Chapter 1: Golden Finger and Predicament

Li Ping'an, borrowing the weak moonlight from outside, looked at his surroundings in horror, his face filled with shock.

The once familiar Dormitory 888 of Hehuang University had vanished, replaced by a strange, abandoned Buddha hall that now caught Li Ping'an's eye.

Old and decrepit beams, a leaking roof, wild grass growing between the floor tiles, and everywhere dense spiderwebs and the smell of rotting wood.

In the center of the Buddha hall stood a five-meter-high Bodhisattva statue seated in meditation pose, its bearing majestic.

However, Li Ping'an was baffled to see that the head of the Bodhisattva statue was that of a sable, its left hand holding a Flying Dragon Staff, and its right hand gripping a Three-Pronged Steel Trident, from which hung the head of Bodhisattva Lingji, covered in blood.

Below the Lotus Platform, densely packed skulls piled up into a small mountain, very horrifying, and the fallen plaque read: King Huang Feng Bodhisattva, Little Mount Sumeru Dharma Protector Deity Shi Gandang, creating a scene that was quite eerie and utterly terrifying.

Bodies...

In the open area outside the main entrance of the decrepit temple, next to the well, lay four or five bodies, haphazardly arranged, some still bleeding.

The thick blood flowed with the rainwater continuously spreading across the ground, bringing with it a strong stench of blood.

The scenes inside and outside the temple were extremely horrifying, but the predicament he was in was even more distressing.

A row of iron cages used for livestock, reeking of foul odor and stained with blood-soaked clothes, surrounded by weak cries for help from the cages and occasional screams echoing throughout the decrepit temple.

He looked down at his own body and carefully checked it, finding it covered with crusted wounds.

Especially a swollen bump on the back of his head, Li Ping'an gently pressed on it a few times, the pain causing him to grimace.

"Who exactly ambushed me and locked me up here? What on earth is going on?"

At that moment, a huge creature shrouded in black Qi walked in from the side of the doorway, and upon getting closer, its true form became clear:

The head was a bald man's, but the body was that of a dog, standing over three meters tall, with muscles covered in needle-like black fur, wearing a yellow monk's robe, draped in a gold-embroidered kasaya, left hand holding a blood-stained Buddhist Blade, emanating a pervasive demonic aura.

It easily grabbed the prisoners from the three cages in front of Li Ping'an, walked to the well, and in the rainy night, one by one, beheaded, skinned, and dismembered them. Next up was Li Ping'an!

Li Ping'an's still groggy mind was instantly jolted awake, his heart starting to beat uncontrollably faster, as if it would burst out of his throat, and the hand hidden in his sleeve trembled uncontrollably.

He did not grow up in Northern Myanmar. Scenes of demon monsters flaying humans alive and bodies scattered everywhere were far beyond his tolerance.

Suddenly biting his lip, Li Ping'an tried hard to control his increasingly panicked thoughts, and he began to desperately recall how he had ended up in this dire situation.

Thirty minutes earlier, as the first person globally to gain access to the "Black Myth: The Fated One" mobile game beta test, Li Ping'an excitedly downloaded the game, happily clicked on the game interface, and began to test play.

[Welcome to the world of "Black Myth: The Fated One"!]

The game screen's pitch-black background resembled an abyss, and the blood-red text looked like fresh blood, slowly melting and staining the entire screen as a series of new text with black flames jumped across the screen.

[Li Ping'an, you will play as a "Destined One", seeking to uncover the truths of ancient legends, embarking on a dangerous and wondrous Journey to the West.]

[The game world is interconnected with the real world of the Destined One Li Ping'an; death in the game also means death in reality.]

[As a reward, everything owned in the game, such as Cultivation, Divine Skills, Side Techniques, Magical Treasures, Elixirs, weapons, and more, can be carried back into the real world.]

[The game can be paused at any time to save progress, awaiting the Destined One's next entry, but you must log in at least nine times a month.]

[Monkey God, activate!]

Then, with a blink, he confirmed a fact—he had transmigrated, and even more, he had transmigrated into the mobile game "Black Myth: The Fated One," becoming a prisoner and food for the Demon Monsters.

"Am I playing the game, or is the damn game playing me?"

"Could it be the retribution for frequently stealing kills in the game?"

Once he accepted his reality, Li Ping'an knew he had to escape. The Human-Headed Dog Demon outside had already skinned all the people and was now approaching him.

Moving with the principle that if his head could get through, his body could follow, Li Ping'an stretched his head out of the cage. The closer the Demon got, the more frantically he tried to escape.

But even as his head bled and he broke into a sweat from the effort, he still couldn't break free from the cage until the Demon was upon him completely.

The Human-Headed Dog Demon slowly opened the cage and easily pulled Li Ping'an out, his huge shadow enveloping him. In the eyes of the Human-Headed Dog Demon, Li Ping'an looked like a tiny chick, not even as thick as the demon's thigh.

With its left claw pressing down on Li Ping'an's trembling shoulders, and its right claw lifting the Buddhist Blade, it sneered with glee,

"You stupid, foul creature, thinking of escaping from your grandfather dog here? Since you're so eager to die, this king will use you for a visceral temple offering!"

No sooner had the Human-Headed Dog Demon finished speaking than a Flying Sword suddenly stabbed from the last cage in the row. In a blink of an eye, while the Human-Headed Dog Demon was distracted, it pierced through its back, and the bloody tip of the sword appeared before Li Ping'an's eyes.

"That beast! Daring to ambush your granddad! Pity, ordinary weapons can injure me, but they can't kill me!"

The Human-Headed Dog Demon, enduring the severe pain, twisted its face into something hideous. Its eyes, filled with blood, gleamed with a murderous light, and in its immense rage, it decided to kill Li Ping'an first and then the prisoner next to him.

In extreme anger, the Human-Headed Dog Demon lifted Li Ping'an high, and before the Buddhist Blade struck, its vise-like dog claw was about to crush his shoulder.

Pain! Pain! Pain!

Apart from the excruciating pain, only a bottomless fear remained:

Damn it! I'm going to die! I'm about to be senselessly killed by this demon!

From now on, there will no longer be a Li Ping'an in this world or any other.

Even the pain I feel now, the fear inside me, will vanish into thin air.

No!

I don't want to die!

I don't want to die for no reason!

In the critical moment between life and death, Li Ping'an's strong desire to survive seemed to trigger something, and a very simple attribute template suddenly appeared in his thoughts:

Cultivation: 0%

Divine Skills: None

Survival time: 30 minutes

This attribute panel was as simple as having none at all, without even a manual, let alone its specific uses.

Then, the next moment came with a game notification sound:

[Destined One Li Ping'an has successfully survived 30 minutes. Survival time can automatically convert into corresponding Cultivation, and remaining survival time can be exchanged for weapons, equipment, Elixirs, and thus enhance various attributes]