Shen Ji suddenly opened his eyes!
Before him was nothing but a thick, suffocating darkness. The ink-black void swallowed everything. An oppressive pressure surged from all directions, wrapping him tightly. The stale air was filled with a strong earthy smell… and the odor of rotting wood.
This was… a coffin?!
Before the shock had even faded, a cold mechanical voice suddenly exploded in his mind:
『Beep! Strong will to survive detected… binding conditions met…』
『Soul fluctuation matched… binding initiated…』
『Cannon Fodder Salvation System successfully bound! Scanning host status…』
Shen Ji: “???”
System? Binding? What the hell was this?! His last memory was still of the apocalypse… betrayed by the companion he trusted most, that sneering face, and the deafening roar and blinding white light that devoured everything in the instant of his self-detonation…
He had actually not died completely? And some ghost system had stuffed him into a… coffin?!
Before Shen Ji could think any further, a massive flood of memories that did not belong to him crashed into his mind!
The original owner was the legitimate son of the Pingyang Marquis Residence in the Great Yin Dynasty, also named Shen Ji. He had been weak and chronically ill since childhood, and his birth mother had died early. Just a few days ago, the old marquis had only just passed away, and his vicious stepmother, Lady Liu, had come with a bowl of “nourishing medicinal soup.”
The original owner had long seen through his stepmother’s vicious heart. Alarm bells rang in his mind, but his body, worn down by years of medicine and illness, could not even lift a hand. He could only watch helplessly as that bowl of poison was forced down his throat, ending his life.
After receiving the memories, Shen Ji only felt anger surge up in him, and then he forced himself to laugh in exasperation.
“Ha… the mighty God of Slaughter from the apocalypse, transmigrated into a pitiful little thing poisoned to death by his stepmother’s bowl of medicine?”
Shen Ji curled the corner of his mouth, but what came from his throat was a hoarse sound like a broken bellows. “Fine…” His tone was full of self-mockery and helplessness.
Forget it. To live again, to get a life for free… no matter how he looked at it, he was the one who came out ahead. In the apocalypse, surviving was the greatest luxury.
But right now, this body was so weak that he could hardly move even a finger.
What was worse, the poison was still rampaging through his body. Every breath felt like a dull knife scraping at his lungs, pain stabbing deep into his bones. His throat was dry as dust, and the taste of blood kept rising in his mouth.
“First… get out…”
Shen Ji forced himself to calm down, concentrated his mental energy, and discovered that his ability was still intact. He desperately gathered what little energy remained in this shattered body.
At last, a wisp of faint frost ability struggled to gather in his palm.
Holding his breath and focusing his mind, Shen Ji controlled that precious strand of ice ability like the most precise drill, carefully cutting a slit from inside the coffin.
…
Pingyang Marquis Residence, flower hall.
Outside the hall, pale funeral lanterns swayed in the night breeze, solemn and silent.
Inside, however, was an entirely different world… candlelight blazing bright as day, the languid sound of strings and wind instruments drifting through the air, completely out of place with the grief outside.
The stepmother, Lady Liu, was dressed in plain mourning clothes and reclined on a soft couch, slowly sipping fragrant tea.
That white mourning garment was blindingly bright, yet it could not hide the joy spilling from her brows and eyes. In her hair, a high-quality emerald jade hairpin gleamed with a lustrous glow, and the rouge on her lips was vivid and alluring. Against the plain white mourning clothes, it gave her a sultry, seductive air.
Lady Liu’s own son, the concubine-born son of the Marquis Residence, Shen Mingxuan, was even less restrained.
He sat with his legs crossed in a brazen sprawl, twirling a wine cup between his fingers, his eyes shamelessly fixed on the few slender maids in the hall, his gaze greasy and greedy.
Those maids wore plain-colored dresses and, to the plucking of the musicians’ strings, danced lightly and gracefully. Their flowing sleeves fluttered through the air, creating an atmosphere of cheer that was wholly out of place.
“Mother, we’re finally cleanly rid of that sickly wretch! The last bit of hope left by that dead ghost and his dead mother is gone for good!” Shen Mingxuan leaned close to Lady Liu and lowered his voice, his tone overflowing with unrestrained delight and greed. “This huge Marquis Residence will be ours to control from now on!”
Lady Liu gently set down her teacup, a cold, thin smile curving at the corners of her mouth. She lightly pressed a handkerchief to her lips. “Xuan’er, keep your voice down. Even though that eyesore of a short-lived wretch and his father have both ‘died of illness,’ we still have to put on a proper show. Once these few days pass and the succession ceremony is held…”
Her eyes flashed brightly. “Invite the most famous Fuyuan Opera Troupe in the capital and have them perform for three days and three nights! Let’s make a real celebration of it!”
Shen Mingxuan snickered, as though he could already see himself wearing the marquis’s ceremonial robes, wielding great power with an imposing air.
He tipped his head back and downed a cup of wine, feeling that it tasted sweeter than honey. Warm fragrance drifted through the hall, and the white-clad dancers moved with grace… a scene of lavish celebration.
As for “Big Brother” Shen Ji lying in a thin coffin outside the city? Shen Mingxuan had long since thrown him to the back of his mind. He and their old marquis father had already become nothing more than stepping stones on his path to power.
The entire flower hall was filled with laughter and merriment, a scene of victory that could no longer be concealed.
…
Inside the thin coffin, Shen Ji finally used his ability to break open a crack.
Crack!
Fresh air rushed in instantly.
“Hu… !” He gasped for breath, and the burning pain in his organs finally eased a little. Not daring to waste a moment, Shen Ji immediately mobilized all of his remaining ability, ready to break out of this prison in one go!
Just as his strength was about to burst forth…
Rustle… rustle…
From not far away, the sound of footsteps and voices suddenly came closer!