It was a sweltering summer day like any other.
In the men's dormitory of the University of Science, two male students were surrounding and beating a skinny guy. Fists rained down continuously, giving him no chance to defend himself.
"Hey… is beating him like this a bit much?"
One guy standing behind watched the scene, his voice a bit hesitant.
"Hmph, what are you worried about?"
One of the two stopped his hands and turned his head with a contemptuous smile.
"Who told him to dare offend Boss Pham."
"So what if he reports us? At most, we'll be called up to drink tea."
He spat on the ground.
The group mocked him for a few more sentences then left, leaving the other guy lying sprawled on the floor, his face bruised and blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
A long time later, he finally moved slightly. Thuong Sinh struggled to prop himself up, dragging his heavy body toward the bunk bed and sitting down, panting for breath.
His name was Thuong Sinh.
He was exactly nineteen years old this year, a freshman at the University of Science.
The three people just now were all his classmates. Only because of one accidental offense against Tran Pham—the second son of Tran Chien, the head of the Tran family conglomerate—was he beaten to a pulp by his lackeys.
Just as he was about to wash the bruises on his body, Thuong Sinh had only taken half a step when he suddenly felt his chest grow warm.
He froze, reaching his hand down to his neck.
The small jade piece he had worn since childhood—something that originally had nothing special about it—now, at some unknown point, had a dried smear of blood, dark in color, clinging to the outer edge.
"—...—?"
Before he could even think, the jade suddenly vibrated slightly.
A tiny flash of emerald green light flickered past, so fast that he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him or that he was hallucinating from being beaten dizzy.
But in the very next second, the jade on his neck suddenly shattered into fragments of light, transforming into a pale green sphere floating in front of him.
Thuong Sinh took half a step back, his heart pounding.
"What the hell is this…?"
The sphere of light floated silently in mid-air, its surface appearing to flow, emitting a cold aura that carried no ill intent.
Before he could react, the sphere suddenly lunged straight toward him.
"Wait—!"
There was no time to dodge.
The green light pierced straight into his forehead.
In that instant, Thuong Sinh's head felt as though it had been struck by a heavy object. His consciousness shook as countless shattered images appeared and then vanished.
Immediately after, a cold, mechanical voice rang out in his head:
"Activating Immortal Cultivation System."
"Newbie gift package is ready."
"Host, please confirm receipt of rewards."
The voice rang out again.
"…Yes."
He answered instinctively.
"Host received:
– 1 Marrow Cleansing Pill
– 1 Breathing Technique Manual (Root Origin Breathing)
– 1 Combat Skill Manual (Sword Wind)
– 100 Accumulation Points."
A blue interface panel appeared before his eyes:
[ Thuong Sinh ]
[ Cultivation ]: 0/10
[ Realm ]: Mortal
[ Accumulation Points ]: 100
Immediately after, a medicinal pill appeared in front of him.
The pill was only as large as a fingertip, its entire body transparent like jade, with faint streaks of pale green light flowing inside, emitting a light fragrance that made one feel comfortable upon inhaling.
At the same time, two technique manuals floated beside it.
On the book cover, the two words "Sword Wind" were written with sharp strokes; just looking at them made one's scalp tingle.
The other book was completely opposite. The cover was pale green with a gentle aura, and the four words "Root Origin Breathing" were written on it, making the viewer feel their mind gradually settle for some unknown reason.
Thuong Sinh stared at the pill in his hand. Its shape was ordinary, but he thought this thing was not simple at all.
Right then, a line of text appeared before his eyes:
[ Marrow Cleansing Pill ]: Clears impurities within the body, reforms the meridians, and awakens cultivation potential.
"If this is just a hallucination…"
He moved his hand back and forth in front of the blue screen; the text was so clear it didn't seem like imagination.
He could even smell the faint fragrance emanating from the pill in his hand.
Could a hallucination be this real?
Thuong Sinh took a deep breath, his gaze gradually sinking. If this is just a hallucination, then it doesn't matter what I do, right?
His fingers tightened around the pill.
"Living nineteen years with nothing in my hands…"
He chuckled softly, a smile carrying a bit of self-mockery and a bit of recklessness.
"Then, trying one more time won't cost me anything."
The moment it touched the tip of his tongue, a faint bitterness spread out, like the taste of herbal medicine that hadn't been brewed thoroughly, both acrid and dry. He instinctively tried to bite it.
Clack.
The pill was so hard that his teeth made a slight sound upon impact; the surface didn't chip at all, but instead made his gums go numb.
Having no other choice, Thuong Sinh swallowed the pill straight down.
The pill slid down his throat, leaving behind a strange cool sensation, like a stream of cold water flowing upward into his stomach. Before he could feel it more clearly, his lower abdomen transmitted a scorching heat.
That heat did not spread slowly; it flared up almost instantly.
His heart pounded.
Before he could stand firm, a surge of intense pain erupted from within his body, as if something were forcibly tearing open every fiber of flesh and every meridian line.
Thuong Sinh fell to his knees on the ground, both hands propped on the floor, his forehead drenched in cold sweat. This was the most horrific pain of his life. His consciousness gradually sank into darkness. When he woke up, it was already noon.
Thuong Sinh opened his eyes dizzily, looking at the familiar room, and smiled bitterly:
"So, it was just a dream..."
A thick, foul stench surged straight into his nose.
Thuong Sinh frowned, instinctively looking down at his two hands.
On his skin was a layer of dark, mud-like substance filling the crevices of his fingers, emitting an unpleasant odor. The clothes on his body were also covered in identical black stains.
Not only that, when he stood up, his body was much lighter, unlike the previous heavy, lifeless feeling.
He looked down at his body, a flash of astonishment in his eyes.
"—...—"
Without saying more, Thuong Sinh turned and walked quickly into the bathroom.
Cold water poured down, washing away the patches of dark filth on his skin. It took quite a long time for the unpleasant smell to gradually disappear; the skin revealed underneath had become significantly cleaner and firmer.
After finishing his bath, he changed into clean clothes, just as he finished pulling on a T-shirt.
At that exact moment, the sound of urgent pounding erupted from outside the door, the violent noise making his heart suddenly tighten.
Outside the door, continuous and very loud pounding sounds broke out, leading him to look at the door with some curiosity. He was about to open it, but at this moment, he got goosebumps; his intuition was warning him.
The intuition that had saved his life many times made the movement to open the door freeze.
The images from the morning suddenly flashed through his mind—those fists raining down without mercy, the contemptuous laughter, the disdainful looks of those people.
What if earlier they hadn't been beating him just for fun, but actually wanted to do it for real? That thought made his hand clench tightly.
Thuong Sinh quietly backed away, turning to go into the small kitchenette in the dorm room. His gaze landed on a cleaver placed in the corner of the table.
He hesitated for exactly one breath, then reached out and took it.
"Just for self-defense…"
He told himself, returning to the door. Thuong Sinh took a deep breath. His right hand reached out to grab the doorknob while his left hand held the knife hidden behind his back, his muscles tensed.
Click—
When the door opened just enough for his eyes to see outside, a blood-stained arm gripped the door and pushed with force, making him retreat several steps, staring vigilantly.
A person about 1.7m tall stood limping in front of him. His eyes were bloodshot, his entire body covered in bite marks and smeared with blood.
He screamed and ran toward Thuong Sinh, opening his mouth wide to bite Thuong Sinh's wrist, but the creature missed.
Thuong Sinh instinctively pulled his right hand back; his left hand, holding the hidden knife, raised it and stabbed it into the other's neck.
Thud!
The creature struggled for a while and then fell, no longer moving.
He stood frozen, looking at the corpse lying on the ground, his throat dry. His hand trembled, and the knife slipped from his hand, falling to the floor. Just now… had he killed someone?
He clenched his fists, nails digging deep into his palms, his breathing becoming rapid.
Not a person… it couldn't be a person.
That guy had rushed in to bite him first, with bloodshot eyes and insane behavior like a wild beast. Perhaps it was rabies, or some horrific disease that had destroyed human reason.
That's right… it was just self-defense.
A wave of nausea rose as he looked back at the corpse; it took a long time for him to calm down.
At that moment, the voice rang out in his head:
"Ding, congratulations on killing Low-level Zombie +1 Accumulation Point."
The information panel appeared:
[ Thuong Sinh ]
[ Cultivation ]: 0/10
[ Realm ]: Mortal
[ Accumulation Points ]: 101
"Zombie…"
"The apocalypse…?"
He muttered.
He stood dazed, staring blankly at the blue panel displayed before his eyes. Suddenly, a rustling sound in the hallway made him jump.
His heart suddenly skipped a beat.
For some reason, he picked up the knife again, his hand gripping the knife even tighter. A vague, cold thought rose from nowhere in his mind, urging him to go outside.
A zombie with its back to him was eating the corpse of a student, likely a student from a nearby dorm room.
Go kill it.
That thought was not violent, not screaming; it just quietly seeped into his mind, as if it were something he should have been doing all along.
Thuong Sinh didn't have time to think much. Before he realized it, his feet had automatically stepped out of the room.
He approached slowly and gently, without hesitation, and drove the knife down in one fatal strike.
Puff!
"Ding, congratulations on killing Low-level Zombie +1 Accumulation Point."
Thuong Sinh stood motionless, his breathing rapid.
This time he no longer felt nauseous.
Watching the sight of that creature gnawing on human flesh, a strange feeling rose in his heart—it wasn't fear.
If that thing could eat humans, then humans killing it back was only logical.
He even felt a sense of excitement.
"Have I… gone crazy?"
But this system was clearly exactly like a game. He continued forward, quietly observing the next creature eating a person in the hallway. When the thought from before flashed, an indescribable feeling rose in his head again, as if something were silently urging him.
Must kill them.
Thuong Sinh didn't know where that notion came from. It wasn't the system's voice, nor was it exactly his own thought. It just existed quietly in his head, pushing him forward bit by bit. He continued walking along the hallway, silently taking action.
Through several observations, he gradually realized that although those creatures had great strength and sharp hearing and smell, their vision was extremely poor, almost useless.
As long as he avoided making noise, approached from behind, and delivered a precise knife strike to the neck—he could finish them.
He did so, one by one.
The knife stabbed down, the body collapsed, and the notification panel flashed and then disappeared.
Before he knew it, the initial fear had been replaced by fatigue and tension. Every step made his nerves feel stretched to the limit.
Finally, when his hands began to tremble and his breathing became heavy, he forced himself to return to the dorm room.
Closing the door and leaning his back against the wall, Thuong Sinh slid down to the floor.
Only now did his mind gradually become quiet again.
He looked up at the blue interface floating before his eyes, his heart thumping.
Just now, was he the one killing those creatures, or was something using his hands to kill?
Thuong Sinh's gaze moved unconsciously, falling onto the bed in front of him.
The two technique manuals still lay there: "Sword Wind" and "Root Origin Breathing."
Clearly, nothing had changed, but for some unknown reason, he felt as if the "Sword Wind" manual were emitting an invisible sharp aura, identical to the feeling when he swung the knife into a zombie's neck.
In contrast, the "Root Origin Breathing" book brought him a completely different feeling—gentle, slow, as if wanting to pull his consciousness down and suppress the agitation in his heart.
The two opposing sensations made his head throb.
In his mind, the image from the hallway just now suddenly appeared—the moment the blade pierced the neck and the opponent's body collapsed.
If he had to face the creatures out there head-on again, he didn't know if he would have enough strength to resist.
Thuong Sinh's hand shook slightly, but finally, he reached out to take—not the book that brought him a sense of safety, but the one that made his heart beat faster—tightly clutching the "Sword Wind" manual.
Flipping to the first page, each line of text appeared like a blade cutting into his consciousness. The more he read, the more he was drawn in, completely forgetting the passage of time.
Until he finished reading the last page, the mechanical voice suddenly rang out in his head, making him startle awake.
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for learning the Sword Wind technique (Entry Level)."
Almost instinctively, Thuong Sinh gripped the knife in his hand. His body moved automatically, each move executed in succession—fast, precise, decisive, without a single redundant motion.
When the final move ended, the strength in his body felt as if it had been completely drained. His legs went soft, and he slumped onto the floor, his back against the wall, panting.
Exhausted to the limit.