2 I've Crossed Over

Eight o'clock in the evening.

It had been a long time since Shao Zifeng had woken up.

During the entire time, aside from looking at the date, he had been in a state of confusion, and his mind had been in a mess as if some strange memories had been mixed in.

The same name, the same family, and pretty much the same life...

The difference was that when he remembered something, he constantly felt another person was doing something different at the same time.

When he thought about it, a layer of mist seemed to be clouding his vision, and he could not get a clear look.

For example, whenever he recalled the lecture from that morning, every time he recollected the professional terms mentioned by his lecturer, a noun that he had never heard before would somehow appear in his mind. It was as if he had a split personality.

After Shao Zifeng sat for a while, he picked up his cell phone again.

Now, he was certain that the time displayed on the screen was February 18, 2020, not the 19th as he remembered.

As for the memories of the 19th, they felt like part of a dream, a seemingly real dream.

Even...

He could even feel that his kidneys were hurting silently.

Perhaps, it had all really been a dream?

Come to think of it, his days were either spent in class or taking care of the pets in his room. Aside from buying lottery tickets, he basically had no other hobbies.

So, it was not too much for him to dream about winning the jackpot, right?

Thinking of that, Shao Zifeng broke into a self-deprecating smile.

After organizing his thoughts slightly, Shao Zifeng got up from the ground and prepared to start today's recording and feeding based on his notes.

"Hmmm? Where did I put my notebook again?"

When he arrived beside the snake cabinet and did not see his notebook, he hurriedly looked elsewhere.

It was neither on his bed nor under it; it was not on his table, not in the drawer...

Shao Zifeng panicked a little. As a newbie who had just joined the fray, being without his notebook prevented him from fully recognizing the snakes' types.

Coupled with the fact that the young snakes were all so delicate, without the detailed notes, he had no idea which snake he needed to feed.

While he looked for his notebook, Shao Zifeng noticed something strange. Every time he swept his eyes past the snake cabinet, he would always sense a blue dot flashing past the corner of his eyes.

What the hell?

Eye floaters?

He fixed his eyes on the snake cabinet, ready to see what it was.

Suddenly, Shao Zifeng's eyes widened.

"F*ck!"

The moment he looked at the snake cabinet, a few blue light spots suddenly spun at the corner of his eyes.

The blue light spots gathered around the side of the snake and converged, forming a translucent, light blue screen.

There was a dark blue aperture spinning in the light, and a series of dark blue Chinese characters appeared on the screen.

Name: Black-browed brocade snake

Growth: Infancy

Status: Healthy, hungry

Strength: None

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptile

Order: Squamata

Family: Snake

Attribute: None

Potential: None

Talent: None

Skill: Bind

Description: The most common creature template in the world, not even wanted as a pet.

Shao Zifeng stared blankly at the information displayed on the screen.

He suddenly felt ill, and only by looking away did the screen disappear. It reappeared when he looked over again.

What is this?

A hack?

A system?

Aren't these the good stuff that those who cross over get?

Right then, Shao Zifeng suddenly had an unrealistic idea.

He looked at the screen absentmindedly and murmured, "Perhaps that memory wasn't a dream. Have I really crossed over?"

With that in mind, he quickly pulled out his phone and turned on the camera.

A thin but handsome face appeared on the phone screen, but the messy hair looked like it had not been cared for in a long time. Meanwhile, the face appeared even paler in contrast with the black hair.

"Yep, it's still the handsome me." Shao Zifeng lifted his hair a little and was sure that it was his own face.

After he turned off the camera, he tapped on the Tensent news app.

"Breaking news!! The frozen corpse brought back by the Antarctic scientific expedition team has been resurrected by the Capital Research Institute using biotechnology. This is the world's first resurrected ancient creature and remains the only one at present. Its tentative official name is the 'tundra saber-toothed tiger'. Please see the detailed report below."

The instant he saw the news, Shao Zifeng hurriedly exited the webpage to determine if he had been looking at some unscrupulous tabloid.

"It's Tensent, all right..."

He then pulled the page down with his finger and saw the picture in the news article.

It was a creature with its eyes closed, and it looked like a white kitten.

Its fur was messy, and its limbs were stretched open alongside its mouth while its pink tongue was curled up within, as though it was making a cute tiger growl.

Beneath the picture was another photograph. It was of a frozen blackish-brown carcass that was curled up. Judging from its shape and fur, it did resemble the little white cat above.

Shao Zifeng's heart thumped as he clicked on another link.

"The quadrennial National University Cup's qualification tournament is about to commence. As for which university could take the crown, let's see what expert, XX says."

The amount of information in this news article was average.

Skip.

Next.

"Jiangcheng's rat plague continues to rage! Here's the latest frontline footage!!"

Seeing this news, Shao Zifeng's hand could not help but tremble as he hurriedly opened the live stream.

Based on the footage's angle, it was probably a monitored shooting. The footage was not very clear, but he could still see giant rats passing by. Although they were not the size of cats or dogs, they were still much larger than what Shao Zifeng had seen before.

These giant rats ran across the empty streets without fear. From time to time, shop doors and windows would be destroyed, and the swarm of rats would then rush in, leaving a scene of carnage moments later.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in front of the rats as an unclear cry rang out from the footage.

Shao Zifeng looked over and saw a black dog-like creature appearing on the screen. Using the building as a scale reference, the creature was about 1.5 meters tall.

The black dog gnashed its teeth as it stared directly at the rat swarm, and something that looked like embers flickered between its teeth.

Boom!!

A surge of raging flames rampaged across the rat swarm as countless giant rats squirmed and struggled. Then, the stream ended with a screen full of flames. The monitor had probably been destroyed by the fire.

This is...

Shao Zifeng's hand trembled. As he looked back at the first two news articles, his understanding of things began to change completely.

He had indeed crossed over.

"Right, Mom!"

Shao Zifeng was of a single-parent family, and he had been living with his mother since young.

For some reason, he had been abused and ridiculed by his classmates as a child, resulting in his slightly weird personality. Nevertheless, he was still very concerned about his mother.

He was currently feeling a little anxious, and he immediately pulled out his cell phone to ring his mother's number.

Toot...

Toot...

As he waited, every second felt like torment.

A moment later, the call connected, and a lazy, big-sister voice rang out from the phone.

"Hello, is this Xiaofeng?"

Shao Zifeng's breathing lagged a little, and his hands felt cold.

It was not his mother's voice.

He looked at the number on his cell phone and became very flustered.

"Excuse me..." Shao Zifeng took a deep breath; there was a quiver in his voice.

The big-sister voice paused for a moment. "Mom, Xiaofeng's on the phone."

Hmm?

Shao Zifeng was stunned.

Why are you calling Mom with such familiarity? Who the hell are you?

As the only child, he had no siblings or any childhood friends. Why would someone suddenly be trying to snatch his mom from him?

Was his mother hiding something from him?

As he thought of it, Shao Zifeng felt confused.

"Hello, Xiaofeng."

As he heard the familiar voice, the uneasiness and anxiety in Shao Zifeng's heart slowly subsided.

"Mom..."

Without waiting for Shao Zifeng to speak, the voice on the other end of the phone chattered. "Why have you suddenly remembered to call me? Are you short of money? I'm busy feeding the little kings at home; I'll hang up first if there's nothing going on. I'll transfer the money once I'm done. The phone bill is expensive, you know."

Her familiar style brought Shao Zifeng back to his senses, and it felt like seeing a lighthouse in the distance while floundering in a sea of mist. His nose felt a little twitchy out of nowhere.

"Mom, I—"

"All right, I'll hang up first if everything's fine. My waist has been biting at me lately, and once I stop, I won't feel like continuing my work. There are so many mouths waiting to be fed.. Oh, come back if you have time. Qiqi misses you too."

Toot... Toot...

As the busy tone came from the phone, the big rock hanging in Shao Zifeng's heart finally dropped.

Even if he had crossed over, he was still himself, and his mom was still his mom—that much was certain.

As for Qiqi, it was a small white kitten he had picked up from the streets three years ago, and it usually glued itself to him. Later on, when he had to attend university, Qiqi stayed behind to accompany his mother.

At that moment, Shao Zifeng suddenly remembered something.

Who was the owner of that big-sister voice that was trying to steal his mother away from him?