Chapter 1: The beginning of the tragedy
"Zila! Zila! The strange voice echoed in my ears, like a vicious dog from hell, constantly grinding steel teeth that could crush everything.
Chen Ze opened his eyes slightly, and found that he had come to a dimly lit room, his body was still tied to a wooden frame, and he couldn't move even if he wanted to.
The surrounding antiquated walls are filled with a wide variety of knives and torture instruments, giving people the feeling of coming to the Yama Temple.
Chen Ze remembers that he was riding a bicycle, and then he was hit by a car that ran a red light, and then he didn't remember anything.
The injured person should be taken to the hospital, but it is not like a spacious and bright ward, but rather a haunted house.
Chen Ze took advantage of the dim light to see an old man in ancient costume, looking at him with a gloomy face.
Judging from various circumstances, I should have encountered a crossing event, and the location of the crossing was very bad, and it was likely to be an ancient prison.
"You couldn't wake up at the right time."
The old man was holding a strange knife and slowly approached the wooden bed, still speaking incomprehensible words.
Chen Ze barely squeezed out a smile: "Uncle, we have no grudges in the past, and no hatred in the near future, why use knives?" β
The old man smiled strangely and said, "Don't pretend to be crazy and stupid, Lord Liang said that you must spit out secrets, otherwise you will face torture." β
"What's the secret?" Although Chen Ze couldn't understand the other party's words, his body could feel a chill, obviously instinctively feeling the danger signal.
His luck was really bad, he actually crossed over to a prisoner, and this posture looked like he was going to use punishment, and if he couldn't get out of danger safely, he would not be far from death.
"It's not good for you to continue pretending, you lead troops to rebel against the court, quickly hand over the list of henchmen."
As the old man spoke, he directly put the knife against Chen Ze's neck, and he was about to pierce his skin.
"My name is Chen Ze, and I am a good young man who abides by the law, you must have arrested the wrong person."
Chen Ze tried hard to explain his identity, hoping that the old man would find out with his conscience and take the initiative to give up the execution.
The old man was not moved, but sneered and said, "Who in the entire Yanjing City doesn't know your surname Chen Mingze?" β
Chen Ze was taken aback, he couldn't imagine that the name of this body was exactly the same as himself.
The old man took advantage of Chen Ze's surprise to take a knife and slash at his arm, instantly cutting a shallow wound.
"Hmm!" Chen Ze snorted and began to twist his body at the same time, intending to make a dying struggle.
The old man did not heed such resistance, but once again raised his knife, preparing to continue cutting elsewhere until the prisoner was willing to reveal the information.
Where did Chen Ze receive this kind of stimulation, his eyes suddenly widened, and he inhaled violently, and his whole body suddenly became motionless.
The old man hurriedly checked the situation and found that the other party was only fainting with fright, and his life was not in danger.
The prisoner fainted, and the interrogation could only be temporarily stopped, and soon two jailers came in and dragged Chen Ze out.
In the darkness, what people crave most is light, even if it is only a little, they want to hold on to it.
Chen Ze is the same, now his eyes are pitch black, and he doesn't know what this place is.
He only wants a beam of light to guide the way, even if he can't return to the original world, he must get out of the terrifying place just now.
Finally, a hurried call fished him out of the darkness and brought him back to reality.
A man with messy hair and a shabby prison uniform was kneeling next to him and said happily, "Thank God! You've been in a coma for a long time and you've finally woken up.
"It's over, it's all over!"
After Chen Ze woke up, he looked around and immediately understood that everything he had experienced was not a dream.
"What are you talking about?" The man was stunned, as if he could not understand the meaning of the sentence.
"I've been stabbed, and I'm not done?"
Chen Ze was depressed in his heart, and finally became a member of the crossing army, and he went to hell as soon as he came up.
The man whispered, "You're not dead, you're just fainting, and they're sending you back to prison." β
Chen Ze groped around his body and found that his body was indeed intact, but there were still wounds on his arms.
It seems that God is still powerful, and he didn't let the crazy old man continue, otherwise he would have become the shortest-lived traverser.
However, looking at the old man's performance, he will definitely not let him go easily, and he must think of a good countermeasure to get out of danger safely.
Through chatting with the man, Chen Ze learned about the era he was in and his current identity.
This is a parallel world similar to Earth, and the country where he is now located is called Pingxi Kingdom, and the level of civilization is equivalent to that of the late Ming Dynasty in the seventeenth century.
He was the fourteen-year-old King of Zhennan, who had planned a near-successful coup d'Γ©tat against the dictatorship of the auxiliary minister Liang Xing.
After the death of the first emperor, the throne was supposed to be inherited by the elderly king Zhennan, but Liang Xing chose to support another young prince, the purpose of which was to control the government.
Liang Xing used to be a favorite of the first emperor, and he is also the elder brother of the current empress dowager and the uncle of the king of Zhennan.
It stands to reason that a person with such a noble status should do his best to the country, assist the king, and benefit the people.
But instead of doing this, Liang Xing used the status of the emperor's relatives to plunder wealth and bring disaster to the country and the people.
Therefore, the king of Zhennan led his troops to rebel, intending to kill the powerful minister Liang Xing and save the country and the people.
It's a pity that the coup failed due to the betrayal of the traitors, and not only was the king of Zhennan himself arrested and imprisoned, but also many innocent people were involved.
For example, Xiao Yunfei, the man next to Chen Ze, was originally a guard of the Zhennan Palace, but now he has become a prisoner.
After learning all the truth, Chen Ze's heart fell into a collapse, and he actually crossed into a prisoner with a prominent identity.
But what is this Zhennan King doing at a young age? I have to oppose the auxiliary ministers who lean towards the government and the opposition, and finally harm others and myself.
Since the facts could not be changed, Chen Ze had no choice but to swallow his anger and find a way to save his life first.
"Squeak!" Suddenly, the cell door was opened, making a crying sound, as if to signal that someone's end was near.
A richly dressed man, about forty years old, walked into the cell with a smug smile, as if he had come to show off his might.
He was followed by a young servant with a bowl of black potion in his hand, like some rare poison.
In Chen Ze's mind, the identity of this person suddenly emerged, and it was Liang Xing, the auxiliary minister who had killed him in prison.
The weasel gave the chicken a New Year's greeting, he must have not been well-intentioned, Liang Xing must have thought of some kind of torture method, and specially came to the prison to find Chen Ze as a guinea pig.
"King Zhennan, let's meet again."
Liang Xing did not use cruel punishment as soon as he came up, judging by the procedure of the general winner, he had to pretend to be a wave of coercion in front of the loser.
"It turned out to be Lord Liang, what do you have to do with this king?"
Chen Ze was sitting in danger, in fact, he was very scared in his heart, after all, he was not the real king of Zhennan, and he did not have the heroic determination to be righteous.
Liang Xing got straight to the point and said: "I heard that the prince has a roster in his hand, which records the names of some rebels, as well as the location where the money used in the rebellion is buried. Now the old man hopes that the prince can hand over the book in exchange for a chance to live. β
It turned out that the other party wanted to ask for the list of rebellions, and once Chen Ze really handed over the list, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Xiao Yunfei on the side looked very calm, because in his impression, King Zhennan was an iron-clad man who would not betray anyone.
However, at this time, Chen Ze didn't want to be a righteous man at all, if it weren't for the incomplete memory in his head, he would have confessed the roster a long time ago.
In desperation, he could only tell the truth: "Don't hide it from Lord Liang, I have amnesia now, if I really have this book, I would have handed it over a long time ago." β
After listening to the other party's answer, Liang Xing's face was a little ugly: "Since the prince is unwilling to say it now, then let's talk about it another day, now the old man has a meeting gift, and he asks the prince to accept it." β
As soon as the words fell, the little guy put the black potion in his hand in front of Chen Ze and motioned for him to drink it.
Xiao Yunfei suddenly understood: "You are so bold, poisoning the prince is a serious crime!" β
"Humph!" Liang Xing said unhappily: "The old man will not poison the prince, this is a 'tonic' specially prepared for the prince to recover his body." β
Whether it was a tonic or not, Chen Ze decided to take a gamble, this black potion seemed to be a must-drink, and he only hoped that it would not be a medicine that harmed the body.
Chen Ze immediately picked up the bowl and drank all the potions inside, even swallowing the residues of the medicine.
The taste of the potion is not bad, it has a strange aroma, it should not be a poison that kills people.
Chen Ze stood up for a few seconds, feeling that there was nothing wrong with his body, and the stone in his heart was finally put down.
Liang Xing was very surprised by this, and it stands to reason that with the temper of King Zhennan, he would definitely scold himself first, and then drop the medicine.
Could it be that this is another strategy, deliberately pretending to be stupid in front of himself, but in fact, he is secretly doing some small actions.
Liang Xing thought about it, since the king of Zhennan dared to drink the medicine, he was not afraid of any tricks he played.
Because after the effect of the medicine is onset, King Zhennan has to think about finding a knife to commit suicide, and even if the other party wants to try to live, he will only be a wasted person.
However, Chen Ze didn't think too much, because no matter what happened, he had to insist on living.
Liang Xing didn't achieve his goal, so he had to leave in disgrace, but there was not much time left for him.
Because of the particularity of the royal status, King Zhennan cannot stay in prison for a long time, and must be released after a while.
Half a year has passed, Xiao Yunfei was assigned to the frontier to do hard labor, and Chen Ze slept on a broken wooden bed in addition to drinking black potions every day.
Life in prison is quite boring, and a modern person who leaves electronics is even more torturous than torture.
At the end of the year, a eunuch came to the cell, saying that the emperor had summoned him to the palace to discuss things, but in fact it should have been Liang Xing's arrangement, and he might have pronounced a verdict on the king of Zhennan.
When they are released from prison, they usually wash their bodies to hide the dark life in prison.