Chapter 2

Xiao Ai woke up to find herself lying on a patch of lush green grass, surrounded by weeds half a person tall. She opened her eyes painfully, pressed her aching temple, and struggled to sit up. Scanning her surroundings, she saw only desolation, not a trace of human presence.

Her head throbbed violently, and she couldn't help but groan. Just as she was about to yell for help or something, she suddenly heard someone calling her from behind.

"Xiao Ai, Xiao Ai, come help me. I'm about to be crushed to death!"

Xiao Ai turned around and saw Xiao Wu lying beside a rock, with Fatty's leg and arm solidly pinning him down. She quickly ran over, helped Xiao Wu wake Fatty up by patting him, and pulled Xiao Wu to his feet.

Fatty opened his eyes, also dazed, rubbing his butt as he asked, "What's going on? What is this godforsaken place? Weren't we in the car?"

His words reminded the other two; they should have been sitting in the car on the way to the competition. Later, it seemed they had crashed. Everyone was tossed around inside the vehicle, all knocked unconscious. But even if they woke up, it should have been in the water or after being rescued. How could they be out in the wilderness now, with no car in sight?

Right, and the others? They finally remembered the most important thing, hurriedly scrambling up and starting to shout the names of the others around them.

"Brother! Sister Youyou! Brother Xiaolong!"

"Senior! Brother Haozi! Ah Xu!"

"Old Jing! Old Yue! Youyou!"

The three of them shouted together toward the distance, their voices carried far by the gentle breeze. They trudged through the thick weeds for a long, long time, eventually reaching a relatively open area. Ahead was a downward slope, and in a low gully, they finally spotted their companions who had just gotten up from the ground.

"Sister Youyou!" Xiao Ai's emotions instantly shattered. She burst into tears and sprinted over.

The others, seeing them, hurriedly ran up as well. Once the group gathered, Jing Yuan and Xu Haoyue, the oldest among them, quickly took a headcount.

Seven people. Xiao Yue and Xiaolong were missing.

Xiao Yue had always been their backbone. With him absent, everyone felt lost. The bewildered group didn't know what to do.

"Let's head up that hill. Standing higher up should make it easier to look for people, right?" Jing Yuan was the first to suggest a plan.

Fatty glanced at the hilltop. It had few trees, almost entirely covered in weeds, and was visible at a glance. He shook his head in disagreement.

"We don't even know where we are now. We already tried our phones; there's no signal. We shouldn't go that far. Since we're all here in the vicinity, Senior and Brother Long must be nearby too. It's better to search around this area some more."

"But we were shouting so loudly just now. If they were nearby, they should have heard us already. Let's listen to Jing Yuan." Xu Haoyue had always only supported Jing Yuan's ideas.

Xiao Wu and Ah Xu, both small in stature, had little say but secretly supported Fatty's plan. After all, going too far was dangerous; staying put felt safer.

Youyou was busy comforting the heartbrokenly sobbing Xiao Ai and didn't pay attention to their discussion. Soon, the group was locked in a stalemate, on the verge of splitting up, when the tearful Xiao Ai suddenly pointed ahead and shouted.

"Stop arguing! Look over there!"

Everyone followed Xiao Ai's pointing finger. A beam of green light shot up into the sky, followed by an impossibly massive greatsword cleaving down toward it. The group was stunned into silence, not daring to make a sound for a long moment.

Xiao Ai and Le You, who were clinging to each other, exchanged a look. Powerful curiosity made the two girls immediately decide. Holding hands, they stealthily ran off toward that direction.

The remaining five boys didn't have time to stop them. Left with no choice, they had no option but to follow.

Xiao Wu, being timid, was on edge and kept tugging at Xu Haoyue, whispering incessantly, "Brother Haozi, what is that thing? Even a TV drama couldn't be this exaggerated! Oh my god, we suddenly got transported here from the car... it can't be ghosts, can it?"

"Xiao Wu, why are you so chicken? Quit with the ghost talk in broad daylight. If anything, it's a transmigration!" A'Xu, a hardcore transmigration novel fan, was quite dissatisfied with Xiao Wu's guess and was extremely excited about the scene they were about to witness. He soon shook off Xiao Wu and Xu Haoyue, rushing ahead.

"Keep your voices down, you two." Fatty and Jing Yuan, who were closely following Youyou and Xiao Ai, couldn't help but turn around to warn them. Jing Yuan noticed Xiao Wu holding Xu Haoyue's hand and, with a cold face, pulled Xiao Wu forward.

The group had now crept onto a giant rock. Peeking out cautiously, they saw that beyond the rock was a small gully, and past the gully lay a flat plain where two figures were engaged in combat. Though 'combat' wasn't quite the right word, as the figures themselves weren't moving, yet shockwaves rippled around them, sending grass and stones flying in all directions.

The strange figure on the left wore green robes and wielded a golden folding fan. With flicks of his wrist—up, down, left, right—streaks of green light shot forth, attacking the man on the right. That man was clad in white martial attire and gripped a massive silver greatsword.

Fatty and A'Xu almost shouted in excitement, but Xiao Ai and Jing Yuan, fearing discovery, promptly covered their mouths, preventing them from giving away their position.

By now, the seven of them, completely engrossed in the spectacle, had entirely forgotten their original mission to find someone. Meanwhile, Xiao Yue and Xiao Long were leisurely enjoying some melon seeds atop a solitary peak, calmly surveying the scenery—and the commotion—down below.