“Your Highness! You’re awake?” A woman’s voice sounded nearby. “You’ve been asleep for two days and two nights.”

Jessica Bolton looked over and saw a delicate-looking young girl dressed in strange clothes, carrying a jade cup as she walked over, knelt on the ground, and said, “Your Highness, this is the Elixir of Longevity prepared for you by the Lady. Please drink it.”

Your Highness? The Lady? Jessica Bolton instinctively glanced at his own clothes and the furnishings around him, his face growing even more alarmed. He asked, “Where am I? Who am I?”

“Your Highness, are you still not sober from the wine?” The girl was startled. “This is the Shou Prince’s Residence in the city of Mei, and you are the Shou Prince, Your Highness!”

Mei city? Shou Prince? It sounded familiar to him, and suddenly he thought of something almost impossible.

Chapter Two: Time Travel! Zixing? Zixin? Shou Prince? King Zhou?

“Could it be that I’ve returned to ancient times?” Jessica Bolton’s voice trembled. “Is it the effect of antimatter energy or that strange blue light energy?”

“Your Highness, are you feeling unwell?” The girl, hearing the prince speak in strange, incomprehensible phrases, asked tentatively.

Jessica Bolton grabbed her hand and asked excitedly, “What year is it now? The emperor… no, who is the Son of Heaven?”

The girl cried out in pain, the jade cup fell, and the soup spilled all over the floor. She replied in a trembling voice, “Your Highness, have you become confused? The current Son of Heaven is the Sage Emperor Yi, your royal father!”

Emperor Yi? Jessica Bolton couldn’t immediately recall which monarch that was, but when he saw the large number of oracle bone inscriptions carved on the walls and bronze ornaments (bronze inscriptions on the vessels), he finally realized—he hadn’t died that day, but had somehow entered a time tunnel and returned to the Shang dynasty. Although in the twenty-fourth century many people were keen on researching time jumps or artificial wormholes, no one had ever succeeded; time travel was still only possible in fantasy novels. He never expected such an incredible adventure to happen to him! He vaguely remembered, as if in a dream, experiencing a perilous life-and-death struggle, fighting against another “self.” In the end, it seemed he had overcome his “self” with sheer willpower and finally awakened.

The girl, seeing Jessica Bolton lost in thought, grew frightened and scrambled out, shouting, “Something’s wrong! Someone come quickly! The Shou Prince is in trouble!”

Her cry caused an uproar, and the surroundings immediately became chaotic. Jessica Bolton was jolted out of his thoughts. Exceptionally intelligent, he knew that his current “prince” identity was no trivial matter; a single misstep could bring fatal disaster. He had no choice but to continue lying in bed, urgently thinking of a way to respond. No matter what had happened after the laboratory accident, the fact that he was now in another era could not be changed. The most important thing now was how to survive using this new identity…

A short while later, a group of people hurried over, led by two elegantly dressed, beautiful young women.

“Your Highness, what’s wrong?” The two women approached, one of them asking nervously, “Are you still not sober from the wine?”

“Who are you?” Jessica Bolton thought it over and decided that pretending to have amnesia was the best option.

“Your Highness doesn’t recognize the two of us?” The two women exchanged glances, both greatly alarmed. One immediately questioned the maids, “After His Highness returned drunk the night before last, what exactly happened? Did you fail in your duties?”

The maids, terrified, immediately knelt and replied, “We wouldn’t dare. Reporting to the two Ladies, ever since His Highness returned drunk on that stormy night, he has been sleeping soundly and never woke up. We have always stayed by his side and did not dare make the slightest mistake.”

“Then does Your Highness recognize these two children?” The other woman led over two little boys, about six or seven years old.

Of course, Jessica Bolton couldn’t recognize them. He knew these must be the Shou Prince’s wife and sons, and, afraid of giving himself away, he just held his head and pretended to be in great pain. “Why does my head hurt so much? I can’t remember anything…”

“Your Highness, you don’t even recognize your own flesh and blood?” The woman staggered a few steps, nearly fainting. “By the holy ancestor Cheng Tang, what are we to do!” The other woman quickly said, “Sister, this is no small matter. We must immediately summon the imperial physician and report this to the Son of Heaven at once.”

“You’re right, sister. Someone! Quickly summon the imperial physician!” The woman nodded and said, “Sister, you stay here and look after His Highness. I will go to the palace and report to His Majesty right away.”

The entire prince’s residence was thrown into chaos again. Soon, the imperial physicians arrived, but all were helpless before the Shou Prince’s “strange illness.” The matter even alarmed the current Son of Heaven—Emperor Yi, the Shou Prince’s father. Contrary to Jessica Bolton’s expectations, the Emperor, who rushed over that night, did not display much imperial majesty. At this moment, he seemed more like a kindly father—at least, in front of this “Shou Prince” son.

“My son, if you do not recognize your parents, wife, or children, do you at least know your own name?” Emperor Yi approached Jessica Bolton, asking tentatively.