"Buzz... buzz..."
Chen Kuang's wrist trembled as he turned the spatula, carefully watching the heat level of the tomato scrambled eggs.
He tilted his head to hold the phone, waiting for the call to connect.
"Buzz—Hello, this is the Security Command Center, please speak."
A gentle, pleasant, formal female voice.
Ha...
Chen Kuang chuckled, turned off the gas stove, and poured the tomato scrambled eggs onto a plate.
He picked up a pair of chopsticks, carried the plate to the living room, and gently placed it on the coffee table.
Then he plopped down on the sofa.
Perhaps hearing the laughter, the operator hesitated, "Hello, may I ask what your issue is?"
Chen Kuang picked up a chopstickful of tomato scrambled eggs and tasted it. The color, aroma, and taste were all there; it was undoubtedly the most perfect batch he'd made so far, lifting his previously empty mood.
"Do you like eating tomato scrambled eggs?"
He asked.
"...Sir, maliciously calling the security line will result in detention."
"Uh, just asking casually, it's not that serious, right? I really do have an issue."
"Please describe the situation as soon as possible."
"Alright... I'm here to confess. I killed three people."
"What?"
Chen Kuang glanced down. All the clothes below his waist were soaked in dark red, and the pants were particularly wet. The blood had trailed across the floor while he was cooking.
Next to him, on the sofa and the floor, lay one middle-aged and two young men.
The three of them had already fallen asleep, sinking into a sleep like that of a newborn.
Chen Kuang felt the dizziness from lack of oxygen, reported an address, and leaned back:
"You'll soon find out why... I uploaded everything online, about a murder case from seventeen years ago. Deleting it won't help; someone will help spread it... Cough cough... Ha..."
"Sir? Sir?!"
Chen Kuang pressed his thumb and hung up the phone.
He smirked, tasting the salty sweetness rising in his throat.
His lung seemed to have been punctured...
In suffocation, he sank into darkness.
...
In the year 1135 of Cangyuan, Liang was destroyed by Zhou.
The Black Armor Army stormed the Liang Capital, Emperor Liang was beheaded, and more than 2,600 people, including Grand General Huo Hengxuan, were captured and imprisoned in the Celestial Prison.
The dark Celestial Prison was located underground, with an oil lamp placed every ten feet along the corridor.
The air was heavy and damp, filled with the pungent stench of decay, even the flames seemed on the brink of extinction.
The soldiers temporarily serving as prison guards opened the sturdy iron cell door at the end, letting in a hint of cold wind and rain from outside and allowing some air to circulate.
"Move faster! You still think you're the Grand General, huh? Get in there!"
"Smack!"
Squad Leader Li Erhuang shouted, kicking the disheveled old man into the cell.
The old man's hands and feet had been chopped off, chains pierced through his shoulder blades, leaving his flesh and blood a blur.
"Cough cough... Uh... Cough..."
The old man lay on the ground, weakly coughing several times, his entire body covered in bruises and cuts deep enough to reveal bone.
He tried to get up, but without hands or feet, he slipped on the filth on the ground.
The soldiers roared with laughter.
Li Erhuang took a bun from his lunchbox and threw it at the old man's head.
The dry, shriveled bun hit with a thud, rolled aside, scattering crumbs everywhere.
Upon seeing the bun, the old man immediately scrambled over, shakily gripping it with his wrists, devouring it greedily, nearly choking.
"Haha, nice! Mr. Li's throw was spot on!"
"What Da Liang God of Slaughter, looks just like a dog!"
The prison guards, having had enough fun, proceeded to distribute buns to the others.
In the next cell was a court musician.
Before the city fell, Emperor Liang had been enjoying song and dance in Jinghe Hall!
This musician was unfortunate, witnessing Emperor Liang's beheading, the slaughter of colleagues, becoming paralyzed with fear, he fell sick and was unconscious in the cell for three full days.
Li Erhuang thought, since he'd been unconscious for three days without drinking a drop, this musician should be dead.
Just right to collect the body...
To his surprise, upon reaching the cell door, he saw a young man in coarse white hemp clothing standing upright in the middle of the cell. In the dim light, his eyes were chilling and piercing like cold stars.
At first glance, he even seemed like a vengeful spirit from a story!
Li Erhuang was startled and shouted angrily,
"Are you a human or a ghost?!"
"Mr. Li, what are you saying?" "Isn't it still that blind guy? Where is the ghost?" The soldiers were confused.
——Court musicians had a chance to glimpse the secrets of the court; combined with blindness, it could enhance their hearing sensitivity, so they all had to be raised as blind people from an early age.
Li Erhuang focused his eyes and saw the young man lowering his head. His thin face vaguely showed handsome features, but his eyes were hollow and unfocused. Indeed, it was still that blind man.
This person was still alive, but judging by his dazed appearance, he seemed to have been burned silly!
"Hoo..." He sighed in relief, then heard his subordinates snickering, and he became momentarily angry.
"Hey, blind man, come over and eat!"
Li Erhuang banged on the bars and saw the young man slowly walking over.
With a quick eye movement, he discreetly spit on the bun in his hand before handing it out.
The soldiers behind him saw this and started winking and laughing aloud.
Clearly, for them, teasing this "blind man" was a great pleasure.
Although he expected to either be in a hospital or a cell when he opened his eyes again, he didn't expect it to be in this manner...
Chen Kuang lowered his gaze, and a few lines of small text hung in the lower right corner of his vision.
If not looked at carefully, one might even think it was an illusion.
[You assimilated the Elixir of Longevity, gaining the passive "Meat Ganoderma": your flesh can almost regenerate infinitely, and it rivals the finest materials of the world. Consuming it can prolong life and heal diseases.]
[Your eye disease had been completely cured, gaining the passive "Insight as Clear as Fire": your vision was greatly enhanced, allowing you to see through all illusions and disguises.]
[You spent the whole day doing nothing, just eating and sleeping like a pure child, gaining the passive "Fetal Breathing Technique": the way of the Dao is natural, living in nonaction. Each of your breaths is a cycle of absorbing and expelling Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.]
[You successfully condensed your first energy core, reaching the Ninth Grade Meridian Opening Realm, gaining the passive "Acupoint Disorder": all your acupoints were scrambled and reversed, completely different from ordinary people.]
This was the... Golden Finger that followed him through the transmigration.
A system that records his daily experiences and turns them into a passive status bar.
Although his life was relatively mundane these years, he would still read novels to pass the time, and he quickly accepted reality.
And another set of memories.
Same name, same surname, at six years old, his family was poor, and his parents stabbed his eyes blind to sell him as an apprentice to a musician, in exchange for a dou of rice.
A dou of rice...
In this era, it could barely feed a family of three for a month.
Entering the palace, silent... Finally praised once by Emperor Liang, thinking that hope had finally arrived.
Then... the kingdom fell.
Chen Kuang frowned; he had no memory of the so-called "Elixir of Longevity."
In his memory, he and a group of musicians were summoned by Emperor Liang to perform in Jinghe Hall.
After the performance, Emperor Liang granted them fine wine, which he drank...
Then, that was it.
When he opened his eyes again, he had been firmly pinned to the ground by soldiers from Great Zhou who had broken into the hall.
All around, the bodies of other musicians lay strewn in pieces...
In the grand hall, Emperor Liang slumped on the dragon throne, his head already gone.
The original host was terrified, had a fever in the cell for three days, and died on the spot, giving Chen Kuang the chance for rebirth.
"Dead blind man, really burned into a fool?!"
Li Erhuang cursed twice.
Only then did Chen Kuang reach out, pretending to fumble, and expressionlessly accepted the bun.
His gaze landed on the sticky yellow phlegm dripping from the bun, paused briefly, and then slowly tore off the bun's skin.
The soldiers went to the next cell...
Inside the cell, one big and one small figure were Lady Liang and the Little Princess.
The ill-intentioned men circled and joked for a while, seemingly wary and not daring to actually act.
The beautiful Lady Liang refused to submit even in death, ultimately getting only half a bun. After the soldiers left, she hugged the four-year-old Little Princess and wept sorrowfully.
Not knowing how long she cried, her expression changed several times, and finally, as if making a decision, her eyes turned lifeless as she looked outside the cell.
The Little Princess was extremely hungry, gnawing on the bun eagerly.
But due to changing teeth, she found it very difficult, moistening only the bun's skin after half a day of gnawing.
She looked up and saw the tear stains on the woman's face. Reluctantly, she forcefully tore off a piece, handed it to Lady Liang, and used her small palm to wipe her tears.
"Mother, eat, don't cry."
Her expression was earnest: "Eat your fill... and you won't cry anymore."
Lady Liang was taken aback, instinctively swallowed her saliva, and then shook her head with a soft smile and said gently, "Ying'Er darling, Mother is not hungry..."
"Bang!"
Lady Liang was stunned, only to see a rough-surfaced bun roll over.
"It's for you."
She turned her head, only to faintly see the young man half-sitting in the darkness, his expression indistinct.