***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to --- for the donation! ^^
***
Miao Li's voice sounded no different than before, yet it carried an inexplicable coldness and danger. His gaze as he looked at Miao Linyuan was devoid of warmth—as if he were staring at a dead man.
The moment Ruan Qing heard Miao Li’s voice, his body stiffened. His long eyelashes trembled slightly before he quickly composed himself.
Right now, he was just an innocent victim, kidnapped and held against his will. No one would ever know he had gone willingly.
Though Miao Linyuan had arrived without warning earlier, his scent had already given him away. Still, Ruan Qing hadn’t resisted.
An "accident" that absolved him of blame was the perfect kind of accident.
But one thing surprised him. He had expected Miao Linyuan to flee immediately upon hearing Miao Li’s voice. Instead, Miao Linyuan calmly stopped walking—even turned around with Ruan Qing still in his arms to face Miao Li.
In that instant, Ruan Qing understood Miao Linyuan’s plan. He hadn’t been trying to avoid the villagers. He had been… luring Miao Li here.
From their previous interactions, one thing was clear: Miao Li was far stronger than the two overseers—so much so that neither dared confront him directly.
Otherwise, given their personalities, they would have long since sabotaged the engagement.
Yet now, Miao Linyuan was standing his ground against Miao Li. Was there something special about the depths of the forest? Did he plan to use the oppressive effects of the mist to kill Miao Li?
As Ruan Qing pondered this, two figures emerged from the fog, stopping beside Miao Linyuan.
It was Fang Qingyuan, who had been missing for a long time, and the man who had caught Ruan Qing knocking out Mu Ye’an. Neither belonged to Miao Village, so the forest’s mist had no effect on them.
But Miao Li was different.
The pain in his chest made it hard for Ruan Qing to breathe. If Miao Linyuan set him down now, he wouldn’t even have the strength to stand—proof of just how much the mist affected the gu worms.
If they wanted to kill Miao Li, this forest was likely the best place to do it.
Yet a flicker of unease passed through Ruan Qing’s eyes. There had always been something unsettling about Miao Li. Being near him sometimes sent a chill down Ruan Qing’s spine, as if he were facing his greatest fear.
Ruan Qing’s slender fingers tightened slightly. His… greatest fear?
He felt like he should know, but no matter how hard he searched his memories, he couldn’t find an answer. It wasn’t as if he feared anything in particular.
Lowering his gaze, he suppressed the unease in his heart. Whether Miao Li lived or died made little difference to him.
His death would be ideal, of course. But if he survived, the blame wouldn’t fall on Ruan Qing anyway.
All he had to do was wait for the final outcome.
***
The sun had climbed to its zenith, yet its light couldn't penetrate the mist-choked depths of the forest. The woods remained damp and shadowed, with occasional small, dark figures darting through the undergrowth—ominous signs of lurking danger.
This was a place few dared to tread. Yet now, several figures stood in tense opposition, the very air between them frozen to a subzero chill.
Holding someone made fighting inconvenient. Miao Linyuan gently set Ruan Qing down on a nearby stone.
Even this deep in the forest, gu worms hadn’t entirely vanished. And the closer one got to the heart of the mist, the more powerful—and terrifying—these creatures became.
If a fight broke out and no one noticed the gu worms creeping closer…
Miao Linyuan’s hands paused mid-motion. Miao Li, as if reading his thoughts, calmly untied a dark green jade pendant from his waist and tossed it to him.
Miao Linyuan caught it effortlessly. The moment his fingers closed around the jade, he understood—this object could repel gu worms. Even the parasite inside him stirred with a flicker of fear.
It was the same fear inspired by Miao Li himself. A terror so absolute it crushed any thought of resistance.
How could an ant ever hope to challenge an elephant?
Yet Miao Linyuan felt no urge to retreat. His expression unchanged, he tucked the jade into Ruan Qing’s grasp before turning away, leaving him behind.
While in Miao Linyuan’s arms, Ruan Qing had sensed the mist’s suppression of the gu worms. Only now, separated from him, did he realize Miao Linyuan had been shielding him from most of its effects.
The suppression was far worse than he’d imagined.
The instant he was set down, his breath seized as if he were drowning, lungs starved for air. Oxygen deprivation blurred his vision and sent his mind spiraling into dizziness.
With one last unwilling glance at the figures before him, Ruan Qing slumped against the stone, consciousness slipping away entirely.
This time, there was no drifting haze—only pure, unbroken oblivion.
***
Losing consciousness in a dungeon was always unsettling. It left you vulnerable—to uncontrollable events, to occurrences beyond comprehension.
Like what Ruan Qing now faced.
Before him stood a man clad in vibrant crimson wedding robes, hand extended in invitation. Ruan Qing could only stare, his beautiful eyes wide with shock and confusion.
The man clad in the bright red wedding robes was... the same one who had once held a knife to his throat.
Ruan Qing had considered the possibility of Miao Li emerging victorious, or even Miao Linyuan—but he had never imagined that the winner would be this man, Mu Ye'an.
Back then, he hadn’t walked away quickly. Even without turning around, the thick scent of blood had been unmistakable. It hadn’t been hard to guess what had happened.
With that much blood loss, no one should have survived.
Unless... it was the work of a gu.
That much blood loss should have been fatal—but if one formed a symbiotic bond with a gu worm before death, survival was possible.
This man had merged with a gu. He had become a true villager of Miao Village—and what’s more, he was stronger than the others. The oppressive aura radiating from him was no weaker than Miao Ciyu or Miao Linyuan’s.
Perhaps... a third overseer had been born in Miao Village.
Not just Ruan Qing—even the live-stream audience was stunned.
[I thought Mu Ye’an was already dead! How is he here? His stream was closed—did he not choose to leave the instance?]
[His stream did shut down. Unless he closed it himself, there are only three possibilities: actual death, or permanently losing the chance to clear the instance. That’s the only way a stream would cut off.]
[If you choose to exit the instance at the moment of death, you can still use a life-saving item, right? But if he stayed, even those wouldn’t work. What was he thinking? He doesn’t seem to have lost his memories or his sanity.]
[Isn’t it obvious? He’s wearing the goddamn wedding robes—he’s about to become the final winner! Was this even a question?! I knew this bastard would regret it! Pfft. I still prefer how arrogantly he rejected our wife back then.]
Ruan Qing lowered his gaze, concealing the emotions in his eyes. When he looked up again, his expression had shifted to anger—tinged with a barely suppressed panic and fear.
He slapped the man’s hand away, his voice sharp but trembling with forced bravado.
"What do you want now?"
No matter how hard he tried to hide it, the slight quiver in his voice betrayed him. He was terrified.
No one could remain calm facing someone they’d tried to kill. Even if he’d used the hilt of the knife back then, he’d struck the temple—a fatal weak point.
That kind of force should have been enough to kill.
Mu Ye’an stared at his rejected hand, his gaze dark and unreadable. Then he reached for Ruan Qing again, his voice deep and magnetic.
"I’m here to take you to our wedding."
Perhaps the fact that Mu Ye'an hadn’t retaliated the first time he shook him off gave Ruan Qing a surge of courage. The fear on his face lessened slightly, and he glared fiercely at Mu Ye'an before wrenching his hand away again.
"Don’t touch me!"
"Who wants to marry you?! You freak!"
The moment Ruan Qing finished speaking, he turned and rushed toward the door—but before he could take more than a step, Mu Ye'an grabbed his arm. A wave of dizziness hit him, and the next thing he knew, he was flung violently onto the bed.
Ruan Qing’s eyes widened in shock. He scrambled to get up, panic-stricken, but Mu Ye'an was faster. The man leaned over him, long fingers clamping down like iron around Ruan Qing’s delicate, jade-white chin.
One knee pressed between Ruan Qing’s legs, Mu Ye'an’s towering frame nearly swallowing him whole, the shadow looming over him thick with menace and unspoken threat.
His gaze bore down, dark and perilous.
"Tell me," he murmured, voice dangerously soft, "if I used the same force you just did…"
The words were an outright threat. All of Ruan Qing’s earlier bravado evaporated. Fear surged through him, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. His slender body trembled, his lips quivering as he tried to plead—but Mu Ye'an’s grip was too tight, choking off his voice.
In the end, all he could do was stare up at Mu Ye'an, tears clinging to his lashes, his expression a silent mix of terror and supplication.
Pitiful. Docile. Even the fingers clutching Mu Ye'an’s sleeve were feather-light, as though afraid any pressure might provoke him.
Few men could remain unshaken when threatened like this.
Mu Ye'an studied the young man beneath him, something unreadable churning in his gaze. His voice dropped, roughened.
"I came to Miao Village for you—to be your match. Your mother arranged this engagement. If not me, who? That Miao Li?"
"Or the man who kissed you by the lake?"
His tone grew colder with each word, edged with something unsettling. The grip on Ruan Qing’s jaw loosened slightly, just enough to let him speak.
Ruan Qing’s lips parted, his voice fragile. "...I told you. I don’t meet your… requirements."
The words only sharpened the danger in Mu Ye'an’s eyes. In that moment, he looked every bit the predator—a terrifying beast that made instinctive fear coil tight in the gut.
Ruan Qing looked into Mu Ye'an's eyes, his own fear growing more intense. He instinctively wanted to explain himself, but terror made his words stumble out unsteadily, "I-I can't fly... or breathe fire."
"I can." Mu Ye'an cut him off sharply. "I can do all those things. Every requirement you have - I'll meet them all."
"So? Will you marry me?"
Though his words sounded like a negotiation, Mu Ye'an increased the pressure of his bent knee slightly.
The threat couldn't have been more obvious.
Tears of fear rolled down Ruan Qing's cheeks as his lips trembled. After a shaky pause, he barely managed to whisper:
"...Yes."
