Municipal Children's Palace, Kendo Hall.
Towering, modern architecture with semi-transparent glass reflecting the spacious interior.
Right now, however, Lin Mai felt like he had just swallowed a fly.
He had been reincarnated, reincarnated into a Maybach. The streamlined body and the brand's signature mountain-shaped emblem left absolutely no doubt about that.
Being reincarnated was fine; if he could move, he wouldn't care. But the real problem was: why couldn't he move a single inch?
Had his soul possessed a dashcam?
You really have to hand it to him.
From his third-person perspective, Lin Mai felt like that was pretty much what had happened.
A fine reincarnation indeed—next time, please don't bother.
"Sigh..."
Lin Mai let out a heavy sigh, causing a faint, muffled vibration to ripple through the exhaust pipe beneath the car.
Reincarnating as a car was bad enough, but what made it even worse was that this wasn't just some random world—it was the world of Dragon Race.
The young man practicing kendo inside the hall was none other than Chu Zihang, who had yet to awaken his Spiritual Word.
This was not good news. In the original timeline, Odin's first appearance took place on the viaduct in 2004, which meant that rainy night was only a few months away.
Even if he was a car with a soul, he was still a living entity of sorts.
When that time came, at best he would be caught in the collateral damage between Chu Tianjiao and Odin; at worst, the entire car would be totaled, and his life would be effectively over.
When other people transmigrated, they either got to make up for regrets or become supreme saints and ancestors. How did he end up as an inanimate object, not even qualified to be a spectator eating melon seeds?
Take me back to Gotham; Batman said he wouldn't beat you anymore.
"Ding!"
Just as Lin Mai was deep in thought, a crisp notification sound, like a coin dropping, suddenly rang in his ear.
"Congratulations on joining the Dimensional Chat Group. Your group nickname has been automatically set to 【Viaduct in the Storm】."
"Check-in reward for this session: 999 points. They can be used in the group's built-in mall or traded with other members via the Red Packet feature."
Hearing these prompts, Lin Mai froze.
He looked at his surroundings—a bustling commercial street in a coastal city, with people weaving back and forth like a shuttle—yet nobody here was listening to an audio novel.
A Dimensional Chat Group?
His consciousness sank, and an interface resembling a Penguin chat app appeared before his eyes.
【I Am the Cosmic Rich Woman】: "Welcome to the new member!"
【The Infamous V】: "Welcome to the new member!"
【Drop-Resistant King of Cybertron】: "Welcome to the new member!"
Almost instantly.
Lin Mai was hit by a barrage of repetitive greetings. Staring at the group members on the chat interface, he thought to himself that he might actually strike it rich this time.
An authentic chat group, of all things?
His golden finger had arrived so quickly. The transmigration experience was stellar!
【Viaduct in the Storm】: "Total newbie here, asking out of ignorance—what does the Dimensional Chat Group mean?"
...
In some world experiencing an influx of spiritual energy.
"This new member has an interesting name."
Shen Qingluo cracked open a mouthful of melon seeds while keeping her gaze fixed on the Dimensional Chat Group. As a hardcore homebody, she naturally understood the hidden meaning behind Lin Mai's group nickname.
Are you kidding me? A rainy night, a viaduct, and a Maybach—with these three words alone, what seasoned web novel reader wouldn't get the reference?
It looked like this had to be Chu Zihang.
Without wasting any time, she immediately started typing.
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "Well, new member, let me observe your future destiny."
As soon as those words appeared, the chat burst into activity.
【I Am the Cosmic Rich Woman】: "What, it's time for the bloodbath segment again!"
【The Infamous V】: "Ever since I became a legend in Night City last time, is our group owner girl going to spoil the future of another pitiful new member?"
In the Dimensional Chat Group, every new member had their future spoiled upon joining.
The goal was mutual benefit, taking the future into their own hands to create a wonderful world across the myriad realms.
And this natural spoiler ritual had become a prime source of entertainment for the veteran members—after all, who wouldn't love a master storyteller?
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "Your surname is Chu, and your given name is Zihang. You are an outstanding student at Shilan Middle School, handsome and aloof, practically an unshakeable academic god on campus."
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "Outside of class, you never slack off either. You are proficient in everything from the guqin and go to calligraphy and painting, and you've even earned a certified expert-level rating in kendo."
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "In your third year of junior high, a typhoon named Dandelion swept through your city. Your parents divorced, your mother remarried and took you with her, and your father became the driver who picked you up and dropped you off on rainy days."
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "Yet, that very day would become a haunting nightmare you could never shake off."
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "On the viaduct, your father, Chu Tianjiao, raised his blade against a god, while you fled in utter panic. After the rain stopped, you searched frantically across the viaduct like a madman, yet you couldn't even find your father's body."
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "From that moment on, the last ray of sunshine in your heart vanished."
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "Later on, you joined Cassell College and, just like your biological father, awakened a Spiritual Word. Your Spiritual Word is named Lord's Flame, representing the monarch's fire burning high in Babylon like the sun."
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "As for what happens after that..."
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "Hehe, I love leaving stories half-told. You can unlock the rest once you get to college."
"Phew."
Having typed out a massive block of text in one go, Shen Qingluo slumped back into her computer chair, a look of profound satisfaction in her eyes.
Long-dead memories suddenly came back to assault her.
Originally, this angsty plot arc had been neatly sealed away in her memory, but today's new member had forced her to recall every single detail of it.
Still, the thought that there would be plenty more drama like this in the future made her brush it off, and she redirected her gaze back to the chat group.
【I Am the Cosmic Rich Woman】: "Oh man, what a tear-jerker of a subplot."
【I Am the Cosmic Rich Woman】: "@Viaduct in the Storm, hang in there, be strong."
【The Infamous V】: "Stuff like that is pretty common in Night City. But if it happened to me, I'd probably go full cyberpsycho at the very least."
【The Infamous V】: "Sigh, a tragedy."
【Drop-Resistant King of Cybertron】: "Heh."
【Drop-Resistant King of Cybertron】: "Cyber gods have it easy—they just need to keep installing cyberware. Us Cybertronians, on the other hand, have a lot more to worry about."
...
While the group members were heatedly debating.
Lin Mai couldn't keep a straight face listening to all this. It seemed the group owner had mistaken him for Chu Zihang?
Well, to be fair, his group nickname was extremely misleading.
Even if he *was* Chu Zihang, the viaduct events of *The Mourning Eyes* hadn't even started yet, so tragedies and the like would just have to wait.
There's no time to mourn for the wielder of the Spiritual Word Lord's Flame—arriving at the scene right now is the sunny campus idol, Chu Zihang.
【Viaduct in the Storm】: "..."
【Viaduct in the Storm】: "Is there any possibility that I am not *that* Chu Zihang?"
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "Then who are you?"
Hearing this, Shen Qingluo instantly perked up. If the Viaduct in the Storm wasn't Chu Zihang, then who else could it be?
She racked her brain, but she really couldn't think of any dimensional character tied exclusively to that specific scene.
【Viaduct in the Storm】: "I am a Maybach."
【Group Owner / Dimensional Cute Newbie】: "Huh?"