The Ancestral Legacy Begins in the Wild West

The area around Zhongshan Film City is complex, with not only film studios but also tourist attractions, memorial halls, former residences, and other facilities open to the public, resulting in a significant flow of people.

Apart from that, it is basically a village or county environment.

Because the area is not yet developed, there is such a large space available for building film sets. However, precisely because it is not developed, many related facilities are not yet complete.

The murder case that Su Hao and his team are investigating is just like that.

Three extras from out of town were found dead in a remote area, each more gruesome than the last.

One had his throat slit, another had his abdomen ripped open, and yet another had his head smashed to pieces—it was a truly heinous case.

However, due to incomplete surveillance coverage and the wide range of the crime scene, the culprit has not yet been caught.

The murderer took advantage of the incomplete surveillance to hide the weapon used in the third crime in the prop storeroom.

Who would have thought that the stick would later be used by their film crew, leading to the workplace injury? Once the crew's safety officer and the police were notified, the matter was completely exposed.

However, the murderer was not only cruel but also cunning. Although the murder weapon was found, it had been cleaned, making the investigation very difficult.

Of course, this matter has little to do with him now.

Zhang Chang'an was, after all, just a victim caught in the crossfire; Su Hao only asked him a question verbally that day and then left. If we're talking about any further impact on him...

"Sigh... I'll have to find another place to practice."

Zhang Chang'an closed the door to the prop store and then locked the iron gate with a heavy padlock.

This is one of Wu Fan's properties, but it's rather remote and rudimentary. Because of this, like the crime scenes, surveillance is scarce, with only a perimeter set up around the perimeter.

This is mainly because there is no need for it.

Wu Fan knew many martial arts practitioners, and gyms were expensive, so a section of open space was specially marked out in the middle of this prop warehouse, where a lot of fitness equipment and wooden dummy dummies were placed.

Not only Zhang Chang'an, but several of his closer brothers also come here to train.

The people coming and going are always burly, tough guys, and most of the items aren't valuable, so basically no one dares to mess with this place.

Zhang Chang'an needs a space to practice boxing, and when he practices, his blood and qi surge, causing noticeable changes in his muscles. Therefore, he cannot be monitored, which is why he needs to come here.

However, because of those cases, all the prop stores in the area are preparing to install surveillance cameras, so he will have to find another place after that.

Stepping out of the prop store, the dim streetlights cast long shadows from the roadside trees.

"Current head of the family: Zhang Chang'an."

"Position: Variegated (1.02%)".

"Time-space fragments: 100".

"Skills: [Remnant Hongmen Body Nourishing Technique] (Good) [Martial Arts Self-Defense Technique] (Good) [Basic Archery] (Good)."

"[Mixed Color Stage] (Like the initial screening of ore, the outer crust has been peeled away but its luster has not yet been revealed; it is mixed and messy. This is the initial stage of a practitioner's cultivation; there is no systematic path yet, but impurities and flaws within the body are being eliminated. As long as one continues to cultivate, progress can be made.)"

"[Remnant Hung Mun Body Nourishing Exercise] (In the Hung Mun, this is a formal exercise that ordinary members can only practice after advancing to the Outer Eight Halls. It is combined with various Hung Kuen styles of boxing and has different effects on nourishing the body and improving circulation.)

"Back then, Qinghe Gong only obtained the martial arts manual, not the corresponding fist technique, so he quickly sold it to acquire the latest Maxim machine gun in the West, along with four boxes of ammunition."

"Currently, it's a version that incorporates modern Hung Kuen performance routines, so it's an incomplete version, but it's showing initial success."

This technique cost him a full 400 fragments; to put it simply, it's an internal energy cultivation method that complements Hung Kuen. Normal boxing practice makes him stronger. The effects were indeed remarkable; not only did it directly put him on the path of cultivation, but his basic physical abilities also significantly improved.

Just like another of his evolved skills.

After Zhang Chang'an took on that special role a couple of days ago, he can no longer easily play extras in Director Chen's films, as it would be easy for him to give himself away.

Therefore, he hasn't done any martial arts work these past few days, and his defensive techniques have directly transformed into self-defense techniques. This is the change brought about by the enhancement of his physical abilities.

"It's a pity that the school only taught the basics of the Gongzi Fuhuquan and Huhe Shuangxingquan. If I had found a proper way to learn them, I would probably be even more powerful."

Furthermore, it's clear that the Hongmen was no ordinary entity in the past; I just wonder if they had any connections like the Heaven and Earth Society, Chen Jinnan, or the Iron-Blooded Youth League.

At this point, Zhang Chang'an actually found it quite strange.

The health cultivation technique he obtained was indeed a relic from the past. Although there was no physical object, he learned it by reading through special text.

Besides guidance on various aspects of luck and fortune, you can also see some annotations written by the book's former owner, as well as many daily anecdotes from members of the Hongmen.

However, while he was looking through the family genealogy these past two days, he didn't find any biographical information about his ancestors who were mainly active in China.

It's not that all of their family members ran away, but that they were all missing.

"Could it be that something happened to our ancestors in China?"

Zhang Chang'an hadn't been in contact with many people yet, so he didn't think much of it and simply walked to the only taxi parked on the side of the road.

Wu Fan's prop storage area is also quite remote. Zhang Chang'an usually hitches a ride here, but he can't let anyone see him practicing his skills, so he can only practice other things normally until everyone else has left.

Now that he had finished several sets of games, it was already dark. He was exhausted, and since he had made a good income the past two days, he decided to take a bus back home.

Zhang Chang'an got on the bus, gave the address, and then picked up his phone.

The driver in the car paused for a moment but didn't say anything. He simply changed the car's status from empty to free and started moving slowly.

The car was quite dark, given the remote location and the distance between the streetlights. The driver looked somewhat weathered, and for some reason, his face bore several red marks, which appeared unpredictable in the shadows cast by the window.

In the blink of an eye, the scene before Zhang Chang'an's eyes flickered, and everything around him seemed to change instantly.

The asphalt road outside seemed to have suddenly turned into an old-fashioned gravel road.

Suddenly, countless dark and cramped old Western-style buildings sprang up along the street, one after another, with a heavily polluted sky overhead that made the sky dark and gloomy.

The taxi he was in suddenly turned into a single, semi-open horse-drawn carriage.

The coachman, wearing a top hat and a tweed coat, cracked his whip; the uneven road instantly jolted him awake from his weariness.

"What's going on!" Zhang Chang'an turned around and looked around.

Whether it's the horse-drawn carriages, the factories and houses along the street, or the whale oil lamps, they are all clearly in the English style of previous centuries.

But just as he was about to take a closer look, the scene around him suddenly flashed back to the taxi.

He sat up straight with a solemn expression, because he was certain it wasn't a dream.

Outside the car window, the shadows cast by the streetlights transformed into strange characters:

"The current state of the patriarch resonates with the experience of an ancestor. You have triggered a historical synchronization event."

From now on, all your actions will synchronously affect a past event.

Furthermore, this event coincides with the beginning of the spacetime rift [Conspiracy] 7274. Upon completion, it will seamlessly enter the rift, granting an initial exploration advantage.

Zhang Chang'an's eyes widened. He hadn't expected the family tree to give him another task so soon, and in such a special way—one consciousness affecting two timelines simultaneously.

However, compared to this: "My current experiences overlap with those of my ancestors, so what kind of experience is that?"

The fatigue from practicing martial arts vanished instantly, replaced by a deep sense of caution. Zhang Chang'an unconsciously turned to look at the driver ahead:

"Speaking of which... why was that driver waiting there with an empty car in such a remote spot?"