69novels Chapter 1: Starting with One Hand
Chapter 1: Starting with One Hand
Luo Lan passed away yesterday.
Maybe it was the day before yesterday?
He couldn't remember.
After all, he was in such poor condition that he couldn't tell exactly how much time had passed.
[Incredible good fortune!]
Luo Lan couldn't help but curse inwardly again.
As a truck weighing over 100 tons, rear-ending a small car is one thing, but what's the meaning of driving at over 200 km/h on city roads?
Unsurprisingly, on that day, under the unparalleled impact of kinetic energy, Luo Lan and his car were smashed to pieces.
After the car accident, darkness descended.
An endless darkness engulfed Luo Lan...
But in this darkness, Luo Lan "came back to life".
If his current body can still be considered "alive".
Unable to see, hear, smell, or speak—this is Luo Lan's current state; all five senses are gone except for touch.
Even this last remaining sense of touch is incomplete.
In the darkness, Luo Lan had already assessed his situation: groping around, he could only feel five knuckles on his left hand moving, and the only other parts of his body he could touch were five knuckles and the palm of his left hand.
Furthermore, the texture was extremely unpleasant; it lacked any warmth of flesh and instead felt incredibly rough, like the sensation of exposed bone.
When all five fingers are pressed against the ground and crawling, you can feel a heavy "tail" dragging behind your palm. This "tail" is extremely stiff. It can swing up and down, but the range of motion it can twist from side to side is very small.
It took Luo Lan a while to realize that the useless "tail" was his left forearm.
[So, all I have left is a section of my left hand, from the fingertips to the forearm? It might even be a bony hand...]
Luo Lan didn't know why she was still conscious under these circumstances; she didn't know how her only remaining left hand was moving; and she didn't know where she was.
All he knew was that he didn't want to die, didn't want his precious young life to end inexplicably by a stroke of bad luck.
As long as he can move, even if he only has his left hand left, he will live on!
With an indomitable will to survive, Luo Lan manipulated his only remaining left hand, crawling and groping in the vast darkness, yearning to regain the light.
Until now...
Luo Lan couldn't calculate how much time had passed.
In the endless darkness, there was no sound, no light, only loneliness, despair, and confusion...
As time went by, all sorts of negative emotions intensified, like a surging black tide that almost overwhelmed Luo Lan.
Even though her will remained firm, Luo Lan couldn't help but begin to doubt whether she was like Sisyphus, who was pushing the boulder, persisting in vain.
[What if I just wander aimlessly in the dark like a headless fly?]
[What if this is the afterlife?]
[If, there are no ifs...]
Hope is gradually fading away.
But Luo Lan didn't stop for even a second.
In the pitch-black environment, many things could not be identified by touch alone. Luo Lan could only barely make out the objects she touched: stone brick floor, inscribed stone slabs, cracked stone walls, and broken stones...
Suddenly, my fingertips touched something strange.
It was viscous and slightly moist, like semi-dried blood that hadn't yet scabbed over.
A sudden surge of hunger welled up, waking Luo Lan from her gradually numbing consciousness.
[Even though I only have my left hand left, and my digestive organs are gone, how can I feel hungry and thirsty?]
but--
[Hungry, so hungry. Extremely hungry!]
Luo Lan's hand, beyond her control, rapidly climbed up the unknown viscous liquid. Its speed was unprecedented.
Soon, the hands crawling close to the ground reached the source of the flowing liquid.
A soft and somewhat elastic lump of material, its texture is very similar to frozen meat that has been taken out of the freezer and left for a while.
[So that liquid was really blood? Or was it body parts?]
Before Luo Lan could think further, he clenched his five fingers into a claw, his fingertips digging into the object, tearing off a small, granular fragment.
He squeezed the clump of fragments tighter and tighter in his palm with his five fingers. Just when Luo Lan thought the fragments were about to spill out from between his fingers under the pressure, the fragments exploded and disappeared into thin air!
[To devour, to digest.]
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
Before Luo Lan could even savor this unusual feeling of fullness, a deluge of information poured in:
[Order Dust - B213 (Permission - Forging) has been activated]
[Condensation: Can absorb all unclaimed chaotic derivatives, transforming, purifying, and condensing them into chaotic essence; can consume chaotic essence, using all things as materials to assemble, strengthen, and fuse any target. (The targets of the above abilities cannot exceed the host's current soul rank +2)]
[The remnants of chaos have been absorbed and refined]
[Chaos Essence +1, Current Chaos Essence: 1]
Under the bombardment of this massive amount of information, Luo Lan was stunned for a moment, followed by an uncontrollable surge of joy.
Just when Luo Lan thought he was about to lose himself in this endless darkness, a turning point suddenly came. How could he not be excited?
[Is this a "system"? Or a "cheat code"? Or just a "panel"? Have I transmigrated?]
Luo Lan's thoughts were in turmoil, but her hands were not idle.
Having tasted the deliciousness, the left hand relentlessly tore and devoured the unknown objects beside it.
[Chaos Essence +1]
[Chaos Essence +1]
……
[Current Chaotic Essence: 23]
The notification sounds kept coming from my mind.
As the left hand spontaneously embarks on its gluttonous feast, the object grows smaller and smaller until it is completely devoured.
Luo Lan was sorting out her thoughts and didn't interfere much until her fingers pried a round ball out of a hole.
It has a smooth, tough feel, like a bouncy, round water ball.
[Wait! You can't eat this!]
Quickly regaining her senses, Luo Lan took control of her left hand again.
[This feel... if I'm not mistaken, try it...]
[Condensation]
[This action is expected to consume 21 Chaos Essence. Confirm?]
Luo Lan hesitated.
To be honest, he didn't know how rare this [Chaotic Origin Essence] was.
He had been exploring in the dark for who knows how long before he finally gained 23 points, and now he was about to spend most of them.
To rely solely on a vague sense of touch to gamble on a possibility is undoubtedly a huge risk.
But now all five fingers are gripping the "ball" in the palm, and it is no longer possible to crawl with the fingers.
You either have to abandon the sphere to find the next source of Chaos Essence, or you have to spend Chaos Essence on the sphere here. There is no option to keep your options open while looking for something better.
[What should I do?]
Everything is unknown. Whether other chaotic elements can be obtained is unknown; whether intuitive guesses are truly useful is unknown.
But Luo Lan has never been a coward.
Even when all hope seemed lost, he never gave up. And now, with uncertainty looming ahead...
[At worst, I'll climb up again in the dark! I'll take the gamble!]
[Forging - Assembly] Activated!
[Consumed Chaos Essence: 21]
[Current Chaotic Essence: 2]
A strange sensation came from my palm. If before it was a feeling of fullness like "eating", now it was a feeling of comfort like "growing".
The sphere in the palm did not disappear into thin air like the previous clump, but slowly merged into the palm. After a slight itch, it appeared on the back of the hand and "grew" perfectly there.
[Assembled: The One-Eyed Cremating Sew-On Corpse]
bright!
Finally, the clouds have parted and the sun is shining!
The faint candlelight illuminated Luo Lan's surroundings, and in a daze, she regained her sight.
At this moment, Luo Lan truly understood what a moving miracle "If I were given three days of sight" was.
Nothing makes one appreciate the beauty of life more than taking a normal person's five senses, living with them for a period of time, and then regaining them.
[You bet right!]
Luo Lan supported himself on the ground with his five fingers, arched the back of his hand, and kept rotating the newly acquired [Crawling Stitched Corpse One Eye], greedily trying to imprint every scene in his sight into his mind.