Chapter 2: Primitive World
Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
A towering tree that had a girth that would take adult men to wrap around and a canopy that covered the sky and the sun.
Such trees were everywhere in sight, forming an endless, seemingly virgin forest.
In an inconspicuous corner of this forest, Zhao Hao stood with an utterly bewildered expression on his face.
"Does this count as having traveled to another world?"
Zhao Hao gasped and looked around.
He had parents, friends, and even a school belle as a girlfriend, so he could not accept having traveled to a whole different world as easily or willingly as other people might.
Carefully recalling the feeling that he received when he walked into the pillar of light, Zhao Hao felt the sensation to be quite strange. He could only attribute the feeling to spatial teleportation, even if he had never known what it might have felt like in the past. According to the information posted on the internet, the number of human beings who had entered the seven-color light pillar had long since exceeded 100 million. It was too ridiculous to simply regard such an event as transmigration as was it really even possible to transmigrate such a large number of people? Regardless, it was truly difficult to tell.
"Since I can be teleported here, can I also be teleported back? Maybe this is a two-dimensional space."
Zhao Hao tried to stay calm as he thought of the slim possibility of returning home.
He checked his belongings while his mind was still in a complete mess.
Normally, people who willingly entered the seven-colored light pillars were fully prepared. Food, water, and clothes were the basics, while there were also those who went a step further and prepared various adventuring gear, including weapons such as knives and/or guns.
As for Zhao Hao... He had basically not prepared at all!
The only things he currently had were as follows: a mobile phone, a box of cigarettes, a lighter, and five hundred yuan in cash.
While there was no signal or network in the area, he could still use the phone to take pictures or listen to music that he had downloaded.
The lighter can also be used, and he did so right away. He lit a cigarette and thought about life.
The feeling of hunger caused him to start shedding tears before he could even say a single word.
Without even mentioning the matter of getting out of the forest, the problem of merely filling his stomach already seemed overwhelming.
"Woof, woof!"
A big black dog ran over from a distance and rubbed its head against Zhao Hao's legs affectionately.
"Big Black!"
Zhao Hao was overjoyed and felt a sense of intimacy, similar to meeting an old friend in a foreign country.
Weiwei liked small animals very much. A year ago, Zhao Hao and his girlfriend adopted this stray dog of unknown breed. And today, when he came to this unknown world, Big Black stayed by his side and followed him through. Zhao Hao felt infinitely moved.
"Woof!"
Big Black tugged on Zhao Hao's trousers with its mouth, seemingly trying to pull him somewhere.
The senses of animals generally far exceeded that of humans. Zhao Hao chose to trust in Big Black and allowed himself to be pulled by it.
Ten minutes later, one person and one dog arrived at their destination.
They arrived at a clearing in the forest, where there was a mess of fallen leaves on the ground, along with some traces of a battle. Torn pieces of clothing were scattered nearby, and a pair of branded hiking boots were on the ground, with bloody feet left inside.
"Hiss!"
Zhao Hao sucked in a breath of cold air while the hair on his body stood on end.
While he had not personally seen the battle take place, he could imagine how tragic it had been. There was no doubt that a human being had been attacked by an unknown creature and torn to pieces, and ultimately only their feet, which were protected by the sturdy hiking boots, were left in the world.
Zhao Hao even suspected that the human who had died had not only been killed but also eaten by an unknown creature or maybe creatures!
An inexplicable sense of unease surged in his heart, and Zhao Hao quickly picked up the machete that had been left on the ground in the clearing.
He recognized the machete and knew that it had quite a bit of history. It was a famous jungle machete used by the US military during the Vietnam War. It was eighteen inches long and was called the M1942. Due to its excellent practicality, this machete continued to be loved and respected by wilderness survival and blade enthusiasts all over the world. Judging from this machete alone, the deceased should have been a relatively professional wilderness explorer during his lifetime.
Zhao Hao now felt even under greater pressure, and beads of cold sweat began rolling down his forehead.
If even a professional like this dies with only their two feet left of their body, how many days can I survive in this world?
He had an intuition that the creature that killed the wild adventurer was definitely not human.
Fear comes from the unknown. Zhao Hao could not imagine what it was that had hunted the deceased.
"Woof!"
Big Black barked again, and then it rushed to the foot of a large tree and jumped as high as it could.
Zhao Hao took a closer look and saw that there was a huge tree hole three meters above the ground.
He held the machete tightly and walked to the tree hole.
After carefully looking around for a while, Zhao Hao inserted the machete into the ground and tried climbing up the tree.
At this moment, Zhao Hao displayed his physical prowess. With the amazing jumping ability that he had developed as an athlete, he jumped up, grabbed the ledge of the tree hole with both hands, and climbed into it easily.
The tree hole was very large, and there was a bulging mountaineering bag inside.
As soon as Zhao Hao opened the bag, his eyes suddenly became wet.
"This is fate!"
No matter who the original owner of the mountaineering bag was, Zhao Hao only wanted to express his sincere gratitude to them at this moment.
In the bag, there were biscuits, canned food, mineral water, a compass, a lighter, a flashlight, and a Swiss Army Knife. These were all things that Zhao Hao greatly needed at the moment. In addition, there were two sets of sportswear, along with two pairs of brand-new underwear and two pairs of new socks that were also still in their packaging.
As he dug deeper into the bag, Zhao Hao could deeply feel the professionalism of the original owner of the mountaineering bag.
He took out a simple medical kit that was the size of a book, and he found that it contained disinfectant alcohol, bandages, band-aids, and other emergency supplies. In another plastic box, there was a bottle of shampoo and two bars of soap. There were also several iron boxes shaped like cigarette boxes filled to the brim with picnic condiments such as salt and chicken extract.
Zhao Hao took out a watch from the mountaineering bag, which not only showed the time, but also the year, month, and day. Carefully looking at the shelf life of the biscuits, he discovered that they would only expire after another year. Zhao Hao thus opened a box of biscuits and devoured them ravenously.
After eating and drinking until he had satisfied his hunger, Zhao Hao took out the compass and tried to figure out a direction to travel that would hopefully bring him out of the forest.
However, as soon as he looked at the compass, he was left dumbfounded. The needle of the compass turned indiscriminately, unable to point out a clear direction at all.
"Calm down, Zhao Hao, you must calm down!"
Zhao Hao forced himself to calm down and took a deep breath.
From the side pocket of the mountaineering bag, he found a ballpoint pen and a palm-sized diary.
"This big brother is so amazing. He's so sharp! He actually even knew to write in a diary like Uncle Lei Feng!"
Zhao Hao opened the diary and was quickly attracted by its contents.
The further he read through what was written, the more solemn his expression became.
"December 14, 2013. After hesitating for a year, I finally could not help but step into the seven-colored pillar of light. What really is behind the pillars of light? I do not know, and I do not care. I no longer have any real desire to live, I have already accepted that I will soon die."
"December 15, 2013. I came to a whole new world. I am in a primeval forest with an area larger than any nature reserve I have been to in the past. The magnetic field here is disordered, and the compass that I brought in does not work. I do not know why, but there is an inexplicable fear in my heart."
"December 18, 2013. This so-called world of evolution is really incredible! I saw two strange beasts. After one beast devoured the other beast, a change took place in the victor. I clearly felt that it became stronger. Could it be that the [Path of Evolution] that appeared in my consciousness and mind refers to evolving through killing and devouring?"
"December 24, 2013. Hell, even plants in this world are alive! By 'alive' I do not simply mean that they have vitality, but that they can attack humans and animals like man-eating flowers! Today, I encountered my first human compatriot. However, before I could even say hello to him, I witnessed him being entangled by a tree vine, and the strange tree vine then strangled him covered in blood, crazily absorbing his flesh and vitality. In a few minutes, he turned into nothing more than a mummified corpse. In the end, even his bones and skin were swallowed up by the vine... I am afraid that this Christmas Eve will not be peaceful in the slightest."
"December 27, 2013. I did not expect a bird flying above to suddenly attack me. I was poisoned... This poison is terrifying. I can feel the call of death. I have decided to put the remaining half of the food I brought in a tree hole in hopes that it can help humans who pass by this place in the future..."
"December 28, 2013. Am I going to die? I'm unwilling! I saw a giant wolf. Strangely, I had the urge to fight it. It was as if there was something in its body that greatly attracted me. There is nothing but death around me. I have decided to at least die in battle with honor! Farewell, Dekai, my love."
-- Gift
received