My Name Is Mel Carlo

Tip: Typos can be @mentioned to the author in the paragraph comments for correction.

In the dim street, a black-haired boy in tattered clothes lay unconscious on the ground.

A pungent smell filled his nostrils, the distinct odor of dried urine mixed with various other foul scents.

"Cough, cough..."

He opened his eyes in a daze.

Glancing at his surroundings, the scene was all too familiar: the back alley streets of the Imperial Capital of the Gard Empire on the Kandewen Continent. This was a scene from the game.

He waved his hand, opening the game menu. It displayed only one Game ID: Mel Carlo, Level LV1, with the rest being an empty Game Warehouse.

Wait, did I hit a bug? Where are my Four Dimensions?

The Four Dimensions were the four basic attributes in the game: Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Intelligence. In the old version of the game, there was also Spirit, making it Five Dimensions. However, after the game's update and simplification, the Spirit attribute was integrated into Intelligence through an algorithm.

He slowly got up from the ground. Apart from a twitch of his nose, his mind seemed clearer. He remembered he was grinding the Carnival event solo last night. It was a good, big payout, and the boss had given him a lot, so it was worth the effort.

"Did I fall asleep while grinding?"

He swiped his finger across the menu. The Panel option now had a Lottery option. Warehouse, Skill Tree, and Encyclopedia were all blank. No matter how he looked, he could only see the HP bar and MP bar, with no exit button.

"What the heck is going on? Is the server acting up again?"

Just as he was wondering, a strong hand grabbed him and lifted him up.

A man with a scar on his face, wearing a menacing expression, said, "Hey, kid! Did you steal any money today? Slacking off again!"

"Huh?" It wasn't until he was lifted that he realized how small his body was.

He glanced at the scarred man. His attire strongly resembled the style of the Imperial City Gang, with a black leather jacket like a traditional Chinese vest. His demeanor screamed "scoundrel."

But he had played this game for so many years, and there was no such NPC on the world map.

"Kid, are you starving to death?" The scarred man threw the boy down.

The sudden sense of loss brought back his last memory before collapsing.

Right! He wasn't mistaken. He had finished his grind and was about to rest, but he had died suddenly.

Could this situation mean he had been reincarnated?

It seems I've been reborn into another world.

He calmly accepted it. Although there was no truck involved, he had seen enough transmigration in novels and anime.

This meant he could discard his old name and live again.

"Excuse me, what's your name?" The boy, having fallen to the ground, calmly looked at the fierce, scarred man in front of him.

"I say, kid, have you gone crazy, or are you deliberately messing with me?" The scarred man raised his leg but didn't immediately stomp down. He also sized up the "little piglet" in front of him, noticing he seemed different from his usual timid self.

He was too calm when facing him, not begging for mercy at all. This situation either meant his head was messed up, or he was possessed by a demon, or perhaps an apostle...

The scarred man's expression gradually turned serious, and he subconsciously touched the scar on his face.

Can't find the book title? Try searching for the author, maybe they just changed the name!

"Excuse me, what's your name?" the boy repeated, his calm eyes showing no fear.

"My name is Anke. You can call me Master Anke. But kid, what's your name? Do you even have a name?" A hint of confusion flickered in the scarred man's eyes. He knew this kid; he was usually a timid little piglet who barely dared to speak a few words.

"Hello, my name is... Mel Carlo." The boy glanced at the menu page and finally used his Game ID. He had used this game name the first time he played the game; it was a completely random game name, likely picked from the game's library.

"Did you steal any money today?"

"Steal money? I don't remember. Where is this place? What do I need to do? Why am I here?" Mel Carlo sensed the relationship between them; it was clearly that of a gang thug and a gang-controlled orphan.

The game's background side quests had introduced the Imperial City Gang as the dark underbelly of the Gard Empire's Imperial Capital, exploiting orphans and kidnapped children for begging and theft.

In that case, he definitely couldn't reveal his true identity. He had to adapt as quickly as possible. This kind of fantasy game set in another world might be quite dark.

He had to be thankful that he had paid attention to the game's cutscenes and background text descriptions during his free time, instead of skipping them. Otherwise, he wouldn't have understood his current situation at all.

When he was a game player, these Imperial City Gang members were just minor mobs in the game. But now, such a mob could lift him with one hand.

He had no idea what the basic stats of his current body were. All the basic attribute stats were not displayed in the menu. Only the pain from falling onto the ground was very real, much more real than in the game.

"It seems your head is really fried. But you're lucky; you seem to have recovered from your fever and still have some value. Come back with me. I'll tell the boss to go easy on you today." The scarred man shook his head helplessly.

"Oh, Master Anke." The boy nodded and quickly got up from the ground, still feeling a bit weak.

He was Mel Carlo now, but he still felt a little uneasy. If the boy he had reincarnated into had a different original name, would he be considered demon-possessed and burned at the stake?

But he had already given his name, so he could only follow along for now.

Barefoot, he walked through two streets. This was very different from the game world he knew. The Imperial Capital was larger than in the game, and the street layouts had changed. To save resources, the game naturally wouldn't make the Imperial Capital that large.

But this reborn world's Imperial Capital was clearly much larger than what the game depicted.

He curiously observed everything around him, constantly pondering his situation. Based on his current guess, if he was indeed an orphan controlled by a gang syndicate, escaping would be difficult. If he ran now, he'd probably get beaten severely.

With his small arms and legs, he couldn't outrun the adult in front of him. He looked up and carefully observed the scarred man. His level was LV10, a full 9 levels higher than his own. He shouldn't provoke trouble for now and just follow behind.

Mel Carlo followed the scarred man barefoot. The uneven ground made walking uncomfortable.

Finally, they arrived near a chaotic slum. The door opened, and they entered a spacious courtyard where many Gang Scoundrels were sitting, similar to the scenes in the game.

The crack of the whip made Mel Carlo flinch. He figured that last whip would have hurt if it had landed on him.

Right now, a child, about seven years old, was curled up on the ground. It was clear the whip had struck him, as he couldn't even beg for mercy, only whimpers and screams could be heard.

"You haven't stolen a single coin all day, eating my food for free, you useless pig!"

A portly middle-aged man with a gold tooth sat in front, furiously cursing. His level was listed as [?], a common indicator when the level difference exceeded 10 and the system menu couldn't display it.

"You, come here!" The middle-aged man sitting in front suddenly fixed his gaze on Mel Carlo, who had just entered.

I'm dead. Damn it, I just reincarnated and I don't want to start over.

Even though he had anticipated this situation, he still had no solution.

Logically, after reincarnation, the game menu should have released quests. Yet, there was no system information, and the lottery option had no points to use.

Where's the system? Damn it!