Long Xiaoyao panted as he darted through the backyard.
Behind him was the furious husband of the woman he had been in bed with not long ago, chasing after him while barking curses.
"Hey! You think you can get away!? I'll beat you senseless once I lay my hands on you!"
Long Xiaoyao protested "Whoa! Easy there, buddy! You're confusing me with someone else!"
But the man, an MMA legend, was relentless, shouting insults and threats
"Don't play dumb with me! I saw you jump off the window! While my wife is soundly asleep on our marital bed naked!"
"It wasn't me buddy! You got the wrong guy!"
The man's face was red in fury, his fists clenched, imagining all the ways to make Long Xiaoyao regret his life choices
"Look at yourself! You are only in your boxer shorts! You're practically inviting me to beat the hell out of you!"
Long Xiaoyao's mind raced. He needed a plan, and fast, if not, this enraged Rino, fueled by pure, unadulterated rage, might catch up to him.
He then saw it, a railroad track just a few yards ahead. An oncoming train was blaring its horn.
Long Xiaoyao's eyes widened. This was it.
You see it all the time in movies. The hero dashes across the train tracks just in the nick of time. Leaving the pursuer behind. Victorious and unscathed, fading into the night.
Long Xiaoyao remembered a dozen action flicks where the hero sprinted with confidence, crossing the tracks just as the train roared past.
He took a deep breath.
"This is my moment," he muttered. He had no other choice as the man chasing behind him was getting closer and closer.
He sprinted towards the tracks and glanced at the train.
It looked like it was going much faster than the movies showed
No matter. He'd seen enough movies to know that if he timed it right, he'd make it.
He made a dash, arms pumping, legs flying.
Just as he reached the middle of the tracks, he looked towards his shoulders.
"Wait.. Did I misjudge the timing?".
The train was closer than he thought. He squinted at the approaching humongous metal. With a deafening roar, the train loomed larger. Long Xiaoyao's eyes widened in horror.
"Shi-"--crash.
Then darkness.
-----
Inside an elegant and imposing structure, the atmosphere is heavy and solemn.
In a dimly lit chamber, a chubby eunuch in his 30's kneels humbly on the cold, polished wooden floor, his head bowed in remorse
His hands are clasped together, his eyes filled with sorrow as he pleads for forgiveness to a man lying lifeless on the bed.
"Your Highness… forgive me," he choked out, "Forgive me for not protecting you from those beasts".
His shoulders heaved with silent sobs as he clutched at his chest, feeling the ache of guilt that refused to fade.
The young prince's radiant face haunted his mind—the innocence, the trust—and the terrible scene he had failed to shield him from. The beasts had come swiftly, mercilessly, and he had been powerless to stop them.
He clenched his fists, tears spilling over as he whispered brokenly, "I promised to guard you with my life, to keep you safe. But I failed… I failed in the worst way possible."
His voice cracked as he looked up to the motionless body lying still on the bed, "Please… forgive me, 6th Prince. I am unworthy of your trust"
Suddenly, a gasp, sharp and desperate, like a drowning man breaking the surface, cut through the room.
He awoke slowly, a dull ache throbbing behind his eyes. His senses were sluggish, as if he had been submerged in water for an eternity
Inside the mind of the man occupying the body, there was only chaos.
A splitting headache that felt like someone had driven a railroad spike through his temples.
'Where am I?'.
Long Xiaoyao's thoughts spiral. The last thing he remembered was the oncoming train.
He scans the surroundings. He is lying in an unfamiliar room, with strange walls and unfamiliar furnishings.
His heart pounds with uncertainty. Wondering what had happened while he was unconscious.
'I should be dead. No, it seems like I survived'.
He forced his heavy eyelids open. He tried to lift his hand to touch his aching head, but the arm that moved was terrifyingly unfamiliar
It was slender, pale, and calloused. A hand of someone who had never worked a day in his life.
'Who... whose body is this?'
The sobbing of the eunuch beside the bed stopped instantly. The silence that followed was deafening.
Long Xiaoyao turned his head slowly, fighting the stiffness in his neck. He looked down to see a stranger in strange, ancient clothing kneeling by his bedside. The stranger's face was a mess of tears and snot, his forehead bruised and bleeding.
The eunuch stared up at him, eyes wide with a mixture of absolute terror and disbelief. He looked as if he were seeing a ghost.
"Y-Your..." The eunuch's voice trembled. He scrambled backward on his hands and knees, shaking violently. "Long Xiaoyao, Your Highness?".
Long Xiaoyao frowned, confusion clouding his vision. 'Highness? Is he talking to me? Damn, who is this guy? Why is he crying?'.
"Who..." Long Xiaoyao forced the words out, his voice foreign to his own ears. "Who are you?"
Yuan Gui froze. A fresh wave of tears welled up in his eyes, but this time, he lunged forward, grabbing Long Xiaoyao's hand and pressing it to his tear-stained cheek.
"It is me! It is Yuan Gui! Oh, thank the Heavens, the ancestors have shown mercy!" Yuan Gui wept, hysterical now. "You are alive! 6th prince, do you not recognize this old servant?"
Long Xiaoyao stared at the weeping stranger.
He had no idea who Yuan Gui was. He had no idea who the "6th Prince" was.
Long Xiaoyao pulled his hand away, grimacing slightly at the damp sensation of Yuan Gui's tears—and possibly snot coating his skin. He wiped it surreptitiously on the silk bedsheets.
"Yuan….Gui?" the man repeated, testing the name. He sat up, clutching his throbbing forehead. "My memory is... fuzzy. It feels like my brain was put in a blender. What happened?".
Yuan Gui's eyes widened, and he let out a fresh wail, though this one was more sympathetic than terrified.
"Oh, the poor Highness! The impact must have rattled your precious brain!".
"Just tell me what happened," Long Xiaoyao snapped, his patience wearing thin.
Yuan Gui sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Does Your Highness not recall? We were outside the Fortress City! You insisted. Insisted, despite this old servant's begging that we go 'roaming' to admire the scenery."
"Roaming," Long Xiaoyao echoed flatly.
"Yes! And then..." Yuan Gui shuddered theatrically. "The beasts! A pack of Iron Hide Boars surged from the brush! It was chaos! The Royal guards, theyhurt tried to block them and protect you!" Yuan Gui mimed a sword fight with his flabby arms. "Clang! Slash! But alas!"
"Alas?"
"One of the beasts... slipped past the defense." Yuan Gui looked down, ashamed. "It charged straight for you. You tried to run, Your Highness, truly, you ran with grace! But you tripped."
Long Xiaoyao stared at him, dumbfounded. "I'm running for my life, and I tripped?"
"And then the beast head-butted you," Yuan Gui whispered. "It launched you, Your Highness like a kite with a cut string. You flew through the air and..Crack!. slammed right into the Ancient Oak tree. Your frail body just... went limp."
Long Xiaoyao sat there, blinking, looking astonished
'Frail body? Launched like a kite?'
'Okay, let me get this straight,' Long Xiaoyao thought, 'I got reincarnated. I actually got reincarnated'.
'I definitely died. No one walks away after headbutting a speeding train.
He was now this '6th Prince'.
He looked down at his arms again. They were like noodles. Uncooked, pale noodles.
'So, in my last life, I was taken out by high-speed rail transit,' he mused, 'and the original owner of this body? He got taken out by a pig and a tree'.
"So," Long Xiaoyao said aloud, his voice trembling slightly. "I am the 6th Prince of a Kingdom?"
"Of the Great Verdant Kingdom!" Yuan Gui declared, looking concerned. "Your Highness, do you not even remember your own royal lineage? You are the Sixth Son of the King! The... well..." Yuan Gui hesitated, coughing awkwardly. "The... most delicate son of the Imperial Family.".
Long Xiaoyao slumped back against the pillows.
"Delicate? Great, I went from a Gigolo to a royal punching bag".
"Gigilu?" Yuan Gui tilted his head. "What is that, Your Highness?"
"Never mind," Long Xiaoyao sighed, rubbing his temples. He looked at the eunuch, who was looking at him with puppy-dog eyes.
"Yuan Gui," he said seriously.
"Yes, your Highness!?".
"Bring me a mirror. If I got killed by a train and woke up as a guy who got killed by a pig, I need to know if I'm at least handsome.".