Chapter 1: Frostfall City, the Energy Tower, and the Vampire

October, Heral Calendar year 4243, Bitter Winter Season.

The northern territory of the Frost Kingdom, the port city of Frostfall City.

Nightfall arrives, and the Energy Tower standing in the center of the city begins to operate. Accompanied by the low roar of the supercritical boiler, gray-black high-temperature exhaust gas is discharged above the Energy Tower.

Strong Burning Liquid, produced by gnome craftsmen from the Dixia Shijie, releases energy far exceeding that of coal in the boiler, continuously pumping water deep underground through giant water pumps.

After complex thermal energy conversion, the ultra-high-temperature steam extracted from underground passes through the thermal shell of the Energy Tower, flows along the steam pipes spread throughout the city, and is input into various steam hubs to provide heating for the city streets.

As the city temperature rises, the snow piled up on the streets during the day melts one after another.

A figure lying deep in a small alley also gradually regains consciousness.

"Cold, so cold!"

A burst of bone-chilling cold awakens Yun Mu. She opens her eyes and finds herself lying in a small alley covered in snowmelt.

She is wearing a thick leather coat and a pair of equally thick coarse cloth trousers.

Under her feet is a pair of muddy leather boots.

At this moment, her clothes are soaked with snowmelt, which is also the main reason she feels cold.

"Where is this!?" Yun Mu opens her eyes wide subconsciously and stands up from the ground with a start.

She clearly remembers being in her warm home, sitting in front of her computer desk, making a small game while keeping the heater on and humming a song; how did she suddenly end up here?

Looking at the buildings outside the alley, not a single one is a modern high-rise she is familiar with; they are all constructed from cold gray insulating stone, plus some wooden structures and exposed metal pipes.

It actually reminds her of some steampunk works.

"I didn't transmigrate, did I?"

She looks down at her hands: the skin is fair, the fingers are slender, and there is a thin layer of calluses on some of the joints.

Her perspective at this moment is also different from usual; she can clearly feel that she has become shorter.

This is not her original body!

Yun Mu only feels a loud "buzz" sound coming from her brain, and she stands there, stunned.

The body has been changed; if this isn't transmigration, what is it?

But the problem is, she didn't have any desire to transmigrate!

"Sigh."

After a long while, she lets out a faint sigh.

Transmigrate then; anyway, her parents passed away early, so there is nothing worth lingering over. The only pity is the game she was more than halfway through making; she probably won't have the chance to see it released.

Just as she is thinking this, a gust of cold wind whistles past her, making her shiver uncontrollably.

At the same time, a newspaper with a slightly yellowed surface, soaked by snowmelt, lands at her feet.

"This is..."

Yun Mu bends down to pick up the newspaper and finds it written in a pitch-black script that looks like some kind of combination of letters.

【Steam technology, shocking! Energy Tower starts for the first time, the whole city is like spring!】

This is the headline of the newspaper; for some reason, she can understand the meaning of the text at a glance.

The word "spring" among them is the result of her translation based on her own understanding.

Below the headline, a gray-white group photo of the mayor, workers, and gnome craftsmen standing in front of what appears to be the Energy Tower is printed on the paper.

"What kind of Black Technology is this," Yun Mu mutters after reading the introduction to the Energy Tower in the newspaper.

Continuing to look down, another piece of news soon catches her attention.

【Culprit of the serial mummified corpse murder case still at large, the fourth victim this month has perished!】

"Murder case?"

Yun Mu's expression is a bit strange. In her impression, it seems that every Chuanzhezhe, once they see this kind of thing in the news or newspapers, will eventually run into the murderer.

"What are you thinking about?" She shakes her head: "It's all artistic embellishment."

Saying this, she turns the page of the newspaper.

A photo of a very horrifying corpse appears on the newspaper page.

The deceased looks like a dried-out jujube, with muscle atrophy all over the body, skin covered in wrinkles, and the outline of the bones clearly visible beneath the emaciated flesh.

Suddenly! Just as she sees the deceased in the photo clearly.

As if stimulated by something, or as if a switch has been flipped, a massive amount of memories surges from her brain like a tide.

After a long while, she finally digests the memories of the previous owner.

It turns out that the original owner of this body she transmigrated into was an orphan.

Without a name, she had been scraping by on the streets of Frostfall City since she could remember, and had taught herself the craft of pickpocketing without anyone teaching her.

As for why she could understand the text in the newspaper, it has to do with a god in this world.

Yes, from the memories, Yun Mu learns that this world has gods.

Under the influence of the God of Civilization and History, Heral, all races that possess Civilization can understand the common language of the Civilization they are in from birth.

Of course, it is only being able to understand; writing is still something they cannot do.

In short, the previous owner relied on the self-taught craft of pickpocketing to barely survive in Frostfall City.

Until last month—actually, it was yesterday afternoon, the time should be correct, after all, she doesn't know how long she was unconscious.

When the previous owner was pickpocketing, she was discovered due to a mistake, and in desperation, she could only discard the money bag to attract attention, then use the complex terrain in the alley to shake off the other party.

However, while fleeing, she actually encountered the murderer of the serial mummified corpse case from the newspaper!

That was a woman wearing a dark red leather hood; the previous owner saw with her own eyes at that time the scene of her biting a drunkard's neck and sucking him into a mummified corpse.

What left the deepest impression on her was that the woman's eyes kept emitting a kind of Scarlet light while she was sucking blood.

At that time, the previous owner was so scared that her hands and feet went cold, and she hurriedly ran toward the outside of the alley without looking back. However, before she could run a few steps, a sudden sharp pain came from her heart, and she lost consciousness.

What happened after that is her transmigrating into this body.

"Is that... a vampire?" Yun Mu said, recalling the memories of her predecessor.

Transmigration could happen, and since this world even had gods, it didn't seem strange for there to be a vampire capable of consuming blood.

And since her predecessor had seen the vampire's appearance, it was inevitable that she would be silenced.

As for the heart-wrenching pain?

Her predecessor had lived for so many years without ever having any heart problems; it must have been the work of that woman with Scarlet eyes.

The problem now was, if that vampire with supernatural powers found out she wasn't dead, would she come to silence her?

Thinking of the way the other party had drained people into mummified corpses in her memories, she couldn't help but shiver.

Speaking of mummified corpses, if her memory served her right—

Yun Mu turned and looked toward the depths of the alley; on that pitch-black ground covered in snow, the outline of some creature seemed to be vaguely revealed.

She mustered her courage and moved two steps deeper into the alley, and soon, under the moonlight, a shriveled corpse with a pale face and a body covered in Scarlet spots was reflected in her eyes.

However, what made her almost stop breathing was that this corpse, covered in Scarlet spots, suddenly began to Wriggle and stand up after she approached!

PS: The setting of the Energy Tower is from the game Frostpunk; interested Partners can go and give it a try~

New author, new book; asking for follows, collections, monthly tickets, and recommendations~

Please, I'm begging you, please, won't you? ~

(End of this chapter)