1: Li Qing

Jinling City, Slum.

Li Qing suddenly opened his eyes, feeling a wave of dizziness.

Instead of the familiar office, he saw a low, dark adobe house.

Cobwebs hung from the beams, old clothes were piled in the corner, and the air smelled of mold.

"Where is this..."

As soon as he spoke, his voice sounded incredibly dry and raspy.

With a slight purse of his lips, blood seeped from his cracked lips; for a moment, he tasted rust.

Before Li Qing could react, a massive flood of memories surged into his mind.

Li Qing, fifteen years old, a resident of the Slum in the Outer City of Jinling City.

His parents died three years ago at the hands of Vicious Beasts outside the city; since then, he had lived with his grandmother.

Three days ago, his grandmother passed away from illness. Due to excessive grief and long-term starvation, the original owner died in his sleep last night.

"I've transmigrated?"

Li Qing felt like crying but had no tears.

"Damn it, if I knew it would come to this, I wouldn't have worked so hard. Now I've died from overwork!"

This world was not the one he had come from.

This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak.

Fortunately, this world had Cultivation methods; one could Cultivate.

Powerful Martial Artists could fly and burrow through the earth!

But none of that was something he could think about right now.

For him, the priority was living!

Surviving!

He felt another spasm in his stomach, the pain making him curl up like a shrimp.

This body hadn't eaten for at least two days; it was starving.

He struggled to prop himself up, the bones in his legs pressing painfully against his palms.

He looked down at himself.

The body was chronically malnourished, thin enough to be just skin and bones.

At fifteen years old, he was probably only about 1.4 meters tall.

Beside the earthen bed sat a chipped ceramic bowl containing half a bowl of water.

Without thinking, Li Qing grabbed the bowl and drained it.

The water tasted of earth, but to his cells, it was like a long-awaited rain.

"I need to find something to eat..."

He used the wall for support as he stood up, his vision momentarily turning black.

The body was terrifyingly weak; just standing consumed a great deal of energy.

Li Qing looked around the room.

A wooden table with a broken leg, two battered wooden chests, and some junk piled in the corner.

He stumbled over to search, his fingers trembling as he opened a wooden chest.

There were only a few patched clothes and a pair of cloth shoes sewn by his grandmother.

"Not even a single grain of rice..."

Despair washed over him like a tide.

In modern society, he had never experienced true hunger.

The burning sensation in his stomach now made him understand the stories of "exchanging children for food" during famines.

"Splosh!"

The sound of water came from the corner of the room.

Li Qing then noticed a broken clay basin there, with a palm-sized Turtle paddling its limbs inside.

Memories surfaced; this was a birthday gift from his grandmother three years ago.

He had kept it as a companion.

The Turtle's shell was dark brown, with thirteen plates on its carapace and patterns on its plastron.

Seeing Li Qing approach, it stretched its neck, its black-bean-like eyes staring straight at him.

"Only you're left, Xiao Jia."

The name the original owner had given the Turtle slipped out.

Li Qing squatted down, his fingers unconsciously stroking the shell.

A terrible thought suddenly flashed: boil the Turtle and eat it... "No!"

Li Qing shook his head violently.

His modern morals made it impossible for him to accept eating a pet, and besides, a small Turtle didn't have much meat anyway.

If there was truly no other way, he'd reconsider!

For now.

His urgent priority was to go out and find food.

Pushing open the dilapidated wooden door, the piercing sunlight made Li Qing squint.

This was a crowded Slum; low adobe houses were packed tightly together, and the alleys were so narrow they only allowed one person to pass.

In the distance, the silhouettes of high-rise buildings in Jinling's Inner City were faintly visible, forming a sharp contrast with the decay here.

Next door, Auntie Wang was hanging clothes. Seeing Li Qing, her expression changed, and she moved to close the door.

"Auntie Wang!" Li Qing called out in a raspy voice.

"Could you lend me some food? My grandmother is gone, and I haven't eaten for two..."

"My family has no surplus grain either!" Auntie Wang slammed the door shut, her voice coming through the panels.

"Go find Chen Shui; he's soft-hearted."

Li Qing smiled bitterly.

In the original owner's memory, the scent of food had clearly wafted from Auntie Wang's house yesterday.

He didn't persist and used the wall to shuffle deeper into the alley.

The Chen Shui Auntie Wang mentioned had only moved here two years ago.

He was tall and well-built, showing none of the desperation of the poor.

He had gone to him to borrow money when his grandmother was sick.

Now, he could only go and try his luck.

Continuing forward, every step felt like treading on cotton.

Several children ran past him, playing and chasing each other, nearly knocking him over.

One of the children suddenly stopped, pulled half a hard biscuit from his shirt, and threw it on the ground.

"You dying trash, here's a reward for you!"

The child made a face and ran off.

Li Qing knew that kid too; he was the grandson of Boss Wang from the nearby pawnshop.

He was used to being tyrannical in the alleys.

Li Qing stared at the biscuit on the ground; dignity and the instinct for survival clashed fiercely.

In the end, he tremblingly picked up the mud-covered biscuit, patted it off, and stuffed it into his mouth.

The coarse bran scraped his throat painfully, but his stomach immediately sent back a satisfied response.

Before he could swallow the last bite, a cold sneer came from behind: "The Li family kid isn't dead yet?"

Li Qing turned around and saw three hoodlum-like youths blocking the alley entrance.

He recognized the tall one leading them.

Zhao Si, Gao Qiang's lackey, a thug who specifically collected protection fees in the Slum.

"Brother Qiang said your house is in a good location."

Zhao Si spat.

"Since you won't live much longer anyway, why not hand over the deed to the house? Brother Qiang will reward you with a meal."

Li Qing clenched his fists.

In the original owner's memory, Gao Qiang was the local snake in this area, specializing in preying on families without heirs.

He would wait until the adults died and then seize the orphans' property.

Before she died, his grandmother had repeatedly warned him to hide the deed to the house well.

Because the deed to the house was required to sign up for martial arts training—one deed for one slot.

Many wealthy people didn't have extra slots for martial arts training.

Meanwhile, Li Qing's family had the qualification for martial arts training but no money for tuition.

Not to mention that martial arts was a money-devouring beast.

Food, Medicinal Pills, and resources all required money!

"Don't trouble yourself; I can survive."

Li Qing forced himself to stand straight.

Zhao Si stepped forward with a cruel smile: "Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!"

HeHe shoved Li Qing hard..

The already weak Li Qing fell heavily to the ground, the back of his head hitting a stone, and warm blood flowed into his collar.

Through blurred vision, he saw Zhao Si raising his foot to kick him.

"What are you doing!"

A loud shout rang out.

A burly middle-aged man carrying a butcher's knife walked over; it was Chen Shui, who lived at the end of the alley.

Zhao Si sullenly withdrew his foot.

"Butcher Chen, mind your own business!"

"Get lost!" Chen Shui brandished his butcher's knife.

Once the hoodlums left grumbling, Chen Shui sighed and helped Li Qing up.

"Can you walk? Come to my house."

Chen Shui's house was slightly larger than Li Qing's, but just as simple.

After entering, there was a slightly larger courtyard.

A girl about the same age as Li Qing was practicing punches.

The girl's name was Chen Meng. She was tall, fair-skinned, and had twin ponytails; she didn't look like someone from the Slum at all.

Seeing them enter, she curled her lip: "Dad, who's this?"

"Li Qing. Meng'er! Go back to your practice!"

Chen Shui answered simply.

He helped Li Qing sit down and served a bowl of thin porridge from the pot.

"Drink slowly."

As the warm porridge slid down his esophagus into his stomach, Li Qing almost cried.

This was the first bite of proper food he had tasted since transmigrating.

"Thank you, Uncle Chen..."

His voice choked with emotion.

Chen Shui waved his hand and lowered his voice.

"Gao Qiang has his eyes on your house. Their Gang is short of a martial arts training slot right now."

He glanced at the girl practicing punches in the courtyard.

Li Qing understood Chen Shui's helplessness.

He was a butcher at a nearby slaughterhouse. Many Martial Artist teams would bring Vicious Beasts they killed there.

They were dragged to the slaughterhouse to be butchered.

This was to extract the maximum value from the Vicious Beasts.

Vicious Beast meat, skin, and even Meridians all had different prices.

In this world, the only way for ordinary people to get ahead was through martial arts, but the tuition for martial arts halls was exorbitant.

Chen Shui had been well-off two years ago, but his family had later fallen on hard times.

He had come to the Slum to take refuge.

If not for his large stature, he would have had trouble finding work.

"I understand."

Li Qing put down the bowl.

"Thank you, Uncle Chen. I'll be going now."

Chen Shui had stopped Zhao Si at a critical moment and given him some porridge.

Preventing him from being beaten to death by Zhao Si was already a huge kindness.

At a time like this, he didn't want to cause trouble for his benefactor.

Open attacks are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against; as a hoodlum, if Gao Qiang got desperate, he'd do anything.

Chen Shui was fine, but Chen Meng was still young.

He had to be careful.

Chen Shui opened his mouth as if to say something but ultimately remained silent.

After a moment of hesitation, he pulled an oil-paper package from his shirt.

"I planned to give this to Xiao Meng to eat after her practice."

He pressed it into Li Qing's hands.

"Hide it well, don't let Zhao Si see it."

Inside the paper package was a multigrain rice ball mixed with a few bits of Vicious Beast meat.

To Li Qing, it was better than any delicacy.

This rice ball was worth at least ten wen.

This world used gold and silver for transactions.

1 tael of gold = 10 taels of silver = 10 strings of copper coins = 1000 wen of copper coins.

His grandmother, by doing odd jobs, could earn three strings of copper coins a month, which was three hundred wen.

It was barely enough for the daily lives of the grandmother and grandson.

As for the food and tuition for martial arts training, that was absolutely unaffordable.

He carefully tucked it into his shirt and left after thanking him repeatedly.

The return trip was even harder than the way there.

The calories from the thin porridge were quickly exhausted, and the wound on the back of his head throbbed.

Damn Gao Qiang and Zhao Si!

Li Qing shuffled step by step while leaning against the wall; his ears were buzzing, and colored spots began to appear at the edges of his vision.

This was a sign of hypoglycemic shock.

"I can't faint; if I faint, it's over."

He bit the tip of his tongue to stay conscious.

In the Slum alleys, someone who fainted might never wake up again.

When he finally saw his dilapidated wooden door, Li Qing's legs gave way, and he knelt on the ground.

He struggled to crawl inside, used all his strength to close the door, and collapsed on the floor as his vision went black.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Qing was startled awake by a cold sensation on his face.

Xiao Jia had crawled out of the clay basin at some point and was touching his face with its nose.

"Xiao Jia..."

Li Qing smiled weakly and took out the rice ball.

He broke off a small piece and placed it on the ground; the Turtle immediately crawled over to sniff it.

Li Qing chewed the remaining large portion of the rice ball in small bites, thoroughly mixing each mouthful with saliva.

This was the instinctive way an extremely hungry person ate, to maximize nutrient absorption.

The rice ball didn't look big, but being mixed with Vicious Beast meat, its energy exceeded his imagination.

After eating, he felt some strength return, but his stomach still throbbed slightly.

The damage caused by long-term starvation couldn't be cured by a single meal.

As night fell, the Slum was plunged into darkness.

Li Qing curled up on the earthen bed, listening to the distant sound of dogs barking.

Xiao Jia crawled to his bedside, its black eyes shimmering in the moonlight.

Li Qing stroked Xiao Jia's shell.

Having a pet was good after all; at least he didn't feel so lonely at this moment.

He put Xiao Jia back into the clay basin to avoid crushing it while he slept.

"I need to find a way to make money tomorrow..."

Li Qing murmured to himself.

But what could a fifteen-year-old, malnourished boy do in this world?

No one would even want him for hauling sacks at the docks.

In his drowsy state, a cold mechanical voice suddenly rang out in his mind:

【Clone System operation complete, now activated】

Li Qing suddenly opened his eyes wide.

His vision suddenly split into two parts: one was his own dim adobe room.

The other was a blurry underwater perspective.

It was the Turtle's eyes!

The water in the clay basin rippled slightly, and through the Turtle's eyes, it actually carried a strange fluorescence.

He could control two bodies simultaneously!

He tried to make the Turtle move its front limbs, and the Turtle did so immediately.

It felt as if he were moving them himself.

"The System is here!"

Li Qing was excited.

Having read countless web novels in the modern era, he naturally understood what was happening.

The System interface appeared in his mind.

【Host: Li Qing】

【Age: 15】

【Cultivation: None】

【Clone: Chinese Pond Turtle (Mortal Species)】

【Clone Talents: Water Respiration (Breathe underwater for fifteen minutes), Armor Defense (Consumes stamina, can block attacks from ordinary people), Longevity (Life span of a hundred years)】

【Shareable Talents】

【evolution value: 0/10 (When the evolution value is full, evolution can be initiated)】

With the Clone System, his consciousness could naturally control the Turtle.

While controlling the Turtle, the consciousness in his own body was weak.

If he encountered danger or movement, it could alert the Clone's consciousness.

Just as Li Qing was about to study further, he suddenly saw a figure moving outside the window through the Turtle's eyes.

It was Zhao Si!

He was peering into the room through a crack.

"Brother Qiang was right; this kid really won't survive the night," Zhao Si whispered to his companion.

"We'll come to collect the body tomorrow, and the house will be ours."

Li Qing felt a chill run through his body.

If not for the Vicious Beast rice ball Chen Shui gave him, he might have really starved to death tonight.

But now.

He controlled the Clone to quietly crawl toward the windowsill.

Through the Turtle's eyes, he could clearly see the money pouch hanging from Zhao Si's waist.

A bold plan formed in his mind.

When Zhao Si turned around, Li Qing lunged forward like lightning and precisely bit the knot of the money pouch's string.

The Turtle's bite force was astonishing, and the string snapped instantly.

"What the—"

By the time Zhao Si sensed something was wrong and turned back, Li Qing had already retreated into the depths of the clay basin with the money pouch in his mouth.

"Am I seeing ghosts?"

Zhao Si seemed to have felt something just now, but after looking around, he found nothing.

Suddenly, he froze.

The hand reaching for his waist paused.

Then he quickly felt around again.

?

"Where's my money pouch?"

Zhao Si shouted.

He had clearly paid when he was taking care of some wayward women earlier tonight.

While the two hoodlums helped him look down for it.

Li Qing slipped out through the crack in the door, went around the back of the house, and hid the money pouch under the bed.

The whole process was seamless; the tiny Turtle was completely inconspicuous in the night.

Outside the window, Zhao Si, unable to find the money pouch, left while cursing.

He had to hurry back and look for where he dropped it; that contained the wages he had just received.

Li Qing let out a long sigh of relief and carefully took out the money pouch.

Having done such a thing for the first time, his heart was pounding.

After opening it, there were three taels of silver and dozens of copper coins inside.

To him right now, this was a fortune.

"Xiao Jia, we're going to turn our lives around."

Li Qing stroked the Turtle's rough carapace, a fire of hope igniting in his eyes.

The current Xiao Jia was a Chinese Pond Turtle, belonging to the Mortal Species.

Did that mean it could become another species after upgrading in the future?

He could share the talents.

Now was the time to experiment.

After a long while, Li Qing collapsed directly onto the bed.

His body was still too weak, and this exertion had consumed the remaining energy in his body.

Fortunately, he had money now, so he didn't panic; he had also figured out the talents.

【Water Respiration: Can hold breath underwater for fifteen minutes.】

Fifteen minutes, which is one "kezhong."

【Armor Defense: Once activated, it can form an invisible barrier on the surface that resists ordinary attacks; the duration depends on the amount of stamina used.】

Great talents!

It took Li Qing a while to suppress the excitement in his heart.

Inevitably, Xiao Jia could still be upgraded; even the Mortal Species was this powerful.

If it went up a few more levels, wouldn't the talents be even stronger, or would other talents even appear?

Li Qing's mind wandered.

The evolution value was easy to understand; it probably meant Xiao Jia needed to eat food.

After reaching a certain amount of food, it could evolve to the next stage.

He wondered if it would eventually grow into a Black Tortoise!

Li Qing smiled bitterly and rubbed his stomach.

Tomorrow, he would buy some food and test it out!

He took out thirty wen from the money pouch and tied the rest back up.

He got up and buried the money pouch in the ground.

Tomorrow would be the time to see if his guesses were accurate!

After finishing, Li Qing put the Turtle back into the clay basin, and both human and Turtle fell into a deep sleep.