The pain in his head was unbearable, as if someone were jabbing a red-hot iron needle into Jiang Che's temples or hammering his skull all night with a huge mallet.
Every blow made his head feel like it was about to burst. Even his eardrums were buzzing, and his eyeballs throbbed with pain.
Jiang Che blinked.
His eyelids felt impossibly heavy, as if they were made of lead.
He could feel that he was lying on the ground. It was cool beneath him, and his back felt sticky, a little like damp earth after a rain.
The air was full of strange smells. He couldn't put his finger on them, but they definitely weren't the odors of instant noodles and sweat from his cramped rental room.
There was a hint of grass, the scent of pine, and a touch of cool dampness. It was hard to tell whether it felt refreshing or unfamiliar.
He felt as if he were mired in a swamp, his mind a complete mess. All he wanted was to struggle his way awake.
Just then, an icy electronic voice suddenly exploded in Jiang Che's mind—
"God-Tier Exchange System loading..."
The voice was cold, as if it had crawled straight out of hell. It made his back shiver in fright.
"System loading: 50%..."
Jiang Che's head began to buzz. To his surprise, glaring blue-white spots of light appeared before his eyes, like someone jabbing glow sticks into them in the middle of the night.
"System loading: 80%..."
That icy sensation kept burrowing deeper into his mind. He could feel something winding through his nerves, like countless data streams racing around his brain before finally weaving into a vast net.
"Loading complete."
"System activated!"
A flash of blue light burst from Jiang Che's forehead with a "pop." For an instant, he even saw countless lines of code flash before his eyes, like glowing symbols from a sci-fi movie.
"New host detected. Beginner's gift pack generated. Would you like to claim it?"
...What the hell?
Jiang Che's eyes flew open, and he sprang upright like a coiled spring.
His chest heaved as he gasped for breath. He felt like someone had just fished him out after leaving him underwater for ten minutes.
Then he froze.
The sight before him jolted him completely out of his daze.
The shock on his face was enough to scare anyone. Confusion, surprise, and disbelief were all jumbled together.
This wasn't some cramped rental room piled high with instant-noodle containers, its bedsheets crumpled like old newspaper. There was no dust on the windowsill or spiderweb in the corner.
He was on a broad hillside covered in grass. When the wind blew, waves of green rippled across it.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting patches of gold across the grass and damp earth. The uneven ground glittered as if strewn with gold dust.
The wind stirred the leaves with a faint rustle, while birdsong rang out nearby, clear and long.
In the distance, a range of mountains was veiled in deep-blue mist, rising and fading like a long scroll painted in ink at the edge of the sky.
The sky was impossibly blue, clear and transparent, as if it had been washed by the rain a hundred times. There wasn't a cloud in sight.
Jiang Che slowly stood up, his movements stiff.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands.
They were pale and gleaming, with long fingers and distinct knuckles. They weren't the same hands he remembered at all.
He opened his hands, clenched them, and turned them this way and that, slowly confirming that they were real.
His fingertips brushed his palms. The skin was so delicate it gave him goosebumps.
"This..." Jiang Che pinched his cheek hard and sucked in a sharp breath from the pain. It felt so real, as if someone were twisting his face with all their might. "This isn't a dream?!"
Jiang Che's breathing quickened.
The grass beneath his feet was soft and thick, like stepping on cotton.
He lowered his head and took two steps. The grass rustled beneath his feet, leaving two faint footprints behind.
The air was filled with the scents of flowers, earth, and grass, all fresh and unfamiliar.
Wait... what was that voice just now?
A system?
A beginner's gift pack?
If you'd watched Dragon Ball since elementary school and read countless fanfics, you'd be just as familiar with the word "system" as Jiang Che.
Ever since he was little, he'd doodled Saiyan hairstyles on his desk. At night, he'd hide under the covers to read webnovels about protagonists turning Super Saiyan and sweeping the field. When he reached the exciting parts, he'd laugh like an idiot.
Transmigration, systems, god-tier exchanges... They were all worn-out tropes.
But now it was Jiang Che's turn to experience them?
He spun around and looked everywhere.
On one side of the hillside stood a deep forest, its shadows swaying. On the other was a stream, burbling away; just listening to it was invigorating.
There wasn't a single paved road, telephone pole, neon sign, or any other familiar sign of the city.
"I really did transmigrate..."
His voice trembled as he spoke, partly from fear and partly from an excitement he couldn't quite explain.
Jiang Che pressed a hand to his chest. His heart pounded faster and faster.
Just then, the cold electronic voice appeared in his mind again, this time accompanied by a line of golden words floating before his eyes:
"Beginner's gift pack generated. Contents: [Super Saiyan God] bloodline activated. [Basic combat power adaptation to the Dragon Ball world] complete. [System Shop] unlocked. Would you like to claim it?"
Jiang Che lowered his head and stared at his hands.
They were still those unfamiliar hands. Now his skin was as fair as porcelain, his fingers long and powerful, his knuckles sharply defined. They looked nothing like the hands of the shut-in he used to be.
These hands seemed made for wielding a blade and throwing punches.
He ran his fingers across his palm. The sensation was so real that he felt a little dazed.
The clothes he wore weren't the cotton pajamas printed with little alpacas he'd had on before. Instead, he was dressed in a tight-fitting black Battle Suit.
The fabric felt smooth and sturdy. It clung tightly to him, outlining every muscle with sharp definition, like a layer of shadow wrapped around his body.
There wasn't even a zipper or a button on the collar. It looked as if the suit had grown straight out of his skin.
Jiang Che raised his hands and turned them over, then glanced at his shoulders and chest.
This body was so much stronger than his old scrawny frame.
Muscles lined his body beneath the suit, packed with explosive power.
An indescribable feeling welled up within him, both familiar and unfamiliar. It was like him, yet not like him.
Jiang Che reached behind his head and ran his fingertips over his hair roots. The moment he touched something furry and warm, he froze.
It was soft and springy, joined to his scalp at the root and tapering farther down. It even moved.
That was right—a tail. A Saiyan's tail.
The image from Dragon Ball immediately sprang into Jiang Che's mind: that monkey tail all Saiyans were born with, the one everyone knew.
Now the tail was right there behind his head, swaying faintly with his breathing. Its touch was so real it was a little unsettling.
He took a deep breath. Fresh air filled his nose, carrying the damp scents of plants and earth. It felt indescribably crisp.
Maybe it was his imagination, but the whole world seemed brighter. He could even tell which way the wind was blowing, feel ants moving underfoot, and hear leaves falling in the distance... All these sensations had suddenly sharpened at the moment he awakened.
"Would you like to claim the beginner's gift pack? If you do not respond now, it will be treated as a voluntary refusal."
The system's voice suddenly sounded again, cold and emotionless. It sounded like a customer service representative patiently waiting for Jiang Che's answer.
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