A skinny old man with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks gently opened a door. With gentleness in his eyes, he glanced at the back of a sixteen-year-old boy. The teenager's eyes were glued to a book, his hands holding a pen and a notebook, writing incessantly.
Beside the teenager, a shelf filled with medals and trophies gleamed under the strong sunlight pouring through the window. All of them were related to school studies, but the subjects were varied: mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry...
The skinny old man approached the teenager, who was too focused on his studies to notice. A warm smile adorned his face as he softly caressed the boy's bed hair.
"It's summer vacation, Mo. Aren't you going to play with your friends?"
Fang Mo stopped for a moment and looked at the old man smiling at him. "Grandpa, I need to study. I can't slack off now; I need to get into college in less than a year. I can't disappoint Father and Mother."
The old man sighed. "How could you disappoint your parents? If they were still alive, they'd want you to live like a kid your age, not bury yourself in books all day."
The pen in Fang Mo's hand trembled. "I… I want to be a doctor even better than my father was. I don't want anyone to suffer the way I did."
With a deep gaze, the old man parted his lips to speak. "When I was a boy, I lived in a village in the countryside. It was a quiet place, home to just a few warmhearted people. There lived a very peculiar beetle colony. These beetles would pick up other insects' burdens and carry them. Sometimes, people felt pity for them and reduced their load, but they would soon find more and keep carrying. As long as they could move and breathe, they never stopped taking on others' burdens. Their whole lives were about carrying heavy loads. In the end, they all died of exhaustion."
***
Fang Mo's eyelids trembled. A sharp pain came from his shoulder, and he instinctively moved his left hand to touch it. His fingers didn't find the arrow he expected, but instead felt bandages wrapped around the wound. He opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. He was lying on a makeshift bed made of hay and leaves. His tongue moved across his lips, feeling their dryness.
Not far from him, he saw a boy at most twelve years old with big eyes and thin lips, staring at him nervously. The boy held a bucket of water, which he dropped to the ground when he noticed Fang Mo looking at him. Then he dashed out of the room.
"Grandpa! Grandpa! He woke up!" Fang Mo heard the boy shouting outside.
Only a few seconds later, a skinny old man appeared in the doorway, smiling gently at Fang Mo. Fang Mo blinked twice in surprise. He didn't know if it was because of the dream he had just had, but the old man looked a lot like his own grandfather.
"My name is Ren Tingfeng. How are you feeling, young man?" the old man asked.
Fang Mo made a small gesture of respect without moving too much. Because of his injured shoulder, he didn't cup his hands in salute to the man who had saved him.
"Thank you for saving my life, Ren Tingfeng. If there's anything I can do in the future to repay you, I promise I will."
To those he didn't know, Fang Mo might be heartless, but he would never be ungrateful to those who had extended a helping hand without expecting anything in return. He had been such a person in the past, and knew how these kinds of people tended to suffer.
Ren Tingfeng laughed. "No need to be so serious. And if you want to thank anyone, thank my grandson, Ren Shan. He was the one who found you floating in the river."
Fang Mo looked beside Ren Tingfeng and saw the boy observing him timidly.
"Thank you, Ren Shan," he said to his helper, then turned back to Ren Tingfeng. "May I ask where we are and how long I've been unconscious?"
"This is Liushi Village, in Cheng Hou State. It's been a day since we found you in the river, but as for how long you were unconscious before that, I'm afraid we don't know. You should rest more. Because of the war with the Wei Zhou State, there were no medics available to treat you. I just applied some herbs and made a bandage. Fortunately, there was no infection, and your body seems to be recovering well."
Fang Mo sighed in relief. At least he had arrived in Cheng Hou State. If he were still in Wei Zhou State, he might never have woken up again. He was certain the bounty placed on his head wouldn't reach this far—unless it had been issued by the emperor himself, which he knew wasn't the case.
Though grateful to be alive, he was still frustrated. Not even a month has passed, and I've already faced two life and death situations. What kind of dangerous place is this new world?
Fang Mo opened his mouth to thank Ren Tingfeng, but before he could speak, a series of loud knocks echoed from outside the room.
"Ren Tingfeng, come out here now!" a hoarse male voice shouted.
Ren Tingfeng's face visibly paled at the sound. He recognized the voice, and it wasn't good news. "Ren Shan, stay inside," he said firmly, pushing his grandson into the room where Fang Mo was resting. He shut the door quickly, not giving the boy a chance to protest.
Fang Mo sensed something was wrong. He stood up despite his injuries and pressed his ear against the wall to listen.
"Yuan Yi, I really have no money to give," Ren Tingfeng said. "You know our situation better than anyone…"
Yuan Yi sneered, a puff of cold air escaping his nostrils. "This is the State Lord's law. Everyone who isn't contributing to the war must pay taxes. You can either participate or pay. There is no third option!"
"P-Please, it's just me and my grandson. If I die, he'll be all alone. You can't do this!"
Fang Mo glanced at Ren Shan, who was clearly agitated. Despite his grandfather's attempt to shield him, the child understood the situation perfectly. He couldn't help but feel a deep sympathy for the boy.
Then the chilling sound of a sword being unsheathed came. "Ren Tingfeng, two of my brothers died in this war, and you really think you can get out of it?" Yuan Yi's voice grew more impatient.
Ren Shan could no longer stay still. He burst through the door and ran to his grandfather. "N-No, don't hurt Grandpa!"
Fang Mo sighed. The family that had saved him was about to be torn apart. He no longer considered himself a good person, but he wasn't ungrateful. Despite his injuries, he walked out of the room.
Yuan Yi's eyes widened at the sight of Fang Mo. "Who's this?"
Like Ren Tingfeng and Ren Shan, Yuan Yi was also from Liushi Village, but he had never seen Fang Mo before. Still, he didn't appear alarmed. Fang Mo was skinny, lacking visible muscle, and clearly injured. Standing next to Yuan Yi, a towering, muscular man nearly two meters tall, he looked like a dwarf.
"I heard you say that every household has to contribute people or taxes to the war. Is that right?" Fang Mo asked.
Yuan Yi nodded. It was the State Lord's decree. The poor were forced to fight, while the rich got away with sending a few coins. In every world, the poor suffered most during war. This one was no different from Fang Mo's original world.
Whether you were a child, an elder, or a woman, it didn't matter—only money did.
"How much do they need to pay?" Fang Mo asked.
"A gold coin," Yuan Yi replied impatiently.
Fang Mo smiled. If that was all, he could easily repay his debt with the money he carried. But he had no intention of paying. "It seems I'm too poor. In that case, I'll take Ren Tingfeng's place and go to war."
Yuan Yi looked him up and down with disdain. "You? A skinny boy who can barely lift a sword? You'll die on the first day, probably before even seeing the enemy. The training alone will kill you. Are you really willing to throw your life away for this dying old man?"
"Who said I'm going as a fighter?" Fang Mo replied, his smile never wavering. "You can call me… Doctor Demon." His eyes gleamed dangerously. With the plan he had in mind, he might just be able to hit four birds with one stone!
Yuan Yi was taken aback by Fang Mo's words, but excitement lit up in his eyes. "Y-You're a medic?" What they lacked most wasn't soldiers or weapons; it was capable medics.