Chapter 16: Peng City

As soon as everyone got off the bus, the Coaster van behind them suddenly emitted a faint glow, its body rippling like water.

“What the hell! Where’s the van?!” Fang Gaochang spun around in shock, watching helplessly as the vehicle gradually became transparent in midair before vanishing completely.

“Is this... some kind of magic?!”

“We’ve time-traveled, so it’s normal for the van to disappear,” Jiang Kai said calmly, looking disdainfully at the others who were shouting in panic.

Shi Xiaoyu looked worried. “The van’s gone. What if we can’t get back?”

Just then, a cold mechanical voice echoed in Jiang Ye’s mind from the system.

[Notification! Tour mission activated: Host, please lead the tourists to visit the Pengcheng scenic area and let them experience the ‘Meeting Emperor Qin Shi Huang’ event.]

[Mission reward: Mastery of Archery (Unerring Precision)]

Jiang Ye twitched at the corner of his mouth.

The system really knows how to pick its missions.

Meeting Emperor Qin Shi Huang?

Isn’t that a bit too difficult?

He wondered if the phone they scavenged last time had somehow made it into the hands of the First Emperor. If it had, then the chances of meeting the emperor this time would be greatly increased.

If not, he’d have to find a way to get close to him.

Jiang Ye pondered carefully. With the system’s tour missions and the previous and current tasks, it was highly likely the next one would also involve the First Emperor.

Of course, it was also possible the system might send them to some obscure corner next time—everything was uncertain.

Still, for the future, Jiang Ye had already begun to plot how to earn the trust of the First Emperor.

Snapping back to reality, he gave the group a reassuring smile. “Don’t panic. This is our travel agency’s ‘Quantum Cloaking and Teleportation Technology.’ The van has only been temporarily recalled and will automatically return to us once the tour is over.”

The so-called ‘Quantum Cloaking and Teleportation Technology’ was pure nonsense he made up on the spot.

After being caught off guard last time, as the tour guide, Jiang Ye had thoroughly prepared a plausible explanation instead of making lame excuses.

Wu Xiaoshi grinned mischievously at Jiang Ye. “Guide Jiang, you’re not secretly an agent of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, are you?”

“Cut back on the sci-fi movies,” Jiang Ye patted his shoulder and lowered his voice mysteriously. “Right now, we have an exciting event to experience.”

“What is it?” everyone asked curiously.

“Do you want to see Emperor Qin Shi Huang with your own eyes?”

“What?!” The eight of them exclaimed in unison, their voices rising in pitch.

---

Jiang Ye opened the system navigation and called to the group, “Follow me.”

The eight of them trailed behind eagerly.

“Guide Jiang, can you really get us a glimpse of Emperor Qin Shi Huang?” Fang Gaochang’s cheeks flushed with excitement at the thought of seeing the legendary emperor.

Before Jiang Ye could answer, Jiang Kai cut in confidently, “Guide Jiang managed to take us back to the Qin dynasty; meeting Emperor Qin Shi Huang should be a piece of cake.”

After speaking, he winked at Jiang Ye. “Right, Guide Jiang?”

Jiang Ye gave a dry laugh.

Thanks for the compliment!

Half an hour later, a dozen burly men holding rakes and machetes hurriedly arrived beside a dirt road, led by an old farmer. The village chief, Lidian, wiped the sweat from his brow and looked around. The empty dirt path only bore a few strange tire marks—there was no sign of any man-eating rectangular monster.

“Uncle Chen, where’s this monster you’re talking about?” a young man prodded the soft soil with his machete handle, his face full of doubt.

The old farmer was puzzled as well. Pointing at two parallel deep marks on the ground, he said, “Right here! I saw it with my own eyes—the monster had four wheels but no horses, and there were people locked inside. They screamed in terror, begging me to save them.”

He gestured as he spoke. “It just appeared out of nowhere.”

The village hunter frowned, crouched down, and touched the deep impressions. Then he looked around and said, “This looks like wheel marks, but different from any I’ve seen.”

Since no one else had witnessed it, the villagers naturally didn’t believe him.

“Old Li, maybe your eyes are playing tricks on you. There are no monsters out here in the wild,” someone scoffed.

“Don’t mistake a fancy carriage for a man-eating monster,” another added.

Seeing no one believed him, Old Li grew anxious. “I swear it’s true! That huge thing was terrifying. It just appeared out of thin air.”

The group searched the area in vain and dismissed Old Li’s tale as the heatstroke-induced hallucinations of an old man.

They followed the winding dirt road for two hours, stopping and walking intermittently. Finally, on the horizon, the silhouette of a towering city wall emerged.

“Look! Is that a city?!” Shi Xiaoyu pointed ahead excitedly.

Everyone turned to look in the direction she indicated. The gray-brown rammed-earth walls sprawled like a coiled dragon on the horizon, with black banners fluttering wildly atop the city gate tower.

“I wonder which city it is?” Jiang Kai glanced at Jiang Ye, asking, “Guide Jiang, do you know which city that is?”

According to the system map, the city ahead was Pengcheng of the Qin dynasty.

“Pengcheng!” Jiang Ye replied.

---

Wu Xiaoshi, who had a decent grasp of history, slapped his forehead in delight. “I remember reading in the records that Emperor Qin Shi Huang stopped at Pengcheng during his eastern inspection tour.”

The others connected it to what Jiang Ye had said earlier and immediately understood.

“So it means we’re on the route of the First Emperor’s eastern inspection. He must be in Pengcheng.”

“Haha, no doubt about it.”

“Guide Jiang said we’ve arrived at 218 BC. This is right during Ying Zheng’s second eastern inspection,” Wu Xiaoshi said excitedly, feeling as if a veil had lifted.

“If I can see Emperor Qin Shi Huang, I’d die without regrets,” Li Jun said enthusiastically.

Seeing their growing excitement, Jiang Ye hurriedly cautioned, “Keep it down. Don’t make a scene. Remember, you’re peasants from the Qin dynasty now.”

The eight nodded obediently like chicks pecking at grain.

As they approached the city, the official road became lively.

Woodcutters carrying firewood, merchants pushing wheelbarrows, and women with bamboo baskets passed by endlessly. Everyone wore coarse hemp tunics, hair loosely tied with straw ropes, their faces weathered by wind and sun.

An old man carrying firewood walked ahead, chatting with a companion.

“Did you hear? A god descended to earth recently and presented His Majesty with a treasure!” the old man whispered.

“That’s right! My cousin works at the county governor’s office and saw it with his own eyes!” a thin man nearby added mysteriously, gesturing. “The treasure is square-shaped, palm-sized, and can produce light out of thin air, brighter than ten torches! At night, it shines like daylight!”

Fang Gaochang and the others perked up, thinking these ancient people sure knew how to spin tales.

But the more they listened, the stranger it sounded.

“There’s more!” another merchant joined, squinting with a sly look. “That treasure can capture a person’s soul! Just flash it at someone’s face, and it traps their spirit inside that palm-sized box, lifelike and vivid!”

Jiang Kai’s eyes widened. “No way! That sounds like a phone…”

Li Jun quickly covered his mouth to prevent him from drawing attention.

Shi Xiaoyu whispered, “What they’re describing sounds like a cellphone.”

“Probably not,” Li Jun shook his head.

Fang Gaochang had a thought: they weren’t the first group to visit the Qin dynasty.

“Don’t you remember the vlogger I mentioned earlier? They’ve already been here. Could it be that they presented it to Emperor Qin Shi Huang?”

All eight turned simultaneously to Jiang Ye, the only one who knew the truth.