Lux D. Carl

P.S.: (Brain storage area—this is best enjoyed without using your brain!)

Ye Fan's body felt utterly exhausted. His legs had grown sore after the long commute home. As he walked into his residential complex, he gazed up at the towering buildings and sighed at the hustle and bustle of modern city life.

"Ding-dong!"

Suddenly, his phone rang in his pocket, interrupting his thoughts.

Ye Fan's expression changed. He hurriedly took out his phone and answered. "Hello? Mom, how are you feeling?"

He asked with concern.

"You know, you're already twenty-seven. Can't you find someone to date? Your next-door auntie's daughter-in-law just had a big, healthy baby boy, and she came over to brag about it. Can't you make something of yourself..."

Ye Fan's mother nagged endlessly on the other end of the phone.

With a bitter smile, Ye Fan pulled the phone away from his ear, trying to put an end to his mother's nagging. "Hello? Hello? Mom, the signal's probably bad here. I can't hear you. Beep, beep, beep..."

He had no choice but to hang up, buying himself a little breathing room.

"What era are we living in, and people are still pressuring you to get married? Sigh..."

Ye Fan sighed, longing for freedom. After all, he wasn't ready to date yet. He'd seen too many melodramatic disasters and didn't want to step into the graveyard of marriage so soon.

At last, he reached his front door and unlocked it.

The small apartment was clearly his sanctuary from the world.

Here, he could drop every pretense and be his truest self.

"Ding-dong!"

Ye Fan checked the group chat and saw that his team leader, Zhou Bapi, had tagged him again, telling him to hurry up and find reference material. He remembered that he still needed to find character references for the new comic when he got home, or he wouldn't have anything to submit tomorrow.

He sighed inwardly. "When will this miserable office-slave life ever end? I thought studying computer science in college would make it easy to find a job, but somehow I ended up designing cartoons."

As he spoke, he pulled out his chair, turned on his computer, and opened his favorite game, League of Legends.

Ye Fan hoped the game would offer some comfort. Maybe he could find his truest self in the virtual world while letting off some steam.

"I'll play top-lane Garen today."

Ye Fan muttered to himself as he queued for ranked and picked his champion.

Then he walked over to the refrigerator, took out a bottle of soda, returned to his chair, and prepared to start the game with complete focus.

The excitement of the game gradually calmed Ye Fan down, and his thoughts began to escape his hectic daily life.

His gaze grew intent, and his fingers danced across the keyboard, quick and forceful, as he joined his champion in battle.

That night, Ye Fan immersed himself in the world of the game, as if he'd forgotten all the troubles of reality.

He was just an ordinary young man, yearning for freedom and hoping to find a sense of belonging in a virtual world.

But he had no idea that his life was about to undergo a massive transformation, one that would turn his world upside down.

The New World, on an uncharted island.

Ye Fan shivered.

A cool sensation washed over him. He jolted upright, looked around, and felt over his body.

Was this a dream? It felt so real.

Ye Fan hurriedly shut his eyes and rubbed them hard.

When he opened them again, he was utterly stunned. The scene before him hadn't changed at all. All kinds of animals called out across the island, and the sound of waves lapping against the shore reached his ears.

It was already nearing dusk. Then he sensed something was wrong, and in an instant, a flood of unfamiliar memories appeared in his mind...

I'm Ye Fan. No, I'm Lux D. Carl. I'm eighteen. My parents and I were attacked at sea while sailing. I escaped in the chaos, and a storm carried me to this island. This body drowned, so I must've transmigrated into it. Holy crap, I've crossed into another world!

Only then did it dawn on him that he'd transmigrated. He hurriedly stripped off his pants and looked down, inspecting himself for a long while. Not bad.

He'd never imagined anything like this could happen, but this wasn't his original body anymore, so he had no choice but to take a good look.

According to the memories he'd received, his parents had taken him on a merchant ship. They'd run into pirates at sea and been mercilessly killed. In the confusion, he seemed to have heard the pirates searching for a Devil Fruit.

The only thing he'd brought from the ship was a box. He'd grabbed it at random during the chaos. It wasn't very big, but could it be the Devil Fruit?

But the most urgent thing now was finding somewhere to hide. This was the Pirate World, after all. Some random beast could come along and gobble him up without a trace.

"System, is there a system? Are you there?"

Carl called anxiously. As far as he knew, transmigrators were supposed to get a cheat, weren't they?

As Carl's call echoed through the air, he felt a faint energy rising from within him, as if responding to his request.

A projection suddenly appeared before his eyes, gradually taking shape as a hazy blue human figure.

"Hello, Carl. I'm the Chinese Anime System. My mission is to help you survive in this unfamiliar world."

The Chinese Anime System's voice carried a trace of coldness, like a preprogrammed voice.

Fortunately, the cheat was easy enough to understand. The name Chinese Anime System suggested it had something to do with Chinese anime characters, and probably other anime characters as well. Luckily, he enjoyed watching anime. He might not know every character by heart, but at least he recognized most of them.

He still suspected that this was some elaborate prank by powerful people, and that plenty of them might be watching him right now. (The author's nasty sense of humor!)

But he had no way to fight back right now.

And Ye Fan—no, now he was Carl.

Now that Carl had confirmed he had a cheat,

he didn't have time to open the system menu. He hurriedly looked around for somewhere to shelter from the wind and rain. But this was an uninhabited island, so how could there possibly be a house?

He scanned the area as the light began to fade.

In a hurry, he climbed a thick tree.

The trees in the Pirate World were unbelievably tall. This one was just a random pick, and it looked to be at least as thick as five adults standing shoulder to shoulder around it.

Fortunately, the tree was thick enough. Carl scrambled up it in no time and stopped about a dozen meters off the ground.

Sitting on a branch, Carl gripped a thick bough tightly with his right hand. His body trembled uncontrollably as he stared at the night sky, now pitch-black except for the moonlight. To be honest, he was a little afraid of heights.

"System, what can you do?"

Carl shivered from the cold, but curiosity and anticipation shone in his eyes. He wanted to know what the system could offer him.

He stared tensely at the phantom image before him, waiting for its answer, while keeping a cautious eye on his surroundings. He didn't want to die here for no apparent reason before he even got to use his cheat.

"Hello, host. I'm the Chinese Anime System. I contain templates for various Chinese anime game characters you're familiar with."

The Chinese Anime System's voice remained as cold as ever.

At this answer, Carl's eyes gleamed with excitement. He knew Chinese anime had plenty of fantasy and cultivation characters. If he could get one of their powers, he'd be unstoppable!

After all, it was incredibly difficult for an ordinary person with no abilities to survive in the Pirate World.

He was a Chinese anime fan himself, so the idea of having templates for Chinese anime characters in the Pirate World thrilled him.

"It also contains various Chinese anime skills, talents, and equipment."

The Chinese Anime System continued, its words brimming with possibility.

Carl's eyes widened. He'd thought the character templates alone were amazing. He hadn't expected to be able to obtain all kinds of Chinese anime skills, talents, and equipment too. He was overjoyed.

Wouldn't that mean he could get skills like the Nine Yang Divine Skill, the Origin of Qi, and the Six Treasury Immortality Thief?

"Bringing you to the Pirate World consumed a great deal of energy, so for now, only the lottery function remains. You can draw once per month in the regular lottery, and once per year in the unrestricted lottery."

The Chinese Anime System continued, its words tinged with a hint of regret.

"To obtain more draws and unlock more system functions, please disrupt the Pirate World's main timeline as soon as possible."

Carl immediately made up his mind: he would disrupt the Pirate World's timeline. That was the only way to earn more system rewards.

That would give him a better chance of surviving in this world.

Carl's brows furrowed slightly. He was a little disappointed that the lottery was the only function available, but he knew he'd already obtained a powerful system. That was more than enough to get him through the early stages of life in the Pirate World.

Carl relaxed against the tree trunk, his eyes fixed on the phantom image before him. His heart was still racing. He knew his quiet, peaceful days were about to end.

Besides, the Chinese Anime System could provide templates, skills, talents, and equipment for Chinese anime characters. With that, his chances of survival in the Pirate World had increased considerably. He might even make a name for himself.