In the year 2045 of the Martial Arts Calendar, in Tianhai City of Cang Province.
It was the sweltering summer of September, and the entire city was enveloped in heat.
Rongshan Residential Complex, Building 4, Room 301
5:30
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Lin Qi's eyes flew open. He sat up instantly and turned off the piercing alarm from the mobile phone on his bedside table.
With the alarm silenced, the only sound that remained was the whirring of the blue electric fan as stuffy, hot air permeated the room.
Looking around, it was a narrow bedroom.
The bed was a bunk bed, with luggage and belongings of various sizes piled on the top bunk. Beside the bed stood an old, brown wooden desk.
The walls were covered with posters, especially the largest one, which depicted a man with a blurred face and a formidable figure, wreathed in golden flames.
Beneath his feet, he was stomping on a massive, ferocious, black dragon-shaped beast.
A terrifying aura seemed ready to burst forth from the image.
A line of flamboyant, cursive characters was printed on the poster:
[You either accept the status quo or change it. Change always requires sacrifice, and effort is the ladder to the pinnacle of power. —The Red Emperor, The World's Strongest]
Other than this, there were almost no other superfluous furnishings; it was simple and bare.
An area was cleared in the middle of the room, which was less than 15 square meters, and the floor was covered with the deep imprints of footsteps left over the years.
Lin Qi stood up and put on a school uniform T-shirt that was somewhat faded from washing.
He opened the door and entered the small washroom to freshen up.
Swish! Swish!
Using the toilet, brushing his teeth, and washing his face were all done in one smooth motion, washing away the grime and leaving him feeling refreshed.
Lin Qi looked at himself in the mirror. He was 1.75 meters tall with a lean build, handsome and defined features, and spirited eyes that were full of masculine energy. His brow exuded a cold and stern air.
After leaving the bathroom, he saw a burly man with a bare upper body sitting on the sofa in the living room. The worn-out sofa had already faded.
Various scars and marks could be seen covering the man's upper body.
His left arm was completely empty, and with his right hand, he was carefully attaching a flesh-colored mechanical prosthesis.
Click! Clack!~
After a few moments, the five fingers of the prosthesis began to move stiffly, just like a normal arm.
"Morning, Little Qi!"
The burly man revealed a smile upon seeing Lin Qi. He had a resolute face, and every inch of his skin bore the traces of a hard-lived life.
"Morning, Dad!"
Lin Qi nodded.
The burly man turned and walked into the kitchen, speaking as he worked:
"I'm going to the hospital today to pick up your mother. She just had surgery and was supposed to stay in the hospital for a while longer."
"She is afraid of spending more money and has refused to stay no matter what."
"Today is the first day of your third year of high school. Work hard on your martial arts training."
"Do you still have enough money?"
Lin Zhen rambled on, but his hands moved without the slightest pause—lighting the stove, frying an egg, heating up pre-made steamed buns…
[Balance: 66.6]
"I still have enough money…"
Lin Qi glanced at his phone's balance and said nonchalantly. He then took out a packet of black coffee from a box in the corner, poured it into an ice water glass, and added cold water.
After stirring it evenly, he tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp. The bitter taste filled his mouth, and he became fully awake.
In a short while, Lin Zhen came out carrying a full plate: meat buns, a fried egg, and a steamed bun.
After eating quickly, Lin Qi returned to his room, changed his clothes, put on a pair of black athletic shoes with nearly worn-out soles, and grabbed his backpack.
"Dad, I'm leaving."
"Alright!"
Lin Zhen's firm voice came from the kitchen, followed by another burst of activity.
...
Three minutes later.
After leaving the residential complex, Lin Qi got on his antique bicycle and rode along the wide street.
Whoosh~
Riding against the morning breeze, a clear female voice drifted from his black Bluetooth headset:
"The year 1999 of the Martial Arts Calendar!"
"In that year, terrifying natural disasters erupted one after another across the world: tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes…"
"They caused severe loss of life and economic damage to all countries around the globe."
"At first, people everywhere thought it was just an ordinary series of disasters."
"Just when people thought the disasters had passed, the true calamity descended."
"Enormous black rifts appeared successively all over the world, and countless terrifying giant beasts charged out from them, destroying everything in their path."
"They greedily devoured all life."
"They were walking disasters, so they were named—Disaster Beasts!"
"They possessed bodies as large as mountains, hard skin, massive sharp claws, and pointed, sharp teeth, capable of easily tearing apart steel buildings and shredding human beings."
"Bustling streets, like seedlings in a field, were plowed clean, and everything was reduced to ruins."
"The war began. Faced with the terrifying Disaster Beasts, humanity had no choice but to unleash all of its weapons. Every country transformed into a war machine amidst the beast tides."
"Facing the advent of the Disaster Beasts, humanity retreated step by step. Countless soldiers sacrificed their lives in the war, and ordinary people were displaced and left homeless."
"At the same time the rifts appeared, humans discovered that their physical fitness had improved dramatically, and some people even awakened special abilities, like supermen."
"Faced with the endless Disaster Beasts, the ancient martial arts were revitalized with new life."
"And so, the curtain rose on the war between humanity and the Disaster Beasts…"
The roadside was lined with bustling streets, skyscrapers, and shops with electronic screens broadcasting the latest news about Disaster Beasts.
Lin Qi, however, was silently listening to the history lesson audio playback.
He had already heard this piece of history countless times and knew it by heart.
"I've already been in this world for 17 years!"
Lin Qi felt a little dazed.
He, Lin Qi, was a transmigrator.
This was Blue Star, a parallel world extremely similar to Earth.
In his previous life, he had been just an overworked corporate drone. After a month of continuous overtime, he had finally died from exhaustion.
When he opened his eyes again, he had been reborn as an infant in this world.
Before 1999, this world had been almost identical to Earth, but from that year onward, a world-shaking transformation had occurred.
It had changed directly from an ordinary human world into a superhuman world of martial arts.
As a veteran reader from a certain popular webnovel site, Lin Qi adapted to this world very quickly.
Of course, as a transmigrator, he also had a golden finger.
As Lin Qi thought this, a tattered golden banner materialized in a mysterious region of his mind, amidst endless darkness.
The banner was covered in cracks as if it had endured a great battle, with only a part of it remaining.
It had stayed within his consciousness, dim and deathly silent, without the slightest movement, like a piece of torn cloth.
It wasn't until half a year ago that it had trembled for an instant and shot out a ray of golden light.
Thinking of this, a strange light seemed to flash in Lin Qi's vision. It was a golden screen that only he could see.
[Name: Lin Qi (17)]
[Class: Martial Artist]
[Template: None (99.8%)]
[Qi and Blood Value: 5.2]
[Techniques: Hunyuan Stance (Great Accomplishment), Tiger Form Fist (Minor Accomplishment), Basic Spearmanship (Minor Accomplishment)]
[Fist Technique: First-Order 80%]
[Spear Technique: First-Order 60%]
[Movement Technique: First-Order 57%]
...
This was the panel provided by the golden banner, which allowed him to clearly observe his martial arts progress.
Looking at the data on the panel, Lin Qi sighed.
He had thought it would be one of those legendary systems where he could just add points to become stronger.
He had even mentally prepared himself to take off.
The result disappointed him. The panel's function was very simple; it could only display his various stats, giving him a clear understanding of his own martial arts proficiency.
However, he adapted quickly and gave up on the fantasy.
Being able to check his progress at any moment, this feeling of seeing his advancement, could give a person the motivation to work hard.
This function alone made him better off than countless others.
In the six months since activating the panel, his martial arts had progressed immensely. What more was there to be dissatisfied about?
As a third-year high school student, war and Disaster Beasts were too distant for him; those were matters for the future.
Right now, he just wanted to train hard in martial arts, get into a good martial arts university, and earn enough money to improve his family's living conditions.
With that thought, Lin Qi's gaze fell upon another line of data.
[Template: None (99.8%)]
Lin Qi had no description for this "Template" and didn't know its specific function, but he had a faint guess.
Every day after he finished training, he would watch the percentage progress bar increase a little.
The harder he trained, the more it increased, and the faster it went.
After half a year, the progress bar was about to reach 100%.
According to its progress, today, he would finally know what it was.
He had a premonition that the template was extremely important to him, that it was the key to his future path in martial arts.
...
(End of this chapter)