In the twenty-eighth year of the Dongchen Kingdom’s reign, a great drought plagued the land, and the crops in the fields all withered and died.
Kaoshan Village, Qi County
Early that morning, Shen Yanqing went up the mountain to check his traps. As he entered the forest, he spotted what looked like a person lying on the ground some distance ahead. He quickened his pace, hurrying over.
Up close, he found it was a young man of seventeen or eighteen, with short hair and pale skin, dressed in strange clothing, with an odd bundle lying beside him.
Shen Yanqing looked down at the person at his feet and thought: there’s no one else around, and leaving him here won’t do. I’ll have to take him home first.
He hoisted the man onto his back and hurried home.
The Shen household sat at the foot of the mountain in Kaoshan Village a three-room adobe house. Old Man Shen lived in the east room, and Shen Yanqing lived in the west room.
A large courtyard surrounded the house, with a big peach tree in it. Beneath the tree stood a stone table, with four cylindrical stone stools arranged around it.
It was the height of peach blossom season, and pink-white petals drifted on the wind, scattering across the courtyard.
Though the house looked old, it had a serene, almost otherworldly feel to it.
Old Man Shen was surprised to see his son return just after leaving the house, carrying someone on his back. Before he could even ask, he watched Shen Yanqing carry the man into the room.
Shen Yanqing laid the man on his own bed, then went out and explained the whole story to his father.
“Dad, he was unconscious on the mountain. The whole way back, jolting around on my back, he never woke up. Should we go get Doctor Xu to take a look?”
Just as he finished speaking, the father and son heard a commotion from the room, and they went in together.
Qi Yanxuan woke with a splitting headache, his mind still stuck on the moment he’d fallen off the cliff.
He had been a member of the Gale Squad in the apocalypse a dual-ability user with lightning and wood powers, ranked Level Six. Before the accident, his squad had taken a mission to collect wind-variant beast crystal cores.
The six-person squad had set out for the forest, and before long they encountered a Level Six wind-variant leopard. Just as they killed it and were about to extract the crystal core, wolf howls rang out in the distance.
As everyone knows, wolves are pack animals. The group was chased by a pack of wind-variant wolves and couldn’t shake them no matter what and the lead wolf was already Level Seven.
They decided to split up and run save as many as they could.
Qi Yanxuan immediately activated his lightning ability, turning into a bolt of lightning streaking through the forest at top speed. In his panic, he plunged into a thicket of bushes.
Who could have known the bushes ended at a cliff’s edge? Caught off guard, Qi Yanxuan fell. When he opened his eyes again, he was here.
He saw two men in ancient-style clothing walking in from outside one old, one young. The older one was in his forties, tall and burly, with an honest, simple face. The younger one was in his early twenties, nearly two meters tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, striking brows and bright eyes.
Qi Yanxuan’s heart lurched. He hurriedly checked himself over, and seeing that he was still wearing the black work uniform from his mission, he was puzzled.
Was I wrong? Not a transmigration? Impossible no one makes films in the apocalypse! Just as his thoughts were spiraling into chaos, he heard the younger man speak.
“Sir, my name is Shen Yanqing. How did you end up unconscious in the mountains?”
“I don’t know. My head hurts so badly. I can’t remember anything except my name.” Qi Yanxuan had no idea what was going on either, so he could only clutch his head and feign amnesia. (But he still had to remember his name, after all. o( )o)
The father and son exchanged a glance. What were they supposed to do now?
It was Old Man Shen who first broke the silence: “Yanqing, go invite Doctor Xu to take a look at this young gentleman. I’m afraid he’s injured his head.”
Shen Yanqing nodded and went out to fetch someone.
“Young sir, lie down and rest for a while.” A look of kindness appeared on Old Man Shen’s honest face.
“Uncle, please stop calling me ‘young sir.’ My name is Qi Yanxuan just call me Ah Xuan.” Qi Yanxuan smiled with an innocent face.
“All right! Ah Xuan, lie down and rest quickly.”
Qi Yanxuan obediently lay down, and before long, Shen Yanqing returned leading a man of about forty with a goatee. The man carried a medicine box on his back and sat down by the bed.
Doctor Xu took Qi Yanxuan’s left wrist to feel his pulse. After a few breaths, he said to the father and son, “This young gentleman’s pulse is fine. As for the memory loss, he may have knocked his head. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
With that, he rose to leave, and Shen Yanqing saw him out the door before returning.
Qi Yanxuan looked at the father and son in confusion and asked, “Uncle, Brother Shen, may I ask where this is? Which country? What year?”
Seeing his puzzled expression, Shen Yanqing explained, “This is Kaoshan Village in Qi County, in the country of Dongchen. It is currently the twenty-eighth year of Dongchen.”
Qi Yanxuan was instantly shocked. Dongchen? The twenty-eighth year of Dongchen? Isn’t this that ancient-apocalypse survival novel Lin Zi recommended to me?
Kaoshan Village? But it wasn’t mentioned in the book. The novel was set in an ancient apocalypse where all kinds of disasters struck great droughts, violent storms, earthquakes, plagues, heavenly fire, eternal night, mutated animals and plants, all sorts of chaotic dangers.
The story mainly depicted the sickeningly sweet romance between the male and female leads against this backdrop. Huge numbers of people died, yet they alone survived their protagonist halo couldn’t have been bigger. Have I transmigrated into the book?
His thoughts returned to the present.
Qi Yanxuan looked apologetic. “Uncle, Brother Shen, I still can’t remember anything. Might I impose and stay at your home?” He finished with a hopeful look at the father and son.
Shen Yanqing felt a little uncomfortable under those bright, sparkling eyes and waved his hand carelessly. “No problem. You can stay here for now, and I’ll move to my dad’s place. We’ll figure things out once your memory comes back.”
A day passed. At night, Qi Yanxuan lay in bed thinking over everything that had happened.
This was a body transmigration he probably couldn’t go back. Besides, going back would mean returning to the apocalypse. What did it matter where he lived?
Once he’d made peace with it, he slipped into his space. He had stumbled upon this space a month into the apocalypse. At the time, it had been a jade pendant shaped like a safety button. He’d held it in his hand, and when blood from the wound on his arm dripped onto the pendant, it vanished, leaving a cinnabar-red mole on his wrist.
Thanks to this space, he had collected a great deal of supplies and never once gone hungry during the apocalypse.
The space contained seven warehouses: a food storage warehouse, a daily necessities warehouse, a seeds warehouse, a clothing warehouse, a sundries warehouse, a weapons warehouse, and one more filled with crystal cores of every attribute.
To the right of the warehouses was a plot of land covering five mu, divided into several sections where rice, wheat, vegetables, and medicinal herbs were planted. A few fruit trees grew at the edge of the land, and a small stream flowed gently past.
To the left of the warehouses was a spirit spring that could relieve fatigue and strengthen the body.
He walked to the spring and drank a mouthful of its water. His head, which had been throbbing dully, felt much better, and his depleted powers were restored as well.
Early the next morning
Knock! Knock! Knock!