"Poverty, frustration, pain, sorrow, and..."
Shen took a spiteful breath.
"... burnt noodles."
He sighed as he lay down on his back, staring into space. His eyes were shimmering in the moonlit darkness and the gentle night breeze ruffled his hair.
"Isn't there more to life than just spending all day lamenting my dastardly horrible fate?"
Zhao Shen was an ordinary university student on Earth minor 458. However, due to the dwindling health conditions of his sick mother, he had to drop out of school and work at her dying noodle shop.
He did not really have any money at all, thus he would work from as early as four o clock in the morning, to as late as eleven o clock at night just to make a single sale.
Why would they buy from him when they might as well just buy from a popular restaurant?
This night, he was once again sitting alone in the noodle shop lamenting his fate, when he heard a loud knock on the metal window.
With high hopes, Shen dashed from the low bench he was outstretched on in a flash, expecting to see another customer.
"Coming!"
On the outside, stood a huge man with a short scruffy beard and a slightly balding head. He was at least seven feet tall, and was clad in an officer's uniform with black sunglasses covering his eyes, despite it being nighttime.
"You the one they call, Zhao Shen?"
Shen gulped and let out a wry chuckle, trying to hide his nervousness as he scratched the back of his black hair.
"Yeah, I am. How can I help you, sir?"
The man grunted and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.
"Mmn. The government wants to build a new parking lot, and desires to use your space here. You have till tomorrow to evacuate."
Shen froze for a second, then eyes widened into large balls as his mind took it's sweet time to comprehend the officer's words. Then a look that was basically shock and surprise warped together was splattered over his face.
"The hell?! Aren't I supposed to have a like a three month's evacuation notice or something?, is this even legal?!!"
The officer chuckled and tilted his glasses downwards, looking Shen in the eye as he smirked.
"Kid, it's the government we're talking about. They're the ones who say what is, and is not legal."
"Damn..."
Sighing in defeat, Shen turned to start packing, but then the officer called him back.
"Hey kid?..."
He quickly turned around, hope glimmering in his black eyes.
"...yeah?!"
However, the officer searched around his pocket and brought out a couple of wrinkled notes and a few coins, then he smiled wryly at Shen and scratched the back of his hair.
"Uh... I'd like some noodles, make it spicy, and add some chicken. But i'm a couple digits short though."
***
Later that night, Shen had finished packing up.
The noodle shack would most certainly be demolished by the morning, and he couldn't bear to be there to watch. The shack had belonged to his father, who inherited it from his own father, who inherited it from his father, who inherited it from his uncle who had seized it as collateral from a poor farmer who had borrowed money from him.
Anyways, without it, how was he supposed to get any money to pay for his basic expenses?
"I might as well start preparing for my funeral..."
Dejected, he dragged himself home and collapsed on his bed. It had been a rather long day, and was ready to relax and unwind.
And there was no better way to relax, than...
"Jackpot! Two new chapter updates!"
Shen had just used the few bucks he had amassed this night to buy reading coins and read online novels.
There were very few ways to relax other than resting on your bed, phone in hand, and reading a good web novel.
Having nothing else to do, Shen read on deep into the night, then sighed as his battery ran out.
His charger was broken too and there wasn't really hope for a new one.
"Stupid phone..."
Then he tried to close his eyes and catch some sleep.
However, as he was now in a deeply concentrated state, different thoughts found their way in and out of his mind.
It was strange, the way human minds worked...
"Why does the world have to be his way?"
"Damn the government!"
"Damn the city!"
"Damn the government!" "Damn the hospital!"
"Damn the hospital bills that the government pays for!"
"Damn the university!" "Damn that weird officer guy!"
"Damn that piece of crap I call a phone!"
"Damn me!..."
"Damn..."
Shen frowned slightly as he wrinkled his head in thought.
"What else is there to damn again?"
As he searched his mind thinking about various things to curse at, his eyes fell on a little black pendant lying across the room. It was a gift from his late father and the last thing he remembered of him.
Picking up the plain necklace with a Yang pendant attached to it and putting it over his neck, Shen sighed.
"Other parents leave their kids a fortune somewhere or something, and all I get is a freaking necklace."
Frustrated with the world, Shen crashed back on his bed with a groan.
Only that the groan was from the bed, and not from him. The old bed creaked from his meagre weight, then crashed and broke into two. He had a dark expression splattered over his face as he outstretched his aching body on the cold floor.
"I hate life so much. Like, why can't I just transmigrate as some rich CEO or young master of some clan somewhere, huh?!
Why the hell am I stuck here with such a deadbeat life?!
I really wish I were in a different world, far from this godforsaken place, and would never ever come back."
He had expended quite a lot of energy in his cursing escapade, and slowly, his eyes began to close as his tiredness from the day had begun to catch up to him. In a few seconds, he was already fast asleep.
However, as he slept, the Yang pendant necklace began to glow with an eerie red light.
Ethereal qi began to flow out of the pendant, as a whirlwind of soft glowing white sparks desecrated the small room.
Outside, the moon was veiled in a ruby red mist, as the power of the ancient artifact around a sleeping guy's neck began to release it's spiritual energy. It had heard its Master's wishes and was going to fulfill them - that was its purpose after all.
Slowly, Shen opened his eyes to the sun raining down beams of light over his eyes.
However, as he opened his eyes, his jaw dropped and his pupils dilated at the sight in front of him.
"What... The... Fuck?"