Great Yu Dynasty, Kexiang County, Funing County, Chuanshui Town, Flood Village.
—
「That night.」
The full moon hung high in the sky, making the river's current shimmer. The chirping of crickets and the croaking of frogs were incessant.
By the river was a grassy clearing, far from any signs of human life.
Yet, the smell of blood drifted through the air.
Within the clearing, one patch of grass was matted down, outlining the shape of a person.
The figure was that of a scrawny young man.
His head had been split open, the source of the bloody smell. His entire face was caked with dried blood.
The young man lay face down, but his fingers twitched.
'Hiss... What's going on? My whole body aches.'
'Wasn't I just sleeping?'
The young man's thoughts began to surface as he struggled to stand.
But as his consciousness fully returned, a new flood of memories arose.
After a long silence, his thoughts stirred again.
'I am Su Qing, but I'm not the Su Qing from here.'
'Were you beaten to death, Su Qing?'
The young man tried to get up, but a wave of weakness washed over him. He was too severely injured.
He could only struggle to roll over so he could breathe in the fresh air.
Finally, with all his might, Su Qing managed to flip his body over.
He rolled over.
"HUFF... HAH..."
"HUFF... HAH..."
Su Qing gulped down mouthfuls of air. The pain racking his body was so intense he couldn't feel anything else.
He turned his head to look at the river.
His eyes widened in shock at the unusual sight that met his gaze.
[Ordinary Grass (Has no effect. Perhaps eating enough of it can fill one's stomach.)]
[Synthesizable]
Su Qing was completely stunned. He tried to force a smile, but it pulled at the wounds on his face, making his expression stiffen in pain.
He carefully examined the faintly transparent panel that had appeared.
It had only ten empty slots, and at the very top of the panel, there was a level indicator.
[Level 0 (0/100)]
[Synthesis Success Rate +0%]
Nine slots surrounded a central one. This was the synthesis panel.
Aside from this, it also displayed item properties.
Su Qing was born in Flood Village. When he was ten, his parents were drowned by a Water Ghost. His older sister married someone far away and was never heard from again. He also had a younger brother, who died from a venomous snake bite when Su Qing was eleven.
This was the information Su Qing had just received from the body's original owner.
The reason he was lying here was that, as an orphan living alone in a rundown village, he had been targeted by a few local thugs who repeatedly extorted him for protection money.
At first, the original Su Qing paid up. But everyone knew how valuable copper coins were in the village. He was already poor to begin with, and once his last copper coins were gone and his food was stolen, it was like adding frost to snow. He simply couldn't survive.
When he refused to compromise again, he was beaten bloody and died, after which the present Su Qing took over his body.
'I'm starving and have no strength. At this rate, I'll die sooner or later.' Su Qing didn't want to give up this precious second life.
'How do I synthesize?'
Su Qing grabbed a handful of grass and silently chanted, 'Synthesize.'
A moment later, on the panel before his eyes, the handful of weeds from his hand vanished and appeared in one of the nine slots.
However, only one of the nine slots was filled with grass, which clearly wasn't enough.
Even the "Synthesize" button on the panel hadn't lit up.
Though it felt like a crude game interface from his past life, now that it was real and worked for him, he'd take it no matter how simple it was.
Su Qing pulled up another handful of grass. When he placed the second handful into the grid, the "Synthesize" button lit up.
'It can synthesize with just this?'
Though puzzled, Su Qing didn't press "Synthesize" right away. His current condition didn't allow for much movement.
He grabbed another seven handfuls of grass in succession.
Looking at the synthesis panel, now completely full of grass, Su Qing silently chanted, 'Synthesize.'
Immediately, the nine handfuls of grass disappeared.
[Synthesized Item: First Layer Grass Cake (Has a powerful satiating effect. A normal person can eat one cake and not feel hungry for a day.)]
'So, where's my item?' Su Qing looked around for a while, but he held nothing that resembled the First Layer Grass Cake.
He began to wonder if this was all a trick.
Then he noticed a small slot below the synthesis panel. Inside was the First Layer Grass Cake he had seen described.
Only by focusing his thoughts on it could Su Qing extract the item.
'Extract.'
A vividly green, bowl-sized grass cake appeared in Su Qing's hand.
'Food!' Su Qing forced himself to ignore his discomfort. He had to eat first, since he didn't have the strength to stand up.
Besides, his body was in excruciating pain.
After forcing it all down, Su Qing lay on the ground, waiting for his energy to return.
The sky was already beginning to lighten.
Su Qing finally felt some strength return.
He struggled to his feet. A sore, throbbing pain pulsed through his limbs.
"Hss—"
'I will get my revenge for this!' Su Qing swore viciously in his heart.
He started walking in the direction of the village.
According to his memories, his home was that way.
In the morning, many villagers were already out and about.
"Su Qing, what happened to you? Did you fall?" a nearby woman asked, looking at Su Qing's miserable state with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, I fell."
Su Qing's expression was cold; he didn't want to engage with her at all.
She was a notorious gossip from the Liu Family and seemed to be related to Liu Dan, one of the three thugs who had beaten Su Qing.
Su Qing gave her a completely cold shoulder.
Seeing Su Qing's frosty demeanor, the woman trembled with anger, her lips quivering as she muttered, "No father, no mother. Let's see how long you last."
Still injured, Su Qing headed for his home.
As soon as he arrived home, he saw the courtyard gate wide open. He'd obviously been robbed!
Su Qing would have to be an idiot not to know who had broken in.
It was definitely those three: Zhang Mazi, Liu Dan, and Guan Gousheng.
Anxiety rising, Su Qing ignored the pain and went to his rice vat. Not a single grain of rice was left!
Even the bedding from his bed had been taken. They were truly trying to drive Su Qing to his death.
With no blanket and no food, there was no way he could survive the winter!
'Thankfully, thankfully I have the Synthesizer!'
Su Qing went to a small corner of his house where the floor was covered in fine sand. He dug through the sand with his hands, revealing a jar.
The jar was sealed.
This was the food stash left behind by the original Su Qing. If he ate sparingly, it could last for seven days.
He quietly picked up the jar, took out some millet, and placed it in a bowl.
Then he buried the jar back in the sand, covering it carefully.
This was his emergency food supply, after all.
Although the grass cake could fill his stomach, it tasted awful.
Unless he had no other choice, Su Qing didn't want to eat another one.
Because he was still injured, he half-lay on the hard wooden bed, leaning against the wall, and quietly waited, contemplating how to use the Synthesizer.
His gaze fell upon his furniture.
[Old Wooden Bed: A worn-out wooden bed. Sleeping on it might slightly improve your sleep.]
[Old Wooden Table: Can be used to place items on. If the legs are detached, they might have a bit of offensive potential.]
...
He looked around his home.
It seemed there was nothing worth synthesizing.
After observing for a while, Su Qing groggily drifted off to sleep.
He was simply too exhausted.