This Is an Incredibly Dark and Desperate World

For Fang Zheng, the feeling of teleportation was anything but pleasant.

The instant he vanished, Fang Zheng felt the ground beneath his feet turn into a void. Then his entire body seemed to plunge downward as if he had boarded an endless slide. He could not even tell whether he was actually falling, only that countless stars seemed to flicker around him as the world spun wildly—then Fang Zheng felt his body shoot high into the air.

The next moment, gravity mercilessly seized him once more.

"Bang!!"

As he crashed heavily onto the ground again, Fang Zheng could not help crying out. He felt as if his entire body were about to fall apart; there was not a single part of him that did not hurt.

Why was he so unlucky? He had transmigrated twice in a row, and both times he had been thrown straight onto the ground. Was there no justice in this world?

"Fang Zheng!!"

Just as Fang Zheng was grumbling inwardly, a man's voice rang out beside him. Then Fang Zheng felt someone grab him and pull him up from the ground. He opened his eyes and looked ahead, only to see an armored man staring intently at him.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

"I... I'm fine."

Though he had no idea who the man before him was, Fang Zheng still shook his head and forced himself to wake up before answering. Hearing his reply, the man finally let out a relieved breath. He released Fang Zheng and raised the longsword in his hand.

"Quick, we need to get out of here! Those damned Undead will surround us any moment now! If we don't leave now, we'll never get away!!"

"Huh?"

Hearing the man's words, Fang Zheng looked to the side. Only then did he discover that amid the torrential rain, dozens of monsters with rotting bodies, like the Undead from a movie, were walking toward them. Not far away, several soldiers were already lying in pools of blood, no longer breathing.

What the hell, again?

Looking at the scene before him, Fang Zheng was utterly speechless. System, are you trying to kill me? I was hunted down right after being reborn, and after switching worlds to escape, I'm still getting surrounded and attacked?

Still, at least this time it was not those terrifying Paladins surrounding him, but a group of Undead... Well, that was not much better.

With that thought, Fang Zheng swiftly drew Frostmourne and immediately followed the man as they raced toward the edge of the wilderness. The Undead were not fast, but there were far too many of them. If Fang Zheng and the man had not run quickly enough, they would likely never have escaped once they were surrounded.

"Damn it!"

Only after escaping the encirclement did the man clench his fist and swing it through the air.

"I never expected so many Undead creatures to appear near the church! Those fine young men... Sigh, I can't even bury them..."

With that, the man sighed and glanced at Fang Zheng.

"All right, let's return to Tristram. Those damned Undead will surely attack the town. We have to protect it!"

"I understand."

Hearing the man's order, Fang Zheng said nothing and merely nodded. It seemed that within the system's mission world, the system had already arranged an identity for him. But even now, he still had not figured out what world this was. Judging by the man's attire, it seemed somewhat similar in nature to the Main World where he had been reborn.

The rain grew heavier and heavier. Soaked to the bone, Fang Zheng and the man returned to the town known as Tristram looking like drowned rats. It was not a particularly large town. Its gates were tightly shut, with only two Militia members holding longbows stationed atop the watchtowers on either side. When they saw the pair arrive before the gates, the guards on the towers immediately nocked their arrows and aimed at Fang Zheng and the others.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?!"

In response to the guards' question, the man beside Fang Zheng shouted loudly.

"It's me! Rumford! And Fang Zheng! We're back!"

"It's Captain Rumford!"

Upon hearing Rumford's voice, the guards atop the watchtower froze for a moment, then immediately waved and shouted.

"Open the gates! Captain Rumford and the others are back!"

Amid the guards' cries, the gates slowly opened, and Rumford led Fang Zheng inside.

The moment he entered the town, Fang Zheng could sense the tense atmosphere. Beneath the torrential rain, the entire town looked gloomy and deserted. Near a large pit in the distance, several Militia corpses lay scattered across the ground. Rumford's brow immediately furrowed when he saw them.

"Why haven't you cremated them?"

"The rain is too heavy, Captain!"

Hearing Rumford's question, a guard wiped the rain from his face and shouted back.

"We can't set them alight..."

"Then put up some cloth to keep off the rain! Use lamp oil! Or do you want to see them get back up and drag you into the abyss of death too?! Move!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing Rumford's command, the Militia member hurriedly turned and left. Only then did Rumford let out a breath and turn to Fang Zheng.

"All right, Fang Zheng. You were lucky to make it back alive... Go get some rest at The Slaughtered Cow Inn. Change your clothes, get something to eat, and tell the owner to put it on my tab."

"Understood, Captain Rumford."

Hearing Rumford's words, Fang Zheng nodded, then turned and left. He also needed some time to think about what sort of world he had arrived in. The things Rumford had said earlier contained far too much information, leaving Fang Zheng rather dazed. He vaguely felt that Tristram sounded familiar, as if he had heard the name somewhere before...

Fang Zheng had originally planned to ask someone where The Slaughtered Cow Inn was, but he soon realized there was no need—there was only one inn in the entire town, and its sign was hanging right above the entrance.

"Jingle."

Pushing open the inn's door and entering the main hall, the first thing Fang Zheng smelled was a pungent medicinal odor. Then he saw several severely injured soldiers lying against the wall, groaning in pain. Seeing Fang Zheng arrive, the owner behind the counter waved at him.

"Yo, Fang Zheng! You're really lucky to have come back alive!"

"Not bad. I've got decent luck, Boss."

Fang Zheng smiled in response to the owner's greeting, and the owner chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah. Sixteen of you went out, yet only you and Captain Rumford came back alive. That really is lucky... All right, enough talk. I've prepared a change of clothes for you in your room, and there's hot meat soup and flatbread waiting for you!"

Fang Zheng was starving by now. Ever since he had been reborn, he had not eaten a single bite of food. Hearing the owner's words, he hurriedly changed his clothes, then came out to enjoy his dinner. To be fair, the food was not especially delicious, but when someone was starving, everything tasted good, and Fang Zheng was no exception. Since someone else was paying, he spared no effort in stuffing himself while praising the owner's cooking. As an innkeeper living in an era resembling the Middle Ages, the owner had naturally never heard the sort of flattery Fang Zheng, a man from the age of information explosion, could offer. Just a few sentences made him beam with delight. Not only did he give Fang Zheng extra food, he even waved his hand and waived the entire meal's cost.

At the same time, Fang Zheng finally managed to learn from the innkeeper what had happened earlier.

"You mean... a Falling Star?"

"Yeah."

Hearing Fang Zheng's question, the innkeeper nodded gravely.

"A Falling Star came down from the sky and struck the church directly, collapsing the whole thing! Ah, you didn't see the scene—it was absolutely terrifying. Later, that little girl Leah came over and said she wanted to gather the Militia to look for her uncle. Sigh... I never expected something like this to happen..."

"A Falling Star?"

Hearing this, Fang Zheng could not help furrowing his brow. Then, as if he had thought of something, he looked at the innkeeper.

"Right, Miss Leah's uncle... what was his name?"

"Hmm... I think it was... Deckard Cain."

At that moment, Fang Zheng finally knew what world he had come to.

This was an incomparably dark and desperate world, a world where everyone struggled desperately to survive, yet could only helplessly accept their fate.

Diablo.