Luo Shu opened his eyes, staring blankly at the rows of bookshelves packed with books in front of him. Under the dazzling lights, with the city nightscape shining beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, he found himself too stunned to think. Just then, an emotionless electronic voice echoed out:
[Primary consciousness has awakened. Commencing transfer of basic knowledge.]
The next moment, it felt like Luo Shu's head exploded.
Luo Shu—born in Huajing, registered in Hujian province—had transferred at age 15 to the private Toyosaki Academy in Japan due to his parents' work. At 16, his parents died in a plane crash... he started working part-time at a bookstore... earning 850 yen an hour... One scene after another flooded his mind, forcing him to press a hand to his temple.
"What the hell is going on?" Luo Shu was dazed. Just a second ago, he'd been lying in bed scrolling through short videos on his phone, and now—how did his bed turn into a bookstore? And not only that—he was younger now, back in high school, and in a body that was the same name and appearance as his own. The change was too sudden, and Luo Shu simply couldn't keep up.
Before he could fully grasp the situation, the emotionless voice echoed again inside his mind:
[System has confirmed that host consciousness is now awake.]
[Energy Collection System: Activated.]
[Notification System: Activated.]
[Ability System... Insufficient energy. Rebooting Ability System... Reboot failed. Scanning for cause... Cause identified: Insufficient energy.]
[Host is advised to replenish energy immediately. Warning: Host is advised to replenish energy immediately.]
As the warnings sounded, an excruciating sensation followed—like his strength was being sucked out of him. It felt like drowning, his breathing growing shallow, his face flushed, the pain almost unbearable.
"Hey, system—what the hell is going on?" Luo Shu gasped.
[Response: Host possesses spiritual power far beyond normal due to dual life experience, and it is currently overloading your brain's neural pathways.]
"Damn it!" Luo Shu swore under his breath. So now it was his fault for having strong spiritual energy after transmigrating?
"Then how do I fix it?"
[Response: Host must implant the 'Energy Collector' into the body of the 'Protagonist' and harvest their excess energy to activate the Ability System and relieve the pressure on your consciousness. Note: Implantation requires the protagonist's consent.]
"Consent? Seriously? Ugh, fine. Then where is this so-called protagonist?" Luo Shu, now visibly struggling to breathe, demanded quickly.
[Ding!]
[Would you like to activate the scanning system to survey your surroundings?]
"Wait—don't tell me the scan needs energy too?" Luo Shu was just about to agree, then suddenly remembered the energy crisis. His face turned green.
The problem was a loop: he didn't have enough energy to activate the ability system, needed to find the protagonist to get energy, but even the scan to find them needed energy!
[Large-area scan requires 100 energy points. Small-area scan is free.]
"How small is 'small'?" Luo Shu asked hastily.
[Range: 50-meter radius from host's position.]
"Fifty meters? Fine. Activate it. Notify me the moment you find that protagonist."
Even as he spoke, Luo Shu stripped off his bookstore uniform and cap, tossing them aside.
"Shu-kun? What are you doing?" the female store manager called out in confusion.
"No time to explain! Urgent matter! Cover my shift!" Luo Shu shot back and bolted from the store, grabbing the shared store bicycle and pedalling like a man possessed.
"System, scan the surroundings."
[No target detected.]
[No target detected.]
"Son of a—" Luo Shu cursed, face darkening as he pedalled harder.
"This stupid system—is this some kind of prank?" he muttered. "Some powerful being playing games with me? Maybe I'm in a dream, still lying in bed scrolling my phone while this fake system pretends to be some 'wise old man' and throws out impossible missions just to laugh at me like some clown on a stage?"
But despite his doubts, a strange intuition deep inside told him none of that was true. No mysterious mastermind was toying with him. Everything happening now—was because of the damned system embedded in his body.
He didn't know where that instinct came from, but the more it pulsed through him, the more agitated he became.
Even someone with nerves of steel would lose it if they woke up to find themselves in a new body and on the verge of dying. Luo Shu prided himself on being just an average guy mentally—this was way beyond his breaking point. If he had a knife right now and the system had a physical form, he'd stab it on the spot.
As Luo Shu weaved through pedestrians on the sidewalk at breakneck speed, drawing startled cries from the crowd—
[Ding!] —a notification chimed in his head, sounding to him like divine music.
[Target located.]
[Scan complete.]
[Please rotate 20 centimetres to the left and tilt head up 30 degrees.]
Luo Shu followed the instruction, turning and tilting his gaze upward. With the system's assistance, he quickly locked onto a girl in a nearby alley.
And froze.
The girl, barefoot and wide-eyed with fear, was running toward him. As their eyes met, she looked even more panicked and shouted:
"Don't just stand there! Run!!"
Luo Shu's pupils contracted as his gaze shifted—behind the girl, a rat the size of a small calf was charging at full speed.
"What the hell!" he swore, immediately slamming down on the bicycle's foot brake. The rubber tires screeched on the pavement, leaving black skid marks. He spun the bicycle a full 180 degrees with brute force and shouted:
"Get on, now!"
"Huh?" The girl blinked in confusion, but Luo Shu was already pedalling again.
This wasn't the time to chat. He barely even thought before reacting. The girl had been kind enough to warn him—he'd return the favor. But first, they needed to escape.
As he pedalled with everything he had, he noticed a heavy drag on the pedals. Not stopping to analyze it, he stomped down harder, tearing down the street as fast as possible.
Five minutes later—
Luo Shu stared at the brick wall in front of them, jaw twitching. Then he turned to look behind, at the monstrous rat blocking the only exit, its massive front teeth caked in dirt. Turning to the girl now cowering against the wall, he asked with a strained expression:
"Hey... before we die, can I plant a device in your body?"
The girl— Kasumigaoka Utaha—was completely dumbfounded.