The shop owner, tall and muscular, stood beside the seated Xie Sen, giving him a powerful intimidation. Xie Sen waved his hands repeatedly, "No, no, no, big brother. I'm an honest man and would never mess with anyone!"
The owner looked him up and down, his brows furrowed. "Are you livestreaming?"
"Huh?" Xie Sen was startled by the sudden question, thinking the owner's train of thought was incredibly strange. "No, I was just stopping by for lunch."
"I think he's livestreaming. Wasn't that video on Douyin really popular?"
"I think so!"
Xie Sen looked bewildered. The diners pointed at him and chatted animatedly. He listened in and understood why they suspected him of livestreaming.
A few days ago, a small streamer on Douyin, a popular livestreaming platform in Xingcheng, had found a small shop to eat lunch for attention. Afterward, he called out to the owner, "Boss, give me some fruit after dinner." This comment not only stunned the owner but also made the audience burst into laughter.
Xie Sen understood the reason, but was even more puzzled. What was so funny about it?
"Check your personal bracelet. Are you livestreaming?" the boss held out his hand.
Xie Sen unlocked it with his fingerprint and raised his hand confidently, "Anything you want to check."
The boss swiftly checked his bracelet, confirming he wasn't running any apps or livestreaming. His expression brightened, and he patted him on the shoulder.
"Young man, don't joke around when you're broke. If you want rice, there's a high-end restaurant a hundred meters ahead. Go early and you might be able to grab a spot."
Xie Sen's mouth twitched. What's the necessary connection between rice and high-end restaurants?
He smiled and nodded, chuckling. "Yeah, that's what big brother is teaching you. Go get busy," he said, pointing to the meat in the lunch box and giving it a thumbs-up. "Super delicious!"
The boss smiled again, said he'd come often, and went back to his business.
Xie Sen didn't dare ask why there was only meat and no vegetables. He finished the meat, drank a glass of water, and left the shop.
He checked his address on his personal bracelet and took the shuttle back to the original owner's apartment.
The apartment was a two-story, stand-alone building in a relatively secluded neighborhood, each floor approximately seventy square meters. He entered the house with his fingerprint.
After taking a look around, he sat on the sofa in the lobby and began to cram in information about this world.
His planet was called Brandt, a beast planet with three main cities: Sun City, Moon City, and Star City.
The ancestors of the beast planet were wild beasts who later evolved into orcs capable of transforming into humans. The orcs created a brilliant civilization, and the three main cities were the forerunners of the three major tribes of the orc era.
Over time, the orcs could only exist in human form, unable to transform into beasts.
Even though they could not transform into beasts, they remained different from Earthlings.
Beast people reach semi-adulthood at sixteen and full adulthood at eighteen. Generally, before the age of sixteen, they awaken their contracted beasts. Historical texts say that contracted beasts are gifts from the beast gods to their people.
When a contracted beast awakens, the beastman's corresponding beast markings appear on his body. Beast people all appear male; there is no distinction between male and female, only between male and female.
Male beast markings are often found on their chests, often depicting ferocious beasts; female beast markings are often found on their left shoulders, often depicting smaller beasts.
These markings serve as guidance from the Beast God. Beast Star people use these markings to find their corresponding contracted beasts. Once their synchronization with the contracted beast exceeds 50%, they form a bond. The contracted beast becomes their master's most loyal companion, greatly enhancing their abilities.
Over the course of Beast Star's development, the environment has become increasingly harsh. Over a thousand years ago, a devastating catastrophe wiped out nearly all edible plants on the planet.
Even today, the harsh environment remains, and the plants and animals that survive on the planet possess exceptionally strong vitality. Beyond the three main cities lies a vast, untamed forest, home to towering plants and ferocious beasts, making it extremely dangerous.
These pristine untamed forests are the source of much of the food for the Beast Star residents. While Beast Star has transitioned from primitive times to the technological age, and even entered the interstellar era, it still maintains a tradition of sourcing its food from nature.
Due to these historical issues, edible plants on Beast Planet are all cultivated and extremely rare. Rice is the most abundant, but a pound of rice costs at least a hundred star coins. Almost all restaurants selling it have daily quotas, requiring competition.
Even if you have money, you might not be able to buy it, especially since the average daily wage here is only two hundred star coins, making it unaffordable for the average family.
As for fruits and vegetables, they are unavailable anywhere except at the "Rich Supermarket," which maintains close ties with the Botanical Research Institute. Even there, they aren't always available every day, and the prices are ridiculously high.
The cheapest supermarket, Rich Supermarket, sells the most in a week—a limited-edition 30-pound box of Chinese cabbage, which costs a thousand star coins per pound.
Seeing this, Xie Sen finally understood the unusual reactions of the shop owner and diners. Not only had he spent ten star coins on a box of meat, but he was also asking the owner for rice, which he might not even be able to buy with a hundred star coins. The owner considered this a fuss!
He smoothed his hair and sighed. What kind of a deal was this? He'd already become obsessed with vegetables and fruits in the apocalypse, and now he was forced to eat meat every day?
Thinking of this, he suddenly jumped up from the sofa. He could eat fruits and vegetables in the apocalypse, all because he accidentally obtained the plant system!
The plant system! His heartbeat suddenly jumped, and he pulled down the collar of his right shoulder. Seeing the pattern on his shoulder, his eyes lit up with joy, and then he couldn't help frowning.
A five-colored flower floated on his fair shoulder. He was very familiar with the outline of the flower. It was the peony, the carrier of the plant system. However, in the apocalypse, the color of this flower was bright red, but now it had five colors: red, white, green, black, and yellow.
He stretched out his finger and rubbed it on the petals, trying to communicate with the system. However, whether he spoke or communicated in his mind, he received no response.
Thinking of the scene when he was bound to the system, he went to the kitchen, took a knife, and cut his left index finger, letting the blood drip onto the peony.
Soon, the drop of blood that fell on the peony disappeared, and a faint five-colored light appeared on the petals. The voice of a four or five-year-old boy emerged in Xie Sen's mind: "Wow! Success, Asen, you are still alive!"
Xie Sen hurriedly asked in his mind: "Did you do something?"
The baby's voice was a little weak but could not hide his pride: "Of course, I activated my body's energy at the critical moment and found a body that fits with yours, otherwise you would definitely not survive."
"Then what about the original person in my body?"
Adam said: "You can survive successfully, the other party must have died before you came."
Xie Sen was about to ask again, Adam said: "The power of time and space conversion is too strong, and my body's energy is scattered and very weak. The plants you originally activated are gone, and they need to be reactivated. I need to sleep to restore my daily energy and wake up once every twelve hours." "
If you still want plants, work hard to collect gratitude energy to activate the plants. The more plants you have, the more time I will be awake," he said in a lower voice, "By the way, you must remember to rest every eight hours after waking up." "
Why?"
After a long time, there was no response from the system.
Xie Sen wiped his still-bloody finger on the peony petals and waited for a long moment. There was no sound in his head, and the bloodstains remained unchanged.
Xie Sen wiped his shoulder clean, pulled up his collar, and returned to the living room before plopping down on the sofa. "These days, the system is unreliable!"