It really is... so frustrating...
Lin Hai looked at his body lying on the road and muttered to himself.
That was right, this was a start-of-game kill.
Lin Hai could not understand at all why the mud-truck that had clearly been ten meters away just a moment ago had suddenly slammed right into him.
As an ordinary corporate slave who had worked for a few years, traffic safety had always been an indispensable part of Lin Hai's life.
Clinging to the principle of "stop on red, go on green," he had always been very cautious when crossing the street. Today, he gleefully added a new stroke to his Earth Angla 0-0-0 record and "earned a rebirth."
"Does that mean ghosts actually exist on Earth?" Floating above his own body, Lin Hai was having a brainstorming session.
"Then how come nobody has ever seen one? Or is it that people have seen them, but nobody talks about it? Are God, Tathagata, and Queen Mother of the West all real too?" Lin Hai found it a bit hard to believe.
What happened next then? Lin Hai pondered, "Is God going to drag me over and ask me if I want to eat an orange?"
That would still be fine, considering Lin Hai was a corporate slave and not a rapper, so he wouldn't be cast into hell by God just for not eating enough oranges.
Looking like he was in a daze, Lin Hai didn't notice a few cracks appearing beside him. They looked like someone's unruly kid had used a rubber band to make a simple slingshot and shattered a neighbor's window glass.
This crack was still slowly growing, and from it came a trace of imperceptible yet gradually increasing suction.
By the time Lin Hai noticed there was a crack beside him, it was already too late. Lin Hai only had time to utter a single "Whoa~," and his soul had already vanished into the fissure.
After Lin Hai disappeared, the crack seemed to have eaten its fill and showed a tendency to expand further. A strong wind also whipped up in the mortal world, causing the roadside street trees to sway as a result.
Yet very soon, the constantly expanding crack came to a halt. A voice seemed to come from inside it-"How is it that someone of my caliber can still blow up a cauldron while refining pills? This defies metaphysics! This explosion-generated crack even affected the mortal realm, but it seems nobody noticed. My luck is pretty good today; I'll just refine another batch.
Did I just hear someone swear 'fuck'? People in the mortal realm have terrible manners; saying 'fuck' to everything will only harm yourself. I'd better patch up this crack first, lest I get discovered."
Just as the voice faded, an eye vaguely appeared within the fissure. It blinked a few times before vanishing into the crack, and disappearing right along with it was the fissure itself.
Lin Hai had a dream. In the dream, he turned into a shooting star, streaking across the deep and brilliant universe.
Along the way, Lin Hai saw countless nebulae and celestial bodies. He just flew straight ahead like that, and ultimately crashed into a ball of mist exuding seven-colored radiance.
No, perhaps it wasn't gas; it was like a ball of seven-colored cotton, and Lin Hai felt himself sinking into this mass of cotton.
After who knows how long, this ball of cotton, as if absorbed by the shooting star Lin Hai had turned into, seeped deep into Lin Hai's mind.
When Lin Hai woke up from unconsciousness, he found that there were many memories in his mind that didn't belong to him, or rather, memories that should have belonged to "himself."
That was right, our protagonist had responded to the new era's trend of transmigration and undergone a noble transmigration, except that the memories of his previous life had never awakened.
Through these memories, Lin Hai learned that his identity was an aspiring young Chinese man about to spread his wings in the streets of New York. His family background was good, with his parents owning a decent business in Flower Country while also having trade ties in New York, United States.
Operating on the principle that you wouldn't die if you didn't court death, combined with the fact that though his father and mother loved their child very much, they tended to neglect Lin Hai somewhat due to being busy making money.
Lacking parental affection and possessing a rather mischievous nature, Lin Hai felt that things were boring back home and wanted to go abroad to see what foreign schools and students were like.
Thus, at sixteen years old, after racking his brains and exhausting his efforts to win his parents' consent, he used his parents' trade connections to apply and become a tenth-grade student at Midtown High School in New York.
Lin Father and Lin Mother supported their son's choice. After all, in this world, the United States in the year 2000 was also a top-tier existence, let alone a major metropolis like New York.
Coupled with a fairly privileged family background, coming over here to attend high school was by no means an unacceptable matter.
Seeing this, Lin Hai's mood showed not a ripple; in fact, he even felt a little like laughing. In his previous life, he was a useless corporate slave who closely followed the times and caught the trend of transmigration, and now he could finally count as a minor, well-to-do rich second generation.
The god in charge of transmigration in Ancient Huaxia is still pretty good to me, Lin Hai thought to himself.
Yet when he continued reading further, he discovered something was wrong. New York had Stark Industries? What the fuck?! The Marvel Universe?!
Lin Hai was familiar with the name Stark Industries. Back when he was a corporate slave in his previous life, he hadn't had any extravagant hobbies or interests; low-cost entertainment like video games, movies, and novels was something Lin Hai mastered across the board.
Among movies, Lin Hai was most interested in Marvel's superhero films. To this end, Lin Hai had even specifically researched the source of Marvel movies, which was Marvel Comics, and understood quite a bit of the plot within the comics.
Only, he didn't know whether this world was the MCU Film Universe or the Marvel Comics Universe. If it were the film universe, judging from the current outlook, the final boss would most probably be that raving purple sweet potato.
If it were the comics universe, that truly was unimaginable. Leaving aside the fact that various superheroes, supervillains, and super-deities in the comics universe were each more badass than the last in the film universe, there were also all sorts of outrageously powerful supreme beings out there, which made Lin Hai, an ordinary person, break out in a shiver of fear.
Yet just based on his current identity and abilities, wanting to live safely and peacefully in the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn't something that could be done with a hundred-percent guarantee. As a Chinese person universally afflicted with a phobia of insufficient firepower, an extra sense of urgency and crisis took root in Lin Hai's heart.
After absorbing these memories, Lin Hai knew his current situation. He had only recently arrived in New York, and while he had rented an apartment near Chinatown, he spent every day roaming wildly about the avenues. Since this was the place he would live in the future, Lin Hai wanted to get better acquainted with the surrounding environment.
Yet today while crossing the street, Lin Hai had been careless and got hit by a car yet again, and again, and again. Although it was just a minor scrape, he unfortunately bumped his head when he fell.
Perhaps this impact had activated the ball of Seven-Colored Essence that Lin Hai's soul had collided with while flying through the universe. It slowly flowed from the depths of Lin Hai's brain to his entire body, repairing the injuries on Lin Hai's physique while also comprehensively reviving the memories brought over from his previous life.
Half an hour passed. After repairing Lin Hai's body, that ball of Seven-Colored Essence leisurefully drifted back into the depths of Lin Hai's brain once more, and Lin Hai could no longer "see" it.
Then, Lin Hai climbed up from the bed, raised his arms, lifted his legs, blinked his eyes, and parted his lips. He felt better than ever before-this wonderful sensation was something physical weakness from years as a corporate slave could never allow Lin Hai to experience.
"Huh? A bed?" In Lin Hai's impression, he had been grazed by a car and then collapsed onto the ground. How come he had now respawned in a bed? It couldn't possibly be that fainting out in the wild automatically triggers a "return home," could it?
Lin Hai surveyed the surrounding environment and realized that his current location ought to be a small clinic. At the same time, his nose caught a faint scent of disinfectant, alongside which was the thick aroma of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs.
Since he didn't have any overly serious external trauma and had only passed out, the doctor must have placed him on the clinic's hospital bed after examining him, and then gone to busy himself in the clinic's front reception area outside.
Listening to the sounds drifting in from outside, Lin Hai stood up and walked out. What came into view were several red-bannered, yellow-lettered silk merit banners with distinct Chinese characteristics.
Inscribed upon them were phrases like "Miraculous Hands Bring Back the Spring," "Saving the World with a Gourd of Medicine," and "Dr. Chen, Please Save My Dog Life." Seated behind a solid-wood desk beneath the banners was a yellow-skinned male middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat, who looked to be around forty years old.
"Dr. Chen?" Lin Hai called out in Chinese. The doctor glanced up at Lin Hai, and while continuing to take a patient's pulse, his voice came out.
"Yo, you really are Chinese. When I came to work this morning, I saw you lying by the roadside. Originally I didn't want to get involved, but when I walked closer and saw you had yellow skin, and with Chinatown not far away, figuring you ought to be Chinese, I dragged you into my clinic. Sit down, sit down first. How is it? Are you okay?"
Lin Hai sat down on a stool to the side and replied, "Sigh, I'm fine. It was never a big deal to begin with; I just accidentally bumped my head and passed out for a bit. Now I don't feel any discomfort in my body anymore."
Dr. Chen nodded.
In no time at all, he resolved that patient's issue. After sending the patient out of the clinic, Dr. Chen returned, sat down at his spot, and looked at Lin Hai:
"You kid just came to New York, didn't you? That vibe of yours is something you only see everywhere back home; you simply can't find it in New York."
Lin Hai scratched the back of his head, offered no reply, and only smiled somewhat awkwardly.
The moment Dr. Chen saw Lin Hai's expression, he also laughed: "Look at you, I said it, didn't I? Only young people from our China have this kind of demeanor."
"You're a student? What are you doing in America? Traveling? School?" Dr. Chen ended his teasing and asked.
"Here for school. My family has some disposable cash and connections, and I wanted to come to America to broaden my horizons. After all, America's economy is good these days." Lin Hai answered.
Dr. Chen's expression showed understanding. He then asked, "Then have you found a place to stay? If you're going to school, you'll have to live here for at least three or four years, right?"
Lin Hai answered, "I've rented an apartment to live in for now. I'm not in a rush either, since it's only June right now, and Midtown High School doesn't start until early September."
After listening, Dr. Chen thought it over and asked, "How about this then? I have a gig here, and I don't know if you're willing to do it. The shop right next to my clinic used to be a storefront too, but the owner came to me upon seeing there was no profit in it.
Thinking that if my clinic expanded its scale later on, it would be convenient to punch straight through, I bought it. The current shop mainly holds some potted green plants and traditional Chinese medicinal herbs I'm cultivating.
If you're interested, you can come help out as a summer job first. The pay will be calculated at a thousand a month. You can earn some pocket money, and you won't be left with nothing to do for these two months either.
After your school starts, you can come over to look after things every day after class, or come on the weekends. What do you think?"
Lin Hai's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and after careful thought, he felt it wasn't bad either. Helping to nurture green plants and herbs was neither difficult nor busy, and as for any issues down the road, he would deal with them later. He immediately agreed on the spot.
Seeing that Lin Hai had agreed, Dr. Chen said to him, "Then that's settled. You head back first today, pack your things, and just come to the clinic tomorrow at ten in the morning."
Lin Hai stood up and gave Dr. Chen a bow: "Thank you very much! See you tomorrow morning then!"
Dr. Chen smiled and waved his hand: "Head back. See you tomorrow morning."
Before you continue