The male supporting character was actually myself.

From the moment they realized the other person had broken free of the ropes to the moment they were grabbed and lifted up, the whole process took only two or three seconds.

Zhang Xiyue only had time to cry for help once before her neck was choked so hard she couldn't breathe, her face turning red. She could only kick her feet desperately, trying to break free from the other person's grasp.

Jiang Chen stood in the courtyard with his arms crossed, waiting to complete the tasks.

When the main system did nothing while the second male lead was being tortured, the female lead was definitely no match for it now. He refused to believe that the main system wouldn't issue a mission requiring him to save Zhang Xiyue from her predicament.

Getting them is like winning the lottery; once they're in my hands, no one can escape them.

Unless the female lead has the ability to devour the second male lead alive, Zhang Xiyue wants to eat people? Just wait!

[Mission: Rescue Zhang Xiyue from Huang Shenglang within two minutes and heal her injuries. Reward: One-time use C-grade item x1]

Sure enough, the task appeared in less than half a minute.

"Huh? I thought the female lead's halo would be stronger than the second male lead's, and she'd just devour him." The fluffy little ball of fur tucked its paws around its big, fluffy ears, looking uninterested. "And that's it?"

Jiang Chen wasn't in a hurry.

Anyway, the mission gives you two minutes. Huang Shenglang, who's only half alive and a complete novice, can only put on a show of power against Zhang Xiyue, who has no chance to fight back. I can take him down with one kick.

Why not give the male and female leads more time to get along harmoniously?

However, the mission was only to rescue Zhang Xiyue, and he didn't push his luck by demanding that she eat someone else. Could it be that there are some special settings for monsters that eat people?

Watching the countdown and calculating the time, when he pushed open the door, he saw Huang Shenglang biting with his mouth full of blood, while Zhang Xiyue's neck and face were covered in blood, unable to cry for help and at the mercy of the other party.

"Meow!" The little white cat never expected such a scene in the house. It was so frightened that it covered its eyes with its paws and shrank behind its host's neck, trembling. "No wonder he is a man who can grow old with a monster. He is too ferocious!"

Luckily, I was worried that my host might get accidentally hurt by the aura, so I chose to stay close and protect him instead of just watching the spectacle. Let me tell you, just looking at that scene for even a second gave me nightmares!

Zhang Xiyue had probably fainted; her eyes were closed and she showed no reaction.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen was too lazy to pretend anymore. He stepped forward and kicked Huang Shenglang in the shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground.

"I didn't realize you were such a ruthless character." Picking up the rope from the ground, Jiang Chen tied the other person up again. He then secretly summoned the Soul Artifact that was sealing the windows outside the door and attached it to the rope to prevent the other person from escaping again due to his protagonist aura.

After dealing with Huang Shenglang, he picked up Zhang Xiyue, who was covered in blood, and went to do the second half of the mission—healing her wounds.

The first encounter between the male and female protagonists ended with Zhang Xiyue suffering a complete defeat.

After struggling for a few moments and cutting his wrist with the Soul Weapon, Huang Shenglang didn't dare to make any more moves and curled up in the corner, lost in thought.

The script, however, finally and reluctantly entered the update phase.

In a daze, Zhang Xiyue felt as if she were soaring freely in the air.

There was no sense of urgency, no feeling of being dragged along by an invisible force, like the death of a soul to be reincarnated. It was as if one had gained true freedom, without purpose, without joy or sorrow, hovering in the air.

"Hiss..." Until the excruciating pain struck, like a kite string pulling her soul and slamming it heavily into this frail body.

She struggled to open her eyes and the first thing she saw was a handsome face filled with anxiety.

"General..." Zhang Xiyue was stunned for a few seconds before gradually coming to her senses and letting out a weak, endearing voice.

It's time to showcase acting skills again.

Jiang Chen's eyes and face were full of heartache. Holding her small hand, her voice was full of apology, "It's all my fault. I couldn't take good care of you."

I'm sorry, I wasn't mentally prepared to watch you eat, and I thought that the kid was tied up and shouldn't be able to resist. Who knew something like this would happen?

"Your injury is quite serious; it was just bandaged. Be extremely careful not to pull on the wound or it will bleed again."

"I..." Zhang Xiyue felt extremely wronged.

As a demon who looks down upon the world, when was the last time I suffered the humiliation of being killed by my prey?

However, she dared not be harsh on Xiao Jiangchen. After all, he could easily kill her and she couldn't offend him easily; secondly, he had offered her a living person to eat, and seeing that there was hope of breaking her bad luck and turning things around, Zhang Xiyue didn't want to give up easily.

"I'm not trying to criticize you, but how could you untie his ropes?" Jiang Chen pretended to be unaware and continued to complain with feigned concern. "You're powerless right now, and even if he's badly injured, he's still an adult. See, you got the short end of the stick?"

Zhang Xiyue said weakly, tears welling in her eyes, "I didn't untie it; he broke free himself. Commander, I'm so weak right now, could you give me some meat first?"

As expected, there was no demand to continue eating people. Jiang Chen gave the little white cat, who was squatting by the bed with its hands tucked in, a smug look.

"This is really strange. Did the script team sneak up some hidden settings?" It took out the script that was being updated, glanced at it, and threw it back, saying angrily, "I read the script very carefully this time, and it really didn't say that there would be any special care for the monster after it was injured. So the system only gave a task to heal the monster and didn't say that the female lead should eat people?"

He nodded almost imperceptibly.

We must take this opportunity to find out Zhang Xiyue's background!

Chapter Ten: Have You Ever Seen a Monster?

"You want to eat meat?" Jiang Chen pretended to be surprised, acting extremely sincere and understanding. "That brat actually dared to hurt my Xiaoxiyue. I'll go and kill him right now to help you recover from your injuries."

Zhang Xiyue's lips moved, and she reached out to stop him, explaining in a weak voice, "I am too badly injured to eat human flesh, and I cannot even swallow flesh and blood that contain slightly stronger energy."

The general only needs to cut two pounds of pork for me, without too much blood.

I need to eat small, frequent meals now, and let the wound heal first before I can eat whatever I want.

"Human flesh contains a lot of energy? Wouldn't that be even more nutritious?"

"General, you should know that humans are the most intelligent of all beings, and the energy contained in our flesh and blood is the most powerful." She rolled her eyes inwardly, thinking to herself, how can someone not even understand this and still keep babbling on and on? "Right now, I am very weak due to excessive blood loss, and consuming too much energy will have the opposite effect."

Moreover, cannibalism requires eating live animals to obtain their vigorous vitality.

If the commander-in-chief kills him, the effort will be wasted, and it won't be worth it. It's better to wait until my wounds heal and then take revenge myself!

When revenge was mentioned, her excessively dark eyes were filled with ruthlessness.

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow, roughly understanding the hidden setting.

After instructing someone to cut some raw meat, he pressed on, "Is it necessary to eat raw food? Can't it be cooked a little? Don't you find the taste of raw flesh and blood unpleasant?"

“Only by eating it raw can you absorb the essence of heaven and earth contained within it,” Zhang Xiyue replied weakly. “Once it’s processed, that energy will be weakened by most of it.”

The stomach is only so big, so to get more energy from a single meal, it can only eat raw food. Besides…”

She hesitated for a few seconds, thinking it wasn't a secret and that telling the other person wouldn't hurt, so she confessed, "I am a monster, not a human. I just live in a human body."

The general, accustomed to cooked food, might find raw meat unpleasant to eat, but if one gets used to it and can appreciate its pure energy, raw meat actually tastes sweeter and more delicious than dry cooked food.

The fluffy little ball of fur bristled with rage, trembling and cowering into a ball. "Ugh~ What kind of perverts are these scriptwriters? How could they come up with a character like this!"

Since he could directly feel the energy contained in the flesh and blood, Jiang Chen had to abandon his idea of ​​adding some of Huang Shenglang's minced meat to the pork for an experiment.

Zhang Xiyue has lived for thousands of years and eaten all kinds of meat, so she can definitely tell whether there are any added ingredients.

We can't afford to completely break ties now; we need to try to make things work out first...

"Clang! Clang!"

With a few swift strokes of the knife, Deputy Guo chopped a large chunk of raw meat, alternating between fat and lean, into evenly sized pieces.

The kitchen was empty; the pots and pans were cold, and not a single ingredient remained.

As he cut, he muttered to himself, "What is the commander up to now?"

The perfectly good marshal's mansion was suddenly dismantled, with not even a cook left. The bandit suppression brought back a group of death row inmates who were imprisoned in the dungeon. With mealtime approaching, not only was there no one to cook, but they also made him cut two pounds of meat into small pieces and carry them to the main courtyard.

Even if you want to grill it, you still need to marinate it with seasonings to make it flavorful, right?

"It's probably not meant for eating, right? Otherwise, why did you specifically tell me not to wash it..." Lieutenant Guo found a plate, put the chopped meat in it, and carefully wiped away the blood from the edge of the plate with a rag.

He washed his hands before carrying a plate of minced meat toward the main courtyard, wondering if he was trying to train a hawk or a dog. Why else would he prepare so much raw meat?

"General, I've brought what you requested." Lieutenant Guo knocked on the door and stood ramrod straight, awaiting further instructions.

Hearing the sound, Jiang Chen opened the door and came out, pulling him to a corner of the yard and whispering, "Have you ever seen a monster?"

Lieutenant Guo: (⊙_⊙)?

A monster? What kind of monster?

Is the commander-in-chief possessed by an evil spirit?

“Not from a story, but a real monster that eats human flesh!” Jiang Chen emphasized, pointing to the side room and lowering his voice, “Zhang Xiyue, whom I brought back, is a monster that eats human flesh. This meat is for her.”

Lieutenant Guo was completely stunned.

"General, are you serious?" He suddenly remembered what the villagers of Forty Mile Slope had said: a fortune teller claimed that Zhang Xiyue was a reincarnation of a monster.

Jiang Chen nodded and explained, "The reason why Forty Mile Slope has suffered from disaster for eighteen years is because of the reincarnation of a monster. If left unchecked, Zhang Xiyue will go around committing evil and eating people."

I dismissed everyone in the mansion in an attempt to trap her, so that Daoist Lingquan could come and seal her soul forever.

Adjutant Guo: (?Д?)ノ

So, there really are monsters in the world?!

This confidant, who had always been loyal to the commander-in-chief, had no doubt whatsoever that the other party was lying.

Recalling that the commander had previously asked him to spread the news of the strangeness of Forty Mile Slope and to search for a Taoist named Lingquan, a sudden flash of lightning struck his mind and connected everything.

His voice trembled slightly as he asked, "Why did the commander secretly bring those death row inmates back and imprison them in the dungeon?"

"To prevent Zhang Xiyue from harming the innocent, we can use them to buy time if necessary. Hopefully, we can wait until Daoist Lingquan arrives in Yongning City safely. This matter is currently only known to you and me. Remember not to be deceived by Zhang Xiyue's appearance. Be sure to pay attention to safety when handling matters at the manor in the future."

"Yes, Commander, I've got it."

Jiang Chen handed him a wad of cash, asking Guo to go to a restaurant for dinner and bring some back for himself.

He then carried the raw meat back to the side room.

Zhang Xiyue's breathing became lighter as she closed her eyes slightly. She could feel that her body was extremely weak after losing a lot of blood, which made her already injured and unrecoverable soul even more depleted.

The wound on her neck burned with pain, probably because it had damaged a major artery. The pain was so intense that it made her feel dizzy and even breathing was a struggle.

I have never been this weak since I awakened to possess an immortal and eternal soul.

So much so that she didn't even notice when Xiao Jiangchen brought the meat to the bedside.

"Xi Yue?" Jiang Chen looked at her barely audible breathing and was a little worried that he might have gone too far during the "treatment" and accidentally killed the female lead.

The fluffy little dumpling yawned and stretched, scratching the wall a few times with its little paws before asking, "Host, the task of healing her went quite smoothly, but the female lead doesn't seem to be doing too well."

How did you treat her wound? The gauze is soaked with blood, it seems like the bleeding hasn't stopped, and..."

It rubbed its nose with its paw, looking bewildered. "And why does this hemostatic medicine smell so familiar? It's even making my eyes sting. Could it be that the dosage is too high?"

He reached out and checked that the kitten was still breathing, then relaxed a little and gave the little white cat a meaningful look.

Isn't the main system all about healing?

There are no regulations specifying what medication to use, what dosage to take, or what effect to achieve.