Perhaps this was punishment for her always being a couch potato—Duan Lili thought expressionlessly as she sat on her sofa, clutching her phone.
Before her lay an expansive riverbank. Dozens of meters away, the river flowed quietly, and on the opposite bank stood lush, green mountains.
Behind her was relatively flat ground that rose gently. A hundred meters away, the trees went from sparse to a dense forest as the land sloped upward, with more mountains in the distance.
This place could be considered a valley, with mountains on both sides and low, flat terrain in the middle. A river meandered through, cutting across the valley.
Duan Lili checked her phone; there was no signal, not even a single bar.
The surroundings were eerily quiet. The noises of human society, such as cars, were completely absent. There was only the sound of the flowing river and the chirping of birds. Faintly, in the distance, there were also calls that sounded like some kind of animals. It was entirely the symphony of nature.
Duan Lili’s small floral-print country-style fabric sofa sat steadily on this quiet and beautiful riverbank. In the distance, a group of animals—she couldn’t tell if they were deer or not—were drinking by the river.
One could say this scene was very bizarre. With a stiff face, Duan Lili was processing her emotions to digest the situation before her.
Twenty minutes ago, she had been slumped on the sofa holding her phone and playing games, just as she always did. On a cloudy and rainy day, lounging on the sofa was the most comfortable thing to do, and playing games was the most joyful. With a bag of potato chips pulled open and resting on her chest, Duan Lili was frantically farming materials in the game when a bolt of lightning suddenly appeared out of thin air in the room and struck her phone directly.
Duan Lili only felt a current pass through her entire body, and she shook like a sieve. She wanted to scream but couldn’t, and she wanted to get up but couldn’t move.
A translucent Light Screen lit up before her eyes, and information flashed by rapidly:
[Warning! System about to collapse! Urgently confirming Host!]
[Activating DNA Fusion!]
[Core Data damaged by 83%. Capturing local data, remodeling!]
[Course deviation warning! Repair Course immediately, initiating Space Jump!]
[Space Jump initiated!]
[Warning! Course repair failed! Destination offset!]
For a moment, the phone in Duan Lili’s hand suddenly became scalding hot. Immediately after, a brilliant white light flared in the room. Duan Lili, still trembling from the electricity, felt her eyes sting from the light, unable to see anything.
When the current stopped and the white light vanished, Duan Lili looked with aching, watery eyes—she had transmigrated along with her sofa, her phone, her half-eaten bucket of chips, and half a bottle of cola!
She had transmigrated!
It was one thing for a person to transmigrate, but even the sofa had come along.
Realizing what had happened, Duan Lili simply lay back down on the sofa: “I beg you, let’s go back to wherever we came from!”
She kept her eyes closed for a full three minutes, but the sofa did not respond to her plea. When she opened her eyes, there was still the clear blue sky, and a turn of her head revealed the gurgling water of the small river.
Among the group of deer-like animals drinking by the river, a small one wandered over curiously and circled the sofa. A pair of large, glaze-like eyes looked at her innocently.
A small bird flew over and landed on the back of the sofa: “Chirp, chirp, chirp!”
Duan Lili lay on the sofa and stared at the animal—she’d call it a fawn for now. After locking eyes with the innocent fawn for a moment without moving, she reached out her hand…
The fawn was startled instantly, leaping away to hide, yet it seemed to hesitate, wanting to approach again.
Whether it was its father or mother, a large deer in the herd let out a warning-like cry. The fawn responded and turned to run back to the river to rejoin the herd.
The deer broke into a gallop, leaping into the mountain forest and quickly disappearing.
Duan Lili withdrew her hand, rubbed her face, let out a long sigh, and finally sat up, resigned to her fate.
Having read so many novels, she wasn’t a stranger to the concept of transmigration.
Duan Lili called out: “System?”
She remembered seeing a lot of information when she was shaking from the shock—something about a Host, a System collapse, DNA Fusion, Space Jump, Course repair failure, and so on. If she wasn’t mistaken, this was a transmigration with a System.
Having a System was good; it was better than having nothing. Whether it was a mule or a horse, it was time to pull it out for a walk.
As soon as she spoke, her body suddenly went numb as another bolt of electricity coursed through her.
As expected of a “System about to collapse,” it leaked electricity…
After several seconds of numbness, the leakage ended. A translucent Light Screen, occasionally sparking with small bolts of lightning, flickered unsteadily and with great effort before condensing into form in the air a few dozen centimeters in front of Duan Lili’s face.
Rows of text appeared on the screen.
[Self-check…]
[…]
[Self-check complete. Core Data modeling and reconstruction successful. Hardware damage rate: 27%. Repair required.]
Duan Lili: “…”
From its leaky state alone, she felt this thing was unreliable. This series of text—damage, reconstruction, and whatnot—gave off a very uneasy feeling.
“Um, hello, System,” Duan Lili greeted the System politely. “Could you explain the current situation to me?”
However, the System did not give her the kind of human-machine interaction she expected, like a living artificial intelligence. Instead, several lines of text appeared on the Light Screen:
[Unknown continent. No intelligent life or civilization information within a hundred-kilometer radius. Unable to capture local data.]
[System will enter repair. Initiating Survival Mode. Host, please receive Basic Supplies.]
A worn-out wooden chest appeared on the screen. Below the chest, there were no other options besides “Accept.”
Duan Lili resignedly clicked “Accept.” The Light Screen vanished, and a worn-out wooden chest appeared at her feet.
Duan Lili didn’t want to open this chest at all. She had the feeling that once she opened it, she would never be able to go back…
It wasn’t until a howl, like that of a wild beast, echoed from the distant mountain forest that Duan Lili jumped and hurriedly opened the chest of Basic Supplies.
As the lid flipped open, a white light shone from inside. The Light Screen interface that had just vanished appeared again, but this time it looked different. On the left was a humanoid silhouette, and on the right were ten slots containing several items, each occupying one slot.
Anyone who played games frequently would recognize it at a glance—weren’t these the Character Attributes and the Personal Inventory?
So this System was a game system?
Duan Lili focused her gaze on the Character Attributes:
[Combat: 5]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 3]
[Defense: 0]
[Resistance: 2]
At the very bottom of the interface was a long green bar labeled “Health.” It was a Health Bar, but it had no numerical value.
There was another bar below it that also had no value and wasn’t labeled at all.
Looking at the “Basic Supplies,” they included the following items:
Small Wooden Knife x1, Small Wooden Axe x1, Small Wooden Pickaxe x1, Small Wooden Hammer x1, Small Wooden Hoe x1, each taking up one slot.
There was also one Coarse Cloth Set taking up a slot.
10 Steamed Buns.
1 bottle of Medicine.
1 Torch.
10 Logs.
These four items each occupied one slot as well. The Personal Inventory had a total of 10 slots.
Wasn’t this a standard Beginner’s Set?
Among these, what Duan Lili needed most urgently were shoes.
She had originally been lying on the sofa, and her slippers had been left on the floor. When she transmigrated, the sofa had come with her, but the slippers hadn’t. She was still barefoot. That was why she hadn’t stood up once and had been sitting on the sofa this whole time.
Duan Lili noticed that the [Coarse Cloth Set] in the Personal Inventory seemed to include shoes, so she reached out and tapped the Light Screen. A set consisting of a shirt, long pants, and cloth shoes appeared on the sofa.
There wasn’t much vegetation on the riverbank in this area. However, the opposite side and the slopes behind her were lush with plants. The temperature was somewhat hot, making it feel like it was also summer here.
Duan Lili was wearing her loungewear: a short-sleeved T-shirt and large shorts. She wasn’t in a hurry to change her clothes, so she first picked up the Coarse Cloth Shoes. Her feet fit perfectly inside. Finally, she could leave the sofa and step on the ground.
Putting on the shoes, Duan Lili asked with a glimmer of hope: “System, can you send me home?”
The System gave no reaction.
Understood. No answer meant a refusal.
It seemed the hope of going back was very slim…
Duan Lili stood up, and the Light Screen interface moved with her.
She noticed a change in the Character Attributes interface on the left. After putting on the shoes, her Agility had risen from 3 to 5.
Duan Lili had originally felt it wasn’t necessary to change clothes, but seeing this, she hesitated for a moment and picked up the dark brown Coarse Cloth Shirt and Coarse Cloth Pants.
They were all flat-cut. The top was a pullover, and the pants had a drawstring instead of an elastic waistband. Aside from covering the body, they lacked even a shred of aesthetic value; they were as crude as crude could be.
Duan Lili looked left and right, seeing only two rabbits scurry past with no sign of human presence. There was no need to worry then. In broad daylight, Duan Lili directly stripped off her loungewear and quickly changed into her Beginner’s Outfit.
Sure enough, in the Character Attributes, her Defense increased by two points. It was now [Defense: 2].
Duan Lili’s current status was:
[Combat: 5]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 3+2 (Coarse Cloth Shoes)]
[Defense: 0+1 (Coarse Cloth Shirt)+1 (Coarse Cloth Pants)]
[Resistance: 2]
A set of coarse cloth clothes would probably only protect against branches and leaves scratching her skin. There wasn’t much else to expect.
No fear, no fear, Duan Lili comforted herself.
If this was a game, it meant everything could be upgraded. Now, she needed to calmly think about her situation and necessities.
“System,” Duan Lili asked, “is this Earth?”
This time the System actually acknowledged her. The Light Screen switched interfaces, and text appeared: [Course repair failed, jump offset. No radio signals detected. Civilization level unknown.]
This didn’t feel like a very good sign. Duan Lili endured and asked: “So what should I do now?”
System: [Survive.]
Duan Lili: “…”
A thousand alpacas stampeded through her mind. Survive—that really was simple and crude.
Just as Duan Lili finished complaining internally, more text appeared on the Light Screen: [Hint: To switch the View, simply close your eyes and select a mode.]
Eh?
Duan Lili tried closing her eyes tightly and then opening them. But the world before her didn’t look any different.
Just as she was wondering, a small bird landed on the pebbles of the riverbank. It hopped around with a red bar floating over its head.
Oh! A Health Bar!
The animals she saw earlier didn’t have one. This meant the current View had switched to the Game View.
Duan Lili closed her eyes again. This time, the interface change was much larger than before—it had become sandbox-style.
Everything became cartoonish and blocky. Even Duan Lili’s soft and comfortable fabric sofa had become square-headed and right-angled. She looked up and saw a square sun in the sky.
Sandbox games had been popular for many years, and Duan Lili had several on her phone. Besides those, she also played ancient-style immortal hero games and battle royale games; the categories of games on her phone were quite diverse.
She squinted her eyes again to switch back to the normal View. So there were two different View modes: the normal Game View and the Sandbox Cartoon Game View.
Text appeared on the Light Screen again: [The System will enter hibernation to repair vital hardware. During hibernation, the Host cannot be answered. All functions will run automatically. Hibernation countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7…]
Duan Lili: “…”
Duan Lili watched as the countdown ended, and no more text appeared on the Light Screen.
Unable to answer… no wonder it told her to “Survive.”
Duan Lili took a deep breath and began to think about the “survival” the System mentioned. According to the System, she was the only living person within a hundred-kilometer radius. This was basically the equivalent of wilderness survival.
To survive, what did she need?
Food, water, and a safe shelter.
There was still a half-bucket of open potato chips on the sofa, with some spilled onto the cushions. In the past, Duan Lili would have just thrown away the ones that fell on the sofa, but now, she bent over to pick up the chips and stuffed them back into the bucket.
In a wilderness survival situation, food was precious.
Currently, her food consisted of ten steamed buns and half a bucket of chips. They would probably only last a few days. She needed to find a new, preferably stable, food source.
As for water… she looked at the small river in front of her. She didn’t have to worry about water anymore.
For shelter, she currently only had a sofa. It didn’t block the wind or rain, nor did it offer any protection.
Other than that, she had a useless phone, half a bottle of cola, and… an empty, broken wooden box?
The old wooden chest that had held the Beginner’s Set was still sitting quietly on the ground; it hadn’t disappeared.
Duan Lili organized her thoughts. Her current needs were:
1.
Explore the environment.
2.
Collect food.
3.
Find building materials and build a house.
4.
Level up and improve her self-protection abilities.
Duan Lili looked left and right, then first walked forward toward the small river. After two steps, she stopped.
If there was no intelligent life within a hundred miles, it simply meant there were no signs of people. In a place without people, animals would flourish.
To be safe, Duan Lili wanted to summon the System panel again to take out the knife.
As a gamer, the uses of the items in the basic equipment were clear at a glance without any extra explanation.
Knife: Weapon.
Axe: Collecting wood.
Pickaxe: Mining.
Hammer: Crafting or building.
Hoe: Planting.
Exploring the environment would inevitably involve unknown dangers; it was safer to have a knife in hand. Although the screen displayed it as a [Small Wooden Knife], this was a game item after all, so it had to have attributes.
Even if it was just basic white-tier equipment given for free in the Beginner’s Set, it was better than nothing.
Just as she thought of the “knife,” before she could even summon the System, the knife appeared directly in her hand. It turned out that she only needed a thought to take something from her inventory.
Get!
But, Duan Lili held the knife up to her face and looked at it…
It was over a foot long, very light, with clear wood grain, and it made a wooden sound when she tapped it. It really was a Small. Wooden. Knife. It didn’t fail to live up to a single word.
It looked familiar, extremely familiar.
Duan Lili stared at it for a long time before suddenly realizing!
Wasn’t this those children’s toys that every shop at the entrance of a tourist attraction sold?
Could this thing… really be powerful?
Duan Lili looked at the attribute panel with little confidence, but her eyes suddenly lit up. Her Combat value had actually increased. It was now [Combat: 5+10 (Small Wooden Knife)].
Duan Lili had already figured it out.
Her original Combat and Strength values were both 5—wasn’t that the legendary “level five weakling”?
And her original Agility was 3, probably because she was barefoot. As soon as she put on shoes, her Agility returned to 5. She guessed that 5 was probably the baseline value for an ordinary human.
Defense was an external attribute, likely dependent on things like clothes or armor.
What was Resistance for? Resisting dizziness? Resisting magic? Resisting poison? It wasn’t clear for now.
Generally speaking, the various basic attributes of an ordinary human were at the “5” level.
Now, holding the wooden knife, her Combat value had risen from 5 to 15. That was a threefold increase, meaning that holding the wooden knife made her three times as powerful as herself.
This was the benefit of having a System cheat!
Duan Lili’s confidence instantly soared. Since tools could be summoned with just a thought, there was no need to keep them in her hand at all times. She put the Small Wooden Knife back into her Creation Storage Space and marched heroically toward the river.
The river was still dozens of meters away from the sofa. From the sofa, it didn’t look very wide, just a small stream. But as she actually reached the water’s edge, she felt it was quite wide—at least fifty or sixty meters across by her estimation.
The river water looked calm, flowing quietly.
Duan Lili bent down to look. The riverbank sloped down gently. Near the shore, the water was shallow and clear enough to see the bottom, where there were pebbles, aquatic plants, and fish.
Having fish was good; fish meant food.
Food Search achievement: Success!
It had been a long time since Duan Lili had seen such a clear, clean, and unpolluted river on Earth.
She watched the fish swimming in the water. The clear water and the quiet fish seemed to wash and purify her soul.
Duan Lili, feeling uplifted, couldn’t help but show a smile.
Her smile had just begun to curl when a huge black shadow rose from the deep center of the river.
Lashing out of the water with a loud splash was a giant python.
Before the smile could leave Duan Lili’s face, and before she could even use the Small Wooden Knife, the giant python lunged like an arrow from a bow, opening its bloody maw and swallowing Duan Lili whole.
How does a person die when swallowed by a giant python?
The answer: Suffocation.
Needless to mention the pain before death.
In any case, as Duan Lili died in agony, she had only one thought in her mind—
F*ck you!
System!
F*ck you!!