A system could bind a host unilaterally, but unbinding required mutual consent. If one side insisted on forcing it, they’d have to pay a price.

For the system, it meant losing energy; for the host, it meant losing money.

Ning Chan scanned the contract, found no issues, and pressed his fingerprint. "Mm, go quickly."

He could also see the warning exclamation mark above the kitten’s head. Ruffling its head one last time, he let go.

AG806 tilted its head, studying Ning Chan, then suddenly bit his finger lightly before vanishing from his consciousness.

His finger stung sharply—and when Ning Chan opened his eyes again, he was here.

A strange room. A foreign country. A whole new world.

"Tch. No use overthinking it. Getting well is what matters now."

Thanks to the system, his dual-type Superpowers—wood and fire—had also transferred to this body.

Though only shards of core crystals remained functional, something was better than nothing.

Superpower elements in this world were thin. Returning to his peak was nearly impossible, but tossing out fireballs or healing spells eight, ten times a month wouldn’t be an issue.

The former powerhouse Ning Chan, whose Superpower level had dropped to the third tier, could now only barely muster his Wood-element Superpower to mend the worst parts of this ailing body.

The drain on his spirit and Superpower left Ning Chan feeling both hungry and thirsty. Just as he struggled to free himself from the confines of the quilt, intending to get up and find water, he heard the door creak open.

Bleary-eyed, Ning Chan looked toward the entrance and saw an adorable child in a white dress, golden hair cascading loosely, carrying a large wooden cup.

Those blue eyes were like a cloudless sky, utterly pure.

For a second, Ning Chan thought he might be dead—otherwise, how could he be seeing an angel?