He didn't know how long he had slept.
He had been working overtime at the unit and fell asleep due to extreme fatigue, only to wake up as someone else.
A middle school student named Shen Ye.
In his perception, this middle school student must have died in a high fever.
He had taken his place.
This matter should have been told to the parents of the student.
But—
He had already arrived in this world and become this middle school student named Shen Ye.
Stirring up trouble at this time, and if by chance he were sent to a mental hospital, his life would be over.
Besides that.
Day and night, he felt the meticulous care.
Their tired and heart-wrenching expressions, those tear-reddened eyes, the around-the-clock companionship, all these gave rise to an inexplicable feeling within him.
After all, in his previous life, he was an orphan and had never experienced such parental care.
So—
Let's forget about it.
— Since I'm here, I might as well settle down.
"You look much better, the doctor says your condition is improving,"
His mother, Zhao Xiaochang, carried a bowl of soup, scooped a spoonful, and brought it to his mouth.
The soup was quickly finished.
Zhao Xiaochang stood up to wash the bowl.
Only Shen Ye remained in the room.
He lay silently on the sickbed, reached out to pull the backpack from the chair beside him onto the bed.
He opened the backpack.
There were four books in his field of view:
"Strength Training,"
"Physique,"
"Spiritual Enlightenment,"
"Language and Scientific Knowledge."
— And a pile of exercise books.
This world was completely different from Blue Star, and the content of exams students faced was also vastly different.
"Xiao Ye,"
His mother's voice suddenly rang out.
Shen Ye turned his head to look and saw his mother's face fraught with deep worry.
"We missed the first exam, and if you really can't get over it, just stay home and don't go for it,"
"Later, we will ask your grandfather to help, and arrange a job for you,"
she said cautiously.
Forgoing the middle school entrance examination...
Shen Ye closed his eyes and thought.
The first subject of the middle school entrance exam was "Strength Training," specifically assessing the students' physical fitness.
It was common for students to injure their muscles and tendons during this exam.
Therefore, after this exam, students entered a seven-day period for review and recovery, and then it would be the second exam—
"Physique."
It was actually about movement technique and footwork.
He had missed the "Strength Training" exam, and there were only three days left until the second exam, "movement technique and footwork."
While he was alive, his predecessor always had good grades, ranking first or second in school.
He had been full of longing for high school.
But now, he had suddenly fallen ill and missed one middle school entrance exam. Even if he scored high in the subsequent exams, he wouldn't be able to get into a good school.
This blow was not light for a fifteen-year-old boy.
That's why his mother had such a suggestion.
But...
He was not as fragile as she imagined.
"Mom, are you afraid I can't accept it?" Shen Ye smiled.
Zhao Xiaochang gently grasped his hand, hesitating to speak.
"Don't worry, even if I can't go to a key high school, I still want to take the exam—I want to continue studying, even in the worst school," Shen Ye said.
Zhao Xiaochang took a long sigh of relief, embraced him, and whispered softly,
"I'm going to find your dad right away. We'll figure out a way to get you a Marrow-Supplementing Pill. You must be in the best condition for the exam."
Having said that, she hurriedly left the room.
Only Shen Ye was left in the room.
He lowered his head, silently looking at the book in his hands.
The Marrow-Supplementing Pill was a very expensive medicinal pill.
To help him recover, his parents really had gone to great lengths.
A warm current floated in his heart.
This feeling seemed to be a remnant from the original body, yet it seemed to have just sprung from his own heart.
Stop thinking, just focus on reviewing.
Shen Ye opened the book "Physique" and began to read it carefully.
The few subjects he had learned in junior high were all about laying the foundation, and at the same time, they covered knowledge exams about the world.
For example, the fourth book was "Language and Scientific Knowledge."
If he could pass the middle school examination, there was a hope to learn deeper and superior Cultivation Techniques in high school.
Having arrived in this world by no small effort, did he really want to just find a job and lead an ordinary life?
As if.
He must get into high school!
Shen Ye made a silent resolution in his heart.
Suddenly.
A voice rang in his ear:
"I've found you."
The voice was sudden, as if someone were standing behind him, speaking right into his ear.
Shen Ye's whole body bristled with goosebumps.
"Who's there!"
He sprang up from the bed and looked around in all directions.
Everything was quiet as usual.
No one was there.
No movement.
Nothing at all.
Damn it, he almost fled out the door.
Where exactly did that voice come from—
Shen Ye suddenly froze.
Without knowing when, a door had appeared at the foot of his bed.
The door looked very old and was identical to the hospital room doors.
Looking through the window on the door, there was nothing but darkness inside.
Shen Ye stood rigid, his gaze shifting from initial surprise to fear, but it quickly turned to calm.
"That's right, this is the hospital ward door encountered by the previous occupant."
"...You killed him and now you want to deal with me?"
Shen Ye suddenly became angry.
In that other world, although he was an orphan, he was at least a non-believer who grew up under the red flag and in the spring breeze.
Back then, he wasn't even scared walking through a graveyard alone.
But in this world, a ghost dared to emerge and deal with the living?
It wasn't enough to kill a youth about to take the middle school exam, but now there's also this door erected here to scare people?
What's the meaning of this?
He was a man who had died once already, should he fear them?
—You want to fight or kill, just come at me!
He looked around, picked up the desk lamp from the bedside table, took three steps in place of two towards the foot of the bed, raised the lamp high, and shouted:
"Tricks and sorcery!"
With one kick, he flung the door open, revealing the scene inside.
—Beyond the door was a long dark corridor.
At the end of the corridor, a huge human-shaped skeleton over four meters in length lay there, eating a mutilated corpse.
Upon hearing the commotion here, the skeleton slowly lifted its enormous skull head, ghostly flames flickering in its eye sockets, looking towards Shen Ye.
The disdain on Shen Ye's face instantly froze.
—He truly hadn't expected such a terrifying thing.
Hmph, such a thing...
"Excuse the intrusion, sorry to bother you, and enjoy your meal!"
He flashed a brilliant smile, nodded politely to the other, and surreptitiously hid the desk lamp behind him.
The skeleton suddenly let out a piercing scream and charged towards him with incredible speed.
Shen Ye slammed the door shut.
Click!
With a soft sound, the door vanished.
It disappeared!
Shen Ye's body went limp, and he collapsed onto the bed.
Damn it.
This world is too dangerous.
Suddenly, Shen Ye noticed a faint light emerging around him, converging mid-air into lines of small characters:
"For opening the door this time, you have received an evaluation entry:"
"Polite Person."
"Grey Entry (Broken)."
"Equipping this evaluation entry, you obtain the following buffs:"
"When you act politely, others will have a slightly better impression of you."
"You may keep this evaluation entry and upgrade it in the future, or you may devour it to gain basic attribute points."
After reading it quickly, Shen Ye fell into thought.
How come this door seems to have become some kind of ability, and it can even give me an evaluation?
Wait a minute!
Could this be my own ability?
Suddenly, that voice emerged again in Shen Ye's ear:
"I have finally found you."
"Who are you?" Shen Ye immediately asked.
"Ah, you who have awakened the 'World Link' type ability, you are so rare, but at last, I've found you."
The voice continued, "Listen, I am asleep in the depths of the Nightmare World. If you can come and rescue me, I will reward you handsomely."
Shen Ye couldn't help but shake his head slightly.
Rescue?
I'm too scared to even enter, let alone rescue anyone.
As if it knew what he was thinking, the voice spoke again:
"Don't rush to refuse. As a sign of good faith, I can tell you something."
"Now, open your backpack, and find that metal sculpture in your pencil case."
Shen Ye felt curious and directly grabbed his backpack, opened the pencil case, and indeed saw a metal sculpture of a unicorn ghost monster inside.
Something was off.
According to the memories of his original self, he never had such a metal sculpture.
Who put this sculpture in the pencil case?
The voice sounded again:
"This is the 'King of the Fallen Wicked Ghouls' Cursed Sculpture'."
"Over the long years, humans have believed it could open otherworlds, snatch people's lives and spirits, and use them to enhance its own power."
"This has happened millions of times without fault."
After listening carefully, Shen Ye asked:
"Are you saying that someone put this statue in my pencil case to take my life?"
"Correct, but you didn't die."
The voice continued, "What humans don't know is that although it is immensely powerful, if there's even one time it fails to take the life of its target, then all the power it has accumulated will be infused into that target."
"This power will create unprecedented new abilities for that person."
"—So you have obtained the extremely rare 'World Link Type' ability."
Shen Ye fell silent.
Actually...
That boy is dead too.
It's just that I seamlessly linked over and took over his body all at once.
So is this considered a BUG?
The voice became filled with longing:
"Come, human, once you grow strong enough, you will surely reach the depths of the Nightmare World and set me free."
"I will repay you properly, my word is my bond,"
"What kind of existence are you?" Shen Ye asked.
"Communication across realms has drained my strength… but I have finally remembered you… I will come looking for you again."
The voice grew fainter and gradually disappeared.
The room fell silent once more.
Shen Ye knelt on the bed, his expression somewhat solemn.
Me?
Awakened an ability?
He looked at the metal sculpture in his hands again.
Only to see that the sculpture had become dull and lusterless; as soon as he touched it, fine cracks started to appear on the surface of the sculpture.
Crash!
The sculpture turned into many fragments.
A gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and blew the fragments into ash.
—It had completely ceased to exist.
Who on earth wanted to kill Shen Ye?
No good.
He had to hurry and enhance his strength, to at least be able to protect himself!
He looked again at the glowing characters in midair.
"Polite Person."
What a ridiculous entry, better use it to increase my strength.
"Devour."
Shen Ye thought in his mind.
The entry disappeared immediately, replaced by a glowing point.
The point hovered in midair, circled briefly, and flew into Shen Ye's own body.
—Attribute Points.
After devouring the evaluation entry, it produced attribute points that could be used to enhance one's basic attributes.
But which attribute should be increased first?
Shen Ye began to carefully recall some knowledge of the world.
Generally speaking, humans possess five major attributes: strength, agility, spiritual power, comprehension, and resonance.
What would happen if I added a point to strength?
With a thought, that point of "light" immediately transformed into strength attribute and augmented his body.
For a moment.
Shen Ye's body felt slightly heavier as if he had become a bit more solid.
He picked up a plate from the table and squeezed it with both hands.
The metal plate bent slightly.
Two lines of characters appeared in the void:
"Current strength level: Normal adult male."
"Your physical condition has just reached the standard of an adult male, please continue to make an effort."
An adult male, huh?
This teenager, only fifteen years old and still frail, had gained such a strengthening in strength.
Shen Ye's thoughts shifted.
The point of "light" no longer augmented his strength but was instead drawn out by him and put into agility.
His body felt as if it had become lighter.
The glowing characters once again appeared in the void:
"Congratulations, you have reached the standard of a Primary Parkour Practitioner."
Shen Ye took a short run-up, jumped onto the wall, ran up the wall for two steps, and then landed back on the ground.
—Putting it in agility was pretty strong too!
Shen Ye took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried to calm his emotions.
From these short two attempts, he had realized something.
—Attribute points could be withdrawn at any time and then bestowed upon any other area.
The truly terrifying thing lay right there.
I could instantly transform from a strength-type warrior into an agility-system assassin!
Things seemed to be getting interesting.