Chapter 1

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Chapter 1: The Dead Feel Nothing, But I’ve Carried It All Across Time!

Sanqiao Post Station was the second stop north from the capital of Zhao Kingdom. It sat between the busy Taoyuan Post Station to the south and the better Ganquan Post Station to the north. Many people passed by, but few stayed.

Aunt Tian had worked as the cook at Sanqiao Post Station for over half a month. She only served five groups of lodgers, all small traders. The big carriages that rushed past never stopped to eat. On her first day, the station head told her to grind coarse grain and dry vegetables. It was a poor station.

Now it was September, and autumn felt deeper. Daylight faded earlier. The setting sun dipped low, its soft light touching the bean curtains hanging like door drapes in the back corridors. It also brushed over the half-dried radish slices spread flat on bamboo trays in the yard.

Aunt Tian hurried out of the kitchen to gather the bamboo trays before dark. She thought her day would end after putting away the vegetables and cooking a simple meal for the station’s "officials." But before she finished stacking one row of trays, she heard horse hooves.

No, they were already here.

A loud crash came as the half-shut back gate burst open. Startled, Aunt Tian looked up to see half a horse charging into the yard. The panting horse was yanked back by the reins and plunged its head into a bamboo tray Aunt Tian hadn’t collected yet.

Sanqiao Post Station was poor. It couldn’t fix its cracked walls or rotting gates. But it was still an "official" place. How could anyone barge in like this?

"My radishes! This horse…" Aunt Tian slapped her thigh, angry and flustered. She couldn’t finish saying the horse should have gone to the side gate stable.

The hungry horse walked slowly, pulling a cart into the yard. Two men in black coarse guards’ uniforms sat steadily on the cart frame. They were low-ranking, but to Aunt Tian, they deserved respect.

"Where’s Liu Lao Wu? Bring him here," the burly man on the left said in a loud voice. He looked unhappy.

His fierce manner scared Aunt Tian. When she saw the long scar on his right cheek, she felt even more afraid. She lowered her head, said yes, and ran off fast. She didn’t notice the two others in the cart behind: one sitting, one lying.

Tan Wang got off the cart and frowned at the man sitting there. "If Liu Lao Wu isn’t here, it’s her bad luck. You should accept it."

"Excuse me, sir, is Liu Lao Wu a doctor?" Jiang Wu asked seriously, looking at the head guard.

"Dreaming? In this wild place?" The other man turned back and laughed mockingly. "A doctor? Do you have money? You…"

"Zhao Qi, go open the door," Tan Wang said, taking the reins from Zhao Qi’s hands.

Zhao Qi, who had been acting proud, glanced at Tan Wang’s stern face. He jumped down reluctantly. "Yes, Tan."

"I don’t have money for a doctor… but I heard exiles in Linzhou get a share if they clear extra land. Sir, could you lend…" Jiang Wu tried to borrow money for the first time.

"No," Tan Wang cut him off shortly.

In the distance, Zhao Qi headed for the most run-down side room to open it. Tan Wang narrowed his eyes but didn’t stop him. He looked back at the cart, where a woman lay beside Jiang Wu. Her head was swollen, her neck red, and her left leg bloody. "Liu Lao Wu isn’t a doctor, but he can make blood-stopping medicine and bandage wounds. If she lives, it’s her luck. If not, she chose to die."

"Master Tan, you promised to save her," Jiang Wu said with a hard stare.

"Haven’t I? We used up half our wound medicine on her in just two days," Tan Wang snapped, thinking of the loss. "If Liu Lao Wu’s medicine doesn’t work, I can’t do more."

After that, Tan Wang saw the deposed crown prince press his lips together and clench his jaw. His eyes turned firm, like he was about to say something rash. Tan Wang spoke first to stop him. "What, deposed crown prince? Will you put a stone to your neck again and threaten to die if we don’t save her? We’ve barely left the capital for exile to Linzhou, and you’ve threatened twice. Do you really want to defy the order? Don’t forget, the deposed Empress is still in the Cold Palace."

Jiang Wu bit his lip. The light in his eyes faded. He had too many chains and no power. Even his threats were hollow.

"Head Tan, this one will do," Zhao Qi called from the doorway of the low, shabby room. He covered his nose.

Seeing Zhao Qi like that, Tan Wang knew how "good" the room was.

It didn’t matter. This deposed crown prince needed to learn a lesson. He was no longer noble enough to summon a crowd of imperial doctors with a word.

Tan Wang didn’t hurry over. Instead, he knocked on the cart frame and said, "Throw out the stone in your hand. Otherwise, even if someone comes, she won’t get the medicine." Jiang Wu’s already pale face turned even whiter. He paused before tossing out the stone, then unconsciously gripped the fabric beside him tightly, not caring whose garment it was.

"Let me tell you, we’ve only traveled two days on this months-long journey north, and she’s already tried to kill herself twice. You might as well let her die as she wishes," Tan Wang remarked, glancing at the stone on the ground and relaxing his furrowed brows slightly. He added, "Exile roads are hard. Look at her now—unresponsive, with a broken leg. Continuing the journey is just torment for her."

Jiang Wu knew those words weren’t entirely unreasonable, but he couldn’t… This young palace maid had been working well in the palace, set to start a new life when she reached the right age. But after accidentally spilling a bowl of soup, she caught the eye of his second brother… no, now the Second Prince.

Jiang Wu knew well how much the Second Prince despised him, the "Crown Prince," over the past decade or more. But even in his desire to humiliate and punish him, there was no need to drag an innocent palace maid into it, forcing a young girl to marry this disgraced person whose true gender had just been exposed.

Even in Jin Kingdom, where women ruled, there were no examples of same-sex marriages, let alone in Zhao Kingdom… This young maid’s life was ruined by him, facing exile to the harsh, distant land of Linzhou. With no hope left, she didn’t want to live.

All this… was his fault.

Looking at the frail, dying girl beside him, Jiang Wu felt pain like deep waters slowly drowning him. No matter how tightly he gripped the fabric, it couldn’t lift his soul at all.

Well… not Jiang Wu’s soul, but that of Du Yinsui, who had crossed over.

Before turning seventeen, Du Yinsui thought her life was inspiring. Abandoned at birth, she grew up in an orphanage and saved scholarship money year by year, accumulating most of her college tuition. Just as she was about to reach a new start with a few more months of hard study for the exams… the apocalypse came.

Yes, a very "new" start.

Zombies with foul smells were everywhere, mutated creatures swarmed from unknown places… Humans panicked and fled blindly.

Forget college or bank balances; years of dreams and efforts were just bubbles, less useful than the yellow-haired guy’s skill at stealing from stores.

But somehow, she survived.

Though her mutated abilities weren’t as strong as others’ flashy powers, and her heightened sense of smell wasn’t as handy as strength or speed, Du Yinsui lived through it. She survived into the dismal apocalypse’s seventh year, building a solid savings from years of frontline work.

Sadly, once again, individual efforts couldn’t withstand big changes. In the seventh year, Central City tricked and captured elite female ability users from smaller bases, locking them up for a foolish human breeding plan. Its fiery end was deserved, though the final explosion was too fierce.

What a life!

Canned food she never ate, saved energy cores—all blew up into light, sending her through dimensions. Seven years of hard work became another bubble.

Forced into bankruptcy again, Du Yinsui angrily watched the short life of this girl who shared her name, then got angrier. At seventeen, in a peaceful world, she should have been in high school. But in Zhao Dynasty, after ten years of chores—cleaning, cooking, serving—she was a seasoned palace maid.

That wasn’t the worst. Worse… was her twelve years as a spy for Jin Kingdom.

Wait… who would poison a five-year-old to train her as a spy? Oh, her own father… Truly, fathers can be awful. A handsome father, a charming former Crown Princess, an unneeded first wife—a mess of her father being stolen, her mother forced to suicide, and the poor girl hidden away.

So the question: Forget the father’s looks; did he have any brains? To avenge his wife, shouldn’t he have acted himself? Why send a child for spy training? And before she returned, he had new children with the Crown Princess, now Jin Kingdom’s Emperor?

Unbelievable…

The girl worked diligently as a spy in Zhao Kingdom but got caught in a royal power struggle. She was married off as Crown Princess to the Deposed Crown Prince, then exiled together… Useless outside the Palace, she stopped getting the regular antidotes. Poisoned, she lost her voice and suffered increasing pain all over. She clung to life, hoping her father would help avenge her mother as promised. But just outside the Capital, at a roadside tea shop, she heard her father had become the favored emperor consort in Jin Kingdom, had children with their enemy, and the Emperor loved them so much she pardoned the whole kingdom.

Nothing good left…

Already tormented by poison, her last hope vanished.

Du Yinsui didn’t know if her own life—efforts always wiped clean—was sadder, or this girl’s short, dull life—barely a flicker—was worse.

For now, her own seemed worse. After all… the girl’s last memory was falling from a hill; she must have died then. The dead feel nothing, but Du Yinsui carried it all!

Jumping from the hill might have hurt her head or broken limbs. The failed hanging left her throat swollen and painful. Oh, and that poison meant to kill her tonight…

Maybe from the head injury, the poison, or something else, Du Yinsui crossed over. At first, she briefly saw the new world’s blue sky and green land before merging with the memories. Now, conscious but unable to control the body—not even to open her eyes or move a finger—she heard everything: from being found at the hill’s bottom to Jiang Wu begging and threatening to get her onto this horse-drawn cart.

From the spy intel in the girl’s memories or Du Yinsui’s short experience here, Jiang Wu… seemed a good person.

So the problem: Du Yinsui helplessly felt the pain in her side—not there before, but worsening—from something tightening around her waist.

This good person surely had many troubles, but when distressed, he could try twisting his own clothes instead…