Xiao woke up to the gentle rocking of the boat and birds shrieking in the distance. Blearily he opened his eyes, bringing up his hands to block the harsh sunlight from hitting his face directly. As soon as he gained more awareness, he realized that he was on a boat in a field of blooming Lotus. 

“What the fuck?”

Xiao clutched his head trying to remember what happened to him but everything was a blur. He could only see snippets of a woman’s smile, a table full of liquor and good food, and blinding lights. ‘Was he drugged? Did I do something that was considered shady?’ However, the answers didn’t come to him and he was still stuck in a boat with no idea of what to do. 

Still, whoever put him on the boat was kind enough to put soft linen for his makeshift bedding. He was careful not to rock the boat too much as he searched for other things that could have possibly been stowed along with him. After a few minutes, his searching bore fruit, and found a large rattan bag filled to the brim with items.

He decided to row to shore first before unpacking the things in the rattan bag. He wasn’t too familiar with rowing a boat, he was a mountain child after all, but he made it work. Though the vibrant Lotuses made it difficult to navigate sometimes. Once he finally reached the shore, he did a quick victory dance. 

He carried the rattan bag down into the ground, fingers slightly pinked from the effort of carrying the bag. It was heavier than it looked. He also folded the linen fabrics as best as he could to see if he could bring it with him.

Inside the rattan bag, he took out each item carefully after a thorough inspection. So far he had a thick book which on closer inspection he figured out was an international cookbook written in Cantonese, which was something Xiao didn’t know how to read proficiently in.

“Of course, it had to be Cantonese, why couldn’t it be written in Mandarin?”

Xiao sighed, it was time to brush up on Cantonese. Setting aside the cookbook, he found out that he had a lot of cooking equipment, some of which he still wasn’t sure how they fit into the Rattan bag. He also found some clothes to change into, which considering his current attire was a tattered and worn suit- it was probably for the best. He put on fingerless gloves and heeled boots. Whoever provided him with these clothes really got his measurements which were really disturbing if he thought about it too deeply. Well, thinking about those wouldn’t answer his questions. Lastly, he shrugged on the white and gold stylized robe, loving the detailed embroidered work on it. 

The clothes he was currently wearing probably cost more than what he earned in a year as a personal secretary. Still, this gift while unexpectedly strangely pleasant was still strange. Being stranded on a boat didn’t help matters either. 

He rummaged through the last of the items inside the Rattan bag and noticed a colorful brochure fall down from in-between a medkit and a Hanfu-inspired pajama. He crouched down and picked up the brochure, noticing the bright lettering and bold font on it that read;

OH NO, YOU’VE BEEN ISEKAI’D!

A GUIDE THAT WILL TEACH YOU TO LIVE YOUR BEST ISEKAI LIFE!

The brochure was filled with cartoonish doodles of people depicted dying in various ways and being sent to another world, with ‘Truck-kun?’ being the most popular method it seemed. It also contained a separate map for the ‘world’ he was in which was called Veoir and it also listed populated places.  With each new piece of information, he started reading he became even more befuddled by his current situation. Eventually, he had to put down the brochure, this was getting out of hand. Well, the boat on a field of Lotus and the bag filled with equipment and coins were already an out-of-hand situation but the brochure took the cake. 

Xiao sat on the edge of the boat that he had dragged onto the shore. He could either stay here and figure out where the hell actually was or believe that he was now in another world. Neither option appealed to him but he was in a potentially dangerous place so moving was probably his best bet. The only problem was his food. He had no problem hunting and foraging, his family was mountain folk after all and he was used to going hungry when his parents couldn’t make enough yuan to buy food for them during the winter.  

Still, he hadn’t used his hunting and foraging skills since he left for the big city. Looks like now would be the time to see if he still remembers any of what his grandmother had taught him. He decided that going to the nearest town indicated on the map would probably be for the best. He still didn’t believe that he was in a completely different world, but considering his blurry memories, his bloodied and torn suit. The odds were stacked to the improbable being in fact -probable.

He decided to leave behind his old suit, which was basically nothing but scrap fabric at this point but modified the rattan bag to have straps on the sides that he could use to carry it easily. Oddly enough the bag didn’t feel heavy as before, it was like carrying an empty stroller. ‘Another oddity that points to him actually being in another world. This place; Veoir -it seems to defy the very laws of gravity.’

If this world had the ability to make a large rattan bag weigh lighter than what its contents were inside, then there were probably people in this world that know how to bring me back home. ‘Though, do I really want to go back home, where I do nothing but work myself to death?’