"Damn thing... I'll be damned..."
A young man slumped beside a cactus that had been gnawed to pieces, cursing weakly.
Three days. Three whole days since he'd been inexplicably dumped in this godforsaken desert!
Water? None. Food? None either!
He'd been surviving entirely by chewing on these prickly cacti, squeezing out a bit of juice to keep himself alive.
He didn't even dare breathe too heavily, afraid of losing moisture from his lungs.
Even piss had become a top-tier luxury, every drop carefully saved.
Golden and precious, he kept it like a treasure, only for the most desperate of times.
That was his goddamn "Desert Edition Iced Tea"!
He lifted his heavy eyelids, gazing at the shimmering, distorted heat waves before him.
And in his mind, the game character interface for "Honkai: Star Rail" that had crossed over with him, still grayed out.
cheat ability? Screw that cheat ability!
This piece of junk was as good as dead—nothing but eye candy, completely useless!
Couldn't summon, couldn't retrieve items, not even a damn tutorial!
"Whoever sent me here... just you wait..."
Astro licked his even more parched lips.
"If I survive this... you're the first one I'm taking down..."
Now he could almost hear the warning sound of his life bar hitting rock bottom.
Just as his consciousness began to blur, thinking today might really be the end,
a sound reached him.
Astro figured he was probably hallucinating.
Otherwise, why would he hear a buzzing noise, and one that was getting louder, damn it!
He struggled to open his eyes. In his blurry vision, the sky was still a mix of blue and white, heat waves distorting everything.
But the buzzing didn't fade; instead, it grew closer and more real.
He strained to focus his gaze and saw a small black dot rapidly enlarging from the horizon, its outline gradually sharpening—it was a spaceship!
Sleek and shaped like a shuttle, with the fiery trail of thrusters, descending toward him!
"Ha... haha..."
Astro wanted to laugh, but only a dry rasp came out.
"Really... hallucinating from thirst..."
He closed his eyes, shaking his muddled head.
But when he opened them again, the ship was even closer.
He could even see the glint of metal on its hull.
"Fuck! It's real! It's really real!"
He roared hoarsely, scrambling up from the sand on all fours.
He yanked off his tattered shirt, long stained beyond recognition by sweat and sand.
With all his might, he waved it frantically at the sky toward the approaching spaceship!
"Here! Look here!!"
He shouted with all his strength,
"Help! Save me!!
Help me!!!"
The cloth flapped noisily in the dry, hot wind, even though it was just a rag.
He jumped, waved, terrified they'd miss the only living thing in this dead, silent sea of sand.
The roar of the spaceship was almost deafening, its massive shadow slowly enveloping him, kicking up sand that covered his face.
Astro ignored it all, waving his makeshift flag even more desperately, eyes locked on the opening hatch.
Alive... damn it... finally, he could live!
The hatch fully opened, several figures appearing in the doorway, backlit and indistinct.
But he could tell they were all wearing matching uniforms.
They seemed to be operating devices on their wrists, pointing and gesturing at the desert below as if recording something.
Only when the desperate cries for help reached them from below did they look up in surprise.
Gazing down at the wild man dancing around like a lump of black coal.
"Water! Water! Give me some water!"
Seeing the figures, Astro almost burst into tears.
"Bro! Sis! Have mercy! Give me a sip of water! I'm dying! Really dying!!"
The people on the spaceship were clearly stunned too.
They'd been ordered to this desert planet, marked as uninhabited, to collect baseline environmental data.
They never expected to encounter a living person here, let alone one who looked half-dead from thirst!
A brief commotion and indistinct chatter drifted down from above.
Soon, one figure deftly tossed a small object from the hatch.
It arced through the air, landing in the sand not far from Astro—a water pouch!
Astro's eyes instantly blazed with a terrifying green light.
He practically lunged at it on all fours, grabbing the pouch with trembling hands.
Tearing open the seal with his teeth, he ignored any semblance of dignity, tilting his head back and gulping frantically.
Cool liquid flooded his throat, soothing his almost burning esophagus and stomach.
At that moment, Astro felt this was ten thousand times more wonderful than any nectar or divine drink!
He drank too fast, choking and coughing, but still clung to the pouch, refusing to let go.
Only after licking the last drop clean did he slump back onto the sand, breathing a satisfied, heavy sigh as if reborn.
He looked up at the team members cautiously approaching from the spaceship, about to utter a word of thanks.
The leader of the team scrutinized him, voice filled with confusion, and asked:
"Who are you? How did you get here? This planet... according to records, shouldn't have any signs of life."
Astro opened his mouth, a bellyful of grievances stuck in his chest, finally coalescing into one thought:
Damn it, how should I know?! But at least... I don't have to drink my own iced tea anymore!