Jiang Pengji, Federal General, female, former Legion Commander of the Seventh Legion.
Why the prefix “former”?
Because she had already died in battle.
She remembered it clearly—death had come so suddenly, catching her completely off guard.
But there was a silver lining to that.
At least her consciousness had detached from her body before she could even feel the agony of dying.
A deafening roar exploded in her ears, threatening to burst her eardrums.
The world was drenched in a crimson glare.
The next instant, the scene dissolved into silent darkness, and an indescribable chill swept through her soul.
Though dying like this left her with a twinge of regret, for many soldiers, passing away without any pain was considered a blessing.
Still, as an atheist who had always championed science, she never imagined she would still have sensations after death.
What made her want to laugh and cry at the same time was that the pain she had escaped before dying, she was now tasting in full force afterward.
Unspeakable agony radiated from every part of her body.
She, who had never even flinched when injured in the past, almost couldn’t stop herself from screaming.
It hurt.
The kind of pain that made her see stars.
The pain seared itself into her memory, a sensation so vivid it felt as if she were being forcibly shoved into a small box, with an external force relentlessly crushing it from all sides, shrinking the space within.
And the process seemed endless, as if it wouldn’t be satisfied until she was compressed to the size of a palm.
Suddenly, the excruciating agony seemed to reach a breaking point, and something crashed into her mind with a thunderous boom.
Pain!
Jiang Pengji tried to curl her body into a ball, but the searing pain in her mind was so overwhelming it completely drowned out the agony from her limbs.
She had no reason, no time to think of anything else.
It was as if nothing existed in the universe except this explosive, tearing pain.
Heat!
She didn’t know how long this brain-shattering torment had lasted—she even started to wonder if she’d grown numb to it—before an indescribable heat completely enveloped her.
It was as if she had fallen into an endless sea of fire, and the moisture in her body was being steamed away.
Where am I?
The moment the thought formed, she desperately tried to open her eyes to see her surroundings.
Could she have fallen into hell?
But her efforts were in vain.
Her eyelids felt as if they had been filled with ten thousand pounds of molten lead; no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t even force them open a single crack.
Dazed and drifting, her consciousness slipping away, she heard a faint, ethereal electronic voice in her ear.
[Ding—The Palace Intrigue Live Streaming System is re-verifying the Host.
Initiating verification scan…
Scan progress: 1%…]
The cold, mechanical voice drew closer.
Jiang Pengji instinctively tried to strain her ear to hear it more clearly.
[…Scan progress: 23%…
27%…
36%…
42%…
51%…]
What…
is this thing?
Jiang Pengji struggled to gather her scattered thoughts, desperate to identify the source of the voice.
But the voice seemed to ignore her, continuing its announcement.
[Beep—Host’s physical scan complete.
Binding confirmed…]
[Binding in progress…
Further verifying Host’s identity, please wait…
Verification in progress…
Verification complete…]
[Ding!]
A sharp, piercing sound rang out, and Jiang Pengji broke out in a cold sweat.
She felt as if a thick, black fog had been stuffed into her mind.
She tried to think, but found herself unable to recall anything.
The strange, electronically synthesized voice continued its unhurried announcement.
[Name: Jiang Pengji]
[Gender: Female]
[Age: 41]
[Origin: Unknown (Provisional)]
[Specialties: Combat (Provisional), Deductive Analysis (Provisional), Other Abilities (Provisional)]
[Attribute: Unknown (Provisional)]
Hearing her name and age, Jiang Pengji’s consciousness cleared significantly, and the voice in her ear no longer seemed so ethereal and detached.
[Beginning soul fusion.
Fusion rate: 0.1%…
Beep.
Host’s points are insufficient.
Fusion temporarily suspended.
Final fusion: 0.3%.]
[System: Palace Intrigue Live Streaming Attendant 007 is at your service (Jiang Pengji → Liu Lanting).]
After this, the voice fell silent again, becoming so still it was as if it had never existed.
Before she could think further, something like a gust of wind brushed against her cheek, and her scattered senses began to coalesce once more.
Faintly, she felt the ground swaying, and as time passed, the vibration grew more intense.
Creeak, creeak, creeak— The sound of wood rubbing against wood reached her ears, followed by the sound of suppressed sobbing.
Someone else was here?
She struggled to open her eyes, her vision slowly shifting from pitch black to a blurry, indistinct haze.
But the effort was too much.
Her eyelids fluttered shut again almost immediately.
“Brother Lanting…
Brother Lanting…
Wake up…
Wake up and see Wan’er…”
A voice kept calling her name, over and over.
Jiang Pengji thought it had nothing to do with her, but to her dismay, the woman sobbing beside her began shaking her shoulder.
The motion sent a jolt through her already groggy, exhausted mind, making it feel as if it were about to split open.
“Don’t…
don’t shake me…” she managed, her voice barely a whisper.
“My head…
it hurts…
I feel sick…”
Perhaps her voice was too faint, as soft as a mosquito’s buzz and barely audible even to herself.
The woman shaking her continued her cruel actions, oblivious to her pleas.
Finally, Jiang Pengji tried to raise her hand to brush away those wretched hands, but her arms felt as heavy as lead.
Even moving a single finger drained her of all strength.
She eventually gave up, focusing on regulating her breath as she endured the incessant sobbing in her ear.
If I can’t stop it, if I can’t fight back, then I’ll just have to bear it in silence, she thought.
Once I get used to it, maybe it won’t feel so terrible.
Clearly, Jiang Pengji wasn’t the only one who found the sobbing intolerable.
The man driving the carriage made his disgust plain.
“These damn women do nothing but wail and moan.
It’s enough to drive a man mad…
Pah!”
He spat on the ground, then lashed the horses with his whip, sending them into a frantic gallop.
The mountain road was so rugged and uneven that the carriage rattled as if it were about to fall apart.
His curses did nothing to silence the weeping inside; if anything, the terror only made the women shriek louder.
Infuriated, the rough-hewn driver swung his whip, slashing it hard against the carriage curtains.
The blow sent the string of decorative bells jingling wildly, and the noble ladies inside turned pale with fright.
“Cry again, you bitches, and I’ll whip you all to death!”
This wasn’t the only carriage hurtling down the mountain path.
Two others followed closely behind, keeping a tight formation.
On an unfamiliar mountain road, driving so recklessly would be a sure way to end up dead in a wreck.
But these drivers were seasoned veterans, knowing every twist and turn of the path.
In their haste, they managed to make the three exquisite, luxurious carriages feel like they were in a high-speed street race.
“Don’t be so rough,” another voice called out.
“We went through hell to snatch these women.
Every single one of them is a renowned beauty of Hejian Commandery.
Just seeing one of them is a blessing from a past life, let alone a whole bunch!”