Chapter 1 - Tai Chu Scroll

“You died, but you came back to life.”

“You died again, then lived again.”

“Assessment: A miracle, simply a miracle!

Even Newton couldn’t keep your coffin lid down; you are a true legend, the future of the world is yours, please continue moving forward, great master!”

“You have obtained the title: ‘Sit-ups (Taboo)'”

“‘Sit-ups (Taboo)’: While bearing this title, each of your sit-ups rejuvenates you, restoring your life; when doing sit-ups, you cannot be killed by any force less than Taboo Level, until you stop exercising.”

“Taboo: This entry is unique.”

“Today’s Open Count: 2/3”

“What the hell?”

Xu Shu rubbed his sore eyes and stared forward, confirming that the floating, eerie text was not an illusion.

Then, he looked around:

A small room with peeling walls, roughly twenty square meters, an iron bed, iron-barred windows, a basket full of tissues on the floor, and an anti-theft iron door facing the sunset.

“Am I freaking captured in a mental hospital?”

This was Xu Shu’s first reaction.

But immediately, he knew that was not correct.

He had just pulled an all-nighter on a text-based simulation game, and had been hit by a speeding dump truck while buying a soda downstairs, yet even a morgue seemed more likely than a mental hospital.

Wait, a dump truck…

“Did I travel through time?”

As this thought emerged, thick memories gushed out, inundating his brain.

After a while, Xu Shu shook his head; he was unsure whether he had traveled through time or awakened a past life’s wisdom.

In any case, the memories from both sides had fully merged and become indistinguishable.

Considering that the memories that woke up first when he regained consciousness were from a past life, let’s tentatively call those this life’s memories.

In this life’s memory, this world was called Earth Star, originally much like Earth from his former life, essentially a parallel world.

Eighteen years ago, Earth Star began experiencing drastic changes.

Initially, it was just an immense meteor shower, an earthquake, a few mutated animals, some suddenly emergent ancient ruins.

Until they linked together, eventually sweeping globally, becoming relevant to everyone.

Catastrophes brought opportunities; some things revived.

It seemed humans might have hope to reclaim their once-glorious civilization and herald a brilliant Transcendental age—everything was promising—until that day.

The ‘Great Catastrophe’ struck.

Earth Star suddenly expanded, countless bizarre creatures no longer emerged like bamboo shoots after the rain but rather abruptly poured into the human world like a heavy rain.

The era of technological civilization ended.

Then came rebirth.

AD 2124 was designated the New Calendar beginning, the Post-Apocalypse Era arrived.

Under the heroic lead of past sages, the remaining humans struggled to survive on the ruins, attempting to re-establish civilization…

As time swiftly passed, now it was New Calendar Year 18.

Who would have thought that the young and vigorous Xu Shu, eighteen years ago, was just a crying baby?

“Oh, so that’s the situation.”

Xu Shu pondered thoughtfully.

Then another question arose.

Where is this place?

How did I end up here?

After some thought, Xu Shu arrived at a preliminary conclusion: he had been kidnapped.

In the New Era, the numerous nations that once peppered Earth Star had long ceased to exist, but there were always pioneers who would step forward to lead the people.

For example, the Supervision Bureau of the old Xia Country era gathered the most Transcendents, actively engaged in post-disaster reconstruction, setting up safe zones and refuges divided by landmarks, searching for and sheltering survivors, striving to provide everyone with a protective umbrella.

Xu Shu and his adoptive family lived in nearby safe zone D8B3.

Years ago, since his adoptive father fell seriously ill and couldn’t leave his bed, the burden of supporting the family fell solely on his adoptive mother.

Xu Shu saw this and hated his helplessness.

He neither got admitted to the university in the safe zone nor passed the selection to become a warrior.

After graduating high school, he could only take low-paying, grueling odd jobs—barely making ends meet.

If things continued this way, the family probably couldn’t even afford the taxes to continue living in the safe zone and would be sent out to live in scattered refuges on the Wasteland.

If that happened, setting aside the omnipresent dangers of Wasteland, the mere lack of medical facilities would be enough to seal his adoptive father’s fate.

Though not related by blood, the depth of gratitude was immeasurable!

How could Xu Shu bear to watch that honest man die?

Finally, on the day he became fully adult, Xu Shu gained the qualifications to enter and leave the safe zone.

He left a letter at home and all his savings from years of working and saving, just enough to cover his adoptive father’s medical expenses for the ensuing month.

He then grabbed his luggage and followed a team of Scavengers, stepping past the border of the safe zone.

As everyone knew, in the safe zone, life essentials were very scarce—to do anything required money, and the quickest way to earn money was to venture close to the border of the ‘Wasteland,’ scavenging what was left from before.

But it was also the most dangerous method.

Among the Scavengers, there was a saying: “Seven go, three return,” which illustrated the difficulty of surviving on the Wasteland.

High risk, but it also meant high returns.

There were even rumors among people that the buried ruins held the chance to become a “Transcendent,” which could change an ordinary person’s fate.

For example, the Director of the Supervision Bureau in zone D8B3 was once a Scavenger who struck fortune on the Wasteland and rose to prominence overnight!

For the fiery youth, Xu Shu, this was an irresistible temptation.

As long as he could find something on the Wasteland and bring it back, he could change the condition of his family and even possibly his own fate!

With this eager hope, Xu Shu set off on his journey.

Then, not long after leaving the safety zone and less than a hundred kilometers out, without even reaching the border, the weapon-wielding Scavengers leading the team began to capture their fellow travelers.

These guys were not out to explore the Wasteland at all—they had their eyes on the relatively healthy body parts of these poor people!

Reality harshly smashed his dreams.

Xu Shu, along with other fresh-faced newbies, scattered and fled, accidentally falling into a deep pit and fainting during the escape.

When he woke up again, he found himself in a room that resembled a prison.

One could imagine that after the original host had fainted, he had been discovered by those human traffickers and captured and locked up here.

“Fuck, humans are nearly extinct, and here they are still fighting among themselves, these beasts.”

The defeated Xu Shu wished he could tear them to pieces, and if it had only been himself, he would probably have woken up screaming and cussing at them.

Fortunately, in his previous life, he was a reliable adult male with a stable temperament and a bit of quirkiness, knowing that if he wanted to save himself now, he absolutely couldn’t panic or let anger cloud his mind; he must remain calm.

Xu Shu stood up and first tried opening the door, but as expected, the doorknob didn’t budge and was clearly locked from the outside.

There was a small window on the iron door, and he carefully peered through it a few times, discovering a corridor outside with another tightly closed iron door opposite marked with a “209” metal sign.

To the left and right, he could see others peering through the small windows of their cell doors, and he made eye contact with a fellow Scavenger, but neither spoke.

“Sure enough, it’s imprisonment.”

Xu Shu’s heart sank, but he didn’t make any futile attempts to call for help.

His gaze fell on the half-suspended, gradually dimming book above.

In this prison cell, the only metal was this bed, and the window was so small that escape was clearly impossible.

And now, the only thing he could rely on was the thing that, at the start of the conversation, had called itself “the great master.”

“What are you?”

With that question, Xu Shu’s will focused, and the almost non-existent and very familiar old-fashioned book suddenly brightened and fluttered open.

Three incomprehensible yet soul-striking characters made Xu Shu feel bewildered.

“Tai Chu Scroll?

This…

this isn’t the text simulation game I stayed up to finish last night, is it?

I even haven’t had the chance to deliver it to the client, and it’s traveled through time with me?”

Xu Shu quickly realized.

No wonder the book looked so familiar—it was just some random materials he had created using AI as the game icon!

Strictly speaking, Xu Shu wasn’t really a proper planner or game developer; it was just a hobby.

The Tai Chu Scroll, a simulation game with role-playing elements, was a product of his youth, having gathered materials over many years to finally complete it.

From elementary to university and then struggling in society for a few years, through persistently cramming all sorts of things into it, his game library had been chaotically filled with countless items.

Unexpectedly, someone had taken an interest in purchasing it, and even Xu Shu had simply decided to sell the game casually while reliving the wild imaginations and wicked fun of his youth.

In his youth, he really had a lot of imagination and hormones.

The game included everything from a rating of “3+” to “18+,” with all sorts of bizarre storylines.

Damn, it was just aggressively mad!

Who would have thought, this thing had traveled through time with him and had seemingly become his only reliance on getting out of trouble.

“Let’s give it a try!”

Suppressing his inner worries, Xu Shu poured his strong willpower into the , expanding the remaining parts as well.

At that moment, a sensation like a flowing spring and an electric shock flooded into his mind.

As the Tai Chu Scroll unfolded, Xu Shu’s gaze became focused, his eyes gradually bewildered.

What the hell?

Legendary?

Journey?

Come chop me if we’re brothers?

Is this really something I created?