"Wow, this feels amazing!"
Shi Jiu had studied archaeology for so many years, and he had touched countless long spears and short weapons, both ancient and modern. However, the feel of these two weapons seemed different from those he had touched before.
But what exactly was different, Shi Jiu couldn't quite figure out for now. If he had to describe it, it might be "transparent."
Shi Jiu gripped the two weapons tightly in his hands, and a sense of security surprisingly filled his heart.
Soon after, he followed his memory to the exit. As he approached the faint light, his body seemed to "pop" through a transparent film, and Shi Jiu found himself outside.
"Huh, it felt really strange when I came out."
Shi Jiu touched himself, feeling no discomfort. He simply attributed it to a stress reaction from experiencing such a bizarre event, causing him to hallucinate.
But when he casually reached behind him, wanting to see if that invisible film was still there, he discovered that at some unknown point, the cave entrance behind him had turned into an ordinary mountain cliff, with no trace of a teleportation array or a cave.
"Holy crap! This is insane!"
Shi Jiu was truly stunned now. Had he encountered some supernatural 'ghost wall' phenomenon?
How magical! The place he had just exited turned into an ordinary cliff in the blink of an eye. Who would believe him if he told them?
Shi Jiu stood dazed for a few seconds, still unwilling to give up, and then he punched and kicked the nearby wall.
Only after confirming that the surroundings were just ordinary rocks did he reluctantly take a few steps forward, constantly looking back.
Shi Jiu collected himself and carefully observed his surroundings, finding that there was no dense primeval forest here like when Professor Lin led the team into the cave.
Although there were many trees, it looked more like a mountain near an ordinary village. Thinking this, Shi Jiu glanced around.
He checked the position of the sun, recalled some wilderness survival knowledge, and then chose a direction to head down the mountain.
After walking for some time, Shi Jiu was suddenly delighted. He faintly saw wisps of smoke drifting in the distance.
He thought that he had finally reached a village, or perhaps encountered fellow travelers making a fire and cooking. He needed to quickly go and ask where he was.
As he thought this, a vague idea surfaced, one he dared not ponder deeply.
That was the possibility of being transported to an unknown world, just like the Transmigration novels he used to read when he was in school.
If he really underwent Transmigration, he wouldn't know what mindset to face it with.
He still had his parents, relatives, and friends. He had just managed to get into this graduate school, hadn't even been in a relationship yet, and still had a goddess he hadn't confessed to.
Most importantly, his browsing history on his dorm computer hadn't been cleared!
Just thinking about it made him want to vomit blood...
Although he enjoyed reading all sorts of novels, he found it hard to accept such an outrageous thing happening to him.
Shi Jiu vigorously shook his head, trying to stop himself from overthinking, and quickened his pace.
He wanted to quickly go to the place where the smoke was rising and see if he could find someone to ask where this place was.
Before long, a sizable village appeared in Shi Jiu's sight.
A look of joy appeared on Shi Jiu's face, thinking he had finally seen people. But in the blink of an eye, his face suddenly turned ashen.
Shi Jiu's face changed so quickly not because of anything else, but precisely because of the village that appeared before his eyes.
He had never seen the architectural style of these houses in modern society, though he had seen ancient village dwellings in TV shows and movies.
Between the joy and shock, Shi Jiu wasn't paying attention, missed his footing, and tumbled down the dirt path on the mountain, getting severely disoriented and promptly losing consciousness.
When Shi Jiu slowly regained consciousness, he found himself lying on a wooden plank bed. His top had been cut open and removed, and his wounds were bandaged, indicating he had been rescued by the villagers.
The pair of swords he had brought out from the cave ruins did not seem to be on him. They were likely taken by the local villagers for safekeeping.
Shi Jiu slowly turned his head, his gaze shifting to the small figure busy beside the earthen stove in the corner of the room.
It was a small boy, about 7 or 8 years old, placing a large iron kettle on the stove to boil water.
Shi Jiu was truly thirsty at this moment. Seeing the small boy place the large iron kettle on the stove, he moistened his dry lips and softly called out:
"Hello there, little friend. Hello, little friend."
The little boy seemed startled by the sudden voice from behind him. He quickly turned around to look at Shi Jiu on the bed.
Discovering that Shi Jiu was awake and seemed to be calling him, he quickly ran to Shi Jiu's side.
"Oh, Uncle, you're awake! You've been sleeping all afternoon since Grandpa and Uncle Tie Sheng carried you back."
It's already been an afternoon, so that fall must have been quite severe. But it seems there are no broken bones; the pain should just be from some soft tissue contusions. A couple of days of rest should be enough.
Thinking this, Shi Jiu slowly propped himself up and said to the little boy:
"I see. Thank you for saving me. Could you pour me some water?"
The little boy seemed a bit shy, his face instantly turning red. He quickly poured Shi Jiu a large bowl of hot water.
Then he scurried out, saying he was going to tell his grandpa that the outsider they rescued had woken up. Shi Jiu didn't even have time to ask the little boy other questions.
After a few sips of water, Shi Jiu carefully examined the room's decor and layout. He could now pretty much confirm that he was no longer in his original world.
After all, he had never seen such housing facilities in his original world, or in any other surrounding countries.
It seemed he had truly encountered the Transmigration scenario he least wanted to face.
Shi Jiu let out a low sigh, then forcibly suppressed the sadness and fear in his heart, beginning to ponder how to handle the current situation.
First, he absolutely could not let others discover that he was a Transmigrator.
If the news got out, he would either be treated as insane or be taken to the teleportation carvings for verification.
Ever since he came out of the ruins with the teleportation array, he couldn't get back in. He couldn't explain it clearly; the more he explained, the more confusing it would get, and the identity of a Transmigrator might not be safe either.
Therefore, during this time, Shi Jiu fabricated an identity for himself: he was from a wandering merchant caravan from afar, and they had been attacked by bandits and horse thieves on the way, scattering everyone to flee for their lives.
He had bad luck; he got separated during his escape, lost his way, and wandered for a long time before arriving here.
Although, upon careful thought, there would certainly be many flaws, it was still barely plausible given his complete ignorance of this world.
If they asked for more details and he couldn't make something up, he would just pretend he hit his head in the afternoon and couldn't remember.
Just as he was thinking, he saw the little boy enter with his grandpa and a dark-skinned, robust man.
"Young man, you're finally awake! How do you feel?"
The boy's grandpa asked Shi Jiu quite warmly.
"Thank you for your concern, elder. I feel much better; I'll be able to move after some rest. Thanks to you and this elder brother for saving me, I must kowtow to both of you in gratitude!"
Shi Jiu searched his mind for lines from period dramas while struggling to sit up and bow.
He was genuinely grateful to them. How could he not thank them for saving his life?
The robust man was quick-witted and immediately held down Shi Jiu, who was about to kowtow. The three of them exchanged polite refusals and offers for a while before finally settling down to chat.
Through this conversation, Shi Jiu learned that he was currently in Houjia Village, the old man was named Hou Chun, the robust man was Tie Sheng, and the child had no name yet, so everyone casually called him 'Monkey'.
Shi Jiu felt that the story he had casually made up was quite poor, but to his surprise, neither the old man nor the robust man found anything wrong with it. They were simply quite relieved for him after hearing it.
However, the information Shi Jiu received from them left him somewhat dumbfounded.