"Big brother, wake up. Something happened at the orphanage. Granny Melida is calling for you."
Alex opened his eyes in a groggy manner, wondering who was waking him up so late. When he saw it was Kate, his eyes snapped wide open.
"What happened, Kate? Why are you calling me at this hour?"
"I don't know. Something happened, and Granny Melida urgently asked you to go to the backside garden."
Alex immediately stood up and put on his clothes. He didn't doubt Kate's word.
In the orphanage, everyone was like a brother or sister, and some became very close, like real siblings. Kate was one such person to him; he loved her like his own little sister.
As Alex left the room, Kate revealed a sinister look on her face.
"Please forgive me, my dear Big brother. If you don't die, Young Master Rey will never make me his concubine. You should blame your bad luck for seeing something you shouldn't have."
Alex was seventeen years old, and Kate was fifteen. Alex would always share his food with her because the orphanage didn't have enough to satiate everyone's hunger.
Kate would often cry from hunger, and Alex shared his own meager food with her. This had been happening for at least five years, ever since Kate first arrived at the orphanage.
For this reason, Alex had a very scrawny physique, but he was still happy to have what he considered his own little sister.
In the garden, the outside air was frigid as winter was approaching, and the air was thick with mist.
Alex couldn't see anything clearly as the garden was extremely dark.
But he could make out the figure of someone standing there.
"Granny, what happened?" he asked worriedly. If something major hadn't happened, she wouldn't have called him at this hour.
Before he could understand anything, something slammed into the back of his head.
Instantly, he felt his vision blurring. As he fell to the ground, he saw a sinister smile on the face of someone he never would have dreamed of.
It was Kate who had hit him with an iron rod.
"Why?" Alex could only utter a single word before his consciousness faded.
The young man standing in the garden smiled charmingly at Kate.
He walked over to her and kissed her.
"What a demoness you are. Didn't you feel a little bit of guilt while killing this 'big brother' of yours?"
Kate responded passionately.
"He was nothing but a wimp. Huh, sharing some food, and he thought he could be my big brother. He shouldn't have seen you while you did that thing. Don't talk nonsense and take me out of here," Kate said seriously.
"What a heartless woman. Let's go. I need to punish you properly. This much heartlessness is not good."
...
Alex opened his eyes suddenly and instantly sat up in bed.
"It was just a dream. Thank God!" he exclaimed, sweating profusely.
But then he looked around. As soon as he saw his surroundings, his eyes widened. This was not his room in the orphanage where he had slept last night.
"What's going on? Where am I?" he was deeply confused.
There were many medical instruments around him and many wires were connected to his body.
Right at that moment, the door slammed open, and five people rushed into the room spontaneously.
Before he could process anything, someone hugged him tightly.
"My son! My baby! You are awake!" the woman cried out, kissing his cheek and forehead frantically.
No one stopped her. Everyone had tears in their eyes as they watched this moment.
After a while, an older woman stopped her.
"Elizabeth, you should control your emotions. He has just woken up. He is confused. Let him stabilize. Let the doctor check on him first."
Only then did she stop and come back to her senses.
"Doctor, please check his condition first."
But before the doctor could check on him, Alex screamed loudly and slammed back down onto the bed. He lost consciousness again.
"No, no, no! What happened to my baby?" Elizabeth's face instantly lost all color.
After being in a comatose condition for two years, her son had finally woken up, but now he had lost consciousness again. She was on the verge of collapse.
The doctor was checking his condition as a strange energy suddenly gushed out from him and entered Alex's body.
After a while, he looked at Elizabeth.
"Please don't worry, my lady. Young master is all right. He is just sleeping. He will wake up in a while."
The older woman was also crying. When both of them heard the doctor's words, they felt like a large boulder had been removed from their chests.
"Doctor, are you telling the truth? Please don't give me false hope."
"I wouldn't dare to lie to you, my lady. Young master is truly all right. Let him sleep for a while. Prepare some healthy meal for him."
Only then did both Elizabeth and her mother heave a sigh of relief.
She looked at the two maids.
"Go prepare a healthy meal."
Then she looked at her mother.
"Mother, give the doctor a top-quality cosmic crystal."
The doctor's eyes widened as soon as he heard this.
"Thank you, my lady. Thank you. But I would like to wait here until the young master wakes up."
The old woman nodded and left the room with the two maids.
Elizabeth sat by Alex's head and started patting it lightly.
Three hours later, Alex opened his eyes again. This time, he wasn't confused. Because he had received the memory of the twelve-year-old Alex whose body he now inhabited. The information he received made his soul shake.
He had transmigrated to a High-level Martial world.
And this Alex was the heir of an Emperor family in the Central Continent.
As soon as he opened his eyes, his mother, who was still sitting by his side, noticed.
She cried happily and went to bring food. This time, she didn't lose her composure. She let the doctor examine him first.
After channeling his energy inside Alex's body, the doctor smiled lightly.
"Young master, you are all right now. Please eat healthily and do some light exercise. You have been in a coma for two whole years. Your body needs movement."
Alex's eyes widened.
"I was, or rather, this body was, in a coma for two years? Probably the poor boy died, and only then did I transmigrate into his body. That means Kate really killed me," Alex thought, a sad expression on his face.
"What happened, son? Don't think about anything else right now. Eat properly. You were surviving on nutrition serum for these two years."
Elizabeth entered the room with her mother and two maids who were holding two large trays of food.
"Mom!" Alex said with difficulty. He was an orphan in his previous life and had never seen his parents.
So, calling someone 'Mom' all of a sudden was difficult for him. Though she was the real mother of this body, he would still need time to merge with it properly.
Elizabeth felt her heart receive a splash of divine water when she heard the call.
"Please eat, son. We will talk later."
Then, bowl after bowl of delicious food was placed in front of him.
Alex had never seen this much food in his life. So, he started eating like a starved animal.
Elizabeth watched this scene with a slight smile. Seeing her son eating in front of her after two years, tears started rolling down her eyes again.
While eating, Alex's emotion was also merging with the previous owner of the body.
So he asked while eating,
"Mom, where is Dad? And why are we here?"
Elizabeth's face turned sad, as did her mother's.
"We will talk about that later, son! You eat first."
Alex didn't ask any more questions and finished all the meal, one by one.
But before he could ask anything again, his mother said,
"Rest first. We will talk later."
Everyone left the room.
Ethan, however, didn't lie down on the bed. He stood up. He needed to move his body, as the doctor had advised.
Then, suddenly, he saw a minor display at the corner of his eyes.
"What is this?"
As soon as he asked the question, the display became larger, and he saw the interface of the game he was playing the last night in his previous life:
"Infinite Cultivation"
The interface showed a young man in a white robe sitting cross-legged.
And a status panel was beside him.
[Name: Alex Moriarty]
[Cultivation talent: Unawakened]
[Cultivation Level: Null]
[Cultivation base: 0/1000]
[Energy absorption: 0/s]
Alex's eyes were wide open. What was this game interface doing here in this world? Did it also transmigrate with me?
There was a "Cultivate" option at the bottom.
He pressed the button.
[1 top-grade cosmic crystal is needed to start cultivation]