Chen Daolin

"Caw~~"

A giant eagle with a wingspan of over twenty meters, pitch-black all over with fiery red feathers on its head, streaked across the horizon like lightning. It arrived high above this land, lowered its head, and gazed coldly with golden eyes at the vast, endless urban complex sprawling beneath it.

With another fierce flap of its wings, its speed instantly broke the sound barrier, transforming into a streak of black lightning that plunged into the dark clouds above and vanished.

As the rose-red sun in the west gradually dipped below the horizon, the light of the entire world was carried away, and the scattered lights of the city spread out like lotus flowers blooming in water.

The sky began to turn gloomy, thick with dark clouds.

The first heavy rain of summer soon poured down, shrouding the entire city in a misty veil. Only the rustling sound of raindrops hitting leaves could be heard from the forests in the green belts.

This was a behemoth with a population of over two hundred million, a miracle created by humanity. Steel and concrete buildings rose from the ground, piercing the sky, while the streets below were filled with heavy traffic and bustling crowds.

On the street corners, there were exhausted men returning home from work, martial arts students in training uniforms moving with swift, agile steps, and groups of energetic students.

Chen Daolin was just an unremarkable one among them.

Having just left the martial arts hall, he had changed into his school uniform: a thin frame under a white shirt, black trousers, and a pair of faded gray cloth shoes.

Clean and tidy, just as he always appeared to others, but this could not hide the lingering exhaustion on his face.

He tucked his intermediate student certificate—which had taken him nearly three years of hard work to obtain—back into his pocket. Chen Daolin looked up at the gray, rain-drenched sky. His black hair was soaked, his bangs plastered against his forehead, feeling quite uncomfortable.

He pursed his lips and wiped the rainwater from his face, revealing a plain, slightly youthful, yet determined countenance.

He moved his tongue against his gums, and a faint, metallic, salty taste traveled through his taste buds to his brain. At the same time, the dull aches from several spots on his body followed, as if his muscles and nerves were groaning... Chen Daolin felt even worse; those advanced students had really hit hard.

He touched his twitching facial muscles, but Chen Daolin remained expressionless. As for the matter of "provoking" those advanced students at the martial arts hall earlier, he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind.

He knew that if he had just endured today's events, it would have passed. Given his current strength and situation, he would only be the one to suffer if he kept entangled.

Compared to the money-driven world of his past life, this world believed more in the supremacy of force. It had become a habit for people to join martial arts halls to train, and the status of a true martial artist in society was something ordinary people could only look up to.

There were only about a hundred advanced students at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall in Yi'an District, while there were thousands of intermediate students like him with no reputation. Whether in terms of status or strength, he was simply not on the same level as them.

The thought of finding someone to stand up for him surfaced in his mind, only to be discarded without hesitation. Even if Chen Daolin lacked backbone, he couldn't bring himself to have a woman fight his battles; this was a matter of a man's dignity.

Even though Chen Daolin knew that the reason he was tortured by those advanced students today had a lot to do with her.

"My dear lady, if you want to beat people up, fine, even one-against-three is no problem, but could you please stop mentioning that you know me!"

Chen Daolin sighed toward the sky.

As you can see, his name is Chen Daolin, an ordinary transmigrator. He is eighteen years old and currently attends Yi'an District No. 3 High School in Yangzhou City, Jiangnan Base City.

His biological parents are unknown. He was adopted as an infant by an ordinary couple who died three years ago during a monster attack on the city. The original owner of this body died at the same time, and then Chen Daolin transmigrated, taking over the body to continue living.

It is now 2056, more than thirty years after humanity and monsters ended their large-scale war. Humanity has established 52 giant base cities globally to defend against monster attacks, and the Jiangnan Base City where Chen Daolin resides is located within the territory of Huaxia Country, one of the five remaining major powers.

Jiangnan Base City is divided into a main urban area and eight satellite cities. Yangzhou is one of these eight, with a population of over two hundred million—something unimaginable in Chen Daolin's previous life.

To combat the powerful and endless monster tribes, humanity vigorously promotes martial arts training and cultivates martial artists. Besides the national military, there are numerous martial arts halls across the world.

Among them, the Extreme Martial Arts Hall founded by the world's number one powerhouse, Hong, and the Thunder Martial Arts Hall founded by the world's second, Thunder God, are the most famous. Chen Daolin was previously training as an intermediate student at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall.

Nowadays, almost all high school students join martial arts halls to develop their human potential in addition to their academic studies. Anyone aged sixteen can sign up at local halls to learn, and they can continue until they are thirty. If they haven't advanced from a student to a martial artist by then, they lose their eligibility to train at the hall.

Countless people dream of becoming martial artists, but the path is rugged and difficult. Taking Chen Daolin's school, Yi'an District No. 3 High School, with its four or five thousand students, as an example:

The vast majority across the three grades are junior students, a very small number are intermediate students, and there are only four advanced students!

This is a gap that cannot be bridged by mere hard work; it requires more resources and talent.

Clearly, besides being penniless, Chen Daolin's talent didn't seem very good.

Even though he was uncontrollably excited when he first transmigrated and learned of the existence of powers beyond human understanding, and had spent over two years in hellish, desperate training, he had only just crossed the threshold into being an intermediate student.

Without a major opportunity or change, he would have to wait until after university graduation to become an advanced student, and that was only if he maintained his current level of diligence.

After the passion cooled, Chen Daolin faced this strange, cold world in solitude. Not knowing what his future fate held, he couldn't help but feel lost and a hint of panic.

The sky gradually darkened, and as the light drizzle fell, ripples spread out in the puddles under the feet of pedestrians, much like the cycles of life.

An umbrella suddenly appeared over Chen Daolin's head, and at the same time, a cold, slightly reproachful voice reached him.

"Do you like standing in the rain that much?"

The voice was too familiar; Chen Daolin knew who it was without turning around, and he smiled bitterly in his heart.

This was probably the person he least wanted to meet right now. Fortunately, those advanced students who attacked him had a sense of "proportion"—at least, it was hard to see any injuries on Chen Daolin's exterior without careful observation.

Otherwise, there was no guarantee that this "dear lady," who seemed to have a good temper in front of others but was fiercely protective at heart, wouldn't stage a full-blown brawl at the martial arts hall tomorrow.

Short black hair, delicate features, skin slightly yellowish but still full of spirit, bright eyes that seemed to look straight into one's soul, and a height of about 1.75 meters. She had a tall, slender figure, and her school uniform was stretched tight, revealing a distinct, curvy silhouette. Her legs were long and straight. She stood opposite Chen Daolin holding a black umbrella, her pair of pitch-black eyes making him feel somewhat guilty.

"You... didn't you say you were going to tutor? You're back so soon?" Chen Daolin unnaturally turned his head away, changing the subject, while attempting to erase the embarrassing fact that he had been standing by the roadside like a fool for quite a while.

"I finished teaching early today, so I came back. I was going to check the martial arts hall to see if you were still there, but I didn't expect to find you here." The black-haired girl glanced indifferently at the awkwardly smiling Chen Daolin.

Having known each other for over a decade, she could tell at a glance that this childhood friend was hiding something from her. However, she had a straightforward and decisive personality and wasn't the type to pry without reason. Seeing Chen Daolin's intent to change the subject, she didn't bother to press him, instead pulling him along under the umbrella as they walked forward.

A boy and a girl in the prime of their youth sharing an umbrella in the rain at night would normally be a romantic scene, but neither Chen Daolin nor the girl felt a shred of romantic intent.

Chen Daolin certainly had no such thoughts; after all, despite her looking like a refined girl, she had actually fought three people a few months ago and had just beaten three advanced students from the martial arts hall until they were begging for mercy on their knees.

With a girl like that, Chen Daolin mused, given his own thin arms and legs, he really couldn't afford to provoke her.

Compared to Chen Daolin, who had always been mediocre among the crowd, the girl who excelled in her studies and had long since become an Advanced Trainee was simply far superior to Chen Daolin, a transmigrator, in terms of performance.

Oh, I forgot to mention, she is Chen Daolin's childhood sweetheart who grew up with him, named Ji Xuan. She is the same age as Chen Daolin and lives right next door. Her family situation is just as difficult as Chen Daolin's; besides her parents who are ordinary people, she has a younger sister who has been confined to a wheelchair since a car accident in her early years and cannot go out.

Rustle.

The rain fell harder and harder. The figures of the two under the umbrella gradually blurred and drifted away, soon disappearing into the bustling traffic of the main street.

As a low-rent housing complex, each residential building in Nan'an Residential District looks like a giant square block of concrete, and those who live here are all ordinary people at the very bottom of society.

On the 32nd floor of one of the 36-story residential buildings, there are eight households in total, and Chen Daolin's home is one of them. Ji Xuan's home is right next door.

"Remember to come over for dinner." When Chen Daolin and Ji Xuan parted ways, Ji Xuan said it casually and inadvertently.

Chen Daolin's footsteps paused slightly, and he responded with a smile, though he felt very sad inside. The parents of this body had always been on good terms with Ji Xuan's parents while they were alive. After Chen Daolin's parents died in an accident, it was Ji Xuan's parents who helped handle the funeral arrangements. They had always taken great care of Chen Daolin, which filled the Chen Daolin who had just arrived in this world with gratitude.

Also, because he had just lost his parents, no one ever discovered that Chen Daolin's soul had been replaced by someone else. The original owner of this body had the exact same appearance and name as Chen Daolin in his previous life, which had greatly shocked him at the beginning, leaving him to interpret it as himself in another world.

After hurriedly taking a shower at home and changing into clean, fresh clothes, Chen Daolin went out and arrived at the Ji residence. As soon as he knocked on the door, it opened, revealing a pale and well-behaved little face.

"Xiao Han." A smile appeared on Chen Daolin's face as he patted the girl's head.

"Xiao Han, don't block the doorway, let A-Lin come in." Ji Father's steady voice came from inside the room.

Ji Han pushed her wheelchair, and Chen Daolin closed the door behind him and followed her into the cramped room.

With a sweep of his gaze, the entire home was laid bare: a one-bedroom, one-living-room layout with an area of 36 square meters, yet it housed all four members of the Ji family. With Ji Han being disabled and having limited mobility, one could imagine how poor their conditions were.

Chen Daolin had thought about helping them more than once, only to find that he was powerless to do so. On the contrary, he had received much care from the Ji family.

His urgency to find an opportunity to change his current situation was not unrelated to this.

"Come on, A-Lin, why are you standing there? Come over and eat." Ji Mother, wearing an apron, and Ji Xuan carried plates and set the prepared food on the table in the living room. Ji Han tugged on Chen Daolin's sleeve, and the family of four, plus Chen Daolin as an outsider, sat together eating, looking as harmonious as one family.

"I will change all of this..." Chen Daolin ate his meal silently, but a certain thought in his heart became firm.