“He must be an idiot. And this civilization’s government placed so much trust in him. Where are the redundancies? I would’ve thought they would be much more careful with their energy production. Luckily, it only affected a few…”

A woman’s voice from a distance slowly pulled Li Jiangsu out of his deep slumber. His eyelids were as heavy as lead, refusing to open. He could only let out a weak groan, desperately seeking out a helping hand. Unexpectedly, the only help he got was a heavy face slap.

“The little prince has finally woken up!” Xia Jiang’s voice reverberated inside Li Jiangsu’s head, washing away the remaining sluggishness.

“Good! Good! I was really worried we would be stuck as his caretakers. But Xia Jiang, be more careful. You might really kill him by doing that!” Li Jiangsu could feel Xian Er’s voice and footsteps quickly approaching.

After trying once more, his eyelids finally stopped being stubborn and complied with his instruction. Li Jiangsu was greeted by a world of light, just like when the Void’s Key was activated. It took a few seconds before he could make out the details of the room.

A high coffered ceiling with three light sources attached to them. The white interior made the room look fresh, but the lack of decorations caused a jarring first impression, giving off an atmosphere similar to an operating room.

Li Jiangsu turned his head toward his two companions sitting beside the bed and stared at them for a while. It took him a few seconds to form coherent thoughts. What happened? Xia Jiang’s appearance is a bit different from what I remembered. Xian Er has also changed. And there are also bandages all over my body. Never mind, this is not the time for that.

“Ahem…” Li Jiangsu grimaced as he cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

Xia Jiang was the first to respond, he took out a round white artifact and started to squeeze it lightly. “This expression is just right! You look great!”

*Flash*

*Flash*

Two blinding light shots out from the round “ball”, Li Jiangsu closed his eyes out of instinct. What’s going on?

“Nice work, Xia Jiang! Li Jiangsu, we will take this as the payment. Haha!” Xian Er gave a thumbs up to Xia Jiang. “Alright, I’ve had enough fun. Li Jiangsu, it’s time for you to explain yourself.”

Li Jiangsu carefully scrutinized his teammates before replying with a frown. “You asked me, but I’m not too sure either.”

“Really? Try to think harder. I couldn’t believe someone could bleed that much before. Ugh, it’s not good for me to recall that. Nearly gave me a heart attack.” Xia Jiang said, fiddling with the white artifact.

After contemplating for a bit more, Li Jiangsu eventually did recall the moment before he fell unconscious. The breaths, the voices, the feeling of helplessness, and that terrible pain.

“Gasp…” Li Jiangsu took a deep breath, suppressing his desire to let out a scream.

“Tell us what you remembered.” the duo pressed on for an answer.

Li Jiangsu shook his head and said in a weak voice. “It’s too hazy. I felt like I went to sleep after the Void’s Key was activated.”

Li Jiangsu had a hunch that if he told the truth to them, the aftermath might be quite ugly. I’ll have to research it myself. And who knows how the higher-ups will react to the abnormalities in the Void Domain. Will I become an experimental subject? It's too dangerous and unpredictable.

Xian Er and Xia Jiang looked and nodded at each other, they seemed to be okay with the unsatisfactory answer.

“Li Jiangsu, the thing is, apart from your serious injuries, we have another oddity to deal with,” Xian Er said. “We were supposed to arrive in the capital of the Great Celestial Empire but instead found ourselves inside the capital city of another civilization, the Ancient Pavilion. What a great start to our mission, right? Sigh-”

Li Jiangsu squinted after hearing this shocking piece of news. “What did the Department of Exploration say? Have you guys reported the abnormalities yet?”

“Of course. We can’t hide it anyway due to the Universal Assist.” Xia Jiang said. “They have alerted the Interuniversal Key Department, it’s unlikely the higher-ups will tell us what the issue is anytime soon. Unluckily or luckily for us, our mission will continue as planned. From the tone of the contact person, our situation is uncommon but should have happened before. Heh, isn’t this exciting? Why have we never heard about it?”

Li Jiangsu tried to get up to a sitting position and said, “Then we will just have to leave it to them. By the way, how many days have passed since we arrived?”

“3 days.” Xian Er showed three fingers. “Count yourself fortunate, if the Natives’ medicine development level was a bit lower, you might have to be bedridden for a few months. We have used up half of your medical supplies. Your injuries are not completely healed up yet but I am sure you shouldn’t have any trouble doing the daily tasks. For a starter, use this to educate yourself, or else you're gonna cause trouble for us.”

Xian Er threw a book-like object at Li Jiangsu. It has a dark metallic shine but it’s as light as a feather. Catching the metallic book, Li Jiangsu inspected the cover for a bit before opening it up. The pages are beige colored and the letters in black ink seem to be rearranging themselves on their own, forming the following words:

“

[Resume]

Or

[Select one of the listed books]

Table of contents.

A Comprehensive Book on Traditional Amarin Language by Scholar Club Cultivation Simplified by Lu Feng The Art of Politics by Unknown The Successes and Failures of Civilizations by Chen Hao Groundbreaking Innovations Explained by Scholar Club Why Are We Divided? by Zhang Yao The encyclopedia of the three great civilizations by Scholar Club News, Date 02/09/255 - Li Wei Era, by Morning News Group

*

*

*

“

Li Jiangsu flipped the pages to see if there was any end to the list, but to his surprise, the table of contents began to repeat itself after a certain page. He tried to touch one of the book’s titles, the letters then began to move again and he could feel the increased thickness of the book. It took a few seconds before everything settled down. The weight did not change which amused Li Jiangsu. So this is how the Natives store information?

“It’s pretty interesting right?” Xia Jiang commented, “Enjoy it well. I paid quite a bit for it.”

A flash of realization struck Li Jiangsu, he had to ask. “How did you buy this book and the white ‘ball’, I didn’t see any local currency in the supplies list? And where are we? Whose house is this?”

Xia Jiang and Xian Er froze for a moment before Xian Er quickly explained, “That’s right! I forgot to tell you about this. After we arrived, we found ourselves inside this house. More specifically, the underground storage room. We are pretty lucky to not encounter anybody right away. Because, well, our sudden appearance and your bloody body would have attracted too much attention.

“I let Xia Jiang go up to scout while I took care of your injuries, he discovered that a couple, called Mr. Cheng Zhu and Mrs. Cheng Yuan, are residing here but they are not home. So we decided to wait and observe the situation before doing anything. Once the morning arrived and the couple went out again, Xia Jiang and I decided to add sedatives to the beverages the couple was drinking last night.

“And you should already know how it turned out. We also got local currencies from them. They had unexpectedly a large amount of them too.”

“Where are they now? The underground storage room?” Li Jiangsu followed up with a question.

Xian Er closed one of her eyes and pointed a finger at it. “Correct, no need to worry about them waking up and escaping. I’ve discovered my cultivation pathway and one of its abilities in this New World. It seems to be related to observation and monitoring. I can leave a ‘mark’ on a person and see them from anywhere. The limit is only one ‘mark’ for now. Don’t think anything weird, I have no interest in peeping at you guys.”

“And here I was looking forward to it. If you change your mind, I will gladly volunteer!” Xia Jiang's eyes sparkled and smiled at Xian Er.

Dude… And you, Xian Er! If you hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have thought about it!

Li Jiangsu shook his head to get rid of any inappropriate thoughts and questioned Xia Jiang what he did with the white ‘ball’

“Oh, this?” Xia Jiang held up the white ‘ball’ so Li Jiangsu could see it a little better. “As you know, we are here illegally as invaders and frankly, if not for my lucky halo that causes us to meet this specific couple, it would’ve been harder to blend in.”

“You mean?” Li Jiangsu asked.

“That guy, Cheng Zhu, looks very similar to me, just has a few more wrinkles and is a bit taller. I could use his identity documents and his wife’s makeup for the final touches. I did all that before going out to collect information and buy the necessities and you know what? It sure did pay off in the end! Those fools couldn’t tell I am an imposter! Haha, well to be fair they are up against me, the great identity thief!

“Ah so where was I? Right, the current situation in the capital is quite tense due to several factors. I have heard the patrols on the street have increased severalfold in the past few months. It looks like this matter is related to two other great civilizations, the Nation of Twilight and the Great Celestial Empire.

“Which leads us to this white ‘ball’, it’s actually called ‘Photographic Storage’. It was lent to me by a black market dealer who sold forged identities documents. We were just waiting until you woke up to complete the last step.” Xia Jiang explained.

Li Jiangsu was surprised by how efficient and reliable this weirdo is. However, there was one crucial part that bothered him. “Surely, a black market dealer isn’t someone who you can just meet whenever, especially when the capital is on high alert?”

“Good that you asked. This is where things get really interesting. The black market dealer, who calls himself Seven Degree, actually approached me while I was drinking inside the Fizzy Red Bar, a popular place among the locals.” Xia Jiang adjusted himself on the seat before he continued. “He mistook me as the real Cheng Zhu. Well, I supposed that is to be expected. But this also shows that this couple is not simple.

“I’m glad we didn’t act rashly and poisoned them. There would be no way to avoid troubles in the future if that was the case. Nevertheless, we will still need to deal with their disappearance in the past 2 days. Tackling this issue will definitely be rewarding, don’t you agree?” Xia Jiang grinned at Li Jiangsu.

For some reason, Li Jiangsu wanted to punch Xia Jiang's face but he held back the urge. Xian Er then coughed lightly before speaking to the other two.

“This brings us to a dilemma that Xia Jiang and I have been thinking about since we discovered them.” Xian Er walked into another room and returned with two pieces of paper. “One is a letter for Cheng Zhu and the other one was in the process of writing by Cheng Yuan.”

She placed them on the edge of the bed so everyone could see. The upper-left corner of the letter to Cheng Zhu was adorned with complicated patterns in blue. On the other hand, the unfinished letter was plain and only contained a few lines of ink. Li Jiangsu quickly read the content of both:

“To Cheng Zhu,

Have you been well? I’ve been exercising with my daughter recently, a true demon I’d say. She won’t even let her frail father rest.

Concerning your recent change of residence, I hope you can adjust well to the new neighborhood. Mr. Chu Ying's recommendation rarely misses the mark. However, if you find it dissatisfactory then just write to me and I will make the necessary arrangements.

Due to the recent unrest within the capital, I have temporarily suspended a portion of my importing business. But rest assured, the deal we previously agreed on will be unaffected. I’ve made sure to confirm it with the officials through my private channels.

I’m certain you are already well aware of all these matters. So let me finally tell you the real reason I’ve written this letter, I have a business proposal to present to you. I can only give you the details in person, I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience this might have caused. Please contact me with the date and place of the meeting if you are interested to know more.

I wish you good health.

Sincerely,

Ning Xiao Zhi

Thousand Valleys Group”

An unexpectedly normal letter, there are only a few suspicious points but that should be expected when discussing important business matters. The most interesting thing isn’t the content itself but the physical letter. Is this the most common method of communication? Or do they have a faster means but it cannot be mass-produced?

Li Jiangsu only now realized he knew far too little about this New World. He’s itching to read the book Xia Jiang gave him. He continued to read the letter written by Cheng Yuan.

“Dear Mrs. Gao Jie,

It has been a few weeks since we contacted each other. Are you still journeying through the western part of the territory?

At the end of the last letter you told me about your plan to visit the Royal Mineral Hot Springs, how was it? I’ve heard they are great for nourishing the body with strength and vitality. I am looking forward to hearing about your experiences.

As autumn approaches, the winds have also become more violent here in the capital. The situation has likewise deteriorated much faster than expected. We can only hope this will calm down before the date of your marriage.

Please remind your fiancé about—”

The abrupt end of the letter irked Li Jiangsu for an instant but he soon collected himself. Cheng Yuan must have fallen unconscious in the middle of writing it. From the looks of it, this letter has lower importance compared to Cheng Zhu’s.

Li Jiangsu pointed to Cheng Zhu’s letter and said, “Is this the letter you guys have been struggling with deciding what to do?”

“Precisely.” Xian Er nodded. “Do we reply and refuse the invitation?”

Xia Jiang stood up and paced back and forth before he finally said, “Ning Xiao Zhi wrote to Cheng Zhu with a highly respected tone and they seem to be equal in status. I suggest we do not reply. After all, we do not know the writing style of Cheng Zhu and maybe they have agreed to only communicate through papers with unique identification like the one from Ning Xiao Zhi.”

Xia Jiang tapped the corner of the letter with the blue patterns using his fingers. He continued, “It’s better to offend Ning Xiao Zhi by being impolite rather than alerting him of potential problems on our side.”

“I agree,” Li Jiangsu nodded in approval. “What about you, Xian Er?”

Xian Er shrugged her shoulders, “Sounds reasonable enough for me. Then it’s decided, we do nothing about these letters and leave them be. Other than these letters, we’ll also have to pay attention to anyone who might be visiting us. The couple seems to be well connected and have some presence in the local social scene, it could end up badly for us if those people started to get curious and knock on our doors en masse.

We can probably expect a few visitors in the coming days. Li Jiangsu and I will have to depend on you, the great identity thief.” Xian Er looked at Xia Jiang with a menacing smile.

Li Jiangsu's body shivered for some reason even though he isn’t the one on the receiving end.

Before the trio could continue to discuss their next plan of action, knocking sounds could be heard from the front door.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

“Well, speak of the devil.” Xia Jiang helplessly smiled and walked toward the entrance. “Leave it to me.”