“Su Jinxiu! You ungrateful little wretch!”
It was the original owner’s second uncle, Su Daqiang.
The moment he stepped inside, his murky mung-bean-sized eyes swept rapidly across the room before finally landing on Huo Chen lying on the bed. He bared a mouthful of yellow teeth.
“Well, well, this wild man’s still alive? Good. Saves me the trouble of digging a grave for him.”
With a wave of his large hand, spit flying everywhere, he pointed at the thugs behind him.
“Get over here! Drag this half-dead cripple out and throw him into the ravine behind the mountain to feed the wolves! And tie up that little slut too. Widower Li from town paid five taels of silver to buy her as his new wife. The auspicious hour’s almost here, don’t delay it!”
A nameless fury ignited in Su Jinxiu’s chest.
Selling his own niece? Killing an injured man? These beasts were worse than animals!
As the burly men approached with sinister grins, Huo Chen’s muscles suddenly tightened beneath the blanket. The eyes that had been dulled by injury instantly turned ice-cold, murderous intent pouring from his body.
Though he could barely move, his hand had already silently reached beneath the bed toward a sharp shard of stone hidden there.
Even a tiger fallen to the plains could not be bullied by a pack of wild dogs.
If these people dared come one step closer, he was certain he could slit the throat of the nearest man first.
Yet before he could gather what little strength he had left, a slender figure suddenly darted in front of him like lightning.
“Who dares touch him!”
Su Jinxiu spread her arms wide, standing firmly before the bed.
“Su Daqiang, this is my home! You break into a private house, rob people, and threaten murder. Aren’t you afraid I’ll report you to the magistrate and have you rot in prison?”
“The magistrate?” Su Daqiang burst into loud laughter as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world. “In these villages, my word is the law! Get them! If that cripple dares resist, beat him to death!”
A thick, dark hand as large as a fan reached straight for Su Jinxiu’s collar, carrying a foul stench of sweat.
Huo Chen’s pupils contracted sharply. The stone shard in his hand tightened, ready to cut through the air—
“AAAHHH—!!”
A miserable scream nearly tore the roof off the shabby hut.
Everyone froze.
The fierce-looking brute from moments ago was now kneeling on the ground clutching his elbow, his face twisted in agony as cold sweat poured down his forehead.
Su Jinxiu held the thin wooden stick that had originally been used for stirring medicine. She stood on one leg in an odd stance.
“The ulnar nerve groove. Commonly called the ‘funny bone,’” she said coldly. “A heavy strike there causes pain over ten times worse than a normal hit. Your arm goes numb instantly and loses all strength. Don’t go grabbing at people next time. Understand?”
On the bed, the scrutiny in Huo Chen’s eyes transformed into shock.
It wasn’t that he had never seen experts before, but he could tell clearly that this woman possessed no inner martial strength whatsoever. Her movements were even somewhat clumsy, yet that strike had been precise and deadly.
Before the others could recover from the bizarre scene, Su Jinxiu moved again.
This time, she attacked first.
Though her body was weak and malnourished, almost unable to keep up with her mind’s reactions, every movement she made was terrifyingly accurate. The plain wooden stick in her hand struck with flawless precision every single time.
Bang!
Another brute’s knees buckled, and he collapsed straight to the ground, unable to rise again.
“The patellar ligament. Hitting here disrupts the reflex arc and instantly drains your knees of strength. Want to stand? Wait a while.”
“Ugh…”
The third brute clutched his neck as he staggered backward before collapsing onto the ground, retching violently.
“The carotid sinus. It doesn’t take much force to make your blood pressure plummet and leave you dizzy. Feel like vomiting? Hold it in. I don’t have space here to clean up your filth.”
In less than the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, all three or four of Su Daqiang’s thugs were sprawled across the floor. Some clutched their hands, others hugged their legs, their cries of pain rising one after another. None of them posed any threat anymore.
Even Su Daqiang’s hands trembled as he gripped his carrying pole. Looking at this niece who seemed like an entirely different person, he was so frightened his soul nearly fled his body.
“Y-You demon woman! You know dark magic?!”
Su Jinxiu casually tossed aside the wooden stick, now cracked from use, and slowly drew a long silver needle from her sleeve — or rather, from her medical space.
Under the sunlight streaming through the broken roof, the silver needle gleamed with a chilling, ghostly light.
Step by step, she approached the trembling Su Daqiang, a gentle smile hanging on her face that was terrifying enough to make one’s scalp crawl.
“Second Uncle, don’t be afraid. I’m not a demon woman. I’m a doctor.” She waved the silver needle before his eyes. “A doctor can save people, but naturally, a doctor also knows exactly where to insert a needle to leave someone paralyzed without anyone noticing.”
“For the rest of your life, you’d lie in bed unable to move. You’d need others to feed you, wash you, even help you relieve yourself. Your mouth wouldn’t speak, your hands wouldn’t move, but your mind would remain perfectly clear.”
She tilted her head slightly and smiled.
“Tell me… wouldn’t that be worse than death? Would you like to try?”
Su Daqiang stared at the silver needle trembling before his eyes, then at the groaning thugs sprawled across the floor. The last shred of courage in him completely collapsed.
“Y-You just wait for me!”
Throwing out a threat utterly lacking in force, he turned and fled in panic, stumbling and crawling away. He did not even dare turn back to retrieve the shoe he had lost while running.
Seeing this, the thugs no longer cared about the pain. Supporting one another, they scrambled out of the terrifying woodshed that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
At last, the world fell silent.
As the fierce aura supporting her dispersed and the adrenaline faded, overwhelming exhaustion and hunger surged over her. Su Jinxiu’s vision darkened, her legs weakened, and her body swayed uncontrollably, nearly collapsing to the ground.
Behind her, that tangible gaze seemed ready to pierce through her back, sharp and unsettling.
Su Jinxiu’s back stiffened.
Crap. She had gotten too carried away fighting and forgotten there was still a meticulous living king of hell lying behind her!
She turned around stiffly, took a deep breath, and when she raised her head again, her face had already changed into one filled with lingering fear. Sure enough, she met Huo Chen’s deeply probing eyes.
“Um… Husband,” Su Jinxiu instantly switched back into her innocent little white-flower mode. The color drained from her face as tears welled in her eyes and she rushed toward the bedside. “I was terrified just now! I… I don’t know what happened either. I just didn’t want them to hurt you, so I fought wildly without thinking. I never expected… never expected my luck to be this good…”
Before her knees could touch the bed, a large hand with astonishing strength tightly seized her wrist.
At some point, Huo Chen had already sat halfway up. Though clearly weak, his grip was shockingly powerful.
He stared at her flawless “I’m so scared” performance, then glanced at the obvious traces of the fight on the floor. His voice was hoarse, yet carried a chilling sense of oppression.
“Wild fighting?” he repeated slowly, his dark eyes locking onto her. “Targeting the most vulnerable joints and nerves of the human body, every strike precise to the smallest margin, using just enough force to cripple someone without killing them. Su Jinxiu, you call that wild fighting?”
Su Jinxiu’s heartbeat skipped.
Finished. She had overacted and run into an expert.
Just as her mind raced, debating whether to keep pretending or invent another excuse, the force of Huo Chen’s grip unexpectedly loosened.
His gaze fell upon her frail figure. He clearly remembered how, when those burly men had approached, she had stepped in front of him without hesitation. That determination, that fearless protection, did not seem fake. The heart that had long since hardened after twenty years steeped in schemes and bloodshed was unexpectedly burned open by this sudden act of protection, leaving behind the faintest crack.
No matter who she was, no matter what her purpose might be—
At least in that moment, she truly had risked her life to protect him.
He released her hand. Under the woman’s astonished gaze, he instead awkwardly raised his hand and clumsily patted the top of her head. The movement was stiff and unfamiliar.
“Mm.” He withdrew his hand and quickly lowered his eyes, hiding the complicated emotions within them. His deep voice sounded low. “Your luck really is quite good.”