Miserable Otaku
1137 Words
Tian woke up to find that the world had changed.
At the very least, his bed had changed. His old bed was a secondhand spring mattress he had slept on for seven years. Though a bit worn out, it was still quite comfortable — soft, elastic, and perfect for the occasional exercise session with a girl, complete with a squeaky "creak creak" sound for added ambiance. But now, he felt cold, hard discomfort beneath his back, making him wonder what he was lying on.
The worst part was the air — it reeked like a pigsty. While he admitted his own room sometimes had a funky smell, it was far better than this.
When he tried to get up to inspect his surroundings, sharp pain shot through his entire body, making him groan in agony, “What the hell happened to me?”
Suddenly, he noticed something peculiar — he was wearing clothes. He always slept n***d. The material and design of the clothing felt bizarre, almost like ancient garments.
“What’s going on? This makes no sense.”
Just as he lay there thinking, strange sounds came from the next room — “grunt, grunt, grunt…”
“What the hell is that noise?”
“Sounds like a pig…”
“Wait, my neighbor is a pig?”
“Impossible. I’ve lived here for years… wasn’t my neighbor that meat-selling girl?”
Stunned, Qin Tian lay motionless, staring at the tiled ceiling above him. Sunlight streamed through the gaps between the tiles, casting soft beams onto his face.
He was completely dumbfounded.
Something he would never believe had happened.
Qin Tian was a hardcore otaku, addicted to games, novels, and anime. He had always scoffed at the idea of transmigration in novels, dismissing it as a mere plot gimmick. If it were real, he would’ve been the first to try it — anything to change his dull life.
He despised his current life but avoided facing reality, scraping by with money from gaming services. Just last night, while power-leveling a client’s character, he encountered a strange wild boss. The game was his specialty, and he knew it inside out — bosses never appeared in the wild. But he didn’t overthink it and immediately started attacking.
Then something unbelievable happened. The boss spoke.
“Don’t attack me, I have something to say—”
“Say what? I need loot! How else am I supposed to get gear?”
Without hesitation, Qin Tian unleashed a brutal attack. The boss was utterly defenseless, and its health plummeted.
“Die already!”
“You’ll regret this…” The boss gave Qin Tian a haunting glare before vanishing, leaving behind no loot or experience points.
Disappointed, Qin Tian was about to log off when a mysterious scroll appeared where the boss had fallen. The ancient runes and intricate seals carved into it intrigued him.
Without a second thought, he clicked it.
The screen burst into dazzling light — and then, darkness.
Now, he sat up painfully, inspecting the ramshackle room. Other than a worn-out table, the only notable thing was a pool of foul-smelling green liquid in the corner — a mix of pig urine and feces. The stench made him gag.
“Is this a place fit for humans?!” he cursed.
At that moment, a loud crash came from next door.
“Young master, you’re awake!”
The voice was booming and filled with excitement.
“I’m awake.” Qin Tian answered instinctively, then frowned as his head throbbed. “Wait, young master? What the hell? If I’m a young master, why am I living in this dump?”
Transmigrated without reason, suddenly a useless young master…
Qin Tian felt his heart sink. His body was weak, his background pitiful, and his servant… wasn’t exactly competent either. The worst part? His new identity came with a history of failure and fifteen wasted years of life.
Heavy footsteps thudded from the next room.
“Fatty’s coming.”
The sound alone was enough for Qin Tian to recognize him — his servant of ten years, a massive man weighing over 250 pounds — Meng Lei.
Meng Lei was an anomaly. Despite Qin Tian’s disgraceful status, Meng Lei had followed him out of loyalty, even when he could’ve stayed with the main family.
“Young master, I thought you were a goner!”
From the fragmented memories of this body’s past, Qin Tian vaguely knew Meng Lei. But seeing the man’s sheer bulk left him speechless. Two meters tall, with thick limbs and an imposing build — it was hard to believe a person could grow so massive.
Despite his appearance, Meng Lei was merely a third-tier martial artist, possessing strength but no real skill. That made him only slightly better than Qin Tian, whose first-tier status was even weaker than a child’s.
Weakness had led to constant beatings and humiliation. In this world where might made right, Qin Tian’s previous self had endured a lifetime of a***e.
“Why, oh why, did I have to transmigrate into such a pathetic body?” he groaned internally.
No parents, no master, no support. Fifteen years of neglect from the Qin family had led to this miserable existence.
“God, at least give me some cheat skills for transmigrating…”
As he brooded, reality set in — martial arts were out of the question. His shattered dantian made cultivating impossible.
For five years, the old Qin Tian had trained relentlessly, clinging to the hope of breaking through. But his efforts had amounted to nothing.
“Where’s my protagonist perk? At least throw me a bone, Universe!”
Qin Tian wracked his brain for ways to make money. But as a shut-in gamer, business and real-world skills were foreign concepts.
“If this world had MMORPGs, I’d be a millionaire by now…”
Just then, a man barged in. It was Zhang Dafu, the innkeeper of Furong Tavern. He paused briefly, surprised to see Qin Tian alive.
“Awake, huh? Thought you’d be dead by now.”
Qin Tian shot him a glance but said nothing.
“Well, don’t just sit there! If you’re awake, get your a*s to work! You think you can laze around just because you’re breathing?”
Zhang Dafu’s shouting sprayed spittle all over Qin Tian’s face.
“Boss, my young master’s still recovering,” Meng Lei pleaded.
Zhang Dafu sneered, “Young master? Ha! What kind of young master sleeps in pig s**t? If it were up to me, I’d throw him into Kunlun Forest to feed the monsters!”
Meng Lei clenched his fists in rage.
“Enough,” Qin Tian muttered, dragging his aching body to his feet. “I’ll work.”
“Pathetic…” Zhang Dafu muttered with a sneer, spitting on the floor.
- Writer
