Noodles.

"Poverty, frustration, pain, sorrow, and..." Seth took a spiteful breath.

"... burnt noodles."

He sighed as he lay down on his back, staring into space. His eyes were shimmering in the moonlit darkness and the gentle night breeze ruffled his hair.

"Isn't there more to life than just spending all day lamenting my fate in the noodle shack?"

Seth was an ordinary university student of twenty years. However, due to the dwindling health conditions of his sick mother, he had to drop out of school and work at her dying noodle shop. He did not really have any money to pay for his mom's hospital bills, thus he would work from as early as four o clock in the morning, to as late as eleven o clock at night just to make a single sale. Why would they buy from him when they might as well just buy from a chinese restaurant?

This night, he was once again sitting alone in the noodle shop lamenting his fate, when he heard a knock on the zinc window.

_ tap _ tap _tap _ tap _

Seth jolted from the bench he was outstretched on in a flash, hoping that it was another customer.

"Coming!"

On the outside, stood a huge man with a short scruffy beard and a slightly balding head. He was at least seven feet tall, and was clad in an officer's uniform with black sunglasses covering his eyes, despite it being nighttime.

"You Seth Sevada?"

Seth gulped and let out a wry chuckle, trying to hide his nervousness as he scratched the back of his black hair.

"Yeah, I am. How can I help you, officer?"

The man grunted and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"The government wants to build a new parking lot, and desires to use your space here. You have till tomorrow to evacuate."

Seth's eyes widened into large balls, shock and surprise warped together and splattered over his face.

"The hell?! Aren't I supposed to have a three month's notice or something?, is this even legal?!!"

The officer chuckled and tilted his glasses downwards, looking Seth in the eye as he smirked.

"Kid, it's the government we're talking about. They're the ones who say what is, and is not legal."

Seth sighed in defeat as he turned to start packing, but then the officer called him back.

"Hey kid?..."

Seth quickly turned around, hope glimmering in his black eyes.

"...yeah?!"

However, the officer searched around his pocket and brought out a couple of wrinkled notes, then he smiled wryly at Seth and scratched the back of his hair.

"Um...I'd like some chinese food, make it spicy, and add some chicken. But i'm a couple bucks short though."

***

Later that night, Seth had finished packing up. The noodle shack would be demolished by the morning, and he couldn't bear to be there to watch. The shack had belonged to his father, who inherited it from his own father, who inherited it from his father, who inherited it from his uncle who had seized it as collateral from a poor farmer who had borrowed money from him. Anyways, without it, how was he supposed to get any money to pay for his mother's hospital bills?

"I might as well start preparing for the funeral..."

Dejected, Seth dragged himself home and collapsed on his bed. He had had a rather long day, and was ready to relax and unwind. And what better way was there to relax, than...

"Finally, I've bought enough coins to unlock a lot more chapters. I think I'll manage only ten for now, though."

Seth had just used the few bucks he had amassed this night to buy reading coins. There were very few ways to relax other than resting on your bed, phone in hand, and reading a good webnovel. He read on deep into the night, then sighed as his battery ran out.

"Stupid phone..."

Then he tried to close his eyes and catch some sleep. However, different thoughts danced in and out of his mind.

"Why does the world have to be his way?"

"Damn the fucking government!"

"Fuck the city!, fuck the government!, fuck the hospital!, fuck the hospital bills!, fuck the university!, fuck that weird officer guy!, fuck me!, fuck..." Seth frowned slightly as he wrinkled his head in thought. "What else is there again?"

As he searched his mind thinking about various things to curse at, his eyes fell on a little black pendant lying across the room. It was a gift from his late father and the last thing he remembered of him. Picking up the plain necklace with a Yang symbol and putting it over his neck, Seth sighed.

"Other parents leave their kids a fortune somewhere or something, and all I get is a freaking necklace."

Frustrated with the world, Seth crashed on his bed with a groan. Only that the groan was from the bed, and not from him. The old bed creaked from his meagre weight, then crashed and broke into two. Seth had a dark expression splattered over his face as he outstretched his aching body on the cold floor.

"I hate life so much. Like, why can't I just transmigrate as some rich CEO or young master of some clan somewhere, huh?! Why the hell am I stuck here with such a deadbeat life?!, I really wish I were in a different world, far from this godforsaken place, and would never come back." Slowly, his eyes began to close as his tiredness from the day had begun to catch up to him. In a few seconds, he ways already fast asleep.

However, as he slept, the Yang pendant necklace began to glow with an eerie red light. Ethereal mana began to flow out of the pendant, as a whirlwind of soft glowing white sparks desecrated the small room. Outside, the moon was dyed in a ruby red, as the power of the ancient artifact around a sleeping guy's neck began to release it's spiritual energy. It had heard its Master's wishes and was going to fulfill them, that was its purpose after all.

Slowly, Seth opened his eyes to the sun raining down beams of light over his eyes. However, as he opened his eyes, his jaw dropped and his pupils dilated at the sight in front of him.

"What... the... hell?"