Warm air brushed past Wang Yanfei as he cursed while rushing toward the cave entrance. Before he even stepped outside, a gust of cold wind hit him in the face, like it had come straight from an ice pit. He shivered involuntarily.
He rubbed his arms, and his emotions cooled down with the cold.
When he first transmigrated, he had fallen onto this mountain. Down below was a city surrounded by an enormous wall. The steel wall was frighteningly tall, dotted with flashing lights.
The first time he saw it, he really thought he had gone back to ancient times, until he noticed the heavy weapons rotating along the ramparts and the escorted convoys moving in and out. Only then did he realize this world was anything but normal.
What was that wall meant to keep out?
Monsters?
A war?
Or... something else?
On top of that, entering the city required extremely strict identity verification. As someone with no registration, he could not even approach the gate.
So the voice yelling "help" outside... was it really human?
Wang Yanfei fell silent for a moment.
Then he turned around and went back inside the cave.
He grabbed the white snake from the ground.
The next second, he very smoothly tossed the snake out of the cave.
The snake: "?????"
"You worthless creature!!!"
"Do you know who I am?!"
"I am the great—waaah branch!!"
Its voice grew more distant as it slid away.
A soft thud sounded as the snake landed perfectly on the ground.
Soon, all the noise outside the cave disappeared. Only the sound of wind remained, blowing against the fire and making it sway.
After a moment, a small white snake trembling in the cold wind crawled back in, a few leaves stuck to its head, looking quite ridiculous.
It lifted its head to look at him.
He lowered his head to look at it.
They stared at each other for three seconds.
The snake admitted defeat and muttered in a low voice:
"Outside... it is indeed the scent of a human. But... something feels off."
After speaking, it shook off the leaves, curled up by the fire, and continued trying to warm itself.
...
They waited for a while. No more cries for help sounded outside. Whatever was out there seemed to have realized something.
Wang Yanfei leaned against the rock wall, licked his cracked lips, and understood that the thing outside was very likely not normal.
But then again, in his current condition, there was nothing left to fear.
He had not eaten for two days. His stomach hurt so badly that it was numb. There was water in the mountains, so he could survive a few more days, but only a few.
Unfortunately, the grass and leaves in this place were all poisonous. Just one bite sent him into crippling diarrhea.
Thinking about that, he actually calmed down. Things were already like this. He might as well see what strange things this broken world was hiding.
He stood up, dusted off his clothes, and walked out of the cave.
——
Outside, the sky looked as if it were about to collapse.
Tall trees overlapped overhead, blocking out nearly all the light, leaving only dim shadows on the ground.
The air was thick with moisture. The wind carried the smell of soil, making him instinctively hold his breath.
Dozens of meters ahead, a figure hung high from a tree branch, swaying because it was tied upside down by the feet.
Wang Yanfei narrowed his eyes.
It was indeed a human.
The man wore a thick jacket, his face pointed toward the ground, hanging there like a dried fish.
On the ground beneath him lay a torn backpack, spilling out a trail of canned food.
Real metal cans, bright and shiny in a pile. Wang Yanfei could not help licking his dry, cracked lips.
In this situation, those cans were the greatest treasure imaginable.
He moved closer and examined the man. A middle-aged guy, probably in his forties, bald, with a puffy face.
Back in his original world, this hairstyle and temperament screamed "senior programmer."
Seeing someone approach, the upside-down uncle instantly acted like he had found a lifeline.
"You! Kid! Help... help me! Get me down!"
Wang Yanfei looked up at him and said, "Alright, drop the act. What are you?"
"Huh? Kid, what are you talking about, I... I don't understand—"
"You're pretending too badly." Wang Yanfei shook his head confidently. "Too many flaws."
The air froze for a moment.
The hanging uncle stopped struggling.
Still dangling upside down, his face close to Wang Yanfei's feet, he asked in a suddenly calm and low voice, "...How did you figure it out?"
Wang Yanfei froze.
"What, you really aren't human?"
"Huh?"
Only then did the uncle realize he had been tricked into revealing himself.
A surge of anger exploded out of him. He began thrashing wildly, the rope creaking loudly from the strain.
Wang Yanfei stepped back and watched calmly.
The strange thing was, even as that "man" struggled violently, his skin, his muscles, his voice, his movements... all looked perfectly normal.
There was not a single sign of abnormality. He looked exactly like a genuine middle-aged man.
Wang Yanfei frowned even more.
"...This thing really isn't human? There's no difference at all."
But he did not dwell on it. He was starving. He had no energy to deal with this.
He turned back toward the cave and retrieved the half-charred wooden stick he had used to start the fire earlier.
He walked beneath the dangling figure and poked him.
Once, twice, three times.
The creature immediately grimaced, curling up in pain. A voice came from the direction of its mouth:
"Hey hey hey! What are you doing! That hurts—!!"
Wang Yanfei paused for a second, and a smile slowly appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Oh? You can feel pain?"
He ignored the "man" who kept yelling and shifted positions, using the stick to hook the backpack on the ground.
The cans were packed full. The backpack was extremely heavy. He tried several times, but each attempt either slipped free or got knocked aside by the wildly swinging figure above.
"For crying out loud, can you stop shaking?!"
The constant swaying made his head ache, and his patience wore thin.
He no longer wanted to waste time. He carried the stick back to the cave.
This time, he brought the white snake with him.
The snake stayed curled neatly on the stick, like a white-jade ornament, its golden eyes half-closed, looking at him with pure disdain. Who knew how this little creature had so many facial expressions.
Wang Yanfei extended the stick beneath the backpack.
"Come on, bite it."
The snake stretched its head forward and bit down on the strap precisely.
Wang Yanfei lifted with both hands. He used all his strength just to reel the stick back.
The backpack, held tightly by the snake, dropped next to his feet. Even the upside-down uncle fell silent for two seconds, as if shocked by the cooperation.
Seeing the solid pile of canned food, all of Wang Yanfei's irritation vanished instantly.
He dragged the backpack back into the cave, dropped it onto the ground, and crouched to sort through it.
Besides cans, the backpack held a bunch of miscellaneous items.
Near the top, he found a very sharp-looking dagger.
"Well well, bringing weapons, huh? I'll take that."
Without giving it much thought, he used the dagger as a can opener. With a quick twist at the lid—
A metallic pop sounded, and a burst of savory aroma drifted out—