The second transmigrator arrived in the fourth year of Shengli (Yuanshi Calendar 1707), thirty-two years after Zhang Wei's first appearance. This transmigrator was named Li Shun, and his reputation in Great Ming history was quite poor, for a simple reason: Li Shun was a rebellious traitor who stirred up trouble.

  At that time, the Monstrous Realm had been split in two. One part fled beyond Shanhai Pass and established the Northern Monstrous Realm. Shuntian Prefecture became a frontier region, and the Great Ming established Youzhou Fortress there to guard against monsters moving south. Li Shun first wandered around the Yan-Yun region, coinciding with the imperial court's efforts to settle people and establish counties by recruiting officials. Because he was literate, he was recruited and became the County Sheriff of Changping. Later, he participated in external battles from Youzhou Fortress, gradually rising through military merit, and was eventually enfeoffed as the Earl of Changping.

  As his power and influence grew daily, so did his ambition. He raised troops in rebellion and established the "Yan Empire." After his death, his successors posthumously honored him as "Grand Ancestor of Yan."

  During Li Shun's reign, the territory of the Yan Empire was extremely vast, encompassing almost the entire northern region. At one point, it captured large swaths of land south of the Huai River, its military front pressing toward the Yangtze River, forming a north-south confrontation with the Great Ming.

  Chen Ming's eyes were opened wide, it turned out this Great Ming was not a unified country. He quickly pulled out a map atlas and indeed saw that the Great Ming only occupied the south. But the Great Ming and the Yan Empire weren't a Northern and Southern Dynasties situation, because to the west of both countries lay another state: the Zhou Empire.

  Chen Ming strongly suspected that the founder of the Zhou Empire was also a transmigrator. Looking closely, indeed, it was so. The third transmigrator arrived in the sixth year of Yanxi (Yuanshi Calendar 1741), thirty-three years after Li Shun's appearance.

  She turned out to be a woman named Ji Shisan Niang, who transmigrated into the Yan Empire. In her early days, she had no ambition. Relying on her knowledge of science and technology, she sparked an industrial revolution.

  She invented the steam engine, built railways, established industrial trusts, and became immensely wealthy. This aroused the greed of the Yan Empire's nobility, who actually wanted to exterminate her clan and seize her wealth. With secret defection orchestrated by the Great Ming, Ji Shisan Niang raised troops and broke away, occupying the western part of the Yan Empire and establishing the "Zhou Empire."

  Although the rise of the Zhou Empire was closely related to Great Ming's support, the two countries were not long-term allies. Because the Zhou Empire's land was barren and its population sparse, it was the weakest among the three kingdoms. Eager to escape its predicament, the Zhou Empire suddenly sent troops south, seizing the Great Ming's Bashu region.

  The Great Ming Emperor, enraged by the Zhou Empire's betrayal, soured relations between the two countries, sparking a century-long war. Wars also frequently broke out between Zhou and Yan, and between Ming and Yan. Thus, a new version of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms officially began.

  Chen Ming didn't delve deeply into the history; his focus remained始终 on the transmigrators. After skimming through countless wars, he continued searching for companions.

  The fourth transmigrator arrived very late, a full seventy-two years after Ji Shisan Niang. In the twenty-seventh year of Baolu (Yuanshi Calendar 1813), Guo Xiaoming finally descended—the renowned Plagiarist of Library.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Chen Ming finally learned the name of this literary plagiarist. His achievements weren't as prominent as those of princes, marquises, or generals, but he provided the common people with thousands of works of popular literature. To this day, countless bookshops, operas, and storytelling performances still depend on his works for their livelihood.

  Guo Xiaoming's records were very simple, only mentioning that after the thirty-seventh year of Baolu (Yuanshi Calendar 1823), he disappeared without a trace.

  After that, there were no more historical figures suspected of being transmigrators—until this year, the third year of Yuanjia (Yuanshi Calendar 1899), when Chen Ming descended.

  Looking at these predecessor transmigrators, Chen Ming was filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred! Every single one of them had risen to prominence. Not to mention Zhang Wei, Li Shun, and Ji Shisan Niang—even Guo Xiaoming had become wealthy by plagiarizing books. Yet here he was, still getting rich off dead people. If he kept drifting like this, would he eventually be honored as the "King of Grave Robbers"? Would someone even publish his *Memoirs of a Grave Robber*?

  Chen Ming sighed. He found library staff, bought paper and pen, and copied down the information on these predecessors for future study.

  As he copied, Chen Ming's mind suddenly stirred. He quickly made a table, using the transmigrators' arrival years as starting points and their death years as endpoints for comparison. For calculation convenience, he used the Yuanshi Calendar exclusively.

  Zhang Wei: 1665-1707

  Li Shun: 1707-1741

  Ji Shisan Niang: 1741-1778

  Guo Xiaoming: 1813-1823

  Himself: 1899...

  He discovered an extremely bizarre pattern: none of the transmigrators interacted with each other. Only after one transmigrator died did another transmigrator appear.

  In Yuanshi 1665, Zhang Wei appeared. Thirty-two years later, Zhang Wei was assassinated, and only then were there records of Li Shun.

  Similarly, Li Shun lived for thirty-three years before dying of illness, and then Ji Shisan Niang appeared.

  But this iron rule was broken between Ji Shisan Niang and Guo Xiaoming.

  There was a seventy-two-year gap between Ji Shisan Niang and Guo Xiaoming. In reality, Ji Shisan Niang hadn't lived that long. She died thirty-seven years after transmigrating, thirty-five years before Guo Xiaoming's descent.

  Chen Ming repeatedly pondered this anomaly. Suddenly, a flash of insight struck him—he guessed the answer.

  Probably, after Ji Shisan Niang died, another transmigrator descended, but that predecessor was exceptionally low-key, remaining unknown to anyone. Naturally, history wouldn't record his deeds. After he died, it was Guo Xiaoming's turn.

  But between Guo Xiaoming and Chen Ming, there was also a serious deviation. Guo Xiaoming arrived in 1813, eighty-six years ago. Ten years later, in 1823, he vanished without a trace, and Chen Ming didn't descend until 1899—a seventy-six-year gap in between. Was Guo Xiaoming still alive, living to be a hundred? Or were there actually one or two transmigrators in between?

  Chen Ming couldn't guess. He looked up at the sky. The Great One, Why are transmigrators continuously being sent into this world?

  Then another thought struck him: he had been here less than a month, with lowly status, amounting to nothing. In contrast, the other predecessor transmigrators had been living in this world for decades. The three with the highest status were all emperors, with power reaching the heavens. If The Great One truly had some purpose, surely the predecessors had more time and opportunities to explore it. Instead of aimlessly searching for the truth himself, he might as well follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.

  Chen Ming was delighted, thinking this idea was excellent. Then he looked at the archives. Zhang Wei, Li Shun, and Ji Shisan Niang were all historical figures from over a century ago—exploring their traces would be quite difficult. Only Guo Xiaoming had a seventy-six-year gap with him. Finding opportunities to uncover his relics might yield numerous clues.

  Chen Ming suddenly felt incredibly hungry and thirsty. Looking up, he saw it was dark outside. Unconsciously, he had spent a whole day in the library, skipping lunch and dinner. No wonder he was starving.

  Just then, the staff began shooing people out for closing. Chen Ming got up and left. He took a casual stroll around Hangzhou city and finally found a clean inn to stay for the night.