Don't mess with that Miao boy, he's sickly and perverted.

"Host, are you sure you can handle this?"

Looking at those skinny arms and legs, You Tiao (a type of fried dough stick) expressed great concern.

Chai Xiaomi twisted her neck and loosened her muscles: "It's not a big problem, it's just a vine, not a knife or sword... uh!"

Fried Dough Stick: "Huh? Host?"

Fried dough stick: "Hello?"

Fried dough stick: "...Great, it's crispy, I'll really thank you."

No one expected this.

With one lash, Chai Xiaomi was knocked unconscious on the spot.

In the most remote corner of Wuzhai.

Right next to the winding stream, there is a dilapidated treehouse built against the tree.

It was barely pieced together from rotten planks, so simple that it was almost on the verge of collapse, and it stood out from the other closely connected and well-arranged stilted houses in the village.

A small dish of tung oil lamps was lit inside the treehouse.

The light was dim, barely enough to illuminate the center of the treehouse, while the surrounding corners remained dark.

The girl was lying in the middle of the treehouse. In the dim light, her eyelids fluttered slightly as she slowly woke up.

A faint scent of grass wafted into my nostrils, and a cool sensation lingered on the tip of my nose.

Chai Xiaomi blinked slowly.

With her view obstructed, she reached out and touched it, only to find that a leaf was covering her face.

I don't know how long I slept, but when I plucked a leaf, I realized it was completely dark.

Because the room wasn't very bright, the first thing she saw was the starry sky outside the window.

The dark blue curtain was dotted with countless stars, an unbelievable sight.

The sea of ​​stars seemed very close to her; in the blink of an eye, a beam of light streaked across the sky and vanished in an instant.

"Ahhh, a shooting star!"

This was the first time in her life she had ever seen a shooting star.

Chai Xiaomi jumped up, ignoring the pain in her back, and leaned against the window, clasping her hands together in devout prayer.

Her wish has always been simple and unpretentious; she has no other thoughts than getting rich.

A low chuckle came from the dark corner.

The boy's cool tone was full of disdain: "I see it every night here, what's the big deal?"

Chai Xiaomi was startled. Her eyes took a while to adjust to the dim light before she spotted Wu Li in the farthest corner from her.

He sat on the ground with his back against the wooden wall, one leg stretched out and the other lazily bent, his wrist resting on it.

He was looking up at the window, gazing at the starry sky.

The moonlight was like a bucket of cool water poured over him, making the boy's thin features appear pale.

Chai Xiaomi suddenly remembered her great record of bringing someone down with a single whip.

The remaining 29 lashes...

"You guessed right, the remaining 29 lashes were all from the villains. In all my years of service, this is the first time I've encountered a host as fragile as you! You almost died before we even got into the main storyline, waaaaah, I'm going to lose all my performance bonuses!" You Tiao complained angrily.

"The host bound to the soy milk shop next door has already become the darling of the group. You have to prove me wrong, otherwise that shameless guy will climb on my head and shit on me, laughing at me for being trash!"

"Good oil, good strips, you need to keep quiet for now~"

Chai Xiaomi offended two people by fainting, but she had to comfort the more important person first.

"Brother, are you hurt?" She carefully moved toward the corner where Wu Li was.

The treehouse roof was a bit low for her, so she had to hunch over slightly.

She could hardly imagine how he managed to move around in that dilapidated and cramped space.

"Wu Li".

The boy coldly uttered his name.

"Remember my name. If you call it out again," he said, his voice completely flat, "I'll let it crawl into your mouth and start eating it from your tongue."

Chai Xiaomi's pupils suddenly contracted; a reddish-brown snake had somehow climbed onto her shoulder.

Its eerie green eyes gleamed coldly. The snake hissed, its icy scales clinging to her skin as it slowly coiled around her neck. Its head swayed dangerously from side to side, probing her lips as if it were about to pry open her jaws at any moment.

"Then it goes down your throat, and it loves to eat the hearts of young girls, especially the ones that are still beating, because they are the most nourishing."

Chai Xiaomi suppressed the scream escaping her throat and the urge to spring to life and run away.

She looked up at him, her watery eyes filled with self-reproach and worry: "Wu Li, I'm just worried about you. Your injury is my pain... Can I see your wound?"

She mustered her courage, ignoring the cold, eerie snake hanging around her neck, and resolutely moved a little closer to him.

Wu Li completely ignored the cheesy lines uttered under the influence of the love potion, merely twitching her bloodless lips and lazily lifting her eyelids to glance at her: "Are you sure you want to see?"

Under the moonlight, his heterochromatic eyes gleamed with an eerie light.

Only when she got closer could Chai Xiaomi see clearly that Wu Li's face was deathly pale, and fine beads of cold sweat were seeping from his forehead.

This fragility, contrasting with his exquisite and beautiful face, creates a breathtakingly morbid beauty.

"Mm." She nodded, her tone softening. "I can also help you apply the medicine."

This scene actually moved her somewhat.

She suddenly remembered the setting in the novel; according to the timeline, Wu Li had just turned eighteen at this time.

The coming-of-age ceremony of the Wugu tribe is held at the age of sixteen. The most important part of the ceremony is that the parents cut off a long braid behind the boy's ear, symbolizing that he has officially become a man.

However, the few strands of long hair behind Wu Li's ears were still tied up high with silver ornaments, hanging down to her waist.

This can only mean one thing: he didn't have parents to perform this ceremony for him.

Thinking about the "bastard" that people kept talking about, Chai Xiaomi became even more curious about his background, and a genuine feeling of heartache welled up in her heart.

She was only a year older than him, but she always felt like a child, at the age when she should be clinging to her parents and acting spoiled.

Thinking of her parents, Chai Xiaomi's nose tingled, and two large tears rolled down her cheeks without warning.

She must do her best to complete the mission and be resurrected!

We must never let our parents, with their white hair, bury their black-haired child.

"Clatter".

Tears fell crisply onto the old wooden planks, shattering the silence of the night.

A tiny drop of water, from the splashing water, quietly landed on the back of the boy's drooping hand.

Wu Li froze, his fingertips curling almost imperceptibly.

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly, with a hint of irritation, he loosened his shirt belt and said in a hoarse voice, "Look, look, I'll take it off for you! What are you crying about!"

"Don't blame me if you get scared later."

Accompanied by the jingling of earrings and necklaces, Wu Li turned around with annoyance, took off his shirt, and exposed his back to her.

There was no bloody scene as expected, but the sight before my eyes was even more horrifying.

His back was covered with crisscrossing red marks, and deep within several wounds where the flesh had been torn open, dozens of white worms, resembling silkworm pupae, were wriggling and greedily clinging to the flesh.

They had already sucked all the blood out of them; some were swollen and round from the blood, and were slowly burrowing deeper into the flesh.

Like a leech, but even more terrifying, Chai Xiaomi felt a chill run down her spine and up to her head, her scalp tingling.

"These insects are..."

"It was raised inside my body by the High Priest." Wu Li quickly pulled up his clothes, turned to look at her, and a malicious smile appeared on his lips. "It can stop bleeding. Want me to give you a few?"

Chai Xiaomi met his gaze directly and suddenly asked, "Does it hurt?"

"If it hurts, you can share some with me."

The girl's tone was unusually firm, and two tear streaks still clung to her face, reflecting a faint light.

Wu Li suddenly stopped laughing.

"Heh, you fool, this Crimson Blood Silkworm is extremely rare. Do you really think I'd give it to you?" The boy awkwardly turned his face away.

The Crimson Blood Silkworm feeds on blood to sustain life, enabling those on the verge of death to fully recover their strength, making it comparable to a life-saving medicine.

He was merely a vessel of the high priest and had no right to decide the fate of these crimson silkworms.

The high priest had meticulously counted the number of Crimson Blood Silkworms implanted in his body; whether one was missing or had died, he would not escape punishment.

From birth, his body did not belong to him, yet people would ask him if he was in pain.

Wu Li lowered his eyes, his gaze sweeping lightly over the scorpion tattoo on the back of the girl's hand.

A self-deprecating smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

He suddenly asked, "What's your name?"

"Chai Xiaomi, isn't that nice?" The girl's voice was as clear as a bell. "Rice, oil, and salt are the most ordinary things, but they are indispensable in everyone's life. I am an indispensable part of that life."

"Tch, that sounds awful."

Chai Xiaomi: ......

"What's so awful about it...?"

"Shut up, I'm going to sleep, don't bother me." Wu Li interrupted her without any politeness. "I'm going hunting in the mountains early tomorrow morning to deliver the game to Ribai. If you don't want to die, you'd better stay here and not leave even for a moment."

After Wu Li finished speaking, she removed her necklace and hair ornaments, lay down on the straw cushion, put her hands behind her head, and closed her eyes.

Hunting wild boar was supposed to be today's task, but it was delayed because of the punishment. I have to get up earlier tomorrow.