1: Chapter 1: Four pieces of instant noodles

August, a season hot enough to kill.

At 9:30 AM, the poisonous sunlight shot through the window into the bedroom, falling on Zhang Mu, who only had a quilt draped over his belly, waking him up with the heat.

He got out of bed in a daze and, with bleary eyes, made a cup of instant noodles.

On the tiled floor of the living room, several job offer letters from well-known companies were scattered messily.

Any one of them would make others grit their teeth in envy, but Zhang Mu left several footprints on the unopened envelopes and flopped onto the sofa.

Placing the instant noodles on the coffee table, he didn't play with his phone or speak, staring blankly at the steaming cup of noodles.

Zhang Mu had graduated from university only a few days ago. While his fellow Classmates were busy looking for jobs, he lived a decadent life of nothing but eating and sleeping.

Even though the savings he had accumulated through work-study programs were about to run out, he wasn't worried at all, despite the repeated invitations from companies offering excellent benefits.

The reason was that he had encountered two baffling things a few days ago.

The first thing: he had terminal lung cancer.

If the doctor's diagnosis was accurate enough, he had about three months left.

Zhang Mu was completely bewildered. He didn't smoke, drink, or stay up late, and he even paid special attention to exercising. Why would a terminal illness come knocking on his door?

A few university Classmates he knew indulged themselves in a life of debauchery every night, playing until dawn, yet they were in perfect health.

Upon first hearing the news, Zhang Mu sat on a riverside bench all night, finally reaching the helpless conclusion that he was simply down on his luck.

The second thing: a mobile game called "Magic Continent" had been installed on his phone at some unknown time.

Zhang Mu searched every corner of his mind but couldn't find any memory of downloading this game.

Of course, it was also possible that his phone had a virus that downloaded it automatically. At the time, he didn't care and prepared to delete the game.

When he long-pressed the game icon to bring up the uninstall menu, a semi-transparent light screen suddenly appeared before his eyes.

A line of text was displayed on it: "Game installing, please wait..."

This incredibly eerie scene made him wonder if he was hallucinating due to the excessive stress of his terminal illness.

"Hiss—" A sharp pain hit his chest, and Zhang Mu gasped, jolted awake by the pain.

Clutching his chest with one hand and supporting himself on the sofa with the other, he stumbled into the bedroom. He pulled out the painkillers from the bedside table drawer and swallowed three pills at once, ignoring the doctor's orders of one pill at a time.

Time passed, the medication began to take effect, and the piercing pain gradually eased.

"Whew..."

Letting out a long breath, Zhang Mu pushed himself up by the edge of the bed and slumped onto the sofa in the living room. "Thrown into an orphanage by my parents right after I was born,"

"After suffering for so many years, just as things were looking up, I ended up with lung cancer."

Saying this, he propped up his upper body, ignored the light screen floating before his eyes, and picked up the instant noodles. "Even if I'm going to die, I'll die on a full stomach."

[Installation complete. The game is starting.]

Zhang Mu, who had just swallowed a mouthful of noodles, froze. The small text on the light screen had changed.

[Enter the game?]

["Yes" or "Yes"]

After a moment, he snapped out of it. He could understand the meaning of the two lines on the light screen; although he rarely played games, he had some exposure to them.

But what was with this "Yes" or "Yes"? Was there really no option to refuse?

He wasn't too afraid of this somewhat magical scene. He only had a little over two months left to live; what was there to fear?

Without much hesitation, Zhang Mu reached out his right hand, which was holding a plastic fork, to tap "Yes," but his finger passed right through the light screen.

It can't be touched. Is it voice-controlled?

Thinking this, he said, "Yes."

As soon as he spoke, a green light gate suddenly appeared in front of him, shaped like a vortex and slowly rotating.

With a look of astonishment, Zhang Mu was sucked into the light gate.

It was pitch black all around, so dark he couldn't see his own hand, but only for a brief moment.

When his vision returned, Zhang Mu, holding a plastic fork in his right hand and a cup of instant noodles in his left, and wearing pajamas, was already standing on a strange street.

Looking around, the row of shops on both sides of the road all had European-style wooden gabled roofs, and the passersby were all dressed in linen clothes.

Zhang Mu's nose twitched as the aroma of the instant noodles wafted into his nostrils. He raised the plastic fork to examine it; the oil stains from when he had picked up the noodles earlier were clearly visible.

How could such a realistic sensation be a game world? If it was a real world, I'm still... I shouldn't be on Blue Star anymore.

Looking up, Zhang Mu saw two suns hanging in the sky.

[Start the beginner tutorial?]

A mechanical voice sounded in his mind, startling him. Once he realized what was happening, he mentally whispered "Yes."

[Welcome to the Magic World. Here, it is wonderful because of you.]

[Equipment will not be dropped upon the player's death.]

[After death, you can be resurrected on the spot or back in town.]

[Command to summon character panel — Open. Command to hide character panel — Close.]

[Command to log out of the game — Exit. Command to enter the game — Enter.]

[Please look forward to more features...]

After the series of mechanical voices, Zhang Mu felt relieved, having thought he wouldn't be able to go back.

Regaining his composure, he prepared to summon the character panel for a closer look: "Op—"

"Excuse me, sir, from which shop did you buy the food in your hand?"

A voice suddenly came from behind. He turned around to find an old man with white hair and a white beard standing in front of him.

The old man was thin and slightly shorter than him, about 1.7 meters tall. He wore a black mage robe similar to what mages often wear in movies, and held a wooden staff in his right hand.

"Sir?"

Zhang Mu snapped back to reality, looked down at the instant noodles in his hand, and replied, "There's nowhere to buy this here."

"Did you cook it yourself, sir?"

"Uh, no." Shaking his head, he frowned awkwardly. "It, well, the place that sells it is very far away."

"I see..." The old man stroked his beard thoughtfully, then noticed the pajamas he was wearing. "Your attire doesn't look like the style of the Lake Kingdom."

"You are from a foreign land; is this a specialty of your hometown?"

"Something like that."

"Would you mind telling me where that is?"

"Anyway, it's just very far..." Zhang Mu said with a grimace, not knowing how to bluff his way through. He wasn't foolish enough to reveal that he was from another world.

This place looked like a medieval European setting. If they mistook him for some demon from another world and tied him to a cross, he'd be in big trouble.

Fortunately, seeing that he didn't speak for a while, the old man didn't press further but said tentatively, "Since your hometown is far away and I cannot go there for now, could you sell the portion in your hand to me?"

Zhang Mu was a bit dumbfounded. It was just a cup of instant noodles. He admitted it tasted good, but was this really necessary?

Suddenly, it dawned on him that spices and seasonings in this world were probably very scarce, and perhaps even fine salt was a rarity.

Seeing his silence, the old man mistakenly thought he was unwilling and smiled. "Don't worry, guest, I will offer a reasonable price."

Lost in thought, Zhang Mu didn't hear clearly what he said, only catching the word "price," and instinctively replied, "Four yuan."

"Although selling a portion of food for this price is a bit expensive..."

The old man muttered as he took a coin pouch from his waist, pulled out four gold coins the size of regular coins and pressed them into his hand. "But I think food that gives off such an aroma will certainly not disappoint me in taste."

With that, he snatched the instant noodles and plastic fork from Zhang Mu's hands, as if worried he might change his mind or raise the price, then turned and ran off as if fleeing.