"Yang Yuan, wake up Yang Yuan..."
"If you don't wake up, you'll miss the main group!"
"I think we should just leave him. Bringing along a baggage like him wastes food, water, and time."
"What do you mean by baggage? Did he ever abandon you when you were in trouble? Now he's... awakening, and if he succeeds, he'll be our hope!"
"Who's to say he's really awakening? Not all high fevers are awakenings..."
"..."
When Yang Yuan regained consciousness, he felt both thirsty and hungry, with the sound of an argument ringing in his ears.
The arguing parties were a thin, yellow-faced woman and a group of similarly thin, yellow-faced men and women.
The woman was single-handedly fighting against a group, wasting energy as they verbally clashed.
Beside the woman squatted a seven or eight-year-old girl, who was very lean and expressionless, squatting there digging in the dirt, seemingly trying to find roots to stave off hunger.
As the voices of the others echoed in his ear, a wave of familiar yet foreign memories surged forth, and those people seemed to be his... comrades?
And he himself... was on the road to escape?
Fragments of memories surfaced in his mind—
Three years ago, a world named Earth fused with this vast world, and billions of people appeared in this Barbaric World overrun by strange beasts.
At first, because of the dense Heaven and Earth Energy in this world, many people awakened to supernatural abilities, though the unprepared humans suffered heavy losses due to the presence of various powerful beasts.
But because of these abilities, and with technology and weapons still effective, humanity managed to scrape by.
However, half a year ago, from an Ancient Ruins jointly explored by humans, a large number of Drought Fiends suddenly emerged—fiery zombies that brought drought with them.
And thus, catastrophe struck.
The Drought Fiends possessed extremely powerful bodies, they couldn't be killed, had immense strength, and could fly and disappear underground.
Wherever they went, the land turned barren for miles, turning the coldest winter into the height of summer.
After the Drought Fiends emerged, countless areas became dry, and countless creatures fled.
To escape the disaster brought by the Drought Fiends, people had to flee for their lives, resulting in this nationwide exodus.
And the previous owner of this body... helped many people in distress on the road of escape; the woman, the little girl, and those arguing with the woman had all received his help.
This group followed the main force evacuating from drought areas, constantly wary of attacks from migrating beasts.
About half a day earlier, the migrating main force encountered a pack of similarly migrating giant wolves, and a battle was about to erupt.
The original owner was injured in the battle, leading to an inflamed wound and a persistent high fever.
After the battle ended, the military escorted scientists and engineers away, and most of the surviving people followed, leaving them behind due to the original owner's injury slowing them down.
Thus, those he had taken in saw him as a burden and planned to abandon him.
The feverish original owner died of anger upon hearing those words, and was replaced by Yang Yuan, who had crossed over.
That's how things were.
Yang Yuan couldn't help but marvel that even in such an environment, there were still good people; it was truly amazing.
As he was marveling, a string of data suddenly appeared in his mind:
[LV.1: 0/1]
What is this?
He was slightly stunned and couldn't help but blink, finding that the data remained, not like an illusion.
"Liang Gao is right; we can't be sure if he's awakening. With such a high fever and the wound inflamed, we have no medicine. I think we should give up."
"In a situation like this, an inflamed wound is pretty much a death sentence. Continuing to carry him will just waste food and water."
"I've lagged behind the main group for too long. He's beyond saving, and keeping him will only slow us down."
"Exactly, better to give up now before he eats more and drinks more of our water, wasting it."
"You... how could you even say such things..."
The woman pointed incredulously at the people opposite her, her fingers trembling with anger, unable to speak.
"Why waste words with her? If she won't go, we will on our own!"
"Li Qingshan is right, let's save the food and water."
The group changed their attitude completely, grabbed food and water, and swiftly left, including several teenagers around fifteen or sixteen.
"How can you do this?!" the woman, Zhao Jiayan, shouted angrily.
But it was futile, the group left without looking back, unwilling to be burdened, especially since they believed Yang Yuan couldn't recover.
The little girl beside also looked angrily at them, but said nothing, nor dared to, as she continued to dig for roots, all of which were sadly too dry to swallow.
"Those ungrateful beasts!" Zhao Jiayan's eyes reddened with anger, yet she dared not chase after them to stop them, as she couldn't fight them off.
Yang Yuan's eyes opened slightly, his gaze cold as he silently watched the scene unfold, without immediately waking up.
One reason was that he was in poor condition right now, and if he were to confront those ungrateful people, he would surely suffer a great loss.
The other reason was that he wanted to study the data in his mind, to understand what it truly was.
A transmigration cheat?
He tried calling out in his mind, yet received no response.
No matter how he tried, the data in his mind remained unchanged.
Suddenly, Zhao Jiayan struggled to carry him on her back, speaking in a slightly sobbing voice to the little girl beside her, "Yiyi, let's go too. Otherwise, if the exotic beasts appear, it will be dangerous. The blood on Yang Yuan will attract danger."
The little girl, Jiang Yiyi, followed silently.
Yang Yuan hesitated for a moment, not waking up immediately, as he was indeed in bad shape at the moment, letting Zhao Jiayan carry him while they traveled.
However, fortunately, he could feel his strength slowly recovering.
He felt relieved, thinking that there were still good people; otherwise, he would have been doomed as soon as he transmigrated.
Perhaps due to struggling and training in this world for three years, even though Zhao Jiayan was a woman, she was quite strong, able to carry him, a heavy man, with ease.
However, from her rapid breathing, it was evident that she wasn't as relaxed as she appeared.
The scorching sun blazed above, and the earth cracked beneath.
Zhao Jiayan seemed anxious, eager to catch up with the main group as soon as possible. But she was just an ordinary person, slowing down with every step, her breathing growing more labored, yet she never stopped.
The little girl, Jiang Yiyi, also followed bravely, never complaining of fatigue, perhaps knowing that even though she was young, no one would wait for her.
Suddenly, the little girl seemed to sense something and hurriedly turned around, her little face showing a look of terror, "Wolf..."
Zhao Jiayan's delicate body trembled.
Yang Yuan's face changed slightly, unable to pretend any longer. He quickly turned his head to see a giant wolf, standing one and a half meters tall, following them from a hundred meters away.
Could it be the giant wolf scattered from their previous encounter?
"Yang Yuan, you're awake?" Zhao Jiayan sensed the movement on her back and called out in surprise.
"Big brother..." The little girl, Jiang Yiyi, also looked over with her eyes glistening, her grimy little face showing a hint of hope.
Yang Yuan, however, showed no sign of joy. Perhaps through muscle memory, he instinctively reached into his pocket and actually felt a gun.
Right, the original body had traded for a handgun from the safe zone.
Feeling a surge of joy in his heart, he hurriedly took it out, only to find in dismay that the gun was jammed, as if the spring inside was malfunctioning.
"How unlucky!"
His heart was anxious, quickly scanning the surroundings, suddenly spotting a section of building ruins in the distance.
"Quickly, go over there," he urgently said.
"Okay, okay." Zhao Jiayan seemed invigorated, her speed picking up as she quickened her pace toward the building ruins.
The little girl, Jiang Yiyi, picked up a stone, vigilantly watching the giant wolf behind them as she quickly followed.
The giant wolf at the back wasn't in a hurry, following leisurely, seemingly intending to tire out the three prey.
Soon, the three of them entered the building ruins, where only a wall remained, severely weathered, with not even a place for shade.
"Put me down, back against the wall, to avoid being attacked from both sides by other predators,"
Yang Yuan said, having regained some strength.
Zhao Jiayan quickly set Yang Yuan down, then looked toward the giant wolf, which had stopped at a distance but continued staring at them, anxiously asking, "What should we do? Can you take it on now?"
Although the original host hadn't awakened any abilities, with a decent physique and a handgun, he could still handle a lone giant wolf.
"I'll fix the gun first. You two keep an eye out and try to use feints to trick that wolf. Don't stand still; it's probably aiming to wear us out. Let's not make it easy for it."
As Yang Yuan spoke, he began deftly disassembling the handgun.
Initially unfamiliar with firearms, he now effortlessly handled them due to the original body's extensive knowledge, which he had absorbed.
"Okay." Zhao Jiayan immediately picked up a stick, swinging it with force, making a shooing motion.
Jiang Yiyi also picked up stones, trying hard to throw them, but with her limited strength, she could only manage a distance of several meters.
In the distance, the giant wolf stopped fifty meters away, its cold eyes fixed on them.
Whenever Zhao Jiayan and Jiang Yiyi stopped, it would move forward.
And whenever they resumed their shooing motions, it halted, its hunting experience appearing seasoned.
"Why does this gun have so much sand?"
Having removed the gun barrel, Yang Yuan found a lot of sand inside, prompting him to grit his teeth and completely disassemble the gun.
Having taken the entire handgun apart, he cleaned out the sand, then quickly reassembled it.
Not long after, the handgun was reassembled. Just as he was about to reload, he saw a flash of white light pass through the gun.