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Wei Yuan slapped himself—hard—twice across the face.
The sting jolted him, helping him stay alert. But it didn't wake him up. This wasn't some bad dream.
In no time, the black monster had already devoured most of the villagers.
Didn't matter if they were men or women, old folks or kids.
If this kept up, it was only a matter of time before it got to him too.
Wei Yuan had thought about making a run for it.
But earlier, a few villagers had already tried to escape from their straw huts.
The result? The black monster smashed its huge hand down, and all that was left was a bloody mess on the ground.
After seeing that, Wei Yuan gave up on the idea of fleeing. But the overwhelming will to survive pushed him to look for some way to live.
He forced himself to stay calm and quickly looked around the hut.
That's when he noticed a slab of stone nearby—underneath it looked kind of hollow.
Wei Yuan rushed over to it.
Turned out, it was a dried-up well.
Excited, he quickly climbed inside and pulled the stone slab back over the opening.
The well wasn't very deep—maybe three or four meters down.
Right at the moment he shut the slab over his head—
A deafening boom exploded above him.
His straw hut was gone, completely obliterated.
Only ruins and rubble remained.
Wei Yuan's whole body trembled. He held his breath, heart pounding like crazy.
Through a tiny crack in the stone slab, he saw that massive hand again—its skin glowing with a strange black-golden light.
The hand rummaged through the wreckage, searching nonstop.
The rumbling and crashing echoed down into the well.
Every second felt painfully slow for Wei Yuan.
But in the face of death, he suppressed his fear and didn't make a single sound.
After a while, the monster, seemingly frustrated from not finding anyone, let out a thunderous roar.
The sound blasted into Wei Yuan's ears.
His mind completely gave out. Eyes rolled back, and he passed out cold.
No idea how much time had passed—
Wei Yuan slowly opened his eyes. As his vision started to focus, he saw sunlight shining through the cracks above and falling onto his body.
"Wait… where am I?"
"Was that… not a dream after all?"
Wei Yuan snapped fully awake and started to accept what had happened.
Carefully, he peeked out through the gaps in the stone.
It was dead silent outside. Looked like the monster was gone.
Fighting through the aches in his body, he pushed the stone slab aside and crawled out of the well.
He lay in the ruins of what used to be his hut.
The morning sun was rising in the east, shining brightly at the foot of the mountain. The black mist had completely vanished, leaving behind only the wreckage of straw huts stretching out before him.
Wei Yuan checked his surroundings, moving cautiously. Once he was sure the monster was really gone, he slowly made his way toward what used to be the village.
The place was a mess. Totally destroyed.
He walked along the hard-packed dirt road that ran through the village, surrounded by rubble.
Torn clothes stained with blood lay scattered all over the ground.
The blood had dried and turned black, and now a bunch of tiny bugs were crawling over it, feasting without a care.
Wei Yuan walked a full circle around the village. No survivors. Not a single person. Not even a chicken or a dog left behind.
It seemed that the monster really did eat everyone…
He sat down on a broken mud wall, his heart heavy with grief.
"Looks like… I really did cross over to another world."
At this point, Wei Yuan had no choice but to accept reality.
He, Wei Yuan, had transmigrated—no doubt about it.
But where was his cheat skill?
He remembered reading plenty of web novels back in school—every protagonist who crossed into another world got some kind of cheat or golden finger.
Where was his?
Maybe… it just hadn't activated yet?
Wei Yuan waited a while—but nothing happened.
And then, his stomach started loudly protesting.
A wave of intense hunger hit him.
He licked his dry, cracked lips.
"I can't just sit here waiting. First, I need to find something to eat."
He looked around and headed for an old well at the center of the village.
The well was next to a broken-down temple and had spring water at the bottom.
Wei Yuan walked up to the well, grabbed the rope hanging beside it, and dropped the bucket in.
Splash—It hit the water, sending up a few drops.
He didn't let it fill too much; he was too weak to pull up a full bucket anyway.
When he finally got some water up, the clear surface reflected a face that looked completely drained—bloody and filthy.
As he stared at his reflection, he noticed something strange: there seemed to be a crack across his forehead.
And then—
A strange voice suddenly echoed in his mind:
"God Descent System activated. Current ability: Divine Draw."
"....."