Chapter 1: Transmigration, Exile

"Big brother, do you think she’s really dead?"

"Mm, Father said that if there’s no breath, then she’s dead."

"That’s great. That way, Big brother and I won’t be sold off."

Before Su Ying even opened her eyes, two childish voices reached her ears.

She struggled to pry her eyelids open just a slit, only to see two dirty, scrawny children. Because they were so thin, the beautiful phoenix eyes on their small faces looked exceptionally large.

What was going on? Had she survived the battleship explosion?

As she felt confused, a sharp pain shot through her brain, and a flood of memories that didn't belong to her suddenly surged in.

Su Ying never imagined that the explosion of the battleship would squeeze her into a rift in space-time, causing her spirit to transmigrate into a strange country in a parallel universe: the Chu Kingdom.

And she was currently on the road to exile.

Su Ying opened her eyes fully, and the two children jumped up in terror, turning to run.

"Wah, Father, help! The bad woman woke up again."

"Don't be afraid, Little Sister. Big brother will protect you."

Su Ying: "..."

From the memories, she learned that the original owner was also named Su Ying, the legitimate eldest daughter born to the first wife of the Chu Kingdom’s Prime Minister. Over the years, she had been raised by her stepmother to be a complete fool and was deceived by a scumbag, leading to her husband and their fraternal twins being exiled to the Northern Wasteland.

On the road to exile, because the silver she had secretly brought was gone, the original owner couldn't stand the hunger and wanted to sell her two children for some money. Who would have thought that when she went to grab the children, she was pushed over by the struggling pair, hit her head on the ground, and died on the spot.

Su Ying spat, cursing her for getting what she deserved.

Su Ying stood up. In a strange environment, she habitually observed everything around her. All around were exiled prisoners. A few guards were sitting not far away, eating dried meat.

The prisoners could only watch longingly. They only got one meal a day, and it was hard, inedible rations. Yet, even so, those fist-sized rations made the starving prisoners' eyes light up.

*Hiss.*

A sharp pain came from her head. She reached back and touched the spot; her palm came away wet, but the bleeding had stopped, so it wasn't a major issue for now.

The injuries she had sustained on the battlefield in the past were far worse than this. Su Ying didn't care, simply tearing a piece of rag from her clothes to bandage the wound.

Su Ying looked over and saw the two children hiding under a large tree, where a man lay, his life or death unknown.

She walked over, and the children trembled in fear at the sight of her, their pale little faces clutching the man's sleeves tightly.

"Y-you, you bad woman, don't come over!" Dabao, his face dirty but his expression exceptionally resolute, blocked his sister with his small body. Even though he was terrified, he didn't retreat in the slightest.

Erbao was so scared her voice choked up, "Father, Father, wake up! The bad woman is going to bully us."

Images of the original owner mistreating the two children flashed through Su Ying's mind. These children, who should have been raised in luxury, were now suffering such inhumane treatment.

The original owner had intended to sell the two children for two taels of silver. In the caravan, one tael of silver could trade for three days of rations from the guards. In this environment, why would the other party want to trade several days' worth of rations for two children?

Su Ying looked at a man not far away who was watching them longingly. Dried blood was still visible at the corners of his mouth, and the child who had been by his side two days ago was already gone.

Trading children to eat.

She had been in a doomsday military camp and was accustomed to bloody and brutal slaughter, but she hadn't expected to encounter such a thing in this place.

Su Ying looked at the fear and resolve in the children's eyes, and her heart was touched. They looked exactly like she did when she was thrown into that soul-crushing refinery as a young child.

"I won't sell you."

"You're lying! You said that before, and you almost sold Little Sister!"

In Su Ying's mind, the scene appeared: the day before, the original owner had used half a ration to trick the little girl under the tree, preparing to hand her over to that man.

Su Ying couldn't even be bothered to despise the original owner anymore.

She lowered her eyes to look at the man on the ground. This was her "cheap" husband, Xiao Jin, the Qi Prince of the Chu Kingdom.

Beneath his messy, long hair was a pair of sword-like brows deeply furrowed. Even without opening his eyes, Su Ying could imagine the bottomless depths of the eyes beneath those thin lids. His thin lips were pressed tightly together beneath a sharp, high-bridged nose, signaling the immense pain he was currently enduring.

Who would have thought that the battle-hardened Qi Prince would end up in such a state?

Su Ying squatted down and discovered that his most severe injuries were on his legs, which were a bloody mess, emitting a foul, rotting stench from beneath the tattered, filthy fabric.

She raised her hand, preparing to examine his injuries, but before she could reach him, her hand was tightly grabbed by two small hands.

It was Dabao.

"What are you doing to Father? You aren't allowed to touch Father!"

Doomsday struggles required quick decisions, which had fostered her impatient nature. She had no patience, and her brow twitched. But when she met the pool of tears in those large eyes, her internal fire was instantly extinguished.

"I'm going to check his injuries. If he isn't treated in time, he will die."

Although the two children were young, they had experienced more than others. On this road of exile, they had deeply understood what death meant.

"I don't want Father to die. Father can't die," Erbao's voice was filled with sobs.

"Don't cry. With me here, he won't die." Su Ying tried to make her voice sound as gentle as possible, but the children wouldn't believe her.

"It's all because of you, you bad woman! If it weren't for you, Father wouldn't be hurt." Erbao held back her tears, her large pupils full of accusation.

Su Ying felt ashamed. When Xiao Jin was severely wounded and unconscious on the battlefield, "she" had taken advantage of his coma to hide evidence framing him for colluding with the enemy in his study, ensuring it would be found. Otherwise, Xiao Jin wouldn't have been wrongly imprisoned.

Thinking about this now was useless. The top priority was to treat Xiao Jin's injuries; otherwise, he would be meeting the ghosts before long.

Su Ying pulled away from the small hands and began to examine the wounds on Xiao Jin's legs.

The two little ones watched Su Ying vigilantly, preventing her from doing anything harmful to their father.

Su Ying lifted the rotten cloth on Xiao Jin's legs and found that the injuries were even worse than they looked. Besides his legs, he had various other wounds, but the legs were the most fatal.

During the examination, a sudden burning sensation came from Su Ying's wrist. She looked down and saw a wooden bracelet engraved with a strange totem suddenly appear on her bare wrist. She stared in astonishment—wasn't this her storage space?

In the doomsday era, supplies were extremely scarce. Aside from medicine, which maintained a strong development trend, food items were basically non-existent. So, she usually stored necessary items in her storage space for emergencies. She hadn't expected this thing to follow her to another world.

Su Ying looked around, walked behind a large tree, and triggered the mechanism on the bracelet to enter the space.

A flash of white light passed, and the space appeared before her. The neatly arranged shelves had everything she needed. She bypassed the shelves, opened another door, and found the area where medical supplies were stored.

She took medicine and gauze from a small drawer, then went back out to grab two compressed biscuits similar to the rations from the shelves before exiting the space.

When she came out, the two children were nowhere to be seen. She didn't think much of it, deciding to treat Xiao Jin's injuries first.

Just as Su Ying was about to start, she felt a murderous gaze fall upon her. She looked up vigilantly and met a pair of bottomless black eyes.

(End of chapter)