Volume One, Chapter One: Traveling Back to the Tang Dynasty? No, This Is a Parallel World

Zhou Wu lay on the bed, the hard wooden boards pressing painfully into his back. He managed to open his eyes with difficulty, noticing that the black tiles on the ceiling seemed to have weathered many years. He couldn't help but wonder, what era was this, that people still lived in tile-roofed houses?

He tried to move his body, only for a violent pain to assault his limbs.

“Brother Wu, you’re awake?”

A muffled, honest-sounding voice came from beside him. Turning his head, he saw a simple-faced young man keeping vigil at his bedside.

Suddenly, Zhou Wu’s mind was wracked with sharp pain, as a flood of unfamiliar memories surged through him.

Originally, Zhou Wu was a typical country boy who refused to accept his fate. He had always studied diligently, yearning for the big city. Through sheer effort, he finally found himself, in his early thirties, standing atop a skyscraper in the Land of Beauty.

As the youngest leader of a Fortune 500 company, Zhou Wu was once the talk of the town. Yet, on his thirty-fifth birthday, his world came crashing down. His wife from the Land of Beauty conspired with his mistress, orchestrating his ruin. In the end, Zhou Wu died violently in a foreign street, his reputation in tatters.

Now, Zhou Wu had crossed over to a parallel world, one whose timeline resembled the Han or Tang dynasties of his original world.

A torrent of unfamiliar memories fused in his mind, and though the pain was intense, it faded as quickly as it came.

From these new memories, Zhou Wu realized that, much like the plot of a web novel, he had been reborn—this time in the distant past. Though this dynasty did not exist in his former world, at least he was alive again.

“Brother Wu, Brother Wu, what’s wrong with you?”

The honest young man called out anxiously at his side.

“Niu Er, I’m fine. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

From the memories, Zhou Wu gathered some basic information. He had been reborn in a country called the Great Dragon Empire. The original owner of this body was also named Zhou Wu. The man beside him, Niu Er, was a neighbor from the same village. As they were of similar age, they had played together since childhood and had a close friendship.

“Are you really all right?” Niu Er sounded doubtful; after all, Zhou Wu had fallen from such a tall tree.

“Don’t worry, would I lie to you? You have plenty to deal with at home. Go tend to your chores—thank you for helping me.”

To put Niu Er at ease, Zhou Wu even moved his limbs on purpose.

“Come on, Brother Wu, you’re too polite. I’ll go help out in the fields. If you need anything, just call me.”

“Mm.”

Seeing that Zhou Wu truly seemed well, Niu Er finally prepared to leave. After all, the fields depended solely on his elder brother, Niu Da, who was already overwhelmed.

Once Niu Er had gone, Zhou Wu stretched his body and began to explore the unfamiliar yet oddly familiar house.

Looking at the three-sectioned, blue-brick, tile-roofed courtyard, he thought to himself—if this were in the modern age, wouldn’t it rival the fanciest homes in the city?

From the memories of the former owner, Zhou Wu learned that his family had been officials since his great-grandfather’s time. But, as with most families, the glory faded with each generation. By his father’s generation, they were merely low-level civil servants, and the family fortune had dwindled away. Now, apart from this three-sectioned courtyard, he was penniless.

A couple of years prior, his father had passed away, leaving only Zhou Wu behind to guard this empty, echoing house. There wasn’t even proper furniture, just a bed.

The reason Zhou Wu was lying in bed today was because, after several days of hunger, he had wandered near the village and spotted a bird’s nest in a large locust tree. Driven by instinct, he had climbed up, hoping to find some eggs—not much, but enough to stave off starvation.

But there were no eggs. Instead, a triangular-headed, mottled viper lay coiled in the nest, flicking its tongue as if expecting him. Startled, Zhou Wu slipped and fell from a height of seven or eight meters, losing consciousness on the spot. When he woke, he was back in bed—no doubt rescued by Niu Er, who had passed by.

“What a difficult start this is,” Zhou Wu sighed.

Sitting at his doorstep and surveying the village, one word stood out above all: poverty—extreme poverty. It was already midday, yet hardly any homes sent up cooking smoke.

All the houses had mud walls and thatched roofs. Though each family had fenced their home with crude stakes, not a single chicken or duck could be seen in any yard.

Yet, sighing changed nothing. The hunger gnawing at his belly made it clear: the most urgent task was to find food.

“There isn’t a single grain left at home. Looks like I’ll have to rely on nature’s bounty.”

With that, Zhou Wu searched the empty house for anything useful.

After turning the place upside down, he found only a few thin cords of unknown material, resembling fishing line from his previous life. He tugged at them and found them sturdy enough. Taking them with him, Zhou Wu headed for the mountain behind the village.

The mountain, unnamed, was rich in wildlife, as this world was still in the era of farming. There were plenty of wild animals, but due to a lack of effective hunting skills and tools, there were few hunters. Most people barely scraped by, but if one was lucky enough to catch extra game, they could fetch a good price in town—after all, even in this era, there were wealthy folk with a taste for meat.

Zhou Wu soon reached the mountain. In his previous life, poverty often sent him hunting for wild food, so he was intimately familiar with the art of trapping—setting clever snares and traps was second nature to a country boy like him.

Given the limited materials, he decided to use snare traps, suitable for catching small game such as wild rabbits or pheasants.

But these traps couldn’t be set just anywhere in the woods; one had to observe and find the paths these animals always traveled.

Animals were cunning in their own way, especially vigilant in unfamiliar environments. Small creatures tended to stick to well-trodden paths.

For city folk, discovering these routes might be difficult, but for Zhou Wu, who’d grown up in the countryside, it was second nature.

With careful observation, it wasn’t hard to spot the trails—tufts of fur, footprints, and other signs betrayed their presence.

Soon, Zhou Wu found several well-used paths, judging by the tracks and fur left behind, likely belonging to wild rabbits and pheasants.

With materials scarce, he set five snare traps. The rest would be up to time and luck.

“No sense waiting around idly—maybe I’ll find something else,” Zhou Wu thought, and began to wander the mountain in search of further fortune.