Awakening

"Boss, we caught another piglet."

"Great. Give him the electric baton treatment first."

"Ahhh!"

Xian jolted awake in bed, still shaken as he looked around the wooden hut he was in.

He had just had a terrifying nightmare.

"****"

Just then, a gentle female voice sounded beside his ear.

Though it was still a language he could not understand, the voice was as soft as a mountain spring brushing over his heart, gradually calming Xian's emotions.

Following the sound, he saw a blonde girl in a fitted outer garment looking at him with concern.

Although her clothes were made from nothing more than rough, light-brown linen and were incredibly plain, they could not conceal her fresh, ethereal beauty.

Her face was as pure and flawless as a lily blooming at dawn. Her nose tilted slightly upward, while her brilliant golden hair cascaded down like a waterfall.

Beneath her long lashes were a pair of captivating deep blue eyes, clear and profound like two tranquil bays that seemed capable of drawing in one's very soul.

The worn-out linen somehow took on a fresh, unworldly beauty when worn by her.

Sure enough, the final touch to fashion still came down to the face!

While marveling inwardly, Xian swiftly scanned his surroundings.

A simple log cabin, a stunning beauty dressed in linen, and an unknown language he could not understand at all—put together, this was far too strange!

His last memory was of collapsing in front of the bow-wielding youth who had shot the alpha wolf.

Could he have been brought onto some enormous reality show? "****"

Once she saw that he had calmed down, the girl brought over a bowl of water and carefully offered it to him.

"Thank you."

Parched beyond endurance, Xian did not think twice. He took the wooden bowl and drained it in one gulp.

The icy water moistened his dry lips and flowed down his throat, spreading through his body and instantly restoring some vitality to his weakened frame.

Seeing this, Xian threw off the blanket and, despite the girl's attempts to stop him, walked straight outside barefoot.

He had to see exactly what bizarre place he was in!

After leaving the cabin, the first thing he saw was a winding dirt path. On both sides stood houses built from logs and thatch, their roofs covered in thick moss. Clearly, these homes had been standing for a very long time.

Not far from the path lay an open clearing, where an Old Oak Tree stood with luxuriant branches and a trunk so thick that three or four people would be needed to encircle it.

On the path and beneath the Old Oak Tree's shade, people dressed in linen gathered in small groups to talk. Some carried hoe-like farm tools, some bore baskets full of fruit, and some held washbasins.

Besides that, every one of them had the same line of text floating above their heads.

"Th-this..."

Xian stared blankly at the scene before him, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, his shock written all over his face.

At that moment, he could be certain that this was no prank reality show. A nobody like him was not worth the immense cost of building such a set and hiring so many actors.

He had truly arrived in an entirely new place, with an unknown language, perhaps not even on Blue Star.

"*****"

Very quickly, the linen-clad people noticed him.

The instant they saw the text above Xian's head, every one of them looked incomparably terrified and incredulous.

Whoosh!

As the first person dropped to one knee, the rest followed like falling dominoes, kneeling on one knee as well.

The blonde girl who had chased after him also knelt on one knee after seeing this, copying the others. However, she knelt very close to Xian; the ends of her bright golden hair, stirred by the breeze, even brushed against his ankle.

"Why are you kneeling? Can you see the text above my head? What does it mean?"

His mind full of questions, Xian fired off all three at once.

He noticed that, including the archer youth who had saved him earlier, everyone here seemed to panic and kneel only after glancing at the text above his head.

Time passed second by second. Several minutes went by, yet no one could answer him. They merely lowered their heads deeply and remained kneeling in the dirt.

Still, that was normal. After all, they apparently could not understand the Chinese he was speaking.

What he needed to consider now was how to make them stand up. "My loyal subjects, rise?"

Xian spoke tentatively.

The moment he said it, even he could barely keep a straight face. He had accidentally started talking like the protagonist of some popular romance novel.

There was still no response.

Xian rubbed his forehead in frustration. He considered simply turning around and returning to the wooden hut; once these people saw him leave, they would probably stand again.

Rustle, rustle.

Just then, he felt someone tug at his pant leg.

Xian lowered his head and saw the blonde girl who had brought him water. Still kneeling, she secretly raised her head and looked at him with those beautiful deep blue eyes. Her cherry-pink lips parted slightly as she silently formed words for him.

"Urkala."

Guessing what the girl meant, Xian tried to mouth the word.

The next moment, the people kneeling on the ground all rose. However, they did not stand upright. Instead, they remained bent at the waist, respectfully backing away several steps before turning and quickly leaving.

Once everyone except the blonde girl had left, Xian let out a long breath.

As a modern person, being surrounded by so many people kneeling before him was honestly a little nerve-racking.

"Thank you."

He thanked the blonde girl, but stopped halfway through, since the two of them did not share a language.

Yet she seemed to understand his intention. Looking somewhat reserved, she waved her slender hand.

The hand was beautifully shaped, but there were obvious calluses on her palm. It looked like the girl had done quite a bit of light manual labor.

Tap, tap, tap.

Just then, a middle-aged man in a sheepskin robe hurried over from the distance, carrying a plump gray rabbit.

His sheepskin robe was somewhat old, but clean and tidy. Its edges were carefully stitched with coarse hemp rope, much like his weathered, world-weary face.

When he saw Xian looking his way, his face quickly took on an ingratiating yet reverent expression. Without hesitation, he dropped to both knees and lowered his head, seemingly intending to kiss Xian's bare feet.

Xian shuddered in disgust and hurriedly said:

"Urkala!"