In the 25th year of Qin Shi Huang's reign, in the capital city of Qin, Xianyang, the Supreme King of Great Qin, Ying Zheng, sat with a serious expression, but his eyes revealed a hint of joy.
Today, he is truly happy. Just received a secret letter from the front, King Zhi of Qi has surrendered, and will be delivered to Xianyang in a few days.
This means that the last of the Six States has submitted to his feet, and the goal of unifying the world has been achieved.
After ten years of conquest, today's achievement has been completed. From now on, the world will only have one king and one country!
This great achievement is something that even the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of ancient times could not have done, but he has accomplished it. He wants the world to only listen to one king's voice, use the same script, and have all carriages with identical wheel widths...
Wherever the sun and moon shine, all is Qin territory; wherever rivers flow, there are songs in Qin dialect!
Ying Zheng became happier and happier as he thought about it.
How can such a joyful event be enjoyed alone?
I must share this joy with all my ministers!
As Ying Zheng was thinking about how to share the joy with his ministers, a loud "thud" echoed in the hall, as if someone had fallen from a high place into the hall.
"Protect the sovereign!"
Ying Zheng pressed his sword at his waist with his right hand and looked towards the source of the sound, where he saw a person lying on the floor of the hall, crying out in pain.
Before Ying Zheng had a chance to look more closely, ten figures appeared from the shadows, several people restrained the person on the ground, holding him down, and several others formed a human wall around him. The hall door was also opened, and numerous guards rushed in from outside.
Ying Zheng sat at the table, not in a hurry, and quietly waited for the guards to handle it.
After a while, a Qin general reported, "The thief has been captured, please His Majesty decide!"
After saying this, the Qin general pointed to the ground several meters away and said, "Your Majesty, these things were all found on the thief, all of which are things I have never seen before!"
This statement piqued Ying Zheng's interest. As a high-ranking minister from a prestigious family, his eyesight and knowledge were both top-notch, and there were not many things in the world that he had not seen before.
Following the Qin general's pointer, Ying Zheng saw several items lying on the ground a few meters away, each guarded by Qin soldiers.
Ying Zheng's gaze scanned over these items, and the first one he saw was something he did not recognize. The object was rectangular, less than an inch thick, and the outer surface was completely black and smooth, looking very shiny. On the other side, he could not see the full view yet, but it seemed to be a mixture of white, blue, and green.
What was this object, what was it used for, and how was it made? Ying Zheng could not figure it out at all. From the appearance alone, this object did not seem to be gold, jade, stone, or wood.
The Qin general's voice echoed again, "Your Majesty, when I first got hold of this object, a light shone from the black surface, revealing a strangely beautiful woman."
How strange and beautiful can it be? How strange and beautiful can it be?
How can this black thing emit light and show a beautiful woman?
With doubts lingering, Ying Zheng continued to look at the second item.
This thing looks like a rectangular block, but also like a box. The overall appearance is still black, with strange spots, patterns, and holes on it. A white rope extends from it as if it wants to connect with something else.
The Qin general pointed to the first item that was said to show a beautiful woman: "Your Majesty, this object was originally connected to it by this rope. When I saw it, a green light was showing on it, but once this rope was pulled out, the green light stopped appearing."
That means this white rope is used to connect these two objects. It's truly fascinating; it's another oddity that can emit light.
However, what is the purpose of them emitting light? Why do they need to be connected by this rope?
Who is this thief and why did he appear in His Majesty's palace?
Ying Zheng became curious about the thief who possessed these items, but he did not immediately question the thief about his origin. Instead, he looked at the third item again.
This item, Ying Zheng still did not recognize, but he thought it might be a string of money or some kind of accessory. The Qin general also had the same idea as Ying Zheng: "Your Majesty, this object was worn on the thief's waist. It seems to be made of iron, but it may have something different."
Worn at the waist, it must be some kind of ornament. It's just that this kind of ornament is one Ying Zheng had never seen before. But in such a vast world, there are people who like such strange ornaments, and it's not surprising at all.
Looking at the fourth and fifth items, Ying Zheng still did not recognize them.
The fourth item was a small rectangular block of mostly green and white color, with patterns and texts on it. According to his high-ranking minister, the characters on it do not belong to any of the current countries. They look more regular and concise than Xiaozhuan (the early form of Chinese script), and the patterns are several pieces of tea leaves, looking like they were directly picked from a tree and then carved onto the block, almost indistinguishable from real leaves.
The fifth item seemed to be a transparent bag, also unknown as to what material it was made of. According to the minister, the object was as thin as silk, but felt very different from silk. There had been something inside it originally, which had been separated out by the minister.
Ying Zheng looked at the remaining three items, and the sixth item was placed in a smaller transparent bag, as if it was...a piece of meat?
How could this thief have brought a piece of meat to carry out an assassination?
Ying Zheng looked at the Qin general, who said, "Your Majesty, in my opinion, this is a piece of pork!"
Pork meat?
This thief really brought a piece of meat to carry out an assassination against the sovereign!
Interesting!
Ying Zheng became even more interested in the thief. He looked at the last two items.
These two items were also in transparent bags. Both were a pair of earth-colored things, each the size of a fist, which seemed to be some kind of fruit. The other item was about ten pieces of dried and flattened reddish things, which appeared to be some kind of crop.
Looking at all these items, none of them have been seen by Ying Zheng before. It's no wonder that his minister would say, "All of these are things I have never seen."
This only made him more curious about the thief's origin.
Ying Zheng looked at the thief who was being held by the guards. The thief's head was pressed down by a guard, so his face was not visible, but he could see that his hair was not tied up, and his short hair was untidy. The clothes he was wearing were also very unusual, and in Ying Zheng's knowledge of the seven countries, none matched this.
No, even the Xiongnu in the north or the barbarians on the west don't have such strange clothes!
The Qin general spoke up again: "Your Majesty, according to what I've seen, the clothes on this person are also very strange, not hemp nor silk, and I don't know what they were woven from."
Glancing at the thief being held by the guards, Ying Zheng looked around the great hall and asked, "Have any of you seen how this person entered the hall?"
The Qin general said: "Your Majesty, I personally saw this person appear out of nowhere!"
Ying Zheng didn't speak. He just looked at one of the guards who had just entered from outside the hall.
The guard said, "Your Majesty, we were guarding outside the hall and had never seen this person before!"
Ying Zheng nodded, then looked at the other guards. As he scanned the room, the guards inside the hall confirmed that this person had appeared out of nowhere, while those outside the hall said they had never seen him before.
The guards chosen to serve him were carefully selected and absolutely loyal to him, so it was impossible for them to lie to him. In other words, this person had truly appeared out of thin air.
How could he have managed to do that?
Could this person possibly be a sorcerer or an extraordinary person?
But regardless of this person's identity, this sudden appearance in the palace must be clarified. If someone with ill intentions has mastered this method, it will pose a serious threat to his safety.
Ying Zheng thought of many things quickly: "Raise your head, let me see you!"
The guard who had been pressing the thief's head let go, but the thief did not immediately raise his head. Instead, he waited a while before carefully lifting his head.
Ying Zheng saw that this was a young man, probably around twenty years old, with fair and glossy skin. It was clear that he had not been living a hard life.
What was even more intriguing to Ying Zheng was that the young man looked at him, at the great hall, and at his guards with a look of astonishment, as if he had seen something incredible.
'Are the palace and I, as a king, very strange to this person?'
