Chapter 3: Waking Up

Zhao Hai slowly opened his eyes. He now understood what had happened; Adam’s memories had completely merged with his own. This made Zhao Hai truly realize that he had indeed transmigrated, and it was the most common type of transmigration: soul possession.

As a shut-in, if he didn't know what transmigration was, he couldn't be considered a complete shut-in. However, Zhao Hai never expected that he would actually encounter it, and that he would end up in the body of such an unlucky fellow.

From Adam’s memories, Zhao Hai already knew the situation. However, when Adam had lost consciousness, he hadn't yet left the Imperial Capital. Zhao Hai didn't know where he was now, but he knew it wasn't the home in the capital of the Aksu Empire. When he had woken up previously, he had taken a glance at his surroundings and realized it wasn't the home of Adam that he was familiar with.

As soon as Zhao Hai opened his eyes, he felt someone beside him. He turned his head and saw the old man he had seen when he first woke up standing by his side. Although the old man had a stern expression, his eyes were full of concern.

Unlike the first time he woke up, this time Zhao Hai recognized the old man. He was the old butler of the Buda family, Green Buda. Green didn't originally have the surname Buda, but he had been granted it by Zhao Hai’s great-grandfather. He had followed the Buda family loyally and was the most trusted person in the household.

However, the former Adam did not get along well with Green. Adam had been a playboy, while Green was a stern man who was always controlling him, telling him he couldn't do this or that. Because of this, Adam hated Green very much. But because Green’s seniority was so high, let alone Adam, even his father didn't dare to be disrespectful to him, so he could only endure it.

Zhao Hai, after his rebirth, would certainly not be as brainless as the former Adam. Having read countless transmigration novels, possessing the mind of an adult, and having lived a life full of hardships, Zhao Hai was naturally much more sensible than the pampered Adam. Of course, he also understood Green’s importance to him. With such an old butler, he could completely entrust everything to him with peace of mind.

Moreover, from Adam’s memories, he knew that this old butler possessed strength even greater than his father’s. In this world, strength represented the hope for survival.

His long-term life as a shut-in, his constant fantasies, and the addition of Adam’s memories meant that Zhao Hai didn't have much resistance to the transmigration. Likewise, he didn't have many expectations; it was just a change of living environment. The only things that annoyed him were two: first, there were no computers here, and he couldn't go online. For a shut-in, not being able to go online was more painful than killing him. Second, he had been fed the Water of Nothingness, and from now on, he could no longer learn battle qi or magic. This shattered Zhao Hai’s dream of dominating the world.

Zhao Hai didn't realize that he had actually been assimilated by Adam’s memories. The reason he wasn't panicked was that he was familiar with everything on the Ark Continent. This could be seen from the two points that annoyed him; the first was related to Zhao Hai from Earth, while the second was related to the Ark Continent.

However, Zhao Hai had thought it through clearly. Although he was annoyed, he was already here, so there was nothing more to say. Since he was here, he would settle down; from now on, he was Adam Buda.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hai couldn't help but let out a long sigh, as if his heart had suddenly relaxed. It was no wonder he could accept Adam’s identity so easily; in his previous life, he had no relatives, and because he was too much of a shut-in, he had no friends. It could be said that when he was on Earth, he had no attachments. Now that he was here, it was just a change of environment—nothing major. Besides, there were a few people around him who cared about him, which wasn't a bad thing.

At this moment, Green noticed that Zhao Hai had woken up and hurried to the bedside. He said to Zhao Hai, "Young Master, how are you feeling? Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable? Does your head still hurt?"

Zhao Hai hadn't heard such caring words in a long time. Hearing them now, he felt a warmth in his heart. Feeling that his body was mostly fine, he sat up quickly, shook his head at Green, and said, "I'm fine, Grandpa Green. Where are we?"

Green was clearly stunned. The former Adam would never have been so polite. Hearing him speak like this suddenly made him very unaccustomed to it, but he immediately replied, "Young Master, we have arrived at our fief."

Zhao Hai paused for a moment, then immediately understood and nodded. "Is it the Black Soil Wasteland?"

Green was very surprised by Zhao Hai’s calmness, but he still nodded. "Yes, this is the Black Soil Wasteland."

Zhao Hai nodded and asked, "Where are we exactly? What is the situation here? How many people are there? How much land?"

In Adam’s memories, there was only a little bit of legendary information about the Black Soil Wasteland—that it bordered the Rotten Corpse Swamp, that the land couldn't be farmed, and so on. He knew nothing else, which was why Zhao Hai asked. Regardless, he was Adam now and would have to live in this Black Soil Wasteland in the future, so he needed to know the situation.

Green stared blankly at Adam. If Adam hadn't been under his nose the whole time, he would have thought that Adam had been swapped; the person in front of him was definitely not the Adam he knew.

"Could it be that setbacks really make people grow?" Although Green was puzzled, he wouldn't doubt Adam’s identity and could only view Adam’s current behavior as him having matured.

However, Zhao Hai’s performance made Green very happy, and he quickly said, "Young Master, we are in the City Lord’s Mansion of the fief. The mansion is located on Iron Mountain in the Black Soil Wasteland. This Iron Mountain was abandoned by the dwarves. There is some land on it that can be farmed. Please punish me, Young Master. I took the liberty of selling everything in the house to buy a large amount of supplies and one hundred slaves. Now, we only have a little over one hundred gold coins left. The only people who came here are myself, my wife, my granddaughter, Mu Tou, and Shi Tou. The rest are just those one hundred slaves. Everyone else has left."

Zhao Hai nodded, analyzing the current situation in his mind. They had arrived in a dead end, but there was a City Lord’s Mansion to live in, a mountain that could grow some things, one hundred slaves, and five people he could completely trust—his closest kin.

Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Grandpa Green did the right thing. In a place like this, gold coins are useless. Only supplies can help us hold out for a while longer. Alright, I'm fine here. Grandpa Green, you should go and make arrangements. See how much arable land there is on this Iron Mountain and what would be suitable for us to plant. After all, we still need to eat."

Green nodded. "Very well, Young Master, please rest. I will have Meg come to serve you in a while."

As soon as Green mentioned Meg, the image of a delicate-looking girl with green hair and a petite figure appeared in Zhao Hai’s mind. She was Green’s granddaughter.

However, Zhao Hai then gave a bitter smile. The former Adam had once tried to molest Meg, but Meg was a level 6 mage. Although she looked delicate, she was strong-willed. While she didn't dare to do anything to him, she would threaten to commit suicide whenever Adam tried anything, which made Adam afraid to actually do anything to her.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hai couldn't help but curse silently. He had to bear the consequences of the trouble the former Adam had caused. In this situation, it would be so awkward to see Meg. So he immediately said, "No need, Grandpa Green. I want to rest a bit more. Don't let anyone disturb me. Just call me when it's time for dinner."

Green bowed and said, "Yes, I will take my leave." With that, he backed out of Zhao Hai’s room.

Zhao Hai sighed in his heart and slowly got off the bed. Although he remembered lying in bed for a long time, he didn't feel any discomfort. Instead, he felt as if he had endless energy. He couldn't help but stretch, walk to the window, and gently push it open to look out.

What met his eyes was a small castle-style building. Since he was on the top floor, he could clearly see everything outside. It was a Western-style small castle. In front, he could see a small plaza and a surrounding wall. Outside the castle was an endless expanse of black soil. The soil was as black as if it had been soaked in oil, giving off a lifeless feeling.

In the castle plaza, a large pile of things was stacked up. Zhao Hai looked carefully and saw that they seemed to be daily necessities, with a large group of people busy there.

These people, both men and women, were wearing uniform coarse cloth clothes. The difference was that the men all had a mark on their foreheads. It was too far away to see clearly, but Zhao Hai knew it must be the mark of the Buda family, representing that these people were slaves of the Buda family.

He looked to both sides and saw barren hills. Some trees grew crookedly on the hills; they didn't look healthy, appearing as if they were suffering from a serious illness, listless. Besides these trees, there was only wild grass, which didn't grow very tall and also looked malnourished.

He withdrew his gaze and looked again at the castle that now belonged to him. The castle was quite large; it wouldn't be a problem to house thousands of people. It was just that it seemed to have been uninhabited for a long time. Moss grew on the walls, and grass sprouted from the stone crevices—a scene of decay. Looking at the window paper, it was clearly newly pasted; the other rooms hadn't been pasted yet.

Zhao Hai couldn't help but smile bitterly. Adam’s memories clearly remembered that the Buda family’s residence in the empire used glass, but here, they used primitive window paper. The difference was truly vast.

However, a sense of pride rose in Zhao Hai. Regardless of what others said, all the land he could see was his now. He didn't believe that the black soil, which looked so fertile it could ooze oil, couldn't grow crops. He would definitely live a proper life and let those who had harmed him see it. This could be considered a bit of compensation for taking over Adam’s body.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang in his mind...

(End of chapter)