Chapter 2

"Hey, wake up, wake up quickly!"

It seemed to be a woman's voice.

"What's wrong with you? Hey, wake up quickly!"

Hands were pushing him, seemingly a woman's hands, not very forcefully but frequently.

The surface beneath him didn't feel like a bed; it was hard and bumpy, reminding Yang Qi of the feeling of lying in his grandfather's wooden cart when he was a child.

With a jolt, Yang Qi felt the hard board beneath him shake, lifting his head and then dropping it back down with a thud—how painful!

"What's going on?" Yang Qi's drowsiness vanished, and he rubbed his eyes and sat up. Looking around, he was shocked to find himself not at home but in... how to describe it? It was similar to the wooden cart used in TV dramas when prisoners were taken to the market for execution.

Only this cart was larger and had no holes to lock heads or wrists, looking more like a rectangular wooden cage. The cage cart was being pulled by a cow, making creaking sounds. The jolt he just experienced was probably due to the wheels hitting a pothole.

Yang Qi was confined in this wooden cage, along with four other girls. However, these girls' clothing was somewhat "retro," with coarse cloth and long skirts, making them look like village girls from a period drama.

"Hey, are you okay?" The one who spoke was a girl with a black face. Her voice matched the one that had been calling him. Yang Qi noticed that she wasn't naturally black; something was smeared on her face, making it look gray.

"Where am I?" Yang Qi hadn't figured out the situation yet, and his throat felt strange, his voice sounding off.

"You fainted by the roadside and were captured by the people from Black Dragon Fort." The black-faced girl mentioned Black Dragon Fort, and the other three women couldn't help but tremble, but the black-faced girl remained calm and spoke clearly.

"Black Dragon Fort? Sounds like bandits." Yang Qi looked around and saw that there were indeed some bare-chested men walking around the prisoner cart. They carried knives and swords, looking quite authentic. However, their equipment varied in quality, with some being muscular and others being bony, making them look quite mismatched—indeed like bandits, and poor bandits at that.

But why were there so many people in period costumes? Could he have accidentally entered a period drama set?

No, no. Yang Qi's rational thinking told him that to end up in a period drama set, he would first need to be taken out of his home, transported, and then placed in a prisoner cart. He would need to be kept unconscious during this process, and it would take time to manage all this.

—As a deadbeat office worker with no power or influence, who would play such a prank on him!

"Black Dragon Fort is indeed a bandit group, recently active in this area." The black-faced girl continued, "In these troubled times, these people do not think of serving the country but instead engage in robbery and plunder. They bully and oppress, committing all sorts of evil deeds, truly deserving severe punishment!" Her expression of righteous indignation was very convincing, and to Yang Qi, she seemed to be fully in character.

"I see." Yang Qi nodded in understanding and then asked, "But what about those bandits? Why do they keep looking over here?" He glanced at the bony, lecherous-looking man, whose saliva was almost dripping.

Cough, cough, speaking of which, what's wrong with my throat? Why does it sound so off?

The black-faced girl looked at Yang Qi with a speechless expression and suddenly realized something: "From your words, you must be a young lady from a noble family, who rarely leaves the boudoir. However, the outside world is complex and dangerous. Perhaps you don't understand, but when those bandits see your beauty, they naturally have evil intentions. You must be careful when you go out in the future!"

Hearing the black-faced girl's words, Yang Qi blinked and thought, oh, I see, she thinks I'm a naive young lady. Evil intentions? Do I not know how men have evil intentions?

But—what's with this "sister" thing?!

Yang Qi looked down and saw that he was still wearing his pajamas, which were properly on. But his thin arms, legs, and waist, and the two lumps on his chest... No wonder my voice sounded so off, it turns out I really am a...

—Sister, my sister-in-law! What the heck is going on?!

Yang Qi's hands frantically felt up and down—indeed, he was a "sister"!

However, the black-faced girl clearly misunderstood something and comforted him, "Sister, there's no need to panic. Those bandits, seeing your extraordinary beauty and unusual attire, dare not act rashly. They will leave it to their chieftain to handle. Until we reach Black Dragon Fort, there's no danger, so there's no need to be nervous."

Hearing the girl's words, a light bulb went off in Yang Qi's head—right, why panic? Thinking carefully, I was just sleeping, so this must be a dream!

Dreaming about bandits, what's the big deal? Back when I was known as the Prince of Nightmares, I once had nightmares for five consecutive days, and the plots were all connected! In those series of nightmares, I transformed into various characters of different ages and genders, repeatedly being killed by a female ghost in the attic of a house. Compared to the ghost's cackling as she crawled down the attic stairs, dreaming about being a girl captured by bandits is nothing!

Thinking about this, Yang Qi instantly calmed down. He even had the leisure to touch the wooden bars of the prisoner cart—hmm, this dream feels quite real; the wood feels a bit rough, which is interesting.

The black-faced girl saw Yang Qi's calm demeanor after a moment of panic and her eyes flashed with pleasure. She asked curiously, "Sister, aren't you worried about what will happen when we reach Black Dragon Fort?"

"Worried? Worried about what?" Yang Qi's eyes gleamed with a hint of defiance, ha, it's just a dream, what's there to fear: "It's just a matter of dealing with whatever comes."

This hint of defiance made the black-faced girl a bit surprised again.

Sighing inwardly, Yang Qi recalled his long history of nightmares. Those varied nightmares included all sorts of situations and scenes, from ancient times to the present, from battlefields to cities, covering a wide range.

Yang Qi had even summarized his experience with nightmares: first, no matter how terrifying the dream, never be afraid. Not only should you not be afraid, but you should be even stronger. Second, don't treat a dream as if it's nothing; even if you know it's a dream, if you don't follow the plot, it's hard to wake up. If you "sit up in shock from a deathbed," you'll only shock yourself.

Just treat it like a free holographic RPG game! So, to play this dream properly, Yang Qi's eyes turned and focused on the black-faced girl beside him. From the beginning, her demeanor and tone had been too calm. A normal woman captured by bandits would be cowering in a corner, trembling—look, those three over there are the perfect example.

So, this girl must have something up her sleeve.