Winter Chill

Great Gan Dynasty, Qinghe County, Kaoshan Village.

Early winter.

The northern wind howled and wailed.

Inside a house, a teenage boy squatted blankly before the hearth.

Simps don't come to a good end... The ancients truly never deceive me.

The boy was named Lu Chuan. Just yesterday, he was a busy corporate drone in another world.

On his way home from work, he saw someone jump into a river, and he leaped in to save them. Instead, the person seeking death entangled him tightly, and they sank to the bottom together.

Opening his eyes again, he had arrived here.

The original owner was also named Lu Chuan, sixteen years old, a dyed-in-the-wool simp born and raised in Kaoshan Village with a timid and easily bullied personality.

A few days ago, the village goddess named Xinghua casually said, "I want to eat fish," and this kid actually dared to jump into an iced-over river in the dead of winter.

He caught no fish, and by the time he came up, he was burning with a fever that cost him half his life, never waking up again.

Glancing at the coarse cloth garments on his body, Lu Chuan sighed.

"The opening is already Hell mode..."

In his memories, his father Lu Danian was a hunter, his mother Zheng Lan relied on washing clothes to supplement their household income, and the family also possessed two mu of lean fields.

In a bountiful year, the family of three could barely scrape by with enough food and clothing.

Yet this year was vastly different. Qinghe County, where he resided, had suffered a severe drought, and vast numbers of crops withered and died before they could even ripen.

For farmers who scraped a living out of the soil, this was naturally catastrophic news.

Take Lu Chuan's family for instance: their stored grain could not sustain them for much longer, and their sole savings were merely a few qian of silver at the bottom of the rice jar.

Now it was already early winter; how could this tiny bit of money support a family of three through it?

"In this ancient era with low productivity, a cold winter... a famine really kills people."

Although Lu Chuan still retained plenty of manufacturing techniques in his mind, such as soap and alcohol, all of them required capital support.

Yet capital was precisely what he lacked the most right now!

Putting away his thoughts, Lu Chuan felt wave after wave of hunger.

Mother Lu was still washing clothes at this time, while Lu Danian had already gone hunting in the mountains several days ago. Before setting out, he had stated that he would not return until he caught a large beast.

"I'd better chop some wood and cook, or we'll all starve to death..."

Lu Chuan rubbed his hands, then stood up to fetch the woodchopping knife, intending to split some firewood.

At the exact moment his hand touched the woodchopping knife, a bizarre change occurred!

Lines of clear writing appeared before him without any warning.

[Weapon: Woodchopping Knife]
[Quality: Mortal Tier, Low Grade]
[Description: This is merely a heavily worn woodchopping knife. Hopefully you will not be harmed by it and become its final owner.]
[Collection Effect: Can acquire Basic Chopping Skill]

At the same time he touched that woodchopping knife, the lines of small characters before his eyes left him frozen in place.

Immediately afterward, his heart began to beat violently.

It was here!

At this moment, Lu Chuan knew that he had finally waited for his Golden Finger!

Suppressing his excitement, he began to study the introduction before him.

"Collecting weapons allows one to acquire talents and martial insights... Simple and brutal, though I don't know if there are any restrictions on collecting weapons."

Perhaps hearing Lu Chuan's confusion, the next moment, a line of text appeared once more.

[The system will automatically absorb the collected weapon. The rewards obtained from collecting a weapon are related to the weapon's material and experiences.]
[Currently collectible weapons: 3]

After reading this, Lu Chuan's heart finally settled completely.

"The weapon will vanish after being absorbed by the system. It seems it has to be one's own weapon to be safely absorbed... As for the other points, there's nothing to worry about."

[Whether to collect?]

Lu Chuan's gaze sharpened.