The Second Year of Jian’an
Jing Province!
Wancheng!
My consciousness felt like it had been thrown into a washing machine, spinning wildly until the world turned upside down.
I slowly opened my eyes. Everything was spinning.
Where is this? I remember going to Hengdian to visit—unfortunately running into extreme heat and collapsing from heatstroke…
My vision gradually focused.
Corpses piled like mountains. Blood like a sea. Severed limbs. Burned-out carriage frames still smoking black. Dead horses with their bellies split open, entrails spilling out. Flies buzzing as if throwing a party.
Soldiers were slaughtering each other everywhere.
I blurted out, “What the hell?! Since when did Hengdian film sets get this hardcore?”
I pushed myself up blindly and touched something cold, stiff, and sticky. I looked down—
Half of a bluish human arm.
“AAAAAH—!!” I jerked back as if electrocuted, my soul almost flying out of my mouth. “Props team! Isn’t this a little TOO realistic?!”
Wait… why has my body gotten smaller?
I looked at my reflection in a puddle. I looked about twelve or thirteen years old.
Before I could figure anything out, two big men wearing filthy leather armor, faces twisted with ferocity, rushed in with blood-soaked blades!
“There’s the brat!” one of them sneered, swinging his blade toward my neck!
My soul nearly left my body. I tried to dodge—but my legs were like noodles. I couldn’t move at all!
The blade came down.
I’m dead.
**Bang! Crack!**
A huge shadow slammed in from the side at lightning speed! With a dull thud, the man who tried to kill me flew like a rag sack and smashed into a tent pole. His neck bent at a horrifying angle. He didn’t make another sound.
The other thug screamed—but before he could react, a massive, blood-smeared fist the size of a clay pot smashed into his face.
It sounded like a watermelon exploding.
Red and white splattered across my face.
He dropped without even a groan.
I froze, my face smeared with warm, metallic-smelling gore, my stomach churning.
“Prince Zhi, do not fear! I, Dian Wei, am here!”
Dian Wei?
That name sounded familiar… from the Three Kingdoms?
Did I transmigrate?!
I shouted, “Who are you calling Prince Zhi? Where is this?!”
He thought I was scared silly. “This is Wancheng! You are our lord’s third son—Prince Cao Zhi! Zhang Xiu has rebelled! I will escort you out!”
Cao Zhi? Wancheng?!
Holy crap—this isn’t the Battle of Wancheng, when Cao Cao couldn’t control himself and ended up causing disaster?!
I pinched my thigh hard. “Hiss—! It’s not a dream? I transmigrated into… twelve-year-old Cao Zhi?! And I’m being hunted?!”
Father! You flirted with Lady Zou and had your fun, but could you at least take your own son when you ran?!
Professional child-pitfall specialist, huh?!
Starting the game in Hell Mode?! The beginner village turned into a graveyard?!
Before I could process anything further, Dian Wei grabbed my arm, threw me onto a horse, and charged out!
Outside was pure carnage. Tents burning. People screaming. Corpses everywhere.
Several soldiers in ragged armor spotted us and rushed forward howling.
“Anyone who blocks me dies!” Dian Wei roared, swinging a massive iron halberd in a wide arc.
An enemy general shouted, “Kill him! The one in the brocade robe is Cao Cao’s son! Not one of that traitor’s spawn escapes! Bring his head—there will be a great reward!”
A whole troop charged at me as if I were a walking treasure chest.
“Don’t let the brat escape!” Arrows whistled past with deadly shrieks.
Dian Wei bent low over the horse, kicking it hard. The horse galloped frantically.
Suddenly his right shoulder jolted—an arrow pierced through his leather armor.
Seeing more enemies closing in, Dian Wei leapt off his horse and slapped its flank.
“Go, Young Master! I’ll hold them off!”
He charged back alone.
The sounds of battle faded behind me.
I don’t know how long I ran.
Snow began to fall.
The cold was brutal.
Snowflakes poured down like they were free. The wind cut like knives.
Starving for days, Cao Zhi’s stomach stuck to his back. The exhausted horse collapsed, throwing me off.
“Zhang Xiu… damn your ancestors…” I muttered weakly, crawling through the snow.
“Boss! Bloodstains here!”
“That kid can’t be far! Kill him for the reward!”
Their shouts drifted closer. I could even see torchlight flickering through the storm.
My heart sank.
I tried to run—but stumbled and fell face-first into the snow.
The cold choked my nose and mouth.
I had no strength left.
I’m done for…
Just then—
A sharp sound of reins pulling cut through the wind.
A dim yellow lantern light approached.
I forced my eyes open slightly.
In the swirling snow, I saw a pale figure beneath the lantern glow.
“Madam Zhen! Look! There’s someone in the snow! Covered in blood! He won’t last long! And there are pursuers behind!”
From the carriage stepped a noblewoman wrapped in a thick white fox-fur cloak.
The wind blew her hood away.
Her face was breathtaking.
Before losing consciousness, I caught a glimpse of her—like moonlight carved from ice. Ethereal. Otherworldly.
She stepped closer to look at me, but my face was buried in snow. My clothes were torn, caked with blood and mud. My exposed skin was purple from cold.
The pursuers were almost here.
“Madam! He’s dying anyway! Let’s go! Trouble avoided is best!”
Her fingers curled in her sleeves.
In these chaotic times, avoiding trouble was wise.
But…
She stared at the trembling boy in the snow.
So young.
About the same age as her younger brother who had died young.
What deep hatred would make men chase a child to death—even in a snowstorm?
Leaving him there…
She couldn’t bear it.
“Quick! Lift him into the carriage! Hide him in the back compartment!”
Reluctantly, the servants dragged me into a hidden compartment behind old boxes.
Just in time—
Zhang Xiu’s pursuers arrived.
“Stop! By order of General Zhang Xiu, we hunt a fugitive! Have you seen a wounded boy around twelve or thirteen?!”
Madam Zhen forced herself calm. “I went to Ciyun Nunnery to pray. The snow delayed us. I saw no one.”
“Search the carriage!”
“Impudent!” she snapped sharply.
“I am the lawful wife of Yuan Xi, second son of General Yuan Shao, Governor of Ji Province! A legitimate daughter of the Zhen family of Ye City! Since when do petty soldiers interrogate a Yuan family carriage in Ye territory?!”
The leader paled.
Yuan Shao’s name in Hebei was like heaven itself.
They were Zhang Xiu’s men—far from home.
Sweat broke out on his forehead.
“Forgive us, Madam! We… we must have made a mistake!”
She stepped forward, her aura pressing him back.
“Or perhaps you are bandits, falsely using General Zhang’s name to rob civilians?”
That accusation terrified them.
“Retreat!” the leader barked.
The soldiers withdrew into the snow.
Inside the carriage’s hidden compartment, half-frozen and barely breathing—
Cao Zhi survived.