“It’s rare to come across such fine insect food. Which of you will claim her as your Mother Gu depends on your abilities as Medicine Persons.”
As soon as the words fell, something heavy hit the ground. The iron gate was locked again, shutting out the only light.
A short while later, the sack shifted, and a girl poked her head out.
The basement was dim and damp, and the lingering stench of blood was nauseating.
Chu He’s face fell.
【System, why do I feel like… the task you gave me is impossible to complete?】
【Host, just keep trying. There’s still a good chance you’ll succeed.】
【How good a chance?】
The androgynous mechanical voice replied: 【According to my calculations, the odds should be 0.03 percent.】
Chu He wanted to bash her head against the ground and end it all right there.
But her hands and feet were bound, and even crawling awkwardly was difficult.
Slowly, a commotion began to stir in the silent darkness.
Chu He looked closely and jumped at the sight of snakes, insects, rats, and ants covering the floor. Then she saw pairs of red eyes gleaming in the dark corners, as if beasts were eager to swallow their prey whole. She was even closer to tears.
Chu He desperately shrank back until her back was pressed against the wall, but the sinister, icy presence surrounding her still made her scalp prickle.
【System, hurry and think of something, or they’re really going to eat me!】
The System corrected her: 【Not they, but it.】
Sure enough, as if to prove the System’s point, a powerful stench of blood swept over them, filling the air that was already stifling.
The sounds of flesh being torn and beasts and insects devouring each other rang out one after another. The poisonous insects covering the floor weren’t coming for Chu He at all; they were slaughtering their own kind.
No, they were following the orders of their respective Medicine Persons.
Only the final victor would obtain the rare Mother Gu.
So it would only ever be “it,” not “they.”
Chu He shut her eyes in anguish.
A few days earlier, someone had inexplicably thrown a sack over her and carried her off, jolting along the way until they brought her to Miaojiang. On the carriage, she had bumped her head, and in that instant, a voice claiming to be the System suddenly appeared in her mind.
【I should have established a connection with you when you were born into this world, Host. A signal error meant I only managed to contact you now, but it’s not a big problem.】
No, it was a very big problem!
It was in that instant, while trapped in the sack, that Chu He remembered she had transmigrated into a book.
In this world, where monsters ran rampant and eerie arts were everywhere, a group of righteous people devoted to exorcising demons and defending the Dao had naturally emerged.
The male lead was a celebrated Favored Child of Heaven. But during an exorcism, he was gravely injured and fell from a cliff, disappearing without a trace.
Fortunately, the innocent and kindhearted female lead rescued him, saving his life.
He had survived, but the moment he opened his eyes, he realized he had lost all his memories. At a loss, he began living an ordinary, peaceful life with the cute and kind female lead.
A man and a woman living alone together would naturally end up developing a relationship.
The problem was that the male lead also had a nominal fiancée. She left home to search for him, enduring countless hardships before finally reuniting with him. But fate played a cruel trick: when she discovered that the amnesiac male lead had already fallen for the female lead, the female supporting character turned dark and cruel.
She did every kind of evil, even letting love turn to hatred and allying herself with a tiger, trying to work with the main villain to kill the female lead and take back the male lead.
Naturally, she did not meet a good end.
She was thrown into the Gu Pool, leaving not even a corpse behind.
After living arrogantly in this world for seventeen years, Chu He finally remembered that she had been given the role of a cannon-fodder character.
The sounds of slaughter grew fainter and fainter. The final victor was about to emerge.
Chu He’s skin prickled all over. 【I remember that in the original plot, there was no part where I ended up in Miaojiang!】
The System said: 【It all goes back to the day you chose the path on the right at the fork in the road.】
If she had chosen the path on the left, she wouldn’t have encountered anyone from the Wugu Sect. If she hadn’t met them, they wouldn’t have taken a liking to her and brought her back to Miaojiang, and she wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.
Chu He had heard of the Wugu Sect.
They commanded poisonous insects and were skilled in Witchcraft and Gu Poison Arts, killing without a trace. Anyone who offended them usually ended up with no remains.
The so-called Medicine Persons were people raised on Gu Poison from childhood. They were poisonous from head to toe and frequently fought among their own kind. The emotions that made them human had been worn away by poisonous insects and bloodshed.
The moment their Gu Arts reached perfection, they could no longer be considered “human.”
Their emotions, their memories—everything that made them human would become non-existent. They would strive only to become the strongest Medicine Person and, when necessary, offer their strength to the Wugu Sect.
Obtaining an exceptional Gu Mother would greatly help them improve their strength.
In other words, to the Medicine Persons, Chu He was a “prize catch.”
【System, hurry and think of something! If I die now, I won’t be able to complete your so-called task of saving the world!】
Before long, this world would collapse and disappear.
The problem still lay with the main villain. He was a madman. After killing the male and female leads, he suddenly felt that everything was pointless and nothing could interest him.
After leaving behind the words “How boring,” he jumped into the Gu Pool and ended his life.
【Signal connection… unstable… Host… fend… for yourself.】
After a harsh burst of static, there was no further sound in Chu He’s mind.
Before she could curse out the useless System, everything around her suddenly fell silent. A chill closed in from every direction, nearly enough to kill her.
A blood-soaked figure appeared.
Chu He curled up, shivering as the cold washed over her.
It was a tall, slender figure, covered in blood. Each step he took over flesh and the corpses of poisonous insects was accompanied by a faint “drip.”
Drops of blood fell from his fingertips, rippling across the pools of blood one after another.
In the dim surroundings, she could only vaguely make out his hair, so red it seemed almost unnatural and long enough to reach his ankles. Amid the blood, she could just discern strands of pure white, untouched by stain.
Bloodstained clothes, white hair, and a face smeared with blood—he was like a demon from hell.
He finally stopped in front of her, silent and still, as if he were a corpse.
Rustling sounds returned in the dark corners. From the corner of her eye, Chu He could see the poisonous insects he controlled creeping toward her.
Beneath the snow-white hair, his face was faintly visible, deathly pale.
The corner of his mouth slowly lifted. A mocking voice came from his open mouth.
“Such a perfect Gu-Refining Material. You’re mine.”
At the same time, he extended his bloodstained hand, inching it toward her.
Chu He gritted her teeth, squeezed her eyes shut, and shouted, “You can’t kill me! You and I have already consummated our marriage. I might already be carrying your child. If you kill me, you’ll be taking two lives!”
The commotion stopped.
The poisonous insects seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier, halting just short of her.
The bloodstained hand hung before her forehead, likewise not moving any closer.
Chu He waited a while, then slowly opened a slit in her tightly shut eyes. A drop of blood fell onto her cheek with a soft “drip,” blooming like a beautiful flower.
Medicine Persons whose Gu Arts had reached perfection would lose the emotions and memories they were born with, allowing them to devote themselves to the Wugu Sect without attachments.
Since this Medicine Person had fought his way to the end, he was clearly skilled—and had naturally reached the “perfected” stage.
Seeing that he didn’t move, Chu He nearly burst into tears. She had actually made the right bet!
Suddenly, the back of her hand went cold. She saw a small green snake dart onto it, then quickly coil around her wrist. Its triangular head faced the skin over her throbbing pulse, its fangs brimming with venom. Her scalp prickled, but she didn’t dare move.
The figure asked with a laugh, “What did you mean by that?”
Chu He guessed that the Little Green Snake coiled around her wrist was probably like a lie detector. If she lied, the poisonous snake would kill her.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she spoke in one breath:
“I left home this time to search for my fiancé. We were betrothed when we were young, and we’ve always had a good relationship. But after an accident, my fiancé lost contact with me. I was so worried, afraid we might never see each other again, that I went looking for him. It wasn’t until recently that I learned the reason we’d lost contact was that my fiancé had lost his memory!”
The Little Green Snake flicked its tongue, withdrew its fangs, and slithered down Chu He’s arm. It then climbed up the blood-red figure and coiled around his arm.
That meant her words were true.
Chu He still didn’t have the courage to look at the poisonous snake coiled around his arm. She was terrified that she would become another corpse lying here.
Half a moment passed, and the air remained silent.
Chu He’s heart lurched in every direction; she felt as though she were being fried in a pan.
The ropes binding her hands and feet suddenly melted into a puddle of rot and fell away.
The bloodstained hand withdrew.