Our Future Journey Lies Among the Stars and the Sea!

"Ah!"

With a roar, Ryan jolted upright, bracing both hands on the bed as he gasped for breath.

"Was it a dream?"

Touching the sweat-soaked undershirt clinging to him, Ryan thought of what had happened before and could not tell for sure.

The feeling of being invaded by something alien in that darkness had been far too real.

"Ryan, is something wrong?"

Annie's voice came from outside the door. She had clearly heard his earlier shout.

"No, it's nothing. Just a nightmare."

Ryan answered instinctively.

"Oh."

Annie seemed to accept the explanation and did not press him further.

"Damn it!"

Feeling much better, Ryan rubbed his face to wake himself up. He changed clothes from the wardrobe and walked out of the bedroom with a grave expression.

"You look like something's on your mind!"

Annie had never left. Leaning against the wall outside, she looked at him as she spoke.

"No, nothing."

Ryan denied it automatically. He did not want to discuss what he had dreamed about last night.

"Is that so? Fine, if you don't want to talk about it. I'm hungry, so go make breakfast."

Annie blinked, did not expose his obvious lie, and walked downstairs with her hands behind her back.

"Honestly..."

Watching Annie's retreating figure, Ryan gave a bitter smile, pushed aside the complicated thoughts in his heart, and prepared to make her breakfast.

No matter what the outcome was, life had to go on. Besides, maybe it really had only been a dream—just an unusually realistic one...

With mixed feelings, Ryan arrived in the kitchen and took out breakfast ingredients according to what he remembered from yesterday. At that moment, the cold voice from the darkness appeared again.

[1 point of Influence Value collected. Minimum requirements for system activation met. Activating system...]

Clang...

The kitchen knife fell to the floor with a loud crash. Annie, sitting in the living room watching television with a bag of chips in hand, turned around and asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing. Just a small mistake. Your breakfast will be ready soon."

Ryan suppressed the indescribable shock in his heart and forced out a reply.

"Oh, then hurry up!"

Annie frowned slightly, grabbed a handful of chips, and stuffed them viciously into her mouth.

"My God, what is this? A system?"

Looking at the glowing screen floating before him, Ryan could not accurately put his current feelings into words.

Excitement? There was some. Fear? That was there too. Resentment? That existed as well.

In short, when this cheat ability—or perhaps the true culprit behind his traversal—actually appeared before him, his feelings were incomparably complicated.

"I wonder what functions it still has?"

Ryan looked at the screen with concern. He had not forgotten the long list of completely damaged functions it had displayed during its self-check in that dark space.

Focusing slightly, Ryan concentrated his attention on the screen before him.

The screen was not as complicated as he had imagined. The words on it were all Chinese characters Ryan could understand. With the damaged sections removed, only two glowing, seemingly intact options remained: Influence Value and Traversal System.

Based on Ryan's understanding, Influence Value was probably currency or energy. He just did not know how it was collected. Ryan noticed that the remaining Influence Value count increased every moment, though only in the fourth decimal place.

As for the Traversal System, Ryan tried opening it with his thoughts and discovered that it was divided into two subcategories: Searched Worlds and Traversable Worlds.

The search option required at least one hundred thousand Influence Value to activate, but the system's remaining energy was still enough to support one basic search.

The traversal function, however, was somewhat beyond ordinary expectations. It required no energy at all and could be activated as long as one had a world coordinate.

There was currently only one world listed beneath both categories: Earth-199999. Ryan knew what that designation represented—the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unless something unexpected had happened, it was the world he was currently in.

"Um, do you have intelligence?"

Ryan swallowed and asked the panel in front of him.

Ryan waited for a while. Seeing that the screen remained motionless, he rubbed his nose and threatened in a low voice, "All right, you're the boss. But you're living inside my body now, after all. Whatever you're planning, I'd advise you to discuss it with me first. Otherwise, unless you forcefully take control of my body, I won't use you."

There was still only silence. After waiting a little longer, Ryan directly put away the screen and began cooking.

It was still too early to say what this suddenly appearing cheat ability would bring to his future, and he had not yet figured out how to use it.

He needed enough time to think about these matters.

"You're really slow!"

When Ryan brought out the prepared food, Annie, who was sitting on the sofa watching television, could not help complaining.

"You should be grateful you have food to eat."

"And another thing." Ryan walked over to Annie, pulled the chips from her hand with a stern face, and said, "No junk food before meals."

"Tch!"

Looking at the stolen chips, Annie curled her lips and went to sit by the coffee table.

"You look much better now. Did you work through whatever was bothering you?"

Annie stabbed a piece of beef with her fork, stuffed it into her mouth, and asked through a mumble.

"What would I have to... Fine, I did have something on my mind, but it's already resolved."

Seeing Annie's expression that plainly said she had seen through him, Ryan did not keep lying. He changed the subject. "Annie, is there a school you like? At your age, you should be going to school."

"School? I don't really have any particular requirements. But I've already taught myself everything from first through fifth grade. I don't want to waste time at school."

Annie calmly said something startling.

"I didn't expect you to be a genius!"

Ryan said, clicking his tongue in amazement.

Annie rolled her eyes at Ryan as if to say, You only just realized that?

Ryan was not angry at being looked down on. After finishing the meal while chatting and laughing with Annie, he instructed her, "I'm heading out to deal with those troublesome matters. You know my number, so call me from the house phone if anything happens. Unless something goes wrong, I'll be back by noon. And if I get delayed, there's... in the refrigerator..."

"All right!" Annie interrupted with a frown, looking impatient. "I know all that even if you don't say it. How did I never notice that you were such a nag, Ryan?"

"I'm worried about you!" Ryan retorted.

"Fine, fine, it's my fault. But I thought we could understand each other better. You know I'm not like ordinary children. I'm much smarter than them!"

Annie sounded somewhat disappointed. Ryan frowned at the sight of it and slowly said, "Even if you're smarter than ordinary children, you're still a child in my eyes. But..." Looking at the disappointed Annie, Ryan rubbed her head. "I'll keep that in mind from now on. I'll treat you like an adult with a child's body."

As Ryan rubbed her head, Annie—who had not held much hope—brightened at his words. She held out her pinky as if inviting him to make a promise. "Then it's settled!"

"Mm, it's settled. Though that gesture doesn't look very adult-like."

Ryan held out his own pinky and hooked it with Annie's twice, unable to stop himself from smiling.

"I never said I was an adult," Annie muttered softly. Then she pushed Ryan toward the door. "All right, hurry up and go. I'll take care of myself."

"This little brat!"

Pushed out the door, Ryan looked at the front entrance after it closed and could not help laughing.

"Be careful on the road, and make sure you come back at noon to cook for me!"

As Ryan was about to leave the yard, he heard the shout behind him and replied with a reassuring smile.

In this unfamiliar and dangerous world, he had gained family once again. As a man, he could disregard everything else, but his family was the one thing he absolutely had to protect.