Su Tong opened her eyes and only felt a dizzying sensation, as if the world were spinning violently. Before she could even push herself up, she fell heavily back to the ground.
Only then did a sharp pain explode at her temple. When she reached up to touch it, her hand was covered in blood.
She steadied herself and looked around, immediately realizing something was wrong.
She had been struck by a stray bullet. The projectile had pierced her heart, and she had collapsed on the operating table.
But the scene before her was not inside a green military tent, nor was there the dense, endless tropical rainforest she remembered. Instead, it was a dilapidated earthen hut held up by a few wooden posts.
There was a pile of straw on the ground, a crude wooden door nailed together in front of her, its gaps wide enough to fit a fist through.
Beside it sat a kerosene lamp with a glass cover, its weak flame flickering like a bean, casting a faint yellow glow.
Outside the door, she could hear two men talking.
“Damn it, I told you to be careful! Now look at this—you’ve caused a death! How are we supposed to explain this to the Wu family?”
“Now you’ve got principles? Why didn’t you say anything when you took five yuan from Wu Dongling’s family? We agreed we’d have our fun first before sending her off to that old widower—you agreed too!”
“…Who knew that girl was so fierce… she actually slammed into a pillar…”
Su Tong listened to the argument outside and looked down at herself, realizing she was wearing a patched cotton jacket layered with countless repairs.
It had clearly been worn for a long time. The cotton filling was hardened and clumped, providing almost no warmth. Her arms were thin and yellowed, and her hands were covered in thick calluses and cracks—miserable beyond description.
As she was still in a daze, another wave of intense headache struck her, and a flood of unfamiliar memories surged into her mind, nearly making her faint again.
When the pain finally subsided, she processed the chaotic memories one by one—and was stunned.
She had actually transmigrated.
She had died on a 21st-century peacekeeping battlefield, only to awaken in the body of a girl named Wu Tong in the 1970s.
Wu Tong was the eldest daughter in her family, with two younger brothers and a younger sister.
From childhood, she had never been favored. Besides working in the fields and mountains doing farm labor, she was also responsible for all the household chores. She was obedient, enduring, and submissive.
At sixteen, her mother, tempted by a dowry of five bundles of grain, hastily betrothed her. Unexpectedly, the groom fell from a river embankment on his way to the wedding and died instantly, and the engagement was called off.
At seventeen, she was betrothed again in exchange for half a slab of pork. But shortly after the engagement was set, the other party died of illness.
This turned Wu Tong into a notorious “jinxed woman” in the surrounding villages. People said she brought bad luck to husbands—anyone who married her would suffer misfortune.
At eighteen, unwilling to let an adult daughter “go to waste,” her mother arranged yet another match far away.
For a dowry of fifty yuan, Wu Tong was promised to a nearly fifty-year-old widower from a neighboring county, a man with many children.
To avoid complications, as soon as the dowry was received yesterday, her mother confidently promised the matchmaker she would send Wu Tong over the next day—no wedding ceremony even needed.
Wu Tong cried all day and, gathering courage, said she did not want to go. Her mother forced a bowl of sedative medicine prepared by a village doctor down her throat, and she immediately lost consciousness.
Her younger sister Wu Dongling even added insult to injury, hiring two local hooligans to escort her, giving them an extra five yuan to “ruin her” on the way before delivering her to the widower.
This way, Wu Tong would have no other choice but to accept her fate.
The two hooligans transported the unconscious Wu Tong on a handcart.
After leaving the village at night, they found an abandoned cattle shed to rest. Just as they were about to assault her, Wu Tong suddenly woke up.
Seeing the two men red-eyed and tearing at her clothes, she understood everything immediately. Overwhelmed by despair and rage—and realizing her family never treated her as human—she smashed her head into a pillar…
Su Tong sorted through the memories, feeling a deep sorrow. This girl’s life had been unbearably tragic. Born into such a family, she truly had nothing to live for…
The argument outside continued.
“Shunzi, what do we do now? I saw Ma Dadan and the police from the station wandering around the village entrance during the day. We can’t let this get big…”
“What does it have to do with us? She hit the pillar herself. We didn’t get anything out of it and now we’re in trouble. I’m telling you, Wang Lao’er, keep your mouth shut…”
“Then… then what now? She already stopped breathing earlier… she’s probably cold by now…”
“Let’s just dig a hole and bury her, then lay low for a while. If anything happens, we’ll push it onto the Wu family anyway—they’re the ones who drove her to this…”
At that moment, the two pushed the door open and entered. In the dim light, two sleazy-looking men appeared, dressed in loose, shabby clothes—clearly not respectable people.
One went to pick up the kerosene lamp, the other reached for Su Tong’s leg.
Although Su Tong was a doctor, she was a battle-hardened military surgeon. Any doctor who could serve on the battlefield had been rigorously selected.
Excellent medical skill was only the baseline. Firearms, combat skills, foreign languages, survival training—everything had to pass, or one would not survive on the front lines.
Seeing the man grab for her leg, she kicked hard toward his jaw.
Her strike was precise, aimed at a vulnerable point beneath the chin. But the moment she kicked, she realized this body was far too weak. The force was insufficient, only causing the man to stagger backward slightly.
He wasn’t knocked down, but he was frightened. Scrambling up, he shouted in terror, “Shun… Shunzi! She’s… she’s come back from the dead!”
Shunzi had just lifted the oil lamp and was also stunned to see the supposedly dead woman move. He was equally frightened.
But he was more composed than Wang Lao’er and forced himself to stay calm.
“She must’ve just fainted earlier and come back around! Good—she’s not dead! Tie her up and take her away! We still have to finish the job!”
The two exchanged a look and lunged at her again.
But Su Tong would not let herself be caught. She rolled aside and tried to stand, only to feel another wave of dizziness.
Whether it was from hitting the pillar or the sedative, her body was utterly weak and unstable.
The two men missed again and cursed.
“Damn it! After hitting her head, she’s gotten clever—she’s fighting back!”
“Wait till I catch you, I’ll beat you to death!”
Realizing something was wrong with this body, Su Tong knew she could not fight them head-on. She seized an opening, rushed through the door, and fled.
The two men chased after her while cursing, but in their panic the kerosene lamp was knocked over into the straw. In an instant, flames erupted, spreading rapidly and igniting the cattle shed.
The wooden structure of the shed caught fire immediately, and the blaze grew stronger and stronger, like a massive torch lighting up the dark night sky.