On a hot morning, Ethan Lane woke up from his sleep. After dazedly washing up, he dazedly sat in front of his computer with bread and milk. Listening to the laughing sounds from his computer, he finally became fully awake.
"Huh? Oh! It's time to start today's dailies." Ethan Lane did his tasks while munching on bread, and the morning quickly passed. The tasks were finally over. He stretched and sighed, "Ah! A summer vacation without a part-time job is so comfortable."
Ethan Lane: Male, 20 years old, a sophomore at XX University, currently on summer break. He chose not to get a summer job and instead was being a slacker at school. He was an only child, and while his family wasn't fabulously wealthy, they could be considered well-off.
"Oh? It's noon? The Queen's Expansion Supply is today. I'll do a ten-pull before eating." With that, Ethan Lane opened his phone, launched Honkai Impact 3rd, tapped on Supply, then Expansion Supply. *Ding ding ding!* Ten purple pulls in a ten-pull, and the Queen was instantly SSS-rank.
Ethan Lane wiped his drool. The above was purely a dream. His spending was strictly controlled by his family. In reality, he was just a monthly card player. His family calculated exactly how much he needed to spend each month and wouldn't give him a single cent more.
"2585 Crystals... a ten-pull my ass! Huh? Wait, the top-up bonus resets today. Should I drop 648... but I don't have much money left. If I do it, I'll have to survive on plain water for the next half a month." After a fierce internal struggle, Ethan Lane looked at the Herrscher of the Void on the Expansion screen. What a naked temptation.
"My S-rank Queen... What's a little eating dirt for Her Majesty! Worst case, I'll kneel and beg my sister for support. Come on, 648!" He clicked top-up, and the 648 RMB transaction was successful.
*Ding!* Your savings card ending in 6517 has been charged 648 yuan. Remaining balance: 3.12 yuan. (China Construction Bank)
Ignoring the message, Ethan Lane focused on pulling the Expansion Supply. "A total of 15,545 Crystals, enough for 5.5 ten-pulls. I'll do a few single pulls first, maybe I'll get lucky and smuggle my way to Europe?"
*Ding ding!* Phase Shifter, Miao Dao: Raikiri, HOMU's Treasure... Suddenly, a purple light flashed, and the Valkyrie background appeared. Ethan Lane got excited. Was this it?
*Ding ding!* Valkyrie Triumph loves you! "Sh*t! Forget it, I'm doing ten-pulls. Time to curse out Dawei!" After the first ten-pull: "Oh yeah, 70 fragments, nice." The second ten-pull failed, then the third, fourth, and fifth. Ethan Lane continued to tap for a ten-pull. "Insufficient Supply Cards."
He placed his phone on the desk, went to the bathroom, and turned on the showerhead. "I'm so stupid, really..." Ethan Lane lifted his lifeless eyes and continued, "I only knew that a ten-pull would guarantee an A-rank Valkyrie, and more than one, but I need 250 fragments for the Queen. I spent 648, excitedly started my ten-pulls, and the Queen appeared. I was thrilled and continued pulling. The Queen kept appearing. I wanted to do more, but I ran out of Supply Cards. I checked and saw I had 210 fragments. Crap, I probably failed again. I quickly exited and saw my bank card with only three yuan left, then took out my wallet, which was completely empty." He then started to sob, unable to speak another word.
After his shower, he returned to his computer, picked up his phone, and sighed, "Oh, Queen, my Queen. They say a man's knees are precious as gold, but for you, I'd even kneel on glass."
Just then, his phone indicated low battery. He hurriedly grabbed a charging cable, but his auto-playing online game character suddenly let out a cry. He glanced over and saw his character had been killed. In his frantic haste, he accidentally plugged the charging cable's connector into his hand. "Hiss!" His hand went limp, and the phone instantly fell to the floor.
*Crack!* Hearing the sound of the screen shattering, Ethan Lane quickly bent down to pick it up. The moment his bleeding hand touched the phone, he saw a bright flash of light, and then he lost consciousness.
Time: November 1999; Location: A certain wasteland in Siberia. "Huh? Where is this?" Ethan Lane woke from his stupor, looking around in confusion.
He had been woken by the cold. Ethan Lane was utterly bewildered. Just a moment ago, he was enjoying the 38°C sauna-like weather in his dorm. How did he turn around and get woken up by the freezing cold? He looked strangely at the small wooden cabin, which was drafty all over. Through the cracks, he could see a vast expanse of white snow outside. The bonfire in front of him had already gone out. He hurriedly poked at it and sighed in relief after seeing a few sparks.
"It's really too cold. How did I end up in a godforsaken place like this? Am I dreaming? Or could it be... I've transmigrated?" Ethan Lane shook his head, stopped overthinking, and searched the cabin, finding some firewood.
Looking at the few remaining logs and feeling his body tremble, Ethan Lane sighed, "Looks like it's not a dream. I... I've transmigrated. I just don't know where this is. Hopefully, it's ancient Huaxia."
He added a few pieces of firewood and blew on the embers until a flame finally caught. Ethan Lane quickly huddled closer to warm himself. After a while, he recovered a bit. He felt his pockets and found his phone was gone. The clothes on his body were tattered summer wear. Gazing at the blizzard raging behind the wooden wall, he sighed again.
"Maybe this transmigration is about to end..." As soon as he said that, *rumble*... his stomach started to growl. Ethan Lane began to rummage through the cabin again. Oh, there were no chests or cabinets. The cabin was completely empty, except for a few logs of firewood and a pile of straw. There was nothing to eat.
"So hungry. Am I going to die? I'm not ready. My transmigration has just begun. I'm the one-in-a-million lucky transmigrator. How can I die here!" Ethan Lane continued to search. A moment later, he slumped to the ground.
"It's over. There's no food at all. What the hell is this place? Ah! I want to go back! Can anyone save me!" Ethan Lane shouted in the cabin. After a while, exhausted, he squatted in front of the bonfire, staring blankly into space.
"Looks like no one is coming to save me. No, I can't die. I... wait, why are my hands so small?" Ethan Lane finally noticed something was wrong with him. He hadn't paid attention earlier due to panic, but now...
"These are the hands of a child! And my beard is gone, there's no hair on my legs, and my whole body is skin and bones. This is a three-year-old kid! What the fuck! This is trying to kill me!" Struck by this realization, Ethan Lane took a few steps back and fell onto the pile of straw.
"It's over. How can a child survive in such a harsh environment? What a start to my transmigration..." Ethan Lane dejectedly closed his eyes, preparing to wait for death.
A few hours later, the blizzard stopped, and the sun came out. A ray of sunlight shone through a crack in the cabin onto Ethan Lane's face. His eyes twitched, and he finally woke up.
"Huh? I'm still in this godforsaken place. So hungry. No, even if I die, I'll die on a full stomach." Ethan Lane looked outside and saw that the blizzard had stopped and the sun was out, feeling a bit excited.
He hurried back to the straw pile and started stuffing straw into his clothes. Although it was very uncomfortable, for the sake of his life, Ethan Lane couldn't be bothered.
Fortunately, the straw was relatively soft and not too prickly. After wrapping some straw around his arms and legs, Ethan Lane was finally ready.
*Rumble...* "Stop growling. No matter how much you growl, food won't fall from the sky." Ethan Lane patted his stomach and walked to the door, taking a deep breath.
*Creak...* The door slowly opened. Ethan Lane was hit by a blast of cold wind, and goosebumps instantly covered his entire body. "So cold, but it's still bearable." With that, he stepped out of the cabin.
He was still wearing slippers, which he had also wrapped with straw. Now that the sky had cleared, it didn't seem as cold. He didn't walk far before stopping. He looked around and saw that the surroundings were a vast, snow-covered wasteland.
Apart from some very tall fir trees, there was nothing else. There were no signs of human activity at all. Ethan Lane had no choice but to keep moving forward. After walking for a while, he was completely numb from the cold, relying solely on willpower to keep himself going.
"Ouch! What was that?" As he was walking, Ethan Lane tripped over something. Looking back, he saw a black object sticking out of the snow.