Deep within the heart of the towering mountain range, where the dense forest canopy blotted out the sun, even the wind carried a chilling, shadowy coolness as it rustled through the leaves.
Beneath a sheer cliff, hidden within a dark, cavernous grotto, lay the lair of a One-Eyed Demon Wolf.
The cave entrance was piled high with half-rotted animal bones, their stench—a nauseating mix of blood, musk, and decay—lingering in the damp air, refusing to dissipate.
In the deepest shadows of the grotto, a young man lay curled up on the cold stone floor.
His tattered robes were stained with dark brown blood and unidentifiable filth, his body radiating an even more acrid stench than the lair itself.
This was the stench of rotting animal entrails and mud he had smeared on himself to mask his living scent.
He lay motionless, his chest barely rising and falling. Dried blood crusted his pale cheeks, and had it not been for the faint, almost imperceptible pulse at his neck, he could have been mistaken for a long-decayed corpse.
How long had passed? Suddenly, a faint stir broke the deathly silence.
First, the young man's fingers twitched almost imperceptibly.
Then, his tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and after a struggle, his tightly closed eyelids finally parted, revealing a narrow slit.
Dim light flooded his eyes, but before he could adjust to seeing in the darkness, a massive eye slammed into his field of vision.
It was a single eye embedded in the gray-black wolf's head, its pupil narrowed into a vertical slit that glowed with an eerie, icy green light, like a bottomless pool, barely three feet from his face.
Fresh blood still stained the wolf's muzzle, and its heavy, fetid breath sprayed onto Qin Che's forehead in hot, reeking gusts.
*Gulp—*
Qin Che's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily, a weak swallowing sound escaping his parched throat.
His mind went blank, then was seized by excruciating pain.
Instinctively, he tried to force a friendly smile, if only to mask his sudden panic upon awakening. But his body felt as heavy as lead.
*Pain!*
*Endless pain!*
*Damn it!*
*What kind of hellhole have I transmigrated to? I open my eyes and find myself about to become wolf food!*
*Dying in a wolf's jaws—this has to be the most pathetic way to die among the entire transmigrator army.*
Yes, Qin Che was a miserable transmigrator... at least for now.
In his previous life, as a high school graduate about to enter university, Qin Che had recklessly stayed up late at home, never imagining he would actually die from overexertion.
As he thought this, he suddenly chuckled.
*So, I still have the knack for finding humor in misery.*
"Damn it! Aren't transmigrators supposed to have Golden Fingers? Where's mine?!"
The next moment, foul-smelling saliva dripped from the Demon Wolf's fangs, landing with a sticky splat on Qin Che's cheek. The stench—a nauseating mix of blood and decay—assaulted his nostrils, churning his stomach.
He desperately wanted to vomit, but his stomach was already empty.
Yet his heart felt as if it had been soaked in bile, the bitter taste rising from his throat to the crown of his head.
He could clearly feel the heat of the Demon Wolf's breath, see the cold glint reflected off its razor-sharp fangs, and the undisguised greed in its eyes.
*Perhaps... it's celebrating too,* Qin Che thought with self-deprecating humor. *A low-grade demon that usually scavenges rotting corpses has stumbled upon a piece of fresh, living meat like me.*
The shadow of death had never loomed so close, its icy despair coiling around his heart like constricting vines.
Tighter and tighter...
Qin Che had already braced himself for the searing pain.
He slowly closed his eyes, his eyelashes trembling violently with fear.
But just as the sharp fangs were about to pierce the skin of his neck—
"No! I can't die in a place like this!"
An anguished roar erupted from Qin Che's throat, his voice hoarse and broken, yet filled with a bone-deep stubbornness.
He snapped his eyes open, his gaze burning with the fierce light of a dying man's struggle. In that moment, his survival instinct shattered the paralysis of fear that had gripped his body.
Almost simultaneously, an indescribable, otherworldly energy surged from his body!
The invisible force caused the One-Eyed Demon Wolf to freeze mid-attack, a flicker of surprise and suspicion flashing through its eerie green pupil as it instinctively recoiled half a step.
Meanwhile, within Qin Che's mental world, a cataclysmic transformation was unfolding.
The once pitch-black, abyss-like space of his consciousness was suddenly cleaved apart by a brilliant, mystical light!
Within the radiant glow, countless shimmering, translucent stardust particles slowly coalesced, drawn together by an unseen force. They hovered at the center of the darkness, emitting a faint yet unwavering radiance, resembling a miniature cosmos that had suddenly materialized.
Self-awakening!
And of the Chaos System, the rarest of all dimensional affinities!
But Qin Che had no time to delve into his mental world to investigate.
Reality suddenly tore open, and a terrifying vortex of chaos erupted from thin air!
The colorless, transparent vortex, swirling with a savage force that could tear apart anything, first dragged the One-Eyed Demon Wolf, its fangs gleaming coldly, into its depths.
"Awooo~ wooo-ooo-ooo—!"
The Demon Wolf's anguished howl hadn't even faded before it was utterly devoured by the void within the vortex!
Immediately afterward, the surrounding rocks, shattered trees, and even the dust motes floating in the air were swept into the vortex by its irresistible suction, surging inward like streams converging into an abyss!
It was like a gluttonous beast with an insatiable hunger, greedily devouring everything within its sight.
In an instant, not only the One-Eyed Demon Wolf's lair vanished without a trace, but the entire towering hill was completely consumed by the terrifying force, leaving behind only an empty void where even the rising dust had been swept away.
"I'm saved...?"
Qin Che stiffly raised his head, gazing at the clear, azure sky above. His tense body finally relaxed slightly, and the corners of his mouth twitched into a faint smile of relief.
But before that smile could fully bloom, it was abruptly shattered by a sudden, overwhelming force!
The chaotic vortex from earlier hadn't dissipated; it now exerted an even more violent suction, gripping him relentlessly!
"This isn't helping me at all!"
Qin Che's consciousness plunged into darkness. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself suspended in mid-air, his body immobilized by an invisible force.
With great effort, he turned his gaze toward the colorless, transparent vortex nearby, which radiated a deadly aura. His pupils constricted sharply, his face etched with utter disbelief.
"Heh heh..."
A dry, bitter laugh escaped his throat. "It seems I truly can't escape death today."
Who could have imagined that after barely escaping the fangs of the One-Eyed Demon Wolf, he would instantly fall into an even more terrifying chaotic trap?
The suffocating sensation of despair gripping his heart surged back, even more intense than before!
This time, he dared not even entertain the slightest hope of rescue.
Perhaps by cruel fate, just as Qin Che was about to be devoured by the vortex, an elderly middle-aged man forcefully barged into his field of vision.
"Hold on, kid! I'm here to save you!"