"Hunter! Hunter!"
"Hey!"
"You seriously that fragile, kid?"
The voices were a chaotic, irritating mess.
Hunter felt his body being shoved violently, and his face stung as if he'd just been slapped awake.
Fighting through a wave of grogginess and a rising temper, he finally forced his eyes open.
The moment his vision cleared, he saw several foreigners of varying shapes and sizes looming over him. As his sight returned, so did his sense of smell. The sharp, pungent odors of the environment assaulted his nose, instantly telling his brain exactly where he was.
"Gasoline..."
"Motor oil..."
"The smell of welding..."
Hunter scanned the people surrounding him, his gaze locking onto the two figures leading the pack: a familiar, hulking bald man and a stunning, mixed-race woman standing by his side with an effortless, tough-girl sexuality.
For a split second, two names nearly burst from his lips.
Holy crap... Vin? Michelle?
Fortunately, the words died in his throat. As Hunter fully regained consciousness, the murky memories of this body came flooding back.
As the foreign memories locked into place, Hunter's body shuddered. Internally, he was screaming.
Wait a minute, these people...
Isn't this the main cast of the first Fast and Furious movie?
Did I just transmigrate?
And I've become a member of the 'Family Man's' crew?
The rapid influx of alien memories caused a sharp, momentary spike of agony in his skull. He instinctively clutched his head, his facial features twisting in pain.
Seeing this, the "Family Man" himself—Dominic Toretto—spoke up, his voice a deep, vibrating rumble. "Hey, kid."
"If you're really hurting, go home and rest," Dom said. "Bring the medical bill to Letty later; she'll handle it."
Dom then turned his gaze toward the burly white man beside him, his tone turning admonishing. "Vince, you went too hard."
The man called Vince let out a cold snort. He continued to glare at Hunter, his voice dripping with hostility. "Kid's been getting too loose lately. If I didn't teach him a lesson, he'd forget who he is."
The woman beside Dom—his girlfriend, Letty—rolled her eyes and shoved Vince lightly. "Just because you're chasing Mia doesn't mean you have to scare off every male within a five-mile radius of her."
"Besides," Letty added, "Hunter isn't dating Mia, and he's not chasing her. Her car just needed maintenance recently, and Old Parker assigned the job to Hunter."
By now, Hunter had fully digested the fragmented memories of his host body. Understanding what had happened to his predecessor, he felt an overwhelming urge to flip a double bird at the hulking brute named Vince.
Vince was Dom's childhood friend and one of the original crew members. He was built like a tank, with a temper that was just as explosive and primitive. He had been in love with Dom's sister, Mia, for years. Unfortunately, a muscle-bound hothead like Vince wasn't exactly Mia's type. She had never given him the time of day.
Vince, frustrated by his unrequited love, naturally felt suffocated. Consequently, any male appearing in Mia's orbit—especially those with good looks or a decent build—became a target for his vented rage.
The guy Hunter had possessed was, frankly, a bit of a bad luck magnet.
His name was Hunter Sun, eighteen years old and just a few months older than Mia.
He hadn't come from money or any kind of famous family, but he'd grown into a solid six feet tall, broad-shouldered and naturally good-looking. Even in a crowd, he was the kind of guy people glanced at twice.
Furthermore, Hunter realized his background was remarkably similar to the protagonists in the transmigration novels he used to read.
Parents? Deceased. They left him a house, but in America, inheriting property meant paying inheritance tax. His parents had died of illness, leaving the house but no cash to cover the taxes. The result was that while Hunter looked put-together, he was actually flat broke.
After his parents passed, Hunter, whose grades were mediocre at best, couldn't afford college. He didn't even manage to get his high school diploma before he was forced to enter the workforce.
Whether it was luck or misfortune, he found a job as a mechanic at a garage in Los Angeles. One of the owners of this garage happened to be the local street racing legend, Dominic Toretto.
Dominic Toretto. Dom. Or, as he was often reverently called, "Toretto."
Because of his extreme obsession with family—often dragging his friends and relatives into life-threatening chaos—he was also jokingly known by netizens back in Hunter's old world as "Captain Family" or "The Family Man."
Dom's mother was unknown, but his father was Jack Toretto, a pro stock car racer. Aside from his sister Mia, Dom also had a brother, Jakob Toretto.
Years ago, due to crippling family debt, their father had forced Jakob to tamper with his stock car's engine to throw a race. During the event, another driver maliciously rammed Jack's car. Because the engine had been compromised, the car exploded instantly. Jack Toretto died on the track.
In the aftermath, Dom beat the driver responsible nearly to death with a wrench, earning himself a two-year prison stint.
After his release, Dom discovered that Jakob had tampered with the engine. Enraged, he challenged his brother to a race with a single condition: the loser had to leave town and never return. Dom won. Jakob was exiled.
Since then, Dom had raised Mia on his own.
And this time, it was Hunter's good looks that had invited trouble.
Mia Toretto, influenced by her brother, was a capable mechanic and driver in her own right. When she turned eighteen, Dom had gifted her a modified car. Two days ago, Mia noticed a minor issue and brought it into the family shop. Hunter, working his shift, ended up interacting with her quite a bit.
A few hours ago, Mia had come back to check on the maintenance. Vince had tailed her and spotted Hunter chatting her up.
Vince, having watched Mia grow up, viewed her as "his woman." Seeing Mia act cold toward him but laugh with Hunter triggered his jealousy. Once Mia left, Vince came looking for trouble.
He had shoved the unsuspecting Hunter with malicious force. Hunter lost his balance, cracked the back of his head against the concrete, and died on the spot.
Hunter didn't know how or why, but in his sleep, he had crossed the boundaries of reality to take his place.
Fortunately, as a hardcore film buff, the Fast and Furious saga was one of his favorites. Aside from the recently released Fast X, which he hadn't seen yet, he knew the story of Toretto and his "family" inside and out.
Thanks to that, Hunter accepted the reality of his transmigration quicker than most.