Hong Kong variety show: From being bitten by a cockroach to becoming a legend

Chapter 1: Mutant Cockroaches

Song Zhaowen was very unlucky.

In my previous life, I was taken away by a great calamity. In this life, on the very first day I awakened my innate wisdom, I was bitten by a cockroach and had a high fever for three whole days...

Tsz Wan Shan, a public housing estate in Wong Tai Sin.

"Ah Wen, Wen-zai, can I come in?"

There was a knock on the door.

Lying in bed, Song Zhaowen struggled to open his eyes, which were bloodshot and his face was sallow from three days of high fever.

"Sister Luo, please wait a moment." Her voice was slightly hoarse.

Song Zhaowen casually threw on a vest and opened the dilapidated door, which offered no protection against theft.

Two women stood at the door, both beautiful. One was over thirty and still had a charming demeanor, while the other was seventeen, eighteen, or nineteen and youthful.

He was Song Zhaowen's neighbor.

Luo Huiling and Fang Ting, the second daughter of the Fang family, were said to have once been a wealthy family in the city, but it is unknown what misfortune befell them that led them to move to this housing estate.

"Excuse me, the room is a bit messy, please make yourself at home."

Song Zhaowen invited the two women into the house.

The two women didn't mind the smell of sweat filling the room.

"Awen, I heard from the old lady downstairs that you just came back from the hospital. I thought that having a high fever for the past few days must have taken a toll on your health, so I made some sweet soup for you to help you recover."

"It's just a minor illness, thank you for your help, Sister Luo."

"Ah Wen, you're still so polite. It's all what we should do. If it weren't for you taking care of my daughter and me for the past six months, how could we have lived so peacefully in this chaotic housing estate?"

As Luo Huiling spoke, her eyes reddened slightly, as if she were recalling the hardships of the past six months. She placed the insulated box on the peeling paint on the folding table, opened the lid, and the sweet aroma of red dates and lotus seeds wafted out.

Fang Ting stood behind Sister Luo, her big eyes secretly observing Song Zhaowen. She had a deep impression of this neighbor brother; he didn't talk much, but whenever some hooligans downstairs whistled and bothered her and her sister on their way home from school, he would always "coincidentally" appear at the stairwell and chase them away.

However, the most important thing is that "Brother Wen" is really handsome, not at all inferior to those stars on TV. When he saw Song Zhaowen glancing over, his handsome face immediately turned red and he lowered his head, twisting his hands together.

"Sister Luo, you're too kind. It's just neighbors looking out for each other." Song Zhaowen took the sweet soup, scooped a spoonful, and put it in his mouth. The warm sweet soup slid down his throat, and the thirst and weakness brought on by three days of high fever seemed to be soothed a little.

Before awakening his innate wisdom, the original owner was a taciturn but somewhat righteous and impulsive young man. Half a year ago, Luo Huiling's family moved in. As an orphan and widow, they were easily bullied, so the original owner often helped them out, fixing water pipes, chasing away harassing thugs, and so on. Unexpectedly, this kindness gave him a rare warmth when he was at his weakest after transmigrating.

"Ah Wen, you still don't look well. Do you want me to get you another dose of medicine?" Luo Huiling asked with concern.

"No need, Sister Luo, the fever has subsided. I just need to rest for a couple of days," Song Zhaowen shook his head.

"Well... you get some rest, we won't disturb you any longer." Luo Huiling noticed that Song Zhaowen was not in good spirits, so she helped her daughter up. "Don't rush to return the insulated box, I'll come and pick it up tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sister Luo." Song Zhaowen saw them to the door.

After closing the door again, Song Zhaowen prepared to return to the dining table and finish off the remaining sweet soup in one go. He had to admit, Luo Huiling's cooking skills were absolutely superb; she was beautiful, and the soup was delicious. If she were a virgin, Awen would definitely find a way to win her over!

It's not that Awen has a phobia of germs, but after time-traveling, he's still picking up other people's old shoes. That's even more vulgar than a candle.

Thump~ thump~ thump~

Song Zhaowen, who had just taken a step, suddenly clutched his chest, his heart pounding like a rapid drumbeat.

"Did you take too many antibiotics today?"

Then came another wave of dizziness.

This is incredibly unlucky! On my very first night after awakening my innate wisdom, I was bitten hard by a cockroach, and then I had a high fever for three whole days. If I die from an allergic reaction to the medication, I'll truly be the fastest and most bizarre transmigrator to die!

Just as Song Zhaowen thought he was having an allergic reaction to the medication and was walking unsteadily to the landline to call an ambulance, an even stronger, electric-like sensation suddenly surged through his body!

It's not pain, it's a... transformation.

He froze on the spot, his pupils contracting and dilating uncontrollably. The world before him suddenly became incredibly clear, then blurred into a distorted patch of light in an instant. A sharp buzzing sound rang in his ears, like countless tiny needles pricking his eardrums, only to be quickly drowned out by a tidal wave of sounds—the hushed argument of the couple next door, the Cantonese opera playing on the television downstairs by the old woman, even the rustling sound of fishmongers scaling fish in the distant market… all the sounds, regardless of distance or importance, flooded into his mind!

"Uh..." He groaned, staggered and grabbed the wall for support, his fingers unconsciously tightening.

Click.

He managed to pry off a piece of the old wall plaster, with bits of it falling from between his fingers.

Song Zhaowen looked down at his fingers. A fleeting, chitinous sheen seemed to flash across his skin, gone in an instant. But his fingertips became unusually sensitive, able to clearly perceive the rough particles of the wall plaster, the dust floating in the air, and even the faintest moisture inside the wall.

My heart was still pounding, but the rhythm began to change, gradually shifting from chaotic panic to a strong, steady beat. Each contraction seemed to pump a surge of new life force into every part of my body.

"What? I've mutated?"

Having watched many American superhero movies in his previous life, Song Zhaowen immediately thought of this possibility. Peter Parker (Spider-Man) had the most perfect mutation, with his appearance basically unchanged. If he were to die young and become as unlucky as Richard Deacon (Fly Man) and mutate into a human body with a fly's head, that would not be what Song Zhaowen wanted.

A human body with a cockroach's head?

A sense of panic washed over me, and I staggered to the bathroom.

He tucked his hands together, his long hair damp with sweat. Thankfully, his top-tier model, comparable to Daniel Wu's, hadn't grown antennae, compound eyes, or mouthparts... Song Zhaowen breathed a sigh of relief, but then, an even stranger feeling gripped him.

It's about perspective.

His reflection in the mirror was crystal clear; he could even see the direction of each eyebrow and the subtle opening and closing of the pores on his face. But strangely, even though he was facing the mirror, he could simultaneously "see" the texture of the bathroom door frame behind him, the cracks in the tiles on the left wall, and even the color of the old towel draped over the washing machine on the right.

His perspective... broadened.

No, it wasn't just wider. He tried moving his eyes and found that he didn't need to shift his gaze as much as before. With just a slight turn of his eyes, the entire bathroom scene was captured in a panoramic view, almost without any blind spots. He could see the mold on the ceiling above, the water stains around the drain below, and the walls, door frames, and clutter on both sides... all within his field of vision, and with exceptional clarity, without the blurriness of ordinary peripheral vision.

He closed his left eye, using only his right. His field of vision was still frighteningly wide, far exceeding the approximately 150-degree field of vision of a single human eye. The same was true for his left eye when he closed his right.

"270-degree wide-angle..." Song Zhaowen muttered to himself, recalling the cockroach's near-panoramic compound eye vision. The mutation hadn't changed the shape of his eyes, but it had completely reshaped his visual nerves and the way his brain processed images. He was now like someone with an ultra-wide-angle camera on each side of his head, with information flowing directly into his brain and automatically stitching together a panoramic view with almost no blind spots.

"Hmm, you could also consider it a weaker version of the Byakugan?"