Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Yan Han woke from a hazy sleep, feeling a bit cold at first.
—How could he be cold? It was already approaching summer, and even though it was Friday night, he had finished work and specifically gone home with Brother Lin. The central air conditioning was on, keeping the temperature a stable 23 degrees Celsius. How could it be cold?
Thinking this groggily, Yan Han opened his eyes. His eyes fell upon a low, yellowish wall.
Most of the plaster on the wall was cracked and peeling, mottled and ugly, densely packed like fish scales, much of it already fallen off. Besides, large patches of water stains hung on it… all traces of a leaky roof and long-term dampness.
Yan Han recognized it immediately.
In fact, he was extremely familiar with this wall above him.
—This was the small, dilapidated bungalow where he had lived for over ten years in his original world.
Jumping out of bed, Yan Han was completely dumbfounded, his mind filled with question marks, thinking, “Holy crap, how did I get back?!”
Although he couldn’t believe it, the various furnishings in the room and the posters on the walls were all incredibly familiar, all indicating that he had returned to his original world.
…Could everything in the other world have been a dream?!
He couldn’t be blamed for thinking this way; the scene was just too familiar, too real.
He could imagine every single frame of this place with his eyes closed.
It was so real that he could clearly smell the musty, rotten odor permeating the air.
Yan Han looked up at the ceiling above him.
The old, single-story house had always had poor waterproofing; in the summer, it would leak every time it rained, and not just in one place. To prevent the house from flooding, he always had to prepare several basins to catch the water underneath.
Sometimes, when the rain was heavy, the clanging and banging sounded like a symphony inside.
Fortunately, it snowed here in winter; otherwise, the freezing rain would be cold and damp, making it even more unbearable.
But that didn’t mean winter was any better.
The house was drafty from all sides; the perpetually damaged ceiling acted like a natural air conditioner, which was how Yan Han had been woken up by the cold.
He wondered what the weather was like outside.
Yan Han lowered his eyes in deep thought.
He was certain he had returned, but aside from the initial surprise, he wasn’t overly panicked.
This was because shortly after he dropped out of high school, this bungalow had been included in a shantytown redevelopment project, and it was even classified as a dilapidated building, so it was demolished the following year.
So although he had returned… but…
Yan Han had calmed down. He put on a serious expression and pushed open his door to the bathroom.
The bathroom was a squat toilet, and the first thing he smelled was the stench of sewage rising up.
Apart from the squat toilet and a small, flat water tank, there was nothing else. It was pitifully small, barely enough for one person to turn around.
There was no shower or sink, but there was a mirror.
His hand accurately found the light switch on the wall. With a “click,” the light bulb above his head lit up, emitting a dim yellow light accompanied by a faint crackling sound of electricity.
But even in this light, Yan Han could still see his face clearly… a face as handsome as jade, flawless and undeniably dashing.
It was the same face he had after the system had applied a beauty filter to him in that other world.
So he was back, but this body was still the one whose data had been merged with Yan Han’s in the previous world?
“Xiao Wu?” Yan Han tried calling out in his mind.
But this time, no electronic voice responded.
Yan Han closed his eyes again, trying to enter a deep, virtual state of focus.
He entered it instantly, his mood becoming calm, devoid of joy or sorrow, even the crackling sound in his ears disappeared.
He silently memorized an English text, every combination of English words flashing clearly in his mind… his knowledge was still there.
This feeling was no different from usual, and he didn’t feel mentally fatigued, indicating that the deep focus and the “bang bang bang” skills were still with him.
Yan Han opened his eyes again, thought for a moment, and then the scene around him changed— he was back in his portable dressing room.
The facilities and furnishings in the dressing room were exactly the same as before, except that this time Xiao Wu was no longer chattering in his ear introducing the new clothes in the wardrobe.
Yan Han also noticed that the clothes in the wardrobe had automatically changed to mostly autumn clothes, and the styles… seemed to be retro styles from a few years ago.
So what exactly happened?!
He hadn’t started summer vacation before he fell asleep, so how did he wake up to find himself in a different season and a different world?
Had he traveled to the wrong time and space?
Unfortunately, no one could answer him.
The bathroom in the old house didn’t even have a sink; they used to use basins to collect water from the kitchen sink for washing, the conditions were incredibly rudimentary.
Yan Han simply washed his face in the portable dressing room, also to calm himself down.
He graduated from high school smoothly, not only leading his classmates to win the world-class math Olympiad with Lin Jianlu, but also gaining admission to X University solely based on his own merit in the subsequent college entrance examination.
And this was merely a glimpse into his extremely exciting life afterward.
In truth, even now, if he were to return to this place he once desperately wanted to escape, his heart would be at peace, as if he already knew he was just a passerby, and even if he remained in this world, it wouldn’t hold him back in the slightest.
What troubled him more was whether he could return to his original world if he did.
Most importantly, what about Lin Jianlu?!
They slept together last night; if some strange phenomenon of spacetime distortion had occurred, Lin Jianlu would most likely have come to this world with him.
Yan Han washed his face, lowered his eyes, and calmly analyzed the situation.
Besides, Lin Jianlu was a main god, possessing the ability to tear through spacetime. Even if he hadn’t come with him… the old main god could pull him there, so he believed Lin Jianlu would have a way to reunite them.
But these were just his guesses. Having gained a deep understanding of physics and the universe, Yan Han knew there were too many variables in the universe. Perhaps he had returned to a parallel space similar to his past. There were thousands upon thousands of such parallel spaces in five-dimensional space. If that were the case, whether Lin Jianlu could find him immediately was still unknown…
This was just one of the bad news he could think of.
For example, if Lin Jianlu really came to this world with him, and he wasn’t the main god of this world, nor did he have a system, where would he find him?
….
Yan Han wiped his face, erasing all the pessimistic thoughts. Then he thought: But that’s Lin Jianlu.
The most urgent thing now was to understand the situation outside, to figure out what had happened before making a decision.
Thinking this, Yan Han applied several layers of his usual skincare products and left the dressing room.
It was so cold outside; he guessed it was either spring or autumn.
Spring and autumn are dry, and skin is prone to dehydration…
In the previous world, he was used to looking beautiful all the time, living a life of being the center of attention. Skincare was routine for him, something he was already used to.
But now, suddenly facing this low-ceilinged house, he couldn’t help but feel out of place.
It felt like a phoenix falling into a chicken coop.
Well, although he was just a chicken after all.
Yan Han amused himself.
Emerging from the dressing room, Yan Han casually grabbed a rather androgynous-looking jacket and slipped it on.
Just then, a commotion came from inside. A man with a beer belly, barely concealed by an oversized T-shirt and sporting a messy hairstyle, emerged. He stared at Yan Han for a long time before asking, “You’re up so early?”
The man’s eyes narrowed, and even though his face was chubby and greasy, the wrinkles around his eyes were clearly visible. He asked in a displeased tone, “You look different. And this jacket, where did you get it?”
His well-maintained appearance meant that even though he was past high school, Yan Han looked no different from when he was seventeen or eighteen, only more energetic and confident.
The beauty filters hadn’t altered his original features and contours, so even though he looked different, he was instantly recognizable, except for being more handsome.
As for Yan Han’s current attire, it was a black leather jacket, a simple yet stylish design that made him look both handsome and dashing. Just by looking at its sheen, you could tell it was a high-quality item, something you wouldn’t normally see here.
Yan Han casually said, “Borrowed from a classmate.”
“What classmate? Isn’t it better to wear your own clothes? Are other people’s things so much better to wear?”
Even though they were a few steps apart, Yan Han could still smell the alcohol on him.
He must have had another hangover last night.
No doubt, this was his scumb*g father from the real world.
From as far back as Yan Han could remember, the man had been an alcoholic, and when drunk, he would beat people. His temper had also become increasingly worse; his mother had been driven away by this man.
With no one to vent his anger on after his wife left, he took it out on him.
As a child, he would often be beaten for no reason. While other children went to school clean and tidy, he always wore a tattered old cloth shirt, and his face was often bruised, making him stand out starkly from those around him.
If it weren’t for his good looks and innate optimism and self-regulation, and the chance encounter with his group of friends, he might have ended up like Lin Jianlu… no, he would have been several times worse off than Lin Jianlu, becoming so lonely he became withdrawn.
Luckily, his grandmother was still alive then, desperately protecting him; otherwise, Yan Han wasn’t sure he would have grown up healthy and strong.
But now… it was clear that his grandmother was no longer with him. His thick eyelashes fluttered; the people and the stench of decay here were still as nauseating as ever.
He didn’t answer the man’s question, but turned to leave.
“Where are you going? Up so early and don’t you know to heat up the porridge in the kitchen?” the man said irritably.
Yan Han ignored him.
“Hey, you brat, I’m talking to you! I’m hungry, go cook, I have to go out after we eat!” the man roared again, his temper flaring.
Although he looked ordinary, his eyes were fierce— a nightmare Yan Han had as a child, no doubt shameful.
The sharpness and murderous intent in Yan Han’s eyes were partly inherited from him, innate.
But the older brother hadn’t been afraid of him in the past, and he certainly wouldn’t be now.
He stopped abruptly, turned slightly, and met his gaze with even greater intensity.
In an instant, murderous intent filled the air, as if the temperature in the room had plummeted.
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