Night fell, shrouding all scenery in darkness. Bright moonlight scattered across the lake, making its surface shimmer as though covered in sparkling silver fragments, creating a dreamlike illusion.
"Rustle, rustle~"
Hurried footsteps suddenly rang out, shattering the silence. Birds resting on the branches seemed startled, flapping their wings a few times before flying into the night sky. The footsteps drew closer and closer, and before long, a small figure stumbled out of the woods.
This person—or more accurately, this boy—was only eleven or twelve years old. He wore luxurious robes and had delicate features, red lips, and white teeth, but his eyes beneath his thick brows carried a maturity that did not suit his age.
After taking several deep, ragged breaths, he looked around under the moonlight. His face suddenly lit up, and he hurried to the lakeshore. After rolling a stone out from the grass, he patted it twice in satisfaction.
"Phew... It's just the right size... This time, I have to succeed no matter what!"
With that, he pulled a long rope from his waist. First, he swiftly tied himself up, then secured the stone behind him as well.
"Damn... It's so heavy... But I can't worry about that now. If I delay any longer, that bastard Gus will definitely come looking for me!" The boy bent over and muttered to himself as he took small, unsteady steps forward.
Stopping at the edge of the lake, he let out a long breath. Unable to resist, he looked back in the direction he had come from, his face full of relief. "It was all just a grand dream, and it's time for me to wake up. Goodbye, m—?!!"
"Whoosh~"
Splash!!
The heavy stone had already made it hard for the boy to keep his balance. With the slippery moss along the shore added to the mix, how could he not fall? After landing hard on his backside, he rolled into the lake. He flailed a few times before sinking completely.
Fuck, I haven't even finished being sentimental... At least let me catch my breath...
Watching the lake surface drift farther and farther away, the boy paddled frantically, but the stone behind him only made him sink faster instead of rise. His desperate struggle was useless, and a mouthful of lake water suddenly rushed into his mouth.
An intense tearing and burning pain spread from his lungs, making him feel miserable beyond words. Worse still, he could feel water pouring into his ears, nostrils, and even his nether regions—everywhere there was a hole. I must have been out of my mind to think jumping into a lake was a good idea...
His limbs grew weaker and weaker, and his consciousness began to blur from lack of oxygen. The pain faded away. Everything around him was pitch-black; he could see nothing and hear nothing.
Looks like I really succeeded this time... Dad, Mom, Little Bean... Wait for me. I'm coming back...
My name was Han Xu, a college graduate who had just entered society. If nothing unexpected had happened, I might have lived like everyone else—working, getting married, having children, living out an ordinary life before coming and going in a hurry...
But what the fuck puzzled me was that I hadn't fallen off a cliff, hadn't been struck by lightning, and hadn't even tried to save some little girl wandering around the streets for no damn reason. So how had something as absurd as transmigration happened to me?
Whenever Han Xu thought about it, he wanted to curse. Less than half a year after graduating and starting work, he had happily boarded a train home. Just as he was dozing off, he suddenly felt someone calling him. He sleepily looked around.
What the hell? The chatting aunties across from him had disappeared, and so had the old man beside him reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In their place was a luxurious Bedroom Palace, along with a delicate little beauty standing beside his bed...
After going through something too embarrassing to mention, Han Xu finally realized that none of this was a dream. He had actually transmigrated?!
At first, he had been rather excited about it. After all, he had read plenty of webnovels—who hadn't fantasized about such things? But as time passed, that excitement gradually weakened until it vanished completely, because he suddenly realized a very serious problem—how was he supposed to get back?
Since he was here, he should accept it, enjoy this brand-new world, pretend to be weak while crushing his enemies, show off, slap faces, then marry a rich and beautiful woman and reach the pinnacle of life... What kind of joke was that? At home were parents who loved and cherished him, a younger sister whom he loved and cherished, and many friends and relatives. If he came here, didn't that mean he had lost all of them?
No matter how luxurious or comfortable life here was, it was not what Han Xu wanted. He wanted to go back, but how to return became another problem.
Most novels mentioned transmigrating after death. Though it sounded unrealistic, what if it was actually possible?
Once that thought appeared in his mind, he could no longer erase it. His longing for his family gave him tremendous courage, so he began trying all kinds of suicidal acts—slitting his wrists, cutting his throat, jumping off cliffs. Without exception, he had been stopped every time.
He had also considered starving himself to death, planning to end his life through a hunger strike. But before anyone else could say anything, he was the first to give up. Not eating was genuinely miserable.
Until two days ago, he finally came up with a perfect plan: lie low for a while and make everyone lower their guard, then wait until the dead of night, when everyone was asleep, come to the small lake, tie a stone to himself, and dive straight in...
And so, the scene from earlier had happened. Although it was incredibly stupid, he did not regret doing it for the sake of returning to his family.
All in all, he had succeeded, hadn't he?
As for whether he could really transmigrate back... Heh, that was up to fate...
"Your Highness, don't scare me! Wake up, please..."
In his muddled state, Han Xu heard someone calling him. At the same time, he felt waves of pressure on his body.
"Your Highness, Your Highness..."
The familiar voice did not disappear. Instead, the pressure grew stronger and stronger, and something dug painfully into his back. It hurt so much~
Gus looked at the little boy beneath him, whose face had turned blue and who remained unconscious. He was sweating anxiously. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Damn it, I'm going all out!" With that, he pinched the boy's nose and chin, took a deep breath, pursed his lips, and blew downward.
"Pfft..."
"Ow... My eyes..."
Just as he was about to kiss him, a small jet of water suddenly sprayed from the boy's mouth. It struck Gus directly in the eyes with perfect accuracy. The powerful water pressure made Gus cry out as he covered his face, fell backward, and rolled around on the ground.
"Uwah~ Cough, cough..."
"?! You're awake! Your Highness, you're finally awake..." Hearing the violent coughing, Gus jolted. Ignoring the pain, he scrambled back to the boy's side, his eyes red like a rabbit's as he shouted excitedly.
"Cough, cough... You... You fucking..." As his consciousness gradually returned, Han Xu squinted around at his surroundings and quickly understood what had happened. He struggled to raise a hand, pointing at Gus as he tried to speak.
Gus let out a long breath and collapsed onto the ground. Then he looked at Han Xu with a conflicted expression. "Your Highness, you had only behaved yourself for two days. Why are you starting again?" His tone was so helpless that anyone could hear it.
After coughing out the lake water in his stomach, Han Xu finally recovered somewhat. Looking at Gus, he said weakly, "Cough, cough... I'm saying... Gus, are you so damn bored that you have nothing better to do? Why the hell do you keep following me around..."
Gus grimaced, feeling wronged. "I am Your Highness's personal guard, so of course I have to follow you. And during this period, Your Highness..."
After cursing for a while, Han Xu snapped, "Stop rambling. Hurry up... Hurry up and untie me. How long do you want me to lie here?" After being pressed so violently by this bastard, the stone against his back was practically killing him.
Honestly, I don't know what got into this little master lately. He's suddenly obsessed with killing himself. Sneaking out in the middle of the night to jump into a lake—is that supposed to be fun? After venting furiously in his heart, Gus had no choice but to comply.
After struggling with the rope for a long time, more and more cold sweat appeared on his forehead. In the end, he could not take it anymore and said miserably, "Your Highness, how did you tie this? I can't undo it at all..."
"Useless. Even turtle-shell... Huff... Can't you just cut it with a knife?" His plan had been ruined by this guy once again, so naturally Han Xu was in no mood to speak nicely.
"Oh~~"
After returning to the Bedroom Palace, Han Xu washed up under the servants' care and sat on his small bed. Only then did Gus finally relax, though he still did not dare leave. To prevent this little ancestor from pulling any more stunts, he had decided that from today onward, he would stay by His Highness's side without leaving for a single moment!
"Gus~" Han Xu looked at him standing beside the bed like a wooden stake and said darkly, "Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? What are you doing here, staring at me? Keeping watch over an eagle?"
You still know it's the middle of the night?
Gus could not help complaining inwardly. Then he said with a miserable expression, "Your Highness, we really can't keep going on like this. Look how dangerous today was. If I had arrived even one step later, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"
Han Xu picked at his ear and raised a brow. "So what does my business have to do with you? I'll kill myself, and you can do whatever you're supposed to do. Wouldn't that be fine?"
"My duty is to protect Your Highness's safety. If anything happens to you, once the Angel King holds us accountable, not only I, but everyone here will be executed! So, Your Highness..."
"What the fuck does that have to do with me? A bunch of NPCs... Huh? Wait... What did you just say? Angel King?" Han Xu thought the water in his ears had made him hallucinate, so he asked Gus uncertainly.
"Yes... Is there something wrong with that, Your Highness?" Gus was completely confused by his reaction.
"Hehe~" Han Xu sneered and continued picking at his ear. As an upstanding young man who believed in science, he needed to maintain a firm scientific worldview. Angel King? Did they really take him for a child?
In Han Xu's impression, angels were bird-men with halos over their heads and wings on their backs... Uh, maybe four, six, eight, or even ten pairs of wings. And most importantly, they were all genderless freaks.
His gaze swept over Gus, and he curled his lip. You had neither wings nor a halo, and you were a burly man to boot. Who were you trying to fool...
Gus noticed his gaze and found it rather baffling. "What I said is true, Your Highness. People have already been talking about it these past two days. They're all discussing Your Highness's suicide attempts. If the Angel King finds out..."
Han Xu yawned boredly. "Ahh~~ Got it, got it. I'll be more careful in the future. Hurry up and wash up and sleep already. Angels... What a joke!"
Seeing him like this, Gus felt helpless. Not only did His Highness have intermittent fits of madness, he was now even claiming not to know what angels were. Gus had no idea whether he was serious or pretending. He was far too rebellious.
Thinking of this, Gus felt it was necessary to let the facts speak for themselves. With that thought, he connected to the Gene System within his body. With a bang, a pair of pure white wings instantly spread from his back.
Han Xu was startled by the sound. When he turned around, his mouth, which had been about to close, fell wide open, nearly dislocating his jaw. He stared and pointed behind Gus, stammering incoherently, "H-Holy shit, wings?!! Y-You really are a fucking angel!!"
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