Chapter 1: Desert-Edition Iced Tea

"Damn it all... I'll be damned..."

A young man, slumped beside the shredded remains of a cactus, cursed weakly into the shimmering air.

Three days. It had been three whole days since he'd been inexplicably dumped in this godforsaken desert. Water? There was none. Food? None of that either. He had been surviving entirely by gnawing on these prickly plants, squeezing out just enough bitter juice to keep himself from dying.

He didn't even dare to breathe too deeply, terrified of losing precious moisture from his lungs. Even his own piss had become a top-tier luxury, every golden, precious drop carefully saved for the most desperate of moments.

That was his goddamn "Desert-Edition Iced Tea."

He lifted his heavy eyelids, gazing out at the distorted heat waves dancing over the endless sand. In his mind's eye, the game character interface for Honkai: Star Rail—the very thing that had crossed over with him—remained stubbornly grayed out.

'Golden finger? What a joke,'he thought bitterly.'This piece of junk is as good as dead.'

-- Advanced Chapter --