Blaine vaguely remembered that he had already died.
The last image from his previous life was an oncoming truck, along with the clear azure sky. His body and soul drifted upward together, as if merging with those thin clouds in the sky, gradually dissipating.
So what's going on now? Have I transmigrated?
He moved his eyes, and the surrounding scene came into view.
He seemed to be lying in a dim room. The doors and windows were tightly shut, the curtains heavy, with only a few candle flames barely providing any light.
And what the candlelight illuminated was...
Blaine's pupils suddenly contracted.
Ornate candlesticks, a cauldron burning with herbs, and around the cauldron... piles of flesh and blood tissue.
He was lying right in the middle of this pile of flesh.
The acrid smoke from the medicinal herbs and the thick stench of blood assaulted his nostrils.
What the hell is this, an altar? Am I the sacrifice?
The thought came to him belatedly.
Strange, frenzied chanting reached his ears. Blaine followed the sound, and a fanatical, twisted face immediately jumped into view.
The face belonged to an elderly man with sparse hair and unkempt eyebrows.
His gray-blue eyes flickered with an eerie gleam as he wildly waved a blood-stained dagger in his hand, clearly in an extremely abnormal state.
Blaine looked at this face and somehow felt it was familiar.
Sirius Arapis.
The name automatically surfaced in his mind.
What's happening?
He'd clearly never seen this man before, so why did he know his name?
Familiarity and strangeness surged through him simultaneously. This bizarre sense of dissonance left Blaine deeply confused.
The old man was immersed in his own world, completely oblivious to Blaine's observation. He prayed aloud, swaying his body back and forth, using a language Blaine couldn't understand at all, devoutly and madly calling out to something incomprehensible.
Looking past his shoulder, Blaine saw the depths of the room.
Further back on the floor lay a pitiful, beautiful young girl. Her hands and feet were bound with rope, her mouth gagged, her eyes tightly closed, delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if she'd fallen into unconsciousness.
Looking at the girl's haggard face, Blaine naturally felt a surge of pity and anger. Instinctively, he called out her name.
"Cecilia."
Boom!
A sudden roar exploded in his mind. The girl's face was like a key, unlocking memories sealed deep in his brain. Countless images came flooding in.
"Big brother!"
A little girl smiled and held his hand as they walked down the street together.
"Big brother..."
At a funeral, the girl buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably, her thin, frail shoulders trembling.
"Big brother."
Before a hospital bed, the girl gently wiped his face while he wore a straitjacket.
The massive influx of memories made Blaine's head throb with splitting pain, but it also made him understand his situation.
First, he had indeed transmigrated. The world he'd arrived in was roughly equivalent to eighteenth-century Europe, with multiple nations on the continent coexisting in opposition. As for the Loen Kingdom where he currently resided, it was similar to Victorian-era Britain.
Silas Londor was the name of this body's original owner. He had just turned eighteen today and lived in Tingen City in the Loen Kingdom.
Compared to ordinary citizens, Silas Londor had one small difference.
What difference?
He was sick.
That's right, Silas suffered from severe mental illness.
From childhood, Silas frequently experienced terrifying hallucinations and auditory delusions, seeing inverted giants and hearing insane ravings.
These hallucinations constantly tormented him, driving him to the brink of mental collapse several times.
Fortunately, his family hadn't abandoned him. Instead, they kept him by their side and cared for him devotedly.
Unfortunately, two years ago, Silas's father, a minor clerk, died in a company accident.
His mother, overwhelmed with grief and worry, followed her husband several months later, leaving only him and his younger sister, two years his junior, to depend on each other.
That sister was the girl lying on the floor right now: Cecilia Londor.
So what was the current situation?
After their parents died, his sister took care of Silas alone.
The siblings barely survived for a while on the company's meager compensation.
Just as their savings ran out and life became increasingly difficult, Sirius Arapis showed up at their door.
That would be the old man currently having a fit in front of him.
Sirius claimed to be an old friend of their father's. To repay their father's past kindness, he was willing to provide for them.
However, for the sake of convenience, the Londor siblings would need to move to his place and live with him.
How incredibly suspicious!
Blaine thought to himself.
But the two siblings were truly desperate and had no choice but to agree.
Sure enough, after living there for a while, the creepy old man Sirius finally showed his fangs.
On Silas's eighteenth birthday, he suddenly attacked the siblings, tied up the sister, placed Silas Londor on the altar, and stabbed him through the heart with a dagger.
Remembering this, Blaine finally felt something wrong with his chest.
Looking down, he discovered that his shirt collar had been violently torn open, revealing a horrifying wound across his chest.
Through the wound, he could even see the damaged heart within.
Am I going to die again?
The moment this thought emerged, Blaine witnessed an incredible scene.
At the damaged part of his heart, muscle fibers began to squirm, spontaneously connecting and fusing. In the blink of an eye, his heart was fully repaired and began pumping vigorously.
The shallower wound was also rapidly healing: muscles reconnecting, tissues coming together, skin closing up, until finally it became smooth and flat.
The fatal injury had just healed like that!
Blaine was utterly shocked, but thinking about how even transmigration had happened, healing wounds didn't seem all that unbelievable anymore.
While his mind was racing with wild thoughts, he suddenly felt the light in front of him dim.
Sirius had suddenly moved closer to the altar!
He jumped in fright and immediately held his breath.
Fortunately, Sirius was only changing his prayer posture.
His attention was entirely focused on the void behind Blaine, and he didn't notice Blaine's abnormality. Blaine breathed a sigh of relief but also became alert.
Stop thinking about all that nonsense.
The most important thing right now is to subdue this creepy old man. If I don't take him down, I'm definitely done for!
In his chest, his heart beat powerfully, pumping blood throughout his body.
His previously powerless body gradually regained sensation.
Blaine knew he had to act now.
Taking a deep breath, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the metal candlestick in front of him.
Sirius Arapis was still praying rapturously, calling out to his incomprehensible deity.
Just then, he suddenly heard the fierce sound of rushing wind, and then saw the base of a metal candlestick growing infinitely larger before his eyes!
"Clang!"
A crisp impact echoed through the room. The shock traveled back through the candlestick to Blaine's hand, nearly making him lose his grip.
Having landed the blow, he quickly climbed down from the altar while gripping the candlestick tightly, watching Sirius warily.
"Ugh..."
Sirius Arapis looked somewhat dazed, as if he still hadn't figured out what happened.
He swayed but didn't fall. Blaine gritted his teeth, jumped down, and swung the candlestick again, striking his head several more times!
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
His arm went numb from the vibrations, and the edge of the candlestick was now stained with blood. After receiving multiple blows, Sirius finally fell backward.
Blaine cautiously approached and kicked the dagger from his hand.
After observing for more than ten seconds and confirming Sirius wasn't moving, he picked up the dagger, walked to Cecilia's side, bent down, cut the ropes binding the girl, and removed the cloth from her mouth.
"Cecilia, Cecilia!"
He shook the beautiful girl's slender shoulders, calling out to her.
The girl was roused by his shaking. She opened her eyes in confusion, her pupils slowly focusing on him.
Suddenly, she became alarmed.
"Watch out!"
Cecilia stared behind Blaine and shouted.
Almost simultaneously, Blaine heard heavy footsteps coming from behind!
---
This is a heavy and insane story about a Shepherd.