CH 1

Xu Qing looked at his reflection on the gleaming surface of the water dazedly. There is an image of an emaciated and ragged face with a red mole between the eyebrows – the symbol of gers in this world. The mole was faintly visible on the face densely covered with pimples.

That’s right, he is no longer the original Xu Qing but the one from a modern, post-apocalyptic world who has the same name as this body. He has been in this world for five days. He was both happy and afraid during this time. He was happy because he was reborn and have a chance to live again. He was afraid because he would have nowhere to go when the original Xu Qing returns. So, he has been living these past few days feeling worried. When he first got here, he couldn’t help but feel a bit silly. It seems that he now really has a new life.

He was an orphan in the previous world. He just graduated from college and was planning to find a job, struggle in society, and give back to the orphanage when the apocalyptic arrived suddenly with zombies roaming rampantly. He worked hard to go back to the orphanage later, but it was to no fruition. The orphanage was utterly destroyed. In order to survive and find his former partner, he joined a team. By chance, he awakened his spatial ability and gained a certain position in the team; he was no longer a useless member. While gathering supplies, Xu Qing and his teammates separated unfortunately. He lost his way, ran into a hoard of zombies, and the rest is history.

Coincidentally, the original Xu Qing was also an orphan.  His parents died a few years ago.  He didn’t have any other relatives. Xu Qing felt relief; he no longer has to face the possibility of being exposed. On the other hand, he has a toothache when he looked at the forest of pimples on his face, the reason he’s called the ugliest ger in the village. 

They called the original Xu Qing “the ugly one.” So, when his parents built this house, they chose the foot of the mountain to distance themselves from the rest of the village. The house is about ten minutes from the edge of the village. It is the only house in the area.

Except for some memories of his parents, the original Xu Qing’s memory was poor, and he had only hazy recollections of the people in the village and almost no knowledge of the outside world. The original Xu Qing also had an inferiority complex as a result of years of being called ugly, so he never went out and had no friends. He had never played with other children or gone to the market; his life was completely closed off. 

He was very pitiful.  Xu Qing touched the red bumps on his face.  Despite the fact that this body was tormented by pimples like these, Xu Qing believed he had gotten a good deal. On the other hand, he felt complicated when he looked at the red mole between his eyebrows mirrored on the water’s surface.  According to the memory of the original Xu Qing, his father was a strong man and his mother was a ger with a red mole between the eyebrows.  Except for the body being weaker than that of a man, gers could give birth.  There were only two genders in this world – men and gers – without any women.

Although Xu Qing liked men, giving birth or whatever was something really unacceptable for him.  Xu Qing stood up, patted his worn-out cyan colored garment, turned around, and walked back towards the clay house at the foot of the mountain, not far from the river.  When he got home, he looked back at the river in the distance.  The river flowed from the back mountain behind the house in the north to the village in the south.  The village was called Xingfu village.  There were more than 50 households in the village, except his.  Xingfu village was located between Jixiang village and Anle village.  The gers and the men in the village basically married those from the three villages.

He, who had experienced the end of the world, felt the long-lost happiness and comfort from watXu Qing the emerald green scenery and the smoke rising from the distant village.  Xu Qing turned around and looked at the thatch-roofed four-room house.  The walls were mostly made of mud; the house was surrounded by an adult-height wall made of both mud and stone.  Even though it was costly, father Xu built this towering wall for the safety of the family and also to prevent the livestock from being eaten by the wild animals since the house was at the bottom of the mountain. 

Xu Qing entered the courtyard and closed the gate.  He would never leave the door open when he was home.  It was a habit from living in dangerous times.  The courtyard was quite large; there were big, empty spaces both in front and back of the house.  The path from the gate to the main house was paved with stones collected from the river by father Xu.  They were not only useful for preventing slippage when wet but also very decorative.  It was mother Xu’s request.  It seems the Xu parents were quite affectionate.

There is a well on the left side of the yard by the kitchen, and a small storage room in the corner.  A door connected the kitchen to the main room.  On the right side of the main room is the entrance to the two bedrooms – one was Xu Qing’s and the other was of father and mother Xu – stacked under the eaves behind the house.

For someone from the modern world, looking at this house, he would have felt it was cramped, ugly, and shabby, but in Xingfu village, most of the dwellings are made of thatch.  Only the village head Lizheng and a few other households had mud houses.  Father Xu was a hunter.  The Xu family had three acres of paddy fields and four acres of vegetable farmland.  Father Xu usually sold game meat, and the family occasionally got to eat meat as well, which was better than many villagers who could rarely afford to eat meat in a year.  Unfortunately, a few years ago, mother Xu felt ill and died suddenly.  Father Xu followed his wife not long later.  There was only fifteen-year-old Xu Qing left.  Now the original body was twenty, which was considered old for marriage in this world. 

Xu Qing did not know how he came here, and the original body had no memory of why he disappeared.  However, after these few days living in fear, he finally relaxed.  No matter what, it was good to be alive.

Ancient people said that with mountain in the back and water in the front, it was an absolute feng shui treasure.  Xu Qing took a bucket of water from the well, walked briskly to the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves, and cleaned the pots skillfully.  Five days were enough time for him to quickly get used to these appliances.  Although there was no electricity and lighter, as long as he was alive and had fresh air to breathe, he was already very satisfied.

After cleaning the pot, Xu Qing poured the water in, and covered it with the wooden lid.  He then scooped a bowl of rice from the utility room and washed them.  It was whole rice grains with the hulls, but still good and should not be wasted.  Although the rice left by the original body was very different from that of the modern world, it could still fill the stomach.  During the end of times, there were people who would eat everything.

Xu Qing walked to the stove, rubbed the flints for a few times.  When there was a spark, he put it under the stove along with the firewood.  After a short while, the fire started.  Then he added a few more pieces of dry wood.  Xu Qing took a sickle and went to the small field behind the house to grab some green vegetables and garlic sprouts.  After digging a few pieces of tender ginger, he went back to the well and cleaned them.  

The money used in this world is also the same gold, silver, and copper as in ancient China.  The exchange ratio was 1:10:1000, and a penny is worth a dollar.  The Xu parents left 30 silver taels to the original body.  In the past few years, in addition to paying taxes and spending some more to buy vegetable seeds, the original body still had 25 silver taels left.  A household with a family of three could get by with only 5 silver taels a year if they spend sparingly.  Although the money left seemed substantial for others, it was still not that much to do things Xu Qing had in mind.  He was still grateful that the original body didn’t like to go out, otherwise these 25 taels would have been gone already.

After washing the vegetables, Xu Qing went back to the kitchen, removed the wooden lid, poured the grains into the boiling water, and put the lid back on.  He then opened the cupboard next to the stove and took out the frozen pork belly he brought out from the space this morning.  He rinsed it with water a few times to defrost the meat and set it aside.  Next, Xu Qing picked up the vegetables, plucked the leaves from the stem, and cut the garlic sprouts.  While waiting for the rice to cook, he squatted in front of the stove and added more firewood.

Xu Qing felt compelled to enter his space after thinking about it.  So, he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he saw a blue sky with white clouds.  His spatial ability had risen to level four before he left.  In his space, he had a five-acre plot of land where living creatures could exist, and the space could keep food fresh. There was a spring well in the middle of the land.  Although the spring water could not bring back the dead, it could strengthen the body.  As of now, there was no produce growing on the land; just the supplies that the team gathered were scattered about: a bag of rice and some two hundred catties (T/N: 1 catty is equal to 0.5 kilogram) of frozen pork.  There used to be more, but when the new female spatial ability superstar joined the team, the captain asked him to move most of the things from his space to hers, leaving only rice and pork, but it was better than nothing.

Xu Qing walked to a black box and placed his 25 taels inside.  After all, it was not safe to leave the money at home or on his body.  When he went back outside, the rice was ready.  He removed the pot from the stove and replaced it with a clean pan.  He then cut the pork belly into different slices – thin and thick –, set the thin slices aside, and put the thick slices into the pan.  When the meat began to turn golden brown, he put the garlic sprouts and ginger in together with the rest of the meat, seasoned with salt, stirred with a wooden ladle, and added some water.  He tossed the vegetables into the boiling water and scooped them up when they were done.

He could finally have a meal in peace.  Looking at the white rice and golden pork belly with fresh vegetables on the wooden table, Xu Qing was full of accomplishment.  He likes cooking.  He enjoys making delicious and fragrant meals.  If the villagers saw him, they would definitely scold him, “How could it not be fragrant with so much oil and meat? What a prodigal!”

After a satisfying meal, Xu Qing cleaned up the kitchen.  He then proceeded to the utility room, grabbed a shovel, and walked to the front yard, where he would plant vegetables in two plots.  It would be a waste not to grow anything on such a big space He excavated the ground and planted the seeds that the original body purchased.  It was almost spring, the ideal season for cultivating and growing vegetables. He planned to go to the market the next day to buy seasonings and additional seeds. He also intended to get a couple of piglets and chickens. People living on base had to produce and rear livestock during the apocalypse, so he was no stranger to these tasks.  Thinking that what he grows would all be his, Xu Qing was full of enthusiasm.