Chapter One: “Ascended Again”

　　Early in the morning, in a small, lean Miao village deep within the Ten-Thousand Mountains, everyone had come out at dawn. Three helicopters circled in the sky at the edge of the village. The children, seeing them for the first time, ran back and forth on the ground, looking up and shouting, while the adults rushed out to the road outside the village.

　　This was a national highway passing through the village. In recent years, the mountain folk had grown used to the constant flow of people, and had prospered because of these travelers. Now, most families in the village ran half-inn, half-guesthouse businesses, where passing guests could rest and eat. Some tourists even stopped here on purpose, calling the home-cooked meals “specialty dishes.”

　　On the road leading into the village and the national highway, they had built their own parking lot. Usually, dozens of large trucks or buses would be parked there at night, and there had even been luxury cars. But today, the villagers were truly amazed.

　　Everyone in the village was abuzz with speculation, not knowing what had happened—so many people kneeling, so many men in black, and those long, impressive cars they’d only seen on TV but didn’t know the names of.

　　“What’s going on so early in the morning? Is it some kind of fire drill?” Henry Clark yawned. He lived in the bamboo house closest to the village entrance, and from the second floor he had the clearest view. Henry Clark was a business elite, already a deputy general manager at a Sichuan financial securities company at just thirty-two—young and promising. This time, he was on a self-driving tour with a few friends, and was woken up by the roar of helicopters in the sky. Looking outside, he was stunned.

　　Six stretch Rolls-Royces, twenty-four Mercedes-Benzes, nearly a hundred burly men in black standing there, making the villagers and tourists eating there, as well as passersby, too afraid to speak loudly.

　　Beside those six stretch Rolls-Royces, six people aged between forty and sixty were all kneeling there.

　　From his vantage point, he could see those six people clearly, and he nearly fell out of the bamboo house window.

　　My god! Am I seeing things?

　　Singapore’s richest man, Brian Carter; the so-called richest man in the Southwest, chairman of the top-ten domestic Haoxuan Group, Jason Bolton; as for the other four, he didn’t recognize them. But anyone who could stand alongside Brian Carter and Jason Bolton was certainly no ordinary person. Good heavens, am I dreaming? Why would these big shots be kneeling here?

　　……

　　“Boss, the bill please…” Ethan Brooks came down from the Miao bamboo house after washing up in the morning, only to find the boss leaning by the window, craning his neck to look outside, not hearing him at all.

　　“Boss, I’m ready to pay. What’s got you so absorbed?” Ethan Brooks stepped forward and patted the Miao boss, who was in his forties.

　　Only then did the boss come to his senses, flashing a simple, honest smile much like Ethan Brooks’s, returning to the counter and opening the ledger. In somewhat unpolished Mandarin, he said, “No idea what day it is today—there are planes flying outside, and I heard there are men in black at the village entrance, and those fancy cars you only see on TV.”

　　The village entrance was some distance away, and from here you could only see three toy-sized black dots in the sky. Ethan Brooks shook his head, realizing his vacation was probably over.

　　After settling the bill for Ethan Brooks, the boss saw he was about to leave and couldn’t help but remind him, “Young man, you can’t go into the mountains unprepared like this. How about I introduce you to a guide? Don’t worry, we mountain folk won’t overcharge you.”

　　Ethan Brooks, only twenty-three this year, looked gentle and refined, giving the impression of a student. In fact, Ethan Brooks hadn’t attended much school, but years ago had a fateful encounter, and had read many books since. He had mentioned he was going into the mountains, but the boss saw he had nothing with him except the clothes he wore, and kept trying to persuade him otherwise. The boss hadn’t noticed that the clothes and shoes Ethan Brooks wore today were not the same as when he checked in yesterday.

　　To those with good intentions, Ethan Brooks responded with a warm smile: “Thank you, but don’t worry. I don’t need a guide to go up the mountain now.”

　　With that, he smiled, waved, and said goodbye to the still-bewildered boss.

　　Everyone was gathered at a distance, watching this strange scene. Only Henry Clark, from the bamboo house, noticed Ethan Brooks walking out of the village at a leisurely pace, and his gaze was immediately drawn to this young man.

　　Because the six people kneeling were facing the main road of the village, and although many people were watching, no one dared stand in front of them.

　　Who would dare stand there and accept the kneeling of such people? If you angered them, everyone kept to the sides or watched from afar. But Ethan Brooks was walking straight from the front, unhurried, and as he drew near, everyone noticed him.

　　All eyes widened in astonishment. Was this young man trying to take advantage of them? He really didn’t know the meaning of danger.