Chapter One: The Northern Song "Divine Bird"

In the early fifth year of Tianxi, a divine bird appeared in the world, its color silver-white, its wings spewing fire and smoke as it soared across the sky, and it fell to the west of the capital.

— "Unofficial Records of the Northern Song Celestial Book"

Falling luggage, screaming crowds, a cabin filled with dangling oxygen masks—one broken scene after another flashed through James Thompson's mind. What made him feel even worse was that terrifying sense of weightlessness. Finally, when a loud "boom" sounded, James Thompson suddenly shouted "Help!" and sprang up from the bed.

"Where is this? Who am I? What just happened?" Just waking up, James Thompson looked around in confusion, three question marks popping up in his mind in quick succession. But all he could see was darkness, nothing at all. The air carried an unpleasant, musty stench, but James Thompson felt a sense of unreality, as if there was a gap in his memory, like something was missing.

Before James Thompson could figure it out, he suddenly heard a series of OO@@ sounds beside him, and then a cold little hand touched his arm. This made James Thompson's whole body break out in goosebumps. After all, with darkness all around, a hand suddenly touching him was just like a classic scene from a horror movie. Even if he was brave, he was still badly startled.

"Brother, are you awake?" At this moment, a childish voice suddenly came from the darkness. Judging by the sound, it should be a little girl, and her tone was filled with immense joy.

"You... who are you?" Hearing the little girl's voice, James Thompson finally felt a bit relieved, but then asked in confusion. His mind was a complete blank; he had no idea where he was, or even who he was. Especially with the darkness all around, he had no way to judge anything.

"I... I'm Lily Thompson!" As soon as James Thompson spoke, the little hand gripping his arm tightened noticeably, and then a small, slightly trembling body leaned against his arm. Clearly, the owner of this body was very nervous.

"Lily Thompson?" James Thompson was stunned when he heard this name, because he didn't remember knowing a little girl named Lily Thompson, and just now she had called him brother? But at the same time, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with the name Lily Thompson, as if this girl was someone very close to him. This contradictory feeling made him even more confused.

"Turn on the light!" James Thompson was eager to see his surroundings and find out who this Lily Thompson was, so he spoke again.

"We're out of lamp oil at home, brother, how could you forget?" The little girl named Lily Thompson spoke again, her tone even more puzzled, because she felt her brother was acting strange, but couldn't say exactly what was wrong.

"Lamp oil? Oil lamp? Who still uses that these days?" James Thompson was stunned again at Lily Thompson's words, but then suddenly felt a "boom~" in his head, making him cry out in pain and curl up, clutching his head with both hands.

"Brother, what's wrong, what's wrong with you..." As James Thompson screamed in pain, Lily Thompson anxiously hugged him and kept asking, but James Thompson felt Lily Thompson's voice growing more and more distant, while images flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern. In the end, he couldn't bear the pain any longer, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

"Brother~ wu~ brother..." As James Thompson lost consciousness, he could still hear a little girl's intermittent calls in his ear, mixed with sobs. It was amid these calls that James Thompson finally slowly opened his eyes again.

"Brother, you're awake, that's wonderful!" As soon as James Thompson opened his eyes, he heard a little girl's cheerful voice, both unfamiliar and familiar. Then a dirty little face appeared in front of him. But at this moment, James Thompson's eyes were unfocused, because his mind was a complete mess.

He had transmigrated, he had actually transmigrated! This thought kept circling in James Thompson's mind, because as soon as he woke up, he found that there was another person's memory in his head. This person was also called James Thompson, but only twelve years old. In his short life, there weren't many memories, and hunger was a constant companion throughout his life. Other than that, there were only some memories of family and friends.

It was through this child's memories that James Thompson realized he had actually transmigrated, because he was no longer in the 21st century, but in the Song Dynasty a thousand years ago. This was the capital city of the Great Song, Kaifeng Prefecture, so it could be determined that it was still the Northern Song period. However, in the pitifully few memories of James Thompson, he didn't know who the current emperor was. Otherwise, James Thompson could have figured out the exact year he was in.