China, a certain township hospital.
On the top floor of the thirteen-story building, a frail figure stood on the rooftop, his emaciated face completely calm.
"Is this my destiny?"
His fragile body looked as though it could topple over at any moment. Tang An tightly clutched the medical test report in his hand, though his inner turmoil clearly contradicted his outward composure.
The bulging veins and blood vessels on his arms revealed that his heart was filled with fury, reluctance, and a fierce, ruthless edge.
Cancer, and already in the intermediate stage.
For a young man, this was more unbelievable than winning a five-million-dollar lottery.
He actually had cancer.
Had cancer really become this common among young people now?
How unjust fate was to Tang An.
Not even an action movie would dare script things this way, yet people more miserable than Tang An were everywhere, and this was simply reality.
His parents had divorced, tossing him away to be raised by a distant relative before starting new families in different cities.
He was like a stray bastard with neither father nor mother, living under someone else's roof amidst sneers, sarcastic remarks, and unfair treatment.
Lacking guidance and familial affection, his personality had grown twisted and violent, frequently leading him to pick fights.
From then on, things spiraled out of control, and he completely transformed into a petty street thug who regularly smoked and brawled.
He had scavenged for food in trash heaps, collected junk, begged, and brawled.
He didn't know when it had started, but his appetite had faded, leaving him weak, constantly in pain, and racked with agony during flare-ups as if his intestines were being violently twisted together--a suffocating torment.
Finally, he had come to the hospital.
Only to receive news of intermediate-stage cancer, which felt like being handed a death sentence.
Contracting cancer at this age was truly a rare miracle.
He had struggled to survive from childhood to adulthood; even though he had contemplated ending his own life more than once, he had always stubbornly pushed through in the end.
Yet this time, he was genuinely desperate.
Society was so beautiful, but to him, it was no different from hell.
He hated the two parents who had given birth to him but never raised him; he hated everyone, he hated this world.
His psychological state was no longer normal.
With a single step forward, only the medical test report remained on the edge of the rooftop.
"Is this death? My consciousness is already fading, am I starting to regret it?"
Unable to feel anything anymore, Tang An heard screaming at the exact moment of death.
Along with a pungent, reeking stream of blood that seemed to be his own.
Finally, his bloodshot, pitch-black eyes gradually lost their color.
The Kingdom of Goa, hailed as the most beautiful country in the East Blue.
Dawn Town, a gathering place for ruffians and scoundrels; beyond its tall walls lay the Gray Terminal, a massive garbage dump and a place where the impoverished, beggars, thugs, and others eked out a living.
The entire society of the Kingdom of Goa was divided into four classes: the highest being the royalty, the upper-middle nobility residing in High Town, the second tier consisting of the commoners of Central Street, and the lowest tier being the ruffians and thugs of Dawn Town. As for those in the Gray Terminal, they didn't even rank among the lowest class.
Though this spotless kingdom was praised as the most beautiful country in the East Blue, it could nothing alter the sickening, nauseating reality of its corruption.
Amidst a pile of garbage in the Gray Terminal, a person suddenly materialized out of thin air.
As his consciousness slowly cleared, Tang An snapped his eyes open.
The first thing he registered was the pungent, sickening stench of garbage at the tip of his nose--a smell he knew all too well.
Wherever his gaze fell, there were only ruins of refuse; he was not dead.
He lowered his head to inspect his body and found it completely intact.
If he remembered correctly, he should have been torn limb from limb and in a horrific state right now.
"What is this?"
A light screen materialized before his eyes, displaying a blank grid of staircase steps shrouded in mist, next to which sat a die the size of a fist. The very first blank step held a model airplane.
It looked remarkably like a mini-game: Ludo.
Except the layout wasn't meant for four players, but for a single person.
A line of narration began to appear.
"Rules: You get one chance to roll the die each natural month. The rolled number determines the number of steps the piece advances across the blank spaces.
Each space can grant unexpected items, but may also strip the player of things they already possess.
Initial world traversal reward: 4 chances to roll the die.
Ongoing quests: Hunt down the Child of Destiny, Destined Villain, Transmigrator, Reincarnator, or Reborn Individual to earn +4 rolls. Supporting characters or villainous side characters will yield bonus rolls depending on the circumstances.
Simultaneously boosts Luck value."
Tang An sat amidst the trash, staring at the light screen. It featured only the Ludo game, the rule narration, the initial world traversal reward of four die-rolling opportunities, and the ongoing quests.
Simple and straightforward.
As a modern person, even though Tang An was a street thug, he was familiar with common tropes like web novels, cheat systems, and transmigrations.
After all, even thugs had spiritual lives, and he had dabbled in TV shows, movies, novels, and anime.
Tang An was doing relatively well for a hoodlum; after all, scavenging and begging could sometimes easily net him three to four thousand a month.
He was certain this was no dream.
In other words, he had transmigrated and acquired a cheat program akin to a system, though it lacked artificial intelligence and wasn't one of those versatile systems--it was just a bit too simplistic.
Furthermore, judging by the ongoing quests, he would inevitably encounter other transmigrator peers in the future, and he would have to hunt them down.
It wasn't even limited to fellow transmigrators; native Children of Destiny, Destined Villains, as well as reincarnators and reborn individuals were all fair game.
Was he supposed to make an enemy of the entire world?
Not letting the protagonists off was one thing, but not sparing the villains either?
Tang An's emotions were difficult to calm at that moment.
Cruel as it was, he saw in this the hope of mastering his own destiny.
"I have four chances to roll the die."
With no idea where he had transmigrated, the only thing he could rely on was his cheat.
With a thought from Tang An, the die within the light screen began to spin and bounce, and it wasn't until about a minute later that Tang An made it stop.
Clearly, he could stop this die whenever he wanted.
"3."
The face of the die showed three pips.
Without waiting for Tang An to control it, the model airplane flew forward to the third blank space.
Accompanied by a blinding flash of light, a line of description appeared on the light screen.
"Type 92 pistol, 9mm caliber, ten rounds of ammunition."
"Description: Advanced structure, reliable performance, good accuracy, few parts, light weight; aesthetically pleasing design with a comfortable grip; adopts a modular component structure for excellent serviceability; equipped with magazine releases and safety levers operable by both left and right hands, ensuring convenient operation and great ergonomics."
Tang An's luck was quite good; he had drawn a Type 92 pistol.
The only pity was that it only had 10 rounds of ammunition, and Tang An had never touched a gun before in his life.
The light screen also displayed two buttons: Take out and Put in.
"Take out."
With a thought in Tang An's mind, a Type 92 pistol materialized in his hand, its magazine fully loaded.
After examining it briefly, Tang An mentally muttered "put in," and the pistol vanished just as expected.
Clearly, this cheat came with storage space. As for whether only items drawn from it could be stored, Tang An tested it once more.
Items that did not originate from the cheat could not be stored.
Retrieving the pistol and tucking it into his waistband, Tang An initiated the second round of die-rolling.
This time, the die showed a 5, and the model airplane advanced another five spaces.
Another burst of blinding light flashed, and when Tang An made out the description on the light screen, his face drained of all color.
There was only a single line of text: Intermediate-stage cancer upgrades to late-stage cancer.
In an instant, Tang An began to doubt whether this was even a cheat.
Clearly, that endless expanse of blank spaces didn't just hold rewards; it carried punishments as well.
Going from intermediate to late stage--this cheat simply refused to play by the rules.
The fires of excitement from his transmigration and acquisition of a cheat were instantly extinguished by a basin of cold water.
Tang An struggled to steady his emotions.
"Two chances left."
Taking a deep breath, Tang An made his third roll.
The die rolled a one, and the model airplane advanced just a single space.
The familiar glow ignited, and upon seeing the item clearly, Tang An furrowed his brow.
"60ml per bottle, transparent, hyaluronic acid, colorless and odorless..."
Once he finished reading the full description, Tang An's pale face turned completely livid.
Even this kind of junk could be pulled? And right at a moment like this?
Suppressing his surging fury, Tang An made his final roll of the die.
His luck was decent this time; the face of the die showed a six.
The model airplane advanced six spaces. As the light faded, a sweet, melodious mature woman's voice accompanied by upbeat music rang out.
"So-and-so... dealing cards online..."
An advertisement. It was actually an advertisement.
And it forcefully repeated itself ten times.
Tang An could no longer maintain his composure. Veins bulged along his neck, and his eyes turned completely bloodshot.
Four opportunities, and only a single pistol was passable.
Going from intermediate to late stage undoubtedly pushed Tang An into his final countdown of life.
As for the 60ml--screw the 60ml.
And that advertisement that had squatted on certain websites for years, forcibly playing ten whole times, nearly drove Tang An to pass out.
He was now certain that this cheat was completely useless.