Taoist priest goes to America

7 p.m., in the Brunsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.

"I come from the mountains, carrying orchids..." Ang Lee hummed a song as he walked down the street, brushing the dust off his clothes.

He was originally a Chinese, but he inexplicably transmigrated to a fantasy world filled with demons and monsters, becoming a Maoshan Taoist priest. He survived until today, thanks to the orthodox Maoshan techniques he learned, and has finally returned to "Blue Star".

He had been sleeping in the mortuary the night before, but when he opened his eyes again, he saw a dilapidated tent roof, himself lying on the ground, surrounded by a pile of old clothes, and the air was filled with the smell of urine and sweat.

The tent flap wasn't closed, leaving a gap through which yellow light shone in. He lifted the flap, crawled out of the tent, and stood on the concrete ground.

The light came from the streetlights along the road; it was orange-yellow and looked incredibly warm.

Brightly lit buildings, streets littered with garbage, traffic signs lying on the roadside, dilapidated bus stops, and buses speeding by.

Li An, who had initially thought he had been captured by some demon and taken to the wilderness, was so excited that he almost shed tears.

Finally, I don't have to live a life of constant running around and wandering anymore!

Li An breathed a sigh of relief, humming a song as he patted his dusty gray-blue Taoist robe, straightened his hair with a peach wood hairpin, and stomped on his Ten Directions shoes. A hearty laugh of delight spread across his handsome face.

He greedily inhaled the air of this land, the scent of his "hometown".

"The prodigal son from afar... has returned!" Ang Lee was already planning what to do next: first, he needed to get some money, find a hotel to take a bath, order a spicy twice-cooked pork rice bowl, and a glass of iced cola—he hadn't had one in years...

Just as Ang Lee was lost in thought, a familiar stench entered his nose.

"Huh? The stench of a corpse?" This stench, which he would never forget in his life, pulled Ang Lee out of his reverie.

When he was a Taoist priest in a fantasy world, his main job was to transport corpses, while his secondary job was to exorcise demons. However, both jobs involved the smell of corpses, so he would never mistake this smell.

Following the scent, Ang Lee found a public trash can next to the tent.

A homeless man huddled there, his foreign face purplish-blue, his distinctive blond hair now ashen, his pupils dilated. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his forearms were covered in needle marks, all festering and oozing pus.

It's obvious he died from taking the enhancer. The most ironic thing is that even in death, he was still clutching the syringe and the enhancer tightly in his hand, as if afraid someone would steal them.

Ang Lee frowned. This shouldn't be happening.

In a country that has such strict bans on additives, how could someone die from inhaling additives?

And there are quite a few people passing by this street, so why didn't anyone call the police when someone died?

Ang Lee looked around and saw no police officers except for a few homeless people who were high on drugs and folding themselves into tripods.

Where did he get this? Was it still in China?

When Ang Lee took a closer look around, he immediately realized that something was really wrong.

Everything here is written in English!

The snack wrappers in the trash cans are in English, the bus stop signs are in English, the shop names are in English, and the countless missing person notices plastered on the walls are also in English...

Ang Lee picked up the newspaper that someone had left at the bus stop, looking puzzled. It clearly read "The New York Times"—one headline read "NASA's Manned Lunar Rocket Successfully Launched," and the other read "Vought's Superhuman Project Makes Great Progress."

This is New York City, USA.

"No, buddy..." Ang Lee's lips twitched. "What the hell... how am I in America?!"

He had been dreaming of returning to the embrace of his motherland, living a peaceful life without having to live in a dangerous environment.

But when he arrived in America, his dream of living out his remaining years in peace had only just begun!

But it's alright, Ang Lee silently comforted himself, at least he's back on Earth.

At least America is a... society governed by the rule of law? New York is also the largest city in the United States and a world financial center. It can't be that such a place is more dangerous than a fantasy world full of demons, right?

Hotels and iced cola... America has them too, but you'd have to switch to hamburgers and fries instead of twice-cooked pork rice.

As Ang Lee pondered, he also reorganized himself.

While tidying his robes, an even bigger problem arose: he discovered that his storage bag was gone, along with all the magical treasures and materials he had accumulated. All that remained were a Soul-Capturing Bell and a stack of yellow talismans that he had kept in his robe pocket.

"What bad luck...when it rains, it pours." Li An had no choice but to accept this cruel reality: he had lost all his magical artifacts and materials and was now stranded in a foreign land. He had to start thinking about where he would go in the future.

Suddenly, a mechanical voice rang in his mind:

[Corpse Transporter System, now activated]

A transparent panel appeared out of thin air in front of him.

[A host has encountered an unclaimed corpse. Corpse classification: Poisoned corpse (the body contained a large amount of mixed toxins due to long-term ingestion of several toxic drugs during life.)]

[Name of the deceased: Gary White]

[Can transport corpses]

[Upon successful corpse transportation, the host can transform the corpse into a corpse servant, gaining more information about its life and receiving skill rewards. Each corpse can only be transported once, and the rewards will not be obtained repeatedly.]

[Whether or not corpses were transported: Yes/No]

"Huh? The system collects all of this?"

Ang Lee stared at the screen that had suddenly appeared. He had been a Taoist priest in the fantasy world for several years and this thing never appeared. Why did it suddenly appear on Earth?

It's not bad, though. Corpse-driving is his old profession, and the art of corpse-driving is his specialty. It's also a "tailor-made" solution.

I just lost my magic weapon, so I'll use this system to claim some rewards and replenish my strength.

After all, he lived in a low-level martial arts world, specializing in dealing with demons. His spells were only slightly effective against ordinary people, like holding a gun but throwing it at someone instead.

Li An pressed the "Yes" button on the screen, then bit the tip of his left middle finger, smeared the blood onto his right finger, and used the blood as a substitute for cinnabar to apply it to seven places on the corpse: the forehead, the chest, the back, the palms of both hands, and the soles of both feet.

He then took out a yellow talisman from his pocket, wrote "May the Supreme Lord Laozi command you urgently" in blood, and then straightened the dead man's head so that it faced upwards.

"Oh right, you also need a name to address me..." Li An stroked his chin, "Your name is White (which sounds like the English word for white)... I'll just call you Old White."

Just as Li An was about to paste the yellow talisman, he suddenly heard the sound of two people's footsteps.

Two Black men walked by. The one on the left was bald, wearing a red vest, and chewing gum. The one on the right wore a black hoodie, had a tangled mess of dreadlocks on his head, and a large gold chain around his neck that gleamed in the night.

"Madfuck, that old guy stole two more boosters. Tyrone's a complete waste, we have to clean up his messes."

The bald black man walked away cursing, and even spat into the road.

"There's no other way," the black man with the gold chain said slowly, stroking his dreadlocks. "It's a task the boss gave us."

The two black men walked to the trash can, their eyes first falling on the corpse next to it, and then simultaneously landing on Li An.

"Wow, wow." The chained black man gestured with his chin toward Ang Lee, a malicious smile on his face, and drew a pistol from his waist. "Hey, Asian, what are you doing in a kimono on our turf so late?"