Transmigrators, I May Have Met Them

"Why are we leaving in such a hurry? My sweet potato isn't even fully roasted yet."

The Linen-Clad Girl tilted her face up with some helplessness and asked the youth beside her.

The trees swayed, and fine rain drifted down. The mountain path had been soaked by a night of rain and was still muddy, sticking to their shoes.

The Green-Robed Youth, walking ahead on the mountain path, turned around at her words and explained with a serious air:

"There's a fierce-looking Daoist priest in the temple. Didn't you see him?"

"I did, but he didn't look that fierce, did he?"

The Little Beggar sounded doubtful. She wiped the rain from her face with her sleeve and said, "Didn't you say that Daoist was some kind of Corpse-Driving Man?"

"Yeah. Corpse-Driving Men bring bad luck."

Gu Baishui gave a perfunctory reply, then suddenly paused.

He realized that the two of them hadn't gone far from the temple and that the Corpse-Driving Daoist there might still be able to hear him.

So Gu Baishui cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "It's not about whether they bring bad luck or not. Mainly, my Second Senior Brother said that when you're out and about, you should keep your wits about you-and be especially wary of strange people."

The Little Beggar blinked. "Strange people?"

"Yeah. The ones who always 'flash a look and retreat behind the crowd,' the ones who shout, 'Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; don't bully a poor young man,' and the punching bags who always get bullied and looked down on for no reason. Those people are all pretty hard to deal with."

Gu Baishui spoke with a straight face. "And my Second Senior Brother specifically warned me to help old people by the roadside and beneath cliffs as often as possible, and to keep well away from anyone surnamed Ye, Lin, Li, or Wang."

"Why?"

"Because most of those people are dangerous. You could even say that as long as you get too close to them, you'll be the one in danger."

The Little Beggar nodded blankly. After thinking for a moment, she asked Gu Baishui, "Your Second Senior Brother knows so much. How come I've never heard you talk about your Eldest Senior Brother?"

"My Eldest Senior Brother?"

Gu Baishui suddenly fell silent. Only after a long while did he say, "My Eldest Senior Brother usually doesn't say much. The only thing he most often reminds me of is this one sentence."

"What?"

Gu Baishui shrugged. "Don't listen to your Second Senior Brother's bullshit."

The Linen-Clad Girl froze at his words, then burst out laughing.

Gu Baishui looked rather helpless. "Actually, both my Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother are pretty remarkable. It's just that most of the time, my Eldest Senior Brother doesn't feel like talking, while my Second Senior Brother talks too much and nags until your ears hurt."

"So that's why you talk about your Second Senior Brother so often?"

"Yeah." Gu Baishui nodded. "When I was little, my Second Senior Brother always thought he and I were the same kind of person, from the same faraway place. So he was always trying to test me in all sorts of ways, and he'd mutter all kinds of strange, nonsensical things."

A flicker crossed the clear depths of the Linen-Clad Girl's eyes. After a quiet pause, she curiously lifted her little face.

"What strange things?"

Gu Baishui didn't notice anything amiss. For some reason, he seemed instinctively to have no guard up around this little girl beside him.

"Things like, 'Junior Brother, I can tell you have the makings of a Great Emperor... You wait here, I'm going to buy you some oranges... Master's Daoist books on divine runes just fried my CPU...' And the most classic one: 'Fuck, why can't I ever beat your Eldest Senior Brother...'"

"Those are the things my Second Senior Brother often muttered," Gu Baishui said. "But later, he realized that we really didn't have much in common. So, very disappointed, he warned me that if I ever met someone like him after going down the mountain, I had to be careful."

"I see."

The Little Beggar lowered her head in silence, looking at the mud spots on her toes. It was impossible to tell what expression she wore.

Gu Baishui also fell silent for a long while, then tipped his head back and let out a long sigh.

"My Second Senior Brother never hid it. He admitted to me that he was a Transmigrator from another world."

"Rumble~"

A sudden bolt of lightning streaked across the gloomy sky, its dazzling flash exploding almost directly overhead.

In an instant, the brilliant light illuminated the dim mountain forest, and the astonished, bewildered little face of the Linen-Clad Girl with her head lowered.

Luo Ziwei was stunned for a long, long time, unable to come back to her senses.

What had he just said?

Had he mentioned Transmigrators?

Could something as taboo and secret as this, something involving the history of the entire continent, really be brought up so openly?

Was he really that honest?

The Linen-Clad Girl silently glanced at Gu Baishui and opened her mouth, but still didn't make a sound.

She had indeed used a small trick that affected his Sea of Consciousness, making this strange youth less guarded around her. But she hadn't expected him to have no guard up at all.

It felt like carefully and meticulously working on a riddle, only to turn the page and find the answer laid out clearly on the paper.

This youth was so honest and sincere that it was almost excessive, even making people feel a little uneasy.

"Transmigrators?"

"Yeah. People from another world."

Gu Baishui said, "My Second Senior Brother said that there have actually been many Transmigrators throughout the history of our world. In High Antiquity, there was a famous Heavenly Emperor who came from another world, and that Heavenly Emperor was surnamed Ye."

"In my Second Senior Brother's eyes, the world we live in is more like a pasture. You and I are native-born inhabitants, while those Transmigrators are more like guests who accidentally wandered into this pasture. Of course, every Transmigrator has a different personality, so there are good ones and bad ones among the guests."

The Linen-Clad Girl fell silent for a moment, then asked another rather strange question.

"Your Second Senior Brother seems to know a lot about the stories of those Transmigrators?"

"Maybe."

Gu Baishui rubbed his chest and thought for a moment before saying, "Actually, my Second Senior Brother says this era is different from the past, so before long, being a Transmigrator might not be so mysterious or taboo anymore."

The Linen-Clad Girl didn't quite understand. "Why?"

"Because my Second Senior Brother discovered traces of some Transmigrators, right here in this era, in all corners of this continent."

"Some?"

"Yeah."

Gu Baishui rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful.

"My Second Senior Brother said something strange seems to have happened, so a lot of guests arrived in the pasture during the same era. Transmigrators aren't as mysterious and unknowable as they used to be. They might even become a group of outsiders who change history."

The Linen-Clad Girl was silent for a long while, then asked softly, "Do you think it'll happen like that?"

"Actually, I'm not sure."

Gu Baishui shook his head. "My Second Senior Brother is always saying incomprehensible nonsense, so I've never been sure which of the things he says are true."

"Then do you believe what he said about Transmigrators?"

Gu Baishui hesitated, then frowned uncertainly, but didn't give her a clear answer.

"They do exist."

Cool raindrops pattered against his cheek. The young man froze and looked at the Little Beggar beside him, who had suddenly spoken.

"Transmigrators exist."

The Linen-Clad Girl shrugged like the youth, then smiled.

"I've met one."