Li Nian lies on the bed, specifically a "tà", recalling everything that has happened to her today and thinking about what to do next. Since she is already dressed, she must accept this reality and carefully consider how to survive and live well in this era.
"If my guess is correct, that person is Emperor Qin Shi Huang. What can I do to ensure my personal safety? Like the protagonist in some novels, by using historical prescience to play a quack?"
"From the fact that Emperor Qin sought immortality by sending Xu Fu to seek immortals overseas and his desire for eternal life, it's true that Emperor Qin was somewhat superstitious, and it's possible that he might be able to fool some people."
The idea just emerged in Li Nian's mind, but he rejected it. "No, not only am I not qualified for this, but my dignity has already been reduced today by time travel. Even if I reveal future events to the Emperor and claim to be a god, he would probably doubt me. There is no such weak god." At that time, there would be a high probability that I wouldn't be able to deceive anyone and might even lose my life."
"And even if this path works, what if Emperor Qin wants to attain eternal life and asks me for an elixir? Can I rub him a pill with sweat stains? Even if I manage to get past the elixir, when he decides to send someone overseas to seek immortals, do you think he will send who?"
"Divining the Book of Changes, you can't do it. Summoning winds and rains, you can't manage that either. You don't have any elixir, and now you don't want to go seek immortals overseas? Are you complaining that my ox's strength isn't enough?"
Li Nian seems to have already seen the end of this path of pretending to be a quack, perhaps being beheaded thousands of times, dismembered into five parts, or even turned into human meat crullers.
'The path of pretending to be a quack cannot be taken. Then there is only one path left, to inform Emperor Qin of my origin, but with reservations or in full disclosure?'
"If I were to disclose everything, I would have to mention the deeds of people like Hu Hai, Li Si, and Zhao Gao. If the news got out and Hu Hai or Zhao Gao found out, wouldn't that be making enemies for myself?"
Although concerned about becoming enemies with Hu Hai and Zhao Gao, Li Nian is actually quite curious to see how Emperor Qin would react after learning about his son Hu Hai's massacres of his siblings and Zhao Gao manipulating things to make the deer pass for a horse.
"No, it's not just Zhao Gao and Hu Hai. If news of my origin from the future were to spread, many people would be wary of me because I can fabricate their historical achievements and comment on their loyalty or evilness. This would pose a significant threat to them."
"But if I inform him with reservations, how can I keep Emperor Qin from seeing through it? Although he is an ancient person, that doesn't mean he is stupid; he's not easily deceived."
"As the first emperor to be titled, he must be an extremely smart person. Could I deceive him in front of him? If he sees that I'm hiding something, would it be possible to make it right?"
Just thinking about the punishments he knows from the Qin Dynasty, Li Nian feels pain. The penalties include cutting off the nose, chopping off limbs, and excavating kneecaps. Suicide might be easier to endure, but if he were subjected to such punishments, he doubts his own willpower to withstand them.
He's just an ordinary person who loves life and fears pain.
"So we can't deceive him. Although I come from the modern era, I'm just an ordinary person. It would be better to be honest with such a legendary person like Emperor Qin, who will leave a lasting reputation in history. It's best to play it safe and tell the truth."
"However, fully disclosing the information to Emperor Qin will inevitably lead to enmity with Hu Hai, Zhao Gao, and others…I can't help it; we'll be enemies either way. Now what I need to do is win Emperor Qin's trust. He is my biggest asset in this era, but of course, that's assuming I can gain his trust and that he doesn't die soon!"
Thinking of this, Li Nian also considered another question: Even if he gains Emperor Qin's trust and Emperor Qin spares his life, for how many years can Emperor Qin actually protect him?
The Qin Dynasty lasted for only two generations, from its establishment to its downfall in just twelve years. Emperor Qin only ruled the unified China for ten years.
'Wondering what year it is now? Seeing Emperor Qin tonight, his appearance looks quite young and healthy. I shouldn't worry about the next few years. I should...'
Applying his own perspective to Emperor Qin, Li Nian believed that once he knew his origin, Emperor Qin would never let him go free. He would only place him under strict surveillance, both for his safety and to prevent this visitor from the future from causing any trouble to the Qin Dynasty. There was also a possibility that Emperor Qin might order his execution before he died, taking him along with him into the afterlife.
Even if Emperor Qin is generous and will not issue an order for his execution before he dies, what would the succeeding monarch do to him? And considering the numerous problems within the Qin Dynasty that Emperor Qin can suppress while alive, how can he survive in the turmoil after his death?
In a sense, after Li Nian's time travel to Emperor Qin, his fate is now intertwined with the emperor's. To live long and well in this era, he not only needs to gain Emperor Qin's trust but also for Emperor Qin to live a longer life. At the same time, he must also make the Qin Dynasty better.
"To gain Emperor Qin's trust, I not only need to be honest about my origin but also demonstrate my value to make him feel that it would be a waste to kill me. Keeping me alive would be more beneficial."
'If I had known I would time travel, I should have learned more about the things I could use in the future, such as making paper, soap, and cement. But who knew?'
At this moment, a light illuminated in Li Nian's mind, and he "saw" an outline appear in his brain with two blue Chinese characters at the end of it - Search.
'Is this my golden finger?'
Li Nian was overjoyed in his heart. He opened his eyes and looked around, seeing that the guards and eunuchs nearby did not notice anything unusual, he quietly studied this frame.
After some study, Li Nian roughly understood the function of this device.
This is a search engine that seems to be connected to the modern network, and can be searched by inputting desired content with mental intention.
The search has some limitations. Li Nian has not yet figured out the rules within, such as when he inputs "How to survive and live well by traveling back in time to Emperor Qin Shi Huang?", it fails to yield results. However, searching for papermaking or cement production yields successful results.
In addition, Li Nian also found that this search engine can search, view search results, even see live comments and posts, but cannot make replies or comments. In other words, don't dream of asking modern netizens for advice across time and space.
Although there are limitations, this search engine of unknown origin will be a powerful guarantee for Li Nian to survive in this era.
'With this, I can demonstrate my value to Emperor Qin Shi Huang and not worry about being executed for having no value.'
'With the search engine in my mind, my restless heart has finally calmed down a bit.'
"According to the search results from earlier, I have indeed time traveled to the Qin Dynasty!"
'While researching the search engine earlier, Li Nian searched for many related topics about the Qin Dynasty, and these topics all told him: You really have traveled to the Qin Dynasty! Don't hold any illusions!'
'Sigh, once you come, accept it. At least it's a relatively mature dynasty that is still on Earth, not thrown into another world. Maybe one day I will wake up from a sleep and go back to the modern era?'
'Sleep, sleep. The top priority is to learn the language here. Solve the language issue first. Without being able to communicate, no matter how much you think, it's all in vain.'
'After today's encounter, Li Nian is already mentally and physically exhausted, and he soon falls asleep.'
