Xiang Ying, captain of the Apocalypse Infrastructure Team, completed a mission and expected a reward from her organization, but instead found herself in a bizarre role-playing scenario. She was in a room with a half-naked man who glared at her with hatred, and outside, someone urged her to flee because the Southern Yue army was attacking the Imperial Palace. She dismissed it as a game until memories flooded in, confirming she had transmigrated into a famine novel her friend had mentioned, becoming the Western Zhou Princess Xiang Ying. The original owner was debauched and callous, hoarding male concubines while the incompetent Western Zhou monarch ceded land and paid indemnities to Southern Yue. The enemy army had reached the capital, and in the novel, the princess would soon die in a horrific way. Realizing she could not return, Xiang Ying activated her spatial ability from the apocalypse, but her space was now empty and only four floors high, needing upgrades. She quickly dressed and left the man, heading to the princess's private treasury only to find it filled with tied-up handsome men instead of gold. She released them and raided the national treasury, the imperial pharmacy, the kitchen cellars, the library, and the armory, stuffing everything into her space—gold, jade, medicinal herbs, weapons, grain, livestock, seeds, and even the dragon throne. She set fires to cover her tracks. When she finally prepared to escape, a four-year-old boy, Xiang Yuanxiao, confronted her, accusing her of abandoning them. She remembered she had three children: Yuanxiao, his younger brother Xiang Yuanlang, and sister Xiang Xiuxiu. Taking the child, she ordered her loyal palace maid Tao Xue to flee first, but Tao Xue refused. They found the other children captured by enemy soldiers led by Huang Huzi. Xiang Ying fought them off, killing most, but Huang Huzi escaped. She took the children and Tao Xue, heading for the east gate. During the exile, the refugees were subjected to brutal body searches and humiliation by the Southern Yue soldiers. The fifth princess Xiang Qianqian accused Xiang Ying of bribery for spoiling the group, but Xiang Ying retorted coldly. Later, Xiang Qianqian stole a hairpin to bribe the military inspector, sacrificing the sixth princess who was raped and killed. At a post station, Huang Huzi again harassed Xiang Ying, demanding she go into the woods with him. She agreed, but when he followed, she dislocated his jaw and beat him, forcing him to kneel. She threatened him with a poison pill and told him she would not tolerate his schemes. Xiang Ying’s plan was to escape during the journey, using her combat skills and resourcefulness to survive.
