After ninety-nine online romances, I finally met my ex in person when school started.

Xiao Bai gripped the ceramic knife in reverse and slid towards the entryway like a ghost.

Gu Qinghan drew her sidearm and released the safety. She walked to the door and looked out through the peephole.

There were no groups of assassins outside the door.

There was only one young girl standing there.

Gu Qinghan frowned and opened the door.

The girl was wearing an oversized black high-street fashion sweatshirt. She paired it with camouflage cargo pants and platform Doc Martens. Her short hair was dyed gray-blue.

But around her neck hung an antique sterling silver necklace, and on her back was a hand-woven bamboo basket.

The girl held a printed cauldron and a dark web bounty poster in her hand.

"Who are you looking for?" Gu Qinghan lowered his gun but did not let his guard down.

The girl spit out a pink bubble gum.

"Looking for money," the girl's clear voice said. "One hundred million US dollars. I'm here to take the challenge."

Gu Qinghan stared at her.

Xia Wanying walked out from inside. She looked at this girl who had no demeanor of a doctor whatsoever.

"You know about neurotoxins?" Xia Wanying asked.

"I don't know anything about poisons." The girl swaggered in, took the initiative to change into slippers, and said, "I know about Gu poison. The person lying inside has been poisoned by my family's unique Gu poison. No one in the world but me can wake him up."

The four women were stunned at the same time.

The girl carried a bamboo basket and walked straight to the master bedroom.

Xiao Bai tried to block her way. The girl didn't even raise her head, just casually waved her right hand in the air.

A faint, pleasant fragrance filled the air. Xiao Bai felt a sudden ache in her wrist, and the ceramic knife clattered to the ground.

Jiang Yao's eyes sharpened, and she was about to pounce on him.

"Even if you let him sleep for seven days, no god can save him," the girl casually remarked.

Jiang Yao abruptly stopped in her tracks.

The crowd parted to make way.

The girl walked to the intensive care bed. She looked at Zhu Xunchuan lying on the bed with a breathing tube inserted.

She neither put down the bamboo basket nor immediately took the medicine.

She extended her slender, pale index finger, aiming it at Zhu Xun Chuan's handsome face.

He stabbed it down hard.

He pressed his finger into Zhu Xun Chuan's cheek, leaving a dent.

The girl pursed her lips and lowered her voice.

"That scumbag," the girl muttered. "He deleted me from his friends list back then. Now, he's finally in my hands, isn't he?"

Although the sound was soft, it clearly reached the ears of the four women behind him.

The ward fell into a deathly silence.

Xia Wanying, Gu Qinghan, Jiang Yao, and Su Mucheng. All four pairs of eyes were fixed on the young girl dressed in Miao attire.

The ward fell into a deathly silence.

Xia Wanying, Gu Qinghan, Jiang Yao, and Su Mucheng all stared at the young girl dressed in Miao attire.

The words "scumbag" caused a nuclear explosion-like shockwave in the spacious master bedroom.

Jiang Yao's butterfly knife froze in mid-air. Gu Qinghan adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, a dangerous glint flashing behind the lenses. Xia Wanying took a half-step forward, her wine-red silk skirt sweeping across the carpet.

"What did you say?" Xia Wanying's tone was icy, carrying the oppressive feeling of someone who had long held a superior position.

Qu Feiyan turned around, her short, gray-blue hair swaying. She faced four stunningly beautiful women with powerful auras, but instead of being intimidated, she crossed her arms and raised her delicate chin.

"I said he's a liar, a scumbag." Qu Feiyan popped the pink bubble gum in her mouth. "What, you guys were also deceived by him? That's perfect, let's all line up and each stab him in the back."

"Are you looking for death?" Jiang Yao gripped the butterfly knife in reverse, the blade pointing directly at Qu Feiyan's throat.

Qu Feiyan remained completely calm. She reached out and patted the medical equipment beside her, watching the faint trough on the heart rate monitor.

"He's been afflicted by my Miao tribe's 'Seven-Day Yama.' This is the sixth day. After midnight tonight, the Gu worms will devour his marrow, and even a Great Luo Golden Immortal couldn't save his life." Qu Feiyan smirked. "If you want him dead, you can stab me now."

Jiang Yao's movements froze.

Xia Wanying took a deep breath, suppressing her surging anger.

"How much money do you want? Dinghe Group can transfer the money immediately." Xia Wanying adopted a negotiating stance.

"I don't want money." Qu Feiyan pouted. "I came to take on the challenge because I wanted to see how miserable this bastard is now. But since he's here, consider him lucky to be alive."

She bent down, took off the handmade bamboo basket from her back, and placed it on the bedside table.

"Get out, all of you," Qu Feiyan said without looking up.

"We must stay here." Gu Qinghan's tone was resolute, displaying the authority of a forensic doctor and a leader of the municipal bureau.

Qu Feiyan turned her head and looked at Gu Qinghan. "The Miao people's antidote is not passed on to outsiders. With so many people around, the Gu worms will be startled and bite through his heart meridian. If you're not afraid that he'll die faster, you can bring a stool and sit here to watch."

This is a killer move.

Su Mucheng was so anxious that tears streamed down her face, and she tugged at Xia Wanying's arm.

The four women, who wielded immense power in Kyoto, now had no choice but to back down when faced with their only lifeline.

"If anything goes wrong with him, I guarantee you won't be able to leave Kyoto." Xia Wanying threw out a harsh remark and led the way out of the master bedroom.

The door closed. The crisp sound of the lock clicking shut was audible.

The only sound in the room was the monotonous ticking of various medical instruments.

Qu Feiyan stood by the bed. She didn't reach for the herbs or silver needles in the bamboo basket. Instead, she took a pair of scissors from the pocket of her work pants.

Zhu Xun Chuan was wearing a white silk shirt.

Qu Feiyan took the scissors and unceremoniously cut the fabric open from the hem. The sound of tearing fabric was exceptionally clear in the quiet room.

His shirt was open at the sides, revealing the man's broad, muscular chest and well-defined eight-pack abs. Due to the loss of body temperature caused by poisoning, a layer of cold sweat glistened on his powerfully muscular physique.

Qu Feiyan's fingers paused for a moment.

She swallowed hard, her gaze lingering on Zhu Xun Chuan's abs for a couple of seconds. Beneath his usually arrogant and wild gray-blue short hair, a suspicious blush inexplicably appeared on his fair cheeks.

"Is he in such great shape just to fool women?" Qu Feiyan muttered.

She shook her head, clearing her mind of the jumbled thoughts. She reached into the bamboo basket and pulled out a small, red porcelain bottle, no bigger than her thumb.

Pulling out the cork, a small, snow-white insect with transparent wings crawled out.

Qu Feiyan placed the small insect on Zhu Xunchuan's chest. The white insect smelled the poison, bit through the skin, and burrowed inside.

The intense pain instantly shattered the nerve paralysis barrier.

The piercing system alarm in Zhu Xun Chuan's mind abruptly stopped. He took a deep breath of oxygen, and his deep eyes snapped open.

The vision gradually became clearer from blurry.

What came into view was a beautiful, ethereal face with a touch of baby fat. Short, grey-blue hair and an old silver necklace hung around her neck as she looked down at him.

Zhu Xunchuan's memories were rapidly reassembled in that instant.

Two and a half years ago. The domestically developed fantasy MMORPG, *Nine Provinces Chronicles*.

In order to farm the hidden materials for the server-wide first kill, he created a Miao mage character who had consistently topped the healing and poison rankings. The character's game ID was "Ayan Doesn't Poison".