Chapter 3 - Waking Up

Zhao Hai slowly opened his eyes. He now knew what had happened, Adam’s memories had completely merged with his own, also letting Zhao Hao fully understand that he had really transmigrated, and also the most common transmigration of the soul to seize a body.

He would be disqualified as a nerd if he didn’t know about transmigration, Zhou Hai just hadn’t thought that he would actually transmigrate himself, and moreover into the body of such a poor devil.

Zhao Hai had already learned what was going on from Adam’s memories, he just didn’t know what kind of place he had reached while Adam was unconscious and travelling from the capital. He was no longer in that house in the Aksu imperial capital, from his look around last time he woke up, he knew it wasn’t the home Adam was familiar with.

Zhao Hai opened his eyes, sensing someone next to him. He turned his head to look, discovering the old man he had seen the first time he woke up standing there. Even though the old man’s expression was solemn, his eyes were filled with concern.

Different from the first time he woke up, this time Zhao Hai recognized the old men. He was the Buda family’s old butler, Green Buda. Green originally wasn’t named Buda, but he had been given the name by Zhao Hai’s grandfather, and had always loyally followed the Buda family, and was the most trusted person in the household.

But previously Adam’s relationship with Green wasn’t particularly good, Adam was a hedonistic son, while Green was a serious person, always looking after him and telling him this was forbidden, or he couldn’t do that, and so Adam rather loathed Green. But because Green was too senior, let alone him, even his father wouldn’t dare be rude to Green, and so he could only endure.

After being reborn, Zhao Hai naturally wouldn’t be as retarded as Adam was before. Having read countless transmigration novels, and with the mind of an adult, having always led an extremely bumpy life, Zhao Hao would naturally be more sensible than the spoiled Adam. Of course he also knew Green’s importance to him. With such an old butler, he could be completely at ease in leaving everything to him.

Moreover, he could figure out from Adam’s memories that this old butler might be even stronger than his father. In this world, strength represented hope for survival.

A long time of living as a nerd, a long time of imagination, as well as Adam’s memories, made Zhao Hai quite accepting of transmigration. He was equally somewhat expectant, this was really just a change in scenery. Only two things made him unhappy, one was that there were no computers here, so he couldn’t go online. Keeping a nerd from the web was even more painful than death. The second was that he had tasted the Water of Nothingness, and wouldn’t be able to train battle qi or magic in the future, shattering Zhao Hai’s dreams of ruling the world.

Zhao Hai didn’t discover that he had actually already assimilated Adam’s memories. The reason he wasn’t flustered was because he had always been familiar with living in the Ark continent. Looking at the two things he was unhappy about, one of the two was related to Zhao Hai from Earth, and the other was related to life in the Ark continent.

But Zhao Hai also clearly understood that, even if those things were unpleasant, he was here now and had nothing better to say, since he had come, he’d be comfortable, hereafter he was Adam Buda.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hai couldn’t help heaving a long sigh, as if something in his heart had come loose. It was really no wonder he could accept Adam’s identity so easily, because he had no family in his last life, because he stayed at home too much he didn’t have any friends either, one might say he had no concerns for Earth. Being here now was just a change of scenery, nothing extraordinary, and there were also people who cared for him by his side, there wasn’t anything bad.

At this time Green had also noticed that Zhao Hai was already awake, and quickly came to the bedside, saying: “Young master, how do you feel? Do you still feel ill? Does your head still hurt?”

Zhao Hai hadn’t heard such words of concern for a long time. Hearing them now, he couldn’t help feeling a burst of warmth. It didn’t feel like his body had any major problems, and promptly sat up, shaking his head to Green: “I’m alright. Grandpa Green, where is this place?”

Green clearly stared blankly a moment. The previous Adam absolutely wouldn’t be this courteous, and he was very unaccustomed to suddenly hearing him speak like that, but he still at once answered: “Young master, we’ve already reached the fief.”

Zhao Hai looked distracted, then at once understood, nodding: “It’s the Black Waste?”

Green felt very surprised at Zhao Hai’s calm, but he still nodded: “Yes, this is the Black Waste.”

Zhao Hai nodded: “Where are we right now? What are the circumstances here? How many people altogether? How much land?”

In Adam’s memories were only some minor legends about the Black Waste, it was close to the Carrion Marsh, there was no land to cultivate here, and so on. There was no other knowledge, that’s why Zhao Hai would ask. No matter what was said, he was no Adam, and hereafter he would live in this Black Waste, so he also wanted an understanding of the circumstances here.

Green stared blankly at Adam. If not for Adam always having been under his care, he would definitely have thought that Adam had been replaced with a stranger.

“Don’t tell me it’s that setbacks make people grow?” Even if Green was puzzled, he still wouldn’t suspect Adam’s identity, he could only view Adam’s present appearance as the result of maturing.

But Zhao Hai’s behaviour made Green extremely happy, and he quickly said: “Young master, we are in the fief’s Castellan Mansion, located on the iron mountain of the Black Waste. This iron mountain was abandoned by the dwarves, and has some land that can be tilled. Young master please punish me, I took charge without permission and sold all the things in the house to buy large amounts of goods and a hundred slaves. Currently we only have a little more than a hundred gold coins of cash on hand. The people here are only me, my wife, my granddaughter, and Blockhead and Rockhead, and only those hundred slaves as subordinates, everyone else already left.”

Zhao Hai nodded, his mind analyzing the current situation. They were now in a deadland, but they had a castellan house to live in, a mountain that could produce, a hundred slaves, as well as five people he could be at ease with, and also the people closest to him.

Zhao Hai nodded: “Grandpa Green’s actions were correct, gold is useless in a place like this, only supplies can support us for a while. Good, I have no opinions at this point. Grandpa Green, you keep sorting things out, take a look at how much arable soil there is on this iron mountain, we’ll sow something suitable, after all, we still need to eat.”

Green nodded:

“Very good. Young master rest first, I’ll have Meg come serve you in a while.”

At Green’s mention of Meg, a delicate looking, cyan haired, petite lass appeared in Zhao Hai’s mind, that was Green’s granddaughter.

But soon after Zhao Hai smiled wryly, because Adam had previously wanted to molest Meg, but Meg was a sixth level mage, and while her exterior was delicate, her heart was unyielding. Even if she didn’t dare do anything to him, as long as Adam even thought about it, she’d kill herself, leaving Adam not daring to truly do anything to her.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hai couldn’t help secretly cursing. The trouble Adam had previously stirred up was left to him to deal with. Under such circumstances, Zhao Hai could only feel embarrassed, and at once said: “No need, grandpa Green, I want to rest a while, don’t let them disturb me, call for me when it’s time for supper.”

Green bowed: “Yes, by your leave.” Finished speaking, he retreated from Zhao Hai’s room.

Zhao Hai sighed inwardly, then slowly stepped off the bed. Even though he remembered lying in bed for a long time, he didn’t feel like it, on the contrary he felt like he had strength left over. He couldn’t help stretching, then walked over to the window, slowly pushing it open and looking outside.

What entered his field of view was a small castle type structure, and he was located on the top floor, able to clearly see everything around. This was a western style little castle, right ahead was a small square encircled by walls, and outside the castle was a black land without human footprints. That black land was black as if soaked in oil, giving people a lifeless feeling.

In the castle square was a large pile of things. Looking carefully, it seemed to be things for everyday life, and a large group of people were hurrying about.

These people were male and female, dressed uniformly in rough cotton clothes. The difference was that the men had a mark on their foreheads. It was too far away to see clearly, but Zhao Hai knew that it was definitely the mark of the Buda clan, signifying they were slaves belonging to the Buda family.

Looking further to the sides was a stretch of barren hills, on which grew some twisted and deformed trees. These trees didn’t grow well, each and everyone as if sick, completely lacking in vitality. Besides these trees were weeds, these grasses didn’t grow tall and also seemed malnourished.

Withdrawing hi gaze, he again looked at the castle that was now considered his. The castle wasn’t small, housing a few thousand people might be no problem. But it seemed as if nobody had lived here for long time, lichen grew on the walls, grasses poked out between the stones, generally looking dilapidated. Looking at the window paper, it was clearly newly pasted on, and the other windows were still bare.

Zhao Hai couldn’t help smiling wryly. In Adam’s memories he could clearly remember the Buda family’s imperial mansion using glass, but here they used primitive paper windows. It really was a difference.

But it still gave Zhao Hai a heroic feeling. No matter how it was put, everything the light touched was his land, and no matter what anyone said, he didn’t believe that the earth the looked like it could discharge oil couldn’t bear any crops. He had to survive, and show up those who wanted to harm him. That would be a bit of compensation for taking over Adam’s body.

Just at this moment, a voice echoed in his mind……