Here's your improved English translation, polished for natural flow, clarity, and readability while keeping the original meaning and tone intact.
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**Chapter 1: I Transmigrated Into a Book and Was Snatched Away by the Lord God Again**
The spring rain fell without end.
As the saying goes, spring rain is as precious as oil. Across the boundless great grassland, the steady drizzle awakened the vibrant life of all living things.
The rain's cool touch rode the wind into Warm Pool Valley.
Deep in the valley stood rows of buildings—some tall, some short, some spacious and bright, others dilapidated and cramped.
At the edge of this sprawling cluster, in an unremarkable little house, a young man sat in a wooden tub filled with water. Candlelight flickered as he half-closed his eyes, drifting in and out of sleep.
The liquid in the tub looked clear at first glance, but shimmered with a faint jade-green hue, like amber.
Yet as time passed, the jade-green color gradually faded, slowly disappearing.
After about ten minutes, the aquamarine tint was barely visible. The young man, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.
"The Water Jade Gu can be used twice more. Rank One Peak... still so far away."
"There's a little over a month until the clan competition. In such a short time, there's no chance of turning things around."
"Sigh. Zhou Lin, Zhou Tong, and the others with Grade A aptitude advanced to Two-turn months ago. The gap truly grows wider by the day."
"I can't believe I transmigrated sixteen years ago, couldn't use my knowledge of the world's plot to get ahead, and ended up tripping over the aptitude problem instead!"
Zhou Ming never dreamed he would transmigrate—and into the world of a novel he'd read in his previous life, no less!
Gu refinement, Gu usage, Gu raising—that world, which could rightly be called the Gu World, had built its entire civilization and all its extraordinary powers upon the raising, using, and refining of Gu worms.
To control Gu worms, one must first become a Gu Master. Much like cultivators in immortal cultivation novels, Gu Masters had differences in aptitude, divided into four grades from high to low: Grade A, B, C, and D.
Zhou Ming's cultivation aptitude wasn't good. He had Grade C aptitude, with only 50% true essence in his aperture. Slightly better than the protagonist's initial aptitude in the original story, but barely better than nothing.
Low aptitude meant slow progress. Gu Master cultivation had nine ranks. He had opened his aperture at fifteen, and in the year since, he was still at the high-level Rank One realm.
Even though Zhou Ming knew many of the world's secrets, without sufficient strength, he could only stand helplessly before a mountain of treasure.
"Insufficient aptitude, insufficient resources. If this continues, there's no hope at all."
"Two years from now, the great snowstorm that sweeps through the Northern Plains every decade will arrive. With my aptitude, what realm can I reach? Rank Three? Rank Four? Heh. I'll probably still be struggling at Two-turn."
"By then, my end will likely be like the countless flowers and grasses of the Northern Plains—withering away at some unknown time."
As Zhou Ming thought this, the faint sorrow between his brows twisted into a bitter smile.
He stood up, reaching for a towel nearby to dry himself and go to sleep.
No matter what, he wouldn't give up. Until the day he died, who knew what tomorrow might bring?
But just as he rose, his vision suddenly went black. He lost all consciousness.
*"What... is happening?"*
That was the only thought in Zhou Ming's mind when he opened his eyes again.
What greeted him was sunshine, a beach, and bikini-clad beauties.
Zhou Ming stared blankly, raising his head to look into the distance: hotels, roads, cars, all kinds of modern buildings and facilities. He wondered if he was dreaming.
Which was more likely—dreaming of his completely different previous life in the Gu World, or transmigrating to another world again?
"Oh, look, a streaker. Little brother, you're pretty kinky, huh."
A teasing female voice pulled Zhou Ming's thoughts back to reality—and made him realize his current predicament.
His body was still that of the sixteen-year-old youth from the Gu World. And because he'd been bathing earlier, he was currently stark naked.
Zhou Ming didn't feel much shame or embarrassment. The first thing he did was take the opportunity to size up the speaker.
Before him stood a tall, buxom beauty with fiery red lips. Though her long, wavy hair was golden and sparkling, she clearly had East Asian features—yellow skin and black eyes. She was as vibrant as a rose, her gaze burning like flames, full of aggression.
Beside her stood another person, also East Asian, with a buzz cut. Tall and robust, with a resolute, strong face, yet utterly expressionless. He stood there motionless like a robot, as if a young Governor Arnold had once again played the T-800.
On Zhou Ming's side, there were two men and one woman, all in their twenties. Their consciousness seemed somewhat unclear at the moment, their reactions a bit slow.
What Zhou Ming found most peculiar was an intangible sense of detachment, as if an invisible barrier enveloped them, making them out of place with the rest of the world.
*A rather familiar sense of déjà vu.*
As this thought arose, Zhou Ming responded to the woman's teasing.
"I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I was just taking a bath..."
Zhou Ming hastily covered his privates with both hands, his cheeks flushing crimson. His bewildered appearance perfectly conveyed a youth's shyness and panic.
Having transmigrated for over a decade, he deeply understood the principle of keeping a low profile. He had never shown anything out of the ordinary, behaving like a typical youth for sixteen years.
Daily performances had long made his acting skills superb and effortless.
At this moment, he seemed to suddenly realize something and said blankly, "Huh, right... this, where is this place? How did it—how did it suddenly..."
"Hehe, little brother, don't worry. I'll tell you all about it later."
The golden-haired, buxom woman continued to brazenly scan Zhou Ming's vital areas, laughing as she patted the man beside her.
"You have spare clothes, right?"
"Looking for them now." As the tall, Terminator-like man spoke, a few pieces of clothing suddenly appeared in his hands as if by magic.
Seeing this, Zhou Ming put on a suitable expression of surprise.
*Is it a deceptive trick? Or a spatial item?* he speculated internally.
The tall man handed over the clothes. Zhou Ming, with a grateful and shy expression, quickly took them and put them on as fast as possible.
Although Zhou Ming was tall and well-proportioned with defined muscles, compared to the tall man—who was over 1.9 meters and built like a bear—he still appeared "frail" and weak.
As a result, the clothes the tall man had prepared for himself hung loosely on Zhou Ming, creating an oddly comical effect.
Zhou Ming naturally didn't care about such things. It was good enough to have clothes to wear.
Even with two lives, the shame of running around naked was off the charts.
"Alright, everyone, look at me. I'll explain the current situation to you all."
The buxom woman clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention to her.
Surprisingly, no one panicked or screamed. Including Zhou Ming, the three men and one woman quietly gathered around.
"Well, your psychological fortitude is quite good. Or maybe young people are just more adaptable. Not like my batch—some aunts and uncles screamed, others stubbornly refused to believe. Almost got them killed..."
The buxom beauty muttered a few sentences, then scanned the group.
"Well, you're all young people. You should be familiar with terms like 'infinite flow,' 'Main God,' and 'Reincarnator,' right?"
"From your expressions, you've already guessed your current predicament, haven't you?"
Indeed!
The buxom woman's single sentence confirmed that Zhou Ming's previous sense of déjà vu wasn't unfounded.
Young people who had experienced the vibrant internet environment of the 21st century in his previous life would mostly be familiar with such concepts.
Zhou Ming didn't know whether the other newcomers came from the same world as his previous life.
Listening to the buxom woman diligently explain concepts like "Main God Space," "missions," and "exchanges," Zhou Ming multitasked, his consciousness probing into his body.
*My aperture is still there. And my Gu worms are still there.*
After an internal inspection, confirming that his body had transmigrated from the Gu World and still possessed extraordinary power, Zhou Ming felt much more at ease.
Inside his body, roughly below his navel and between his two kidneys, lay a mysterious space called the aperture—seemingly present yet intangible.
Within the aperture, Zhou Ming's true essence—condensed from his essence, qi, and spirit—gathered into a sea. It lay calm, without waves, shimmering with a bronze luster.
In the sea of true essence floated several Gu worms, each with a unique and wondrous form.
In the Gu World, humans who opened their aperture at fifteen and condensed true essence gained the ability to refine and control Gu worms, only then earning the title of Gu Master.
Currently, Zhou Ming's sea of true essence contained six Gu worms in total:
A Rank One attack Gu, Leaf Blade Gu; a Rank One movement Gu, Straw Sandal Gu; a Rank One healing Gu, Grass Root Gu; a Rank One consumption Gu, Water Jade Gu; a Two-turn attack Gu, Sword Qi Gu; and a Two-turn defense Gu, Water Armor Gu.
With the Gu worms in hand, Zhou Ming felt much more confident. Although many Gu-related issues still awaited verification, there was no rush.
The most pressing matter was to clearly understand his current situation—specifically, what mission the Main God would issue to him after throwing him into this world.
"That's the basic situation. You can learn the rest slowly later."
At this point, the buxom beauty's explanation was drawing to a close. She said simply, "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Yu Man, and this is my companion, Yang Zhisheng. Compared to you, we're veterans. Our mission is different from yours... So now, let's talk about your mission."
As her words fell, a piece of information suddenly "flooded" into Zhou Ming's mind.
**[Mission Mode: Team Cooperation. Reincarnators are forbidden from attacking each other.]**
**[Mission 1: Survive for ten days. After ten days, return to the Main God Space to receive a basic reward of 1000 points.]**
**[Mission 2: Protect Adele Bronses. If Adele is alive after ten days, gain 1000 reward points. If Adele dies within ten days, lose 1000 reward points.]**
**[Newbie Period Special Buff: Fisticuffs Lv1, Cold Weapons Lv1, Firearms Lv1. Only for this mission.]**
**[Newbie Period Special Reward: For each assassin killed, gain a portion of that assassin's combat experience. Only for this mission.]**
**[This world's identity information has been embedded. Mission start!]**
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