Chapter Three: How to Proceed? Trust to Luck!

“Solar-powered power bank, stab-resistant vest, wilderness survival kit, sleeping bag, tent, compressed biscuits, salt, small hand-crank generator, six mini drones, pepper spray, floral water, anti-inflammatory medicine, two sets each of spring and winter clothes, an extra pair of thick-soled boots, a box of socks, iron water bottle...”

Referring to the checklist, she once again inspected the contents of her backpack. After confirming everything was in order, she packed a waterproof pouch containing a first aid kit, anti-inflammatory medicine, and waterproof matches close to her body. Only then did Feng Xue hoist the heavy pack onto her shoulders and step out of her home.

“Accident insurance—check. Medical assistance contract—check. Yesterday’s payment has been credited, and automatic payments are all in order...”

As she walked, Feng Xue browsed various apps on her phone to verify everything was set before proceeding according to plan.

At three in the morning in winter, the sky was at its darkest. Even the city’s flickering lights had dimmed, and walking alone down such a shadowy street, Feng Xue felt no trace of fear.

She swept aside a shared bike and headed toward the carefully researched target.

The early morning road was unnervingly silent, the only sound coming from the dull creak of the bicycle beneath her.

Feng Xue silently calculated the time, her eyes fixed on the slowly blinking green light at the far end of her vision, a faint smile creeping onto her lips.

At the intersection, the green light blinked, then turned red, and Feng Xue gradually came to a stop.

Minutes ticked by as the red and green lights alternated several times, yet Feng Xue remained quietly waiting by the roadside.

“Vzzz...”

Her phone vibrated low and steady. Feng Xue knew the moment had come. Silently dismissing the alarm, she mounted the bike again and began circling the intersection.

Before checking the number displayed above her head, she noted the golden padlock was still closed and quickly adjusted her mindset.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to tremble slightly, and a beam of light appeared as if shining from the distant road ahead.

“Five, four, three, two...”

Seeing the red light already illuminated, Feng Xue turned the bike’s head and darted straight toward the intersection.

The next instant, a massive semi-truck, the hundred-ton king, loomed into view. Amid a sensation difficult to categorize as pain or numbness, the world before Feng Xue began to spin wildly.

...

Darkness and dim yellow light flickered in alternation. Feng Xue felt a dizzying whirl before clarity suddenly returned. Her vision fixed as she found herself lying in a completely unfamiliar wasteland.

“Hahaha! I did it!”

Feng Xue couldn’t restrain a wild laugh, startling a cacophony of unpleasant bird calls. Then he realized this was no time for celebration.

Quickly covering his mouth to suppress the barely contained joy, though the number above his head still read 3285 (slept one day), he knew his fate had changed from this moment onward.

Wait, something’s not right.

Feng Xue frowned suddenly. Under the over-the-shoulder perspective, beneath the locked lifespan figure above his head, a new line of small text appeared—

[Stroke of Luck]

As his consciousness focused, a stream of information poured into his mind:

[When struck head-on by a vehicle weighing over 100 tons, you will be transported to another world.]

“Good heavens! I’m telling you, good heavens!”

Noticing the lock that existed before [Stroke of Luck], Feng Xue immediately realized this over-the-shoulder perspective was far more complex than he had imagined.

He attempted to lock the [Stroke of Luck] status, but the lock in front of the lifespan immediately popped open just like when he tested locking someone else’s lifespan.

“Looks like this ‘Stroke of Luck’ can be locked too? But if locked, does that make it certain to trigger, or certain not to? And I used to think only one status could be locked at a time. Now it seems, no matter how many statuses there are, only one lock can exist? Though, that doesn’t make much difference anyway.”

Squinting, Feng Xue hesitated. Ultimately, he had only locked his lifespan so far, and the effect was that lifespan wasn’t affected by any factors aside from time itself. Therefore, the precise function of this lock still required more testing.

Canceling the over-the-shoulder view, Feng Xue narrowed his eyes and concentrated. Tiny numbers unfolded throughout his vision—lifespans of the grass, the old trees, even the birds hidden within the canopy were all revealed.

But...

There was no [Stroke of Luck].

“Come to think of it, that guy I saw in the hospital, the one who became a vegetable after being hit by a fully insured semi-truck but whose lifespan kept increasing, didn’t have this status above his head either. Or is it something only I possess? Or must I see it with my own eyes?”

...

Indeed, the reason Feng Xue recklessly chose to get hit by the hundred-ton truck to cross worlds was because of two examples he found shortly after his initial crossing—

One was the “lucky one” he saw in the hospital’s inpatient ward, a person who had been turned into a vegetable by a fully insured semi-truck collision but was the only human he’d ever seen with a six-figure lifespan.

By the time Feng Xue saw him a second time, the number above that man’s head had tripled again.

If this individual’s existence only made Feng Xue suspect a soul transmigration, then his later discovery cemented that theory: among numerous brutal traffic accident videos he reviewed, he found one corpse missing more than half its body yet still displaying a five-digit lifespan.

As for why he hadn’t immediately chosen to trigger the Stroke of Luck after realizing this, the reason was simple—

Crossing worlds was not guaranteed.

He reviewed tens of thousands of horrific crash videos, but those with possible crossings numbered fewer than a handful. With such a slim chance, Feng Xue was reluctant to risk his life until the very last moment.

Fortunately, the unique ability to lock lifespan gave him an idea—just like the ant experiment he conducted: as long as lifespan was locked, no injury or illness would reduce it.

Non-lethal injuries might still occur, but when facing an inevitably fatal situation, would that trigger an exemption?

For this reason, Feng Xue carefully investigated nearby large construction sites, tracked the routes of dump trucks and transport vehicles, and devised his plan accordingly.

As for playing mahjong...

Because Feng Xue wasn’t sure he could succeed on the first try.

After all, ants thrown into fire emerge completely unharmed; conversely, he might survive a lethal situation without injury.

If that happened, aside from failing to cross worlds, he would likely be treated as a suicide attempt case and spend days or even weeks being counseled—wasting precious time from his sixty-day lifespan, barely enough for a few tries.

More importantly, even if he succeeded in crossing, his lifespan might not immediately increase. Finding a way to extend life in just one or two months in a new world might not be any easier than surviving this one already influenced by supernatural forces.

“But I succeeded on the very first try... If it wasn’t just exceptionally good luck... could it be that in that other world, the chance of surviving a hit from a hundred-ton king truck unharmed is even lower than crossing worlds itself?”