Feng Yin opened his eyes.
No... describing his current state as "opening his eyes" wasn't quite accurate. He realized he didn't even possess the concept of "eyes" anymore. He felt exactly like a player who had just died in a first-person shooter—stripped of a physical body, left with nothing but a bizarre, floating field of vision.
"Is this... a dream?" Feng Yin wasn't entirely sure. He began to observe his surroundings.
He was in a cramped space enclosed by wooden walls carved with mysterious patterns.
Directly in his line of sight sat a square table draped in leather. A single oil lamp rested upon it, casting a dim, warm Light. Chairs were positioned on either side. In the left chair sat a figure clad in pitch-black Armor. Their hands were clasped together on the table, and they remained completely motionless, as if lost in a daze.
This scene looked somewhat familiar...
Just as Feng Yin was at a loss, a voice with a peculiar intonation echoed from behind him. It spoke in a language he had never heard before, yet he could bizarrely understand its meaning.
"Not bad. Another fresh soul. Perhaps this one can go further this time?"
He immediately turned his head—or rather, shifted his perspective.
In the left corner stood a slender, tall stand. A bird perched on the crossbar at the very top. It looked like a White Crow.
The White Crow flapped its wings twice. Its beak opened and closed rapidly as the voice emanated from its mouth. "Go on, go inside first."
"A bird... can speak?"
Before Feng Yin could think too much about it, his vision rapidly spun in the very next second, plunging into complete darkness.
Then, it abruptly lit up again.
A table appeared before his eyes—a square table draped in leather. Resting upon it was a pair of clasped hands clad in pitch-black Arm Armor.
Feng Yin subconsciously lifted his head and immediately noticed his line of sight rising with the motion.
"Is this... the perspective of the person wearing the Black Armor!?"
With a flash of Enlightenment, he brought his hands up to his face, turning his arms back and forth to inspect them. His movements felt as natural and fluid as an extension of his own body. A bold guess quickly formed in his mind.
"Did I just possess the person wearing this Armor? Am I a professional transmigrator now?! Transmigrating twice in one day? So, where am I this time?"
Just as this thought crossed his mind, the voice of the White Crow that had seemingly spoken earlier rang out from behind him again.
"Look, a lost soul has entered a suit of Armor. An Armor cursed and sealed."
"Armor? I didn't possess a person? I possessed a suit of Armor!?"
Feng Yin was startled. He finally remembered why this scene felt so familiar to him.
At the exact moment of his transmigration, he had been sitting in front of his computer, launching a single-player game he had only recently started playing. And the place he was in now... wasn't this the exact starting area of that game?
"Did I... transmigrate with the game?"
His mind raced as he recalled his memories of this single-player game. It was just a simple, indie roguelike dungeon crawler—a small, pixel-art game. But now, through his own eyes, the 2D pixel world had transformed into a 3D, realistic reality. That was why he only found it mildly familiar at first, entirely failing to recognize that he was inside the game itself.
It wasn't until the White Crow delivered its familiar dialogue that he finally connected the dots.
The core gameplay revolved around controlling a cursed and sealed Armor. By clearing levels and wiping out enemies, the player would gradually liberate its power, ultimately breaking the seal to beat the game. There was virtually no plot or world-building; there were only endless waves of enemies across consecutive stages.
Combined with what had just happened, this was clearly the opening cutscene that played every time the game was restarted—a lost soul was summoned to become the new master of the Sealing Armor.
The White Crow before him was the game's guide NPC. To progress to the next step, Feng Yin had to interact with it.
Since he had no control over his current circumstances, he could only take things one step at a time. He stood up and approached the White Crow.
The White Crow tilted its head and stared at Feng Yin, letting out a series of squawks. "SQUAWK SQUAWK. Set forth, embark on the path of unsealing."
As the White Crow's words fell, a simple interface made of mist popped up in front of Feng Yin's eyes.
———————
Initiate the path of unsealing? [Yes/No]
———————
The interface hovered motionlessly in his vision.
"This interface... it really is exactly the same as the one in the game."
He didn't hesitate for long, directly making his choice:
[Yes]
The interface vanished.
With a quick hop, the White Crow turned around, retrieved three envelopes from a mailbox on the wooden wall behind it, and faced him once more.
It mumbled indistinctly, "The old rules. Pick one out of three."
Another selection interface appeared before Feng Yin.
—— Select Starting Point ——
[ Bloody Camp — Obtain Engraving: Continuous Fire ]
[ Nameless Prison — Obtain Skills: Stealing Step ]
[ Ruined Monastery — Obtain Secret Technique: Blood Flame ]
———————————————
He had to choose one of the three starting points, and upon clearing it, he would receive the corresponding reward...
Feng Yin made his choice quickly. He had played this game before and knew which opening route offered a better advantage.
[ You have chosen to travel to the Nameless Prison. ]
Once Feng Yin made his selection, endless white mist billowed upward, obscuring his vision. In a matter of moments, the fog dispersed.
Feng Yin's vision cleared, and he realized he was no longer in that small wooden room. He was now standing on an abandoned road flanked by dense forests. In front of him stood a massive building, its silhouette looming indistinctly within the mist.
He looked back.
Behind him rested a carriage hitched to a pair of tall, imposing steeds. Beyond the carriage was a boundless expanse of black fog. The two horses were composed entirely of a white-blue, radiant Light. They seemed completely ethereal, lacking physical bodies, yet they brimmed with vibrant vitality.
A second later, the White Crow popped out from inside the carriage, flapping its wings as it swiftly flew over and landed on his shoulder.
"CAW CAW CAW! It's so much more fun outside! It was way too stuffy in that broken carriage!"
It seemed rather human-like.
However, Feng Yin had seen this exact line of dialogue back when he played the game. In the game, these words were merely a pre-programmed script for the NPC. But now that the game might have mutated alongside his transmigration, there was no telling what this White Crow truly was.
He chose to remain silent.
Unfazed, the White Crow continued to ramble on its own. "Go on, exterminate the filthy beings in this prison and pull out the Life Wedge. You might just get an unexpected boon out of it."
As its words faded, several lines of text materialized from the mist before Feng Yin's eyes.
[ Destination reached. Mission started. ]
[ Objective: Exterminate five Filthy Corpses and pull out the Life Wedge. ]
[ Officially embarking on the path of unsealing. Armor status panel unlocked. ]
***