Chapter 3

Luo Lie was completely bewildered for a whole week before he reluctantly accepted the bizarre events that had befallen him.

He had clearly discovered a building ruin at the bottom of the Non-Frozen Lake, but then a terrifying aura appeared out of nowhere. When his soul trembled, before his mind could even react, he found himself inexplicably in a garbage mountain. What was even more frustrating was not the language barrier, but the fact that... he had shrunk like Conan!

Fortunately, Dingding had shrunk because his body had become smaller.

It was also fortunate that he had experienced the event of consuming a fruit, which greatly enhanced his resilience, so he didn't suffer a severe mental blow when he arrived in this world.

A week is not a short time, and it was enough for him to accept the current situation.

"First, I need to solve the language problem. Fortunately, the people here are kind."

Luo Lie sat on a wooden bed, touching the scar above his right eyebrow, lost in thought.

He still didn't know that the world he was in was no longer the original Earth, nor did he know the name of the place he was in. He also couldn't know how ridiculous the term "kind" was in this context.

At that time, when he first emerged from the garbage mountain, he saw three people in protective suits. Although he didn't know where he was, and he didn't know why these three people were wearing protective suits or what they were doing in the garbage pile, when these three strangers spoke, Luo Lie felt a deep sense of despair.

"What the hell are they saying?"

Despite his proficiency in multiple languages, he couldn't understand what the people in protective suits were saying at all.

Fortunately, despite the language barrier, one of the three, a girl, expressed clear kindness and took him back to a normal human settlement. These actions earned her the "kind" evaluation from Luo Lie. Of course, it would have been better if the jade she had taken from him hadn't been snatched away.

Luo Lie touched the familiar scar above his right eyebrow and thought about the jade that the wild girl had taken, falling into his habitual contemplation.

Based on his current appearance and the scar, he could confirm that he had shrunk, and his physical strength had deteriorated with age. Fortunately, he could still feel the faint 'life energy' within his body, which was his weapon. Although it was as weak as a flickering flame, it was a precious spark.

During this time, he had been worried that the 'spark' within his body would disappear, as it would be the capital that supported his survival in this strange world. Fortunately, his concerns were unfounded; the life energy within his body, though weak, showed no signs of disappearing.

"In any case, while mastering the language, I also need to try to strengthen the life energy within my body so that I won't be helpless when faced with problems."

Luo Lie slowly closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and then focused his mental energy to touch the faint life energy within his body, as if gently kneading a small energy ball the size of a thumbnail.

During this week, he had been practicing, but there was almost no progress. Although he didn't know why, he still persisted.

After consuming the fruit, he could clearly perceive the life energy, and he used this method to practice. The effect was not significant, but it was there.

After practicing for a whole year, his physical strength had improved to a superhuman level, and he could hold his breath for up to twenty minutes.

However, since his body had shrunk and he had come to this strange world, the same practice method seemed to show no progress.

Luo Lie attributed this to his smaller body and didn't think much about it.

He kneaded the life energy for a whole hour, but saw no change.

Luo Lie kept his eyes tightly closed, but suddenly, a row of white characters appeared in his dark field of vision, like white smoke, floating and forming clear text.

Strength: Unknown.

Awakening Level: 0.5%.

The sudden appearance of these strange characters startled Luo Lie, and he opened his eyes. As he opened his eyes and exited his calm mental state, the characters in his consciousness disappeared like smoke.

"What is this?"

As Luo Lie's eyes opened, filled with deep confusion, the old wooden door creaked open.

A girl with purple hair and golden eyes entered, carrying two bowls of steaming porridge. She placed them on a simple wooden table and pointed to the porridge, saying, "Eat."

The simple syllables and simple meaning were incomprehensible to Luo Lie, but the girl pointed to the porridge, and he had heard the same words every time she brought food, so he roughly understood it meant "eat."

His gaze briefly swept over the girl's undeveloped chest, but he saw her quickly reach out to protect the white jade hanging from her chest, her face showing a threatening expression.

"This is my reward, it's mine now!" The girl's voice was young and distinct, and her serious expression seemed to be declaring the jade's ownership.

Luo Lie didn't understand what the girl was saying, but he guessed it wasn't good, so he shrugged helplessly, not caring. In his view, the jade would eventually be taken back, so he picked up the bowl and started drinking the rice soup.

"Hmm... the rice wasn't washed again." The moment his tongue touched the rice soup, Luo Lie sighed lightly. As a food lover, his tongue, pampered by so many delicacies, was already protesting. Eating this watery porridge, with a severe imbalance of water and rice, was truly a torment for him. However, he was in someone else's care and had no right to demand more.

This was a bowl of very thin porridge, with very few grains of rice and no side dishes, not even a small dish of pickled radish. This was his meal for the past week.

Although he couldn't understand the language and didn't dare to go out much, based on the small room he lived in and the meals the girl brought, he could roughly judge the living standards here. The garbage dump outside was also clearly visible.

Soon, Luo Lie finished the porridge and placed the empty bowl on the table. The girl had also finished her porridge, and the two of them looked at each other, the room falling silent.

The girl was small, about ten years old, with short purple hair, fine eyebrows, and very rare golden eyes that were large and bright. Her nose and mouth were slightly delicate, and she wore a white outfit similar to a judo uniform, but with a short skirt and a black tight short pants underneath, which were longer than the connected skirt.

To be honest, she was a very cute little girl, enough to stir the "overflowing love" of many lolicon, but Luo Lie wasn't a lolicon, and he knew this cute little girl wasn't to be trifled with. Not to mention anything else, her physical strength was actually stronger than his.

Who knew how such a small and cute little girl could have such strength.

If not for this reason, he wouldn't be so passive, unable to even take back a piece of jade.

In the silent eye contact, the girl suddenly pulled out an old book from her clothes, slapped it on the table, and said, "I'll teach you to read."

Luo Lie didn't understand, but he wasn't impolite. He opened the first page of the book and, upon seeing the characters that looked like a phonetic chart, his eyes narrowed slightly.

He felt these strange characters were familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere before, perhaps... on the stone pillars at the bottom of the Non-Frozen Lake.

Thinking of this, Luo Lie was startled, but he remained calm and analyzed the characters.

"Somewhat similar, but not quite."

Comparing the two sets of characters, he could discern their differences.

Suppressing his confusion, Luo Lie looked up at the girl, pointed to the book, then to her, and finally to himself, asking if she was going to teach him to read.

The girl understood Luo Lie's meaning and nodded slightly.

"Then let's get started quickly." Luo Lie's eyes lit up, but the girl didn't understand his Chinese.

The girl didn't care what language Luo Lie was speaking. There were over two hundred languages in the world, and Luo Lie might be speaking one of them. The language she was going to teach him was a common one.

Although the girl taught in a mediocre way, Luo Lie quickly mastered the new language and characters. He had a natural talent for languages and learned new ones very efficiently. In less than a month, he would thoroughly master the language of this world.

By the time it was late at night, he finally knew the girl's name and where he was.

The girl's name was Machi, and the place he was in was called Meteor Street...

If it was just Machi or just Meteor Street, Luo Lie wouldn't have thought much of it, but when both were revealed to him, his heart was suddenly filled with shock.

"Is this the world of Hunter x Hunter?"

An image of a woman with purple hair and golden eyes appeared in his mind, slowly overlapping with the girl in front of him.

Machi... a world-famous thief, a member of the Phantom Troupe, who has committed numerous heinous crimes around the world, but doesn't look so harmless now!