"Ah!!!"
Qin Xiao sat bolt upright in bed, drenched in cold sweat.
"Where am I?"
He looked around at his completely unfamiliar surroundings.
Hadn't he been at home, watching a movie and falling asleep?
Qin Xiao had a bad habit of holding his phone at night and watching movies until he fell asleep.
Watching movies until he fell asleep was one thing, but he also worried about the battery dying, so he kept the charger plugged in while he watched.
He didn't know whether the summer heat was to blame or his phone had a heat dissipation problem.
Just as Qin Xiao was drifting off, his phone exploded.
Right, my phone exploded. So did I... transmigrate?
As Qin Xiao racked his brains trying to figure out what had happened, a flood of memories surged madly into his mind.
Only after a long while did Qin Xiao finally understand his current situation.
He had definitely transmigrated, to a parallel world much like Earth.
This man had the same name as him, but his life had been rather tragic.
His parents had died in an accident, and his relatives had swindled him out of most of his inheritance.
He had finally worked up the courage to stake everything on one last gamble, mortgaging his house to start a business with a friend.
His friend and girlfriend had teamed up to screw him over, leaving him not only with nothing, but also a mountain of debt.
And then...
Qin Xiao glanced at the pesticide on the bedside table, a deadly poison commonly known as paraquat.
A cramped, run-down rental, converted from a ground-floor garage, damp and stifling.
Over three million in debt, with all his remaining assets amounting to just over five hundred yuan.
Betrayed by his best friend and the woman who shared his bed.
How unlucky could a person get? Never mind the original owner-even Qin Xiao, who had transmigrated into his body, felt like dying right now.
What kind of shitty start is this?
Maybe I should try dying again and see if I can transmigrate once more?
Qin Xiao glanced at the paraquat on the bedside table.
Forget it. Better a miserable life than a good death. If I die and just stay dead, wouldn't that be a huge loss?
It's only debt. I'll figure something out slowly. This body is only twenty-three. There's still a long life ahead.
Qin Xiao comforted himself.
Just as he was considering his next move, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
World entrance detected. Binding system...
"Hmm? A pleasant surprise?"
Qin Xiao perked up, sat up straight, and lit a cigarette.
About twenty seconds later, a beep sounded in his mind.
"Binding successful. System activated. Host: Qin Xiao. One world entrance currently detected. Transmigrate immediately?"
"Wait, wait! Don't jump straight to transmigrating. Tell me what you can do first, and what do you mean by a world entrance?"
Qin Xiao hurriedly spoke in his mind.
"This system can provide the host with transmigration services. Complete missions to earn points, which can be exchanged for various items in the system shop."
"Open the shop. Let me see what I can exchange them for."
"Insufficient host permissions. The shop can only be unlocked after the host completes a mission and earns points."
The system's voice was utterly lifeless.
"At least tell me what kinds of things are in there."
"Skills, genetic enhancements, money, and so on... For details, please unlock the shop as soon as possible."
Although the system hadn't given much detail, Qin Xiao understood that his golden finger had arrived.
"Then what about the world entrance? What does that mean?"
Qin Xiao changed his question.
"Coordinates are required to travel to other worlds. Residual world coordinates have been detected on the host."
This time, the system was very considerate. Not only did it answer his question, it also displayed an image in Qin Xiao's mind.
It was an incredibly familiar scene: a massive, bulky suit of Iron Man Armor stood at the mouth of a cave, raising its right arm.
It was spraying flames outside.
An endless desert stretched out around it.
Iron Man!
Qin Xiao realized that this seemed to be the very movie he'd been watching before his phone exploded.
The world entrance leads to Iron Man's world?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe?
That's a world with superheroes flying everywhere. With this body of mine, what mission could I possibly complete there?
"System, this world is a little dangerous. Can't you give me something before I go in? Otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be able to complete the mission."
Qin Xiao bargained in his mind.
"You must put something in to get something back. Surely the host understands that principle? Besides, given the host's current circumstances, what do you have left to lose?"
"Motherfucker!"
Qin Xiao somehow managed to hear contempt in the system's utterly uninflected voice.
But the system was right. Given the sorry state he was in now...
What was there left to fear? He had finally gotten a chance to transmigrate, and even had a system. How could he not seize this opportunity?
"Let's do it! Transmigrate, right now!"
Qin Xiao had nothing to hesitate over. Everything here was a mess. Without the system...
He could only shoulder the debt and first find a job to support himself.
Then he would slowly figure out how to repay the money, let alone seek justice for the Qin Xiao who had died.
"Congratulations, host. Your courage is commendable. Before transmigration, please be advised that time in reality will stop during your journey. You may transmigrate without concern. After completing the designated mission, you may choose to return to this world. Transmigration will now begin. Three... two... one."
As the system finished its countdown, Qin Xiao's vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on a dilapidated street.
There were few people around, and garbage and fallen leaves littered the ground.
The rows of two-story buildings looked very run-down as well.
Clearly, this was a very impoverished neighborhood.
"System, tell me where this is."
Qin Xiao asked in his mind.
"Identity loaded. Relevant memories generated. Please read them yourself, host!"
The memories the system provided were strange. The dead Qin Xiao's memories had fully merged into his mind.
But the memories of his identity in this world were like a book he had to flip through, without any sense of having experienced them himself.
Qin Xiao, twenty-two, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. He had excelled academically and received a scholarship from Stark Industries.
This had earned him an internship at Stark Industries.
Looks like the system isn't bad. At least it gave me an identity relatively close to the protagonist. Sure, it's very unrealistic for an intern to meet Tony Stark, but at least there's a tiny chance, right?
After muttering a few words, Qin Xiao continued flipping through the memories.
What came next was very interesting.
When Qin Xiao was thirteen, a large number of Hydra terrorists had broken into the home of a Black man next door, and the fighting had spilled over into his family's home.
His parents had died in that battle. Whether out of guilt or not, that Black man had continued to fund Qin Xiao's education and living expenses.
They had stayed in close contact over the years. This time, Qin Xiao had come to Baltimore, the capital of Maryland, to visit that Black man.
He had come to share the good news that he had secured an internship at Stark.
And that Black man was Isaiah, the first super soldier, preceding Steve Rogers.
A quick explainer: (Isaiah, the first super soldier, appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He enlisted during World War II and underwent enhancement. Later, after a failed mission, he was imprisoned and subjected to thirty years of human experimentation by the government. Even after his release, Hydra frequently hunted him down! The Winter Soldier was among them!)