Dusk. The setting sun cast long shadows.
A scorching, desolate wind swept across the arid earth.
Feng Yin dragged his exhausted body forward. He looked into the distance, where the rising heat distorted everything in his vision. About a kilometer away stood a cluster of low-slung, dilapidated buildings. Further back, rising from the center of those crumbling structures, was a towering, high-rise edifice. Atop its roof and along its main body, massive neon characters spelled out a name:
[Death Madness Tower]
Seeing these characters—which he had never encountered before yet somehow understood perfectly—cleared Feng Yin's hazy mind just a little. It also cemented his suspicion. The world he was currently in was most likely no longer Earth.
As for why he could comprehend this foreign text, he had no idea. He shook his heavy head, lacking the energy to dwell on it. None of that mattered right now. All he knew was that, no matter how much he wanted to deny it, his transmigration was a reality. Now, he only prayed for one thing: that he could find a bite to eat in the settlement ahead.
Before the sun dipped beneath the horizon, Feng Yin arrived at the settlement. His mouth was parched, and his physical condition had deteriorated so much that he suspected he was suffering from heatstroke. Looking up, he spotted a battered street sign.
[Sin City]
Feng Yin's heart sank at the name. A normal town wouldn't be called something like this, would it?
But he couldn't afford to care. He walked up in silence, approaching the two guards stationed outside the town entrance. Faced with their cold glares and leveled rifles, he obediently halted five meters away.
The two guards, initially projecting obvious vigilance and hostility, paused when they saw Feng Yin's hesitant and cautious demeanor. They exchanged a look, their expressions shifting into overt schadenfreude.
One of them barked coldly, "Speak! How did you get here?"
His tone was peculiar, carrying a distinct, arrogant drawl.
Feng Yin's gaze sharpened slightly. The language the guard spoke sounded somewhat like English, but it was absolutely not any language he had ever heard before. Miraculously, he found that he could accurately understand the meaning behind the foreign words. He even opened his mouth tentatively and found himself speaking the exact same language.
"Sir, I... woke up by the island's shore and followed the trail here."
He was telling the truth.
A car crash, getting struck by lightning, falling into a space-time rift, becoming a chosen child... if there were many ways to transmigrate, Feng Yin's method was an exceptionally arbitrary one. It had been a rare relaxing weekend afternoon. He was sitting at his computer, just about to start gaming, when he inexplicably lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was already lying on the rocky beach of this island. Even his body and appearance were his own—except he had mysteriously regressed from a man pushing thirty on Earth to his current youthful self, looking barely twenty.
Hearing Feng Yin's answer, a look of validation surfaced on the guards' faces.
"Looks like another unlucky bastard," the second guard sneered.
The first guard smiled coldly. "Kid, anyone who ends up on Border Prison Island is a criminal. Don't ever expect to leave in this lifetime. As for this Sin City... naturally, criminals like you are free to come and go. However—" He dragged out the word slightly, looking Feng Yin up and down. After getting a clear look at his facial features, a meaningful, mocking grin appeared on his face. "With a pretty face like yours, if you go into this city, your fate probably won't be any better than those wenches..."
Border Prison Island, Sin City, criminal... Feng Yin's heart chilled at the terms. Although the vocabulary was unfamiliar, he roughly grasped the guard's meaning. It seemed the vast majority of the people in Sin City were so-called "criminals," and over ninety percent of those branded as such were likely genuinely wicked people. And among the wicked, there would be no shortage of deviants with twisted fetishes. No, it was more accurate to say that in an environment where all evils converged, even those who weren't psychopaths were highly likely to commit depraved acts.
So, should he still enter this Sin City?
If he entered the city, although his current body was quite sturdy—much better than the sub-health, middle-aged physique of his past life—he was already starved, parched, and borderline heatstruck after half a day of trekking. If he ran into someone with malicious intent, he would have little power to resist. According to the guard, getting violated might be the lightest consequence.
On the other hand, if he didn't enter the city, he wouldn't fare much better. He had already gotten a basic understanding of the island's geography on his way here; it was mostly Gobi desert and rocky beaches. With his ordinary human abilities, he wouldn't be able to find supplies anytime soon. To put it bluntly, he wouldn't even be able to find drinkable fresh water.
Should he risk having his backside torn apart to seek survival in the city, or wait for an opportunity in the wilderness? Feng Yin pondered silently, unable to make a decision for the moment.
Seeing Feng Yin's silence, the two guards didn't rush him; they simply watched with gleeful amusement. As official guards stationed here by the Genroku Country, they had seen plenty of poor souls even more pitiful than him. Even if this kid wasn't a criminal, his fate had been sealed the moment he arrived.
As the hidden "garbage dump" behind the civilization of the Genroku Country, criminals weren't the only ones thrown here; a large number of unidentified individuals were mixed in as well. Not even one in ten thousand could ever leave this island of sin again, and most ended up dying gruesome deaths. Since these men acted as both guards and Prison Wardens, they felt no pity for the criminals.
Feng Yin's deliberation didn't last long.
Hearing approaching footsteps behind him, he turned to see a middle-aged man and woman hurrying along, looking as though they were heading into town. The man, nearing forty, was tall and bald. He wore simple cloth clothes, but his exposed arms were thick and corded with bulging muscles, making him look incredibly dangerous. The woman was about the same age with an equally athletic build. A hideous scar ran from her left brow bone down to her right cheek, cutting across her ruthless face. A sheathed sword-like weapon hung at her waist.
The pair had clearly intended to ignore the two guards and head straight into the city, but they subconsciously glanced at Feng Yin when he turned around. Noting that he was unarmed and seemingly unthreatening, the man calmly looked away.
The woman, however, paused. She looked at Feng Yin, her gaze turning somewhat distant. Grabbing the man to stop him, she turned to the two guards and spoke. Her voice was harsh and grating, like metal scraping against metal. "Officers, who is this young man?"
Feng Yin noticed that the language the woman spoke was different from the one he had just used to converse with the guards. In terms of intonation, it sounded a bit like Earth's Japanese. Fortunately, he was still bizarrely able to understand it.
One of the guards frowned at the pair and replied in the same language, "According to him, he's just some guy who got dumped on the island by who knows who."
The woman nodded. She silently sized Feng Yin up, not speaking for a moment.
The man appeared rough but was surprisingly observant. He cast another glance at Feng Yin before turning to question the woman, "You want to take him in?"
The woman didn't answer. She stared at Feng Yin for a long moment before slowly shaking her head, her expression recovered its coldness. "I don't need useless people."
The language they used to converse with each other was different yet again. It sounded quite a bit like Earth's Chinese.
Hearing this language, Feng Yin's eyes instantly lit up.
By now, the woman was already pulling the man away. But after taking a few steps, they heard Feng Yin's voice ring out behind them.
"I am useful."
He was speaking the exact same language the pair had just used!
The man and woman abruptly turned around, locking their eyes on Feng Yin. Meanwhile, the two guards watching the spectacle revealed looks of disgust.
The man asked probing, "One of the Celestial Essence People?"
Feng Yin slowly nodded.
The woman stared intently into Feng Yin's eyes. She asked hoarsely, "Where in Celestial Essence? And what can you do?"
Feng Yin scratched his head and said softly, "I can't remember a lot of things. But I can do a lot of things. Clerical work, hard labor, murder, and arson—I can do it all."
The man's interest was piqued. "Oh? And what do you want in return?"
"Just a bite to eat."
***