1 I Brought Back A Human Skin Manual From The Mass Grave

The Great Xia Empire.

Jiangling Commandery, Anping County.

In the wilderness outside the suburbs, Luo Hong slowly opened his blurry eyes and got up.

The wet and salty smell of dirt coupled with a vile rotten stench assaulted his nostrils.

He instinctively took a deep breath, but his nose and throat felt painful as if they were being burned by fire. His philtrum felt wet, and it smelled like blood.

He wiped it with his hand and realized that his hand was dyed red. The scarlet red made Luo Hong anxious. He slowly stood up while his hands moved around, trying to reach for the tissue on the desk.

However, his hands could not get to the desk no matter how hard he tried. He quickly looked around and what he saw made his neck stiff as if it was stuck in cement.

'Where the hell am I? Where is my little cozy apartment of 25 square meters?! Why am I in the middle of nowhere?!'

However, he did not have the time to be shocked. He grabbed his sleeve and wiped the blood off his philtrum. Meanwhile, his body felt badly sore as if his soul had been sucked out.

The pure white moon was hanging in the sky, appearing blur as if there was a layer of veil over it. 

Under the faint moonlight, Luo Hong noticed that he was surrounded by rotten dead bodies, and for a moment there, his heart stopped for a moment. The nosebleed that he just stopped almost started again.

All of a sudden, his head was wracked with pain. A certain memory sequence gushed into his mind like a rapid current. 

After a long while, Luo Hong finally reacted to the situation with an ashen face.

He had traveled through dimensions and started off in this world in a mass grave together with a nosebleed. The eerie feeling filled his heart and fear started to spread throughout his body.

Luo Hong tried his best to get up and crawl out of the pile of dead bodies. However, the moment he got on his feet, something held his foot back as if there was a hand grabbing his ankle, causing him to fall back onto the ground. He fell on his hands and the tiny stones chafed his palms, resulting in a burning sensation.

He turned around and noticed that it was a lump of baggage that had made him stumble.

Luo Hong almost broke down in tears. 

'What kind of lousy start is this?! I'm losing my mind here! Does all the time and dimension travel start so badly?!'

Luo Hong checked the lump of baggage that he tripped over and saw an edge of a little manual sticking out. He had no idea what the manual was made of, but it was glimmering under the faint moonlight. 

'A cheat manual?!'

Luo Hong quivered in shock. A moment later, he discarded the fear of the mass grave and grabbed the lump of baggage, which was the last piece of pride and dignity of a time and dimension traveler, and fled the place nervously.

…

After running for more or less 5 km, the eastern side of the sky started to glow brightly.

Luo Hong's legs were on the brink of cramping, and it was then that the contours of Anping County entered his sight.

A short sprint later, he finally arrived at the city gate under the morning sun as hunger and cold attacked his body.

Luo Hong panted heavily while his eyes were red after all the running. It was the worst start that he could possibly have asked for.

Based on the memory that was inserted into his mind, he finally gained a better understanding of his identity.

The name of this body was also Luo Hong, a son of a landlord in Anping County who had nothing but money. After his father mysteriously disappeared, he inherited a large sum of wealth and got a 5-year-old sister.

As for how he ended up in the mass grave, Luo Hong could not wrap his head around it, but he was able to remember bits and pieces of what happened.

Luo Hong had brought three guards with him out of Anping County, and they were headed to a secluded village near the mountains to collect rent. Unfortunately, they had encountered bandits raiding the village. As a righteous person, the old Luo Hong led his guards to battle. However, not only did they fail to collect rent, but they even got murdered by the bandits.

It seemed like the naive son of the landlord welcomed a bitter end since being a friend of justice might not be as easy as it sounded.

Luo Hong was held up by the guards at the gate. The guards checked him and recognized him as the son of the landlord despite the ugly state that he was in. After all, the son of the wealthiest landlord in Anping County had a reputation for himself.

He then told the guards what happened, but they took it as a joke. They more or less knew what happened to Luo Hong based on his disheveled look.

In these troubled times, no place was truly safe and Luo Hong's encounter was definitely not uncommon. The guards did not further pick on his wounds. They simply checked his baggage and let him through.

Luo Hong finally got into Anping County. Stepping on the sturdy flagstone walkway made him feel safer.

Anping County was not ridiculously huge. It was dawn when he arrived, and there was still dew on the leaves, but on both sides of the walkway, merchants were already setting up their stores.

Luo Hong was as disheveled as he could be, and he looked like he had seen better days. He nervously held the lump of baggage tightly in his arms.

The little manual inside his baggage could glow in the dark, and based on his understanding, it might be the cheat manual that he had gotten from traveling to this time period. It was his last pride and dignity for being a traveler!

The fragrance of soybean pudding filled the air and caught Luo Hong's attention, making his stomach growl like thunder.

Indeed, further away was a stall selling soybean pudding.

Luo Hong licked his dry lips, and his red eyes were gleaming as he looked at the stall. He dragged his legs, which were almost cramping from all the running, and his hungry stomach over.

The stall was located in a secluded corner, hence there were fewer customers.

"S-sir? W-what are you having?"

Luo Hong sat down on the bench. Right after he put his blood-stained baggage down, a timid and frightened voice raised a question beside him. The voice was actually pleasant to the ears, so he turned around. His messy hair and clothes, as well as the bloodstains on his face and the vile stench from his body, made him look like a bad person.

It was his intimidating appearance that frightened the person.

Luo Hong got a better look at the person who was speaking to him and was surprised at first glance.

The owner of the soybean pudding stall appeared to be unusual, and she was as dirty as Luo Hong. The owner should be a woman, but her face was smeared with black charcoal powder plus a little dirt, and her ungroomed look made her unpleasant.

"Hey, boss, why don't you wash your face if you are doing business here? You'll scare the customers away," Luo Hong could not hold back his comment. 

The woman did not say anything. She just tilted her head down in silence and the atmosphere became a little awkward.

"Two bowls of soybean pudding and two pieces of fried breadsticks, please," Luo Hong said in order to break the awkwardness.

The woman tightened her lips and walked away.

While she was preparing his breakfast, Luo Hong grabbed the lump of baggage closer as he wanted to have a better look at the cheat manual. Right after he unveiled one side of the baggage, a dense golden glow illuminated.

"Whoa!" After a quick glance, Luo Hong nervously covered it up. He looked at the woman and realized that she was clumsily preparing the soybean pudding and fried breadsticks, which put his mind to rest.

The golden glow only lasted for a moment before it faded. Luo Hong opened the baggage and realized that there was a manual.

The cover of the manual looked smooth. He touched it and realized that its smoothness was a little unusual.

"Huh? It's so soft!" Luo Hong was surprised.

To be exact, it felt like the skin of a girl.

'Holy sh*t!' 

The moment the thought popped in his head, he had goosebumps all over his body and chills went down his spine.

'The skin of a young girl?! Did I get a human skin manual from the mass grave?! Really?!'

He nervously wrapped the manual with the cloth. It was then that the dirty-looking woman served him his bowl of warm soybean pudding and fried breadsticks.

"T-thanks." Luo Hong suppressed the fear in his heart and looked at her.

The woman was stunned for a moment when he thanked her. She slightly lifted her head and her big eyes glanced at him as though they were a pair of lively gemstones. Her sudden glance felt exceptionally feminine as if it was a bright flash.

Then, she quickly lowered her head and left in silence.

Luo Hong did not spare any thoughts for the woman because he was captivated by the soybean pudding and fried breadsticks. His hunger made him gobble down the food. Luo Hong could not help but cry as he ate. A simple breakfast of soybean pudding and fried breadsticks felt like the only consolation on his gloomy journey.

The warmth from his stomach was satisfying. Even his breath felt warm and his forehead was slightly covered in sweat.

After the meal, he wanted to pay for it, but his hands were frozen when he tried to search for his wallet. He finally remembered that the bandits had robbed him clean and left him in the mass grave.

He had been so captivated by the food that he had forgotten about the fact that he did not have any money. Things immediately got awkward.

"Uh...Miss, may I…open a tab?" said Luo Hong as he shamelessly looked at the woman who had her head dipped down.

The soybean pudding stall was not a big business, and he had never met the woman before, hence asking for a tab sounded a little shameless.

The woman was shocked, and in the next moment, the expression on her face changed. Even though her face was covered in soot and dirt, Luo Hong could tell that she had turned pale. It was not easy for her to get a customer, but her only customer was asking for a tab for a bowl of soybean pudding and some fried breadsticks.

Luo Hong clearly felt that the atmosphere had gotten really awkward. "I'm the son of the landlord. I'm rich!" He pointed at himself solemnly.

Then, before the pale woman could do anything, he grabbed his baggage with the human skin manual and fled the scene clumsily.

The woman mustered up enough courage and screamed timidly at Luo Hong's back, "Y-you can't just ask for a tab!" 

However, he had already disappeared into the dawn.

The woman looked dejected as she tidied up the table in silence while chewing on her lip. She might have encountered a rascal, but it was no big deal. She told herself she must be strong.

On the other hand, it was Luo Hong's first dine-and-dash, and he felt embarrassed and shameful about it as well. He ought to go back to his house and send someone over to pay for the meal.

After he ran around 1 km away from the stall, he slowly calmed down. Then, he felt a little buzz in the lump of baggage in his hand. He looked down and noticed that the human skin manual had crawled out from the cloth like a spider. It even clung onto his hand.

Although Luo Hong was sweaty and hot from all the running, the eerie scene frightened him. It sent chills down his spine and he felt like he had just fallen into an icy abyss.

'The human skin is already sewn into a manual. How can it be alive?!'

A quick flash happened before his eyes, and Luo Hong saw a line of words written in blood appearing on the little manual.

[Completed the first act of an antagonist: shameless dine-and-dash.]

[Antagonist Manual: activation successful.]