Chapter 12

In his previous life, Ah Fei’s hometown was by the sea, and he had learned to swim from a young age. Although he wasn’t a top athlete, he could usually stay in the sea for a few hours without sinking too quickly. However, he didn’t expect that as soon as he fell into the sea, even though he tightly held onto the broken mast, he still sank straight to the bottom...

“What the hell is so heavy!” Fortunately, he was still thinking clearly and quickly reached into his bag to take out the large bag of copper coins and discard it. Although money was essential, he knew when to let go, or he would have to give up his life.

The southeast wind blew, and Ah Fei drifted with the mast, finally reaching the shore at dawn the next day. Along with him, there were about ten other bodies.

Lying on the beach, he panted heavily, and after finally recovering, Ah Fei untied his bag and laid out all his belongings to dry. He was most concerned about the letter, but fortunately, letters at that time were written on wooden tablets, which were tied together with a rope. When he opened it, the writing was slightly blurred, but it should be fine—“Thank goodness it wasn’t on paper from a later era, or it would have been completely ruined.”

After tidying up his things, Ah Fei put his bag on his back, stood up, and limped over to a body, kicking it a couple of times—“Hmm, no movement, completely dead.” He bent down to strip the body. Of course, he wasn’t some pervert or trying to undress the person; he was just searching for anything useful—like food, money, weapons, or a phone...

Ah, phones didn’t exist in this era. He didn’t know where he had drifted to, whether there were any settlements or towns nearby...

After searching for a long time and finding nothing, Ah Fei kicked the body again in frustration. Moving to the next body, he finally found a string of copper coins around the waist, but most had already fallen off, leaving only about thirty or forty—“A true example of someone who clung to their wealth even in death, worthy of my respectful curse. But it’s strange, this guy didn’t sink. Could it be because of the thick fat on his belly?” While thinking to himself, he unceremoniously took the copper coins and put them in his bag.

The third body turned out to be the poor ship owner, who had drowned and died with his eyes and mouth open. Ah Fei silently bowed to him, helped close his eyes and mouth, and then continued to strip the body, finding nothing again, so he kicked it a couple more times.

When he approached the fourth body, he just lifted his leg, but suddenly the body came to life. The left hand flipped and firmly grabbed Ah Fei’s ankle, pulling him down with a thud. This shock was immense. Ah Fei wasn’t afraid of zombies or ghosts—he didn’t even believe in gods. But the strength of the hand was too much, and he didn’t want to end up being stripped instead of stripping others!

Gathering his courage, he sat up, intending to run, but the iron-like hand still held his ankle, making it hard to move. The body also sat up, glared at him, and asked, “So, it’s Young Master Yang, what are you doing?”

“You, you, you know me?”

“We were on the same ship, and I heard the ship owner call you.” The young man was a strong, muscular figure with broad shoulders and a tiger-like back. His hands were like fans, and his wet hemp clothes clung to his body, outlining his muscular frame. He had a square face,蚕眉鹰眼 (thick eyebrows and sharp eyes), a straight nose, a wide mouth, and a short beard. His accent didn’t sound like he was from Lelang.

“My name is Yang Guo, and my courtesy name is Gai Zhi. May I ask your name?” Ah Fei asked boldly.

The young man finally let go, wiped the water from his face, and bowed, “I am from Le’an, my surname is Shi, my given name is Yi, and my courtesy name is Bo Ren.” He looked around, “Are we the only survivors?”

“Not sure,” Ah Fei shrank his neck, watching Shi Yi’s movements while slowly getting up, “I thought you were also...” He was about to check the next body—someone watching made it hard to strip and search, but he instinctively felt that Shi Yi was a bit dangerous and should keep his distance.

But just as he took a step, Shi Yi suddenly stood up, pressed his hand on Ah Fei’s shoulder, and Ah Fei felt like a mountain was pressing down on him, forcing him to the ground—“What, what are you doing!” Shi Yi pressed him down and whispered in his ear, “Shh, someone is coming.”

“Why should we...” “They all have weapons!”

Ah Fei gathered his courage and looked into the distance, seeing six large men approaching. It was mid-November, and the weather was already cold, especially by the sea with the north wind blowing fiercely. But these six men were only wearing short-sleeved hemp clothes, exposing their muscular arms, and only a loincloth on their lower bodies, with bare, hairy legs and no shoes. Each held a ring-pommel saber, which, though not of the best quality, were polished to a shine, reflecting the morning sun.

Shi Yi pressed Ah Fei’s head down, and both lay on the beach pretending to be dead. Unfortunately, the six men were heading straight for the beach, getting closer, and their rough voices could be heard—

“See, I wasn’t wrong. After the storm, there are always survivors on the beach.”

“Good, search their bodies for valuables—rich people wrap gold sheets around their bodies. If we find one, we’ll be rich!”

Ah Fei thought to himself, “What a poor and bizarre imagination... If they really wrapped gold around their bodies, they wouldn’t have floated to shore; they would have sunk.” But thinking of the copper coins he had just put in his bag, he wasn’t so sure.

“What if they are all poor?” one of the men asked, “Wouldn’t we have wasted our time? We should go to the eastern town and rob some merchants for some copper coins.”

“Poor or not, they are still meat,” someone laughed, “At least we won’t starve for a few days, hahaha~”

Ah, these bandits aren’t really going to eat people, are they? Ah Fei felt a chill run down his spine, almost wetting his pants.

The voices were getting closer, and soon there were rustling sounds, as if they were searching the bodies. After a moment, someone shouted, “This one is still alive!” followed by the sound of a blade piercing flesh, a dying scream, and the bandits’ laughter.

The pressure on Ah Fei’s shoulder suddenly disappeared, and he couldn’t help but look up. He saw Shi Yi leap into the air like a bird, flying toward one of the men...

Ah Fei had never seen such an astonishing burst of power. Although he had seen many martial arts movies in his previous life, with all the unrealistic wire stunts, this was different. The visual impact was entirely different from the fake stunts.

“Is he jumping or pole-vaulting? How can he jump so high...” Ah Fei was mesmerized. Shi Yi leaped two meters high and five meters forward, reaching the man in an instant. The man’s ring-pommel saber was still stuck in a body, and he instinctively raised his left hand to block. Shi Yi kicked out in mid-air, and with a “crack,” the man’s arm broke, and he flew backward, his head burying in the sand.

The other men were shocked and rushed over with their weapons. Shi Yi landed lightly, pulled the saber from the body, and without turning, slashed backward, severing a man’s head. Another man charged at him, raising his saber, but Shi Yi’s left fist, moving with a gust of wind, struck the man’s chest, shattering his ribs and caving in his chest. The saber, though still moving, was weak and fell to the ground as Shi Yi shrugged his shoulder.

The other three men, seeing this, were terrified and turned to run. Shi Yi threw his saber, hitting one man in the back, and then leaped backward, turning in mid-air and delivering a powerful punch that almost crushed the man’s head into his body. All his movements were fluid and seamless, as if he had planned and practiced them countless times. After killing the man, he grabbed the body and threw it at the last man.

The last man was hit in the back of the head by the body and flew forward, landing in the sea with a splash.

Ah Fei was completely stunned. The brutal, one-hit kills, oh my, even Ip Man wasn’t this fierce! His legs felt weak, and he felt something warm in his pants...

Shi Yi killed the six men in the blink of an eye, then leaped back to Ah Fei. Ah Fei, terrified, covered his head and cried, “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me~”

Shi Yi just reached out, and Ah Fei shuddered, feeling even more wetness in his pants. Fortunately, Shi Yi only patted his shoulder, “Brother Yang, don’t be afraid. These bandits were ruthless, and I killed them to protect others. I have no intention of harming you.”

Ah Fei slowly lowered his hands, staring at Shi Yi, “You, you, what did you say your name was?” “I am Shi Yi.” “You really are Shi Yi? You, you, you... are so formidable...”

If Shi Yi had a name like Dian Wei, Xu Chu, or Zhang Fei, Ah Fei wouldn’t have been so shocked. But to think that an unknown person could be so powerful, how strong must the famous warriors of this era be? Could they cut down a platoon with one strike, or pierce a battalion with one thrust? It seems that the ancient books weren’t exaggerating when they said, “Taking the head of a general in a million-strong army,” it was all true!