Voices spiral across Zhong Youke Liang's head on repeat; it was low and faint, but easily heard.
'My body hurts like hell, even in my head!'
'Wait, my body isn't moving? Don't tell me I got another sleep paralysis...'
Zhong Youke Liang opened his eyes; his vision was blurry, and his body was in pain. He could feel stings everywhere.
'Ow ow ow! Why is my body in so much pain?!'
His body remained immobilized on the ground, but soon enough, his vision cleared, and he could see his surroundings only from the front. All he could see was a rock wall in front and a dark, cloudy sky, which looked very weird, as he had never seen anything like it before.
'What the...is this a dream? Wait, no, if it was, I wouldn't be in excruciating pain right now!'
The pain continued until it no longer stung. It feels like the pain is gone, as if it was lifted away from him. Zhong Youke Liang heaved a loud sigh of relief after feeling nothing but regular feelings instead of pain. It almost felt like a dream, but thanks to the pain, it wasn't.
"Where even am I...woah, what happened to my voice?"
"Why is my voice different? What the hell is going on?!"
Zhong Youke Liang ponders while trying to stand up on both of his legs, it was weak, yet able to stand; his hand was supported by touching the ground and pulling himself up. Soon enough, he looked down and suddenly saw that his body was of a different size and clothing. He was baffled and confused about what had happened to him.
Soon, to his shock, he began to feel as if something was entering his brain; it surged through heavily without warning, and it caused him to have a headache, and he saw scenarios that he had never seen before. It was as if it were memories, but not of his own, but rather about the body he inhabited right now. And soon enough, it looked like a recap story of a TV Show or something.
Azeal Victor is a citizen who grew up in poverty in the city of Jikoranior. A city filled with criminals to commit crimes around, making it a city not inhabitable for most outsiders. But for insiders, it was a place to live temporarily or to earn a quick buck.
Azeal Victor was raised by his uncle since his parent died in an accident while working far away, and his uncle works under a crime syndicate which mostly focuses on extortion of money. However, it wasn't an easy thing for his uncle, as his uncle also had debts to pay to the syndicates.
Azeal's uncle forced Azeal to study instead, as he feared that if he followed his example, he would fail Azeal's parents. Azeal hated studying, but he soon turned over after he discovered a book from his uncle, which taught him about writing, and it fascinated him.
Unfortunately, at the age of 14, Azeal's uncle couldn't pay up his debt to the syndicate he worked under, and as punishment, Azeal was taken into the syndicate to work for them. He was given the assignment to pickpocket from passersby within Jikoranior city. Turns out, Azeal was excellent in it, and that gave him the goal to keep going on so he could pay his uncle's debt.
Soon enough, the memory kept flooding in, but Zhong Youke Liang forced himself to endure the long pain for as long as he could. However, memories were jumbled around as if it likes fragments of glass. Zhong Youke Liang's memories and Azeal Victor's memories clashed with one another, which messed up his brain so much that it felt like it was about to explode.
Zhong Youke Liang held his head with both of his hands as he struggled to take in the large portion of memories of Azeal Victor, but something was not right; it was as if some memories didn't make sense together and seemed like lost in place or never existed.
Soon enough, Zhong Youke Liang held onto the rock walls, and he tried his best not to lose his mind.
'My mind is going haywire! If this keeps up, I'm gonna be a mindless person after this!'
To his surprise, everything suddenly went smoothly. His brain adapted to splitting his memories and Azeal Victor's memory separately, which surprised him a lot, as he doubted that the brain could even do it. Maybe something interfered? Who knows.
Zhong Youke Liang heaved a sigh of relief; however, he realized that the memories of Azeal Victor on how he ended up in this place were not there. And he couldn't figure out how to get back to Jikoranior City from here.
Soon enough, an idea came into his head, and he decided to try and recall the memories of Azeal Victor once more. As he did so, he searched through the memories of Azeal and found out what he could.
At the age of 17, Azeal Victor managed to pay off his uncle's debt, but the syndicate did not have other uses for him. And so, at night, Azeal was simply minding his own business within the streets, and he had a pistol in his hand.
'Wait, a pistol? Is this world advanced or something? And why does he have a pistol?'
Azeal Victor caught something in his eyes as he went through the alleyways to meet up with the syndicates. He spotted someone hiding in the shadows, but before anything else, a sound of a bullet being shot was heard. The person who hid in the shadow had a gun on him as well, but it isn't clear to see as the anonymous person hid in the shadows.
The bullet shot by the anonymous person penetrated Azeal Victor's torso within the blink of an eye; he didn't even see it coming, nor see the anonymous person take it out. A few more rounds were fired, and they hit his heart directly and hit other parts of his organs, and it caused him to stagger back and fall behind on his back.
He was dragged deeper into the alleyways by the anonymous person to hide the body, but before Azeal could draw his last breath, the final words that he heard were from the anonymous person, as only 5 words were spoken.
"Dead man, tell no stories."
Afterwards, as Azeal could feel his life force fading, the anonymous person took out a knife and aimed at Azeal, and soon enough, his life force fully faded.
After recalling the event, Zhong Youke Liang staggered back and faced the cliff walls. He was scared the hell out of his life and could feel chills running down his spine. What he saw was what he didn't expect to find, but he was sure that the body he inhabited right now was a dead man's body. He felt like throwing up on the ground, but his body refused to even do so. And so he gulped it back in.
Even though it may feel like it's a dream, it was surely real in the end. Zhong Youke Liang could still feel his head jumbling around and trying to figure out what was real and what was not. It felt like a fantasy to him in those stories about cultivation or transmigration novels. But it seems in the end, he too realized that he had become one of those victims who got transmigrated into a fantasy world.