The timeline goes back fifteen minutes.

Plop——

A crisp splash is heard, as a figure suddenly drops from the void.

A moment later.

"Puh ha——"

Xu Yun lifts his head from the water, spitting out a mouthful of clear, cold water.

After several breaths, he starts to assess the situation around him.

Alright, not much to take in—he's currently at the bottom of a well over one meter wide, thirteen or fourteen meters deep, the exit visible with a hint of light overhead.

The original depth of the well water was about eighty centimeters. After someone falls in, the height has risen by about five centimeters, just above Xu Yun's waist. There's a wooden bucket hanging near his neck.

Feeling the dampness below, Xu Yun briefly checks his body, slightly furrowing his brow:

The phone still didn't travel with him, so there's no worry about water damage.

But the compressed biscuits he's carrying are soaked, showing signs of swelling, likely unsuitable for long-term storage.

As for the essential gold and silver coins, they should be okay; they can still be used despite getting wet, so the situation isn't too terrible.

The strange thing is, even though he's regained consciousness, the Halo's task prompt hasn't appeared.

Could it be like with Little Niu before, needing a surge of knowledge to activate the task?

As Xu Yun ponders, a sliding sensation suddenly comes from his ankle.

Xu Yun's expression shifts, and he quickly places several items into the dry wooden bucket.

Then he bends over and reaches into the water.

A minute later.

Xu Yun stands up again, now with...

A fish.

Fishermen never empty-handed.jpg.

He then raises the fish, studying it intently.

Under the moonlight shining into the well, he sees a gold-yellow carp, nearly 30 centimeters long.

Raising fish in a well is a common custom.

First, most wells are open-air, so when there's wind or rain, they collect more debris.

Hence, algae or small insects easily grow, polluting the water source.

Adding some small fish can help; the fish eat the algae and bugs, solving the pollution issue.

Second, it's for poison prevention, something often remembered by rural kids.

Well poisoning has been a common tactic since ancient times.

Thus, what surprises Xu Yun isn't the fish, but its species.....

As a biology PhD, Xu Yun isn't like a walking identification device, but distinguishing notable species isn't hard.

"Flat sides, round belly, notably two pairs of barbels..."

As Xu Yun observes, he increasingly expresses surprise:

"This is..... a Yellow River Carp?"

Yellow River Carp, belonging to the carp family of fish.

Full-figured, moist and tender flesh, nutritious ah... cough, wrong, wrong.

Yellow River Carp, as its name suggests, is a special carp species native to the Yellow River!

Right!

Beyond the Yellow River Basin, you won't find this carp anywhere else.

Even later Asian carp invasions into Europe and America, Yellow River Carp still exists in a relatively small native range.

At most, via farming, they might reach some distant provinces.

So clearly...

This dungeon descends into not abroad, but.....

Home soil!

Thinking of this, Xu Yun's eyes brighten:

"Given Halo's trait.... Is it Song Yingxing this time? Shen Kuo? Sun Simiao? Or a modern scientist?"

Then he places the carp back into the water, took out a cloth bag with two wigs from the bucket.

One is a Western-style black curl, the other is an ancient bun bought for 54 yuan from Taobao.

No matter which era or place traveled, clothes can somewhat be explained away as odd attire, but hairstyles are distinct.

Due to the fall into water, the bun is mostly soaked, wet and not very pretty.

However, Xu Yun doesn't mind much, simply wringing it a bit before putting it on.

After finishing this, he tries pulling the rope of the wooden bucket.

Hmm, a bit slack.

Students who've fallen into a well know.

To climb out heedless of rope usage, first check your injuries, then the diameter of the well.

If the well bottom is about one meter across, it's simple.

One can brace against the wall, pushing up with legs, using alternating elbows for support, conserving energy.

However, unfortunately, the well Xu Yun fell in is a whopping meter and a half wide.

He's not that long-legged shadow from TikTok, thus climbing out alone is clearly difficult.

Frustrated, Xu Yun opts for another way.

He clears his throat and shouts towards the opening:

"Anyone there? Help me out!!!!"

This well is located at the mansion's southern rear, commonly known as the South Wing.

Generally speaking.

The main mansion area is usually the North Wing, where the masters live.

East and West wings vary, some serve as guest rooms, others for sons and daughters.

While the South Wing mostly houses servants, basically always staffed with aides working shifts or exerting themselves.

Like now, the elder steward is allocating tomorrow's duties near the South Wing.

"Xiaosan, collect one hundred and twenty wen, go to Hongyu Records for pastries tomorrow morning, avoid sweet tofu pudding."

"Yongzhu, take three hundred wen tomorrow, acquire some lean meat at Butcher Huang's, no fat at all, finely chop into mince."

"Ah Ping..."

Just as the elder steward was detailing the morrow's plans, faint shouts reached his ears.

"Anyone there....."

The elder steward initially thought it a slight hallucination due to aging, thus paying no mind.

But gradually.

The sound in the dark night became clearer and even carried an echo.

The Old Chief Steward couldn't help but frown and asked the people in front of him:

"Did any of you hear anything?"

The servants quickly nodded their heads:

"Heard it, heard it!"

The middle-aged man named Yongzhu glanced around and suddenly fixed his gaze in a direction, pointing there, he said:

"Old Chief Steward, the sound seems to come from the well behind the wall?"

Then he suddenly thought of something, and his face turned pale:

"Howling at midnight, is it a ghost?"

Yongzhu's words made the atmosphere on the scene a bit more oppressive.

During the Song Dynasty, ghost worship was prevalent. Even among bureaucrats, many officials believed in the supernatural.

A very representative figure was Bao Qingtian, who judged the living by day and the dead by night. The image of many female ghosts in later generations also originated from the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, among the common people, many matters would uncontrollably be connected to ghosts and gods.

"Everyone, calm yourselves!"

Old Chief Steward, who had been a steward in the army, was respected in the household even after his lord retired, so he immediately shouted:

"Our yang energy is strong, the Patriarch is righteous, and Xiaosan and Ah Ping are still virgins. Even if there are evil spirits, there is nothing to fear. Why cause such a fuss?

Old Qi, go to the front yard to find the master. If he hasn't undressed yet, invite him to come here.

The rest of you, grab your weapons and come with me to investigate. Perhaps it's just some hooligans playing around at night."

With that, he took up a broadsword first and lit a torch.

Leading the group towards the mouth of the well behind the wall.

The well was only thirty to fifty steps away from where they had previously been, so with each step, the sound in their ears grew louder.

"Help....."

"Is anyone there....."

A moment later.

The Old Chief Steward and others arrived at the edge of the well.

Then Old Chief Steward, holding a broadsword in one hand and a torch in the other, stood at the well's edge and shouted down:

"Is anyone down there?"

Seeing the torch appear, Xu Yun in the well suddenly felt reassured.

Although the halo once again translated the language of the people above into something he could understand.

But Xu Yun was sure this language was not the English that Little Niu had mentioned—it was authentic ancient official language.

As for which dynasty's official language it was, he didn't know, but he could vaguely hear a resemblance to a Zhongzhou accent.

This was somewhat good news because at least Man Qing's capital was not in Zhongzhou, avoiding some bad situations.

Then he cupped his hands into a trumpet shape and shouted upwards:

"Respected elder above, I am a traveler who accidentally fell into the well pit. I am truly sorry for the disturbance at night, and hope for assistance in saving me!"

The Old Chief Steward at the well's edge, hearing this, couldn't help but glance at the over-a-yard-high courtyard wall around him, his expression somewhat odd:

What kind of traveler could walk and leap over a yard-high courtyard wall to end up in someone else's manor?

Could it be this person thought he fell in an isolated rural village?

Of course.

Since ancient times, the crafty tongues of demons and ghosts couldn't be believed by one's side of the story alone.

Then he thought about it, called over two servants, whispered a few instructions, and the two servants left in response.

A moment later.

One of the servants returned with a thick rope, and the Old Chief Steward instructed Yongzhu and others to secure one end, then called down into the well:

"Hey, man! We'll talk about other matters later. Let's pull you up from the well first. What do you say?"

Soon, Xu Yun's response came from the well:

"Thank you, elder!"

The Old Chief Steward stepped back a few steps and signaled to throw the rope into the well.

A few moments later.

The rope suddenly tightened externally, indicating someone below had grasped it and was exerting force.

With the help of the fixed rope, Xu Yun climbed up the well wall relatively easily, as if rock climbing.

As soon as his head emerged from the well, everyone around—including the Old Chief Steward—took a big step back.

As a modern man, Xu Yun's complexion appeared fair by ancient standards, not to mention he had been in the water for a while.

At this moment.

Under the torchlight at night, his face appeared ghostly pale, devoid of any color.

This scene, coupled with his black down jacket, was somewhat shocking to the Old Chief Steward and others.

Seeing this, a faint bitter smile appeared on Xu Yun's face.

He then cupped his hands and was about to speak:

"Esteemed elder, I am..."

However, before he could finish speaking, he felt a liquid pour over his back.

This liquid was very viscous and carried a slightly bloody smell.

Xu Yun instinctively wiped with his hand, finding it smeared with bright red.

At the same time, a voice of surprise came from behind him:

"Huh? Even ten-year-old black dog blood from the ice cellar didn't work? He really is human?"

Xu Yun, bewildered, turned his head and found a boy standing behind him, holding a red wooden basin.

A real 'dog-blood' drama.....

Meanwhile.

Seeing that the black dog blood didn't work, the Old Chief Steward instead gained courage.

He shouted loudly, raising the broadsword:

"Men, seize this thief for me!"

Whoosh——

Seconds later.

Seeing the sticks poised at his neck, Xu Yun sighed slightly:

Why is there always a hellish difficulty at the beginning.....

........

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