Gotta Lay Low First

"Silence!"

On a makeshift platform, a burly man with a scarred face looked down at the chaotic scene below and instantly flew into a rage. Emanating a murderous aura, he barked at those beside him, "Go maintain order!"

"Anyone who doesn't listen, throw them out immediately!"

"Eight Great Kings is kind-hearted and ordered us to take in these wandering orphans and beggars, but it's not for some useless people to waste food!"

He was completely bewildered by the Eight Great Kings' order.

Although he knew that the Eight Great Kings was cultivating trusted followers from a young age and scouting for talent within the rebel army to plan for the future,

how long would it take to achieve this goal?

The imperial army could arrive to suppress them at any moment. Where was the time and energy to waste like this?

"Crack!"

"Ow!"

"Line up according to height! Did you hear me clearly!"

"If you don't listen, you won't eat today!"...

As more than a dozen soldiers leaped down from the platform, wielding sticks and beating people, and as a warning to others, they grabbed several disobedient orphans and beggars and threw them out the gate of the large courtyard. The chaotic scene finally quieted down.

"This... this is..."

In a daze, Li Dingguo felt a splitting headache. As a flood of complex information surged into his mind, he widened his eyes and looked around in utter shock.

He happened to see more than a dozen big men leaping down from the platform several zhang high, holding sticks and randomly beating the ragged teenagers around them!

Without time to think, he quickly darted to the back of the crowd.

After a while, the hundreds of orphans and beggars on the scene finally formed ten crooked lines under the command of the dozen or so soldiers' sticks, arranged according to height.

Li Dingguo was one of the tallest teenagers present, so he quietly moved to the end of one of the lines of teenagers and stood still obediently.

Although his current body was extremely thin, like skin and bones, due to long-term malnutrition, his frame was very large. He didn't look like a ten-year-old boy at all, but rather was about the same height as those fourteen or fifteen-year-old teenagers.

He was a bit bewildered right now.

He never expected that after getting completely drunk at a reunion with old classmates, he would wake up to find everything completely changed!

"What the hell!"

"Nine times out of ten, I drank fake alcohol and too much of it, and as a result, I really got lost in a drunken stupor!"

He had never really been a drinker, and he didn't expect that his occasional indulgence would end up like this.

The situation he saw now made his heart clench. He didn't dare to act out of the ordinary, lest his unusual behavior attract unwanted attention.

In the memory he had just integrated, the original owner had wandered and begged since childhood. His range of activity was limited to this county town and nearby villages. Furthermore, he had never studied and had limited knowledge.

Not only was the original owner young, but the people and events he encountered were extremely limited. Every day was spent constantly running around for two meals, only knowing that this was the Great Ming Dynasty, and basically nothing else.

The soldiers who had just leaped down from the platform several zhang high and landed silently were enough to prove that the world he had arrived in was definitely not the Ming Empire from his previous life's history.

Even if the original owner didn't have much knowledge, he knew that in this world there were demons and ghosts, which was also the main reason why he had not dared to travel far to beg and had been surviving by begging in this border county town.

The original owner is also named Li Dingguo?

And the leader of these rebels who captured the county town is called the Eight Great Kings?

Realizing things belatedly, he finally discovered what the strange feeling he had been ignoring was.

Gathering orphans and beggars on a large scale to train them, and then adopting some foster sons to achieve the goal of controlling the rebel army – isn't this the Eight Great Kings' initial strategy when he first raised his army?

And I am the Li Dingguo who later stood out in that rebel army?

At this point, Li Dingguo was truly a bit bewildered.

Overlapping with some events from his previous life's history, a single coincidence is a coincidence, but numerous coincidences are not just coincidences.

Looking down at his tall stature, which was beyond his peers, if Li Dingguo wasn't stupid, he should have realized the strangeness of these various coincidences.

The problem was that this world was incredibly vast and vastly different from the history of his previous life.

Putting everything else aside, the dozen or so soldiers he had just seen possessed martial prowess even more exaggerated than in Wuxia novels, completely overturning his worldview!

Terrified, he was contemplating whether to go with the flow and choose to lie flat when suddenly, his mind went blank again. A virtual panel, like a trashy web game, abruptly appeared in his mind:

Host: Li Dingguo

Age: Ten (Status: Weak)

Constitution: 3

Spirit: 2

Skills: None

Luck: 1 (Luck value of zero will result in disaster)

Star Destiny: Army Breaker (Not activated)

Amidst his shock, Li Dingguo was both startled and delighted.

"I knew it! A transmigrator has to have a cheat!"

As a brand new transmigrator, having a cheat is perfectly normal and nothing to be surprised about.

Otherwise, when traveling through time and space without the protection of a cheat, how could your soul or body possibly withstand the crushing power of time and space and emerge unscathed?

"What should I do?"

Li Dingguo, who was both shocked and delighted, was now completely flustered deep down!

It's impossible that this magical world has no similarities to the Great Ming Dynasty in his previous life's history.

After all, his current situation proves this.

Should he follow the original trajectory, go pledge allegiance to the Eight Great Kings as his adoptive father, and fight for him to the death?

Without a cheat, Li Dingguo probably wouldn't have the confidence to refuse; he'd just have to take things one step at a time.

In the history of his previous life, the original owner's life was tragic and lamentable. Now that he had miraculously transmigrated, should he still follow the established path of history?

It's even highly likely that he would spend this entire life drifting from place to place, ultimately dying in obscurity!

Heh!

Having been lucky enough to live a second life, and with a cheat in hand, working for others is impossible; it's something he'll never do in this lifetime.

However, as someone who has just arrived, the most urgent matter he needs to consider is how to survive in this strange and extremely dangerous world.

Having experienced the ups and downs of life for most of his previous life, he had seen through the cruel and dark truths hidden beneath the surface of society. He wasn't some young hothead who would charge forward just because someone yelled.

Putting aside whether the rebel army's rebellion would succeed.

In any era, the vast majority of those who suffer are just the common people at the bottom, without exception.

After the chaos ends and the dust settles, it won't take many years for everything to return to the starting point.

Moreover, in such a world with high martial power, he ultimately has to rely on his own strength.

Leaning on a mountain, the mountain will fall; relying on water, the water will flow.

Without a certain level of strength, there's not even the slightest guarantee for his life. One wrong move, and he'll likely turn to dust!

However, the current problem is: How can he gain the ability to barely protect himself?

Therefore, even with a cheat, as someone who has just arrived, he can only honestly lie low for now, develop cautiously for a while, and then consider other things.

To survive, temporarily using someone else's resources to achieve his goals is not shameful.