Li Xuan gently rubbed the silver ring on his finger with his thumb. The ring was smooth, despite the shallow, peculiar markings etched into its surface. Sitting in the bathtub, soaking in the icy water, his mind was a jumbled mess.
This was his third day in a world overrun by zombies and monsters. He had been terrified, heartbroken, and homesick when facing the Dead Soldiers that tore humans apart and the Honkai Beasts that roamed the land.
Crossing over wasn't always a good thing, especially when it meant ending up in a place teeming with monsters. But reality was cruel. He could never return to his peaceful, ordinary world, attend his dream university, or even see his parents again.
Li Xuan had never been particularly adaptable. He couldn't just shrug off his anxieties and start thriving like the protagonists in those novels.
But what good would sorrow and regret do? He still needed to eat and drink. So, during his brief moments of rest, he allowed himself to indulge in melancholy before casting aside his distractions and pushing forward. He had to survive in this truly dog-eat-dog world. Because as long as he lived, anything was possible.
Ever since that headache, Li Xuan's skin had become smoother and whiter, and his strength had evolved from that of a frail otaku to that of an elite soldier in a national special forces unit. His running speed now rivaled that of national athletes. Though he didn't understand the principle behind these changes, he was grateful for them.
Thanks to these enhancements, Li Xuan had managed to avoid being torn apart by the Dead Soldiers. But these weren't the most pressing matters. What truly occupied his mind were the constant influx of Honkai-related information, the Gate of Wishes within the ring, and the Taiji mark on the back of his right hand.
According to the information flooding his mind, the mark on his hand was called a Stigmata. It appeared due to Honkai Energy and granted its bearer the ability to control and gather this energy. The chance of a Stigmata manifesting was one in a million—a probability so low it defied comprehension. Yet it had happened to Li Xuan, making him feel an urge to buy a lottery ticket.
The silver ring that had inexplicably appeared was a storage ring with a space equivalent to a villa. But inside, there was nothing except a golden, gate-shaped object. It was indeed a gate, though small in size, intricately designed with strange characters carved all over it, somewhat resembling the Arc de Triomphe. Its most peculiar feature was the mirror-like surface in the center, like a portal to another world. The mirror's surface was a dull gray.
The moment Li Xuan first took it out of the ring and touched it, its functions and purpose flooded his mind: the Gate of Wishes. By defeating Dead Soldiers or Honkai Beasts, he could extract and collect the Honkai Energy within them. Using the Stigmata, he could compress this energy into a highly concentrated substance—Honkai Energy Crystals. Collecting enough Crystals and placing them on the Gate would summon a Divine Artifact imbued with divine power.
The sheer unscientific nature of this thing was appalling! And the summoned items were entirely random, like a gacha game. Clearly, some unknown entity had given this transmigrator an unfair advantage.
In the past three days, Li Xuan had managed to extract ninety Crystals from the Dead Soldiers he'd run over upon his arrival and the lone ones he'd subdued through brute force.
He'd sustained quite a few injuries in the process, but fortunately, his physical strength had become exceptionally high after gaining the Stigmata, and his recovery rate was off the charts. His external wounds were almost completely healed within a few hours.
For some reason, the Dead Soldiers that appeared on the streets were almost exclusively female, yet each one possessed the strength of a heavily muscled man. On one occasion, Li Xuan had nearly been strangled to death by one of them. The title of "First Transmigrator Strangled to Death" was too embarrassing even for Li Xuan's thick skin.
But a great Chinese sage once told us: "No pain, no gain."
Li Xuan performed his first wish. In his imagination, drums roared, and colorful flags fluttered. In reality, however, he knelt on the damp ground before the Gate of Wishes, rain drizzling from the sky. He awkwardly stretched his neck and opened his mouth to drink the rainwater while carefully inserting Honkai Energy Crystals into the gate. The crystals melted upon contact with the mirror-like surface, as if being devoured. After inserting ninety crystals, the Gate of Wishes suddenly flashed with blinding blue light.
The blue radiance lasted only a fleeting moment. As the light faded after a few seconds, a silver firearm appeared silently on the gate.
Li Xuan tremblingly reached out and picked up the gun. Everyone knew that in the apocalypse, not having a weapon meant dying faster than others. Now, he finally had his first gun. The moment his fingers touched it, information flooded his mind:
*First Gun—Three-Star Weapon: Rifled Flintlock!*
Weapon grades were classified by stars, with higher-star weapons dealing more damage. Six-star weapons were known as Divine Artifacts, their power unimaginable—capable of slicing through ordinary Dead Soldiers like butter. Beyond six stars lay seven-star weapons, but their existence remained shrouded in mystery.
The Rifled Flintlock initially held twenty-four bullets and possessed the ability to repel enemies. Its bullets automatically replenished at a rate of one per minute.
Li Xuan stood up, gun in hand, just as a Dead Soldier charged straight at him. The female Dead Soldier's ashen face carried a faint, fishy odor, and a faint crimson hue stained the gaps between her teeth, remnants of some unknown animal's flesh.
*Cock, fire!* In Li Xuan's vision, the bullet shot from the gun, fanning out into four separate projectiles mid-air. Two of them struck the Dead Soldier, sending her flying through the air as if struck by a heavy truck. She crashed to the ground with a sickening crack of broken bones.
In the post-rain sunlight, the Rifled Flintlock gleamed with a metallic silver sheen.
After his bath, Li Xuan wrapped the bandages he'd found around the Stigmata on his right hand to conceal the crimson mark, which was rather conspicuous. He lay down on the bed in the abandoned house and fell into a deep sleep, the silver Rifled Flintlock resting beside him.
Tomorrow would be his fourth day in the Honkai World.