Chapter 1 Can I Still Be a Happy Earthling?

Using both hands and feet, Hao Ren scrambled up from the ground, pinching his thigh as he muttered to himself, "Damn it, can't I just be a happy Earthling…"

He was one hundred percent certain that he had been sitting in front of his house, enjoying the cool evening air. He vividly remembered the old streets and alleys he had known for over twenty years, the dilapidated houses common in the Baishe Road area of the southern suburbs, and the pitted concrete road beneath his feet. But he had only dozed off for a moment, and everything around him had completely changed.

Hao Ren found himself standing on a vast, boundless grassland!

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but green grass, taller than his calves, stretching out endlessly. A refreshing night breeze, even more invigorating than in the city, swept across the land, causing the grassland beneath his feet to roll like waves. Hao Ren looked up at the sky, a clear and transparent night sky filled with stars like he had never seen in the city. The starlight was so dense and bright that he could see the scenery on the grassland even in the darkness.

And at the very end of the horizon, two silver orbs, one large and one small, were slowly rising into the sky. The larger of the two silver moons even had a halo-like glow around its edge—two moons!

"I knew I shouldn't have read so many novels!" Hao Ren watched the two moons slowly rise into the sky, the night sky filled with stars he didn't recognize (though he didn't recognize many of the stars on Earth either). He finally couldn't help but jump up and down. "The hell, did I transmigrate?"

Hao Ren had pinched his thigh more than once, and it was now so painful that he could barely walk, convincing him that he wasn't dreaming. So what was going on? Dozing off on the sidewalk could get you thrown into another world? Damn it, he still had two demon girls at home waiting to be fed!

Countless thoughts flashed through Hao Ren's mind like a revolving lantern. He thought of a dozen classic cases of transmigration to another world, and then he thought of the two troublesome girls at home and his newly acquired identity as an employee of the Space-Time Administration. But in the end, all these thoughts turned into a long sigh. He realized that he couldn't just wait here, because he had just heard a wolf howl…

Hao Ren bid farewell to his deck chair and walked towards the two bright moons in the sky. In that direction, he vaguely saw the silhouettes of what looked like buildings, which at least gave him a goal. Of course, he knew that wandering around in such an unfamiliar environment wasn't a wise move—it would either waste his energy or make him more likely to encounter greater dangers. But the point was that he felt he had "transmigrated"! The process of getting here wasn't normal, so waiting in place wouldn't get anyone to come and save him. He might as well take a look around.

"The transmigration landing point is unreliable too, throwing me into such a big grassland. How am I supposed to survive without even a tree in sight?" The night grassland was bitterly cold, and Hao Ren could only hug his arms as he walked and muttered, "Am I going to have to eat grass? I'll die if I eat poisonous grass. It would be great if there was a forest, so I could chop down a tree and build a workbench and maybe survive…" (Minecraft reference)

Clearly, Hao Ren wasn't a qualified transmigrator: he had only been in this strange environment for a dozen minutes, and his mind was already racing. This didn't fit the setting of a transmigrator immediately becoming calm, wise, determined, and decisive upon entering a strange environment. But he couldn't help but let his mind wander, because it could slightly dispel the bone-deep unease and tension—he was just an ordinary person, a small-time citizen who lived a muddled life. Until three days ago, the biggest crisis he had faced in his life was not being able to rent out his house. How could you expect such a small-time citizen to be calm, decisive, and smart?

Another faint wolf howl came from the far distance, but it could also have been a hallucination caused by excessive tension. At this moment, Hao Ren couldn't help but think of the werewolf at home who was a bit mentally challenged: Lily also howled like that, and it sounded much better. It would be great if that werewolf was here too… Even though she wasn't very bright, she should be able to deal with wild wolves, right? Speaking of which, he didn't know if she could get along with Vivian. If he couldn't go back, they would definitely tear the house down within three days, but let them tear it down, it wouldn't matter to him anyway.

Hao Ren walked across the seemingly endless grassland with his mind full of wild thoughts. The surroundings were so vast that he felt like the distant scenery hadn't changed at all, even after walking for so long. If it weren't for the fact that the deck chair behind him had disappeared from view, and the two moons ahead could point the way, he would have even thought he was just walking in circles.

The temperature around him was also getting lower and lower. The night wind on the grassland was more than a t-shirt could handle. At first, Hao Ren felt that the air here was fresh and the breeze was refreshing, but now he really missed the slightly hot and polluted air of Earth half an hour ago.

Just then, another wolf howl came, this time very close and extremely clear, definitely not a hallucination.

Hao Ren felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The strange sixth sense he had developed over the past twenty-five years was instantly activated, and he realized that he had unknowingly entered a deep grass area. The grass around him was even taller than his knees, and on all sides, pairs of eyes shining with a faint green light gradually appeared as if floating out of the darkness.

One by one, ghostly wolf shadows emerged from the grass. Hao Ren didn't know how these guys had gotten so close without him noticing. To be honest, he was terrified at this moment. He had never seen such a scene before!

But fortunately, even as an ordinary commoner, Hao Ren had a calm side that he was proud of. He restrained the urge to turn and run or scream, because he knew that would only lead to a quicker death. Hao Ren faced the pack of wolves, trying to find a way to escape, his heart full of frustration with nowhere to vent: could things get any worse? What a joke to just die like this for no reason!

It would be great if he had a weapon for self-defense now. Although Hao Ren was sure that even if he had a Green Dragon Crescent Blade in his hand, he wouldn't be able to defeat the at least twenty or thirty prairie wolves in front of him, at least a weapon would give him some courage. But he carefully searched his body for a long time and only found an old-fashioned Nokia… Okay, this thing was a super weapon in some sense, and he could tie it to a stick and use it as a war hammer, but could we not play the cosmic artifact meme at this critical moment of life and death!

The pack of wolves, of course, wouldn't give Hao Ren a chance to think wildly. Just as he was distracted, the nearest wolf suddenly pounced silently. Hao Ren only saw a black shadow attacking him. Its body shape seemed to be different from the wolves on Earth, and all he could do was instinctively raise his hand to block…

"Landlord! Landlord!"

A life-threatening shout suddenly came from his ear. Hao Ren felt a pain in his head, and the whole world suddenly became dizzy and turned upside down. When he opened his eyes in a daze, he saw the familiar streets, the familiar old houses, the familiar gray and star-scarce city night sky, and Lily's silly face.

Hao Ren took a deep breath, a movement he hadn't had time to complete when the wolf pounced. Then he looked around in a daze, "Did I come back?"

"Come back from what?" Lily poked Hao Ren's arm, then grabbed him and pulled him up. "Landlord, you didn't come back to the house for a long time. The winged one asked me to find you, and then I saw you lying on the ground, um, yelling."

Hao Ren was almost dislocated by this brainless werewolf's brute force, but at least he was completely awake. He looked at himself and saw that everything was fine. He turned his head and looked at the deck chair that had fallen to the side at some point, and finally confirmed that the incredibly realistic "transmigration" experience was actually just a laughable nightmare.

But was this dream a little too realistic?

"It's nothing, just had a dream." Hao Ren waved his hand at Lily, feeling quite touched that the two troublemakers at home cared about him - it would be even better if they could stop fighting.

Just as Hao Ren waved his hand, he noticed something showing through the cracks of his fist, which he had clenched tightly in his nightmare.

A tuft of black wolf hair.

"What the hell!!" Hao Ren threw the tuft of wolf hair away as if he were holding a hot coal, and jumped up. "This is a ghost!"

(Um, let me think… I'll continue to ask for a satisfactory completion ticket for Xiling.)