abnabooks Chapter 1 Chaotic Times, First Entry
Chapter 1 Chaotic Times, First Entry
midsummer.
The State of Chu.
There are three thousand miles of red land in Qingzhou Prefecture.
Famine, banditry, and war led to widespread suffering and starvation.
At midday, the sun was high in the sky.
Outside Taihu County.
Inside a makeshift wooden shed.
"Name?"
"Lin Zhou".
"age?"
"sixteen."
"Can you read?"
"I can read and write; I attended school for a few years."
Hunger was unbearable, and Lin Zhou, who was emaciated, clutched his stomach and forced himself to speak.
"Oh?"
"You can read?"
What's the pronunciation of this character?
At this moment, a middle-aged man with a goatee and wearing a blue robe casually wrote the character "非" with a brush at the table.
"No."
"Nothing is as it seems."
Lin Zhou, who had just awakened to the mystery of his past life in the womb half a day ago, spoke with trembling legs.
In his previous life, he was a lowly servant on Earth. In this life, his family was well-off, but unexpectedly, they encountered such a year of great disaster, and his family was scattered and their fates were unknown.
If it weren't for the fact that I had learned stance training from the family's guards for a few years and knew a few basic grappling techniques, I would have died on this escape route long ago.
"You're literate, stand behind me."
Sun Sheng stroked his goatee with great satisfaction. Only young, literate disaster victims like these could quickly complete the tasks assigned by their superiors and get these little guys to gather herbs as soon as possible.
"Next."
"Name?"
"Chen Ergou".
...
As soon as Lin Zhou stood at the back, a slender young man dressed in a well-fitting gray coat handed him a bowl of hot porridge.
Lin Zhou initially came for the purpose of distributing porridge.
After drinking several bowls of porridge, Lin Zhou felt he had regained some strength and sat down on a wooden bench to rest.
They survived!
In the blink of an eye.
It was already evening.
Including Lin Zhou, a total of five were recruited, all of them teenagers. Although they were all thin and pale, looking as if they could be blown away by a gust of wind, they were all literate.
"Get ready, everyone, and come with me."
Sun Sheng, who was in charge of recruiting herb-gathering apprentices, stood up, patted his robes, and spoke to Lin Zhou and the others behind him.
Lin Zhou and his companions' eyes lit up. As long as they followed the person who recruited them into the city, they wouldn't have to go hungry anymore.
Sun Sheng led the five herb-gathering apprentices he had selected onto a simple carriage, while he himself boarded another carriage bearing the banner of the Medicine King Gang, and they entered the city smoothly.
On the carriage.
Exhausted both physically and mentally, Lin Zhou couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep in the carriage.
The others were the same; due to the long journey of fleeing, they all lay down and fell asleep inside the carriage.
I don't know how much time passed.
The carriage finally stopped, and the five boys were driven off the carriage and made to sleep in a large communal room.
The large dormitory bed is just right for five people, with one or two seats left over.
However, the walls of the dormitory were black, the bedding was damp, and there were many mold spots in the corners, so it didn't smell good.
"Starting tonight, you will begin to familiarize yourselves with the appearance of the herbs on these two sheets of paper, as well as the harvesting methods for each herb. There will be a test every day, and only those who pass the test will get food."
"By the day after tomorrow, I will have to memorize all the contents of this book perfectly. If I make a single mistake, I will be locked up and starved for a day after I gather the herbs."
"Two words, two days."
"And so on."
Sun Sheng tossed a few sheets of paper onto the table in front of the communal sleeping area, his gaze sweeping over Lin Zhou and the other four men with a lingering look. After speaking, he placed a bamboo basket on a side table, inside which were five steamed buns.
Lin Zhou and the others each took a steamed bun and started eating it.
Meanwhile, by the light of the candles in the room, they sat around the table in a circle, their eyes all fixed on the few sheets of paper recording the herbs. None of them wanted to go hungry again.
The group picked up a sheet of paper and began reading it while munching on their cornbread.
They were wary of the others, since no one knew if they were competitors or how many would remain.
[Have you checked in?]
At this moment, a white panel appeared in front of Lin Zhou.
He glanced at the other four people around the table who were ignoring him, confirming that only he could see the panel.
Having been a seasoned novel reader on Earth in his previous life, he naturally knew that this was his golden finger arriving.
[Daily check-in: After successfully checking in each day, you can randomly receive a keyword.]
[Entry Level: Starts at Level 1. Subsequent entry levels can be unlocked as your realm advances.]
[Entry Position: 1]
[Entry Database: None]
At the same time, several lines of prompts appeared in front of me, explaining in detail the function of the check-in panel.
"Check-in."
Lin Zhou silently recited in his heart.
[Check-in successful]
[Gain Level 1 Memory Enhancement for Keyword Entries]
[Level 1 Memory Enhancement: Improves memory to near photographic accuracy.]
...
[Entry Slot: Level 1 Memory Enhancement] (Upgrading martial arts realm unlocks more entry slots.)
The entry took effect instantly.
Lin Zhou quickly scanned the herbal medicine paper in front of him. After closing his eyes, he could get a fairly clear impression of the appearance and properties of the herbs on the paper.
"This effect..."
Lin Zhou hadn't expected his memory to improve so much.
After a while.
Lin Zhou was the first to leave the spot, got into bed, and fell asleep.
I haven't had a good night's sleep in ages. With the help of the vocabulary feature, I'll definitely pass this memory test with ease. I need to get my mental energy back first.
The other four only glanced at Lin Zhou before silently reciting several sheets of paper filled with densely written herbal medicine.
A night passed in the blink of an eye.
It had only been a short while since dawn.
Sun Sheng, the steward of the Medicine King Gang, set up a large wooden table in the courtyard outside the dormitory. Lin Zhou and the others, who had memorized some of the content the night before, either wrote furiously or pondered deeply as they wrote.
Sun Sheng checked the contents written by Lin Zhou and the others one by one.
When they passed by Lin Zhou, they saw that the contents of the two sheets of paper on Lin Zhou were almost identical. To have such a memory in just one night was truly a gift.
"it is good."
"Your name is Lin Zhou, right?"
Sun Sheng picked up Lin Zhou's paper, glanced at it, and nodded in approval.
At this moment, the other four looked at the paper that Lin Zhou had written on almost completely, exchanged glances, and saw surprise in each other's eyes.
After all, they all knew last night that this Lin Zhou had only been around for a short time.
It's so complete now.
"Yes, Steward Sun."
"You can go to the cafeteria for lunch later. I have a booklet here. Take a look at it. When it's your turn to gather herbs the day after tomorrow, if you can find the herbs listed in the booklet, I can grant you a spot as an outer disciple."
Sun Sheng took out a small booklet from his pocket and handed it to Lin Zhou.
An apprentice with such a photographic memory will have a huge advantage over others in the future pharmacist assessment. Every pharmacist in the Medicine King Gang has a higher status than him, a mere steward.
Lin Zhou is indeed a talent worth cultivating.
"Lin Zhou, come with me. You don't need to live here anymore starting today."
Sun Sheng hesitated for a moment, then decided that he could invest more in this person and win him over to his side.
After all, he had only been a butler for a short time and did not have his own team, so it would be difficult for him to compete with other butlers for a higher position in the future.
"Thank you, Steward Sun."
Lin Zhou bowed respectfully.
The other four people at the large table watched the two figures walk out of the courtyard with either envy or resentment in their eyes.