The young man's name was Zhang Daya, and he was originally a student at a university in Jiangcheng.
When poor, one should strive for self-improvement; when successful, one should help the world.
Zhang Daya, meaning to help the world when successful.
The meaning was good, but his unscrupulous roommates preferred to call him by his nicknames—Little Zhang Jungler and Arrogant Jungler.
Because he only played the jungler role in a certain computer game and was as bad as a master, his roommates would always complain at the start of each game: "Arrogant Jungler, give me the role or I'll feed."
He had gotten used to it himself. Nicknames were just for fun, as long as everyone was happy. Of course, it was also mainly because he couldn't resist.
The reason Zhang Daya came to this world started on the morning when all four of them in dorm 404 overslept.
That day, the four of them unanimously ignored breakfast. It wasn't until close to noon that Zhang Daya, along with two other roommates, coaxed Ren Ming into going to the cafeteria to get food for them, at the cost of shouting "88" once.
As a result, Ren Ming went missing. He didn't answer his phone, didn't reply to texts, and wasn't online.
Generally speaking, it's not unusual for a phone call not to go through; he might not have heard it, and you could just try again later.
But Zhang Daya was unbearably hungry and decided to go out to eat, and also to see what that guy was doing, leaving the two lazy bums waiting foolishly in the dorm.
However, the moment Zhang Daya's right foot stepped out of the dorm room, he lost consciousness.
When Zhang Daya woke up, he found himself lying on a wooden board, surrounded by an endless sea.
His first reaction was to pat his pants pocket. The familiar feel told him his phone was still there. "Hmm, that's much more reassuring."
Next, Zhang Daya began to wonder if he was dreaming, wanting to pinch himself like people in TV shows do when they encounter unbelievable things.
But actually, when he pinched his thigh, he already had the answer in his heart: no one would think to pinch themselves while dreaming.
As the pain came, Zhang Daya tried to keep calm. This was either a transmigration or some kind of supernatural phenomenon.
All around him was the sea, with no reference points to confirm his location.
Zhang Daya took out his phone and checked it. The battery was full, 100%. It seemed like charging his phone before leaving was a good habit.
He glanced to the side. No signal. Not good.
He pulled down the status bar to confirm. Both Wi-Fi and mobile data were on. It really seemed like there was no signal.
Zhang Daya, not believing it, tried to call his roommates, and then tried several emergency numbers, but all he heard was the "out of service area" message.
At this point, Zhang Daya panicked.
He realized that either he was lucky and would soon encounter land or other rescue, or he would have to learn from Bear Grylls and go on a wilderness survival adventure.
Accepting reality takes some time, but because he hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch, his rumbling stomach told him he'd better hurry.
First, Zhang Daya confirmed his condition:
"Besides being very hungry, there's nothing else uncomfortable. Speaking of which, being hungry in this situation is already pretty bad, isn't it?"
Next, he needed to check his belongings. Even for wilderness survival, you need some suitable tools, right?
He was still wearing the same clothes he left in: a long-sleeved T-shirt, a black jacket, blue jeans, and white sneakers. Zhang Daya felt the current temperature; it was suitable, so he shouldn't get cold.
Then, he took out everything from his pockets and laid them in front of him: a campus card, a key to dorm 404, with a nail clipper, an ear pick, and a Luo Tianyi pendant attached.
He had only intended to go to the cafeteria to eat, so he only brought these few things. Including his phone and the wooden board carrying him, these were all the tools he had at this stage.
Zhang Daya looked at the phone, campus card, and keyring in front of him and fell into deep thought:
Can I really survive with these things?
..."I'm so hungry..."
Zhang Daya lay weakly on the wooden board, his eyes fixed on the sea, hoping a fish or two would swim by.
He pulled out a shoelace, painstakingly bent a small keyring into a crude fishhook shape, tied the nail clipper to it as a sinker, and then tried to fish without bait.
Unfortunately, he caught nothing until nightfall. In the afternoon, he had been so hungry he felt numb, but by night, his stomach burned with discomfort, and his lips were chapped from the sea breeze.
Zhang Daya was so desperate that he tried drawing Mickey Mouse heads on the wooden board.
Unfortunately, no one from Disney came in a helicopter to sue him for infringement.
"If I survive this, I'll definitely get up on time, eat on time, pay attention to balanced nutrition, and not waste a single bit of food..."
Zhang Daya, while still clear-headed, tied the "fishing line" to his hand, turned over, and fell into a hazy sleep.
In the early hours of the morning, a crescent moon was obscured by light clouds, countless stars twinkled, and a meteor with a beautiful long arc streaked across the night sky and vanished.
Zhang Daya's phone screen in his pocket quietly lit up, as if to respond to something, but it was stuck on the lock screen—no one entered the password.
The whole world seemed to fall silent for an awkward second. Then, a slight wave surged, and the wooden board swayed. The key to dorm 404 happened to land on the phone screen.
The virtual keys on the screen began to flash wildly, as if cracking a password.
As the first ray of morning sunlight fell, the phone and key simultaneously shattered, and along with the campus card, they transformed into specks of starlight that merged into the back of Zhang Daya's left hand.
A purple circular magic array pattern slowly formed, with intricate yet orderly lines that looked like an abstract pattern created by overlapping a school emblem and a key.
A purple glow scanned Zhang Daya's entire body, and then a translucent screen, the size of a phone, popped up above the magic array.
In the upper left corner was a photo, with simple information next to it.
Name: Zhang Daya
Age: 18 years old
Description: Former student of Jiangcheng University of Technology, went out to find food and his missing roommate, suspected to have transmigrated to another world due to a roommate casually making a wish on a meteor.
The screen remained for thirty seconds, then dimmed, and then, like a phone switching screens, it slid to another page.
At the very top was the time, written in large font: 05:05.
Below was the circular magic array pattern on his arm. The edge, like a progress bar, was about ninety percent bright, with the remaining part somewhat dim.
[Energy sufficient. Begin summoning?]
[Yes (30s)] | [No]
Zhang Daya was clearly unable to respond. After thirty seconds, the translucent screen turned into tiny specks of light that fell around Zhang Daya, forming a magic array with a diameter of one meter.
A blue light lit up, and a figure less than one meter tall appeared in the center of the magic array.
It was a cat, mostly blue fur, with white on its paws, tail tip, and around its mouth.
At this moment, the cat stood on two legs, carrying a wooden stick on its shoulder, with a small red cloth bundle tied to the stick, looking as if it was about to run away from home.
The magic array's light dissipated, and the specks of light flew back to form a screen above Zhang Daya's wrist:
Name: Tom
Former names: Thomas, Jasper
Aliases: Tom Aotian, Fake Veteran, Ergazi, Dayangyu, etc.
Description: A magical cat from the world of "Tom and Jerry," seemingly possessing immortality. One day, Tom's original owner brought home a robot cat, which successfully drove Jerry out for a while, and Tom, who could never catch Jerry, was kicked out of the house by his owner.
This page didn't last long before a pop-up suddenly appeared:
[Energy below 3%. Shutting down in 30 seconds. Please recharge in time.]
Tom curiously stared at the screen, looking left and right, and only shifted his attention to Zhang Daya after the screen disappeared.
Zhang Daya's face was sallow, and his lips were chapped and pale, indicating he wasn't in good physical condition.
Tom immediately put down his luggage, lay on Zhang Daya's chest to listen to his heartbeat, flipped open his eyes to check his eyelids, and gently opened his mouth to look at his tongue coating... After a series of seemingly professional checks, Tom quickly opened his small bundle.
Inside were a bottle of milk, three cans of fish, and a stack of green banknotes.
Tom thought for a moment, picked up the milk, uncapped it, licked the cap, casually tossed it aside, then inverted the glass bottle and directly inserted the mouth of the bottle into Zhang Daya's mouth.
Generally speaking, someone force-fed milk like this would choke, but strangely, Zhang Daya didn't. The milk smoothly gurgled down his throat and into his stomach.
With a "pop," Tom pulled the bottle out of Zhang Daya's mouth, held it up, opened his mouth, and shook the bottle up and down.
Two drops of milk slowly flowed from the bottle mouth and fell into Tom's mouth.
"Slurp ~ Ah ~" Tom smacked his lips with enjoyment, put down the bottle, and squatted obediently beside Zhang Daya.
After a while, Zhang Daya opened his eyes and instinctively fumbled around him, but couldn't find his phone.
Zhang Daya then remembered his predicament and sat up with a whoosh: "How great it would be if I woke up and found myself in the dorm."
After muttering to himself, Zhang Daya noticed the cat beside him.
Why did this cat's art style look so familiar?
"Tom?" Zhang Daya tentatively called out.
Tom nodded quickly.
Zhang Daya looked at the glass bottle beside Tom, feeling less hungry than yesterday, and with the lingering taste of milk in his mouth, he asked, "Did you give me milk to drink?"
Tom nodded again, grinning and showing a row of small white teeth.
"Thank you, Tom!" Zhang Daya instantly felt a sense of security. No matter where this was, with Tom around, he should be able to survive.
First there was Tom, then there was heaven, _______!
Just drifting on the sea? Give Tom a surfboard or a fishing rod, and he can even take down a shark.