A Post-Apocalyptic Journey to Another World

Zhang Xi unlocked the lock, moved the fence, and slid down the vines into the deep pit. He had just slid to the bottom of the pit when he reached the bottom.

Suddenly, a strange voice echoed in his mind: "Corresponding soul energy detected. Soul energy absorbed. Corresponding seal lifted." Then, his head sank, and he found himself standing in a strange place. All around was darkness; there was nothing but himself.

"Hello, young Earthling." The sudden greeting startled Zhang Xi. He looked towards the source of the voice and saw an old man. Even though there was no light source, he could still see him.

"Who are you?" Zhang Xi asked tentatively.

"Who I am is not important. You just need to know that I am a Traveling Mage." The old man looked at the boy in front of him, clearly very happy.

"Traveler? What do you want with me?" Zhang Xi was unarmed at the moment. He tried to get information out of Zhang Xi while slowly backing away, but no matter how he retreated, it seemed that he was standing still.

“It wasn’t me who sought you out, it was you who sought me out, young man. You have inherited my deck.” The old man squinted and said slowly, “And you don’t need to be afraid. I am just a projection of a wisp of consciousness and cannot harm anyone.”

"A deck of cards?" Zhang Xi was taken aback. "You mean that deck of cards?" Zhang Xi stopped and asked, eager to know what that deck of cards was all about.

"Your Destiny deck is named 'Poker'? This is the first time I've heard such a strange name." The old man raised an eyebrow, waved his hand, and a chair appeared behind both him and Zhang Xi at the same time: "Sitting down might help you relax, young man."

"I didn't name it; it was originally a deck of cards." Zhang Xi watched the old man sit down and then sat down himself, just like everyone else. He was on the old man's turf, and he was just an ordinary teenager. Even if the old man really wanted to harm him, he could only wait and see.

"I sense that this deck has merged with your soul. When it was in my hands, it was called 'All Things,' but now, because of you, it has been reborn and is called 'Poker.' I took a look; it's a truly strange deck. I've never seen one like it before." As the old man spoke, he waved his hand again, and a deck flew out from Zhang Xi's chest, hovering in front of the two of them.

"Wait, you mean this deck of cards has become what the deck should look like in my subconscious because it's bound to my soul?" Zhang Xi only knows playing cards in his life; he has no idea what other decks like tarot cards look like.

The deck and his soul traveled together, and then he reassembled himself according to the only playing cards he remembered.

"It's a very special way of putting it, that's how it is." The old man smiled and took out Zhang Xi's playing cards, arranging them one by one in mid-air. The cards just floated there, without falling.

"Then, senior, please teach me how to use this deck." Zhang Xi was filled with anticipation. This was a treasure, something he and his brothers had risked their lives for.

"This is your deck, your own set of rules, how am I supposed to know how to use it?" The old man's words nearly choked Zhang Xi to death.

"Then what do you want from me?" Zhang Xi asked again, somewhat puzzled.

"I told you, it wasn't me looking for you, it was you looking for me. I'm already dead. The one speaking to you is just a wisp of my consciousness left in the deck." The old man waved his hand, and the deck flew back to Zhang Xi.

Zhang Xi followed the old man's example and laid out the playing cards one by one, when he suddenly noticed that the Ace of Spades was missing: "Where did the Ace of Spades go?"

"That card has been unsealed and returned to your consciousness," the old man said. "Hmm, let me see. The image rule of this card is a treasure, similar to a treasure in a dimensional bag."

"You mean the Ace of Spades has become a treasure?" Zhang Xi was pleasantly surprised.

"You could say that. Alright, my remaining energy is almost depleted. Goodbye, young man." Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Xi was kicked out of the darkness and regained consciousness.

He found himself back in the pit, sitting on a pile of troll ashes.

The boy quickly took out his playing cards and checked them. Sure enough, the Ace of Spades was missing! He closed his eyes and called out the name of the Ace of Spades in his mind, and a small space actually appeared.

The space wasn't large, only about 5 cubic meters. Zhang Xi took out a tranquilizer gun, intending to put it inside, but the gun suddenly disappeared. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed back in the space.

"Wow, this deck is a real treasure!" Zhang Xi quickly put away the remaining cards.

This storage space was an unexpected bonus; the real prize Zhang Xi had worked so hard to obtain was the loot he was after.

Among the ashes of the frost troll, they found a heart-shaped, icy ball of flesh, as large as a large bowl. This was the troll's heart, impervious to ordinary flames, the source of the troll's regenerative abilities. They also found two other items: a troll's magic crystal and a pair of troll fangs as beautiful as ice crystals.

It was nearly noon when the blue spatial rift flashed and then collapsed and disappeared, as if it had never existed. However, the rich elemental energy remaining in the surrounding air and soil proved that this place had once been a connection point to another world.

Zhang Xi found the backpack he had hidden beforehand, picked up the little yellow dog, and came to this former connection point.

First, he tied the little yellow dog to his leg. With this biological alarm device, he could close his eyes with peace of mind. He knelt on the ground and carefully searched for a while: "Found it! The node with the most concentrated residual elemental energy."

He first inserted the magic crystal into the soil of the node, then took out a large crucible from the school laboratory from his backpack, placed it on the magic crystal, and then took out the troll's fangs and lay down on the ground to draw.

Zhang Xi is not an alchemist, but every mercenary is a jack-of-all-trades. When adventuring in the wild, they often have to take on many roles, such as cook, doctor, and hunter, though most of them are only half-baked.

Many veteran mercenaries know how to create this kind of elemental energy gathering array. The success rate varies depending on the abundance of elemental energy at the array's core. The more abundant the elemental energy, the higher the success rate. On Earth, where there is no elemental energy at all, the success rate is basically zero. That's why Zhang Xi came up with the idea of ​​drawing the array at the nodes of these small fissures.

It took about half an hour to complete the array diagram. Zhang Xi took out the troll's heart, cut a small opening, and the icy blue blood immediately flowed into the crucible.

The troll's lifeblood is the source of its regenerative abilities and a precious material.

It's said that if you put a troll's heart in a nutrient tank, it can recover into a complete troll after half a month. Of course, that's just a legend. Nobody's going to bother verifying it.

Zhang Xi was going to refine a Power Potion, a more accessible version of the renowned Dragon Power Potion. The Dragon Power Potion was priceless, capable of instantly boosting a person's absolute strength to the Gold rank. However, due to the extreme rarity of the dragon's essence, mercenaries couldn't afford it.

So a mercenary alchemist invented the Great Strength Potion. The main ingredient was changed from dragon blood to the heart and blood of other magical beasts containing trace amounts of dragon blood, which could raise an ordinary person's absolute strength to the Bronze Realm.

……

Around midnight, a raggedly dressed boy led a donkey out of the forest.

As soon as he left the mountains, the exhausted boy mounted his donkey and headed towards the county town, hoping to flag down a car along the way, since the donkey was too slow.

Looking at the numerous small wounds covering his body, all from scratches and cuts inflicted by bushes and branches while fleeing from the trolls, he clutched the Hardening Potion in his pocket. Yes, it was the Hardening Potion, not the Mighty Potion.

During the day, I didn't feel anything because I was in a state of high tension. But now that I've relaxed, I find that my whole body aches terribly, especially the small wounds all over my body. They're so painful and itchy because of the sweat. It's incredibly uncomfortable.

Perhaps everything had gone too smoothly that day, and he had used up all his luck. He didn't encounter any vehicles along the way, and Zhang Xi rode his little donkey into the county town.

He first went into a clothing store and bought a very cheap outfit. Then he found a mid-range private hotel. Zhang Xi was actually a very frugal person, and he stayed in a mid-range hotel for safety reasons. He pleaded with the owner for a long time and then put on a show of suffering before he finally got a room to sleep in.

Why would someone have to beg the hotel owner for a room even though they're paying for it? Because they don't have an ID card!

Summer nights in this small county town are incredibly beautiful; it's rare to see a star-studded night sky like in Pingyuan City. Zhang Xi held a test tube containing a bright blue "Hard Man" potion.

Looking at the starry sky outside the window, I've never felt so calm since my rebirth.

Because of the lack of certain neutralizing auxiliary materials, the resulting potion is an incomplete strength potion, which the mercenaries call the "Hard Man Potion".

Because of the severe side effects. The pain is excruciating. It can cause you to faint from the pain and then wake up again. Alchemists have calculated that out of every 100 people who take this potion, 3 are unlucky enough to die from the pain.

Zhang Xi wasn't worried, because he had taken it in his previous life and was an experienced person.

There's nothing we can do about it; neutralizing materials don't exist on Earth. It's just a bit painful. In my previous life, when I was a mercenary, I took relatively cheap hard-working drugs, and I've already experienced the pain once. It's nothing serious.

Two days later, Zhang Xi finally returned home.

Back in his little apartment, Zhang Xi breathed a sigh of relief. He was finally back!

He felt as if he had returned to his mercenary days, experiencing a sense of relaxation and exhaustion after each mission. There was also a feeling of relief and joy—he had returned alive, and with a full load!