Almost everyone who knows me calls me Xiao Jiu, but almost no one knows my real name.

  I only remember that I was born in a very remote mountain village, but as for which corner of the world that mountain village is located in, I have long since forgotten.

  Because those were all memories before the age of three, the only thing I remembered deeply was a very strange pattern. However, as I grew older, this pattern gradually became blurred and eventually buried deep in my heart like an old photograph, even to the point where it was almost forgotten.

  I left the mountain village at the age of three and came to Changsha. I don't remember these things specifically, but I know it was when I was three years old because my grandfather told me about them.

  When it comes to Grandpa, he's not my real grandpa. He was on his way to cut firewood in the mountains and passed by a burial mound, where he saw me sitting there at the age of three, motionless as if I had been possessed. The weather was very cold back then, but I was wearing thin clothes and staring at him with big eyes, looking quite eerie. Grandpa thought he had run into a ghost, and this strange encounter made him feel like he was in a horror movie. He took a few steps back, stomped his foot, turned around, and hugged me tightly before quickly leaving the burial mound.

  Specifically how I ended up in the chaotic burial ground, no one knows.

  The most bizarre thing is that I clearly remember my original name, Qiū Jiǔ.

  It's a very unbelievable thing, even when I think back on it now, I feel like it's an incredible thing. A child who is not yet three years old, can't remember their parents, can't remember their hometown, almost has no memories at all, but clearly remembers their own name. This name is like a branding iron that has been seared into my heart, making me unable to forget it forever.

  I remember, my name is Qiū Jiǔ.

  I originally thought my life would continue to be dull and uneventful, but in the 19th year, several big things happened.

  My grandfather passed away.

  My grandfather, who accompanied me for over a decade, has passed away and left me forever.

  The news of grandfather's death came from the town, saying that he fell into the Wei River and even his body couldn't be found. I rushed to the Wei River overnight and searched for several days, but didn't find any body. I don't believe it, Grandfather just left like that.

  At the same time, on the evening of a month after my grandfather left, I was in the house preparing to sleep when I just turned off the lights. There were footsteps outside the door. Before I could react, an icy knife was placed across my neck. The leader, a masked man, made me shudder all over and scared me so much that I almost wet my pants: "Brothers..."

  "Shut up, I don't want anything..."

  Kill me? My pupils suddenly enlarged, like a piece of dead ash, and I shouted out in one breath: "There's a lot of money under the wooden brick at the foot of my bed, my bank card password is..."

  My words were not yet finished, when I heard a disdainful tone curse: "A poor devil."

  "Who said that? I still have several thousand yuan in my bank card..."

  A masked man heard this and burst out laughing as if he had heard some big news: "Several thousand yuan, you're talking nonsense, my grandfather has hundreds of millions and is still a mute..."

  My heart skipped a beat, I shrunk my neck and asked fearfully: "If it's not for money, then what are you here for?"

  I'm penniless, a poor devil. The house I live in is still covered with mud. Previously, I heard people say that there are forbidden goods in the Changsha area. Are these guys human traffickers who have taken a liking to my good looks and plan to sell me to a nightclub as a prostitute? Or do they plan to knock me unconscious, steal my heart and kidneys, and sell them? Who knows, one heart is worth enough money for me to spend a lifetime. I was suddenly frightened by this thought.

  "Good luck for you, kid. We found you first." The masked man in the lead position had a pair of eyes exposed outside, emitting a cold light that made me feel hairy.

  I was afraid they would really take out my precious heart, my precious kidney from my body and sell it, so I cried with a sad face: "Everyone, I have congenital heart disease, no one will buy a sick heart..."

  "Whoever buys your heart will die from this little burst of courage." The man next to him heard this and burst out laughing, holding his belly.

  For a moment, I was stunned. These people must be doing underground organ trafficking. They said so much, just for my healthy heart.

  "Don't bother with him, take him away." A stern voice sounded from outside the door, tinged with impatience.

  "Listen, kid, we don't want your stuff and we won't take out any of your organs. We just want you." The man with the knife put down the blade that had been pressed against my neck and said kindly.

  Then he gave an order to his subordinates behind him: "Withdraw."

  Right after that, I was dragged into a van, a black cloth covering my eyes, and all I could hear was the howling wind and the murmurs of people talking beside me. The voices were low and there were many people, so it became a buzzing noise. My whole body was curled up, and it was very cold on this winter night. I wasn't wearing any thick clothes, and I was already shivering with cold.

  Before long, a black blanket was placed over me. I chattered my lips and shivered as I said, "Thank you."

  No one responded, I asked again without giving up: "When will we arrive?"

  That man finally couldn't hold back: "Why don't you ask us why we tied you up?"

  I wrapped myself tightly in that black blanket, revealing a pale face and replied irrelevantly: "You speak with a hint of artistic flair, not at all like a human trafficker."

  This is definitely going to be sold in nightclubs as a duck.

  "Hey, boss, this little thing is just like a dog, pretty clever though." A very rough voice rang out, followed by a burst of loud laughter.

  "Which city?" I still didn't give up, the idea of escaping was getting bigger and bigger. Who knows if these people are deceiving me, saying they don't want money, or a heart, or a kidney? If I believed them, that would be stupid. Now there are many of them, and they have knives, how can I fight against them? When there are fewer people, I'll make a run for it. When I was in elementary school, I was the long-distance running champion, no one in the whole school could run as fast as me.

  "You'll know when you get there." The man said impatiently.

  I could tell that the man was angry, and I thought it would be best not to provoke them. Who knows, they might stab me on the bus and dump my body in a remote mountain forest, and no one would ever know. So, I wisely kept quiet and stopped talking. The surroundings fell into a deep silence, and I couldn't see anything - just darkness. I could only use my ears and nose to sense where I was: inside the car, on the road, and then on a bumpy dirt path. After nearly half an hour, the car finally came to a stop.

  My whole body was suddenly pulled up by a pair of sturdy arms and carried onto someone's shoulder, my face instantly turned bright red. I'm already 19 years old, 175 cm tall, not fat but not thin either, now being carried on someone's shoulder like this is really hurting my self-esteem.

  Those who have fought know that if someone grabs your shoulder and pulls you down, the next moment you'll be thrown to the ground and lose.

  "This little guy looks so weak and feeble, who would have thought he had some meat on him." The rough voice shouted and laughed.

  Listening to this teasing remark, I turned black in the face, looking unpleasant, with a fire burning in my heart, wanting to scold someone, being treated like a pig and weighed.

  I heard a creaking sound, the door was opened, and then the whole person was put on the ground.

  After a while, the black cloth covering my eyes was finally pulled down. At first, everything in front of me was blurry, and then it slowly became clear. The first thing I saw was the middle-aged man sitting in the chair in front of me, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses with no lenses, his skin white and clean, like a teacher at school, looking very elegant and refined. Indeed, as the saying goes, one cannot judge a person by appearance.

  The black cloth covering his eyes was what he had taken off, and at this moment, he was looking at me with a deep meaning on his face.

  "Boss, are you sure it's this kid? Didn't pick the wrong person?" asked a tall and powerful man standing beside him.

  "Is that right? I'll understand in two days."

  What does this mean? I was furious at the time, they were talking about something important to themselves, but didn't tell me directly. A raging fire was burning in my chest, all the way up to my throat: "What do you want me to do?"

  It seems they didn't kidnap me for organs or sell me to a nightclub as a prostitute, but I have a strange feeling.

  "Two words: get down." The elegant man said with a smile.

  These words suddenly exploded in my mind, this is an illegal thing, if caught, I would have to go to prison for free meals, and I'm still so young, I don't want to go to prison.

  To put it nicely, it's called "excavation", but to be blunt, it's grave robbing. They asked me to do that kind of thing, so I tilted my head and said with a stubborn expression: "I won't."

  I really don't know, and I've never done anything like this. No matter how hard I think about it, I just can't understand why they would go to the trouble of kidnapping me to make me go grave robbing when they could just grab a few people who are actually capable of doing it?

  "Your nose is like a dog's, it can smell out the location of the tomb."

  "The day after tomorrow, you and I will set out together. It's best if you can be of use; otherwise..." The elegant man suddenly had a flying dagger in his palm, and with a light flick of his right hand, the dagger shot into the corner of the table, leaving only the handle exposed. Watching this scene unfold before my eyes was like having the dagger pierce my heart, and my legs began to tremble involuntarily.

  "I agreed." I don't care about anything else, even if it means going to jail, as long as I can survive.

  "Alright." The elegant man stood up and walked in front of me, extending his hand to gently pat my shoulder: "Remember my name, I'm Zhou Baihe."

  "My name is Qiūjiǔ, remember it."