Serf

Mìdì, the grasslands.

"Brother, wake up! The manor's overseers are almost here!" a frail girl's voice called.

Qu Zan, who had drunk himself nearly sick enough to vomit blood at a company dinner the night before, should have been fast asleep in his rented room.

Suddenly, he sensed something was wrong. Why was there a stranger's voice in his room?

"What manor? What overseers?"

Rubbing his aching head, he sat up, opened his eyes, and looked around.

The blue sky overhead was so clear it held not a trace of impurity. An unbroken mountain range lay beneath pristine snow, clouds and mist curling around peaks that had stood there since time immemorial.

He was lying on a withered, yellow plain.

"Is this still fucking Shanghai? Where the hell have I ended up?" Qu Zan muttered.

Wasn't he supposed to be in an old apartment on the outskirts of Pudong?

He turned to see a little girl of seven or eight looking at him.

The little girl had exceptionally bright eyes and cheeks flushed red by the highlands. She was wrapped in a tattered robe covered in patches, its broad folds hanging empty from her thin shoulders.

Her little hands were covered in tiny cuts and chilblains, her fingertips rough and stiff.

"Meiduo!" Qu Zan called his younger sister's name instinctively.

Seeing her brother get up, Meiduo's worry turned to delight, then to frantic anxiety. "Brother, we have to run."

As she spoke, she pulled the thoroughly muddled Qu Zan up and ran ahead.

"I've transmigrated!" As a webnovel enthusiast, Qu Zan quickly realized what had happened. Unfamiliar memories flooded his mind like a rising tide.

This place was called Mìdì, and strange legends and supernatural customs abounded everywhere.

The body's original owner, also named Qu Zan, was only sixteen.

He was a Nangsheng at Bado Manor. Nangsheng were the lowest class of serfs.

Three powers ruled Mìdì: the government, the monasteries, and the nobility.

Everyone else was a serf.

Serfs were divided into three classes: Chaba, Duiqiong, and Nangsheng, with Nangsheng at the very bottom.

Nangsheng were hereditary household slaves. They had no proper homes and could only live in stables, corners of cattle pens, or even cramped shacks beneath latrines or beside boundary walls.

Qu Zan's family lived beneath the manor lord's latrine, where it was damp all year round and the stench rose to the heavens.

Their little hovel had neither bed nor cupboard, only a heap of worn woolen cloth for bedding.

A clay pot and a few wooden bowls were all they owned.

The original owner's parents had worked at the manor year-round and had long since died from accumulated toil, both before the age of thirty.

Three days earlier, a ritual master from Rika City had held a religious ceremony and designated Qu Zan as a sacrifice for the "Five-Extremities Offering."

The so-called Five-Extremities Offering consisted of a heart stripped from the body, a tongue severed whole, eyes with their nerves attached, a nose, and ears, arranged in sequence. The victim had to remain alive throughout the removal.

"Dark. This world is so fucking dark!"

As an overgrown child nurtured by modern civilization, Qu Zan could not help sighing inwardly.

With no other recourse, Qu Zan had fled the manor with his younger sister, Meiduo.

During their escape, the original owner had lost his footing, tumbled down a hillside, and fallen unconscious. When his eyes opened again, Qu Zan from Blue Star had transmigrated into him.

Suddenly, a pale blue information panel appeared in his field of vision:

[Name: Qu Zan]

[Body: 0.7]

[Consciousness: 1.8]

[Available points: 1.3]

[Talent: None]

This is my cheat! Qu Zan was overjoyed.

As the original owner's memories continued to surface, everything in his past became clear.

Words appeared in his field of vision: "Your past-life wisdom has awakened, strengthening your consciousness. Congratulations on comprehending the talent [Extensive Learning] lv1."

"[Extensive Learning]: grants you a memory far beyond ordinary people, with vast knowledge and powerful recall."

As the talent entered him, a cool sensation swept through his mind. His thinking had seemed shrouded in gauze before; now it became incomparably clear.

Qu Zan moaned in comfort.

The sky gradually darkened as night approached. In Mìdì, that was by no means a good thing.

Many legends circulated in this uncanny land of Mìdì, and one of them was:

After dark, never remain exposed in the wilderness!

Vengeful Ghosts lurked in the dark shadows, choosing people to devour.

For that reason, the locals never dared sleep out in the wilderness. Even when herding cattle and sheep, they always brought felt tents.

Legend had it that after nightfall, everything outside the stone houses blessed by Buddhist teachings belonged to the ghosts.

Precisely because of this, their pursuers would most likely not dare linger after nightfall, leaving the two of them temporarily safe.

The original owner had never seen a ghost or monster in his life and regarded them as nothing more than strange tales.

Escaped serfs who were caught would have their eyes gouged out and feet chopped off at best, or be flayed and tortured to death at worst.

At that moment, he was more worried about their pursuers than the ghosts in the darkness.

As Qu Zan fled, he kept looking back.

Suddenly, several small, bobbing black dots appeared on the distant horizon, and Qu Zan's heart sank.

They were two men on horseback, with vicious tracking dogs racing ahead of them, pursuing them straight toward this spot.

"Brother, the overseers are coming on horseback. We're finished..." Meiduo said, trembling.

Qu Zan had still underestimated his own importance.

This was different from an ordinary serf escaping. He was a sacrifice personally selected by a Lama from Rika City; they would never let him go easily.

They had been fleeing for nearly a day, yet their pursuers still refused to give up.

"Up the mountain!" Qu Zan said in a low, sharp voice, taking Meiduo's hand.

The two climbed the steep slope, deliberately choosing rugged mountain paths that horses could not traverse.

Soon, the clatter of hooves and the furious barking of dogs rose from below.

"Dismount!" one of the overseers said.

"Nima, it's almost dark. We shouldn't stay out in the wilderness!" the tall overseer said.

"Tsering, ghosts descending at night? You actually believe those stories meant to fool the lowborn?" The lean, tough man called Nima sneered. "If we fail to carry out His Holiness's decree, neither of us will escape punishment."

"Don't worry. Once we catch that Nangsheng brat, you can check his sister for blood," Nima said coldly. "With this great deed to my name, I can rise from Duiqiong to Chaba."

At those words, a lecherous gleam shot from Tsering's eyes. His breathing suddenly grew heavy, and his fear of the night vanished entirely.

By the rules, before a Nangsheng woman was allotted to a man, she had to be sent to her master's room on her first night for inspection. Only after she had bled could she be allotted to another serf.

For a mere Duiqiong like him to have such an opportunity-how could he not be thrilled?

"What if I play her to death? How will we explain it? The steward is counting on her to breed more little Nangsheng!" Tsering was full of misgivings. What he feared most was having to pay a horse rein for it.

If a Nangsheng died, the owner had to be compensated with a straw rope.

Nima gave him a sidelong look. "I'll pay the rein."

"Good." Completely reassured, Tsering hurried to flatter him. "Nima, you're sure to become a Rebudian Chieftain someday."

A Rebudian Chieftain was the head of an enforcement and execution ground, collecting human skins, heads, internal organs, and other sacrificial supplies for the monasteries and nobles. Of all the overseers, serfs feared this position most and aspired to it most.

Nima could not help curling his lips into a smile.

Leading the vicious dogs, the two men walked up the mountain step by step.

One stinking brat would be easy to deal with. An immense achievement was about to fall into their hands.

The mountain path was rugged, and the dogs grew increasingly excited, clearly having caught their prey's scent.

Both men felt tired after riding for most of the day. They reckoned those two damned runaway slaves, who had been running all day, must be utterly exhausted.

"Brother, wake up!" A little girl's voice came from ahead.

Tsering sneered aloud. "Finally caught you, you filthy slaves."

The little girl lay over Qu Zan, sobbing and crying out, her voice full of trembling and fear.

"Tsering, pull that girl away and see whether the boy's alive," Nima said. "If he's dead, this whole trip will have been for nothing!" Neither of them could bear responsibility for failing the task.

Tsering yanked Meiduo aside. Unable to suppress his lust, he excitedly began undoing his belt, about to advance on her and force himself on her.

Nima stepped forward for a look. There was no person on the ground, only a heap of ragged robes.

"Where is he!"

Suddenly, something whistled through the air behind them. A stone came crashing down, slamming hard into Tsering's head.

Thud!

With that dull impact, Tsering felt his head buzzing.

"You crafty little bastard! You dared ambush us!" Tsering was powerfully built, but after that blow to the back of his head, his vision darkened, he staggered, and he began vomiting violently on the spot.

"That brat's strong!"

Nima immediately released the chains. Two large dogs snarled and lunged at Qu Zan. The instant they bit down, the vicious dogs shook their heads and tore at him.

Qu Zan's breathing came fast. Sharp teeth pierced his arm, and heart-piercing pain struck him instantly.

The two of them had been fleeing on foot, while their pursuers rode horses. It was only a matter of time before Qu Zan and his sister were caught.

As the weaker party, Qu Zan had no choice but to stake everything on one desperate fight.

He put all 1.3 available points into the body stat.

In an instant, his strength surged, and the hunger in his belly vanished with it.