"Where am I?"
"Am I hallucinating after getting killed by a dump truck?" The very first thing Luo Ge saw when he opened his eyes was an utterly unfamiliar world.
Inside a room, beside a bed.
A red-haired maid handed him and another newborn baby to the young couple beside her.
"Wonderful."
"Congratulations, madam. Both children are healthy. They're twins." Lilia, the maid who had helped deliver them, knelt on one knee and congratulated the couple.
"Well done, Zenith!"
Paul, who had just become a father, gave his wife Zenith a thumbs-up. Holding the two babies, he kissed each of them.
Both babies instantly looked disgusted.
"To think they're both boys! This is fantastic!" Paul said with a laugh.
Zenith wiped the sweat from her face and took the two children from her husband. "Oh, right, we haven't named them yet!"
"Let's call the eldest Rudeus, and the younger one Luo Ge!"
"When they grow up, one can learn magic, and the other can learn swordsmanship from me!"
The couple began imagining a wonderful future, taking turns talking with smiles on their faces.
A little while later.
Luo Ge suddenly noticed the other baby.
Rudeus, his newly acquired older brother who had left the womb before him, actually had a lecherous grin on his face.
As he reached out to touch Zenith's breast, she noticed too.
"My little Rudeus... are you hungry?"
She was about to hold the children on either side and nurse them together, but Luo Ge suddenly slapped his newly acquired big brother aside.
Then he started drinking milk himself.
The baby he had shoved away neither cried nor fussed. Instead, he stared at him angrily.
He seemed to be protesting this selfish, underhanded behavior.
Seeing this, Luo Ge couldn't help wondering, Could this guy who was born alongside me be a reincarnator too?
Just as the two newborn babies stared at each other.
The gentle Zenith, radiating maternal love, suddenly stroked Luo Ge's head.
"You little fellow, you're already guarding your food? No bullying your big brother..."
Watching the two children already fighting over food right after birth, Zenith gave a happy, goofy smile too.
The couple soothed their children. As their parents, they thought nothing of it, but Lilia, the maid standing nearby, was starting to question everything.
Two children?
Not only did they neither cry nor fuss right after being born, they started fighting instead? Are these two fucking babies? Could they be possessed?
Meanwhile.
Having gotten his milk first, Luo Ge soon fell fast asleep.
My name is Luo Ge.
The good news was that I had transmigrated. The bad news was that I had transmigrated to a world I knew absolutely nothing about.
As for why I had transmigrated.
That story started during that sweltering summer vacation.
After his best friend dropped out of high school, he had stayed home as a shut-in.
Out of concern, Luo Ge decided to visit him.
But the moment he opened the door to his friend's room, he caught a strange smell. His bespectacled best friend was still sitting at his computer watching anime.
A huge pile of used tissues covered the desk, and trash littered the floor...
He kept muttering something. Luo Ge could barely make out a few words. "Roxy... hehehe, my Roxy, my goddess..."
Everywhere he looked in the room.
There was nothing but anime figurines, posters...
Luo Ge shook his head, utterly speechless.
His best friend had been perfectly fine with him when they were kids, but at some point, he had become obsessed with anime.
Whenever they met, he would excitedly shout, "Roxy, Roxy..."
And share stories from anime.
Luo Ge just couldn't understand what was so great about that fictional anime girl, Roxy, that his best friend was this infatuated with her.
Come to think of it.
He wasn't sure why things had gone wrong for his best friend in high school. It seemed he had gotten into a fight with a rich kid.
In any case, he had ended up getting expelled.
Ever since then, he had given up on himself, spending all day fantasizing about transmigrating to an anime world and living a shameless life with his anime wives.
As his former closest friend, Luo Ge had come to talk some sense into him a few times, but it had never done much good.
This time was no different.
After spending a few minutes there, it was clear their relationship was nothing like it used to be. They were practically just going through the motions, one question and one answer at a time.
They barely had anything in common to talk about anymore.
"Well... I'll get going. I'll come see you again next time."
"Remember to eat on time, don't stay up late, and jerk off less."
"Take care of yourself, Jiahao."
Without even looking up, Song Jiahao waved impatiently. "Yeah, yeah, I know. What a nag. When did you get as annoying as my mom?"
By the time Luo Ge left his best friend's house, it was almost afternoon.
He was about to cross the main road.
And, unsurprisingly, something went wrong.
A dump truck, whether deliberately or not, suddenly charged straight at him as though it had all been planned.
Bam!
By the time Luo Ge reacted, he had already been sent flying by the brutal impact.
Before dying, Luo Ge had only one thought: Fuck, if I'd known I'd die this young, I might as well have followed my best friend's lead and given up on trying.
[Hey!] [Did I hit the wrong person? This guy isn't Song Jiahao!] [Huh? Seriously? You couldn't even hit the right person... Forget it, he'll do.] [This assignment seems to be Mushoku Tensei. Just send him to the world of Mushoku Tensei...]
In his daze, Luo Ge seemed to hear someone speaking.
When he opened his eyes, he was already in another world, a newborn baby-and the younger one, at that.
[Ding!] [System activated.] [Binding to host identity: Song Jiahao...] [Verifying! Warning, warning! Host identity verification error. Correcting. Correction failed...] [System unbinding. Unbinding progress: 1%, 2%...]
"???"
Luo Ge.
The good news was that he wasn't dead and had even transmigrated, complete with a system.
The bad news was that the system was actually unbinding right from the start.
"Wait! System, what the hell is going on?"
Luo Ge shouted inwardly. He had thought the system would unbind and leave, but to his surprise, it spoke.
[Bro, I'm really sorry... The dump truck hit the wrong person just now, but to compensate you, I've arranged for you to come back to life in this other world.]
"Another world?"
"What other world?"
Luo Ge rarely engaged with anime and was a little confused.
[This is the world of Mushoku Tensei.]
"Mushoku Tensei?"
"Isn't that the other world Jiahao talks about all day?"
A look of realization instantly appeared on Luo Ge's face.
[That's right. This chance to transmigrate was originally meant for your friend Song Jiahao, but an unfortunate mix-up occurred, so it fell to you instead.]
"Wait, you just said you hit the wrong person? Are you saying you arranged for me to get run over and killed? Fuck, system, are you out of your mind?"
"After studying my ass off for more than ten years, I was about to graduate, go home, and inherit the family business, and you sent me to another world?"
If this chance to transmigrate had gone to his best friend, he would have been overjoyed, but Luo Ge didn't want to transmigrate.
After all, there were still many people in that world he couldn't let go of.
Family.
Friends.
His life was happy and fulfilling, and his future was bright...
What did he stand to gain from transmigrating to an unfamiliar world?
[Well, it already happened. Blaming me won't help. The dead can't come back to life. Let's part on good terms. I'll be unbinding shortly.]
"Hey, wait!"
"Don't go yet!"
"System, you're a golden finger, right? Are you really just going to abandon me in another world and leave me to fend for myself?"
"Come on! You're the one who had someone run me over and kill me. Shouldn't you take responsibility to the end?"
[I've got my own grievances too. I want to bind to you and help you reach the pinnacle of life, but you don't have the template of a protagonist blessed with fortune... Your own fortune simply can't support a system. I, the Invincible by Showing Off System, was originally prepared for your best friend Song Jiahao...]
Luo Ge clenched his fists, unwilling to accept it. "So, uh, you're saying my best friend is the protagonist, right?"
"Fine, fine, fine. The Invincible by Showing Off System, right? Since you're unbinding anyway, couldn't you at least leave me a little something before you go? As compensation?"
[Hmm, this was indeed a mistake on my part. Leaving you some compensation would be reasonable...] [How about this? I'll give you the Transparent World. Have a pleasant journey in this other world, okay?]
"Wait, you're just leaving?"
"You haven't explained anything clearly yet! What is the Transparent World? Damn you, riddle system that only tells me half of everything!"
After confirming that the system had fled.
Luo Ge looked utterly fucked over, his expression extremely ugly. And just like that, he had been reincarnated for no good reason.
Was this some kind of joke?
Just because I don't have the protagonist template, my golden finger is heartlessly abandoning me? Damn it!!!