An Otherworld

Jiang Cheng regained consciousness. The first thing he felt was scorching heat and an overwhelming thirst. He could hear a man's voice barking orders.

"Quick, take her away." 

"What about this little one?" another man's voice chimed in.

"Why do you want to bring back a little girl? It would be a waste of food in our camp, since we're not those Wildlings who resort to cannibalism…"

"Please don't take me…" a teenage girl sobbed.

"Sister…" 

The cries of the girls echoed through the air, tugging at Jiang Cheng's heartstrings. 

Jiang Cheng's second wave of sensations included noise, weakness, and pain in the back of his head. He struggled to open his eyes and saw two men pulling a girl who he assumed to be around seventeen or eighteen years of age. On his side was a small, grimy girl crying uncontrollably. The little girl was five or six years old. 

Memories flooded in as he took in the scene before him. 'That girl seems to be my… and this little girl beside me is her sister.'

Jiang Cheng felt his anger flare up, possibly due to the remnant thoughts of the body's original owner. He struggled to rise and suppress the hunger and weakness in his stomach, snatched up a nearby stone, and charged toward the men.

With a loud crash, the stone struck one of the men, and his head burst open, causing his body to collapse to the ground.

Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, had exerted too much strength and his vision blacked out. Despite feeling weak, he knew he had to deal with the threat first.

"What?! You're not dead yet?!" The man's expression turned ugly as he let go of the teenage girl he had been dragging and retreated.

As the saved girl crawled back in fear, her little sister rushed to pull her to her side, whimpering. "Sister..." 

Jiang Cheng endured his discomfort and charged at another man.

The man's expression changed drastically. "How dare you... Do you know who I am?" The man rolled and crawled away, spewing venomous words.

Jiang Cheng didn't respond but kept up his pace. He couldn't fully comprehend the situation, but he knew he had to eliminate the immediate danger.

"You..." As the man facing him caught sight of the coldness in Jiang Cheng's gaze, he scrambled to escape. Although he despised Wildlings, he had to admit that their ruthlessness was fearsome, as he knew they were capable of even cannibalism.

Jiang Cheng was determined to pursue the escapee, but suddenly, his vision blacked out once again. He stumbled and fell to the ground due to intense hunger, feeling as if fire was consuming his stomach.

In addition, the back of his head throbbed painfully. He realized that the excessive loss of blood had left him weaker than before. Although he had managed to knock down one attacker, he could do nothing more than watch the other escape helplessly.

The rescued teenage girl cried out in fear. "J-Jiang Cheng …"

Jiang Cheng took a while to regain his strength. When his vision returned, he saw the teenage girl who had been dragged earlier looking at him in fear. 

'Why is she so afraid of me?' he wondered. It wasn't until a flood of memories rushed through his mind that he understood the reason behind her terror.

He discovered that the previous owner of his body had treated the girl atrociously, inflicting physical abuse on her whenever he was displeased. He had treated her as though she was subhuman. No wonder the girl had been afraid of him.

Despite this, the previous owner of his body had some redeeming qualities. During the current famine, whenever they found food, he always ensured that the two girls ate first. To protect his pride, he had stubbornly held on for almost four days without water.

Thus, despite the abuse, the girls continued to stay with him. Regrettably, it was also because of this that they were vulnerable to the group of camp settlers who had come to abduct women while they were out searching for food. Though he had fought valiantly, he was eventually overpowered and unable to get up again, which led to Jiang Cheng's transmigration into this body.

Jiang Cheng's expression became solemn. "So... I've transmigrated into a world of famine?" he muttered to himself. 

He could not help but lament to himself, 'It's one thing to transmigrate to an otherworld, but to a place that has been suffering from drought for years?' He then wondered, 'Is this perhaps an ancient world? No, despite being rare, firearms are present in the camps here, so it can't be entirely ancient. 

But it seemed that this world had experienced an even greater disaster in the past, leading to a collapse of civilization. As a result, there were no dynasties or countries at all, only Wildlings and camp settlers.

The towering trees in front of him suggested that the land was not barren soil. However, these trees had lost their bark, so Jiang Cheng could not help but think, "Did someone eat all the bark of the giant tree? How hungry they must be!"

Although the tops of the giant trees were luxuriant, their leaves were all yellow. If the trees weren't so big that humans couldn't climb them, the dead leaves might have been eaten up. As for why they didn't just cut down the tree for the leaves, he didn't know. He guessed they probably didn't have the strength.

When the two girls saw Jiang Cheng's solemn expression from a distance, they were terrified and did not dare to make a sound. Even the five or six-year-old girl, who appeared to be named Yaya, did not dare to cry any longer. Her tiny shoulders trembled.

Suddenly, Jiang Cheng saw that the man he had knocked over moved. His heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly gathered his strength and picked up a stone to smash the man's head a few more times.

Only when he was sure that this person was dead did he feel ease.

However, His vision nearly went black again. 'This body is too weak,' he lamented to himself. "Quick, let's get out of here!" he shouted at the girls. Then he staggered up and dashed toward the hideout he could recall from his memory.

After taking just two steps, he remembered something crucial and hastily retraced his steps to search the dead man's body. He found a few items and grabbed them without bothering to check them. He didn't have the luxury of time, for he feared that the escapee might return with reinforcements.

The two girls who had been following him looked unkempt and ragged, their faces smeared with dirt. They trailed behind him anxiously, their lips sealed.

As they walked a short distance away, a few skinny children suddenly appeared behind them. Jiang Cheng whipped around at the sound of the commotion. As soon as he witnessed the sight of several children voraciously gnawing the dead body on the ground, he shuddered, his scalp prickling with horror.

"Holy sh*t!!!" Jiang Cheng cursed under his breath and hurriedly sped up with the two girls.

Although the two girls were also very afraid, they did not lose their composure. They appeared accustomed to such situations.

After walking for over a minute, they encountered a thin man. He wielded a broken knife, his hair disheveled and greasy, and his clothes tattered.

The man's eyes glinted with greed as he looked at the two girls. However, it was not lust that he harbored, but a hunger for food.

This look sent shivers down the girls' spines, and they trembled even more.

But when the man spotted the blood-stained stone in Jiang Cheng's hand, fear overtook his avarice. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to take a detour.

Jiang Cheng's heart tightened. But he remained stoic and watched as the man disappeared from sight before continuing on their journey.

Not long after Jiang Cheng walked, his vision darkened, and his body swayed, almost collapsing. He held onto a big tree, preventing himself from falling to the ground.

"A- Are you alright?" Tong Xiaorou's worried voice came from behind.

Although she feared Jiang Cheng, her concern for his well-being outweighed her fear. After all, he was her fiancé, and she relied on him for protection.

"I'm fine," Jiang Cheng replied, his expression emotionless. He then examined the items he had acquired from the dead body.

To his surprise, there was a wild fruit among them. Although it was only a berry that grew from dry grass and was only the size of a longan, it was still a good catch.

He hurriedly threw the berry into his mouth, feeling his body's desperate need for sustenance.

"Gulp…" Tong Xiaorou and the six-year-old Yaya couldn't help but swallow their saliva when they saw it. They were starving. But when Jiang Cheng looked over, they immediately averted their gaze, too afraid to meet his eyes.

Jiang Cheng sighed inwardly. He understood their hunger. It wasn't his intention to starve them, but in order to survive and maintain his strength, he had to eat and continue searching for food.

After consuming the berry, Jiang Cheng felt a burning sensation in his stomach, which only intensified as the fruit began to digest. The discomfort was almost unbearable. But at least he had replenished some much-needed nutrients and water, making him feel slightly more energetic.

The rest of the items were stones, which were commonly carried by the people in this world, especially the Wildlings. They could serve as weapons during critical moments. Some camp settlers without weapons would do the same when they went out.

"The sunlight can't reach this spot. Let's take a break," Jiang Cheng said, his tone serious. He then took a moment to assess the situation before him.