Wang Yuan of Bluestone Alley

Great Yin Dynasty, Yunzhou.

Outer city of Gaoye City.

Inside a small hut on Bluestone Alley.

A thin, pale young man lay on the bed.

Wang Yuan struggled to open his eyelids, his vision blurry.

"Where is this? Wasn't I working overtime at the company?"

He found himself lying on a hard plank bed, the thin mattress revealing the wooden slats beneath, teeming with cockroaches.

The room was dim and cramped, the air filled with the bitter scent of herbs and mildew.

Wang Yuan merely moved his fingers.

A wave of intense weakness, mixed with a burning, dull ache in his chest and back, instantly washed over him.

"Huh?"

He couldn't help but gasp, letting out a suppressed groan.

Another set of fragmented memories entered his mind.

They belonged to Wang Yuan, the person who shared his name.

"I've transmigrated?" A look of confusion flashed in Wang Yuan's eyes.

"Cough... cough cough..."

His throat felt dry and tight. He couldn't help but cough twice, the shaking of his chest making his head hurt even more.

"Yuan'er? You're awake? How are you feeling?"

A woman's anxious voice immediately sounded by the bedside.

Immediately after, a middle-aged woman's face, etched with worry, leaned closer.

Her skin was rough, her eyes crinkled with fine wrinkles, and her hair was haphazardly pinned up with a wooden hairpin. She looked like someone worn down by years of poverty.

Is this... the original body's mother?

Wang Yuan opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound. His mind was a chaotic mess.

"It's good that you're awake, good that you're awake!"

Seeing his eyes open, the woman breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly turned and picked up a crude pottery bowl from a small table beside her. It contained a dark, viscous liquid.

"Quick, drink your medicine. The doctor said you need to rest."

As the medicine bowl was brought to his lips, the indescribable bitterness intensified.

Wang Yuan frowned, took the medicine, and swallowed it in small sips.

This allowed the lingering fragmented memories of the original body to slowly merge with his own consciousness.

This place is... the Great Yin Dynasty?

Yunzhou?

A completely unfamiliar ancient world.

And he, too, was named Wang Yuan, the youngest son of an ordinary family in Bluestone Alley, in the outer city.

As he drank the medicine, a low male voice, suppressing anger, could be heard from outside.

Wang Yuan, through the thin wooden walls, heard it intermittently, yet every word was clear:

"It must be the Black Tiger Gang's doing!"

"They've gone too far! Do they think we're made of mud?"

The woman holding the medicine bowl trembled, and a few drops of the medicine splashed onto Wang Yuan's chin.

She hurriedly wiped it with her sleeve, her eyes turning redder. She whispered, "Your father... he's holding a lot of anger inside."

The memories continued to merge.

His father, Wang Gui, worked as a helper in a fur shop in the city, and his mother, Madam Zhou, took on mending jobs.

His sister, Wang Yu, had recently found a connection through someone and started a short-term job doing laundry for a wealthy family in the inner city.

Because of this, his parents felt that someone in the family could finally establish a connection to the inner city.

Even though she was just a laundry servant, it was still something to "save face" with.

Perhaps they could delay or pay less of the "tribute money" to the Black Tiger Gang this month.

But the Black Tiger Gang wouldn't accept that at all.

In this outer city, a place where all sorts of people mingled, the Black Tiger Gang was the local emperor of these streets and alleys.

They didn't care who you worked for in the inner city; as long as you lived in this alley, you had to pay their dues according to the rules.

Don't pay? Or try to renege?

This was the consequence.

The original body, Wang Yuan, was ambushed two days ago at dusk on his way home. Someone covered his head with a sack at the alley entrance and beat him senseless with clubs, leaving him half-dead and dumped at his doorstep.

This wasn't an accident; it was a warning.

A warning for the Wang family to see, and more importantly, a warning for all the residents of Bluestone Alley.

Those so-called "connections within the inner city" meant absolutely nothing to the Black Tiger Gang.

A chill ran through Wang Yuan's heart.

He had transmigrated. Not as a prince or a noble, nor as the son of a wealthy family, but into a household struggling to make ends meet, a family that could be crushed by local thugs at any moment.

The medicine was finished. Madam Zhou helped him lie back down, tucked in the blanket, wiped away her tears, and left.

He was immersed in the memories of his original body.

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Suddenly, he heard the faint sound of a door opening outside, followed by his parents' hushed, worried conversation.

"Yu'er is back? Why so late today?"

It was his mother, Madam Zhou's, voice.

"Sigh, just ask a few less questions. The child is tired too,"

His father, Wang Gui, sighed.

Footsteps approached, and the worn cloth curtain of his small room was gently pulled aside.

A delicate face, etched with fatigue, peeked in. It was his elder sister, Wang Yu.

She blinked in surprise when she saw Wang Yuan's eyes were open. Then, she forced a reassuring smile and whispered, "Brother Yuan is awake? Are you feeling any better?"

"Rest well, don't be afraid."

Her smile was strained and hurried. In her eyes, besides concern, there seemed to be a lingering trace of shock, and... a heavy burden.

Before Wang Yuan could reply, Wang Yu quickly withdrew her head, and the curtain fell, separating the inside from the outside.

The room fell silent again, leaving only his own heavy breathing.

Wang Yuan felt pain all over his body, and his heart felt even heavier.

In his past life, despite the intense competition, there was at least a basic guarantee of safety. But here... the Black Tiger Gang could break his legs today and take his life tomorrow.

That meager pride was laughably pale in the face of absolute violence.

"Black Tiger Gang..." Wang Yuan rolled the words around in his mouth.

This was the greatest threat he currently faced.

The bitter aftertaste of the medicinal decoction lingered in his mouth.

But just then.

A strange heat suddenly surged from his chest without warning.

At first, it was just warm, like a heated stone pressed against him.

But soon, the temperature rapidly climbed, becoming scorching hot, even with a burning, stinging sensation, branding itself onto the skin over his heart.

"Urk!"

Wang Yuan grunted. This sudden change temporarily overshadowed the pain from his injuries.

What was happening?

A high fever from an infected wound?

No, this felt completely different.

The heat source was so concentrated, so peculiar, as if something was trying to break free from his chest.

He endured the intense pain and weakness, struggling to lift his arm. Trembling, he pushed aside the patched, thin blanket covering him and then laboriously pulled open the collar of his coarse hemp shirt.

In the dim light, he looked down.

The next moment, his pupils contracted sharply, and his breathing nearly stopped.

On the left side of his chest, directly above his heart, a clear pattern had appeared on his skin at some point.

It was a circular mark, about the size of his palm, deep black in color.

The surface of the mark was covered in extremely intricate, fine lines, too complex to see clearly with the naked eye, faintly forming some indescribable, profound pattern.

This... this is?!

Wang Yuan's mind went blank, as if struck by a heavy hammer.

The appearance of this bead...

He was far too familiar with it!

It was exactly the same as the black ancestral bead from his previous life, the one his family claimed had been passed down for countless generations and was always treasured by his grandfather in a sandalwood box.

He had even secretly taken it out to play with when he was young, and the unique patterns on it left a deep impression on him.

Later, his parents died unexpectedly. He was left to deal with their belongings alone. He had even rubbed the cool bead, lamenting how things had changed.

It... how could it be here?

And it had become a mark on his body?

Could it be...

An unbelievable thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

Did this bead bring him across worlds?

Just as his mind was shaken, making it almost impossible to think.

A vast and chaotic stream of information, without any warning, rudely invaded his consciousness.

"Boom!"

It was as if thunder exploded in his mind.

Wang Yuan's vision went black, and he almost fainted.

The intense headache made him curl up, and cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.

But the pain came and went quickly.

A few breaths later, the pain receded like a tide.

However, that information was clearly imprinted in the depths of his memory, like an innate instinct.

[Talent Bead]

[Contains the mechanism of creation, hides the root of all laws. Absorbs the essence of all things, awakens innate Spiritual Power.]

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