As Rowan dragged his injured leg, gritting his teeth to push away the rock blocking the cave entrance, the blinding sunlight caused his eyes to reflexively close.
The prolonged high fever made him dizzy; in his heart, he only hoped to find a water source.
But looking at the ancient trees towering into the sky, still full of vitality before his eyes—where even looking up, he couldn't see the treetops—a sense of helplessness rose in Rowan's heart.
Hunger and the wounds on his body did not allow him to think much. He dragged his heavy steps, entering the forest once again.
Actually, this was already the third day Rowan had transmigrated to this strange world.
On the first day, Rowan was awakened by severe pain; upon waking, he immediately looked down at his slightly blackened calf.
He gritted his teeth, squeezed out the toxin with his bare hands, black blood flowing all over the ground, until bright red blood flowed out did he manage to save his life.
After treating the leg wound, he had time to observe the surrounding environment, discovering he was in a cave made entirely of yellow earth.
And he realized he had shrunk. These slender limbs were clearly not the body of his 35-year-old self in his prime; his whole being exuded an air of malnutrition.
He had clearly died, but facing life and death by a hair's breadth on the battlefield for a long time helped Rowan maintain his calm in a strange place.
Just as he was about to stand up, darkness suddenly fell before his eyes, and he fainted.
When he woke up again, it was already the second day. Rowan realized the world he was in was not the familiar Empire or any other planet.
In the universe, there wouldn't be such massive natural plants; some species even had to be grown in greenhouses to grow.
He didn't know why he came here instead of dying on the battlefield. The only thing to rejoice about was that this body was still his.
He reached up to touch his gland; it was still there, just that the body had shrunk. He had returned to around 20 years old; his pheromones hadn't awakened, and his rut period hadn't arrived yet.
Rowan disregarded his unrecovered calf and went deep into the forest to explore.
He walked vigilantly for a long time without seeing a trace of human activity. He wanted to find a tree branch for support but couldn't; even the smallest branch was thicker and taller than him.
Encountering fallen branches, he even had to take a detour to avoid them. After walking for a long while, the pain in his calf became increasingly severe, so he had to stop and rest.
[Rustle.]
This was already the twentieth giant tree Rowan had marked. He pursed his lips, trying to make the cracked corners of his mouth feel a bit better.
Still no signs of any living creatures, let alone water sources and food.
Just as Rowan was leaning against the tree trunk resting, a piercing sound rang out like an explosion by his ear.
He immediately hid, looking up toward the source of the sound, his pupils constricting.
Two gigantic monstrous birds, each with two heads, were biting and tearing at each other, blotting out the sky and sun as they swept over his head, creating a gale.
Rowan hugged the tree trunk tightly, not moving, suppressing the shock in his heart.
The battle between the two gigantic monstrous birds made the originally quiet forest no longer peaceful.
Several giant trees were snapped in half, crashing heavily to the ground; the ground shook, and yellow dust flew blindly.
Fortunately, they didn't stay long. After a while of tearing at each other, the monstrous bird that was clearly at a disadvantage broke away from the other and flew into the distance; the other one hurriedly chased after it.
Rowan lay still for a long time, stabilizing his heartbeat, brushed off the layer of yellow dust on his body, and decided to return to the cave following the old path.
This world was more dangerous than what he knew; he had never seen a creature more bizarre than even the Insect Race like this.
It wasn't easy to sleep outside at night in a place full of unknown dangers, so Rowan decided to return to the previous cave to rest.
Because yesterday he rushed back before it got dark without resting, the wound on his calf becoming more serious was inevitable, and high fever was also unavoidable.
Rested for a night, still hadn't died.
This time Rowan didn't follow the path marked yesterday but went in the direction the monstrous bird had fled. The presence of creatures meant there was water and food.
Moving even more carefully this time, after walking a difficult distance, he really couldn't take it anymore and stopped.
As a top-tier Alpha, he had never been this weak; even in the fiercest battles with the Insect Race, suffering life-threatening injuries had never been like this.
It had been three days; he had to replenish water. His throat was dry to the point of stinging pain; even swallowing saliva became a luxury.
He could feel the energy in his body constantly being lost. Don't tell me he was about to die again.
Rowan stared at a fallen leaf as big as a small boat in front of him, hesitating for a moment.
Finally, he struggled to stand upright and walked toward the leaf, feebly tearing it open to reveal the sap, opening his mouth to suck it in. The moment the full stream of sap filled his oral cavity.
His eyes lit up. He sucked vigorously without caring if it was edible or poisonous.
Honestly speaking, the taste wasn't good at all, slightly viscous, carrying a specific taste of plants. But he didn't care about those things, chewing the leaf and swallowing the sap down.
Perhaps because there were no water sources nearby, the roots of these trees went deep underground, and the water reserves in the leaves were quite substantial, somewhat similar to the endangered plants Rowan had seen in the greenhouse.
Drinking a bit of tree sap, the thirst in his throat was soothed, and the stomach filled with leaves no longer growled. Rowan rested on the spot to recover his strength.
He began to reflect on life.
Rowan didn't know what the meaning of trying to survive now was.
Previously, the Science Research Institute had crammed into his head the ideology of fighting for the Empire since childhood, to be able to sacrifice for the Empire at any time, and he had always lived by that principle.
Now transmigrated to this strange world, away from the Empire.
Rowan had lost his life's goal, but there was always a vague voice in his heart telling him to live on.
Perhaps this was God's will, helping him cut off the past, in a world where no one knew him, to start a new life belonging only to himself.
Rowan discovered that surviving here was no easier than exterminating the Insect Race; on the contrary, it was even more arduous.
Thanks to these leaves replenishing water, he could hold on for a few more days.
But the continuous high fever and the leg wound constantly threatened his life. If there was no medicine for treatment, his calf might have to be amputated.
Resting for a while, he felt his head was less dizzy, but his forehead was still hot, and an unhealthy pink color appeared on his face.