Lu Ye's consciousness was hazy and dim.
He seemed to have had a dream; in the endless darkness, it was as if he had returned to infancy, lying in his mother's warm embrace, sweet milky liquid passing through his throat and falling into his abdomen, nourishing his body.
He felt as if he had been hungry for a long time, his body like parched earth longing for the descent of sweet rain, his appetite insatiable, his mouth and tongue greedily demanding the milky liquid; no matter how much he drank, it never felt like enough.
However—his abdomen began to warm up, but the taste of this milky liquid quickly turned strange.
From the imagined sweetness, it became exceptionally bitter and viscous, with an elusive earthy smell mixed in?
Lu Ye was somewhat confused, but his body was very honest, still working hard to absorb the "milky liquid."
As the milky liquid fell into his stomach in large gulps, his five senses also recovered rapidly.
His nose was filled with foul-smelling, turbid air.
His ears heard the crackling sound of firewood.
Scalding water vapor beat against his skin.
Lu Ye opened his eyes.
He discovered he was half-lying on the ground, with someone supporting his neck.
And the surroundings...
A ruined temple, a broken divine statue, a fire built on skulls, a bronze bell used as a pot, water vapor dancing happily above the pot.
A Prey Person, sitting cross-legged, holding a tile in one hand, with "porridge" in the tile, the tile having just left Lu Ye's lips.
A thin, shiny, long line stretched out in the air.
Right behind the bronze pot, two naked corpses were lying there; a leg bone was stuck in one corpse, and the owner of the corpse was looking at Lu Ye with their head turned, their pockmarked face full of Anger.
Hiss...
Lu Ye gasped.
All his previous memories flooded into his mind like a tide.
Transmigration to an Otherworld, reduced to a Prey Person, talent awakening, counter-killing with a bone, exhausting all his vitality, falling unconscious...
Lu Ye painfully closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The past cannot be chased; farewell, parents, Relatives and Friends, farewell, the law exam that made me want to vomit...
Right now, the most important thing is to live, to live well, and to strive to survive in this man-eating world...
He adjusted his mentality, opened his eyes, and tried to squeeze a smile onto his face.
Before him.
The Prey Person who was just as unlucky as him and almost became food in the bell was squatting in front of him, still holding the tile in his hand.
"Many thanks, brother, for your help!"
Lu Ye felt gratitude in his heart and squeezed the sound out of his throat. Because his body was weak and he hadn't spoken for a long time, his voice sounded like two rusty iron blocks rubbing together, hoarse.
He knew that he had fainted earlier and had no ability to resist at all.
If this Prey Person brother had been heartless and not particular, he might have already been boiled in that bronze bell pot by now.
Not to mention anything else, even if he had just been thrown aside, he would have become the shame of transmigrators who awakened a golden finger, and would likely have starved to death while unconscious.
Yet, the other person didn't take advantage of his condition and even shared precious food with him.
This undoubtedly saved his life; Lu Ye was glad his luck hadn't been bad to the extreme.
It seems you really can't judge a book by its cover; this Prey Person brother has a scar on his chest and abdomen, and with his thick eyebrows, he looks fierce, but he is actually a good person.
But the food on that tile...
Lu Ye looked suspiciously at the tile in the Prey Person's hand, then at the steaming bronze bell pot beside him.
Whoosh!
His face turned pale instantly.
Could the "milky liquid" he just drank have been scooped from that pot?
And who knows how many Prey Persons had been boiled in that pot? Who knows what strange "ingredients" were in the pot now?
Lu Ye felt his stomach churning, nauseated and wanting to vomit.
"You saved my life first, and I saved you; isn't that only natural?" the Prey Person brother replied nonchalantly, patting his chest. "My Master taught me that we martial arts practitioners must know how to repay kindness..."
"If you really want to talk about it, you are my benefactor!"
He saw Lu Ye's expression change, his eyes fixed on the bronze bell pot beside him, and with a turn of his eyes, he understood what Lu Ye was thinking.
"Don't overthink it," the Prey Person laughed. "My Master taught me that even if you starve to death, you cannot eat people; wouldn't that make us beasts? What I fed you wasn't human flesh."
"We are eating the mixed flour that those two bandits kept hidden on their bodies."
It is a survival method for Refugees to keep life-saving grain on their persons.
Even for those two evil men who ate people, compared to the troublesome preparation of eating a Prey Person—which couldn't be stored or carried easily—the life-saving grain was the final means of Life Preservation, not to be touched unless absolutely necessary.
The Prey Person carefully took out a small grey bag from his bosom; after opening it, it contained fine brown flour.
He shifted his body, revealing a small pile of firewood behind him, on which sat a broken pot found from somewhere, with a little less than half a pot of porridge remaining inside.
To put Lu Ye at ease, this Prey Person sat cross-legged, poured the remaining porridge from the broken pot onto the tile, and began to eat ravenously.
Lu Ye smiled awkwardly, finally setting his heart at ease.
Seeing the Prey Person eating so deliciously, he felt his stomach ache again; he hadn't eaten his fill at all, and his belly was so hungry he wanted more.
But looking at the size of that broken pot, Lu Ye estimated that most of the pot of porridge had already ended up in his own stomach.
Lu Ye licked his lips, and to distract his stomach, he immediately began to chat with this Prey Person brother.
"Meeting is fate; may I ask for this brother's name?"
Prey Person: "I wouldn't dare; my name is Wang Hu, and my Master and Fellow Disciples all call me Hu Zi."
"My Master said that when you go out, you rely on friends; since we have saved each other's lives, we are friends of life and death."
"Don't worry, if there is mixed flour for me, there is some for you."
As he spoke, he swallowed the remaining porridge in two or three bites, licked the tile clean, and then lifted the broken pot.
Lu Ye felt a warmth in his heart; this wasn't Hu Zi, this was clearly an angel!
This angel Hu had a somewhat stern appearance, and with his two thick eyebrows, he looked a bit fierce, but listening to his voice and observing his actions, he was clearly a simple, honest young husband.
"Many thanks, Brother Wang Hu..."
As he thanked him with emotion, his eyes fell on the broken pot, and he finally realized that it wasn't a pot at all, but a broken iron helmet.
Wang Hu was now holding the helmet upside down, and by the looks of it, he was clearly preparing to lick the inside of the iron helmet as well.
Lu Ye immediately became nervous—if Wang Hu really used his tongue to lick the pot, then the food cooked in this pot in the future...
Fortunately, perhaps because Wang Hu had put in too little mixed flour and the porridge was too thin, after examining it carefully for a long time, he finally put the helmet down.
Lu Ye finally let out a long sigh: "Brother Wang Hu, I am Lu Ye..."
The two began to chat.
It turned out that this Wang Hu was not from this province; he came from a neighboring province.
His family was well-off, and he had liked wielding swords and spears since he was a child. A year ago, a Martial Scholar who had returned home to retire opened a school to take in disciples.
He went to his home to apprentice, and the Master said he had Innate Great Strength; although he was a bit late to start Martial Arts, as long as he was willing to put in the effort, he might reach the Realm of a Bronze Skin Warrior in the future and could go to take the imperial martial examination to gain fame.
Wang Hu studied hard for a year and had become an official Disciple, just about to learn the profound Martial Arts of the sect, when this Natural Disaster arrived.
Once the Natural Disaster arrived, all disciples took their parents and family members and set out on the road with their Master.
Their group carried swords and spears and drove carts, so ordinary people didn't dare to provoke them. Who would have expected that there was no grain in the County Town, and no grain in the Prefecture City, so everyone could only head to the Provincial Capital to seek survival.
As a result, they encountered a large group of mountain bandits, who scattered their team.
Wang Hu's parents and family all died in the Chaotic Battle; he broke through the encirclement and escaped, wandering aimlessly all the way, not even distinguishing the direction, and unexpectedly crossed provinces to arrive here.
"In the Chaotic Battle, Master... Master he..." Wang Hu's eyes suddenly turned red, and tears fell.
Lu Ye immediately took over the conversation.
"Brother Wang Hu, please accept my condolences; if your Master knew you were able to escape, he would surely be very gratified."
This Wang Hu couldn't go three sentences without mentioning his Master, so their bond must be deep and unusual. Lu Ye's mind automatically filled in a moving scene of an elderly martial master standing alone against the bandits, blocking them to carve out a path of survival for his disciple.
Wang Hu shook his head and said.
"Master saw that the thieves were powerful, so he abandoned us Fellow Disciples and our families, broke through the encirclement alone, and ran away without even looking back..."
Lu Ye: "..."
This Master really practiced what he preached differently; saying one thing and doing another.
At this time, the sky outside turned dark. Wang Hu thought of his sad affairs and, unwilling to say more, lay down on the stone platform of the divine statue to rest.
Lu Ye also turned sideways and lay down.
He silently recited the Fish Dragon Diagram in his heart, and a golden Scroll Painting immediately appeared in his mind.
In the Fish Dragon Diagram, that Belly-Up Grey Carp that was already about to sink into the river was already floating on the water surface, its deep grey Fish Scale having completely faded away, turning light white, with tiny red scales on its fish tail.
This light white, red-tailed Carp was swimming in the river, with countless Carp of various colors surpassing it in front and behind; ahead of the myriad Carp was the towering Dragon Gate.
Although the light white Carp's speed was slow, it did not lose heart; its body faced the direction of the Dragon Gate, moving straight forward without hesitation.
The scene of Myriad Carp Crossing the River faded, and a few lines of text appeared.
"Lu Ye, 17 years old.
Root Bone—average talent, mediocre aptitude.
Condition—severely weak.
Lifespan: ?
Vitality—10/100.
Controlled Account—Carp.
Species—light white common type.
Skills—none.
Status—survived a brush with death, weak and powerless."
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