Chapter 14

In the early morning, the bright sunlight filtered through the wooden window and fell on the face of the young man with short hair. At this moment, his chest rose and fell slightly, his face repeatedly showing expressions of shock, panic, and confusion. His hands clenched and unclenched, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead like a stream.

"Ah!" He suddenly woke up, his eyes opening wide.

"Oh! I've been woken up by that terrifying and strange dream again." The young man sat up, looked at his sweat-soaked clothes, and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Reflecting on the past three days, the young man still felt as if he were in a dream. Of course, it was a terrifying and strange dream.

The young man's original name was Luo Liang, a promising young man in a small city of the new era. Three days ago, it was the weekend, and Luo Liang had packed his backpack early in the morning, planning to visit a famous scenic area nearby, climb some mountains, and camp out at night, enjoying the sunrise.

However, the weather didn't cooperate. After finally reaching the foot of the mountain in the evening, a heavy rainstorm began. With no choice, Luo Liang rented a room at a lodge at the foot of the mountain, planning to wait for the rain to clear before climbing. Although he couldn't camp, watching the sunrise the next day would still be nice.

Bored, he opened his 13-inch laptop and started playing a game he had been playing recently. The game was set in the Warring States period, where you could play as characters like a swordsman, merchant, or warrior, learning different skills and eventually reaching the peak of a certain role. Luo Liang had been playing for several days, acting as a ninja for a few days, then learning gun skills from the master Hozoin Yashiro for a few more days, and finally challenging various dojos. He was just 50 matches away from becoming a master swordsman.

By midnight, the heavy rain was still pouring. Luo Liang had just completed his 50th victory in the game and was about to become a master swordsman. Suddenly, the game interface flashed, and a selection box appeared.

"Huh? Wasn't I supposed to automatically become a master swordsman? Why is there a selection box?" Luo Liang was puzzled. He looked closely and saw the words "Do you want to experience it in person?" with the options "Yes" and "No."

"Damn, this game has a bug (a software error)," Luo Liang cursed the game developers in his heart.

"Whatever, I'll just choose one and see if I can still play," he thought, about to click "Yes." Suddenly, the entire building shook.

"Huh?" Luo Liang was taken aback and looked out the window in confusion. In the dark night, all he could see was the heavy rain, and beyond that, the dark mountain, with nothing visible. If Luo Liang had listened more carefully at that moment, he would have heard the sound of "rustling" mixed in with the rain.

"Ah!?" Suddenly, a sharp scream came from the room closest to the mountain foot, followed by the sound of a door being hastily opened, and someone shouting, "Mudslide, run!"

"What?" Luo Liang hadn't reacted yet when he saw a black shadow rush towards the window across the room. With a "crash," the mudslide instantly filled the room, and the lights went out. The entire building shook violently...

In the chaos, Luo Liang's right hand, still holding the mouse, clicked involuntarily, and his left hand grabbed the backpack and turned to run. At that moment, a vortex appeared on the floor, and Luo Liang felt a current surge through his body, as if his skin were being pulled off his flesh. He immediately felt the world spinning, and his mind gradually fell into darkness... "Damn! How could this shoddy construction not withstand a mudslide, and even have an electrical leak?" This was Luo Liang's last thought.

......

After an unknown amount of time, Luo Liang gradually felt a tingling sensation on his face. The sensation became more and more noticeable. "What is this feeling? Why is it itchy?" Luo Liang, like someone suddenly awakened from a deep sleep, was only gradually regaining control of his body. Slowly, he regained control of his body and slowly opened his eyes. In the blur, he saw something that looked like a tongue licking his face... "Ah!?" Luo Liang was startled, his body instantly regaining control. He pushed himself up with both hands and sat up.

"Whoosh!" A gray shadow instantly jumped away.

Luo Liang quickly followed the sound with his eyes. "Huh? It's a fawn?!" Luo Liang was both amused and exasperated. He realized that the little creature must have been curious and had come to investigate this "unknown" object, accidentally waking him up.

The fawn, seeing the "unknown" object staring at it, became nervous and quickly ran back to the herd. The herd, noticing that the previously motionless object had suddenly "bent" and was moving, became wary.

"Phew!" Luo Liang quickly got up and stretched, feeling as if he had just run a marathon, his body sore and weak.

"Rustle!" The herd of deer, clearly startled by Luo Liang's movements, quickly fled into the nearby forest, their bodies brushing against the underbrush.

"Am I that scary?" Luo Liang looked helpless. He looked down at his clothes, which were indeed in a sorry state, covered in mud from the mudslide at the lodge. Fortunately, he was only sore and not injured. Of course, he was now completely soaked because he had been lying in a patch of water grass by a small stream. Fortunately, the water was shallow, only reaching his ears; otherwise, he might have been floating on the surface or sunk to the bottom to feed the fish.

After a moment, Luo Liang got up and prepared to walk to the shore. He tripped over something and almost fell. Looking down, he saw it was his backpack. He remembered that he had been holding it tightly before losing consciousness. Luo Liang picked up the backpack and walked to the dry shore, looking around. He saw a small stream about 5 to 6 meters wide, with dense forests on both sides. The trees near the stream had broken branches and leaves turned upwards, clearly indicating that a strong wind had passed through.

"Where am I? What happened? A vortex? An electric current?" Thinking about what had happened to him, Luo Liang felt a mix of fear, confusion, and bewilderment.

"Phew!" After a few minutes of silence, Luo Liang took a deep breath. "Forget it, I should focus on how to survive first." With that, he looked at the backpack in his hand.

He carefully inventoried his current possessions:

- A set of sportswear

- A pair of hiking shoes (including socks)

- A mechanical watch (Huh!? The watch still showed it was a little past 2 AM!?)

- A three-layer backpack containing:

- A mobile phone (including a charger and two batteries)

- A pen (usually kept in the bag)

- A small notebook (usually kept in the bag)

- A lighter

- A small solar-powered flashlight

- A Swiss Army knife

- A wallet (containing 7 large bills and some loose change)

- An umbrella

- Some medicine (a box of cold medicine, a box of fever medicine)

- Five slices of bread (intended for a midnight snack and breakfast the next day)

- Three chocolate bars

- A pack of mint candies

- Five small sweet potatoes (intended for roasting during the campout)

- Three ears of corn (intended for roasting during the campout)

- A small melon (intended as a dessert after roasting)

The laptop, which was in the largest compartment, had been left at the lodge, and another set of clothes had been taken to the lodge's laundry.

This was all he had now.

After inventorying his possessions, he washed his mud-covered clothes by the stream. After eating a slice of bread to satisfy his hunger, Luo Liang turned and entered the forest where the deer had disappeared. No matter what, he had to find a place where people lived.

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