abnabooks Chapter 1 The Reverse Scale: The First Awakening of the Clone
Chapter 1 The Reverse Scale: The First Awakening of the Clone
Shixi Village!
East end of the village entrance!
Vast expanses of fields!
Late summer.
The sun was scorching.
Lin Shi stared blankly at the sparse, withered, and drooping rice seedlings in front of him.
It's been half a month!
I've been in this world for a full two weeks!
Having taken over the body of someone also named Lin Shi, the "legacy" he left behind consisted of nothing more than a drafty thatched hut, a few barren plots of land, and the assessment that he was "not good at farming and somewhat dull-witted."
He was awkward with farm tools, struggled to understand the local dialect, and the occasional modern words he blurted out always drew puzzled or mocking glances from the villagers.
The feeling of isolation and alienation is more unbearable than hunger.
"Lin Shi! Are you having a fit of madness over the crops?!"
"Look at your land! Wild rabbits can hide in the weeds! Just wait, if you can't deliver the grain in the fall, the village head will be the first to tear down your dilapidated roof!"
Lin Shi pursed his chapped lips, ignoring the mocking laughter coming from the field beside him, without turning around.
I never even considered making improvements.
However, his previous identity was that of an authority in the field of folklore research, who was proficient in sacrificial rituals throughout five thousand years of human history.
That's right!
The research focuses on the concept of "sacrifice" in the saying "The most important affairs of the state are sacrifice and war."
This has absolutely nothing to do with farming. In fact, even if you haven't eaten pork, you've seen pigs run, and this transmigrator has some knowledge, but he doesn't understand anything about the seeds, fertility, or even the habits of crops in this world.
Having ideas but nowhere to put them into practice, this sense of powerlessness almost overwhelmed him.
Lin Shi silently bent down, trying to distinguish which plant was a seedling and which was a weed, his movements slow and clumsy.
afternoon.
The sun was blazing!
Heaven and earth are like a giant furnace.
It scorches the barren land.
Lin Shi felt like his back was about to crack from the sun, his stomach was empty and he was in waves of cramping pain. Every time he swung the heavy hoe in his hand, it felt like he was squeezing out the last bit of strength from his aching bones.
Zhao Fugui walked up to Lin Shi and stopped. His dark face was expressionless. He carefully examined the field, and his narrow eyes darted around, flashing with shrewd calculation.
"Lin Shi! You know the village rules. The able-bodied men are to do manual labor, fishing in the pond, and the work is divided among the households. You keep making excuses, and now the fields are in this state!"
Zhao Fugui kicked a dry, cracked clod of earth on the edge of the field, his voice cold and hard.
"I'm giving you one last chance. Tomorrow you'll be fishing in the pond. If you dare to slack off again, don't blame me for being ruthless and taking away your land, lest you ruin our ancestral land!"
Zhao Fugui's gaze was like a knife, fixed on Lin Shi's face.
Fishing in the pool?
Lin Shixin shrank back suddenly.
Bibo Pool.
The deep green pool, shrouded in a faint, chilly aura year-round, is a place that the villagers both respect and fear.
Rumors of a "water monster" in the pond and the inevitable accidents that occur every year when fishing in the pond have never ceased.
Just getting close to him immediately made me feel uneasy and anxious.
That's why I made so many excuses to avoid it the first few times.
It looks like there's no escaping it now!
Not going?
Zhao Fugui is the village head.
The village possesses supreme authority!
The threat I just mentioned—taking away my land—is not a joke; they really have the power to do it.
Having lost this only place to stand, I fear I won't survive the winter in this strange and unfamiliar world.
The pressure to survive was colder and more cruel than the pool water, gripping our throats.
Lin Shi gritted his teeth and nodded.
Zhao Fugui was taken aback by Lin Shi's quick agreement this time. After a moment, he gave Lin Shi a deep look and curled his lip.
early morning.
The sky was gray.
Lin Shi walked among several villagers toward Bibo Pool outside the village. At first, there was nothing unusual, but as he got closer, a damp and cold aura began to permeate the air, seeping into his body and penetrating to his bone marrow.
Lin Shi stood by the pool, his expression solemn.
The water was eerily still, like a huge, dark green piece of dead jade, so deep that it was unfathomable. When sunlight shone on it, it was instantly swallowed up, leaving only a gloomy darkness.
"We, the people living by the stream, depend on the flowing spring for our lives and rely on its nourishment for our survival. Today we have prepared a feast of fine wine and seasonal delicacies, and humbly request the Water God to enjoy them."
Zhao Fugui set up simple incense and candles by the pool, knelt down, prostrated himself on the ground, his face solemn, and whispered prayers for peace. After a while, seeing no movement, he breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, bent over, walked to the pool, and carefully scattered the rice grains and bread he had brought into the water.
"Eight people!"
"One person, one raft!"
"Go down to the pool!"
"Fishing!"
Zhao Fugui turned around, waved his hand, and shouted.
Lin Shi watched as everyone else boarded the raft, leaving him alone. With no way to escape, he gritted his teeth, boarded the dilapidated raft, gripped the rough oars, and carefully paddled forward, his fingertips turning white from the effort. The raft swayed and drifted towards the center of the pool. With each sway, his heart leaped into his throat. Finally, he reached the center of the pool, his clothes completely soaked.
Lin Shi put down his oar, observed the fishermen scattered around, and followed their example, lifting the heavy fishing net and casting it down. But just as the net sank into the pool, an inexplicable chill climbed up the net rope and rushed to his head. Then, the raft tilted violently! It was as if something huge had crashed into him from underwater.
"not good!"
Lin Shi let out a short, startled cry.
An irresistible force dragged the raft away, slamming it heavily into the icy pool. A bone-chilling cold instantly enveloped it, and the frigid water rushed into its mouth and nose as if it were alive, squeezing out the last bit of air from its chest.
Lin Shi struggled desperately, his limbs felt as heavy as lead, blood kept gushing from his mouth, nose and ears, slivers of light quickly disappeared above his head, darkness surged in from all directions, and his consciousness became increasingly blurred.
"boom!!!"
On the verge of complete dissipation of Lin Shi's consciousness, deep within his soul, a thunderclap resounded, and a savage, ancient, and untamed power forcibly tore through his senses, causing the world to spin and pouring into his dying body.
Lin Shi slowly opened his eyes.
I saw the path of the water flow!
I can sense the ripples created by a school of fish swimming in the distance!
Feel the texture of the mud and hard rock beneath you!
Lin Shi looked down at his body, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
Its body was covered in hard scales, coiled around the bottom of the pool, and the slightest movement could stir up a turbulent undercurrent. A huge, cold, thick chain, engraved with runes, was tightly bound around it, its other end deeply embedded in the bottom of the pool.
Cold! It seeps into every scale! It's the eternal cold of the underwater world.
Heavy! Bearing the pressure of the entire pool of water, it sits like a mountain.
Darkness! Only the faint shimmering water created a desolate stillness, as if the sun and moon were cut off from each other.
Do not!
This is not my body!
This is a dragon!
Lin Shi saw a huge dragon coiled up at the bottom of the pool, its body bound by thick chains, motionless.
Lin Shitou was in excruciating pain!
Countless chaotic fragments of memory, like a flood bursting its banks, overwhelmed the fragile sea of consciousness, and countless images flashed across the depths of the soul.
Ancient rituals: towering bonfires, twisting and dancing figures, desolate and hoarse chants, and gazes cast upon the water with fear and awe!
Shattered lightning tribulation: Purple lightning danced wildly like dragons across the sky, crashing down with the fury of heavenly might, tearing apart water, scorching souls, and unleashing endless pain and boundless rage!
The despair of bondage: Cold chains bind him, runes flashing, sealing away his immense power. Day after day, year after year, he slumbers in darkness and solitude.
As a dragon, it possesses a violent, angry, and resentful nature, along with a loneliness that has been eroded to the point of numbness by the passage of time, and a deep yearning for freedom.
As human beings, we experience fear, confusion, and the desire to survive.
Two completely different consciousnesses are tearing at each other, violently intertwining and colliding.
This moment!
Lin Shi is just a tiny villager struggling to survive in another world!
Meanwhile, a ferocious dragon has been imprisoned at the bottom of this pool for countless years!
"Over there!"
"Quick, pull him up!"
Lin Shi faintly heard muffled voices, followed by several rough and strong hands grabbing him and dragging him toward the surface of the water.
"cough!"
"Cough cough cough!"
Lin Shi lay on the cold bank, coughing violently and vomiting large amounts of fishy-smelling pool water. His lungs burned with pain, and after an unknown amount of time, he slowly calmed down.
"It's alright now!"
……
"He won't die!"
……
"Fishing!"
"Keep fishing!"
……
"Lin Shi is incredibly lucky!"
"The first one to fall into the pool and come back alive!"
……
The people slowly dispersed.
Lin Shi raised his trembling hand and braced himself on the ground. As soon as he sat up, a sharp pain shot through his palm.
Are you injured?
Lin Shi turned his right hand over and slowly opened it.
A palm-sized scale, with sharp, blade-like edges and a dark, eternal night-like color, was deeply embedded in the skin of the palm, and fresh blood was slowly seeping out, filling the red-stained lines.
A chill, icy and piercing, penetrated flesh and blood, subtly resonating with the heart within the chest cavity, reaching the depths of the soul.
Reverse scale!
A word naturally came to Lin Shi's mind.
The dragon's reverse scale! Touch it and it will enrage!
This is the most forbidden zone on the dragon's body!
Now, this fragment, imbued with the dragon's wrath and primal power, is inextricably linked to his own blood and his own life.
Lin Shi clenched his fist tightly, feeling the icy touch and the stinging pain in his palm. He looked up at the dark green pool, which had returned to calm but seemed even more unfathomable, and a tidal wave of emotions surged within him.
The sunlight was blazing, and his cold body slowly warmed up. His human senses gradually returned, but deep within his body and consciousness, the coldness, heaviness, and sense of constraint that belonged to the dragon, as well as the vast torrent of memories, were deeply imprinted on his soul and could never be removed.
Lin Shi struggled to his feet, raised his head, looked up at the distant sky, clenched his fists tightly, took a deep breath, glared at the sky, and roared silently.
The smooth sailing of his past life and the struggles of this life are shattered at this moment. From now on, he is no longer just a forest stone, but also a dragon at the bottom of the pool.
at the same time!
Deep at the bottom of the pool.
At the same moment, a pair of cold, inhuman vertical pupils slowly opened!