With a loud "boom," thunder accompanied by lightning was followed by a sudden downpour, as if washing away the ugliness of the world.

Chapter 002 Battlefield

"Kill them..."

"Boom boom boom boom..."

A chorus of battle cries and war drums echoed across the entire battlefield. Ethan Brooks was jolted awake by the earth-shattering shouts. He struggled for a moment, only to realize that he was covered in blood from head to toe.

What was going on? He had been buying a fake Rolex watch and happened to run into Alice Grant, and then...

Ethan Brooks felt something was wrong. He seemed to remember being shot, so how was he still here? Looking at his palm, he was still holding a fake Rolex watch.

The watch was real, but with such a thin arm, how could this be his own hand?

The battle cries snapped Ethan Brooks back to reality. Looking up, he saw countless soldiers clashing together, the constant clanging and crashing of weapons, flesh and blood flying everywhere, and the air thick with the stench of blood, making him nauseous.

Ethan Brooks shivered. This wasn't a movie set—this was real. Ethan Brooks had crawled out of piles of corpses before; how could he not know this was an actual war? But all these people were wielding swords and spears—cold weapons. Could this be ancient times?

Ethan Brooks's heart sank. He figured he must have traveled back to ancient times, but he still didn't know which dynasty. This frail body was definitely not his own, which meant the original owner had died, and he had simply been reborn in it.

Looking at the battlefield strewn with flesh and blood, Ethan Brooks tried to move, only to find himself surrounded by corpses. There was even an arrow stuck in his thin arm.

Luckily, the arrow wasn't lodged too deeply. Gritting his teeth, Ethan Brooks pulled it out and tore off a piece of his inner garment to bandage the wound. Even this small action nearly made Ethan Brooks faint again.

He hadn't expected the watch to come with him. Sighing, he put the pitiful time-traveling watch into his pocket. Suddenly, he froze—there was a jade pendant hanging around his neck. Was this the original owner's?

But Ethan Brooks immediately began to doubt the era he was in, because the string on the jade pendant was clearly made with modern craftsmanship. Could such techniques already exist here?

He picked up the jade pendant and looked at it. There was a "晴" character on it, and it even had the date June 29, 1983. That was obviously a date—1983? Ethan Brooks was dumbfounded. How could it be so similar to the era he came from? The difference was only twenty or thirty years.

After a round of gongs, the battle cries gradually subsided, and soldiers on both sides slowly began to retreat. It looked like this had been a closely matched battle, and judging by the retreat, it seemed their side had a slight advantage.

Looking at some of the bloodstains on the battlefield that had dried long ago, Ethan Brooks realized that this war had been going on for many days. He still didn't know what dynasty it was. In any case, Ethan Brooks quickly gathered his things, intending to get up.

The consciousness of the body he now occupied was almost completely gone, leaving Ethan Brooks with only a vague sense that the country he was in was called Zheyun.

He was a member of a small family clan. His surname was also Xie, but his name was Liam Brooks.

The Xie family that Liam Brooks belonged to was in Linping City, and the Linping Xie family was just a small branch of the capital's Xie family. Liam Brooks's father, Logan Brooks, was a nephew of the Linping Xie family head, Mason Brooks, but Logan Brooks had died young. Logan Brooks had never been well-liked, so he was not popular in the family, let alone his son Liam Brooks.

It seemed, according to his memories, that his father had held a noble title, but after his father's early death, the title was inherited by his cousin Owen Brooks. He vaguely remembered that his grandfather Aiden Brooks had arranged a marriage for him, but after his grandfather died, nothing came of it.

As for Liam Brooks's mother, Ethan Brooks couldn't find any information in his memories. There was only a cousin, Grace Brooks, who treated Liam Brooks very well. This time, with Zheyun facing war, even the family had to provide soldiers, and Liam Brooks was no exception—he was sent out by the Linping Xie family as cannon fodder.

Looking at his own frail body, Ethan Brooks knew he must have been malnourished. For such a weakling to survive as a soldier until now was already a stroke of luck.

But what puzzled Ethan Brooks was that he had never heard of a Linping City in ancient China, let alone a country called Zheyun. He did know of Lin'an, but where was Linping?

As for the Xie family, there was a famous Xie An during the Eastern Jin, but this couldn't possibly be the Eastern Jin, could it?

Although it seemed the battlefield hadn't been cleaned up for a long time, Ethan Brooks didn't want to be killed by the people sent to clear the field. Forcing himself to pick up a broadsword, he used it as a crutch and walked toward the side wearing the same uniform as him.

Fortunately, what Ethan Brooks feared didn't happen. Soon, two soldiers from his own side came over and helped him up.

"Liam Brooks, you're still alive." A soldier as skinny as Ethan Brooks ran over in surprise to support him.

"You're the one who's dead. From now on, call me Ethan Brooks. The name Liam Brooks is unlucky." Although Ethan Brooks had some impression of this person, he really couldn't remember who he was. Still, he thought to himself, if they keep sending these skinny monkeys to war, it's a miracle if they win.