It was a mid-year exam season again.

Mount Putuo was flooded with people and incense burning! It was that time of the year when Mount Putuo would get even more crowded than New Year’s. This was because students were about to sit either for the senior middle school or university entrance exam.

“Sigh…” I sighed. As I stood by the car with my backpack, I felt the breeze ruffle my short hair. 

I, a materialistic person, am burning incense and praying in Putuo!

How could I let Marxism and political ideology down!?

As the parking lot was full, my parents had to wait for a very long time before they were finally able to park the car in a free spot. I couldn’t resist the urge to recite a poem as I looked at the overflowing parking lot. 

*Cough!*

“Once more, it’s time for the senior middle school entrance exam,

Burning incense in Putuo,

I do not pray to pass my civil exam!

But I pray to die in a battle!”

*Slap!* Someone slapped the back of my head. “What are you talking about!?” Dad’s raging voice rang out as my handsome dad walked over to stand next to me.

Dad used to be a soldier in the special forces, which in my opinion, was exceptionally remarkable. After retiring, he started a security company of his own. He even has an armored car! He is just super cool!

“Stop hitting her! Look at you! You train her as if she were a guy, and now she’s not serious about anything!” Mom had come to my rescue. Mom, hug me. Dad is hitting me again.

Dad immediately frowned, “I wanted her to join the military!”

Mom let go of me and took a step forward. Her eyes were opened wide as she argued, “What’s so good about being a soldier? Is she really your own daughter!? Why would you be willing to see her suffer by sending her through a world of hardships?”

“If you wish to be the best, you must face the harshest things and go through the bitterest of struggles!”

“A girl should behave like a girl, and stick to singing and dancing, or being an actress! Just look at our daughter, she’s so much prettier than the celebrities on TV. But now, she is more of a tomboy, and is always hanging around with the boys playing basketball, soccer, and even getting in fights! Oh, my goodness!” My mom, who couldn’t even stand a floor fan on her own, let alone take care of any hands-on work, looked as if she might faint when she brought up my situation.

“Don’t you think that a G20 soldier looks rather handsome? Plus, most of the actresses are known to sleep around! Considering these facts, I should be the one to ask whether you really are your daughter’s mom!”

“Luo! You have said this before as well! And, your daughter is listening! Do you really have to make it sound so bad!?”

“I am a soldier! I speak only the truth!”

Mom and Dad were at it again. My dad wanted me to join the military or the air force and fly a jet. He thought that the best possible option for me would be to get chosen by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to be a jet pilot.

My mom, on the other hand, wanted me to sing, dance and be an actress. According to her, the best possible option for me would be if I got admitted to the Central Academy of Drama and became a leading actress! But all of this would have to wait until later on, as right now I was still busy worrying about my senior middle school entrance exam.

Oh, my goodness! This is so annoying! Hurry up and let me leave this world if I am not even able to make any decisions of my own.

All of a sudden, the wind started blowing and the clouds started churning. The sand was flying around and the rocks were rolling over!

Out of nowhere, the wind became stronger, while a strange shimmering spot materialized right in front of me and started expanding. It stopped growing when it was roughly the size of a door, but then it started spinning rapidly in the midst of a sandstorm.

“Mom! Dad! Look, it’s an alien!” I cried while pointing excitedly at the floating silvery, shimmering sphere. I heard simultaneous replies from behind, “Stop your nonsense!”

I turned to refute immediately, but instead, I saw my mom and dad’s dumbfounded expressions. They had seen it too!

Feeling smug at being right, I retorted, “I told you that there’s an alien!” But suddenly, I felt a strong pull from behind and I flew sideways. I was shocked. I could see Mom and Dad running towards me, “Xiao Bing~”

I was pulled into the shimmering sphere instantly, and even then I could feel my parents holding on to me tightly. But suddenly, I felt my shoes coming off from my feet as I was pulled into the mysterious sphere, and my body flew forward at a high speed.

Seriously!

Buddha on Mount Putuo is so effective!

No wonder there are so many people burning incense and praying on Mount Putuo!

I… I… I… I… I’m sorry.

I was only joking.

It felt as if I was sliding down the perpendicular slide at the Water World. I rolled and tumbled downwards.

Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Bang!* I landed heavily on the ground, and I felt like all my bones were either dislocated or even broken. My heart skipped a beat, as though it had stopped momentarily.

I felt extremely dizzy and couldn’t get up at all. My mouth was full of soil that tasted acidic and bitter. It was also extremely smelly, like a dog’s poop full of rotten eggs. *Retch!* But I was too dizzy to vomit.

“Look, Boss! We got one without any effort, and it’s a living person that fell down from the sky!” I could faintly hear people talking.

“He seems to be a radiationer. He’s not even wearing an anti-radiation suit!”

“Hurry up and catch him! Let’s return to offer him to King Shura!” 

What the heck… What was going on…

What radiation? What King Shura!?

Suddenly, I felt like I was being dragged. I wasn’t even able to discern my surroundings properly before I was engulfed in darkness… 

This, god damn… What’s going on…

When I woke up, I felt as if I was still being dragged. Opening my eyes slowly, I saw the ground under my heels moving backward. I was still being dragged. I was being hauled off by the arms by two people as if they were dragging a dead body.

I blinked and realized that my eyelashes were caked with dried up soil. Befuddled, I scanned my surroundings through my blurry vision, and saw many cages holding prisoners!

These cages were stacked onto strange-looking, dirty trucks… the kind that was used for transporting pigs. The people in the cages were holding on to the rusty bars as they stared at me. They looked terrified. All of them were dirty, wizened and scrawny, and were dressed in rags to boot. They looked very poor and starved.

I was dumbfounded for a moment. 

Am I dreaming? Did I watch too much of Avengers to have such a strange dream? 

It felt like I was in the lair of a terrorist organization.

*Bang!* Someone threw me into a cage that was a bit more spacious. I landed on the ground, face first and ended up getting dirt in my mouth. Pfft. I spat and forcefully sat up. All my limbs felt shaken and I was aching all over.

Damn. I am so dizzy…

I patted my head. Why would I get dizzy in a dream? This is so strange. And my body is aching all over! I stretched and finally didn’t feel nauseous anymore. I was still wearing my blue and white school uniform. But now, the white had all turned black because of the soil. And… There were patches of weird red that had a pungent odor.

“You are a radiationer?” Suddenly, a guy’s voice came from within the cage. This voice immediately caught my attention, as it sounded nice and clear. It was smooth and had a clean timbre.

I suspiciously looked in the direction where the voice had come from, only to realize that there were two other guys in the cage with me. 

What the hell is a radiationer?

One of the guys was dressed shabbily like the people outside. He was in grey catsuit-like overalls that looked very ragged because of all the patches it had. It had been a long time since I had seen patched-up clothes, and it felt like I was looking at an antique.

There was a scarf around his neck that looked cleaner, but very old. The grey color made the scarf appear rather dirty. It seemed like it was used for covering up his face because the front part was kept longer so it could be pulled up over his face, similar to how we would use our scarves as a mask on hazy days.

Even though the guy was covered in dust, I noticed that he had a pair of beautiful bright eyes. I had never seen such eyes on any of the guys my age, as most of my classmates wore glasses. So far, I had only seen such eyes among children, but their eyes were definitely not as full of spirit and vigor as this guy. His eyes looked as if there was a fire burning inside them, but at the same time, they were also full of anger and caution. He didn’t look very friendly but was somewhat approachable. 

He was the person who had spoken up. Although he was dressed shabbily, somehow he still gave out a handsome and heroic vibe. Some people just shone through, irrespective of their appearances, just like the special force’s soldiers-in-training. They crawled in the puddles and hid in the lowlands, but no matter how dirty they got, they would still be more attractive than the rest.

This guy… he looks like a warrior!

The other guy was dressed very differently, as compared to the people here. He was wearing an extremely clean white frock, which seemed to be made out of some kind of high-quality material. It was tough yet shapely. The collar, sleeves, and the lining of the frock were embroidered with a delicate maroon design. The white frock even glistened with a silk-like luster and looked more like an outer coat—rather handsome. However, the guy was curled up in a corner, as he held his head in his hands and kept muttering, ”Don’t eat me…”

“Noooo…” Suddenly, I heard a girl’s hysterical scream. The guy who had spoken to me immediately stood up and walked to the wall of the cage in anger. I was still standing right by the cage door, so I turned to look as well. Two filthy, armed men dragged someone who looked like a girl behind them they walked past us with lascivious smiles.

Er… Why did I say she looked like a girl?

I guess it’s because… everyone in the cages was extremely dirty. Even the two people dragging the girl were dirty and wore torn clothes. If it wasn’t for her voice sounding like a girl’s, no one could tell her gender at a single glance. Her chest area seemed pretty small as well. It seemed that she had yet to hit puberty.

My attention was immediately drawn to the guns that the men were holding. These guns looked very strange and didn’t look anything like the ones that I’d normally see.

What’s going on?

I really felt like I was in the lair of a terrorist organization.

“No, save me. Save me. Ah!” The girl was dragged out brutally. She cried and screamed in agony as she struggled and kicked with all her might. The tears that flowed down her cheeks left two trails of white on her face.

The two men who were dragging her smiled lecherously. “Haha, are we lucky or what that we caught a girl!?”

“Let’s have a taste. It’s been a while since we touched a woman.”

“Hahaha, let’s inform the others later once we have had our share.”

“Alright, let’s take turns.”

“But, how do we report to the King after having our way with her!?”

“Let’s sell her off at the black market. Girls are after all incredibly valuable!”

“Yeah! Hahahaha!"

I got goosebumps after hearing their conversation. I couldn’t help but gulp. I looked around. It seemed that… everyone here was male? My heart skipped a beat again. I touched my short hair and suddenly felt grateful for my boring school rules, where we either had to braid our hair or keep it short. As I had thought braiding hair was too troublesome, I had just kept mine short. Many girls in my school had kept their hair short, as they had wanted to escape the extra work of braiding them.

Add in the trendy gender-neutral fashion, and it became hard to tell the girls apart from the guys. Gradually, the guys had started referring to us as brothers. I was not spared either since they used to call me Brother Bing, even though my name was Luo Bing.

Due to the influence of Boy Love in the media[1], the guys had become… mm… more feminine? This was one of the things that used to irk my dad a lot.

Then, I touched my chest.

Luckily, I was still wearing my school uniform… School uniform, you know? This magical item that could turn a beauty into a dweeb! It was loose and baggy, and could easily be worn for many years without worrying about it. I was also wearing a jacket over my uniform. And to top it all off, my hands, face, and hair were all extremely dirty…  

And… I had… yet… to fully develop… Cough Cough… Cough Cough…

So… When I thought about my current situation as I saw the scene unfolding in front of me, and heard the conversation between the two men, I felt happy and fortunate to be mistaken as a guy instead!

‘Really’ fortunate!

“Damn it!” The guy next to me punched the cage in anger, scaring me. Why was he so emotional? Was she his girlfriend?

He was raging with anger like a trapped beast. He said furiously, “That girl is so pitiful, she is going to get violated by those beasts!”

As I looked at him, he suddenly yelled at me, “What are you looking at!?” He vented his anger at me instead.

Suddenly, he took a huge stride forward and grabbed me by the collar. I instinctively held onto my collar, as I was very nervous and afraid of anyone finding out that I was a girl. He stared at me, “Being a radiationer, aren’t you a metahuman? Why didn’t you use your quirk! Why!?”

I looked at him dumbfounded. He… was so tall! He should be around 178cm. He had a slim build, and although his face was covered in dirt, I could still faintly see that he was pretty handsome underneath. But, I realized that his hands were clean, just like the tall and handsome guys who played basketball at my school.

“A radiationer is not necessarily a metahuman…” The guy curled up in the corner suddenly spoke. However, his voice was soft and shivering in fear, “Earlier… they… checked on him… and realized that he has no superpowers. Don’t scare him. Look, he is already frightened…”

Humph! The guy grabbing my collar pushed me away harshly. He clenched his fist and slammed it against the cage. “If I wasn’t restrained, I definitely would have killed all of them!”

I continued to be dumbfounded. He was raging with murderous intent! I could tell that he wasn’t lying, especially when he talked about killing all these people.

“Luck… Luckily he is a radiationer… Other… otherwise, he would have been eaten…” The quivering guy added with a stammer. I was startled again. What? Eaten?

Seriously!?

He means… If I were a guy, I would be eaten!?

I checked my surroundings in astonishment. It looked like a huge, old warehouse that probably might have gone through a war. Plus, there was no electricity as the overhead light wasn’t switched on. Instead, there was a bonfire in the front that gave out a faint light.

“You, what’s your name?” The guy hidden in the corner asked. I came back to reality and looked at him. He was peeking at me from under his arms.

I was still in shock. This dream was more like a Hollywood film; there were even two supporting male actors!

“I, I am Ah Xing. He is He Lei. You, how about you?” He asked timidly. He pointed at the guy who was angry but didn’t lift his head. Even then, I could tell that his eyes were bright, and his hair was shiny black. He was also the cleanest of them all!

“Luo Bing,” I answered casually. However, if it was really just a dream, why the hell was my body still aching? Hold on! Why was my voice so hoarse?!

A genre from Japan that features homoerotic relationships between male characters.

Cough Cough! I felt an itch in my throat and it was very uncomfortable. On top of that, I felt a burning pain, and there was a strange foul smell in my mouth. It almost felt like I had eaten rotten eggs that were cooked with sulfur dioxide. My throat must have been burned by something. Could it have been the acidic chemical substance in the soil?

However, my hoarse voice made me seem even more like a guy in puberty.

Suddenly, everything that happened before I was knocked out started replaying at fast-forward speed in my head like a movie! And then I thought of the sphere that I saw at Mount Putuo’s parking lot, and the extremely realistic feel of the journey thereafter, and an absurd thought struck my head. I looked at my feet awkwardly, and as expected, I was barefoot! I had obviously lost my shoes! In Mount Putuo’s parking lot?

So, was I really… !?

*Ding!*

*Duang!*

*Kuang!*

*Hong!*

*Vroom!*

A terrifying explosion went off in my head, as though the universe had just exploded and vanished into thin air. 

No… no way!

*Rip! Rip!* Suddenly, the sound of clothes being torn rang out from the direction of the bonfire, “Ah! Ah! No! No!”

The girl’s scream rang in my head and brought me back to reality again. But, there was still a ringing noise in my head. I was panicking! Ever since the first time my dad hit me, I had never experienced such tension before, mostly because I got used to these occasional beatings[1]. While I was growing up, my dad also trained me to calmly deal with all kinds of situations—however sudden these were.

Kidnapping, armed robbery, survival skills during earthquakes and fires were just a few of the situations he had trained me in. He had even trained me for the most impossible situation—a terror attack. He even used to call his friend to fight with me during these training sessions. However, he never trained me for transmigrating!

But this time, the sight in front of me made me lose my usual cool. I was so tense that my heart was beating hard, my face was burning up, and my palms were drenched in cold sweat. How was this possible? If this was actually real, the situation that I was in was ridiculously bad, to say the least!

Getting captured by an unknown group of people who were obviously harboring ill-intentions was already bad enough, but also being imprisoned in a cage made it even worse for me. By now, I was panicking in the worst possible way. I was still very unclear about the situation in front of me, but judging by the guns that the enemy was carrying, it definitely didn’t look like my era. I didn’t even know where I had transmigrated to! How was I supposed to return home!?

Luo Bing, you have to calm down! Have to calm down!

Think about what dad used to teach regarding danger management! At such a crucial time, self-rescue is the most important thing! But without acting like an idiot by panicking or shouting!

Self-rescue first. Once I survive, I can get to know the situation in detail!

I have to calm down! Calm down! Calm down! Hurry up and think about what Dad taught about dealing with dangerous situations!

Right! This is closest to being captured alive. Luo Bing, you can do it! You can do it!

I closed my eyes and clenched on the cage bars as I took deep breaths. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, Breathe out. I tried my best to calm myself down in the face of such an unbelievable situation.

“Catch her! Don’t let her run around!”

“Ah! Please, have mercy and let me go… Let me go… Ah! Don’t touch me. No! No!” The entire world was filled with the girl’s hysterical screams and cries, and also the bastards’ atrocious and lascivious laughter.

I opened my eyes. That girl really is too pitiful, I have to save her!

He Lei clutched at his head in anger and her cries made him suffer even more. He was resentful like a trapped beast that couldn’t shake off its shackles.

The girl’s frantic cries calmed me down. I had to figure out a way to rescue myself. It was obviously unwise to deal with the situation by staying in the cage.

I had two pieces of information to work with.

First, the girls here seemed to be extremely valuable and could be sold at a good price. If I were to stay here, my true identity as a girl would be discovered. It was merely a matter of time. Then, my condition would be no different from that girl’s!

Second, the guys here seemed to be absolutely worthless and they might possibly even get eaten. Although I still couldn’t believe this, any information however unbelievable should still be considered under such unique circumstances. Especially when I had been put in a cage with these guys named Ah Xing and He Lei. They were obviously different from the others. The cage that I was in also seemed to belong to some VIP status. Staying in a VIP cage wasn’t good at all!

I have to flee.

And, I can’t just sit and watch a girl like me being violated.

I immediately looked around and realized that there was no one keeping a watch over us, leading me to believe they were short on men. There was only one man nearby, who was leaning against the cage in front of us with a malicious smile. He licked his lips and gulped as though he was waiting for his turn.

I turned to look at my other two fellow prisoners in the cage. “Hey!” I caught their attention with my hoarse voice, “He Lei, you look like a fighter. Can you fight?”

He Lei looked at me in suspicion. His sharp gaze glanced outside and said, “I can’t go out.” He squinted his eyes that were burning with rage as if a flame had been kindled within them. “If I can go out, I can kill all of them!” He clenched his teeth and repeated, “Kill all of them!”

“Kill all of them?” I looked at him in shock. He looked at most two to three years older than me. How can a young man about eighteen years of age keep saying the word ‘kill’? Just what kind of a world was I in?

I had no time to think. I asked softly, “There are many people outside. And they even have guns. Are you really confident?”

He Lei clenched his fists and looked down with his angry face, “I know how to use a gun, but they confiscated the one I had!”

“But we can’t get out…” spoke Ah Xing who was still curled up in the corner. He looked just like a young master from a wealthy family. His body stopped shivering and he lifted his head slightly. He was still holding himself tightly but looked at He Lei through the gap between his arms. It seemed as though something was bothering him. His hair was very clean, and in this dim environment, it seemed to almost shimmer.

I took another look at the bad guys on the outside and turned to flash a smile at He Lei. “I’ll get you a gun.”

He Lei was shocked, “How?”

“Wait and watch.” I turned around and slammed the cage. I said with my hoarse voice, “Hey! Hey!”

The soldier ignored me. He extended his neck to watch the girl as he grabbed his groin impatiently. It seemed that he already couldn’t wait.

I picked up a stone from outside the cage and threw it at him. “Hey!”

The soldier immediately turned to stare at me. “What’s wrong with you?”

I immediately took off my jacket and left it hanging by my waist. “Stop watching. Come and have some fun with me.”

He Lei and Ah Xing stiffened at the sight. I stole a glance at them, then continued to look at the soldier. He was smiling lasciviously, “You too?”

“Come on. There are hardly any women here. I’ll keep you company. All you have to do is feed me well.” I twisted my body suggestively as I unbuttoned my summer school uniform. I pulled down my shirt, revealing my fair and smooth shoulders that were still clean.

The soldier immediately walked towards me lecherously. “You really are filthy. I reckon you really wanted to be with a man all this while. Fine, I shall satisfy you then!” He took out his keys and opened the prison gate in a hurry. I looked at him seductively and said, “Come here.”

He leaped at me and I lifted my legs to step on his shoulders.*Pak!* I pushed him against the cage door, and put my leg right next to his face while everyone in the prison looked at me in shock. The soldier got so aroused at this point that his nose started bleeding with excitement.

In Chinese culture, it is normal to sometimes get hit by your parents, as part of being disciplined during childhood.