Chapter 1

In a parallel universe, in the seventh year of the Republic of China, 1918 AD, summer, in Xiangdi, Ma Xiangping.

"Quick, help him to the shade under the tree, he's suffering from heatstroke."

"Bring some water, add a bit of salt."

"Yuanbao, fan him."

"Platoon leader, water..."

"......"

In a daze, Zhang Shaozong felt himself surrounded by many people. The weather was sweltering, and someone was feeding him water, which tasted a bit salty. Someone was fanning him, dispelling the heat...

His head was dizzy, his consciousness was hazy, his mouth was very dry, and his body felt utterly weak, his eyelids barely able to open.

At the same time, a massive flood of memories surged into his mind.

"Ugh!"

Zhang Shaozong groaned, and at the moment the memories flooded in, it felt as if his brain had been hit by a heavy punch, and his already hazy consciousness completely blacked out.

"Shaozong! Shaozong!......"

In the last moment before fainting, Zhang Shaozong heard someone calling his name with concern, but he could no longer respond.

......

"Zhang Shaozong... corpse escorting... opium... big brother... black eyes... Yuanbao... shadow warrior..."

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Shaozong's consciousness slowly awakened. However, at this moment, he found that his mind was filled with many memories that did not originally belong to him, but rather to another person. This person's name was also Zhang Shaozong, and the era and world in which this Zhang Shaozong lived was similar to the Republic of China era of his previous life.

He had traveled through time and merged with the soul and memories of the original Zhang Shaozong.

Zhang Shaozong quickly realized this.

And the original body must have died from heatstroke just now.

"Shaozong... Shaozong..."

At this moment, a familiar voice reached his ears. Using the memories of the original body, he knew this voice belonged to the original body's older brother, Zhang Jizong.

No, he should now be called his older brother.

"It must be a special bond that brought us together, two people with the same name. Since I have traveled through time and taken over your body and merged with your memories, rest assured, from now on, you are me, and I am you. It's a pity you don't have a wife, otherwise, I would definitely take good care of her..."

Zhang Shaozong thought to himself, calmly accepting the reality of his time travel. He then opened his eyes and saw a young, chubby face leaning close to him, speaking weakly.

"Big... big brother..."

"Phew—"

Zhang Jizong immediately let out a long breath. He had only this younger brother, and their parents had passed away early. If anything happened to him on this trip, he wouldn't know how to face his parents in the afterlife.

"How do you feel?"

"Much better, just a bit dizzy and weak."

"The temperature has already dropped, there shouldn't be any major issues. Rest for another half an hour, and you should be able to move."

At this moment, a man with a Zhongfa hairstyle walked over, took Zhang Shaozong's right wrist, and checked his pulse.

"Alright, everyone rest for another half an hour. Yuanbao, go fetch some water from the river. Aying, you watch over Shaozong. Shadow Warrior, let's patrol the surroundings. Everyone else, stay alert."

"......"

After another word of concern, Zhang Jizong pulled out a歪把子 (a type of gun) from his waist and left with the shadow warrior.

"Shaozong, how are you feeling? Do you want some water?"

Aying, with a Wencai face, walked over and sat next to Zhang Shaozong, taking out a bamboo water bottle and offering it to him.

"Sure, thank you."

Zhang Shaozong weakly smiled and accepted it. He indeed felt very thirsty and wanted to drink water.

"No need to be so polite, we're all in this together."

It was rare for someone in the team to not bully him and even thank him. Aying had a very good impression of Zhang Shaozong and handed him the water bottle.

Zhang Shaozong took it, opened it, and started drinking, while his eyes began to observe the other members of the team, combining the memories of the original body.

Their team, including himself, consisted of eight people. First, there was himself and his older brother Zhang Jizong, who was also the team leader and known as the platoon leader. The remaining six members were the shadow warrior with a Zhongfa hairstyle, Aying with a Wencai face, Yuanbao who weighed 300 pounds, a fat girl with a big mouth, Black Eyes who liked to smoke, and a scholar with a Chen You face...

On the surface, their team was a corpse escorting team. Zhang Jizong pretended to be a Taoist priest, and Zhang Shaozong and Aying pretended to be his disciples. The shadow warrior, Yuanbao, Black Eyes, the scholar, and the fat girl pretended to be corpses.

However, this was just a facade. In reality, their team was involved in smuggling, using the corpse escorting as a cover. As a corpse escorting team, they would face fewer inspections at checkpoints.

The current time in this world was the seventh year of the Republic of China, July, 1918 AD. The country was in chaos, with warlords dividing and ruling different regions, fighting each other, and foreign powers stirring up trouble. It was a dark period for the nation and its people, who lived in great hardship.

The reason Zhang Shaozong's team pretended to be a corpse escorting team was precisely because of this. Life was so difficult that they had no choice but to engage in smuggling.

"Corpse escorting... opium... the shadow warrior with a Zhongfa hairstyle... Aying with a Wencai face... the platoon leader with a chubby face... the scholar with a Chen You face... Are these the Seven Ghost Hunters?!"

However, after absorbing the memories of the original body and observing the other members of the team, Zhang Shaozong suddenly realized something.

This Republic of China was not the real one.

If he excluded himself, this team was clearly the main cast of the movie "The Seven Ghost Hunters" from his previous life.

And in the movie "The Seven Ghost Hunters," there were indeed zombies and ghosts.

"From this, it seems that this Republic of China world is a fictional setting, with no relation to the historical Republic of China of his previous life. It is a parallel universe, and my appearance is like a butterfly effect. Because of my arrival, the original team of the Seven Ghost Hunters now has one more person, and I am the younger brother of the team leader, Zhang Jizong."

Zhang Shaozong calmly analyzed in his mind. He was now 100% certain that, apart from himself, the other seven members of the team were the same as those in the movie "The Seven Ghost Hunters" from his previous life. However, due to his appearance, the team now consisted of eight people.

Therefore, it could be easily inferred that the Republic of China world he had traveled to was not the real one from his previous life, but a fictional setting, a parallel universe. In the real Republic of China, there were no zombies or ghosts, just as real people don't write diaries.

Moreover, a detailed search of the original body's memories revealed that although the background of this world was also the Republic of China, many place names were vastly different from those in his previous life, which was undoubtedly the strongest evidence.

Once he confirmed this, Zhang Shaozong quickly felt a great deal of pressure.

According to the original plot of "The Seven Ghost Hunters," after the team entered Ma Xiangping, they would be coerced by the local landlord, Mr. Miao, to take away a corpse. However, this corpse was a victim of Mr. Miao's injustice and harbored deep resentment, eventually turning into a zombie. The zombie was so powerful that even the sorcerer hired by Mr. Miao could not defeat it, and they had to use explosives to kill it.

Although the zombie and the landlord, Mr. Miao, were eventually killed, the team also suffered heavy losses, with only the platoon leader, Zhang Jizong, and Aying surviving.

If the plot continued as before, would he also die?

"To save my life, I must find a way to change things."

With a slight sigh, Zhang Shaozong immediately picked up the water bottle and took a deep drink.

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

"Let's go, it's still over twenty miles to the city. We'll try to enter the city before dark."

After half an hour, the sun began to set, and the team set off again. By this time, Zhang Shaozong had recovered somewhat, though not fully, he was already able to walk.

......