"Wake up! Hey, wake up, kid."
Peng Da struggled to open his eyes. In his blurry vision, he saw a human face. It belonged to a middle-aged man with a full beard and a pair of triangular eyes that gleamed with shrewdness. A white cloth was wrapped around his head.
Peng Da was startled.
He clearly remembered falling asleep in his own bedroom—how could a strange man have broken into his room?
He immediately exerted himself and sat up on the ground. The next moment, he froze again.
"Where am I?!" He stared in shock at his surroundings. He was in the middle of a vast desert. The sky stretched high above with only scattered clouds, the blazing sun hung directly overhead, and heat waves shimmered from the ground.
"Ha ha, the kid's confused."
"Lucky to be alive. A pack of sand wolves attacked him in the desert, and he's still breathing."
The people around him weren't just the middle-aged bearded man—several others had gathered around as well.
Not far away, a camel caravan was resting on the ground.
"Kid, this is the Wolf Desert. When we found you, your companions were already dead. A sand wolf pack was feeding on their corpses. We drove the wolves away and found that you were the only one still clinging to life."
"My name is Moli. I'm the leader of this caravan. I saved you and treated your wounds. You're lucky you ran into us. Do you remember anything now?" the middle-aged bearded man introduced himself.
Peng Da sat blankly on the desert sand. The scorching grains beneath him and the searing sunlight overhead gradually helped him come to his senses.
None of this was a dream!
"I've transmigrated!"
"Holy crap, transmigration is actually real, and it happened to me!"
"But how? Last night I was clearly just debugging code, and the next morning I woke up here."
"Judging by their clothing and language, this is definitely another world."
"And how come I can speak this world's language too? It's like speaking the local tongue has become second nature!"
Peng Da's throat went dry, and his heart pounded wildly. The sudden upheaval caught him completely off guard, plunging him into panic as he silently cursed his fate.
But several burly men stood nearby, watching him closely. Peng Da had no choice but to force himself to remain calm. He clutched his head with both hands and shook it repeatedly. "I—I only remember that my name is Peng Da. As for everything else… damn it, I can't recall anything!"
"You can't be serious? You've lost your memory?"
"What a disappointment."
"He's not even a Gu Master, just an ordinary mortal. Does it really matter whether he remembers or not?"
The others murmured among themselves.
Moli, the middle-aged bearded man, gave Peng Da a long, penetrating look. A glint of sharpness flashed through his eyes and vanished. "Since you can't remember, then forget about it. Hopefully one day it'll come back to you. What are your plans now—will you travel with my caravan?"
Peng Da nodded hurriedly. He didn't dare stay in the desert alone. "Uncle Moli, I'll definitely repay your life-saving kindness. Whatever destination you're headed, please take me along. Because honestly, I have no idea where to go."
His expression of bewilderment was entirely genuine. Having just arrived in this world, he truly had no idea what to do.
"Then stick with us," Moli nodded, then turned to the people beside him. "Find a camel for the kid."
"Got it." One of them immediately stepped forward. "Kid, come with me."
Peng Da was led to a camel, and his eyes went wide with astonishment. "This is a camel?"
The Gu Master who had brought him over looked at him oddly. "Kid, are you from the Western Desert? You don't know what a heated-back camel is?"
The heated-back camel had no humps—instead, its back was concave, forming an oval-shaped hollow. The rider lay inside this hollow, cushioned by soft fur and warmed by the camel's comfortable body temperature. With practiced ease, the Gu Master cleared the goods from the hollow and set up a tent over it. Some of the cargo was strapped to the camel's sides beneath the tent.
Peng Da had no choice but to continue feigning a pained expression. "I don't remember. Damn it, I just can't think of anything!"
The Gu Master glanced at him. "I don't care what you've forgotten. But remember this—your life was saved by our leader. You're joining this caravan now, eating our food, drinking our water, sleeping under our shelter. You work. Understood?"
Peng Da nodded quickly. "Of course! Just give me orders. I'll do everything to the best of my ability!"
"Mm." The Gu Master gave a perfunctory nod, looking barely satisfied.
But just then, Moli's voice carried over from a distance. "Don't give him a hard time. Let the young man rest a bit and catch his breath. Meeting someone out here in this enormous desert—it's fate. Making a living out here in the desert, none of it's easy for anyone."
The Gu Master who was escorting Peng Da sighed and called out, "Boss, you're still such a soft touch."
Hearing this, Peng Da felt even more goodwill toward Moli. He couldn't help but shout back, "Uncle, thank you so much! I'll repay you properly someday!"
Moli laughed heartily. "All right, kid, just get on that camel and rest a while."
Then he raised his voice to address everyone. "Break time's over—let's move out!"
And so the camel bells jingled as the caravan set off once more, trudging across the vast expanse of desert.
Peng Da lay on the back of the heated-back camel, finding it surprisingly comfortable.
Alone with his thoughts, he made a startling discovery—his body was no longer the one he had before. It was clearly the body of a native of this other world. His skin was tanned brown, his hands and feet were rough, and his joints were thick and heavy.
"So my soul transmigrated and revived using this native's body."
"No wonder I can speak the local language. Too bad I didn't absorb any of the original owner's memories."