Back to Ancient Times to Become a Prince?

There were ten minutes left on the countdown. For someone waiting for the uncanny to descend, those minutes were undeniably long and agonizing.

The guest room was dimly lit. Huang Wei leaned against the TV cabinet, neither hurrying to leave nor initiating conversation with Ren Ye. He simply smoked in silence.

"...What are you going to do after this?" At last, Ren Ye could not help asking.

"Report on your situation, then go home and play some games," Huang Wei replied flatly.

Ren Ye pushed aside his fear and distracting thoughts, trying to focus on something else. That was why he made idle conversation. "You're not married?"

"Divorced."

"Why?"

"My wife and I were both people who followed our hearts. After ten years of marriage, we discovered a horrifying truth." Huang Wei's face was hidden in the smoke. He did not seem to mind having his sore spot brought up. "We both realized that, after ten years, all we had left was sex. The love was gone. That was hard to accept, so...we divorced. It was a mutual understanding."

"Heh. Fair enough." Ren Ye asked another question. "No kids, then?"

"We didn't want any at first. By the time we did, the love was gone."

"Sounds like you and your wife were both artsy romantics. Isn't that what everyone says? Marriage turns into family affection in the end. Why get so hung up on it?"

"Uh, we could have chosen to live that way. Or rather, that's what most people choose...!"

In the dim room, the two chatted about everyday matters without mentioning Startrace Gate even once.

Old Huang had struggled with both his career and his love life over the past few years, so he was not especially talkative at work. Still, he kept Ren Ye company for nearly ten minutes.

When he figured it was about time, Old Huang stubbed out his cigarette and gave Ren Ye a casual wave. "I'm off. Hope everything goes smoothly."

"Take the letter on the table. If I don't make it out...give it to my dad," Ren Ye reminded him from the bed.

Old Huang picked up the "last letter" Ren Ye had written on the small table and headed toward the door.

"Whew!"

With the uncanny about to descend, Ren Ye's mouth went dry. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath.

At the doorway, however, Old Huang suddenly stopped and tossed the letter onto the mini fridge. "I don't think you'll need this thing. Tell your dad how much you love him in person."

"...!" Ren Ye froze for a moment.

Old Huang turned to look at him. "The Star Gate's rules and some details are all in the notebook I gave you. There's nothing else I can do to help. But you're one hell of a man. You adapted to both the border and prison. What's one unknown world? Treat it like another arrest operation. Keep a level head."

Hearing that, Ren Ye, whose nerves had been stretched taut, inexplicably gained a little confidence.

"I'm off."

Old Huang opened the door and left.

Inside the room, Ren Ye sat cross-legged on the bed and slowly calmed down.

Old Huang was right. Back when he had worked on anti-fraud operations at the border, what danger hadn't he faced? Being buried alive, crammed into a dog cage, thrown into a water dungeon... And in the detention center, the pit reserved for death-row inmates had been only two body lengths away...

So what if it's uncanny? So what if it's an unknown world? I'm already here. What the fuck am I still nervous about?

His mind gradually settled, and he no longer kept his eyes squeezed shut. Soon, that icy voice sounded in Ren Ye's ears again.

The final ten seconds.

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

"Seven!"

"...!"

Ren Ye's heart pounded. Right before his eyes, a point of starlight appeared above the double bed and rapidly spread.

This time, however, Ren Ye neither avoided it nor dodged. He stared straight at that point of starlight as it slowly unfolded into a warped, irregular "Star Gate."

The center of the Star Gate was pitch-black and unfathomable, as though it led into an endless abyss.

Brilliant light shimmered along the edges of the Star Gate like a flowing river of stars.

"It's...it's beautiful."

"One!"

"Whoosh!"

The countdown ended, and a dizzying sensation swept over him.

In an instant, the Star Gate sucked Ren Ye inside, and the room fell quiet again.

Inside the two-story building across the way, the young woman named Niannian suddenly opened her eyes and looked at the colleague beside her. "A Star Source fluctuation. The Seven-Gun War God...has gone."

In the corridor, Huang Wei abruptly stopped, then soon continued walking. "Buddha, please protect him. Don't make me attend another fucking memorial service...!"

First-Order Star Gate world—the Great Qian Dynasty, Prince Huai's Residence.

Cold. Trembling...

The boundless darkness faded away. A ray of scorching sunlight fell across his eyes, and Ren Ye slowly woke.

Opening his sore eyes, Ren Ye instinctively scanned his surroundings.

Sandalwood incense curled through the spacious bedchamber. There were carved square tables and wooden chairs, and sunlight streamed through paper-covered lattice windows, the morning light shifting softly.

This was clearly an ancient bedchamber, and Ren Ye himself lay on a lavish alcove bed.

I entered a Star Gate set in ancient China? Not bad. Pretty easy to get into character.

Ren Ye braced himself against the bed and sat up. Only then did he discover that his tracksuit had become a crimson robe. The satin looked smooth and supple, and must have been worth a fortune.

After getting out of bed, Ren Ye walked slowly around the room, looking here and there with caution and curiosity in his eyes.

A writing desk on the left held brushes, ink, paper, and an inkstone. A bronze mirror stood beside it.

Ren Ye walked over. An accidental glance at the bronze mirror rooted him to the spot.

In the mirror, his face was visibly changing. His features and the shape of his face were turning into something utterly unfamiliar, as if someone were molding a face out of clay. It was deeply unsettling.

Ren Ye's hair stood on end, and he stumbled back two steps in fright.

In the time it took him to take those two steps, his face had settled into that of a completely unremarkable young man.

Holy shit!

Where the hell did my Daniel Wu-level face go?

Immediately afterward, a sharp pain stabbed through his brain. Unfamiliar memories flooded in, accompanied by what sounded like a voice reciting from the heavens...

"I was born into a family of immense wealth and status.

I took a concubine at fourteen.

At fifteen, I married my principal wife through a marriage alliance.

By now, I can no longer remember how many women I have...

My family's wealth was inexhaustible. Before I turned sixteen, I had never known a single worry or heard a single word I disliked.

My grandfather built our family's realm.

Grandfather had countless children throughout his life, but his favorites were my eldest uncle and my father.

While he was alive, he divided the family's realm in half. One half went to my eldest uncle, the other to my father.

In my memories, my eldest uncle was a kindly man who doted on me when I was little. He liked to call me Little Bean. Whenever I quarreled with his children, he always took my side...

Heaven lavished its favor upon me alone.

And so, this was the life I was born to lead.

My father was extraordinarily capable. Music, strategy, calligraphy, painting, archery, horsemanship-he excelled at them all. Compared with him, all I could do was drink and make merry, lying on dancing girls' bellies and boasting about my prowess in bed.

I knew my abilities were mediocre, and I could never reach my father's heights in this lifetime. There was no need for me to work hard. As long as I made no mistakes, I could inherit the estate he had prepared for me.

The year I turned sixteen, Grandfather died...

Father and my eldest uncle had many unpleasant disputes over the family property.

For a time, I even had to live at my eldest uncle's home. But he still treated me well, giving me money and women...

Only, from then on, he seemed never to smile at me again, and he never called me Little Bean anymore.

I never knew what agreement Father eventually reached with my eldest uncle. In any case, the family property was divided. We still lived in Qingliang Prefecture, and Father could still manage half of the family estate.

That was a good outcome. I had truly been afraid Father and my eldest uncle would fall out. After all, we were family. It didn't really matter whether we received a little more or a little less of the property. We could never spend it all anyway.

Not long after the division, Father left, taking many people with him. Our family had come into conflict with another great family. My eldest uncle said only Father could resolve it.

Before he left, I remembered Father telling me, 'I'm getting old. You need to grow up, too...'

I understood what he meant, and I began trying to manage the family's businesses. But compared with those beautiful singing girls, the work was far too dull, far too tedious. I didn't understand it, and I couldn't do it.

The year I turned eighteen, Father finally resolved the conflict between the two families after more than a year. But he was wounded in the end and died on the road back to Qingliang Prefecture.

Not long afterward, my mother also died suddenly of illness at home.

It felt as though I had lost everything overnight.

The servants who had once served us no longer treated me respectfully. They even began whispering behind my back, obeying me in public while defying me in private. As for Father's former trusted subordinates, they either died 'of illness' or slowly distanced themselves from me. Some even began to humiliate and pressure me...

They all began drawing close to my eldest uncle, obeying his every word and kneeling on the ground as humbly as dogs.

I was furious and tried to regain control. But I discovered that I had squandered too many years and had no ability to fight back.

On reflection, though, that was also a good thing.

Because after Father died, my eldest uncle met with me once, and I saw murderous intent in his eyes...

But perhaps it was precisely because I was so incapable, so utterly useless, that he never acted on that murderous intent.

I survived, still living in this home whose boundaries stretched beyond sight.

Only, I had become a caged bird, something for others to admire and toy with...

I even had to thank my eldest uncle for every meal I ate, and thank Father's former subordinates for retaining a tiny shred of their old affection.

Oh, right. Father once told me that my eldest uncle had been secretly searching for a Heavenly Pardon-Blessed One. He claimed this person could change our family's fortunes, but he had never found any leads...

Heh. Ridiculous. Grandfather had been a beggar and a bandit, spending half his life alone and destitute, yet he still built this enormous family estate.

How could some bullshit Heavenly Pardon-Blessed One determine a family's rise and fall? To me, it was nothing more than the ignorant belief of a cold-blooded old man.

All right. That is all.

I am Zhu Zigui.

I am the last royal prince of the Great Qian Dynasty-Prince Huai!!!"

Once the complete memory had flooded in, Ren Ye stood before the bronze mirror and snapped his eyes open. "Holy shit! A Heavenly Pardon-Blessed One? Isn't that fucker looking for me?!"