Rivers reversed their course, and the stars shifted in the heavens.
When Qin Manjiang regained consciousness, he heard shouting...
"Someone's fallen overboard!"
Then he felt a rough hand pull him out of the water.
"Hey, it's the new kid!"
A gruff male voice called out.
Splash-
Qin Manjiang was tossed onto the boat.
He barely managed to open his eyes, and the first thing he saw was a decorative lantern.
A ghost?!
He shot upright.
The boatman laughed heartily. "This lad's still plenty alert! Lad, we fished you out of the water. We're not kidnappers."
Lad?
Only then did Qin Manjiang look down at his body. His arms were thin and scrawny, and wet gray cloth clung to his body. He raised a hand to feel his face. It, too, was so thin it was little more than skin and bones.
This isn't me...
He looked around. He was still on the river, and there were still decorative lanterns on the boat, but it was late, the boatman wore no mask, and the passengers were not paper figures.
A flag bearing the words [Southern Branch Troupe] flew from the largest boat behind them.
The lilting sounds of opera drifted out from within, lending the nighttime waters both a touch of eeriness and a peculiar, tranquil beauty.
The boat moved slowly through the water, light as though it weighed nothing.
Qin Manjiang said nothing. With his head lowered, he looked as though he had lost his soul, but he was actually considering his current situation.
He had fallen into the water under bizarre circumstances earlier. In the river, he had even seen the drowned corpses of the others, and he himself had died.
But what was happening now?
*This body wasn't his, but had his consciousness and soul traveled through time