(If "..." appears, that means you've been censored...)
The Orenda Kingdom.
Winter in Grey Gull Port always came with a damp cold that seeped into your very bones.
The sea wind carried the dock's signature stench of dead fish and rotten shrimp, forcing its way into the ramshackle hut.
Su Li curled up on a blackened straw mat.
He was old.
His seventy-year-old body was like a rusted, broken-down machine, every part letting out its final groan.
Several other ragged old laborers lay nearby.
Nobody looked at him.
In a place like this, the dead seemed more common than dead fish.
The world kept turning just fine without one less worker.
Su Li struggled to draw a breath.
He wasn't afraid.
He was finally going to be free.
No more hauling two-hundred-pound sacks across that accursed gangplank, breaking his back for two copper coins.
No more fighting for moldy black bread, then chewing off the furry bits like a dog.
What a fucked-up life.
Su Li's blurry gaze passed through a hole in the hut and settled on the gray sky.
Fifty years.
He still remembered the day he'd first transmigrated.
He'd been eighteen, wearing a T-shirt and jeans, standing on the docks of Grey Gull Port with a bewildered look on his face.
And what happened?
Before he'd gotten two words out, a squad of fully armed guards had pinned him to the ground.
The reason was simple.
Strange clothes. Couldn't speak the language.
Obviously an enemy spy.
If the Orenda Kingdom hadn't been so caught up in its war with a neighboring country, desperately in need of cannon fodder for the front lines, he'd have been swinging from the gallows that very day.
And after that?
After that, he became an honored laborer.
He'd survived the battlefield by sheer luck, only to be sold back to the docks.
Fifty years straight.
He'd learned the common tongue, learned how to read the faces of the noble lords, learned how to scrounge for food among moldy scraps.
The one thing he'd never learned was how to turn his life around.
No cheat ability, no mysterious old mentor, no broken engagement plot.
Just endless bricks to haul and endless beatings to take.
"This transmigration... makes transmigrators look bad..."
Su Li muttered.
His voice was so faint he could barely hear it himself.
His eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
The sound of his heartbeat swelled in his ears, then slowed.
Thump.
Thump.
It stopped.
The suffocating discomfort didn't last long.
Darkness surged in like a tide, then swiftly receded.
There was no black-and-white judge of the dead, nor any angels of God.
Su Li's consciousness floated in a void.
Just as he thought he was completely done for,
a pale blue screen abruptly unfolded before his eyes.
It looked like a pop-up from some cheap browser game.
[Reincarnation activated]
[Host death detected. Beginning life evaluation]
Su Li froze.
Even as a soul, he wanted to jump up and curse.
You show up after I'm dead?
Where were you before?
I've hauled bricks for fifty years. If you'd come even a day earlier, I could've had one more hot steamed bun!
Lines of data appeared on the screen.
[Survival duration: 52 years]
[Rating: E (White)]
[Note: Surviving to a natural death in a hellhole like Grey Gull Port makes you a cockroach in human form. You lived a long time, but your life had no quality whatsoever.]
Su Li stared at the line.
What did it mean, cockroach?
That was called survival instinct!
The data continued to scroll.
[Accumulated wealth: 0 silver coins]
[Rating: F (Gray)]
[Note: When you died, half a moldy loaf of bread was hidden beneath your straw mat. It was your entire inheritance. You didn't even leave behind a single copper coin. Your estate was so clean it could bring a tear to the eye.]
[Social status: Commoner]
[Rating: F (Gray)]
[Note: Dock laborer, the very bottom of society. Your presence was less noticeable than a ballast stone on the dock.]
[Descendants: 0]
[Rating: F (Gray)]
[Note: Forever alone. Due to your extreme poverty and malnutrition, you never even got the chance to visit the red-light district. Your bloodline ends here.]
That one hurt the most.
Su Li didn't want to say anything.
It was true.
Forget a wife—he couldn't even afford to keep a female cat.
[Legendary renown: 0]
[Rating: F (Gray)]
[Note: No one knew your name except the foreman who urged you to work. In three days, everyone would have forgotten you completely.]
Finally,
a huge, ashen letter crashed down in the middle of the screen.
[Overall rating: F (Gray)]
[Your life was utterly meaningless.]
[You were dust beneath the wheels of history, a background extra in the vast sea of humanity.]
Su Li looked at that "F" and suddenly felt a little aggrieved.
He really had tried.
To avoid being beaten to death, he'd learned to bow and scrape.
To avoid starving to death, he'd learned to fight wild dogs for scraps.
In this dog-eat-dog world, he'd managed to scrape by for fifty years as a modern man.
Was that easy?
[Evaluation complete.]
[Issuing reward based on overall rating.]
[Current rating: F. F-rank prize pool unlocked.]
[Drawing trait...]
Su Li sighed.
The F-rank prize pool didn't sound like it would have anything good.
But he couldn't help feeling a little hopeful.
What if?
What if he got "Born with Herculean Strength"?
Or "Photographic Memory"?
Failing that, even "Iron Stomach" would do. At least in his next life, he could eat spoiled food without getting diarrhea.
An ashen spinning wheel appeared on the screen and began whirling wildly.
The pointer passed over one slot after another.
[Slight poison resistance]
[Hardened soles]
[Thick hair]
[Sharp fingernails]
Su Li's eyes blurred as he watched.
What kind of nonsense was this?
What the hell were hardened soles for? So he could walk barefoot more easily?
"Stop! Stop!"
He shouted in his mind.
The pointer gradually slowed.
At last, it stopped on a slot glowing with a faint white light.
[Congratulations. You have obtained the innate trait: Sword Brows Starry Eyes (White)]
A flash of light.
An explanation appeared.
[Sword Brows Starry Eyes: Your appearance will be greatly enhanced. You will have well-defined features, a deep and captivating gaze, and an irresistible charm. Even in the mud, you will shine like a pearl covered in dust.]
[Note: This trait has been permanently imprinted on your soul and will automatically take effect in every life.]
Su Li: "..."
He stared blankly at the trait.
What good was being handsome?
In a place like Grey Gull Port, being handsome might not be a good thing.
Some noble with strange tastes might abduct him...
Su Li shuddered.
"Can I trade it for something else?"
"Even 'Resistant to Hunger' would do!"
The system didn't respond.
The text on the screen began to change.
[Reward issued.]
[Reverting to reincarnation anchor point.]
[Time point locked: The moment of your first arrival in the Orenda Kingdom.]
[Preparing to transmit...]
Su Li's heart skipped a beat.
His first arrival?
Wouldn't that mean...
Wouldn't that mean he had to face that hellish start all over again?
Before he could think it through, a tremendous force pulled at him.
His consciousness began to fall.
Like a free fall from tens of thousands of feet in the air.
The surrounding darkness receded like a tide.
Sounds began to reach his ears.
Splash—
Splash—
The sound of waves striking the rocks.
That familiar, salty stench forced its way into his nose once again.
He'd smelled that scent for fifty years.
It was carved into his bones.
Cold.
Su Li's eyes snapped open.
A murky gray sky filled his view. A few gaunt seagulls circled overhead, letting out harsh cries.
He was lying on a wet, pebbled shore.
Su Li instinctively raised his hand.
It was no longer the withered, skeletal hand of an old man, covered in calluses.
This was a young, fair, slender hand.
The skin was taut, and the veins showed clearly.
Full of life.
He had come back to life.
Su Li abruptly sat up and looked down at himself.
Blue jeans.
A black sweatshirt printed with English letters.
And the white sneakers on his feet.
In this medieval world, his outfit stood out like a firefly in the dead of night.
"Damn it..."
Su Li had no time to marvel at how good it felt to be young.
His heart began to pound violently.
Memories surged back.
Fifty years ago, at this very spot, at this very moment.
About five minutes later.
A squad of kingdom guards patrolling the coastline would pass by.
In his previous life, he had foolishly stood right where he was, even trying to greet them and ask for directions.
But when they saw his "outlandish clothes," they said nothing and put a spear to his neck.
The fifty-year nightmare that followed had begun at that very moment.
In the distance.
He could faintly hear leather boots crunching over the pebbles.
Click.
Click.
The sound was faint, mostly drowned out by the crashing waves.
They were here!
Su Li took a deep breath. The cold air made his lungs sting.
But his gaze was clear.
Su Li moved with exceptional speed.
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