Crossing over was not as interesting as he had imagined.
After a brief moment of joy, came the fear.
How could a ten-year-old child survive in a strange world?
As he had expected, he was just an ordinary person.
He didn’t cross over into a royal family, didn’t have a warm little nest, and didn’t even have parents.
He had nothing.
The only thing he had was a silver chain that his parents from the previous world had given him when he was eight years old, which was also the only evidence that he came from another world.
His tattered clothes undoubtedly reminded everyone of his identity—a beggar, a thin, sallow, and starving beggar.
And in front of him was a basin of sour water.
In just a month, his edges had been worn down, his pride from the other world had been erased, and he had learned to fight with stray dogs for food, to beg, and to… kneel.
At the construction site.
“Let you run ahead, let you grab the food!”
A thin boy was being beaten by a group of other raggedly dressed youths.
The boy hugged his head, curled up, and tried to protect his vital parts.
He knew that after a while, the others would stop.
As long as a person wasn’t beaten to death, no matter how harsh the environment, there was always a way to survive.
It wasn’t that he wanted to run ahead, but if he didn’t get the two steamed buns, he might not have the strength to work the next day and would be eliminated.
After the usual beating, the youths dispersed.
With a bruised and swollen face, he held the two flattened steamed buns, found the foreman, and received his wages for the day—a copper coin.
Dragging his exhausted body back to a poorly constructed thatched cottage that barely kept out the wind and rain, he pulled out a small box from a crack in the rocks, put the copper coin inside, and then counted the number inside.
“In just two more years, I’ll have enough saved. As a crossover, I will make a name for myself. I must survive, live on.”
The two years were so hard to endure.
The boy’s malnourished body had many hidden injuries, but he still held onto a glimmer of hope, the hope that remained before he first knelt down for food.
This hope sustained him until now.
Until the triennial recruitment date.
Holding the small box filled with copper coins, he sneaked out early in the morning, only to be cornered by children waiting in the alley.
These children, who also worked at the construction site, were stronger than him, and they always moved in groups.
The boy had been bullied by them many times, and every time he tried to get the two steamed buns, a severe beating was inevitable.
“Hey, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. I knew you had saved up all the money you earned at the construction site. I looked for it a few times but couldn’t find it. If I’m not mistaken, you want to participate in that recruitment event, right? Instead of wasting it on something meaningless, why not give the money to us?”
The speaker was the leader of the group of children, and his daily entertainment was finding excuses to beat the boy.
The boy shook his head, tightly holding the small box, and slowly retreated.
Then he bumped into someone behind him, but it wasn’t a savior.
In this world, he didn’t know anyone.
Blocking him from behind was another group of children from the construction site.
“How about showing some mercy and sharing a bit with us?”
This was a society governed by law, but the law couldn’t reach these dark corners.
“This is my last hope. Please, I beg of you, don’t do this, don’t do this.”
The boy tightly held the box, knelt on the ground, and pleaded.
In his arms was the faint hope he had saved up over three years.
If he lost it, it would be like taking his life away.
“Stop wasting time, beat him!”
As usual, the boy squatted down, tightly holding the small box, and braced for their beating.
He clung to the box so tightly that his fingers bled, and let their sticks beat him until his head was broken and bleeding.
Looking at the motionless boy on the ground, the child leader walked over, stepped on his face, and spat on him: “What a thick skin you have!”
Then, he bent down to grab the boy’s small box, but at that moment, the boy suddenly opened his eyes, blurred by blood.
His black eyes were filled with bloodshot veins.
He fiercely bit into the child leader’s calf, tearing off a piece of flesh, and then ran away before the others could react.
“Ah! Chase him! Beat him to death when you catch him! I’ll personally knock out each of his teeth!”
He ran with his head down, bumping into many people along the way.
But no one paid attention to a ragged little beggar.
At most, they would curse him as bad luck because they were people of status.
How could people of status care about such trash?
That would be too humiliating.
The boy ran and ran.
His thin body allowed him to run quickly.
If it weren’t for the hidden injuries in his legs that caused a sharp pain with every step, he could run even faster.
But his small size still helped him shake off the group of children chasing him.
The blood on his head had matted his hair together.
His clothes, which had rolled on the ground several times, were covered in dirt and dust. From under his barely covering clothes, one could see the bruises and bloodstains from the stick beatings.
His thin body, with visible ribs, made people wonder how he had managed to survive until now.
He tripped at the entrance of the recruitment site and saw a rusty little knife on the ground.
He picked it up.
“If there are any ‘what ifs’… there are no ‘what ifs’,” the boy muttered to himself.
But he still quietly put the rusty knife in his embrace, close to his body.
The knife gave off a slight chill.
In a sorry state, he held the small box and approached the recruitment office.
People around him looked at him with disgust, pinching their noses and frowning as they moved away when he got close.
But he didn’t care.
There was a saying in his homeland, “Heaven must have a use for the talents I was born with.”
Since he had come to this world, there must be some place where he was needed.
He had put all his hopes on this recruitment.
Ahead, a half-asleep old man was guarding a piece of crystal beside a table that read “Qualification Test” and “Registration Point.”
Perhaps because it was still early, there weren’t many people at the scene.
The boy mustered his courage and walked over.
“I… I want to register.”
“Registration fee.”
“I have it, it’s here, it’s all here.”
After opening the small box, he noticed that a corner of it was missing.
Maybe during the beating just now, someone’s stick had broken the already worn-out wooden box.
The boy quickly poured out the copper coins inside, counted them, and found that he was short by a hundred.
“A hundred copper coins short, which is equivalent to a silver coin.”
The boy’s body trembled.
“……”
“Cannot. The testing stone requires a fee to activate.”
“I understand.”
The boy clenched his fists.
Just as the people around him thought he was about to give up, the boy grabbed the dirty necklace around his neck, which was so filthy that its original color was unrecognizable.
This was the only thing he had brought with him from another world.
The boy yanked it off in one swift motion.
“Sweep it clean.”
“It’s silver.”
The half-asleep old man glanced at it, then pocketed the necklace: “Counts as—one silver coin.”
He wanted to cry.
This was the first time he had felt heartache in this world.
As he placed his palm on the crystal, the boy’s mind raced with thoughts.
He imagined the crystal glowing brightly, revealing that he possessed some special ability.
Or perhaps the crystal would show some anomaly, indicating that he had a unique, unseen talent.
He even entertained the idea that the crystal might crack, proving his exceptional aptitude, and he would be chosen, thus soaring to success.
However, none of the above happened.
The crystal merely displayed a white dot.
The half-asleep old man looked up, then took out a piece of paper and wrote two words on it—“Ordinary.”
“Your aptitude is ordinary. No academy will select you. Please leave.”
At that moment, he felt as if the sky had collapsed.
Amidst the laughter and ridicule of the people around him, he walked out of the recruitment office like a zombie.
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”
The boy laughed and cried, like a madman.
He looked up at the sky and shouted, “Why did you bring me here! Why did you bring me here!! Why did you bring me here!!!”