Chapter One: Play Along with My Act

When Xiao Nan regained consciousness, he was immediately overwhelmed by a boundless exhaustion. His limbs felt limp and powerless, as if he were completely drained. He gasped for breath uncontrollably, struggling like a dying fish to lift his body…

What greeted his eyes was a wash of crimson.

He retched.

The stench of blood was overpowering.

Caught unprepared, he inhaled the thick, metallic air and was seized by a wave of nausea. Blood glistened across the floor, and the dim, red candlelight that flickered through the room sent a chill through his heart.

"Where… is this place?"

Confusion filled his mind.

Behind him, a girl's sobs cut through the silence, thin and trembling, making the air even colder.

The wooden floor beneath his feet was carved with strange, curving lines that formed an intricate pattern. Blood flowed along the grooves, shimmering with a dark red glow.

Half the room was empty. Except for the blood-soaked pattern, a short altar stood against the distant wall, incense burning atop it.

The smoke curled upward, blending with the scent of blood into a nauseating miasma.

Upon the altar stood a statue of reddish-brown wood, carved with beastly features—humanoid in form but with the head of a fierce animal, bulging eyes, fangs bared, a visage cruel and menacing, part wolf, part lion, part tiger…

Though it was nothing but dead carved wood, it seemed ready to pounce at any moment, to tear him to shreds, devour his flesh, and crush his bones.

At a glance, Xiao Nan broke out in goosebumps, unwilling to look any longer.

…

"Judging by the situation, I must be a sacrifice."

Behind him and to the side, a girl of about fifteen or sixteen lay half-prone on the floor, trapped within the bloody array.

She was sobbing without end, wracked with grief and terror, her body trembling uncontrollably.

As his mind gradually cleared, Xiao Nan surveyed his surroundings, a wave of bewilderment rising within him.

Wasn’t he in North America just moments ago?

How did he end up here, trapped like this?

He had just seized a national treasure, barely escaped the Freedom Temple exhibition hall, broken through the encirclement of intelligence agents, and fled out to sea…

"Right, after I got the mirror, all hell broke loose… I slipped onto a cargo ship, escaped to sea, and was pursued by a US Navy vessel."

"In the end, I was hit by seven or eight bullets. Unwilling to fall into enemy hands as I was dying, I leaped into the icy water…"

Had someone rescued him? Had he just escaped one predator only to fall into the lair of another?

And what about the national treasure?

Thinking of the mirror he’d risked his life to recover, a faint bitterness welled up in Xiao Nan’s heart.

The legend of his perfect mission record had finally been broken. Still, to survive a military siege at all was a stroke of luck.

He instinctively reached for his chest, where he had always kept the mirror.

As expected, it was gone.

He glanced down, disappointment settling in his heart.

…

His open shirt revealed a smooth, fair chest, ribs faintly visible beneath the skin. A round birthmark was etched there, its blue tone threaded with intricate patterns.

"What’s this? This birthmark looks familiar, much like that treasured mirror… Wait, something’s wrong with this body."

Xiao Nan stared blankly at his hands.

They were slender, delicate, almost like those of a young maiden. His chest was smooth and pale, his abdomen flat and thin—utterly unfamiliar.

"This isn’t my body."

He knew his own body better than anything else. But now, it was completely foreign.

He had endured the harshest training, forging his body with martial arts…

For a decade, he had practiced Xingyi, Taiji, and Bagua, and learned the deadliest techniques from around the world, enhanced by advanced equipment that stimulated cell growth.

His physique had reached the limits of human strength—muscles the color of bronze, sinewy and powerful, radiating explosive energy.

There was a bowl-sized scar on his lower abdomen—a memento from a mission, when shrapnel had nearly killed him.

His hands, through years of external and internal training, had grown as hard as stone, rough and calloused; the callus at the base of his thumb was half an inch thick.

Now, his abdomen was smooth, and his hands soft, white, and delicate, as if they belonged to a sheltered girl—no strength at all.

Perhaps most jarring of all, the thick chest hair he’d always had was simply gone.

"Reborn? Transmigrated?"

Though he couldn’t see his face without a mirror, Xiao Nan had little trouble deducing that something truly bizarre had happened.

To inhabit another body in real life was impossible, but in novels and movies such things were commonplace.

"No… could this be one of those gender-bending stories? Did I transmigrate into a woman?" He stared at his hands, a wail ringing silently in his heart, his face twisting with horror as he quickly reached down to check.

After a moment’s probing, he froze, his expression a mix of sorrow and relief.

Thankfully, it wasn’t the worst-case scenario.

His manhood was still there, though a bit smaller than before. But that was a trivial concern.

The scare nearly made him forget the peril he was still in.

…

Having pieced together his situation, realizing he had likely transmigrated into the body of a young boy, Xiao Nan finally let out a sigh of relief.

He forcibly suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his mind and refocused on the immediate crisis.

…

A chilling, sinister aura radiated from the wooden beast-headed idol, making him deeply uneasy.

The round birthmark on his chest burned even hotter, as if a second heart was pounding within, warning him that this was no place to linger, that delay would only bring disaster.

"Could that beast-headed statue actually eat people?"

A shiver ran through Xiao Nan’s heart; his brow furrowed tightly, every hair on his body standing on end.

…

The room’s curtains were drawn tightly, but through the cracks he could just make out steel window bars.

A sliver of daylight shone through, casting spots of light upon the floor.

It seemed the weather outside was quite pleasant.

This house was impressively decorated, a blend of classical and modern. The sturdy iron door was locked tight, leaving not the slightest gap.

No way out.

Death was the only prospect.

He had a sense that he must not touch either the incense altar or the statue, or something terrible would happen.

That left only one possibility—someone else would have to open the door and let him out.

Unfortunately, his new body was so weak—thin arms, obviously untrained.

Even if his body were strong, it would be useless now.

Who knew what drugs they had injected after capturing him? His heart raced abnormally, his limbs were feeble, his entire body devoid of strength.

Was this truly a death trap?

Never before had a mission ended in such utter hopelessness.

He didn’t even need to listen carefully—the harsh breathing outside the steel door gave away the presence of guards.

Further off, faint chanting could be heard—someone was reciting incantations.

"Stop crying. Do you want to live and escape?"

Suppressing his dizziness, Xiao Nan forced himself upright, struggling to his feet. He helped the still-sobbing girl behind him, speaking in a low, steady voice: "If you want to survive, cooperate with me and put on a show."