The cramped apartment was suffocating, the air thick with the stale smell of Li Wei's sweat and the lingering scent of the cheap instant noodles he had cooked for dinner.
Li Wei took a deep breath and coughed, the stale air catching in his throat.
"Ugh, I need to open a window or something," he muttered to himself.
As he turned his head to look around the cramped apartment, his eyes fell on the pile of ramen cups and the overflowing ashtray on his desk.
"I really need to clean this place up," he sighed, running a hand through his unkempt hair.
A notification from his computer drew his attention back to the screen, and he sighed again.
"More useless threads," he muttered, scrolling through the forum. "Why do I even bother?"
As Li Wei sat there lost in thought, his mind wandered back to his previous life.
He remembered the days of being a high schooler, trying to fit in but always feeling like an outcast.
He was never popular, never had many friends, and always felt like he was the punchline to everyone's joke.
"I remember thinking that things couldn't get any worse," he muttered under his breath.
But then, fate had other plans for him.
He had been hit by a truck, and everything had gone dark.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in this new world, trapped in a wheelchair.
He shook his head, the bitterness creeping back into his voice.
"And what do I get? A body that's broken and useless. If this is some kind of sick joke from the universe, then it's not funny."
The government had provided him with a meager disability subsidy, barely enough to cover his basic needs. He lived in a tiny, dilapidated apartment with no friends or family to turn to for support.
Speaking of family, his thoughts turned to this body's younger sister.
He had never met her since he had been reincarnated, and he had no idea how she looked or where she lived.
The only thing he knew was that she was his biological sibling.
He had heard from his case worker that she had been adopted by a wealthy family, but he didn't know anything else about her.
He wondered if she ever thought about him, or if she even knew he existed.
"Ah~"
"Yes~"
"Hmmmm~"
Li Wei's ears were suddenly assaulted by the loud, obnoxious sounds of carnal pleasure coming from the apartment next door.
He winced as the pounding of the headboard against the wall seemed to shake his own apartment.
The moaning and thumping sounds continued to penetrate the thin walls of his apartment, filling him with anger and disgust.
He couldn't help but think about the woman next door, imagining her as a prostitute who degraded herself by sleeping with multiple men.
The thought of it made his stomach churn with disgust.
He pictured the man thrusting into her while she moaned and writhed in fake ecstasy, and he felt nothing but contempt for both of them.
His face twisted in anger as he thought about how they had no consideration for their neighbors.
They were nothing but selfish, pleasure-seeking animals who only cared about satisfying their own desires.
He hated them both with a burning passion, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it.
So instead, he turned to the internet, seeking refuge in the anonymity it provided.
It was his only escape from the harsh reality of his existence.
And then, with a sudden jolt, the power went out, and the room was cast into pitch black darkness.
Li Wei's heart raced as he realized he couldn't see anything.
He groped around frantically, trying to find his phone or a flashlight, but his efforts were in vain.
In the darkness, Li Wei's eyes adjusted to the faint light that was coming from the computer monitor, and he could just make out his reflection in the monitor's glossy surface.
His gaze fell upon his own reflection, and he saw the image of a bloated, disheveled figure with a pimpled face and a double chin.
His hair was unkempt, and his clothes were sloppy and unflattering.
The image that stared back at him was one of utter hopelessness, a pitiful existence that he could never escape.
"Why do you have to mock me like this?" he hissed, his words dripping with venom.
"You're nothing but a worthless reflection, a pitiful imitation of a human being. Why can't you just disappear and let me be?"
But the reflection only glared back at him, a twisted caricature of his own face.
The sounds from next door only grew louder, the moans and thudding echoing through the thin walls of his apartment.
"Why do they get to have pleasure and satisfaction?" Li Wei muttered to himself, his voice rising in volume.
"Why do they get to live normal lives, while I'm stuck here, trapped in this useless body?"
He pounded his fists against the armrests of his wheelchair, feeling the frustration and anger building inside him like a storm.
"I hate this!" he screamed, his voice echoing through the empty apartment.
"I hate this body, I hate this world, I hate everything!"
And with a final burst of rage, he lunged at his reflection, his fist striking out in a wild punch.
But the blow missed, and Li Wei lost his balance, toppling out of his wheelchair and crashing to the ground.
Li Wei's head throbbed with pain, and he could feel the world slipping away.
In the darkness, he could barely make out his surroundings, but the sounds from next door seemed to fade away.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling a sense of relief wash over him.
"Finally, they shut up...," he muttered to himself, the words slurred and muddled by his fading consciousness.
The darkness seemed to swallow him up, and he drifted into unconsciousness.
_____
The man with the tattoo on his back suddenly stopped mid-thrust, his face contorting in confusion.
"Did you hear that?" he asked the woman beneath him.
The woman, lost in ecstasy, barely registered his question.
"Hear what?" she panted, arching her back.
"I don't know, some kind of scream or something," he replied, his mind briefly distracted from his carnal pursuits.
The woman impatiently grabbed his hips, pulling him back into her rhythm.
"I don't hear anything except for you. Now come on, don't keep me waiting!" she demanded, her impatience growing.
The man shrugged off the strange noise and resumed his movements with renewed vigor, determined to finish what he started.
"Whatever it was, it's not important. Let's focus on the task at hand," he grunted, his eyes fixed on his prize.
____
[Initiating host system scan for abnormalities and vulnerabilities.]
[Abnormality detected in the host. Unable to initiate memory transfer protocol.]
[Newbie protection package activated. Initiating transfer to a random world.]
[Simulator system activation protocol initializing.]