Evening, by the river, enveloped in smoke.
“Cough, cough.”
Rex Cross took a fierce drag, but instantly choked on it, leaving him with no choice but to resentfully stub out the cigarette.
“They say smoking drowns your sorrows, but that’s not true at all,” he sighed.
At that moment, his phone screen lit up.
Rex knew exactly what it was without even looking.
A continuous stream of medical records, bills, and invoices…
They flooded the screen like a waterfall, pressing down on him so heavily he could barely breathe.
There was also a voice message from his father:
“Rex, your mother spent over five thousand at the hospital today.
The spending records are all here.”
Rex felt his frustration grow.
He replied with a voice message, “Dad, I told you that you don’t need to send me the bills.”
His father’s reply arrived quickly:
“The daily expenses are getting higher and higher now.
Rex, you won’t be able to hold on.”
“I’ve discussed it with your mother, and we should…
just stop the treatment.” His father’s voice was filled with bitterness.
“Your mom doesn’t want to be a burden to you anymore.”
Rex didn’t know what kind of emotions his father was experiencing when he said those words, but hearing them made a wave of sorrow and helplessness well up from the bottom of his heart.
It had been twenty years since he transmigrated to this world.
Having been an orphan in his previous life, he exceptionally cherished his family in this one.
In his past life, he was just an ordinary person.
In this life, Rex worked hard, studied diligently, got into a good university, and secured an ideal job after graduation.
However, an unexpected misfortune shattered all that was beautiful—his mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer.
Terminal stage.
Rex’s family wasn’t wealthy.
Over the course of a year, they had exhausted their savings.
Now, they were relying entirely on Rex to keep them afloat, but even he had reached the end of his rope.
Many times, his parents had urged Rex to give up, but he refused.
“Since it has come to this, there is only one path left.”
Rex had thought about it for a long time before finally making up his mind.
He reached into his pants pocket.
In what should have been an empty pocket, a slightly hard object abruptly appeared.
He pulled it straight out.
It was a dark blue card.
Rex wasn’t surprised.
He had received this invitation thirty or forty times over the past month, appearing steadfastly everywhere in his life.
In his backpack, pants pockets, jacket pockets, and even next to his pillow…
At the same time, information about the card surfaced directly in his mind.
[Abyssal Invitation]
[This is the catastrophe of the heavens, and the frenzied dance of the gods.]
[Accepting this invitation will throw you into the struggle of a myriad of worlds.
Here, you can obtain everything you desire, but the price is that you may die at any moment.]
[Please choose carefully whether or not to accept the invitation.]
[Yes]
[No]
The invitation had been appearing more and more frequently over the last two days, as if the inviter was growing impatient.
Having already experienced transmigration and rebirth, he could easily accept an invitation from such obvious supernatural forces.
Besides, the invitation had brought Rex some benefits.
Ever since this invitation appeared a month ago, a memory library had manifested in Rex’s mind.
It contained all the movies and television shows he had ever watched, and he could browse through them at any time.
Coincidentally, Rex had been a huge movie buff in his past life, so the library was heavily stocked with works.
So, he exploited a loophole.
Facing the invitation, he neither accepted nor rejected it.
Instead, he used the memory library to plagiarize numerous script plots, making a hefty sum of quick money.
It was precisely because of this that, even though expenses were piling up, Rex was at least able to hold on.
Originally, his goal was to save up enough money to try a custom drug that cost 1.5 million per injection.
However, his mother’s condition had suddenly deteriorated, and she couldn’t wait until then.
A month ago, Rex thought that just because he had the memory library didn’t mean he had to accept the invitation.
Even if the inviting party was just short of taking a hemp rope and tying him up to force him in.
Many times this month, he had arrived at the selection interface but hadn’t made a choice.
His hesitation stemmed from the stated cost: the possibility of dying at any moment.
If he had any other choice, Rex would never gamble his life on an invitation of unknown origin.
Who would want to risk their life when they could live peacefully and steadily?
But now, he had exhausted every possible solution he could think of.
Putting himself in their shoes, if he were the one lying in the hospital bed, would his parents risk their lives to fight for a chance at his survival?
“Heh.”
Rex couldn’t help but smile; the answer was obvious.
“Yes, I accept the invitation.”
The instant he confirmed his choice, the card in his hand transformed into a streak of blue light, eagerly shooting into his body.
Several notification sounds subsequently rang out in his mind:
[Ding.
Welcome to the faction: Abyss.]
[Current Rank: Trial-taker.]
[Searching for a trial world…]
[World No.
119 has been linked.]
[You may be promoted to an official member upon completing the task.]
[The portal has opened.
Entry countdown: 1 minute.]
[Advice from the Abyss—]
[Survive.]
After the notification sounds ended, a pale blue portal abruptly appeared in front of Rex.
The continuously spinning vortex on the portal seemed to warn him that once he entered, there would be no turning back.
But Rex no longer cared.
What was the most terrifying thing about the Abyss?
Demons?
Death?
What was truly terrifying was the human world.
He sent a message to his father, saying he was going on a business trip, and then transferred his entire bank balance into his mother’s medical account.
Rex had considered the possibility that he might not return, so he had left a backup plan.
In a drawer at home, he had left some unpublished novels and scripts, which would be enough for his father to enjoy a peaceful old age.
Rex took a few deep breaths, adjusted his state of mind, and plunged headfirst into the portal.
Light and shadows intertwined.
It was incomparably magnificent.
The dazzling shift in scenery made Rex close his eyes instinctively.
By the time he opened them again, he found himself in a cramped space.
Discarded clothes were scattered everywhere, and the air was permeated with the stench of sweat.
A locker room.
Rex concluded.
His clothes had changed into a vintage-style jacket, and his hands were wrapped in bandages.
There was a small mirror in the locker room.
Rex leaned in for a look and nodded.
Yes, it was still his face.
Suddenly, a screen of light surfaced before his eyes, and a somewhat mechanical notification sound echoed in his mind.
[Name: Rex Cross]
[Strength: 13 (10+3)]
[Constitution: 9]
[Agility: 14 (9+5)]
[Spirit: 10]
[Skills: Boxing Lv.5]
[Points: None]
[Note: The average attribute of a normal adult male is 10.
The values in parentheses are temporary bonus attributes provided by your current identity.]
Current identity?
Rex clenched his fists.
He did feel much stronger.
He didn’t know how to box, yet he now possessed a Lv.5 Boxing skill.
Combined with his attire, he had a rough guess about his present identity.
[Abyssal Faction Effect Activated: Identity Implantation.]
Boom!
Countless memories surged into Rex’s mind, scaring him into a cold sweat for fear that they would affect his consciousness.
However, it was just like watching a movie.
Sensing that his independent consciousness wasn’t being interfered with by the unfamiliar memories, he finally relaxed and skimmed through the information to understand his current situation.
The current year was 1988, and the location was the United States.
He had replaced his parallel universe counterpart, becoming an orphaned American underground boxer who had struggled to survive in this city named Gotham since childhood.
Gotham?
Comparing the world background from the original host’s memories with his past life’s memory library, he quickly figured out what kind of world this was.
The TV series, Gotham!
This was because there was a female mob boss here who only existed in the show Gotham: Fish Mooney.
A sense of absurdity arose in Rex’s heart.
Could it be that all these myriad worlds were movies and TV shows he had watched in his past life?
And because he knew the plots, the Abyss continuously invited him to join?
The very next second, he tossed these questions to the back of his mind, because a task had arrived.
[Ding.
Retrieving world list…
Retrieval successful.]
[Current world is unexplored.]
[Upon completion of the main quest, this world can be converted into an exclusive world.]
[Initial Task: Evade pursuit.]
Rex’s expression turned stern.
A pursuit mission right from the start—it was truly fraught with danger.
Thump, thump, thump!
At that moment, someone knocked frantically on the locker room door…