Chen Ming really couldn't figure out how he ended up transmigrating!

  For others, the act of transmigrating was always dramatic—falling off a cliff, diving into water, getting hit by a car, or at the very least, falling into a toilet and being flushed to another world.

  But his case was just bizarre. Walking normally on the street in broad daylight, his vision suddenly went black. When he opened his eyes again, he had arrived in a completely unfamiliar place.

  The reason Chen Ming was sure he had transmigrated was because before he blinked, it was daytime; after he blinked, it was night. Before blinking, he was on a street; after blinking, he was in a forest. Surrounded by pitch-black darkness, he could only hear the rustling sound of wind blowing through leaves.

  Suddenly moving from light to dark, he instinctively sought out light. The only light source in the dark forest was in the sky. So, following the glow, he looked up and was immediately stunned.

  Hanging above his head was a bright, full moon, but it was azure blue, like a sapphire embedded in the pitch-black sky!

  On Earth, you could see a yellow moon, a white moon, or even a red moon, but you would never see this kind of eerie blue moon!

  So he was absolutely certain: he had transmigrated.

  Chen Ming couldn't help but lament. Why was he so unlucky? Transmigrating of all things! He was living a very comfortable life back home and had absolutely no desire to go on adventures in another world.

  But since things had come to this, he had to accept it and make the best of it.

  Chen Ming let out a long sigh. The most important thing now was to find a way to survive first.

  In front of him was a dense forest, oppressively suffocating. Apart from the moonlight filtering down from above, it was pitch black everywhere.

  Chen Ming felt this place wasn't safe. There was a strange gaze fixed on him, sending chills down his spine. Although he didn't know where to go, going anywhere was better than staying put.

  Chen Ming pulled out his phone. Just as he was about to turn on the flashlight to find his way, he abruptly stopped himself and shoved it back into his pocket.

  He remembered that kids who light fires in a dark forest are essentially targets for other hunters. With the situation unclear, rashly exposing himself would be no different from seeking death.

  Chen Ming didn't know which way was best, so he decided to rely on luck and picked a direction at random. He had only taken a few steps forward when he stepped on something soft.

  Startled, thinking he had stepped on a snake, Chen Ming quickly jumped aside.

  He looked down and, by the faint moonlight, vaguely made out the shape of a person.

  Curious, he took out his phone again and turned on the flashlight...

  "Ah!" Chen Ming screamed, stumbling back a few steps, staring ahead in horror.

  Worse than a snake—he had stepped on a human hand. Following the line of sight, he could see a person lying face down.

  Summoning his courage, Chen Ming went forward and kicked the person's hand. Seeing no movement, a sense of foreboding immediately welled up inside him.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  He shone the light over and saw that the back of the prone person's head was caved in, covered in blood and gore.

  How eerie. To stumble upon a corpse right after transmigrating.

  Not my business, keep my distance. Chen Ming initially thought of just leaving. But then he reconsidered: what a coincidence that he, of all people, had transmigrated right next to a dead body. Perhaps there was a special reason.

  Holding his phone in one hand, he used the other to forcefully turn the body over.

  If he hadn't turned it over, it might have been okay. But after turning it, Chen Ming received a severe shock. He dropped his phone, fell flat on the ground, and used both hands and feet to scramble backward repeatedly.

  After moving back several steps, he finally stopped, his heart still pounding wildly, his mouth gasping for air. Only his eyes remained firmly fixed on the corpse.

  If it were just an ordinary dead person, Chen Ming wouldn't have been this scared. He was a modern person; even though he'd never encountered a corpse in real life, he'd seen many bizarre ways of dying in films and TV shows, enough not to be terrified to the point his hair stood on end.

  What was truly eerie was that the face of that corpse was actually identical to his!

  An icy chill seemed to spread from his head to the soles of his feet. This was too weird. Why, right after transmigrating, was there a corpse that looked exactly like him?

  After a long while, when the fear had subsided somewhat, Chen Ming took a deep breath, stood up, and once again gathered his courage to return to the side of the body.

  He picked up his phone from the ground and shone it on the dead man.

  He could tell that this poor soul had died from murder. Chen Ming actually felt a bit relieved. Since it was a murder case, it meant the world he'd transmigrated to was normal. People still killed with clubs, and the dead body hadn't turned into a zombie or some other inexplicable thing.

  Transmigrating into a chaotic Cthulhu-esque world would have been truly terrifying; that would have been a situation where one might as well end it all from the start.

  Then Chen Ming noticed that the corpse's clothing was completely different from his own.

  The deceased wore a short, cross-collared shirt on the upper body, a pair of trousers below, and leather shoes on his feet.

  Chen Ming had once participated in producing a historical drama and fooled around for a few months with a female costume designer, picking up some basic knowledge of ancient and modern clothing. He recognized at once that these clothes were in the style of Hanfu, but more simplified. It was as if Hanfu had developed naturally for several hundred years without interruption, and had been improved to adapt to modern industrial society.

  Furthermore, the corpse had short hair, not long hair, which also indicated that this world had entered the modern era, as short hair was another inevitable product of the industrial age.

  A person's attire often reflects the characteristics of a world. Chen Ming felt he had already vaguely grasped some of the customs of this other world.

  Suddenly, a thought struck Chen Ming. The most important thing after transmigrating was to blend in with the locals.

  Right in front of him was a corpse with a face identical to his, already equipped with a set of local clothes, conveniently appearing in a desolate, uninhabited wilderness. It was as if fate had arranged everything. As soon as he put on these clothes, he would instantly transform into a native.

  Yet, this was precisely what was so frightening. Chen Ming had read many transmigration novels. When everything is arranged for the protagonist, it usually means he's a pawn of some great one. For instance, that's how it was written in Lord of the Mysteries!

  Being a pawn, losing control of one's own destiny—the outcome was predictable!

  Chen Ming looked up at the azure moon and wondered which great one had arranged for him to transmigrate here, and for what purpose.

  He sighed. A pawn must have the awareness of a pawn. First, survive; deal with the future later!

  Chen Ming immediately stripped the clothes off the corpse and examined them closely. The material wasn't bad, all silk. Moreover, the corpse's hands and feet had no calluses, indicating he came from a decent background and didn't have to engage in hard labor.

  Good news! Chen Ming vaguely remembered a transmigration novel with a hellish start, where the protagonist transmigrated into a blind man, and a beggar at that! He, at least, could take the place of a wealthy man!

  Chen Ming also noted the local climate. It should be around the turn of spring and summer, otherwise it wouldn't be this hot. He was dressed in a suit and leather shoes; a little movement left him drenched in sweat, utterly sweltering.

  Since he had to change clothes, he might as well do it decisively. He took off his suit jacket and tossed it casually onto the ground.

  Then he began to inspect the deceased's belongings. Shaking out the clothes, suddenly a few things fell down. Chen Ming hurriedly picked them up. They were a piece of stiff paper, a leather wallet, and a small booklet.