Chapter 1: Script Murder? No, It’s Time Travel!

When Wang Zhong saw the silvery-haired girl in military uniform before him, his first reaction was to think it was a COSPLAY from some hardcore military-themed anime game that wasn’t pandering to otakus.

Usually, he’d take a second look at such a sight, but the vibrations of the floor and walls interrupted his appreciation.

"What the hell is that?” he asked loudly, only for the dust falling from the ceiling to float into his mouth.

The beautiful girl in front of him shushed him and whispered, “Tank!”

Wang Zhong was stunned, “Tank?”

He scratched his head, trying to figure out what was going on. He first tried to recall the events leading up to now, but couldn’t remember anything besides getting drunk—ah, it was almost Chinese New Year, and he’d had a drink with some friends.

Could it be that his friends had dragged him to a murder mystery role-play café while he was drunk?

And then he just happened to run into this beautiful girl and they started a game together? Wow, what luck, better add her on WeChat first.

Wang Zhong reached into his pocket for his phone, but instead of finding it, he pulled out a document.

The document cover felt very sturdy, like it was made of leather. Wang Zhong was impressed; the shop was pretty good, with realistic settings and props.

Then he opened the document and was stunned by the photo inside.

What’s going on? That’s not me in the photo!

It was only then that Wang Zhong belatedly realized something all the people around him had in common: they were all fair-haired, blue-eyed foreigners.

Where are my friends?

Did they leave me behind to play a murder mystery game with strangers?

Could it be...it’s not a murder mystery game, but... but that I’ve traveled through time?

Wang Zhong just briefly considered this possibility, but immediately dismissed it. One must believe in science; this was definitely a prank by his mischievous buddies, damn it, playing me for a fool.

The resentment that had just begun to build dissipated after another glance at the beautiful girl before him; damn, this was even better, he definitely had to connect with the foreign beauty on WeChat.

His prankster buddies were probably hiding somewhere, watching the joke unfold. Well, I’ll add the beautiful girl on WeChat, and that’ll wipe the smiles off their faces!

Just then, the rumbling sound grew closer, and the vibrations in the walls and floor became more pronounced.

Wang Zhong noticed two small windows by the wall he was leaning against. They were placed high up, with sunlight slanting through them.

They seemed like basement light wells; Wang Zhong had a classmate who moved to Beijing after graduation and always lived in such basements, often sharing photos on his moments, occasionally playing with various prison cell jokes.

He tiptoed a little, drew closer to one of the windows, and peered out.

He saw a pair of military boots near the window.

For a murder mystery game, isn’t this a bit too realistic?

He was puzzled when suddenly more pairs of boots appeared. It felt like there was a platoon passing by outside.

What in the world?

The next moment, Wang Zhong saw the source of the trembling and rumbling – tank tracks.

The murder mystery café not only had a platoon’s worth of actors but also got hold of a tractor? That’s not right, is it?

Wang Zhong’s breath quickened; he vaguely felt that he truly might have traveled through time.

So, that relaxed, carefree, unconcerned mood vanished instantly.

He retreated and took another look around the basement room.

Aside from him and the beautiful girl, there were four males, all with Northern European faces.

Everyone was wearing the same style of military uniform, mainly khaki with a somewhat drab green collar section.

Three of the men were holding rifles, which Wang Zhong thought looked a lot like the Mosin–Nagant.

The rifles had bayonets fixed, and one of the bayonets was stained red.

Wang Zhong looked several times at that red stain, thinking that it couldn’t have already been used to kill someone, could it?

Wang Zhong said, “Wait a moment! The enemy just passed by; it’s not good to act rashly. Let’s wait here for a while.”

In reality, Wang Zhong wanted to buy time to understand the cheat. If they started moving, who knew what dangers lay ahead and they wouldn’t be able to properly examine the cheat.

The sergeant hesitated but eventually nodded, “Then we wait a bit. Be careful not to be discovered by the Prussians.”

The Prussians, that must be the name of the enemy.

There definitely is no country named Prussia on Earth; I must be somewhere other than Earth.

Wang Zhong once again entered the overhead perspective, and his first attempt was to focus his attention on the girl in the room with him; sure enough, her name popped up: “Ludmila Vasilyevna Malyukhova, Captain, Prayer Hand.”

Huh? What’s a Prayer Hand?

Wang Zhong had assumed the girl was a medic.

He focused on the term “Prayer Hand” for a second, but no further explanation appeared.

What the hell, this cheat is flawed.

Although he could clearly see Ludmila’s designation, she did not appear in the unit tab list.

Reluctantly, Wang Zhong shifted his attention to the other four people.

Sergeant Zakayev and then a lengthy string, Private First Class Semyon and then a lengthy string, Private Ivan and then a lengthy string, Private Yuri and then a lengthy string.

The sergeant was a submachine gunner, and the rest were riflemen.

Wang Zhong also wanted to check their ammo situation but, unfortunately, there was none.

Having determined he couldn’t glean more from these people, Wang Zhong turned his attention to the house beside them.

He could see through the roof of the house they were in, and through the floors of the first and second floors to the basement. He thought whether he could switch the display to other floors, to get a better look at the ground floor situation.

But it was useless.

He then tried to view the situation of his own people who were engaged in distant fighting, but he was unable to do so.

Could it be this cheat is merely a change of perspective, and I’m actually seeing the same information that my eyes can see?

To verify this, Wang Zhong switched back to his own perspective, stood up, went to the window, and looked outside.

Maintaining this position, he switched to the overhead view, and then noticed that the landscape outside had appeared.

He saw a street, no, half a street because he could only see the buildings across from their basement.

However, this view was much clearer than with his own eyes. With his natural vision, he could only see the ground floor of the buildings, not even knowing how many floors there were. But with this overhead view, he could see even the rooftops clearly.

This cheat still had some merits.

Just as Wang Zhong was appreciating the cheat, he heard footsteps.

Hearing footsteps from an overhead perspective was as if the sound was coming from heaven.

Wang Zhong realized it was because the footsteps were coming from above his head; his hearing hadn’t switched to the overhead perspective.

No wonder the gunfire still sounded so distant.

He switched back to his natural perspective and saw that everyone in the room was looking at the ceiling.

Wang Zhong also looked up to see that the ceiling was made of wood, and someone was currently stepping on it with heavy boots, producing a loud thumping sound.

Then someone spoke in a foreign language he couldn’t understand.

If he had to say, it had a bit of a German feel to it, but Wang Zhong couldn’t be sure.

Ludmila murmured softly, “Prussians!”

At that moment, Wang Zhong saw a crack in the ceiling and had a bold idea.

Just now, with my own eyes, I could only see the opposite building’s first floor, but after switching perspectives, I could see up to the second, third, and even the rooftops. Could it be...?

He decided to give it a try.