Night.
Leon lay on the hard bed board, entering a deep sleep. To cope with the deadly assembly line of two twelve-hour shifts, he had to ensure sufficient rest.
Thump—!
At this moment, a dull sound echoed, followed by continuous, violent vibrations.
Such a huge commotion woke Leon from his sleep.
"What the… Can't a guy get some sleep…?"
He grumbled, somewhat displeased, then rolled over, intending to go back to sleep.
But the vibrations didn't stop; instead, they grew more intense.
Leon quickly realized something was wrong.
He shook off his sleepiness, got up, and went to the cell door, trying to gather some useful information.
Through the narrow window, Leon saw correctional officers moving through the corridor in a panic.
"Something's happened."
Seeing this, Leon's heart sank.
Without hesitation, he immediately began banging on the cell door, trying to attract the officers' attention to ask what had happened.
And Leon was clearly not the only one who realized this.
Countless Prisoners were now banging on their cell doors, trying to attract the officers' attention with wails and curses.
But unfortunately, even when the corridor fell silent again, not a single officer paid them any mind.
At this moment, the vibrations grew even more violent, comparable to a major earthquake.
Fortunately, the correctional facility's construction quality was decent; Leon didn't find any signs of damage in his cell.
He sat back on the bed board, muttering, "Prisoner, Prisoner…"
"Now I'm really a Prisoner."
Leon was now in a situation where his cries for help went unanswered, trapped in this small cell, waiting for the end of his life.
If things went well, nothing would happen, and he would continue to be a labor Prisoner.
If things went badly… then naturally, this time next year would be his death anniversary.
But neither of these was the outcome Leon wanted.
It wasn't until a loud clang and roar came that the white lights in the cell suddenly went out, plunging it into darkness.
But soon, accompanied by a buzzing sound, the lights came back on, though much dimmer than before.
Seeing this, Leon speculated that the backup power had activated. After all, a high-security area like a correctional facility would surely have emergency plans for various contingencies.
This was not a good omen.
"Things are getting worse and worse…"
At this moment, Leon's heart couldn't help but slide into an abyss. The activation of the backup power indicated that the situation outside was definitely not good.
Just as he was pondering how to save himself, a series of footsteps suddenly caught his attention.
"Are the officers back?"
With this question, Leon went to the cell door and looked out.
Then, a figure wearing a white Prisoner uniform, just like him, came into his sight.
But before Leon could call out to this person, the other party had already disappeared from his view.
"A Professional?"
Clearly, this person must have been a Professional with a special occupation; otherwise, Leon couldn't figure out how he had escaped from the sealed cell.
He was tempted to follow suit, but the Prisoner occupation clearly couldn't do that.
Leon looked at the thick cell door in front of him and couldn't help but inwardly grumble, "If I shout 'Farewell, cage!' will it let me change my job to a Thief?"
"If not, Riki-Oh is also acceptable."
Everyone was a Prisoner, so why was the strength gap so huge?
"Now, my entrepreneurial journey has collapsed halfway."
Thinking of his two powerful talents, he felt like crying without tears for a moment.
At this moment, a shrill scream suddenly came from a place Leon couldn't see.
His heart stopped, and then he moved away from the cell door: "Was that the person from just now?"
"Did the officers come back and find he escaped?"
"Or…"
Before Leon could think further, a terrifying hissing sound echoed through the prison.
At the same time, the already dim lights grew even darker.
The sudden situation made Leon's pupils constrict. He swallowed, instinctively shrinking into the corner: "Are those bugs!?"
During this time, Leon had naturally inquired about the planet he was on.
Federation Border Colony 9527, native species… Zerg.
This name made Leon think of a sci-fi movie he had watched before his Transmigration, "Starship Troopers." The large bug that sucked human brains in it still haunted him.
Now, in the pitch-black prison, the screams of Prisoners rang out one after another.
And as the screams grew closer, several rustling crawling sounds also entered Leon's ears.
Just as he was about to make a desperate stand, the Professional panel suddenly popped up a message.
"Major Event: The Zerg Nova has concluded, yet our poor Traveler doesn't even know what happened."
"You can begin a new journey (23:59)."
"?"
Leon's expression froze as he looked at the slightly mocking message on the panel, followed by a surge of ecstasy in his heart.
Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately shouted out.
"Begin a new journey!"
As his voice fell, a strange fluctuation swept through, and Leon's figure instantly disappeared from his original spot.
And the sound he made undoubtedly attracted the attention of the monster outside the cell.
Screech—!
With a piercing metal cutting sound, a bug with four pairs of compound eyes flashing crimson light crawled in.
However, after seeing the empty cell, the crimson light in its eyes flickered a few times, then it turned and left to find its next victim… [Ruotong's life, Mu Xuan. Mu Xuan's life, Ruotong.]
After activating the Traveler talent, Leon only felt like he had been hit on the back of the head with a blunt object, and then the world before him changed.
But he couldn't care about these things anymore.
The joy of surviving the ordeal almost brought him to tears.
"Farewell, cage!"
But then, the message that popped up on the panel dashed Leon's excited mood.
"After experiencing the major event of this world, the Traveler will return to the main world."
"?"
Leon had originally thought he had escaped, but he hadn't expected it to be just a false alarm.
He could escape for a while, but not forever.
He still had to go back and face those terrifying bugs.
However, looking at it another way, Leon at least had some preparation time, and moreover, his Console Player was still active.
This meant he could also take up an occupation in this world, and he still had a chance to continue thriving.
"I just don't know if there's any transcendent power here."
After calming himself down, Leon began to survey his surroundings.
But upon seeing the dirty streets and the beggars in tattered clothes on both sides of the road, Leon murmured, somewhat bewildered.
"Where did this take me?!"