001. The Only Mosquito in Another World

The wind blew in through the window, flipping open countless books. In the library, a beam of light spread out, pressing all the fluttering pages back into place. On the cover of one book was written “The Supreme Profound Celestial Technique,” though, of course, what was written there was not important. What mattered was that Lu Wu, who had just regained consciousness, was nearly killed by the falling book cover.

In this perilous moment, Lu Wu, freshly awake, struggled desperately; for a time, his hands, feet, and wings all flailed wildly, and he managed to take to the air at last.

Wait—wings?

Lu Wu looked down at himself.

His field of vision was filled with only three colors: purple, white, and black. He could vaguely see two slender objects before his eyes. He tried to raise his hand. A long, thin leg lifted into view.

“What... the hell?”

What sort of creature was this?

Panic-stricken, Lu Wu instinctively tried to cover his mouth. Two slender legs landed on a long, thin proboscis.

What... the hell?

What was this thing now?

Lu Wu looked up at the world before him.

Massive black bookshelves loomed, and countless black objects were impossible to make out—only their outlines could be seen. However, anything within thirty or forty centimeters was clear, and it seemed to be books. But Lu Wu dared not be certain, for these things appeared to be a thousand times larger than his own body!

What... the hell?

What were those things?

Soon enough, Lu Wu began to adjust to his new vision. He realized that the upper part of his view was actually to his left, and the lower part to his right. He remembered seeing online depictions of how different animals perceive the world. This, he realized, was a compound eye—an extremely primitive one at that.

Compound eyes are on the sides of the head, but the optic nerves merge the images, much like a split-screen display on a TV or phone, analyzed by the pitifully tiny brain of a mosquito.

“A dragonfly’s compound eye is much better than this. What have I become?”

“Wait, what are those air currents?”

Lu Wu saw with his own eyes many clumps and threads swirling through the air ahead. The source of these threads was a patterned web. In his vision, the linear purple lines were these threads, and the large, solid-colored blocks were likely substantial objects. As for those multiple purple lines weaving through the air, those were... the air exhaled by a spider?

More precisely, carbon dioxide!

“Have I become a mosquito?!”

Mosquitoes can sense carbon dioxide, which is then processed by their optic nerves. Only mosquitoes are able to “see” something like carbon dioxide.

Now, the carbon dioxide visible in his field of vision confirmed that he had indeed become a mosquito.

Damn!

Once adjusted, Lu Wu could roughly analyze what he was seeing. He could see a very clear microscopic world within thirty centimeters. He could infer the positions of living creatures within ten meters by the presence of carbon dioxide. He could discern the presence of heat from colored patches. The large, black masses were inanimate solids.

He gazed at the spider web ahead and the spider waiting for fresh prey, and fell into contemplation.

“Why on earth have I become a mosquito?”

Mosquitoes—ranked the most hated animal in history. Any human, seeing a mosquito, would want to swat it. Now, he had become an enemy of over six billion people on earth, a mosquito?

Lu Wu wasn’t foolish enough to fly straight into the spider’s grasp. Mosquitoes actually can see spider webs; it’s just that their tiny brains can’t equate the web with danger.

He looked around.

This was... an ancient-style library. Or perhaps a scripture repository?

Lu Wu flew forward. With his primitive compound eyes, he couldn’t make out the details of the books, but he could roughly see the writing on them. However, because each compound eye is comprised of many tiny lenses, the characters appeared terribly distorted—almost unreadable.

He continued flying, thinking to himself: “Hey, I can actually fly now. Maybe that’s the one good thing in this sea of bad news.”

Relying on animal instinct to fly, Lu Wu suddenly became conscious of the fact he was flying, and his wings abruptly stopped. His body plummeted, diving straight to the ground.

It was like someone walking without thinking, suddenly realizing they hadn’t been consciously controlling their legs at all; when the brain finally registers it, the body stalls and the rhythm is thrown off.

Lu Wu landed on a book that seemed utterly ordinary. In an instant, the book vanished without a trace. Losing his footing, Lu Wu tumbled onto the bookshelf.

At that moment, beyond his compound-eye vision, a new area appeared—a region of human vision! This area was confined to a rectangular shape, completely filled by an open book.

Once again immersed in the three-colored view, Lu Wu was so moved he nearly wept.

Then, words began to appear on the page:

“Book of Knowledge.”

“Scanning... unknown lifeform detected.”

“Small insect, two wings, six legs.”

“Analysis complete: this male specimen feeds on plant sap; the female feeds on animal blood.”

“Ability fusion: granting this male specimen the power to feed on blood.”

“Granting human hearing.”

“End of bestowal.”

Lu Wu’s mind was filled with a massive question mark, one so big it could burst the head of a mosquito.

“Is this for real... what nonsense is this?”

Why could a book force its way into his mind? And more importantly, was it really going to grant a male mosquito the ability to suck blood?

But Lu Wu felt a distinct craving for blood.

“Holy... are you serious?!”

The text on the Book of Knowledge began to change color, turning gold.

“Intelligence detected! Exceptionally high intelligence, surpassing most humans.”

“Intelligence acknowledged. Subject recognized as master of this book.”

Lu Wu was speechless. “My name is Lu Wu. And I am now a mosquito.”

Did this world not have mosquitoes? How could such a mysterious artifact fail to recognize a mosquito?

Host: Lu Wu.

Species: Mosquito.

Lifespan: Sixty days.

Level: Unranked demon, mortal class.

Physical strength: Negative eighteen.

Lu Wu was thunderstruck.

Damn, mosquitoes only live sixty days?

He didn’t know that male mosquitoes typically only live seven days, dying immediately after mating. Those sixty days were a result of the Book of Knowledge merging the traits of both male and female mosquitoes, granting him the female’s abilities and thus extending his life.

By now, Lu Wu was no longer perched on a book—the ordinary, worn-looking tome had vanished from this world.

Puzzled, Lu Wu gazed at the shelf. “What kind of strange world is this?”

The Book of Knowledge rapidly flipped pages, displaying new words.

“Tianlan Realm, Mount Taixu, Taixu Palace.”

Lu Wu flew forward, the Book of Knowledge constantly updating its text.

“Detected: Mortal-class spider.”

“Detected: Mortal-class gecko.”

“Detected: Human—scanning... Sage-class.”

Lu Wu locked onto the Sage-class human with curiosity. The Book of Knowledge continued:

“Female sage, vegetative state, threat level thirty percent.”

Lu Wu was astonished. “You even know what a vegetative state is?”

“Host, this book will display information in a format you can understand.”

Vegetative state. Female sage?

Lu Wu flew in that direction.

Traversing the hallway, he was exceedingly cautious, wary of some terrifying long-legged beast (spider) or a sudden darting tongue (gecko) attacking him.

Given his size, a sneak attack from a spider was no different from being ambushed by an alien monster.

As he flew, Lu Wu continued to familiarize himself with his vision. He didn’t need to adjust to hearing—after all, the Book of Knowledge had granted him human hearing. Though these senses were strange, when converted to something resembling human perception, they were just barely tolerable.

Passing through the corridor, he crossed a patch of strange, shimmering light. A grand hall suddenly appeared ahead.

“Approaching female sage: one hundred meters.”

“Crisis detected! Spider trap!”