Chapter 1: The Stranger Who Fell into the Great Qin Palace

In the 25th year of King Zheng’s reign, in the state of Qin, within the royal palace of Xianyang, the supreme monarch of the Great Qin—Ying Zheng—knelt before his desk, his stern brows softened by a rare gleam of delight.

Today, he was truly jubilant. He had just received a secret dispatch from the frontlines: King Jian of Qi had surrendered and would soon be escorted to Xianyang.

This signified that the last of the six kingdoms had bowed before him; his goal of unifying the realm was finally realized.

A decade of relentless conquest had borne fruit at last. From this day forward, there would be but one sovereign, one nation ruling the land!

Such a monumental achievement was unparalleled, even by the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of antiquity, yet he had accomplished it. He envisioned a world where all listened to a single ruler’s voice, wrote in a unified script, and where every carriage ran on standardized wheels...

Wherever the sun and moon shone, that would be Qin soil; wherever rivers flowed, Qin songs would be heard.

The more Ying Zheng pondered this, the greater his joy swelled.

Such happiness was not meant to be hoarded alone—it must be shared with his ministers!

Just as he was contemplating how to share his joy, a sudden crash echoed through the hall, as if someone had fallen from a great height into the chamber.

“Protect the king!”

Ying Zheng’s right hand rested on the sword at his waist as he turned toward the source of the sound. There lay a man, groaning in pain.

Before Ying Zheng could examine further, a dozen figures burst from the shadows. Several subdued the man, pressing him to the ground while others formed a protective barrier around him. The palace doors were flung open, and guards surged inside.

Ying Zheng remained seated calmly at his desk, awaiting the guards’ handling of the situation.

After a long moment, a general of Qin reported, “The intruder has been captured, Your Majesty. Please issue your orders.”

Pointing a few meters away to the ground, the general added, “Your Majesty, these items were found on the man—objects unlike any I have ever seen!”

This piqued Ying Zheng’s interest. As a high minister from a noble lineage, his knowledge and experience were unparalleled; few things in the world were unfamiliar to him.

Following the general’s gesture, Ying Zheng’s gaze fell upon several objects laid out on the floor, each guarded by Qin soldiers.

The first was an unrecognizable rectangular item, less than a finger’s thickness, with one side a smooth, pure black surface, sleek and shiny. The other side was a blend of white, blue, and green, though its full appearance was unclear.

What was this thing? Its purpose? Its composition? Ying Zheng could not discern, but from its appearance, it seemed neither metal, jade, stone, nor wood.

The general’s voice broke the silence: “Your Majesty, when I first seized this item, a light shone from the black surface, revealing the image of an extraordinarily beautiful woman.”

An extraordinarily beautiful woman? How so? What was so strange and beautiful?

And how did this black object shine and reveal her image?

With these questions lingering, Ying Zheng turned to the second item.

This one resembled a block or a box, also predominantly black, adorned with strange dots, patterns, and holes. A white cord extended from it, as if meant to connect to something else.

The general pointed back to the first object, “Your Majesty, these two were originally connected by this cord. When I found them, a green light was emanating from the first item, but once the cord was removed, the light vanished.”

So this white cord linked the two objects—a curious pair, both capable of glowing.

But for what purpose? Why connect them in this way?

Who was this intruder, and how did he come to possess such strange things within the royal palace?

Ying Zheng’s curiosity about the man deepened, yet he did not immediately interrogate him. Instead, his eyes moved to the third item.

This one, too, was unfamiliar but seemed to be a string of coins or some kind of ornament. The general shared this impression: “Your Majesty, this was worn around the man’s waist. It appears to be made of iron, but with some differences.”

Worn at the waist, it was surely a kind of ornament, though one Ying Zheng had never seen before. The world was vast; it was not unimaginable that some liked such peculiar adornments.

The fourth and fifth items also puzzled him.

The fourth was a small block, mostly green and white with patterns and inscriptions unlike any known script of the current states. It appeared even more orderly and simplified than the small seal script, adorned with a few tea leaves, as if freshly plucked from the tree and carved onto it, vivid and lifelike.

The fifth seemed to be a transparent pouch of unknown material, thin as silk yet distinctly different to the touch. It once contained something that the general had separated out.

Turning to the last three items, Ying Zheng noted the sixth was enclosed in a smaller transparent pouch—appearing to be... a piece of meat?

Did this intruder really bring a piece of meat to assassinate him?

Ying Zheng looked to the general. “Your Majesty, from what I can tell, this is pork.”

Pork?

This man truly brought a piece of meat to attack me!

Intriguing!

Ying Zheng’s interest in the man grew. He examined the final two items, also sealed in transparent pouches: two ochre-colored objects roughly fist-sized, possibly some kind of fruit, and a dozen or so shriveled red items, resembling some kind of crop.

None of these things were familiar to Ying Zheng. No wonder the general said they were “all items I have never seen before.”

This only deepened his curiosity about the intruder’s origins.

He looked at the man restrained by the guards. The man’s head was pressed down, hiding his face, but his unbound short hair and strange clothes were unlike anything from any of the seven states known to Ying Zheng.

No, even the northern Xiongnu or western barbarians would not dress so oddly!

The general spoke again, “Your Majesty, this man’s garments are indeed strange—neither hemp nor silk, woven from materials unknown to us.”

Ying Zheng glanced around the great hall and asked, “Did any of you see how this man entered the palace?”

The general replied, “Your Majesty, I saw with my own eyes—the man appeared out of thin air.”

Ying Zheng fell silent, fixing his gaze on a guard entering from outside.

The guard said, “Your Majesty, we were stationed outside the hall and never saw this man before!”

Ying Zheng nodded and looked toward the other guards. Those inside the hall all claimed the man appeared from nowhere; those outside had never seen him.

His guards were handpicked and utterly loyal. They would not lie to him. This must mean the man truly appeared out of thin air.

How could this be?

Was he some kind of sorcerer or mystic?

Regardless of his identity, this method of suddenly appearing in the palace must be understood. If ill-intentioned people mastered this, it would pose a grave threat to his safety.

Ying Zheng’s thoughts raced. “Raise his head—let me see him!”

The guard holding the man’s head released him, but the man did not immediately look up. After a moment’s hesitation, he cautiously lifted his head.

Ying Zheng saw a young man, barely in his early twenties, with fair, radiant skin—a sign of a comfortable life.

What intrigued Ying Zheng even more was the young man’s expression upon seeing him, the hall, and the guards: one of profound astonishment, as if witnessing something incredible.

‘Am I, the king, and this palace so extraordinary in this man’s eyes?’