"So, it turns out this isn't a nightmare."

The words echoed bitterly in Shenglu's mind as he stared up into the never-ending darkness. It had been days-he wasn't sure how many-since he'd woken up entombed in this ridiculous coffin. He had hoped that any second now, his alarm would blare, and he'd be back in his messy apartment, surrounded by his junk food stash and the smell of last night's noodles.

"There's no way this is real," he muttered, biting his lip. "What am I? Some isekai protagonist or some shit? I didn't even get hit by a truck! Where's the cliché?"

No matter how many times he shut his eyes and willed himself to wake up, the darkness remained. The coffin walls still hugged him tightly. He already tried every trick he knew to wake himself up. Smacking his face. Pinching his arm. Screaming into the void. But each attempt was met with crushing silence. This was real. He was still here.

Of course, getting to this point had been far from smooth. Shenglu had cycled through what felt like the world's most unhinged emotional rollercoaster, like a deranged ping-pong ball, bouncing from one mental breakdown to the next.

On the first day, denial had come swift and overwhelming. But by the second or third day, time had already begun to blur. Shenglu's denial boiled over into rage. His once half-hearted attempts to move the coffin lid turned into full-on tantrums. He threw punches, kicks, and a few choice curses for good measure.

"Fucking dammit! I swear to all the gods I never prayed to, if this is real, I'm gonna lose it!" Shenglu yelled, pounding his fists against the unyielding crystal walls of the coffin. His voice reverberates within the small confines of the coffin, doing little more than bouncing back and mocking his attempts.

"Whose bright idea was it to stick me in a damn coffin?! Did I offend some ancient deity or what?" His eyes burned with fury as he kicked at the base of the coffin, rattling the entire structure."Why couldn't I wake up in a soft bed or some fantasy kingdom with talking animals...."

He threw his head back against the crystal with a dramatic sigh. "I didn't ask for this! All I wanted was to chill with my friends, drink, and vibe-not end up in a haunted sarcophagus on a floating island! Am I supposed to be grateful?! Did they think I'd feel fancy dying in some deluxe coffin on a magical island? Real considerate."

At some point, after his fury had worn him out, Shenglu tried bargaining because why the hell not? It wasn't like he had many options left.

"Okay, listen, universe... gods... whatever divine force is screwing with me," Shenglu said out loud to the invisible forces of the universe. "Let's make a deal. I promise, I'll be a better person. I'll recycle more. I'll stop ignoring my mom's texts. Just...get me out of here, okay?"

He waited. Silence.

"Fine! I won't drink as much anymore! I'll go to bed early and I'll even eat vegetables! Just...if this is a prank, you can end it now. I'll laugh. I'll say, 'Haha, good one guys,' and we can all move on. I'll be grateful for the rest of my life, alright?"

He tried anything he could possibly do. Knocking in a pattern, praying to random deities, and even attempting to unlock some hidden power like he was a martial artist from a wuxia novel. "System? Powers? Please give me a cheat ability!" he pleaded, half-expecting some system interface to pop up. Nothing. The echoes of his voice were the only response.

Hours passed, and he eventually stopped yelling, his throat burning from all the effort.

"Fine then," he scoffed, slumped down and defeated. "I didn't want to be saved anyway."

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When bargaining failed, the dread set in. The reality of his situation had finally sunk in by day five and depression hit hard. He was stuck, trapped in this coffin, and there was no one coming to save him.

Shenglu lay there, emotionally drained, staring blankly into the oppressive darkness. "Why?" he whispered hoarsely. "Why me? I didn't ask for this. I just wanted a normal life-A bit of money, around a billion will do. Maybe a nicer place to live, an estate on top of the hills sounds nice. That's it, nothing too absurd! I didn't sign up for floating islands and ancient coffins."

Curling as much as the limited space allowed, Shenglu teared up. "What's the point? I'm just gonna die here, aren't I?" He sniffled, "No food, no water, no escape. I'll just shrivel up like a mummy."

The silence was too much to bear. His thoughts spiraled into an endless pit of hopelessness. "I'll die here," he muttered, barely audible. "What if this is purgatory? I bet this is some kind of karmic punishment for skipping my taxes."

Silence.

"Who am I kidding? Skipping taxes ain't that deep, the world should thank me for not doing something worse." Like a spring, Shenglu bounces back.

He'd gone through every possible emotion, and now... now he just didn't have the energy to care anymore. "Breaking down aside, Im stuck here. Fine. But why, for the love of all things, why inside a coffin?"

There was no more yelling, no more pleading. Just a dull acceptance that this was his new reality. And, as expected, it felt better. The panic had dissipated. Now that his mind wasn't busy fighting against the situation, he could actually think clearly.

It was during this newfound clarity that Shenglu began to take stock of his situation. The most concerning realization hit him first.

"Okay," he muttered to himself, rubbing his chin in thought. "It's been a week, right? So why am I not hungry? Or thirsty? Or tired?"

He wriggled in the cramped space of the coffin, scratching his head. "This isn't normal. I should be feeling something by now-anything. But I don't feel a damn thing. No hunger, no thirst, no exhaustion."

Shenglu's eyes narrowed as he considered the implications. "Am I... not normal anymore? Is my body screwed up or something?"

That thought sent a shiver down his spine. He pushed it aside for now, focusing on what else he'd learned during his week of captivity.

Thanks to the strange sense he'd developed, he had become intimately familiar with his surroundings-specifically, the floating island. And by now, he'd claimed it as his island with a sense of bizarre entitlement. That's right, his. "Well, who else is gonna claim it?" he'd reasoned. "I'm the only person here, no one to tell me otherwise."

Shenglu liked the idea of ownership. The island was his, plain and simple. Besides, there was this weird feeling deep down in his gut that told him the island really did belong to him. It was like a nagging intuition, impossible to ignore.

"Why?"

The island itself was impressive, even by Shenglu's twisted standards. Ancient Chinese architecture dominated the landscape-a palace surrounded by towering pavilions, all built with a level of craftsmanship that left him breathless. Every structure was adorned with intricate carvings of dragons, their serpentine forms winding across the surfaces in a display of timeless artistry. The sight was overwhelming, yet oddly familiar, as if he had walked through these halls a hundred times before.

His eyes settled on a particular carving, a dragon entangled within its own coiling body, its form intricate yet oddly serene. Something about it tugged at him, a feeling he couldn't quite place. His breath hitched as he stared at it, unable to pull his gaze away.

"That one..." he whispered, almost in reverence. His fingers pressed against the smooth crystal walls of the coffin, aching to trace the dragon's curves. "That dragon entangled by its own body... it's... beautiful." He hesitated, his voice faltering as emotions he didn't understand swelled in his chest.

A strange warmth washed over him, a sense of belonging so intense it almost hurt. It wasn't just admiration-no, this was deeper, more personal. The carving felt like a part of him, something he was inexplicably bound to.

He blinked, shaking his head to clear the fog of emotions clouding his mind. "Weird," he muttered, but couldn't shake the sensation lingering at the edge of his thoughts. Shrugging it off for now, his eyes drifted beyond the dragon, taking in the rest of the island.

In some other rooms, it was filled with treasures in all shapes and forms, brimming with life and wealth. Gold taels, strange stones that hummed with energy, plants and herbs that didn't belong to any species Shenglu had ever seen. Outside, there were trees with fruits that looked like peaches but were... "Definitely not peaches," Shenglu mused, staring at one fruit in particular that had the audacity to glow.

But despite everything he'd observed, the most shocking revelation came last.

He had been so preoccupied with his surroundings that he hadn't noticed something incredibly important: his own body was different.

The first clue? His hair. His long, annoyingly tangled hair.

---

Shenglu had been wriggling around, mastering the art of salted worms, trying to get comfortable in the coffin when his hair wrapped around his neck, nearly choking him to death. He froze, something clicking.

"Wait... I was bald before... why the fuck do I have long hair now?!"

It was only then that he really began to inspect himself. He took a deep breath, shamelessly groping and probing every inch of himself. It was a definite upgrade.

His fingers ran over the defined muscles of his chest, feeling the hard ridges of his abs. His skin felt smooth, unblemished, like a statue carved from marble. His arms were thicker too, not like the flimsy noodles he remembered from his old body. "Damn..." he muttered, tracing a line down to his waist.

"This body," he whispered, a smirk forming on his lips. "Is way better than my old one."

After spending a solid hour just marveling at his new physique, Shenglu came to the inevitable conclusion: "Whoever sculpted me, they deserve a raise."

Satisfied with his new form, Shenglu lay back down, sighing. But there was one small problem: he was still stuck in the coffin.

"Well... at least I look good while being trapped in here."