Chapter 1  

Outside the Shengmei Food Processing Factory, a long queue of vehicles lined up at the raw material procurement channel for Star Spirit Grass.  

The drivers weren’t factory employees. During peak harvest seasons, they would purchase Star Spirit Grass at low prices from distant locations and then sell it collectively to the factory for profit.  

At the rear of the orderly convoy, a tiny, manually-pulled cart slowly appeared.  

Lin En asked nervously, “Mi Mi, are you sure this will work?”  

You Mi also hesitated slightly. His ears turned a little red, and his eyelashes fluttered uncertainly above his mask. “I asked yesterday—they do accept small quantities of Star Spirit Grass. But we only gathered this little bit…”  

Following You Mi’s small figure, Lin En glanced at the cart. The amount of Star Spirit Grass inside was indeed pitiful, barely covering the bottom. Yet, this was the result of two full days of hard work gathering in the wild.  

The trucks ahead moved through the transaction process quickly. After unloading, the automated inspection machine verified the goods, and the Optical Brain processed the payment instantly, allowing the drivers to leave promptly.  

When it was their turn, You Mi bent down to “unload” the goods. Lin En quickly intervened, using his octopus tentacles to lift the entire cart and pour all the Star Spirit Grass into the inspection machine.  

He was genuinely worried You Mi’s small frame might get hurt handling the cart.  

Standing at two meters tall, Lin En was considered short among the Snar people. But compared to the boy in front of him, who barely reached 1.7 meters, he seemed enormous.  

The goods were light, but they passed inspection. The electronic screen promptly displayed the payment due: 400 Star Coins.  

The payment robot scanned You Mi but suddenly froze. Another line of text appeared on the screen: *No Optical Brain detected. Payment failed.*  

The supervisor, hearing the commotion, approached. “What’s the issue?”  

You Mi pointed at Lin En. “Hello, I don’t have an Optical Brain yet, but my friend does. Could you pay him instead?”  

The supervisor paused, his gaze lingering on You Mi.  

Next to the towering Snar, You Mi looked like a tiny doll. Aside from the mask covering his mouth, there was no visible trace of his monstrous form—his fair, soft skin, fluffy short hair, and delicate features made him look even more flawless than the prized humanoid dolls sold in the black market…  

“Why are you so small?” the supervisor couldn’t help but ask.  

You Mi blinked in surprise. Lin En quickly answered for him, “He’s from the Black Miasma Wasteland. Grew up without proper nutrition—that’s why he’s so small.”  

“I see…” The supervisor nodded in understanding. That region had long been abandoned by the Snar. If this little one had come to the capital, life there must have been unbearable—no wonder he couldn’t even afford an Optical Brain.  

Unaware of their relationship, the supervisor worried that if he paid the normally-sized Snar, this meek and vulnerable little thing might never see his share. Feeling a pang of pity, he pulled out four 100-Star Coin bills and handed them directly to You Mi. “We can settle in cash.”  

You Mi accepted the coins and immediately gave two to Lin En.  

As the two walked back, pulling the cart, Lin En grinned. “We actually made money! This is more than my daily wages from shaking milk tea.”  

You Mi had also tried working at a milk tea shop, but the counter was too high for him. He lost the job within half a day.

He glanced enviously at Lin En, clutching the Star Coins in silence.

Passing by an Optical Brain store, Lin En said, “Let’s go in and look around. You’ll need to buy an Optical Brain eventually.”

You Mi nodded, locked the cart, and followed Lin En inside.

The clerk kept recommending the latest models, but Lin En ignored them and led You Mi straight to the cheapest option.  

“This one only costs a little over a thousand Star Coins for implantation,” Lin En whispered. “Our savings combined should be enough. You’re living alone now, and without an Optical Brain, if something happens, no one would know…”

You Mi stared solemnly at the display case.

After hesitating for a moment, he touched his mask, recalling the price of monster accessories he had seen in the black market a few days ago, and shook his head. “I can just get a hundred-Star Coin Alarm Bracelet for now.”  

For the time being, as the only human on Snerth, saving up for horns was more urgent.  

A week ago, before the transmigration, You Mi had been living in a resource-scarce wasteland.  

His world had descended into apocalypse, followed by the emergence of zombies. He didn’t dare leave his home, but before he could even last three days in hiding, he lost consciousness during an earthquake.  

When he woke up again, he found himself in this strange world full of monsters.  

After careful observation, You Mi gradually learned about this world called Snerth through news broadcasts on the street screens.  

The inhabitants of Snerth revered the extinct human form, so they usually took on human appearances in daily life—though they always retained some monstrous features, like horns, tentacles, scales, fangs, tails, etc. The more powerful the monster, the fewer flaws they showed, but there would always be some.  

The mask You Mi had worn before transmigrating turned out to be a lifesaver!  

The first Snerthian to speak to him was Lin En.  

At the time, Lin En was heading home after work when he spotted You Mi looking around nervously at the intersection. Mistaking him for a lost child, Lin En approached and asked, “Are you lost?”  

That was how they met.  

In You Mi’s eyes: Compared to the enormous monsters he had seen earlier, Lin En’s build was much more human-like, making him feel safer.  

In Lin En’s eyes: There’s actually such a tiny Snerthian! If he didn’t know better, he’d think it was just a slightly large doll—so adorable!  

You Mi lied, claiming he came from a remote, nearly uninhabited wasteland village. Due to lack of proper nutrition, he was much smaller than others his age. With survival becoming impossible there, he had no choice but to come here—but having lived in isolation for so long, he was completely out of touch with modern life… The mask was to hide his terrifying fangs.  

His palms were sweating the entire time he spoke.  

Seeing that You Mi didn’t even have an Optical Brain, Lin En believed him completely and warmly invited him home.  

Lin En was an orphan living in the slums. Faced with this tiny, destitute Snerthian, he felt a kinship and proactively introduced him to a job at the furniture factory where he worked.  

You Mi successfully got hired and was even provided with employee housing. But when he stepped into the dormitory, arms full of bedding, he froze in terror and backed out immediately.  

Inside stood three massive, horrifying alien creatures—one of them was devouring chunks of meat with its gaping maw…

You Mi gave up on the dormitory that very day. After all, he was just a weak human—living day and night among those monsters, the slightest carelessness could expose his identity… Though he didn’t know the reason humans had gone extinct here, seeing those creatures made it hard not to let his imagination run wild.

Houses in the capital were expensive. Forget buying one, even renting was unaffordable. So You Mi settled for living in a discarded pet house. He was small enough that the abandoned pet shelters in the villa district could easily serve as his home.

Lin En was also short on money and would scavenge for recyclables after work. You Mi joined him, collecting discarded doll clothes from monster children during their scavenging trips. After washing and drying them, he could wear them, and the toys they found could be repurposed as furniture.

However, on the fifth day of working at the factory, You Mi was fired for being too weak.

After that, he started taking odd jobs everywhere to save up.

You Mi had already come to terms with it—compared to the apocalyptic world where death could come at any moment, life on this planet was at least manageable. All he had to do was disguise himself as one of the monsters.

At the Optical Brain retail store.

“Welcome back anytime!” A lizard-skinned clerk bowed to the tiny figure who barely reached his knees.

You Mi stepped out of the shop carrying a handbag. “Besides emergency alerts, it can also project TV shows.”

Inside the bag was the Alarm Bracelet he had just bought for a hundred Star Coins.

Lin En: “Of course, that’s a basic feature.”

You Mi gently placed the handbag into his little cart. “I’ll look for a new job tomorrow. I want to go home and study this new bracelet—some of the settings are still confusing.”

Lin En couldn’t understand why such an outdated Alarm Bracelet was worth studying, but then it occurred to him that You Mi came from a remote, desolate village. It made sense he wasn’t familiar with these things.

Thinking this, he couldn’t help but head to a nearby convenience store to buy some snacks for him. Before entering, though, his attention was caught by an electronic flyer posted at the entrance.

You Mi, who had followed him, looked in the same direction:

[URGENT] XX Restaurant is about to feature a hit variety show and is recruiting music box dancer models! No dancing required—just stand inside the music box! Daily wage starts at 700 Star Coins! Must be under 2 meters tall!

Just as Lin En was about to sign You Mi up, the electronic flyer updated:

[URGENT URGENT] XX Restaurant is about to feature a hit variety show and is recruiting music box dancer models! No dancing required—just stand inside the music box! Daily wage starts at 1,000 Star Coins! Must be under 2 meters tall!

“…” Lin En glanced at You Mi, who was standing on his tiptoes. “Let’s sign up tomorrow instead.”

“Mm!”