Chapter 3 – New Beginnings

No matter how helpless one feels, life must go on!

Punk now found great truth in these words. Though he was being drawn toward the purple cosmos, the void lacked any concept of distance, so Punk had no idea when he would be devoured. It might be countless years later, or perhaps the very next second. Of course, since time didn’t exist in the void, neither “countless years” nor “one second” had any real meaning. Punk’s perception of time was merely an illusion.

During this process, Punk obviously had nothing to do, nor could he think of any way to escape the danger—after all, he couldn’t even move… Nevertheless, he carefully studied this… System he had evolved!

By silently chanting “System” in his mind, a translucent lavender square interface would appear in his consciousness with three options:

“Information Recording Analysis.”

The Information section displayed some basic details about Punk himself, such as:

“Name: Punk”

Gender: None

Status: Soul State

Race: Void Ethereal Lifeform

Constitution: None

Soul Level: Ordinary Intelligent Being

Some of this information was obtained through analytical abilities, while other parts were things Punk already knew.

The Analysis ability, as the name suggested, allowed for objective systematic analysis of targets by integrating knowledge. The Recording ability enabled precise documentation of everything perceived. Overall, while the System’s capabilities weren’t particularly powerful—certainly not as overpowered as the golden fingers in the web novels from his previous life—they were quite practical.

“Just as expected of an evolutionary product. No exchanges, lucky draws, or anything like that are possible.” To be honest, Punk felt somewhat disappointed with this System. Compared to the various overpowered systems in web novels, it fell short. Still, having it was better than nothing.

“Let’s test this System’s performance then!” Punk thought as he issued his first command: “Analyze methods to escape the current predicament!”

“Task established: Analyze possibilities of escaping the purple cosmos’s devourment.”

“Searching memory data…”

“Simulating feasible methods…”

Simulation complete: “Method one—Wait for death”

“Method two—Wait for death”

“Method three—Wait for death”

“Analysis complete: Unless a miracle occurs, the only option is to wait for death!”

“…………I %#&%, you’re telling me to wait for death? What’s the #&% use of having you then? If I could count on miracles, why the %*# would I need your &% analysis?!”

Punk felt his life had truly become bleak. First, an inexplicable transmigration, and now this useless System. But what could he do? Faced with the failure of his last hope—the “System”—Punk instead stopped panicking. “Because panicking over something utterly hopeless is meaningless.”

“While I’m still alive, I might as well enjoy this not-so-beautiful ‘scenery’! No matter how unwilling or furious I am, it’s useless. Besides, I can still hope for the legendary miracle!”

This was what Punk thought to himself, though deep down, he didn’t believe any miracle would come.Yet miracles are such inconceivable existences—they descend abruptly precisely when you hold no hope for them.

This purple universe has flaws. Perhaps these flaws are well concealed, but flaws remain flaws. This purple universe intentionally manipulates the “existences” drawn from the void to avoid these flaws, yet there remains a one-in-trillion chance that some tiny fragment might pass through a flaw. Of course, such nourishment poses no threat to the vast universe, and the cosmic flaws even possess annihilation mechanisms—external entities cannot stir waves!

But there exists that one-in-trillion “existence” capable of evading the hastily established annihilation mechanisms at the flaws, successfully invading the universe. And Punk became that one-in-quadrillion lucky individual—he successfully entered the universe!

Perhaps for countless fragments, the probability of evading consumption is one in quadrillion, but for that one-in-quadrillion fortunate soul, this probability becomes one hundred percent. Thus, the miracle occurred.

Naturally, if a powerful being were to invade, it would immediately face cosmic rejection. Yet Punk happened to be extremely weak at this moment, allowing him to miraculously enter the purple universe, arriving in this new world.

“This is…”

Punk only felt a moment of dizziness, as if someone were screaming madly from distant horizons, before finding himself in a completely new world. He had arrived here—arrived in the Multiverse.

Now Punk’s perception was suppressed. The surroundings were no longer void, but filled with indescribable, incomprehensible “things” occupying every corner. Just as Punk wanted to carefully contemplate these mysterious phenomena, an immense sense of crisis surged from the depths of his being.

“Must escape immediately escape escape escape, hide hide hide hide, blend in blend in blend in, must not be discovered must not be discovered must not be discovered—otherwise, death will follow!”

This sense of crisis emerged abruptly, but Punk instinctively knew tremendous danger was imminent. He almost unquestioningly chose to trust his intuition. But how to evade it?

“According to System analysis, cosmic repulsion is taking effect. When repulsion reaches threshold, universe cleansing mechanisms will activate.”

“I could eventually perceive and analyze these things myself, but never as quickly or comprehensively as the System. This System does have some use.” Punk humorously remarked about the System, alleviating much of his tension.

“System, analyze countermeasures.”

“Analysis complete: Recommend immediate ‘registration’ of identity in this universe. Registration method: possess newborn lifeforms of the universe (Note: The possessed must have lower soul hierarchy than the possessor).”

“Then let’s find a suitable one in this realm.” Punk fixed his gaze on what appeared to be the largest and nearest realm, plunging headfirst toward it. Still in his void state, the dimensional barrier offered no resistance—after all, such barriers were designed to block entities within the universe, never considering the possibility of existences from the endless void descending!

Thus Punk charged into this massive realm. Yet he had no time to marvel at the realm’s fantastical landscape of curved heavens and rounded earth. With all his might, he expanded his perception, searching for suitable newborns for possession—for the sense of crisis was growing increasingly intense.In just a few seconds, Punk perceived countless creatures. However, some had poor aptitude, some had unfortunate backgrounds, and some weren’t even intelligent beings. This made Punk quite anxious. “Which one should I choose to be the best?”

“System Notification: Mysterious newborn lifeform detected. Due to being enveloped by special energy, analysis is impossible. However, logical inference suggests a high probability of exceptional quality.”

“Dammit, fortune favors the bold. I’ll take the gamble. Hope the System doesn’t screw me over.”

With that, Punk dove toward a faintly glowing green egg-shaped object hidden in the Jungle—so inconspicuous it was easily overlooked.

There was no thrilling battle of wills. The newly born, fragile soul possessed neither intelligence nor resilience, allowing Punk to easily seize the original owner’s body.

The moment Punk succeeded, the universe’s repulsive force vanished completely. It was as if Punk now had an identification card—he was officially recognized as a living being of this universe. However, he was also bound by the universe’s laws. Recklessly perceiving everything was no longer possible; his perception now only slightly exceeded that of ordinary beings of the same level by ten to twenty percent. Moreover, this kind of body seizure could only be performed once. Not only would the universe cast any soulless, non-divine entities it detected into the River of Fate, but obtaining a second “identification card” was outright impossible.

In this world, any magical creature that engaged in perception would instinctively know their own race—this information was etched into their bloodline. Therefore, Punk didn’t dare attempt to perceive his own race. When he opened the System to check, he did so with trepidation.

“Well, blessings and calamities are inevitable. Let’s see how my luck holds up…”

(End of Chapter)