When Wang Haoyu awoke, he found himself in a strange room.

"Where am I?"

He glanced around, taking in his surroundings. It was a modest, sparsely furnished room with a distinctly Chinese style. The furniture, covered in a thick layer of dust, suggested it hadn't been used in a long time. The door was tightly shut.

Shaking his head, the fog in his mind began to clear as his memories returned.

Wang Haoyu, a twenty-one-year-old third-rate chef, had been working in the kitchen of a small restaurant. He was just pulling food out of the oven when a powerful electric current surged through his hand, knocking him unconscious.

"Could this be some unused room in the restaurant? Maybe they carried me here after I passed out?" he mused as he sat up on the bed.

Judging by the rundown state of the room, this seemed like a reasonable assumption.

Creak...

Suddenly, a noise came from the door.

What was that?

His curiosity piqued, Wang Haoyu walked over to the door and reached for the rusty, battered doorknob.

Bang!!!

The moment he cracked the door open, a massive force struck him, sending him flying backward.

Despite his average culinary skills, Wang Haoyu's hefty frame was a testament to his life as a chef. Weighing nearly 200 pounds, he often bore the brunt of his coworkers' jokes.

Before he could even process what had happened, a dark shadow lunged toward him. Instinctively, his hand grabbed a baseball bat lying on the floor and held it up to his chest.

Snap!

A sharp crunch resonated through the room as Wang Haoyu found himself face-to-face with a set of razor-sharp fangs. A massive "dog," easily the size of a wolf, had appeared before him. Its ferocious growl and menacing demeanor made it clear that this was no ordinary canine.

What on earth is this creature?

His heart raced as he realized the beast before him wasn't a dog. But there was no time to ponder this further; the creature was clearly intent on killing him.

Frantically scanning the room for a weapon, Wang Haoyu's eyes fell on a gun resting on a nearby table. Although covered in dust, the metallic sheen suggested it was still functional.

With no time to waste, he pushed the beast back with all his might, creating a brief but crucial gap between them. Driven purely by the instinct to survive, he dashed toward the table and grabbed the gun. Feeling its weight in his hand, he recalled scenes from action movies he had watched and pulled the trigger without checking if the gun was loaded.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, and by sheer luck, the bullet struck the creature in the head. It let out a pained whimper before collapsing to the ground, lifeless.

"A real... gun..."

The recoil from the shot shook him to his core. Wang Haoyu stood there, hands trembling, still in a shooting stance.

"Where am I? Am I dreaming?"

After taking a moment to steady his breath, he felt a sharp pain in his head.

This definitely wasn't any room in the restaurant. That beast alone was out of place, not to mention the gun in his hand. There was no way these things belonged in a restaurant.

Looking around, he noticed the windows were thick with dust, allowing only a faint hint of daylight to filter through. He had no idea what lay outside.

He turned his attention back to the door he had opened, now revealing a pitch-black space beyond it, obscuring any view of what lay outside.

Click!

Mimicking what he'd seen in movies, Wang Haoyu removed the gun's magazine.

One, two, three… six bullets!

Seeing that there were still six bullets left, he felt a slight sense of relief amidst his panic. He cautiously surveyed the room once more.

Aside from the gun, there was a short, rusty knife on the table, stained with what looked like dried blood.

He wiped the blade clean and slipped it into his waistband. He also found a flashlight, which thankfully still had some power left.

Mustering his courage, Wang Haoyu held the flashlight in one hand and the gun in the other, his large frame trembling as he slowly approached the door. Sweat soaked through his shirt.

Carefully stepping through the doorway, Wang Haoyu realized he was now in a living room. The lack of windows gave the space a dim, eerie feel, but a faint light glimmered from an adjacent room.

The living room looked like that of an ordinary home, complete with a sofa, a coffee table, and a few appliances.

He stood there for a full three minutes, heart pounding, before finally gathering enough courage to approach the other room.

Much like the first room, this one was almost bare, containing only a bed and a cabinet. A thick layer of dust covered everything, suggesting it had been uninhabited for a long time.

Returning to the living room, Wang Haoyu noticed a small kitchen off to the side. Entering cautiously, he found it equally deserted, with nothing but some old utensils. The bathroom, too, was unremarkable, matching the layout of a typical home.

Other than that strange dog, nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary.

Thinking of the dog, Wang Haoyu returned to the first room. Holding the gun steady, he approached the now-lifeless beast, carefully examining it.

The bullet had struck the creature's head, leaving a gaping wound that oozed dark, foul-smelling blood, unlike any he had seen before.

Suddenly, Wang Haoyu's eyes widened. In the center of the wound, embedded in the flesh, was a small, blue crystal, about the size of a coin.

After a moment's hesitation, he reached out and gently extracted the crystal.

Ding!

As soon as he touched it, a chime sounded in his mind. His vision blurred for a moment as new information flooded his brain.

"Welcome to My World. This is your world. The magic crystal has been automatically converted, yielding 1 energy point. Future conversions are at the discretion of the world's master."

"This room is your initial world base. You can upgrade your world and exchange for various items through the system. For detailed information, please refer to the World Development section and the Item Exchange section."

"Your world comes with an initial storage space, measuring one cubic meter. This space can expand as your world levels up."

"Your world setup is complete. Feel free to create and expand your world as you see fit."

"Note: Your world's initial base is this room, a fixed structure. As your world levels up, it can become portable and movable."

Wang Haoyu was overwhelmed by the sudden influx of information.

"My world? Upgrades? Storage space? What on earth is all this?"

He stood there, dumbfounded, trying to make sense of it all. The blue crystal he had been holding had disappeared, leaving him bewildered. Everything that had just happened was completely beyond his comprehension.

But as he thought of "My World," a menu suddenly appeared in his mind.

He saw a schematic of the room he was in, along with several options labeled "World Modification," "Item Exchange," and "Storage Space." At the bottom, there was a note indicating "1 Energy Point."

Still in a daze, Wang Haoyu focused on the "World Modification" option. Instantly, a list of categories appeared, including options for building modifications, weapon upgrades, and living arrangements. Each category contained numerous sub-options, like adding new rooms, expanding walls, and various weapons and equipment.

Every option had a cost listed next to it in energy points, and most of them required more than the single point he currently had.

Curious, he switched to the "Item Exchange" menu, which was similarly divided into categories like household items, physical enhancements, medicines, and auxiliary tools.

Wang Haoyu felt completely overwhelmed. If everything around him hadn't felt so real, he would have thought he was dreaming.

Knocked out by an oven, waking up in this old, unfamiliar room, encountering a fierce beast that looked like a dog, and now this "My World" system—none of it seemed possible.

"Where am I exactly?" Desperate for answers, Wang Haoyu hurried to the window. Using his dirty sleeve, he wiped away years of accumulated grime, hoping to catch a glimpse of his surroundings.

As he cleared a small patch of glass and peered outside, Wang Haoyu's breath caught in his throat. For a long moment, he couldn't process what he was seeing.

Outside was a barren landscape of desolate yellow earth. Not a single tree or sign of life could be seen.

But that wasn't what froze him in place. Roughly thirty meters away, he spotted three enormous rats, each the size of a large dog. They were even bigger than the capybaras he'd once seen at the zoo. Much like the dog from before, these rats had huge fangs, sending a chill down his spine even from a distance.

Piecing together the bizarre scene, a terrifying thought crept into Wang Haoyu's mind, causing his entire body to shiver.

"Could it be… that I've crossed over into another world? And not just any world… a post-apocalyptic one…"

Staring at the monstrous rats in the distance, the realization sent a wave of dread through him.