Julius Ying

Two years is not a long time for gods. After all, they can wander the universe for billions of years without encountering any living beings and still feel fine.

Number One (who had changed his name to get accustomed to his upcoming job) said:

"Yay, everything's done. Let's quickly get ready to go."

A bunch of systems appeared at that moment, and the screens looked extremely professional. The only problem was that the systems couldn't do anything other than talk.

.....

At this time, on Earth, it was the year 2026. In an apartment, there was an ordinary-looking young man named Julius Ying, a student with a passion for reading history books.

Currently, he was lying on his bed with a book. After reading for a while, he said:

"Are dynasties good or bad? Doesn't that depend on the person in charge? But the reason dynasties in history collapsed was simply that the reigning emperors were too incompetent. There have been quite a few great emperors in history, but unfortunately, they all had to die.

This idea of passing the throne to one's son is somewhat selfish. It seems that even emperors are not always different from ordinary people. If they truly considered the kingdom the most important, they should have chosen the most capable person to govern as their successor.

If they did that, the dynasty would always be ruled by the most capable individual, and the chances of collapse would be very low. However, it would be fascinating if those great emperors had the opportunity to live forever. The pinnacle of human competition, just thinking about it is interesting. If I could, I'd want to join in, even if I died quickly as a small fry. At least I'd witness that exciting competition."

Talking about this made him want to try being an emperor. What he wanted was to become an emperor through his own strength, building his dynasty from scratch, not inheriting it.

But this was just a fanciful though, not entirely impossible but extremely difficult to achieve in modern society. He sighed:

"Haiz, talking nonsense again. In today's society, to truly become an emperor, everything would have to be turned upside down. But the people might not agree. A kingdom without its people is just a joke. Moreover, wars would cause many people who shouldn't die early to die early. That wouldn't make me happy."

He said 'die early' instead of 'die.' He understood well that death is a normal part of human life, and he was no exception. But if he could, he still wanted to fight for a chance to live. It's just that there were no clues at the moment.

Julius got out of bed, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and got ready for school. Once he was prepared, he looked out the window. But as soon as he looked, he felt that the sky was somewhat unusual today. Suddenly, a blinding light enveloped everything, making him unable to see. He cursed:

"Damn it, what the hell is happening?"

Suddenly, he felt a gentle breeze blow across his body, making him startle and open his eyes. But as soon as he opened them, he was terrified. He found himself in a dense tropical forest.

Julius pinched his cheek:

"Ouch, it hurts."

Now he realized that everything was real, but it was too hard to believe. In unexpected situations like this, staying calm and thinking clearly was crucial to prevent things from getting worse.

He took a deep breath and looked around. He observed for a while but saw no one. This was essentially an ordinary tropical forest like the ones he had seen in books or on his phone.

Suddenly, he noticed his attire. He was wearing a black outfit and black shoes (which are very attractive to mosquitoes). Julius exclaimed in astonishment:

"This isn't my clothing! Who on earth did this? And why the hell choose black? This color attracts mosquitoes a lot. Moreover, there's nothing to cover my face."

Though he complained, the outfit was fortunately of good quality and thick enough to fend off mosquitoes. But his hands and head were completely unprotected.

Julius's immediate concern was figuring out how to protect himself from mosquitoes. He thought:

"Think. Think. Mosquito repellent can be made from tea tree oil, peppermint oil, herbal incense…"

He looked around but saw none of these things. He cursed:

"Damn it, what now? Wait, I'm not wearing glasses, yet my vision is fine? Wrong focus, I'm about to get bitten by mosquitoes. Oh, right. If I can't fight them, I should run. Mosquitoes usually don't live in higher, drier places, so maybe a cliff is ideal. I need to find one quickly or risk getting malaria, dengue fever, or liver flukes."

He used all his strength to run. He hadn't thought that his regular exercise would actually come in handy. The dense forest surrounded him, and he simply aimed for the most open area he could see. Along the way, he passed a few people, but he didn't pay them any attention, his eyes were fixed straight ahead.

It seemed his luck was quite good. After running for about ten minutes, he found a cliff about ten meters high. However, there was a problem—he had never climbed a mountain before. Staring at the towering cliff, he thought:

"How am I supposed to get up there?"

He looked around for a bit and saw a tall tree reaching up to the top of the cliff. But there was another problem—he had never climbed such a tall tree. Julius gritted his teeth and said:

"I have no choice but to risk it. If I stay here, the mosquitoes will soon make me sick. I can't be sure how long I'll be okay. Besides, if there's no other way up this cliff, it means there's a path to a higher place, so I have to go up there."

He resolved to climb the tree. Climbing might offer a better chance of survival, whereas staying here would certainly make things worse. Although there might be another path, he didn't dare to take any chances now. 

The forest not only had mosquitoes but also many dangerous insects and reptiles. Moreover, this wasn't a forest in a tourist area he knew, so who knew what kind of creatures it harbored?