Chapter One: Crossing Over

Maple Leaf Brigade.

Fang Mingxi lay on the bed with a pacifier in her mouth, gazing with a dead-inside expression at the suddenly transformed surroundings.

This was not the bedroom she knew, nor the cream-toned living room, and certainly not the enormous balcony at home, crowded with lush green plants.

Before her stood a dilapidated house, dim and dismal, barely ten square meters by rough estimate.

The thatched roof had a gaping hole. A few shafts of light fell through it onto earthen jars in the corner, illuminating the rice broth left from earlier.

Beside her, a battered door hung on its frame, swaying precariously, as if it might fall at any moment. Under her body was a hard-packed earthen bed, and lying there, she could feel a chill seeping straight into her bones.

Fang Mingxi turned her head again and looked at the little girl who had fed her rice broth and then sat by the foot of the bed, chattering nonstop.

The girl had not noticed her at all. She was still bent over, carefully weaving several straw ropes, and from time to time murmuring words that were both familiar and strange.

Piecing the fragments together with great difficulty, Fang Mingxi came to a fact she very much did not want to accept.

She had transmigrated.

Just a day ago, she had finally finished a project she had been following for a long time. Thinking that she could, at last, use the weekend to enjoy the mountain-foraging game she had just downloaded, she had never imagined that the moment she closed her eyes and opened them again, she would find herself in another world.

And not just anywhere in another world—into the body of a baby who had died of fever at eight months old, and whose name was exactly the same as hers.

Worse still, this was a special era.

Fang Mingxi bit down on the pacifier with her gums, wanting very much to demand of heaven what on earth she had done wrong.

For heaven’s sake, in the vast land of China, she had not even enjoyed a few good days yet—why had she been forced to transmigrate?

A clear voice suddenly rang in her mind.

The mountain-foraging trading game has finished launching. Congratulations, host, for successfully logging in. Newbie gift pack: one.

The mountain-foraging trading game has finished loading. Please begin exploring as soon as possible.

Fang Mingxi, who had been cursing inwardly, froze. Hearing the voice beside her clearly, her expression immediately changed from gloom to joy.

The mountain-foraging game—this was the casual management game she had downloaded before. One could run a shop by gathering wild mountain produce and game, but she had not had the chance to play it yet.

Now that the mountain-foraging game had become her cheat code, why should she worry about not surviving in this special era?

There were fungi and animals all over the mountains; just a little of any of them would count as precious food.

Besides, the little girl had said that the family of this body’s owner were grandparents. Old people had a hard time surviving in such times, and with this cheat code, she could at least protect them.

Still, Fang Mingxi had one question: by rights, an eight-month-old baby should have been with her parents. Why had she been sent down with her grandparents?

Where were the parents of this body?

Fang Mingxi looked back at the little girl, hoping to get more information from her lips.

The girl had said so much, yet had never said who she was. She had helped change the diaper and fed the rice broth—was she a relative?

But from the way she addressed this body’s grandparents, she did not seem to be family. Could she be someone who had been sent down here as well?

Fang Mingxi stared with her round eyes, waiting eagerly for the girl to reveal a little more, but for some reason the girl seemed to have grown tired of speaking. As she went on weaving the straw rope, she suddenly began to cry.

She had remarkable self-control; even while crying, she made very little sound, only reddening her eyes, pursing her lips, and letting out silent tears.

Fang Mingxi: "..."

Not me. I did nothing.

With the information feed failing, her thoughts returned to the cheat code.

She had just heard that the mountain-foraging game included the word trading. Could it be that one could even trade with the cheat code?

Curious, Fang Mingxi called out the game in her mind. The moment she did, a transparent virtual panel appeared before her eyes.

The mountain-foraging trading game has finished loading. Please begin exploring as soon as possible.

It was the same message as before. Fang Mingxi used her consciousness to close the red, bold announcement and checked the game’s homepage.

In the center of the panel was only a lush green mountain icon, marked as unlocked, with one exploration remaining.

At the lower right was a basket containing a big gift box tied with a bow. That, she guessed, was the newbie gift pack.

At the lower left was an orange street-vending cart marked with a question sign and shown as locked.

This cart... could it be related to trading?

Looking at the mountain icon, Fang Mingxi felt a little restless.

If this cheat code was the same as those promotional videos, then it should be about exploring the mountain. Only, how exactly was this exploration done? By consciousness, or in person?

Just as she was thinking of clicking explore to give it a try, she suddenly heard a very soft female voice outside the door. In the next second, the shaky door was gently pushed open by a pair of hands.

"Yaoyao, has Xixi woken up?"

Fang Mingxi stiffened. Hastily, she withdrew the panel and shoved the pacifier, which was about to fall out, back into her mouth.

An elderly woman wearing a white shirt quietly walked in, and behind her followed an old man carrying a water bottle.

Their clothes were rather worn, but both of them were neat and tidy. The man had thick brows and large eyes, with a close-cropped haircut and an energetic look. The woman was gentle and refined, her hair combed perfectly into place, fine lines gathered at the corners of her eyes, and a trace of weariness on her face.

Time never defeats beauty—this was Fang Mingxi’s first impression of the old woman.

Both of their faces were sunburned red, sweat streaming down their bodies, and each was fanning themselves with a straw hat.

When the little girl, Tang Yao, saw them return, she immediately wiped away her tears and put on her shoes to get off the bed.

"Grandpa Fang, Grandma Tong, you’re back. Xixi has woken up. I just fed her some rice broth."

At her words, the two of them brightened at once, the worry on their faces vanishing instantly. They strode quickly to the bedside to look at Fang Mingxi.

Seeing Fang Mingxi staring back at her with wide eyes, bright and alert, looking nothing like the listless, downcast state she had been in that morning, Tong Lingxian immediately lifted her from the bed, one hand supporting her bottom, the other cradling her head as she choked out, "Xixi, that’s wonderful. You finally woke up."

"It seems the medicine the brigade leader helped us get really worked. We must thank him properly another day," Fang Baisong said, stepping closer, equally moved.

Yesterday, just after they had been sent down to Maple Leaf Brigade, their granddaughter had become drowsy and started vomiting, and that very night she had developed a fever.

If not for the brigade leader here quietly helping them obtain medicine, they could hardly imagine what state Fang Mingxi would be in now.

Tong Lingxian held Fang Mingxi as though she were a treasure recovered after being lost, refusing to let go, and even forgetting that Tang Yao was still there.

As for Fang Mingxi, she had already been stunned the moment she was pulled into their arms.

Just now, when Tong Lingxian had hugged her, a scene had flashed before her eyes.

The scene showed the two elders surrounding her.

They were sitting inside the house, holding a letter, crying over the little Fang Mingxi in their arms, who looked to be only two or three years old, their grief so deep it seemed to tear them apart.

Their hair was white, their faces lined with ravines, and compared with how they looked now, they seemed to have aged more than ten years in an instant.

Fang Mingxi tried to bring the fragment closer to see the contents of the letter clearly, but it vanished too quickly. After all her effort, she only managed to make out two words.

"Made the ultimate sacrifice."

Fang Mingxi’s pupils shook violently. A sacrifice? Who had sacrificed themselves?