The next day at noon.
When Xu Feng finally dragged himself out of bed, his eyes sore, he was the only one left in the house.
He checked the time. Xiao Dan had probably gone to school.
Even though there were only eight children in the entire group, Sky Moon Martial University had still set up a little school, where martial arts students taught them every day as part of a volunteer program.
As for where the eight children had come from, or why anyone would bring children to such a dangerous Sky Pit Dimensional Realm, there was no point asking.
All Xu Feng could say was that everyone had their own hardships.
Of course, he couldn't rule out the possibility that some of their parents were idiots.
"Get up and make breakfast!"
Full of energy, Xu Feng strode into the makeshift "kitchen," which looked more like a construction site cafeteria.
Seeing the breakfast Xiao Dan had prepared on the table warmed his heart a little.
Even if this world was so fucked-up and dangerous, at least he wasn't alone.
His daughter might have been adopted, but she was still a little sweetheart.
Xu Feng polished off breakfast in two bites.
Then he used what little rice and meat he had left to make a pot of clay-pot rice as a little celebration.
Once steam began hissing out of the pot, Xu Feng finally had time to step outside for a walk and stretch his arms and legs.
The aroma of rice and meat wafting out of the house reminded him that he was still very much alive.
And that none of this was a dream.
The faint, unpleasant smell of sweat and filth hanging in the air outside, on the other hand, reminded him that this was reality.
None of it was a dream!
"It'll be another half hour before it's ready. I might as well do a set of punches."
Xu Feng remembered that he had learned the free version of the Nine Star Body Refining Art.
He slowly assumed the starting stance, recalling the movements buried in his memory like "instinct," and began practicing in the open space outside.
Nine Star Body Refining Art (Free Version).
This was the "five insurances and one classic" Sky Moon Martial University gave its Martial Servants.
The social insurance was the same as in his previous life, so there wasn't much to say about it.
The "one classic" was a secret manual for genetic cultivation.
Take the Nine Star Body Refining Art, for instance.
It involved a set of exercises combined with breathing techniques and meditation mantras, allowing practitioners to sense the power of the "Nine Stars" in the universe.
They said the art could let people absorb the energy those stars shed, raising their genetic potential and, in turn, their blood-energy value and physical fitness.
The college entrance exams in this world were divided into academic and martial arts tracks.
The blood-energy standard for the martial arts assessment was 160c. Only those who met that threshold could pass the martial arts test.
And only those above 180c could apply to a Martial Arts University.
The original Xu Feng hadn't met the standard, so he couldn't apply to a Martial University.
In the end, he had become a porter and repairman.
Over the years, his blood-energy level had declined with age.
But thanks to this free cultivation art, he had still managed to keep it at 172c.
That was proof enough that this so-called method of absorbing "star power" to raise genetic potential wasn't nonsense.
After finishing one set, Xu Feng was sweating lightly, and his stomach was already growling.
He glanced at his panel.
He found that his Nine Star Body Refining Art proficiency had increased by one point, while his blood-energy value hadn't changed at all.
"So if I practice another seventy times, I can max out the proficient level!"
Xu Feng wasn't discouraged. He gave himself a pep talk, then went inside to dig in.
"Slurp, slurp—"
Xu Feng shoveled food into his mouth, bowl in hand.
There were no videos to watch while eating in this world.
No Douyin, no Bilibili.
But hunger was the best seasoning.
After eating, Xu Feng sat down at the table and continued repairing the last broken communicator.
The threat to his survival wouldn't let him relax and simply coast through life.
He knew perfectly well that he wasn't a genius.
Like the original Xu Feng, he was just an ordinary, mediocre person. There was nothing special about him.
The only difference was that before transmigrating, back in college, Xu Feng had already figured out what he was: ordinary.
In elementary school, he had occasionally gotten perfect scores. Even in middle school, he had been one of the top students.
Back then, he had thought he was the protagonist of the world, the star of the school.
But once he got to a top high school, he realized there were far too many people smarter and more hardworking than him.
The college entrance exams that followed made it even clearer that he was just one among countless ordinary people.
He had no extraordinary talent, no powerful family, no ironclad will, and no special luck.
A regular university was the best he could hope for, and a monthly salary of over ten thousand was his "worth."
Then he would find an ordinary person to marry, have children, and spend half his life weighed down by a mortgage and car payments.
If he was lucky, he'd live out his days in peace, free from illness and pain.
If he wasn't, he'd spend most of his life savings in a hospital.
Society had told him he was just an ordinary person.
So he had long ago learned to accept life's setbacks and misfortunes. He had learned to make peace with himself and keep doing his best to live.
But now, the life whose end he could see from the very beginning had taken a new turn.
A dangerous world of sweeping grandeur.
A modest little home, full of hardship and heartache.
And a simple panel whose words still gave him a sense of security.
If hard work could bring visible progress, then what was he waiting for?
"Haah—"
Xu Feng took a deep breath, steadied himself, and opened the communicator's casing.
Just get to work!
At dusk.
Xu Feng sat by the doorway, staring up at the sky. There was no sun, yet somehow it was still possible to tell day from night.
From the scattered fragments of memory, he knew that this Dimension 13 was a parallel world, just like Earth.
"Just like" meant that its mountains and terrain perfectly replicated the same regions on Earth.
But the creatures here were completely different from those on Earth.
Their location was called "Level 1 Sky Pit, Dimension 13, Wumeng Mountain Region, District D21."
The terrain here was identical to that of the Wumeng Mountains on Earth, but it was home to more than ten Alien Races of various sizes and hundreds of species of Mutated Creatures.
These Alien Races were like creatures from myths and legends—powerful and savage.
The Mutated Creatures, meanwhile, had evolved from ordinary wild animals.
A hundred years ago, they had poured out of dozens of "Sky Pits" that had appeared on Earth, traveling through spatial passages and running rampant across the globe.
Humanity had faced the greatest crisis since its birth, but that crisis had also given rise to new hope.
A hundred years later, humanity had successfully suppressed the unrest in the Sky Pits.
It had even begun to counterattack, sending troops deep into the Sky Pit Dimensional Realms to explore and defend them.
And so, amid this turmoil, a vast and complicated high-martial world had been born.
"Dad, the school fees are due tomorrow."
Just as Xu Feng's thoughts were wandering, the little girl cautiously poked her head out of the house and spoke to him.
"Oh. How much?"
Xu Feng turned to look, calculating his remaining balance in his head.
But Xiao Dan froze for a moment, then asked with a frown, "Why aren't you calling me a money pit today? That's how much you spend washing your feet twice."
Xu Feng was even more taken aback. "What are you talking about? How does paying school fees make you a money—"
He stopped himself mid-sentence.
So that bastard had really said that to the kid?
He said mildly, "I heard someone say that if people can't change the way they think, they can't change their fate. I won't say that to you anymore. And I'm not going to the foot bath parlor anymore, either. So, how much do you need to pay?"
Xiao Dan answered skeptically, "Teacher said we only need to pay for the basic textbooks and meals. Six hundred yuan in total."
Xu Feng nodded and transferred the required amount to Xiao Dan's communicator wristband without hesitation.
After receiving the transfer, Xiao Dan gave Xu Feng another surprised look, then went back inside to do her homework.
Xu Feng sighed.
There were a lot of habits he'd have to change.
What a beast.
Of course, more than his complaints about the original Xu Feng, he was concerned about his balance.
[Account Balance: 3055.89.]
"I have to go to the Trading Zone tomorrow. We're running low on rice and meat, and the electricity and water bills are overdue.
I also need to find out how much I can get for those old communicators, and pick up some more broken ones while I'm at it.
Right, I should look for new clothes for Xiao Dan soon, too, as well as a replacement for that broken showerhead. There are so many things to spend money on."
Xu Feng sat by the doorway, counting tomorrow's errands on his fingers. He grumbled inwardly about why all those people in the novels who transmigrated to high-martial worlds started out as high school students.
All they had to do was study hard and climb step by step toward becoming strong, without worrying about making a living or staying alive.
It was so damn unfair.
What he didn't know was that inside the house, Xiao Dan was listening to his muttering outside with a worried expression, her ear pressed against the wall.
Before long, the little girl took a diary from under the table and began writing quickly.
[May 24, 2125]
[Dad's illness is getting worse and worse. Today, the teacher taught me how to write the character for "illness," and I'm a little scared.
What if Dad doesn't want me anymore one day? What should I do then?]
Before you continue