(This book is a slow burn; the early stages are about growth. Please give the protagonist some time. For plot consistency, the protagonist isn't directly made to 'take off,' nor is he deliberately suppressed. This is just an ordinary person's experience.)
A dimly lit hospital room, a bed, a table, and on the table, a machine resembling an electrocardiogram, beeping intermittently as if monitoring some data.
Lin Ze, who had only fallen asleep, found himself here. For a moment, his mind was hazy, thinking he was sick and had been admitted to the hospital.
"No, this isn't my body!" He looked at the simple hospital gown on him and his clearly childlike body, and his mind became even more muddled.
"Hoo... Calm down, calm down!" He took several deep breaths, forcing himself to settle.
"Transmigrated?"
He looked up at the monitor with a red light blinking in the corner, unsure of the current situation.
Having been influenced by countless web novels, he quickly calmed down. As he thought about it, a memory that didn't belong to him appeared in his mind.
The general idea was: Lin Ze was chosen to transmigrate through the myriad worlds, collecting 'Heavenly Dao Will Deviation Value' or 'Modification Value.' This meant living and causing trouble in various planes. Even doing nothing would yield a small amount of deviation value because transmigration itself was a form of change. Seizing the luck, items, women, etc., of protagonists and supporting characters could rapidly increase modification value. The more he altered the plot, the faster Lin Ze could depart, or rather, continue transmigrating (if you have other questions, please call the system).
"System, can I return to my original world?"
"..."
"Is there a beginner's gift package or something?" Lin Ze didn't get a response from the system, so he could only ask as per usual tropes.
"Ding! All rewards require the host's own effort; the system is only responsible for transmigration."
"What about a golden finger?"
"None! The system is only responsible for sending you to different worlds. If you can't earn enough modification value, the host can only die of old age in this world."
"WC! Are you a fucking idiot? Isn't that just pure labor? I was a workhorse in my original world, and I'm still a workhorse after transmigrating?"
"Ding! Warning Transmigrator No. 302148, please be mindful of your language, or the system will detach!"
..."System Daddy! I was wrong, I was wrong. Don't other transmigrators all have golden fingers? Also, what does that number mean? Are there so many transmigrators? Will I encounter them?" Lin Ze decisively chose to comply.
At this moment, if the system really detached, he would only be able to die of old age in this unknown world. Uh... living to old age might be the best outcome.
"Ding! The chance of encountering other transmigrators is one in ten thousand!"
"Ah? Why?"
"..."
Lin Ze received no reply in his mind. This system was either idiotic or aloof.
Having been ordinary for decades, he truly didn't think of himself as a protagonist. Since he had transmigrated, he would try every possible way to survive.
"Sigh! I wonder how my wife and children are doing in the real world."
"System, what's going on with this body? Why did I turn into a child?"
"Ding! Each transmigration, the host can choose between soul transmigration or body transmigration. The host's original body was too trashy, with 15 potential basic illnesses. The system defaulted to discarding it!"
"I @#$ you—" Lin Ze wanted to curse but forcibly held back.
"So, the Lin Ze from the original world must be gone..."
Overthinking was useless; he could only take one step at a time.
"System, what world is this? Who is the protagonist?" Lin Ze continued to ask.
"Ding! The host is currently in the world of 'The Witch: Part 1'! Someone is coming soon. Strive to survive!"
"The Witch?"
"Da da da..."
The sound of leather shoes walking approached from a distance.
Lin Ze looked up at the monitor on the ceiling; it seemed there was no need to keep pretending to sleep.
"Click... Creak..." The hospital room door opened, and a Caucasian man in a white coat walked in.
"넌 어때?" (How are you?)
"..." Lin Ze didn't understand.
"あなたは どうですか." (How are you?)
"..."
Lin Ze blinked his big eyes but still didn't understand.
"Damn system, it doesn't even translate for me."
"Are you OK?" The man in the white coat switched to a language Lin Ze was slightly more familiar with.
"Uh... Not okay at all!" Lin Ze could only wave his hand, feigning innocence.
"Chinese?"
"Yes! Yes!" Lin Ze nodded vigorously.
That damned system, not saying anything. There shouldn't be a problem. If even his identity was an issue, what was the point of playing?
"Shit!..." The man in the white coat seemed a bit angry, shouting a few words outside.
Soon, an Asian woman jogged in. The two exchanged a few words, and the man impatiently threw down the documents in his hand and walked out. He seemed to find even looking at Lin Ze an annoyance.
"Ni hao? Do you remember how you came here?" The woman asked with a slightly strange accent.
She sounded like she was from an island nation or Korea.
"I... I don't remember. Where is this?" Lin Ze didn't know the situation, so he could only feign amnesia.
The woman scrutinized him, as if trying to see if Lin Ze was lying.
Blinking his eyes pathetically, he met the woman's gaze, appropriately adding a touch of bewilderment. Lin Ze was a little impressed by his own acting.
In Lin Ze's eyes, this woman was very delicate, with small and harmonious features. She was the type that became more attractive the longer one looked. Her features were exquisite, but her two 'peaks' were magnificent, making her white coat look like it was about to burst.
"Damn it! Did I blow my cover with the very first sentence?" He felt a degree of nervousness and apprehension.
"Hoo! Oh, my name is Keiko Kitagawa. You can call me Dr. Kitagawa or Teacher Kitagawa. You are an orphan! You were sold here by human traffickers, and we rescued you. From now on, you will live and study here—understand?" The woman seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
Keiko Kitagawa sounded like a Japanese name. Speaking of which, if this woman wore glasses with this outfit, hehe... it would be just like in the movies.
"Uh... Can I call you Sister Keiko?" Lin Ze feigned innocence and cuteness.
Thinking of his precious daughter, he tried his best to imitate her.
"Giggle giggle! Of course, little one! Do you remember your name?" Keiko Kitagawa seemed to not have been this happy in a long time.
"No... I don't remember!"
Lin Ze seemed to try very hard to recall, but in the end, he still pretended to have amnesia. He didn't know what identity the system had arranged for him, so he dared not speak carelessly.
"Hmm! Let me see!" Keiko Kitagawa opened the folder in her hand.
"Little fellow, from now on you'll be called 103, understood?"
"103? Is that my name?" Lin Ze asked, feigning incomprehension.
This was clearly a number! An experimental subject? Lin Ze's heart sank even further.
"Hahahaha! Yes, that's your name! Come! Take off your shirt, and I'll write your name on your body so you won't forget it!" Keiko Kitagawa had an innocent expression and even kindly patted Lin Ze's head.
"Sister Keiko, does this name have any special meaning?" Lin Ze asked deliberately.
"That's because you are going to undergo gene modification for Subject 1, so it's a number starting with 1... You wouldn't understand all this. You just need to remember that this will be the luckiest number... After undergoing this great experiment, you will be proud of this set of numbers in the future."
Keiko Kitagawa seemed to realize she had misspoken, so she stopped dwelling on the issue, muttering inexplicable words, her eyes flashing with fanaticism.
"Damn it, you bitch, I believed your nonsense!" Lin Ze cursed inwardly, but on his face, he put on a look of being flattered.
Soon, a series of stinging pains came from behind his right shoulder. It was probably Keiko Kitagawa using her tools to tattoo a few characters on his back, likely the number 103. Lin Ze frowned but didn't cry out in pain, after all, he had a forty-year-old soul.
"Alright! You're quite tough! You'll live here from now on. Hmm... please learn Korean or English as soon as possible. Not everyone is as easy to talk to as your sister, you know! You must obey the staff's arrangements, or you'll be punished!" Keiko Kitagawa admonished him, feigning a playful look.
"Korean? English?" Is this in Korea?
Since Keiko Kitagawa spoke Korean first, then it should be. As the language of the 'godfather' nation, English naturally had to be learned as well.
In fact, Lin Ze didn't know that this experimental base was one of many secret experimental bases operated by the beautiful country around the world. It specialized in researching things that might pose a security threat to their homeland, such as virus experiments, biochemical experiments, gene experiments, and so on.
As a company funded by the beautiful country, not only were most people required to speak English, but almost all middle and high-level staff were of beautiful country nationality.
Keiko Kitagawa seemed very satisfied with her masterpiece. She helped Lin Ze put on his clothes, then pinched Lin Ze's little cheek and even poked his forehead, seemingly as a reward for Lin Ze not crying out in pain.
"Okay, Sister Keiko!" Lin Ze said with an innocent expression.
"Damn it! You're pretending to be young with me! If I had an adult body, I'd take you!" Lin Ze glanced hard at Keiko Kitagawa's ample chest... Meanwhile, on an operating table in a certain laboratory, a four or five-year-old girl was being injected with an unknown drug.
"Subject 1's 6th injection completed!"
"Dr. Bai, Subject 1's heart rate is 195, rapidly increasing..."
"Report other data!"
"Blood pressure 2.5 times... showing an upward trend!"
"Cerebral cortex activation 18%... abnormally active..."
"Provide nutrition!"
"Increase activity with electric shock!"
..."Muscle density increasing..."
"Bone density increasing..."
...The laboratory spent seven or eight hours in such tense activity, with reports filled with tension and exhaustion.
Sets of data were shouted out by different people and reported to Dr. Bai, a middle-aged woman in a white coat. A medical record card was densely filled with various data...
"Dr. Bai, heart rate has dropped to 85, stabilizing." The researcher reported again, his hoarse voice trembling slightly.
"Blood pressure back to normal!" Another researcher reported.
"Vital signs normal..."
..."Hahahaha! It seems this time we really will succeed." Dr. Bai's eyes were filled with madness. She stared intently at the little girl on the bed, as if looking at a rare treasure.
"Observe and then send her back to the ward. That's enough for today; we'll continue with the next experiment tomorrow!" Dr. Bai commanded.
"Yes!"
"One step closer to success. If only these children had unlimited endurance, I would really want to show my results to the superiors as soon as possible!" Dr. Bai rubbed her somewhat numb face and walked out of the laboratory.
Since the end of World War II, various countries began to compete in the field of technology. Generations of effort yielded meager results. Dr. Bai, as a core member of this project, had been involved in this research for over twenty years.
It could be said that this was her life's work. But at this critical juncture, just when success was within reach, some gentlemen in Congress actually proposed to terminate the experiment and close some experimental bases.
This was something Dr. Bai could not tolerate. To secure funding and continue this research, she had to quickly produce mature research results. This current batch of children was Dr. Bai's last hope.