Waking in the Primordial Wilderness

(The previous few chapters are a bit wordy, so feel free to skim them.)

Chapter One: Waking in the Primordial Wilderness

Chen An was jolted awake by a sharp, drilling pain.

His consciousness returned before his body did, as if he had broken free from an endless nightmare only to fall into an even more terrifying, more realistic horror film. He abruptly opened his eyes, but instead of the familiar ceiling, he saw a deep blue sky so vast it made his heart tremble. It was pure, ancient blue, with a few cotton-like white clouds hanging high above and drifting slowly, carrying a cleanliness that belonged to no industrial age.

A violent headache felt as though someone were chiseling at his skull, accompanied by an aching soreness that made his entire body feel as if it had come apart. He struggled to sit up, only to find that his limbs felt unbearably heavy, as if they were no longer his own.

He drew a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart, but the air filling his lungs made him dizzy.

This air... was too "thick."

He did not mean smog. It was an indescribable sense of weight and freshness, as if he were inside an oxygen chamber filled with air of the highest purity, mixed with the scents of earth and plants, along with a strange, savage fragrance he had never smelled before.

With every breath, tiny energy particles seemed to force their way into his lungs, bringing a bizarre sense of "fullness" along with immense pressure. His lungs, accustomed to the filthy air of the city, could barely endure it.

"Where... is this?"

He muttered to himself, his voice dry and hoarse. He forced his upper body up and looked around, his pupils shrinking instantly.

He was lying in a strange grassland where the grass reached his waist.

The blades were broad and crystalline green, with faint light seemingly flowing through their veins. Not far away stood towering ancient trees dozens of meters high, their rough bark resembling dragon scales and their branches and leaves so dense that they blotted out the sky. Some of their shapes were unlike anything he had ever seen in a botanical guide.

From farther away came muffled roars like thunder, along with sharp, shrill cries from birds. Every sound made the earth tremble faintly—and made his heart stop.

Fear, like an icy tide, instantly drowned his reason.

His last memory was of an accidental explosion in the laboratory. Blinding white light, a scorching wave of heat, and then nothingness. Transmigration? Could something that existed only in web novels really have happened to him?

"No... No way..." He tried to deny it, but the primitive, boundless world before him, filled with an aura of danger, mercilessly shattered his last sliver of hope.

He was Chen An, a science and engineering PhD who had graduated only recently. He should have been dealing with data and instruments in a laboratory, not in this damned place that looked as though prehistoric beasts might leap out at any moment!

His instinct for survival forced him to calm down.

He examined himself. Aside from scrapes and bruises, he seemed to have no life-threatening injuries. Fortunately, the backpack he almost never went anywhere without was still on his back. Inside were some daily necessities: a phone with a dead battery, a lighter, half a bottle of mineral water, several packets of compressed biscuits, a packet of mixed vegetable seeds—originally intended for an experiment on his balcony—and a worn copy of the Tao Te Ching he had stuffed inside to pass the time.

These insignificant items had become his only support.

He had to leave this place. The grass was too deep and too dangerous. Who knew what venomous insects or ferocious beasts were hiding inside?

He needed to find somewhere relatively safe, somewhere that would at least allow him to observe his surroundings and think of a way forward.

Enduring the pain throughout his body, Chen An carefully parted the grass, trying not to make a sound as he moved toward an area that appeared to be slightly higher. The earth beneath his feet was soft and springy, and every step sank deep into it.

The silence around him was relative. That omnipresent pressure from the ancient past was more suffocating than any noise.

Suddenly, the bushes on his left shook violently, and a black shadow shot out! It was a creature resembling a wild rabbit, but twice as large, with sharp tusks protruding from the corners of its mouth. It glared at Chen An with blood-red eyes before fleeing into the distance in panic.

Chen An was scared witless and pressed himself tightly against the ground, not daring to breathe too loudly. From that single glance, he had sensed a cold killing intent and a ferocity far beyond that of an ordinary animal. This was absolutely not some docile herbivore!

Before he could recover, the sky suddenly darkened. A gigantic bird of prey with a wingspan exceeding ten meters streaked across the sky like gray lightning. Its sharp talons seized the fleeing Tusk Rabbit with pinpoint precision. With a brief, pitiful cry, the giant bird beat its wings and soared away, vanishing into the depths of the forest.

The faint smell of blood spread through the air.

Chen An lay on the ground, his body trembling uncontrollably. Cold sweat soaked through his thin clothes. The law of the jungle, where the weak were preyed upon by the strong, had been displayed before him in the most brutal way possible. As an ordinary man who could barely fight a chicken, he feared he would not survive even a day here!

Despair coiled around his heart like vines, tightening more and more.

He did not know how long he had lain there. His limbs eventually went numb, and the sky began to darken slightly. He had to move. The Primordial Wilderness would only be more dangerous at night than during the day. Gritting his teeth, he continued crawling forward.

At last, he crawled out of that despairing stretch of tall grass. Ahead lay a small patch of relatively open gravel, and beyond that was a steep slope descending downward. At the foot of the slope seemed to be a small valley surrounded by mountains, its depths shrouded in mist and impossible to make out clearly.

Perhaps... the bottom of the valley would be safer?

The instant that thought arose, a horrifying growl came from behind him. Chen An turned back stiffly and saw two creatures resembling wild wolves approaching slowly. Their fur was gray-black like stone, and bloodthirsty green light flickered in their eyes. Saliva dripped from their fangs, corroding tiny pits into the ground.

They had clearly already taken him for prey.

Run!

That was the only word left in Chen An's mind. He unleashed potential he had never known he possessed and charged toward the steep slope, rolling and crawling, no longer caring whether he would fall to his death. The growls behind him became excited roars as the Demonic Beasts accelerated after him!

The slope was steep and slick with moss. Chen An's foot suddenly slipped, and his entire body tumbled down like a rolling gourd. The world spun around him as rocks and branches slammed into his body, bringing wave after wave of pain. Before he completely lost consciousness, he had only one thought: I'm done for...

After an unknown amount of time, Chen An regained consciousness. This time, there was no headache and no intense soreness, only the exhaustion of having narrowly escaped death. He found himself lying on the cold ground, with dry earth and fallen leaves beneath him.

He was actually still alive? After falling down such a steep slope, he had suffered only some superficial injuries?

He struggled to sit up and discovered that he was at the bottom of a secluded valley. The light in the valley was gentle, and the air seemed fresher than it had been on the slope. The suffocating savage pressure had also weakened considerably. The valley was not large. Three sides were enclosed by steep cliffs covered in green vines, while the fourth side was the slope he had fallen down.

Most eye-catching of all was the dilapidated Small Courtyard in the center of the valley, forgotten by time.

The Small Courtyard had been built from rough stones. Its walls were not high, but most of them remained intact, though they were covered in moss and cracks. A half-rotten wooden door stood ajar, its hinges apparently already decayed. Inside stood a similarly dilapidated stone house, a crude thatched shed, and an overgrown garden choked with weeds. In one corner of the courtyard was a well half-covered by a stone slab.

Everything here clashed with the surrounding primitive Primordial Wilderness, as if it had been cut from some peaceful rural village and then abandoned here by time.

Hope, like a match struck in the darkness, flickered weakly but truly to life.

A courtyard meant that someone had once lived here! Perhaps he could find tools, or even... food?

The desire to survive overwhelmed his fear of the unknown. Chen An gathered his courage and walked step by step toward the Small Courtyard. He gently pushed open the creaking wooden door and entered.

The courtyard looked even more desolate from within, yet it was strangely clean. There were no traces of animal droppings or nests. He entered the stone house, which was empty except for some rotting timber and thick layers of dust.

Just as he was beginning to feel disappointed, an inexplicable stream of information, like a gentle spring, surged into his mind without warning—

[Suitable host detected. Absolute Safe Zone System activating... Binding in progress...]

[Binding successful!]

[Area of effect: The space within the courtyard, bounded by the courtyard walls.]

[Rule One: Within the safe zone, the host is immune to all external malicious attacks and damage.]

[Rule Two: Within the safe zone, the environment remains constant and is unaffected by extreme weather outside.]

[Rule Three: The safe zone cannot be moved or upgraded.]

[We wish you a pleasant life.]

The stream of information ended, and Chen An stood rooted to the spot. It took him a full half-minute to digest the unbelievable contents.

A safe zone? Immune to all damage?

He pinched himself incredulously. It hurt. This was not a dream.

He abruptly turned around and looked at the scene of the Primordial World beyond the courtyard gate. As he sensed the deathly silent yet peaceful space within the courtyard, immense joy and relief surged through him, nearly drowning him.

From the brink of death... to survival!

He, Chen An, an ordinary man who had transmigrated to the Primordial World, finally had a place to stand. Although this system was laughably crude—it could neither let him cultivate nor make him invincible—but the words "absolute safety" were more precious at this moment than any supreme cultivation manual.

He slumped down on the courtyard's earth, leaned against the cold stone wall, and gazed at the vast, perilous Primordial World beyond the gate. Then he let out a long, long breath.

Being alive felt wonderful.

(End of Chapter One)