OMDA -Chapter 1 The Woman Who Came Through Time

In the dawn light, the rising sun had only revealed a tiny corner of itself where the sea and sky met, dyeing half the sky red with rosy clouds.

Zhang Yang stood facing the sea, braving the fierce ocean wind. His somewhat slender body seemed to possess limitless strength as he stood ramrod straight and motionless atop the pitch-black reef. Beneath his sword-like brows, a pair of deep-set eyes quietly gazed at the distant red sun.

Inhale… inhale… inhale again!

His chest gradually swelled. Unable to bear it any longer, he suddenly let out a mournful, ear-splitting howl:

“HEAVENS! SEND ME A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN!!!”

On a nearby reef, a young man was holding a camera pointed at Zhang Yang. Hearing Zhang Yang’s roar, the young man staggered and nearly fell off the rocks. In his panic, the camera slipped from his hands and went—

Plop!

—straight into the sea.

He was instantly on the verge of tears.

Zhang Yang was a professional gamer. He spent all day indoors, barely ever stepping outside, and had pitifully little social interaction. This year, he was a perfectly good twenty-five-year-old young man who dreamed every night of finding a beautiful woman to spend his life with.

Of course, he wouldn’t mind having several more.

Unfortunately, reality was like a pair of sharp scissors.

Snip!

It had severed all his dreams.

His professional environment meant that the possibility of Zhang Yang ever encountering a beautiful woman was practically zero. Unless he joined a female gaming studio—but that was impossible.

Although his gaming skills were genuinely excellent, Zhang Yang had an infamous reputation in the gaming world. He wouldn’t dare write down his former game ID when filling out an application.

If he did, there would be only one consequence:

Go home, prepare a coffin, and wait to die.

In real life, Zhang Yang’s parents had both passed away, leaving him and his younger sister, who was six years younger than him, to depend on each other.

In order to survive properly and let his little sister grow up happily, he entered the gaming world and began making money like crazy.

Scamming, cheating, swindling—if something could make money, there was practically nothing he hadn’t done.

Seven years had passed. He had indeed made quite a bit of money, barely managing to put his younger sister through a prestigious university.

Of course, his situation inside the game was somewhat tragic.

As the saying went, enemies were everywhere and grudges could be found on every street. Everyone wanted to eliminate him as quickly as possible.

If people discovered his real-life identity, no one could guarantee that some of the unfortunate victims he had cheated in the past wouldn’t track him down in reality and kill him.

Fortunately, a new game developed by Universal Network, God’s Trace, was about to open to the public.

Zhang Yang decisively sold off every valuable item on his old account.

New game, new ID.

He could play just as he pleased.

Who could do anything about it?

Unfortunately, with an unfamiliar ID, joining a gaming studio was impossible.

Today, there were still four days before God’s Trace officially launched. With nothing better to do, Zhang Yang had decided to go to the seaside to watch the sunrise and clear his mind.

And then, through a little mishap, the scene just now had happened.

Thinking about that unlucky kid, Zhang Yang walked out of the elevator in his apartment building with a grin.

Trying to secretly photograph me, huh?

Now look who’s the one suffering!

“Hmm? What’s that?”

The moment he stepped out of the elevator, Zhang Yang noticed something seemingly lying outside his door. He hurried over.

“Hey! Miss! Wake up! Are you okay?”

He nudged the woman curled up outside his apartment.

A thought arose in Zhang Yang’s mind.

Could it be that the heavens had actually heard his prayer?

“Mm!”

The woman moved, seeming on the verge of waking up.

After a while, she slowly pushed herself upright. One hand covered her head, while her beautiful, long hair cascaded down, obscuring her face.

Zhang Yang breathed a sigh of relief.

If she didn’t wake up soon, he would have to call an ambulance.

“It hurts…”

Her voice was soft and exceptionally pleasant to hear.

Although he couldn’t see her face, she would absolutely qualify as a professional voice operator.

Zhang Yang secretly mused to himself.

“How are you feeling? Are you all right? Do you want me to call an ambulance for you?”

After saying that, Zhang Yang looked at the woman and waited for her response.

She had clearly only just awakened, and her mind was still somewhat muddled. After rubbing her head for quite some time, she finally said,

“No need. I should be fine.”

As she spoke, she raised her head and looked at Zhang Yang.

Then she froze.

“You’re Zhang Yang?”

The woman carefully examined Zhang Yang’s face.

He didn’t have the mature, steady appearance she had seen on television. Instead, he had heavy dark circles beneath his eyes and dull, lackluster skin. He didn’t look as though he had put on any makeup at all.

Could it be that cameras these days came with built-in beautification filters?

“Hmm? Y-You know me?”

Zhang Yang was stunned as well.

He desperately searched his memory, but he couldn’t recall ever seeing this woman before.

The woman in front of him appeared to be in her early twenties. She had large eyes, a delicate jade-like nose, and small cherry lips. Her elegant brows were slightly furrowed, making her look especially delicate and captivating.

If not for her somewhat dark complexion detracting from her beauty, she would absolutely qualify as a first-rate beauty.

Logically speaking, Zhang Yang shouldn’t have failed to remember a woman like this.

Strange.

Could there be someone who looked very similar to her and was also named Zhang Yang?

“No, that’s not right. The temperament is different, but he’s also called Zhang Yang…”

The woman stared at him and muttered to herself, obviously confused by the fact that both he and another person were named Zhang Yang.

Suppressing his curiosity, Zhang Yang said, “Miss, you don’t look very well. Why don’t you come inside and sit for a while? This is my home.”

He pointed toward the door behind her.

“Uh… Wouldn’t that be too much trouble?”

The woman’s train of thought was interrupted by Zhang Yang. She hesitated slightly before answering.

Yet inwardly, she kept muttering:

How could this be such a coincidence?

“Hehe! What trouble could it be? I’ll help you up.”

As he spoke, he reached out with his right hand and supported her arm, helping her to her feet. With his other hand, he took the key from his trouser pocket and unlocked the door.

Only then did Zhang Yang realize just how tall the woman was.

She was only half a head shorter than him.

At such close range, a faint, subtle fragrance drifted into his nose. His gaze swept over her curvaceous figure, and an inexplicable restlessness suddenly stirred within him.

Looks like I really have gone crazy from wanting a woman, Zhang Yang bitterly laughed to himself in self-mockery.

This girl isn’t bad, although her face is a little too dark.

Thinking this, Zhang Yang hurriedly banished those thoughts from his mind and slowly helped the woman sit down on the sofa in the living room.

Zhang Yang awkwardly rubbed his head.

He rarely interacted with members of the opposite sex, and for a moment, he seemed completely at a loss, sitting there uneasily as he looked at the woman before him, not knowing what to say.

Under his scorching gaze, the woman couldn’t help feeling her face grow hot.

She was somewhat annoyed by Zhang Yang’s impoliteness.

For a while, the living room fell completely silent.

“Oh, right! What would you like to drink? I’ll get it for you.”

Zhang Yang broke the silence.

Then, as though suddenly remembering something, he slapped his forehead and gave an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry, I only have mineral water here.”

“Mineral water is fine.”

The woman smiled politely.

“Wait a moment. I’ll pour you some water.”

As someone who claims to have seen countless beauties, how could I lose my head just because I saw one woman?

Zhang Yang hurried toward the kitchen as though he had just been granted a reprieve, secretly telling himself this.

His departure made the woman breathe a huge sigh of relief.

She began looking around at the furnishings of the room.

Suddenly, her gaze stopped on the electronic clock above the television wall.

She stared at it for quite a while before speaking uncertainly.

“Um…”

Zhang Yang, who had been keeping his ears perked up, heard movement in the living room and poked his head out from the kitchen with a silly grin.

“Just call me Zhang Yang. What is it?”

“Is your electronic clock broken?”

The woman pointed at the electronic clock on the wall.

“No!”

Zhang Yang took out his phone from his pocket and compared the time.

“April 2, 2050, 10:23 a.m. April Fool’s Day was yesterday. That joke isn’t funny at all.”

The moment she heard Zhang Yang’s answer, the woman was struck as though by lightning.

She stared blankly at the electronic wall clock.

Yet inside her mind, enormous waves were already surging.

No wonder the Zhang Yang in front of me looks so young.

No wonder the walls in the stairwell felt as though they had just been painted.

She remembered her neighbor, Auntie Zhang, once telling her that Zhang Yang had lived here before.

Five years ago.

Exactly the period when Zhang Yang had lived here.

“2050!”

“I actually traveled back five years!”

She had read countless time-travel novels, so the bizarre situation unfolding before her wasn’t entirely unfamiliar.

She instantly thought of a reasonable explanation.

For a moment, the woman was completely at a loss.

It turned out that the woman’s name was Xu Xin.

She was an orphan who lived in this building five years later and worked as a professional gamer in God’s Trace.

That day, because she was running low on food, she had planned to go to the supermarket to purchase some daily necessities.

But while going downstairs, she had accidentally missed a step and fallen.

Her head struck the wall, knocking her unconscious.

When she woke up, the scene before her had already become reality.

What should I do?

Xu Xin’s thoughts were in complete turmoil.

Should she pretend to have amnesia, just like they did in the novels?

As she thought about this, her hand unconsciously touched the handbag she was carrying.

Inside were the 2,000 yuan in cash she had prepared for her shopping trip, along with her identification card and a few personal belongings.

Fortunately, the ID card was genuine, and the date it had been issued was 2048.

There was no risk of being exposed.

The identity problem caused by her time travel could, at least, be solved.