In a simple, dimly lit room, a few rays of light shone through the window onto the floor, and a single bed was placed in the corner.
On the small table beside the bed lay a highly modern syringe made of metal and glass, completely out of place with its surroundings.
A figure lay sprawled on the bed, neck draped over the edge, head facing the floor.
After a long time, the figure finally stirred, swaying as he sat up and firmly rubbed his forehead with his hand.
“I stayed up too late last night, my head hurts so much.”
“I can’t be late for my interview at the traditional Chinese medicine clinic this afternoon; it’s hard to find one so close to my rental.”
The person on the bed, who looked about fifteen or sixteen, with a buzz cut and slightly dark skin, the kind that clearly showed he had been exposed to wind and sun, muttered to himself while holding his head.
At first glance, he appeared to be a simple, honest type with thick eyebrows and large eyes, but a hint of sharpness was not lost in the corners of his eyes.
A trace of confusion appeared in his newly opened eyes.
After a while, the hand supporting his head pinched his forehead.
“This doesn’t feel right!”
The young man, struggling to get up, finally widened his eyes and observed his surroundings.
“I—where am I?”
At this moment, a surge of new memories flooded his mind, dispelling the surprise in his heart and overwhelming his newly awakened consciousness.
His body fell straight down, slumping sideways onto the bed, his back of the head bouncing twice on the edge of the bed.
…
Two hours later, still in the same room, the young man was sitting on the edge of the bed, propping his chin with his hand, lost in thought:
“I am Wu Bin… no, I am Qin Chao now.”
“I am a handyman at 203 Base.”
“This world is very dangerous; demons and monsters emerge endlessly.”
Qin Chao picked up the syringe on the nearby table, looking at the trace of green liquid remaining inside.
“There’s still some of this precious liquid left. It seems that the Senior, who used this body before me, couldn’t bear it and didn’t finish the injection.”
He got up and went to the mirror on the wall in the corner to observe his current body.
“Not bad.” Although he wasn't dashingly handsome, his body was very sturdy, built on years of manual labor.
He had finally shed the weight that, despite seven or eight years of steady effort in his previous life, remained stubbornly over a hundred kilograms, reducing it to what now seemed to be only sixty or seventy kilograms.
So, can weight loss only be achieved through Reincarnation? No wonder he couldn't lose weight.
Qin Chao clenched his fist, recalling the state of this body before the injection, and sighed:
“As expected, no talent was Awakened?”
“Indeed, if it had succeeded, I wouldn’t be in this godforsaken place now.”
“It’s just a pity, my 600 points accumulated over so many years.”
“It only costs 500 points to exchange for a Level 1 Evolver liquid, but since I’m not an official mercenary, I can only exchange it through someone else, who charged me an extra 100 points as a handling fee. What a rip-off.”
Contribution points are not ordinary currency; one kilogram of gold can only be exchanged for 100 contribution points. The previous owner of this body had accumulated them over many years through deceit and trickery, and finally, being relentlessly pursued, had no choice but to hide in the military camp as a handyman.
The previous owner had hoped that this successful enhancement would allow him to transition from a handyman to an official, salaried mercenary who could go to the battlefield.
Unfortunately, the enhancement failed, costing him his life. For some unknown reason, it also dragged him over.
Qin Chao looked at his current reflection in the mirror: “It doesn’t look easy to get by! This isn’t like Earth; one day, if my luck runs out, I’ll become cannon fodder on the battlefield!”
“The Evolver liquid isn’t working either. If I take another shot and kick the bucket again, who knows if I can Transmigration back!”
“Where’s my Golden Finger? Where’s the standard Transmigration package?”
When Qin Chao thought of this, he silently chanted, “System, System… No response. Let’s try another one.”
“Senior, Senior… Still no good.”
“Broken throat, broken throat… What the hell is a broken throat?”
After half an hour of trying, Qin Chao finally gave up.
“There’s no response, what should I do?”
As a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, Qin Chao had worked in hospitals for several years and had witnessed various aspects of life, old age, sickness, and death. This situation didn't scare him, but having Transmigration here with such difficulty, a plain life would be accepting his fate.
Without a Golden Finger, he couldn’t make waves.
Thinking this, Qin Chao began to analyze his strengths and weaknesses:
“Based on my memories, I understand the environment of this Base, but if my ability isn’t enough, there’s no room for advancement!”
“Most of my accumulated points are gone. Food, clothing, shelter, everything requires points. Even this room I used for Breakthrough was rented for 3 days at 5 points.”
“The previous owner, doing manual labor, did have some strength, but compared to those non-humans successfully enhanced with Evolver liquid, he’s not on the same Rank.”
“I do have a lot of knowledge in traditional Chinese medicine, but I studied clinical internal medicine. For external injuries and fractures, the treatment pods in the Base are much faster than traditional Chinese medicine.”
“Even if I could use my skills, I don’t have any Chinese herbs!”
“Acupuncture… I’m afraid that if I held a needle and hadn’t even pricked those mercenaries outside, I’d be punched away first.”
“Headache! Tui Na, foot massages… Maybe I should just continue being a handyman first!”
The next day, after checking out of the small room located outside the civilian district, Qin Chao, dressed in a brown standard handyman uniform, walked through the streets of the slum, observing the beggars and the street-side prostitutes, a profession said to have existed since the beginning of humanity, soliciting customers.
He also saw a group of laborers who were unwilling to join the army, waiting daily for odd jobs and scattered work.
Although in his memories, Qin Chao had also idled here for a period, the previous owner ultimately decided to join the army as a handyman.
He walked through the street as if in a different lifetime.
Finally, standing in front of the main gate of the military camp located in the eastern part of 203 Base, before he could even sigh with emotion, a modified military jeep sped past him and stopped beside him. A burly figure sitting in the back seat looked at Qin Chao with slight surprise, scanning him up and down before saying,
“Looking at you, your 600 points were wasted.”
Captain Zhang Lei, the captain of the 16th Combat Squad of 203 Base, an official mercenary, and Qin Chao’s direct superior. He is a Level 2 Strength-type Evolver, and it is said that he is close to Breakthrough to Level 3.
Qin Chao had used Zhang Lei to exchange his accumulated 600, no, 500 points, for Level 1 Evolver liquid, with the extra hundred being the handling fee.
He wasn't even a Level 1 mercenary, so he didn't have the authority to exchange. Ordinary people who wanted Evolver liquid had to exchange it through official mercenaries. This was also considered a benefit given by the Base to official mercenaries.
The white-haired driver of the jeep spoke, “I told you long ago, you’re no good. Your 500 points would have been better spent treating us brothers to a good meal in the city; then we could have taken better care of you on the battlefield.”
Zhang Lei then interrupted the white-haired man’s speech and said to Qin Chao, “Alright, you’ll get an extra 50 contribution points this week.”
With that, the jeep sped into the camp.