A lone wild goose in a sea of people

Before the sun had set.

Yang Ge had already started back toward town along the river.

The broad river reflected a jade ribbon of radiance beneath the sunlight, dazzling Yang Ge until he could barely keep his eyes open.

Gazing along the winding river that stretched beyond sight, he could not help exclaiming, "It really looks like a mountain road!"

What was it like to transmigrate to another world?

Yang Ge felt it was a little like going bankrupt...

No!

It was more like being a gambler at the end of his rope... a gambler who had gone from a billionaire to losing his home and family overnight!

In the other world.

He had parents, an older sister, and a younger brother who loved him.

He had a girlfriend of six years, a steady relationship, and a wedding on the horizon.

He had a three-bedroom apartment in the provincial capital, earned by leaving his hometown and spending years replying, "Received" and "OK."

He also had a bunch of fun, loyal friends, and savings well into six figures...

But in this world, he had nothing except himself.

No family, no friends, no property.

Even his past had been wiped clean by space and time...

A lone wild goose in a sea of people-nothing could describe it better.

Hurrying all the way, Yang Ge finally returned to the Welcome Inn just before the city gates closed.

The moment he entered the front hall, Yang Ge sensed something oppressive about the atmosphere inside.

He swept his gaze across the hall and immediately noticed that the seventeen or eighteen guests scattered around it were all powerfully built, and every one carried a weapon.

Yang Ge inwardly stiffened. He had seen plenty of martial artists carrying swords and sabers stop here for meals or lodging lately.

But so many martial artists flooding into the inn together was clearly unusual.

He withdrew his gaze without changing his expression, secretly observing the guests from the corners of his eyes.

Soon, his anxious heart gradually settled... regulation ox-tail sabers. Government men.

"Manager, I'm back."

Continuing to observe these guests who carried government-issued sabers but wore no uniforms, he casually greeted Shopkeeper Liu behind the counter. "Where do you need an extra hand?"

Shopkeeper Liu held a brush over the ledger, seemingly writing, but sharp-eyed Yang Ge noticed there was not a single word on the page.

"We need someone chopping fodder over at the stables. Off you go!"

Shopkeeper Liu answered with his usual smile, though a trace of worry he could not quite suppress lingered on his aged face.

Yang Ge wanted to exchange a meaningful look with the old man, but Shopkeeper Liu had already lowered his head again to write his wordless scripture. Yang Ge could only acknowledge him and hurry toward the rear courtyard.

Just through the courtyard entrance, Yang Ge spotted Wang Dali standing outside the kitchen, trembling like chaff in a sieve, holding a tray laden with food. One side of his face was swollen like a steamed bun.

At the sight of Yang Ge, wild joy flashed in Wang Dali's eyes, as though his savior had arrived. But just as he opened his mouth to speak, he forcibly swallowed his words and merely tilted his chin toward the stables, signaling for Yang Ge to hurry over there.

Looking at the tray of expensive, substantial dishes in Wang Dali's hands, Yang Ge pointed toward the private seating upstairs.

Wang Dali nodded dejectedly.

Yang Ge hesitated for two seconds, then walked over anyway.

"Innkeeper, where's my food and wine? Bring it up, now!"

Just then, a low, furious roar with a heavy nasal rumble suddenly rang through the inn... sounding exactly like a wild beast roaring deep in the mountains.

Wang Dali, already trembling like chaff in a sieve, was so startled that his knees buckled. Had Yang Ge not swiftly caught the tray, he would have spilled all those dishes.

"All right!"

Yang Ge helplessly took the tray. "I'll do it!"

The fellow had not originally been this timid, but only yesterday, someone had sent him flying with a single enormous slap...

"Young fellow..."

Wang Dali released the tray, feeling both relieved of a heavy burden and guilty. Haltingly, he whispered, "That man upstairs... I heard he's a bandit chief from Hebei Circuit. Killing people is like chopping vegetables to him!"

Speechless, Yang Ge glanced back toward the front hall and quietly reassured him, "It's fine. I'll take it up!"

With that, he turned and carried the tray back into the front hall, climbing the stairs one step at a time under Shopkeeper Liu's worried gaze.

It was the dinner rush. Usually, the second floor would already have been packed, boiling with voices.

Today, however, the second floor was silent, with only Yang Ge's footsteps echoing through it.

As soon as he reached the second floor, Yang Ge spotted a formidable figure, as massive as a bull standing upright, sitting alone in the center.

The man wore a tiger-skin cloak. He had a square face, prominent ears, and a thick beard. At present, he sat leaning back in his chair, eyes narrowed and hands clasped over his belly, with a broad, long saber in a black sheath standing beside him...

Man and saber complemented each other, radiating an overwhelming aura of dominance!

"Sir, your food is here."

Yang Ge withdrew his gaze after a single glance, lowered his shoulders, bent at the waist, and approached with the tray, coming to a stop with a broad smile.

The Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder raised his eyes, glanced at him, and let out an indifferent "Mm" through his nose.

Yang Ge relaxed a little and briskly began setting out the dishes.

Only after Yang Ge finished arranging them did the Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder sit up, grab his chopsticks, and begin eating in great mouthfuls. "Pour the wine!"

"Yes, sir!"

Yang Ge answered with a beaming smile, wiped both hands vigorously against his waist, then picked up the ten-catty wine jar on the table. Carefully removing its clay seal, he held the jar in one hand and took a wine bowl with the other to pour.

As the Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder devoured the food, his peripheral vision happened to sweep across Yang Ge's right arm, steady as cast iron as it held the wine jar. His eyes narrowed slightly.

Snap!

Yang Ge felt a sudden pain in his wrist, and his hand instinctively tightened around the wine jar.

He lowered his head and saw a pair of chopsticks clamped tightly around his wrist.

Puzzled, he looked at the Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder and offered an apologetic smile. "Sir, have I failed to serve you properly somehow?"

The Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder eyed him sidelong, danger flickering in his eyes. "Boy, which school are you from?"

Utterly confused, Yang Ge answered cautiously, "Sir, I'm from the Welcome Inn..."

"Heh!"

The Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder gave a cold laugh.

The next second, the chopsticks fell, and a hand as broad as a palm-leaf fan seized Yang Ge's wrist with the speed of thunder striking before one could cover one's ears.

"Hm?"

The Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder narrowed his eyes in surprise.

Before Yang Ge could react at all, the Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder reached out his other hand and gripped Yang Ge's left wrist. Both hands left a blur of afterimages as they pressed their way up his forearms together.

Finally, he even stood up and reached across the square table to grip Yang Ge's Pipa Bone with both hands.

Yang Ge stared at the brute before him, his head full of question marks, unable to make any sense of this fierce flurry of maneuvers!

Yet the Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder's eyes widened even farther than his own. Bones like jade, every meridian open—a martial prodigy such as the world rarely sees!

In that instant.

Countless stray thoughts flooded the Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder's mind. A murderous gleam gradually rose in his eyes as he looked at Yang Ge, and the hands gripping his Pipa Bone unconsciously tightened.

Yang Ge saw the murderous gleam in his eyes and felt the pain in his shoulders, yet the flickers of panic and fear in his heart strangely began to settle.

"Sir, your food is getting cold!"

He lowered his eyes and spoke softly with a light smile.

The Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder paused, then slowly released Yang Ge's arms as though waking from a dream.

He stared unblinkingly at Yang Ge for a full half minute, then dropped heavily back into his chair, snatched up his wine bowl, and drained it in one gulp. Laughing with wild abandon, he said, "Boy, remember to burn a few extra sticks of incense at the City God Temple later!"

His deep, powerful laughter shook the eaves until they trembled.

Yang Ge lifted the wine jar to refill his bowl and asked with his eyes lowered obediently, "What do you mean by that, sir?"

The Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder lowered his head and drank. "To thank the City God for his blessing, of course. He let me meet you only after I decided to be a good man. In the old days, I'd have dug out your heart and liver to go with my wine!"

Yang Ge considered that, then smiled too. "Then I should be thanking you instead, sir!"

"Oh?"

The Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder cast him a sidelong glance with a half-smile. "Thanking me for sparing your life?"

Yang Ge lifted the jar and filled his bowl once more, saying earnestly, "For wanting to be a good man, sir!"

The Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder froze, then burst out laughing again. "Well said, well said... you deserve a reward, a handsome reward!"

Though he was clearly laughing, a measure of sorrow and bitterness had crept into the sound.

He grabbed the bundle tied to his saber and pulled out a thick stack of thread-bound books. Without even looking, he snatched one at random and hurled it at Yang Ge.

Yang Ge instinctively caught the book. Coming to his senses, he was about to return it to the Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder when the man roared, "Get lost! Show your face in front of me again, and I'll eat you alive!"

Holding the book, Yang Ge hesitated for a few seconds. In the end, he did not dare disturb this beast that had just emerged from the deep forest again.

"Manager, this is a reward from the guest upstairs. Could you take a look..."

Holding the book the Curly-Bearded Saber-Wielder had given him, Yang Ge approached Shopkeeper Liu.

"Get it away, get it away!"

Before he could even finish, Shopkeeper Liu reacted as though he had seen a ghost, backing away while pushing the book into Yang Ge's arms. "My Liu family has had only one male heir for three generations! Don't bring ruin on me, young fellow. Put that family-destroying, clan-exterminating thi... treasure away!"

Yang Ge: ...

Helplessly, he turned his head and held the book in both hands as he looked toward the government men seated in the hall. "Officers..."

At the sight, all the government men turned their faces away. Some looked at the ceiling, others at the floor... none could see what Yang Ge held.

One of them even held his wine cup and made a show of gazing at the ceiling, muttering to himself, "Not just anyone can take something belonging to Jiang Kui, the 'Death Omen'!"

As his words fell, another burst of gleeful laughter rang out from upstairs.

Today's question: if a button that would send you to another world appeared before you gentlemen right now, and you had only three seconds to decide, how many of you would press it?