Note: After completing the book, I re-ordered the chapters so that they make more sense. As such, there is a part of this chapter that used to be the prologue (which was used previously to generate anticipation). 

Chapter 18: Slough Off The Cicada's Golden Shell[1] 

After travelling for two days and two nights, with stopovers at remote teahouses and inns in between, we were finally nearing Fanzhou City. Fanzhou City was located near the border of Beiyue and so the roads that we were travelling on were quite close to the border as well. The main road that we took passed through forests, farmlands, villages and valleys. According to the guards in Liu Mengjie's entourage, the forests and valleys were the most dangerous places to travel through as these were perfect locations for mountain bandits and rebels to launch an attack on us. As such, Liu Mengjie had opted to travel in a more humble looking horse-drawn carriage and brought along imperial guards dressed in plainclothes.

We took a brief break as we finished our early dinner by the roadside and quickly returned to our respective carriages to continue on our trip. This time, our carriage went ahead of Liu Mengjie's as we attempted to pass through the valley before nightfall. However, we had met with obstacles on the road and removing them meant that our passage through the valley was delayed. Sensing that something was amiss, we proceeded on with our journey with more haste and heightened alertness.

As the seconds passed, my heart hammered harder and harder in my chest. The air around us stilled and my legs trembled involuntarily.

A sharp whistle resounded outside which was quickly followed by the unsheathing of swords, shouts of panic and neighing of horses.

"We've been attacked! Protect the carriage! There's an ambush—!" Someone cried out gutturally but his warning was cut short. High pitched screams rang out in the night.

Several objects hit against our carriage as thudding noises enveloped us. Anyone could guess that arrows were being fired at us. But our attackers were unaware that their weak arrows would not be able to penetrate our bulletproof carriage.

Fu Wanxi gasped and looked around in horror. "What do we do?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, covered my ears, and said breathlessly. "We escape."

"Huh?"

Our horse suddenly reared, causing our carriage to jerk backwards violently. Thanks to our seatbelts, we were not flung out of our seats. With a loud high-pitched squeal, the horse started galloping forward.

"This is how we escape!" I screamed as our carriage rolled faster and faster away from the attack. But we were about to move into a crazier phase of our journey. "Hang on tight! This is going to be a wild ride!"

***

The wooden carriage shook violently as the horse galloped mindlessly down a rocky and narrow road which ran through the woods. The silk curtains that decorated the opened window flapped in the wind. The loud whooshing sound of the wind, the rattling of the spinning wheels against the uneven ground, the frantic sound of hoofbeats and the animal's harsh breathing could not cover the sound of my thumping heart.

A spike of adrenaline rushed through my throbbing head as the wheels hit a bump on the ground before sinking down and rolling over a shallow pothole. The lamp that swung dangerously over our heads had long extinguished and left us enveloped in heavy darkness. Swaying along with the carriage, I held onto my vest harness—a piece of modern technology typically installed on roller coasters. Opposite me, Fu Wanxi was also gripping tightly onto her lifeline. The side of the carriage scraped past what seemed to be a tree and she let out a yelp. Biting down on my lip, I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped that the whole ordeal would be over soon.

Since the horse was startled by the ambush and dashed down the main road and into the woods, we had been travelling for what felt like eternity. Halfway through, the coachman seemed to have leapt off the carriage to safety. The only way that the horse would stop now is if we crash into a boulder or if we fall off a cliff.

"Are—we—going to die?" Fu Wanxi breathed out shakily in between uncontrollable sobs.

Pressing my head against the soft padded inner wall of the carriage, I shook my head even though she might not be able to see me. "Of course not. With a seatbelt and a helmet, we won't get hurt. In a short while, we'll be crashing."

"Crashing?" Upon hearing my words, she cried out louder. "I don't want to die!"

The carriage knocked hard against something again and an audible gasp escaped my lips from fright. My muscles tensed up further and I could barely feel my legs anymore. Inside, I prayed unceasingly that I would survive the imminent crash. Was it better to know that one was about to meet with an accident and be able to prepare for it in advance or was it better to live carefree until the fateful moment?

"I don't want to die either," I murmured under my breath with clenched jaws, bracing myself for the impact that was going to arrive any moment now. As it was written in the book, the horse carriage that Fu Wanxi and her maidservant was riding in would narrowly miss crashing into a boulder and tip over, before sliding down a slope and landing in a ravine in the wilderness.

Closing my eyes and shutting myself off to the chaos around me, I wondered if the indescribable feeling within me is regret. If only I had changed my mind at the last minute and not agreed to enter this book universe. If only I had not met Li Qin and Ruijie last week. If only I had not intruded upon the secret life of Ji Kai five years ago.

The carriage rolled over the uneven bumps on the ground and shook even harder. Even though the cloth ropes were uncomfortable and and strained against our upper bodies as seatbelts generally do, if we were not held down by the seatbelts, we would have been flung about the carriage and have sustained major injuries. Hopefully we would be able to escape the accident unscathed with all these precautions.

Suddenly, the horse neighed as it attempted to stop in its tracks and the carriage jerked abruptly—the signal that I had been waiting for. Everything after that seemed to happen all at once. As the horse avoided smashing itself into the boulder, the carriage it was pulling along swerved sharply and tumbled over onto its left side, breaking loose from the ropes that had once connected it to the horse. My heart lurched and my stomach clenched with fear. One moment the floorboard was underneath my feet and the next moment, I was suspended by a rope and dangling with the front my body facing the ground. Just like being on a rollercoaster ride, I used my utmost strength to press my head into the wall of the carriage. Fu Wanxi's bloodcurdling scream abruptly stopped as her whole body went limp. My stomach churned as I saw her being thrown against the carriage out of the corner of my eye.

The smell of wet grass and earth permeated the carriage as the carriage slid down a slope, rubbing against trees and small rocks protruding from the ground beneath it. My helmet knocked against the carriage walls which had been especially lined with memory foam pads. Using whatever strength I had in my legs and core muscles, I kept them braced securely against the floorboard. As my chest tightened with sudden heart palpitations, I blew out my cheeks repeatedly to ensure that I kept breathing and remained conscious. The roller coaster ride soon came to a stop as the battered carriage arrived at the bottom of the slope, landing in bushes and a thick pile of leaves. Fortunately, the slope was not inclined at a steep angle and was covered with thick vegetation. If it had been rocky with uneven sharp edges, the wooden carriage would have been smashed into smithereens no matter heavily I had fortified it.

Breathing heavily, I struggled to unclip the safety harness which held me in place. My cold and clammy hands tugged weakly on the belt, still trembling as adrenaline pulsed through my veins. After freeing myself from having to incline at a weird angle, I hurried over to Fu Wanxi's side and helped her out of the seatbelt. Although I knew from the book that she had merely fainted from fright, I stuck out my index finger under her nostrils. Feeling warm moving air against my finger, I collapse against the side of the overturned carriage in relief.

Now that the action was over, my ears started adjusting to the sound of nature. The singing of crickets seemed to grow louder and louder as my heart quietened down and my breathing steadied. From outside the carriage, I could hear some intermittent rustling and flapping of wings. My ears pricked up at the sound of nocturnal animals wandering about, listening carefully for any howling or hissing. My aching and tired heart started pounding once again as my mind whirled into overdrive.

Knocked out cold and oblivious to her present predicament, Fu Wanxi stirred not even once throughout the long night. Unlike her, I fought to stay awake to keep watch—lighting up lamps to illuminate the carriage, briefly surveying our surroundings and even starting a small fire outside the carriage with the suspect survival skills that I had gathered from variety shows and the help of solid fuel. In preparation for the adventures that I would encounter in this book, I had smuggled in items from the real world. Shijie also had a hand in carrying them over. He even proclaimed smugly that as long as he was agreeable to it, no one else would dare to speak otherwise.

Crawling back into the warm carriage, I hugged my legs close to my body and stared past the bright flickering flames. As the smoke rose and warmth from the fire lingered in the cold night air, my anxious heart finally settled down. Although the glow of the fire was not strong, it still revealed the brown and grey dirt stains along the hem of my long dress, reminding me that I was no longer living comfortably in a stable and civilised society. Even though I could escape to reality if I wanted to, I shouldn't. I had a mission to accomplish—and I was going to see it through. This time I was not in a book universe because of any person. I was here because I chose to accept an assignment that I was chosen to do.

With a tired and drawn out yawn, I rubbed my heavy eyelids which threatened to close any moment but I could not afford to sleep. I had to stay awake until dawn, I had to stay awake until dawn, I had to stay awake...

***

[1]: Slough off the cicada's golden shell (金蟬脱殼, Jīn chán tuō qiào): (From the Thirty-Six Stratagems) To mask oneself; Either leave one's distinctive traits behind and become inconspicuous or masquerade as something or someone else. This strategy is mainly used to escape from a stronger enemy.