“Ding-a-ling-ling~
Ding-a-ling-ling~”
Through the haze, a noisy alarm clock rang out, as if right beside Lin隼’s ear.
“Hayato, time to get up~”
A man’s voice came through.
“Ding-a-ling-ling~”
The alarm continued to blare.
Disturbed from his sleep, Lin隼 opened his eyes. Shielding the sunlight streaming into the room from the window with one hand, he lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling: “An unfamiliar ceiling. Ah, isn’t that line a bit too old-fashioned?”
Sitting up from the bed, Lin隼, with a pair of dead fish eyes, looked at his surroundings—a pink cotton quilt that could be described as “cute” covered him, and on the computer screen directly opposite the bed, the “Windows” logo, never hitting the corners, floated endlessly.
Reaching out from under the covers to turn off the incessantly ringing alarm clock on the nightstand, Lin隼 could stake his second brother on it: this was absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not his room.
Firstly, he should have been sleeping in 2021, and by then, not only had computer operating systems long been updated to Win10, but even Win7 was nearing obsolescence, let alone the classic but truly outdated XP system.
Secondly, he was a man. Although he could accept, and even quite liked, pink in specific situations, like when eating strawberry ice cream or watching Kamen Rider (Decade: That’s magenta!), he would absolutely not choose a pink quilt for sleeping. That’s too girly—
Actually, maybe it’s not so bad? Tilting his head, Lin隼 quickly found himself liking it.
But to say this was a girl’s room, something still seemed off. The countless action figures and toy models packed onto the large cabinet in the corner could be understood as the room’s owner being an otaku with a passion for such things, but the posters plastered on the walls were full of various strangely shaped monsters.
Minotaurs with axes, knights with sharp swords, and Mermen with long spears could still be regarded as character posters from some popular fantasy work, but—
A deformed green body covered in black triangles, three necks connected to the torso, each topped with a mask-like head;
A Dinosaur with chicken feet had a long, electric horn where its nose should be, but at the back of its head, near the nape, a slit had opened up, filled with sharp teeth, revealing yet another mouth;
There were even bizarre posters like the skeleton of a mammoth seemingly just dug out of the ground, strange creatures with long black fur all over, and lions draped in cloaks.
Looking at the posters on the wall, Lin隼 couldn’t help but exclaim, “Although I don’t know who brought me here, the taste of the person living here is a bit too wild. Look at this? There are even Tentacle Monsters, rbq, rbq.”
At this moment, the voice Lin隼 had vaguely heard before came again: “Hayato, are you still not up? You’ll be late~”
The tightly closed door opened, and the owner of the voice walked into the room. Lin隼 turned his head to look.
With a light purple apron tied around her waist and a bamboo basket full of clothes in her hand, the beautiful woman smiled gently, looking at Lin隼 standing by the bed: “Oh, you child, I’ve been calling you for ages and you didn’t respond. I thought you were going to oversleep.”
“Hayato, is she calling me?” Lin隼 asked, somewhat uncertainly. One thing was certain: before today, Lin隼 had never seen this woman. It wasn’t that Lin隼 had absolute memory and could remember even 103,000 erotic novels; it was simply because the woman’s appearance was truly outstanding.
Crimson lips and rosy cheeks, bright eyes and white teeth, slender eyebrows and graceful eyes—a series of phrases seemed designed specifically for the woman before him. Although her figure appeared a bit flat, with no significant curves front or back, just her face and the gentle, refined aura of a well-bred young lady she exuded, Lin隼 swore that if he had seen her before, he would absolutely never forget her.
“Oh, you’re such a naughty child, are you joking with me?” The woman smiled softly, grabbing the doorknob. “Alright, alright, hurry and change your clothes and come downstairs for breakfast. I won’t watch you; I still have laundry to do.”
As she closed the door, the woman added, “Hurry up, or I’ll eat all the breakfast, hehe~” With that, she playfully winked at Lin隼 and closed the door.
Lin隼 silently lowered his head and looked at his hands.
While talking to the woman just now, Lin隼 noticed something—was she a bit too tall? Although Lin隼’s height wasn’t as exaggerated as those professional basketball players, he was a considerable 195cm, quite JoJo-esque. Yet, when talking to the woman, he found that she was slightly taller than him? Wouldn’t that make her over two meters tall!
Another thing was that Lin隼 indeed remembered never seeing the woman, yet the woman recognized Lin隼, and even, quite familiarly, assumed the role of an elder. Lin隼 thought of a possibility—his appearance should probably, perhaps, not have changed at all.
Looking down at his hands, Lin隼 confirmed—Damn, this isn’t my body!
Rubbing his slender, long arms, Lin隼 clearly remembered that his left elbow had been burned, leaving a scar, but now that scar was gone without a trace, and even the slightly rough, hairy skin had become incredibly smooth.
It was almost like a female—
Thinking of a terrifying possibility, Lin隼 suddenly pulled open his pajama bottoms, leaned towards the window, and looked down, using the sunlight. Only then did he let out a long breath—thankfully, Lin隼’s little brother was still there and hadn’t disappeared due to Lin隼’s previous poisonous oath.
“So what exactly is going on? Did I transmigrate or something?” Taking a set of clothes from the wardrobe, Lin隼 took off his pajamas, thinking and complaining inwardly, “By the way, that huge wardrobe is full of clothes, but they’re all the exact same style. ‘I’ am a bit too… what’s the word?”
A shoulder bag was placed on the computer desk, and a blue jacket hung on the computer chair. After a moment of thought, Lin隼 first put the computer, which was on screensaver, into sleep mode, then picked up the jacket and draped it over his shoulder, grabbing the handle of the shoulder bag as he walked out of the room.
As he exited the room, Lin隼 glanced again at the posters on the wall that he hadn’t finished looking at earlier. He saw that some of the “monsters” looked quite familiar, such as a black-robed mage holding an emerald green staff, a black dragon spewing flames, and a white giant dragon that seemed like the embodiment of light.
He wanted to look for more information and clues, but considering the woman’s earlier instructions, Lin隼 unhesitatingly withdrew his gaze, closed the door, and went down the stairs.