Cold. Shaking.
And the earthy scent of soil and fresh grass.
Gong Qu curled up, slowly pushing himself upright, blinking in confusion.
But as his surroundings came into focus, his pupils contracted sharply.
He was in a forest ecosystem, vibrant, thriving, and perfectly preserved. Flowers bloomed in a riot of color, birds circled in the sky.
A great vacation spot, no doubt.
But this scene was completely different from what he remembered just a moment ago.
"I remember… a dump truck came barreling toward me…"
Rubbing his forehead, Gong Qu could still feel the phantom pain of that final moment.
By now, he more or less understood what had happened.
A cliché isekai scenario, nothing more. And now it had landed on him, a lowly corporate drone. Nothing to be surprised about.
Closing his eyes, Gong Qu took a deep breath, savoring the rare sensation of a healthy, vibrant body. The dullness that used to fill his gaze gave way to clarity.
"First things first, figure out what kind of world this is."
He walked over to a large tree and tapped the trunk, but for some reason, an odd impulse rose in his mind, he wanted to punch the tree.
He looked at his own fist, then at the ancient tree's bark, tough and stone-like.
For a moment, he hesitated.
"This feels… strangely familiar."
Curiosity ultimately got the better of caution. Gong Qu threw a punch.
Thunk!
A crisp sound rang out. Gong Qu didn't feel any pain, but he definitely connected with the tree.
Thunk, thunk, thunk!
He punched several more times in succession. The part of the tree trunk he struck visibly shrank.
"This feeling is getting stronger…"
Driven by a growing suspicion, Gong Qu kept at it.
Several dozen seconds later—
With one final blow to the last "stick" supporting the tree, the whole thing came crashing down with a loud crack!
And the moment it hit the ground, it shattered into dozens of brown cubes, sticks, and saplings.
[Achievement Unlocked: Chop Chop Chop Master]
[Reward: 100 World Coins]
Lines of text floated above Gong Qu's head.
Wordlessly, he crouched and began picking up the scattered oak logs and other materials. Then, as if it were second nature, he opened his inventory and crafted dozens of wooden planks from the logs. With four of those planks, he crafted a crafting table.
He, Gong Qu—civil engineering office grunt and 21st-century corporate slave, was absolutely addicted to Minecraft!
Half an hour later, on a grassy hill.
Gong Qu was munching on a pristine, untainted apple.
"One thing's for sure, I've definitely been transported into the world of MC. Even though the environment looks like it's running ultra-HD shaders and a hyper-realistic texture pack, the fundamental rules are exactly like the original game."
At that thought, he felt a pang of regret for never learning redstone circuitry from his computer science buddies back in school.
Back then, as the civil engineering guy, he spent all his time in MC building lavish Baroque-style palace complexes—basically a second job within the game.
Meanwhile, his childhood best friend, who was a computer science major, used to say, "You play tech mods in adventure packs? Lame." But the next second, he'd obediently build mob farms, villager trading halls, and redstone contraptions.
Honestly, if that guy had transmigrated into this world instead of him, he'd probably be thriving right now.
At the very least, he wouldn't be worrying about basic resources.
"Oh right… the World Coins. What even are those? Some kind of cheat from transmigration?"
With a thought, Gong Qu's inventory screen morphed into what looked like a store interface.
[Beginner's Gift Pack: 100 World Coins]
[Red Elixir of Support (12 Bottles): 100 World Coins]
[Blue Elixir of Support (12 Bottles): 100 World Coins]
[Bottle of Enchantment: 1 World Coin]
[Random Mod Pack (1st Try): 100 World Coins]
[Super Lottery (1 Try): 100 World Coins]
[Super Lottery (11 Tries): 1000 World Coins]
[Super Lottery (120 Tries): 10000 World Coins]
A 3x3 grid of items, eight in total surrounding the edges. In the center: two options, Buy and Refresh.
"Definitely not part of vanilla MC. But this janky UI… don't tell me I've landed in some half-finished browser game?"
With a quiet jab at the interface, Gong Qu tapped Buy and purchased the Beginner's Gift Pack.
He'd spent the past half hour punching trees by hand and had nearly ten stacks of raw logs stored away. He was just about ready to start looking for a nice lakeside plot to build a house.
This starter pack came at the perfect time.
If it came with a colony mod or something like that, he wouldn't even have to build manually—just drop a blueprint and boom, instant settlement.
"Open Beginner's Gift Pack!"
He mentally whispered the command. Instantly, the parcel in his inventory unfurled.
[Received Mod Integration Pack — Adventure of the Dragon]
[Received Red Elixir of Support ×12]
[Received Blue Elixir of Support ×12]
[Received Building Blueprint — Forest Cottage]
[Received Maid Talisman (Unused) ×1]
The sound of jingling system chimes rang in his ears.
Five items in total—but for Gong Qu, it was like winning the lottery.
"Adventure of the Dragon—could it be the one I'm familiar with?"
Even though he was a relatively new MC player with just five years of experience, he'd played several of the most popular mega modpacks.
Infinity Evolved, Another Life in a Strange World, Divine Engineering, Nature's Journey, Adventure of the Dragon… Each one was like a whole new game, full of surprises with every fresh run.
"I wonder which version this is. Every version adds different mods. Some even come with bugs. Not to mention that cursed item, The Ring of Seven Woes."
Ah, yes, the Ring of Seven Woes.
An unremovable accessory that started appearing in certain versions of the Adventure of the Dragon modpack.
It granted powerful buffs… but also devastating curses, especially for new players.
Passive mobs turn hostile, armor becomes less effective, and all damage is doubled. A complete nightmare for beginners.
If you're unfamiliar with the mod, getting slaughtered ten times by mobs in the early game was basically standard.
"Better to focus on stable development first. I have no idea if respawning is even possible here… and I'm not in a rush to find out. One step at a time."
Gong Qu slotted the red and blue potions into his hotbar and continued onward in search of a place to settle.
This time, things were different.
Originally, he assumed he'd be living like a caveman in the early stages, cramped and shabby, so it didn't matter where he spawned.
But now, with a building blueprint in hand, it was only right to find a truly prime piece of land.
One hour later.
The sun had climbed to its zenith. Gong Qu had finally found what he was looking for.
A river-formed alluvial plain.
A towering waterfall cascaded from a mountaintop, fanning out into a massive lake. The lake's outlet wound far into the distance, eventually joining the sea.
To the east, less than a kilometer away, was a birch forest. To the west, open, rolling meadows.
The lush environment supported a thriving animal population, cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens roamed everywhere.
"With this much open land, farming should be more than feasible. If I get a colony mod later, this can serve as the central hub for expansion."
With that in mind, Gong Qu took out the blueprint for the Forest Cottage.
A massive holographic projection instantly materialized before him.
"…???"
A sprawling manor over a hundred meters in both length and width, and they call this a cottage?
Gong Qu stood there, stunned.