C2 Chapter 2

The soldiers fell silent for a beat, like she’d stunned them.

...But in truth, the girl was nowhere near as calm as she looked—her thoughts were a tangled mess, spinning out of control...

Her name had been Tang Yao. In the 21st century, she’d been a top-tier operative in an international mercenary outfit. Since childhood, she’d trained under her grandfather in strange, esoteric arts, and this time she’d gotten the chance to join a major family’s tomb-raiding expedition.

Then an accident sent her plunging into a bottomless fissure.

It was a crack in the earth itself—icy air surging up from below, no end in sight. Anyone who fell in should’ve had no chance of surviving.

But she hadn’t died. Three days ago, she’d woken up inside this teenage girl’s body.

She’d inherited all of the original owner’s memories and learned that the girl’s name was also Tang Yao. She’d been with this army for over two years, stuck doing grunt work with the kitchen crew.

Because she was ugly, she’d been “lucky” enough that the soldiers hadn’t tried anything with her.

But today the army had mutinied, and things had reached the point of desperation. The women in camp had become the last tools left to keep the troops satisfied.

That was why Tang Yao had met this disaster.

From the memories the original owner left behind, she knew the girl was the third legitimate daughter of Tang Lu, the Left Chancellor of the Star Moon Dynasty—trueborn, of the Tang family line.

Her mother had died young. The current lady of the house couldn’t stand her, and her sisters resented her. After her Genuine Spirit was damaged three years ago, even her father grew to despise her.

The whole family saw her as a nuisance. Two years ago, her second sister, Tang Wan, tricked her into leaving, tied her up, and sold her to a group—after that, she was passed from hand to hand until she ended up in the army.

Because she was so unattractive, she’d been shoved into kitchen duty instead of being abused by the soldiers—misery with one small mercy.

But today, that mercy had finally run out.

Her gaze swept the area. With Boss Wang shouting, she was completely swallowed by the crowd.

With layers of soldiers hemming her in, even if she used every trick she had, there was no way she was getting out.

Besides, her own body was nothing but skin and bones, with barely any strength left. After that fight, just standing there made her vision swim and the edges of the world go dark.

“I can get you out of this,” she insisted again. “I can get you out of here!”

The soldiers finally understood what she was saying. First there was silence—then the whole group burst into laughter...

“What’s wrong with this woman? She’s lost it—she actually thinks she can get us out!”

“Yeah, yeah. Everybody knows this is the last stand! There’s no ‘getting out’ of this, okay?”

“She just wants to live so badly she’s making up something this ridiculous.”

“Honestly, even if we don’t kill her right now, in a few hours we’ll all be dead anyway.”

“An extra minute of breathing is still something... but she killed Captain Wang and his whole squad.”

“No way. How is that even possible?”

“Captain Wang said it himself...”

By then, Captain Wang had lost so much blood he was sprawled on the ground, unable to move, but his eyes still burned with hatred as he stared at Tang Yao.

Captain Zhao, the leader of Squad Sixteen and one of Captain Wang’s closest men, strode over and crouched beside him. “How bad is it?”

Captain Wang grabbed his sleeve with a sudden, desperate strength. “Kill that ugly woman!”

The moment the words left his mouth, Captain Wang’s eyes rolled back—and he went still.

A flash of cold fury cut through Captain Zhao’s eyes, murderous intent rising fast. But he was a cautious man. He didn’t strike right away. Instead, he studied the girl with narrowed, suspicious eyes.