Chapter 001: Hell Mode

Night. An empty street.

“A shooting star!”

Carrying a juice, Henry Clark suddenly cried out in surprise.

A shooting star streaked across the night sky, but in the next instant, the meteor, like a tracer shell, struck the street beneath the lamplight right in front of him. The expected terrifying impact did not occur. Instead, at the spot where the meteor landed, a strange blue ball of light appeared out of thin air. A silver, sci-fi-looking car burst out the moment the light vanished, its blinding headlights and furious roar accelerating toward him without hesitation.

“Damn it!”

Henry Clark cursed, leaping to the right as fast as he could.

But the car was instantly upon him.

As he landed, he immediately jumped upward.

However, it was all in vain.

The car’s headlights instantly drowned out his consciousness.

“Target confirmed!”

A cold female voice sounded.

At the same time, in the previously empty driver’s seat, a young, expressionless beauty appeared in a bizarre way, as if projected three-dimensionally. The windshield automatically parted, as if pre-aimed, and Henry Clark’s body flew inside in an instant, finding himself in the passenger seat in the blink of an eye.

But he sat there soullessly, staring blankly ahead.

The car’s exterior rapidly transformed, and in a flash, it became a model from an advertisement on the roadside, driving at a normal speed down the empty street. Soon, after turning a corner, it merged into the flow of traffic.

……

Henry Clark suddenly opened his eyes.

Immediately, a strong sense of suffocation hit him, as if a rope was tightening around his neck. He desperately raised his arms, reaching for his neck, but grabbed something like a cloth strip instead. He pulled down with all his might, but the harder he pulled, the tighter it got. His legs dangled in the air, unable to find support, relying only on his arms, which had no strength left. As his blood vessels were compressed, his brain became hypoxic, and his vision darkened.

“I’m hanging myself!”

Almost at the last moment of consciousness, a terrifying thought flashed through Henry Clark’s mind.

But just then, someone grabbed his legs, and the force suspending him vanished. He crashed to the ground.

“Your Majesty, y-you’re alive again?”

As the cloth that nearly killed him was untied from his neck and his mind cleared, a surprised voice reached his ears. Against a backdrop of gray sky, a chubby, beardless man, looking about thirty, fair-skinned and utterly shocked, appeared in his vision.

Henry Clark coughed repeatedly.

“Who are you?”

Finally able to breathe that long-lost air, he asked in confusion.

At the same time, he stood up and looked around, only to be horrified to find himself on a small hill. In the distance were vast ancient buildings, and the trees showed the first hints of green in early spring. Smoke was rising everywhere among the buildings, and the air was filled with the wailing of countless souls, chaotic shouts and cries, and the occasional sound of gunfire. Farther away stood seemingly endless towering city walls, littered with fallen banners and corpses slumped over the battlements.

Amidst it all, a large banner stood out, bearing a single, striking character…

Chuang.

Henry Clark’s mind buzzed.

“What is this place?”

He grabbed the man and shouted.

“Judging by the surroundings, this is Beijing in 1644, when the Dashun army broke into the city.”

A cold female voice sounded.

“Your Majesty, please don’t scare your servant!”

At the same time, the man’s terrified voice rang out.

Of course, Henry Clark had no time to listen to him, because in his mind, the female voice continued.

“He addressed you as ‘Your Majesty.’ Combined with the fact that you nearly died by hanging and the images of your location, it can be determined that the soul you absorbed belonged to the last emperor of the Ming dynasty, George Washington. The person beside you should be the eunuch Edward Harris, who hanged himself with him at Coal Hill.”

The female voice said.

Henry Clark calmed down instead. He let go of Edward Harris and gestured for him to be quiet.

“Who are you?”

He asked.