In the year 3035 AD, Earth had already become a planet with an extraordinarily advanced technological civilization. Things that had existed only in science fiction movies over a thousand years ago had now become reality.
Little Wang rode his electromagnetic bike, speeding along the flat, broad road, his mood exceptionally cheerful. That was because he was heading toward the place he had dreamed of day and night—
AI Technology Store.
He soon arrived at the store. Little Wang got off his electromagnetic bike, casually set it aside, and rushed inside.
"Hello, welcome. How may I help you?" asked a female sales guide with textbook beauty and a professionally trained standard smile.
"I'll look around myself." Little Wang nodded with a smile and strode over to a display counter.
That section specialized in AI glasses, the kind similar to those worn by Iron Man.
By then, this gadget had become an ordinary device, much like cell phones a thousand years ago.
"Hello, please get me that pair of HW-NX-96T glasses," Little Wang said politely to the saleswoman.
The saleswoman looked almost exactly like the guide, likely the handiwork of the same cosmetic hospital. Her smile was equally standardized. Parting her red lips slightly, she said with a smile, "Sir, although those glasses are the newest model, they are still in the market research phase. The software and hardware currently available on the market do not have good compatibility with them. You might as well..."
Little Wang politely raised a hand to interrupt her, smiling as he said, "Just get me these. I hope to gradually upgrade them and configure them into the best AI glasses possible."
The saleswoman had received excellent training, so she said no more. She took out the glasses and began the sales process.
Once everything was finished, Little Wang put on the glasses and left the store.
The moment he stepped outside, the sales guide sneered at the saleswoman. "He rides an electromagnetic bike, yet he dares to talk about upgrading glasses like those? What outrageous boasting."
The saleswoman also said disdainfully, "People like him just love putting on airs. He bought equipment still in the research phase because it's dirt cheap. Then he'll have an excuse to brag to others. After all, it can be upgraded."
The sales guide pretended to ask seriously, "Then do you think he can upgrade that device?"
"Him?" The saleswoman curled her lip. "I think only after he dies and is reincarnated might that be possible. An electromagnetic bike rider, hmph."
"Isn't that so?" Perhaps because Little Wang had barely paid her any attention, leaving her feelings a little wounded, the sales guide said viciously, "He'll probably get into an accident and die any minute now..."
Boom!
A string of tremendous explosions left the two textbook beauties staring in dumbfounded shock. After standing there blankly for a moment, the sales guide pulled open the door and looked outside.
In the distance, flames soared into the sky and thick smoke billowed. The streets were in complete chaos. Road patrol robots immediately began dealing with the fire and evacuating the crowds...
Several people walking this way chatted excitedly.
"That was really awful. How did that electromagnetic bike suddenly explode?"
"That thing's explosion was seriously powerful. I heard the person on it was blasted so thoroughly into thin air that not even a scrap of bone was left."
The group of gossiping people walked away. The sales guide and the saleswoman stared foolishly at each other, thinking of an idiom:
A prophecy spoken aloud had come true!
His head hurt. His entire body hurt, as though he were being pricked by countless needles. Little Wang struggled to get up, but felt as though two great mountains were pressing down on his eyelids, making them impossible to open.
After great effort, he finally opened his eyes, only to see an unfamiliar environment.
A dim room, moldy corners, peeling walls, battered tables and chairs, and beneath him, a single wooden bed that seemed ready to fall apart at any moment.
"This..."
Little Wang rubbed his temples, only to discover that his hands had become much smaller. The explosion had scattered his consciousness like clouds blown apart by the wind, and only now was it slowly gathering again.
"This... what is going on? Could it be... But how is that possible?"
As though a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head, he ignored the pain in his body and immediately got up.
That was right. His hands belonged to a child, and they were filthy. He looked around, searching for something, until he finally spotted a cracked mirror on the wall by the door.
He staggered over and faced the face divided by the cracks in the mirror.
It was a somewhat grimy little face, with a broad, full forehead. Below it were sword-like brows and starry eyes, just as novels described them, along with well-formed features.
Especially those eyes beneath long lashes—they were clear as a pool in spring, still gleaming brilliantly amid such hardship, as though they carried a hint of laughter.
Looking down at his bare upper body, Little Wang could not help sighing. This little frame had ribs that could be counted one by one. Fortunately, his wheat-colored skin showed that he spent plenty of time in the sun, so malnutrition had not turned him into a deformity with a pigeon chest and beaded ribs.
His stomach and chest were naturally brothers in misfortune, both flat. If he lay down, he would probably have a textbook scaphoid abdomen. Now that he was standing, his drooping stomach and intestines could at least prop up appearances, like puffing up a swollen face to pretend to be fat.
The moment he saw his skin-and-bones body and flat stomach, Little Wang was overcome by hunger at the sight.
In truth, the earlier mental shock had scattered that hunger. Now that he was gradually calming down, it had once more seized the high ground.
Little Wang weakly returned to the bed, curled up, and clutched his stomach. At present, only one thing was clear. Everything else was unknown.
The one clear thing was that he had somehow transmigrated!
Could it have been related to his electromagnetic bike's sudden explosion? Human thought and consciousness were, in essence, complex electromagnetic waves. When the electromagnetic bike exploded, had electromagnetic force sent his consciousness across time and space?
Of course, there was another way to describe it: soul transmigration.
But the question was, whose body was this, and where was he? What was this place like? What was its civilization like?
Countless questions echoed in his mind, yet there were no answers.
Suddenly, a voice broke through his wild thoughts.
"Chen Nan! Chen Nan! Are you awake?" Footsteps reached the door after the shout. The broken door was pushed open, and a child of around ten rushed inside.
He was not particularly sturdy either, and the run left him gasping for breath. Yet when he saw the "Chen Nan" on the bed, he still smiled.
"You're awake?" the child said with an innocent smile. "I thought you were going to die. That was terrifying! Such a huge bolt of lightning split a big tree in half, yet you actually survived!"
Little Wang's stomach cramped as he thought, Was I lying here because I got struck by lightning? What sin did I commit?
And it seemed he had acquired a new name: Chen Nan.
His former self on Earth had probably already been blasted to nothing in that electromagnetic storm. In other words, it was completely impossible for him to go back.
Still, he had bought insurance. The accident involving that electromagnetic bike should result in a huge payout. His parents also had his younger brother to rely on. With the money he had exchanged his life for, they could live quite well...
Why did thinking about this make Little Wang want to cry more and more?
Besides, he was not someone who committed insurance fraud. How could the affairs of civilized people be called fraud?
Forget it. A storm had left no bones behind; how could a soul transferred to another world merely sigh in submission? Since ancient times, all transmigrators had been heroes—how could one of my generation dare not be a true man!
Cast aside the past and welcome the future. Damn it, my name was Chen Nan now!
"Grrrrumble~"
"Ow, I'm so hungry, so hungry!" Little Wang, the transmigrator now named Chen Nan, clutched his stomach and cried miserably.
"You're hungry? I came to check on you, and also because dinner is about to start. If we get there late, there won't be anything left to eat." The child came over and helped Chen Nan up.
Seeing that face full of friendship, Chen Nan felt deeply ashamed. He had none of the original owner's memories, so he had no idea what this child was called.
Fortunately, he had been struck by lightning, so anything he said could be justified.
Thus, he asked, "I seem to have lost my memory. What's your name? Where is this place? What era is this..."
The child touched Chen Nan's forehead and muttered to himself, "No fever. Why are you talking nonsense? Let's go. I'll tell you on the way."
And so, Chen Nan followed him out.
He soon learned that the child was called Little Black Ox, and that they lived in an Orphanage in Wu City. Little Black Ox knew some things about Wu City, but once the conversation extended to nations and the world, it clearly went beyond his knowledge.
Therefore, the information Chen Nan could obtain was pitifully scarce.
"Look, that's the tree beneath which you were struck by lightning!" Little Black Ox pointed excitedly at a tree beside the path. Clearly, he thought being struck by lightning was something very interesting.
Chen Nan, meanwhile, stared so hard that his mouth hung open.
It was a huge tree several meters tall, requiring five or six people to encircle it. It had now been split down the middle by a crack wide enough for a person to crawl into. Branches and leaves lay scattered around it, while the split wood bore blood-red streaks, making it look like a wound.
Visitors gathered around the tree, commenting on the strange sight. There were even several adults among them.
"Director, Chen Nan is here!" a child shouted excitedly.
The adults all turned around. For one moment, Chen Nan felt as though he had walked into a haunted house and encountered demons.
Their faces were all dark, their expressions furious, and they strode over with the authority adults wielded over children.
One of them, a man whose brows and eyes formed the shape of the character eight, thrust out a sausage-like finger and jabbed Chen Nan's forehead like a javelin.
Chen Nan nearly fell backward onto the ground. It seemed to have started raining above him, before he realized it was the man's spit.
"You abandoned bastard! You actually dared to transfer your misfortune onto this ancient tree! This is utterly outrageous!
Do you know how valuable this ancient tree is? Even a hundred lives of yours wouldn't be worth a single tree. If you were going to get struck by lightning, why the hell didn't you roll farther away!
Tie Dan, Ye Gou, you two drag this little bastard to the storeroom! Don't let him eat! Lock him up for a week first!"
At that moment, Chen Nan understood just how powerless a child could be. He was only around ten years old. Before the situation in front of him, he had no control whatsoever. Before he could offer any rebuttal or take any action, two strong children dragged him away.
A moment later, he was locked inside a pitch-black so-called storeroom that reeked and was damp.
There was no bed here, not even a token pile of straw.
Chen Nan, wearing only a pair of tattered pants, looked at such an environment. The high-spirited passion he had felt earlier had completely shattered.
Sigh, this transmigration of his seemed a bit miserable!
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