"Everyone, follow me this way. This ancient tree, thousands of years old, is the sacred tree worshipped by the people of Miaojiang. Legend has it that it can divine the past and the future."
Chai Xiaomi trudged through the jungle, her footing uneven, trying hard to keep up with the tour guide holding the red flag.
Hearing this, she tilted her head up to look at the towering ancient tree in front of her.
"Whoa."
It was thick and massive.
She couldn't help but reach out to touch it.
She thought to herself that even ten people joining hands in a circle might not be able to wrap their arms around it.
Its lush branches and leaves spread out like a giant net covering the sky overhead, blocking out the sun and clouds, inexplicably giving off a sense of oppression.
The tour guide's explanation continued:
"If this were in ancient times, we wouldn't have had the chance to see this sacred tree at all. This is the territory of the Raw Miao, and outsiders were not allowed to enter casually."
"What are the Raw Miao?" someone asked.
"Miaojiang is a vast region. The Miaojiang people are divided into the Raw Miao and the Assimilated Miao. The Assimilated Miao have already been sinicized. Aside from preserving their traditional clothing, they are basically no different from the Han people."
"But the Raw Miao are different. They are mysterious and bizarre."
"They are isolated from the rest of the world and mostly do not speak Chinese, communicating only in the Miao language, and they do not intermarry with outsiders. The Raw Miao are also divided into several branches, the most terrifying of which is the Voodoo Gu Clan. If you encounter them, don't hesitate, just run! If they discover an outsider intruding, they will use Gu poison to torture you until not even your bones remain."
The young tour guide was starting to scare people again.
Rumor has it that Gu sorcery prevailed thousands of years ago and has long since disappeared into the river of history. Nowadays, only legends remain.
The mottled, hard bark felt a bit rough against her hand.
Just as Chai Xiaomi was about to pull her hand back, she suddenly caught sight of a scorpion scuttling around from the back of the tree trunk.
As if it had sniffed out some delicious food, it moved so fast it was practically leaping and crawling at the same time.
Caught off guard, Chai Xiaomi suddenly felt a sharp sting on the back of her hand.
A scream got stuck in her throat before she even had time to let it out.
Her entire body then fell rigidly to the ground.
She never would have imagined, even in death.
That she would be stung to death by a venomous scorpion.
It was just absurd—
"Host, are you alright? Wake up, it seems someone is coming."
Chai Xiaomi snapped her eyes open.
What met her eyes was still that giant tree, comparable to a pillar supporting the heavens.
But something seemed a bit different?
The lush, verdant branches and leaves grew wildly, without a single ray of sunlight able to pierce through the gaps, and there was absolutely no trace of artificial pruning.
It seemed to have become even more pristine and untamed.
Voices and footsteps came from not far away, slowly approaching.
Chit-chatting away, it was a language Chai Xiaomi could not understand at all.
"Oh no, it's people from the Voodoo Gu Clan! Host, run away quickly ahhh!"
The mechanical voice in her mind was so agitated that its static crackled slightly.
With no time to dwell on anything else, Chai Xiaomi scrambled up on her hands and knees and bolted.
After twisting and turning her way into a mountain cave, she cursed under her breath while leaning against the wall, panting.
Wait a minute, I'm a ghost, what the hell am I afraid of?
"You are still alive." The mechanical voice, having survived a disaster, took on a lighter tone.
"Let me introduce myself. I am your bound system, Host, and my name is Youtiao. Welcome to the main story world of 'Alien Continent'!"
"..."
Chai Xiaomi stood stunned for a few seconds.
She suddenly remembered this phenomenally popular novel, which she had been reading on the plane trip.
In order to learn a bit about Miaojiang's Gu sorcery beforehand.
She had specifically sought out such a novel full of fantasy and mysterious elements.
In this world.
Warlords vied for supremacy, and evil spirits ran rampant.
In these chaotic times, the male lead, as the son of a formidable warlord, inherited the demon-slaying sword and his father's dying wish. He led a group of like-minded allies to conquer the central plains, ultimately quelling the rebellion and bringing peace to the world.
At the same time, he grew alongside the female lead, and they pledged their lives to each other.
The second male lead in the book had a vicious heart and was born evil. As the grand, wicked villain, he wanted to equally wipe out every single person in the protagonist's group.
Seeing the protagonist's group devastated brought him an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.
A complete psychopath.
Chai Xiaomi believed that the second male lead's hatred stemmed from love because, in the early stages of the plot, he wanted to plant a love Gu in the female lead to force her affection.
Unfortunately, he didn't succeed.
When the villain was planting the love Gu, he was discovered and stopped by a righteous female supporting character from the protagonist's group. In the end, that cannon fodder female character was devoured entirely by Gu bugs, not even leaving a single strand of hair behind. Her death was miserable and terrifying.
"Host, your mission is to stop the villain from planting the love Gu in the female lead."
Youtiao's voice chimed in right on cue.
Chai Xiaomi: F*ck.
So it turned out she was that insignificant small fry who wouldn't even have a strand of hair left.
"The system has detected that once the villain plants the love Gu in the female lead, he will use her to control the male lead. The male lead's character setting is perfect in every way, except he is completely love-brained. For the female lead, he would not hesitate to turn against his allies, allowing the flames of war to rage and evil spirits to overrun the land. This ultimately leads to the male lead being despised by the whole world, attacked by the masses, and dying from ten thousand arrows piercing his heart, causing a total collapse of the character settings, plot, and world."
"Host, only by saving this world can you be resurrected."
"Host, you are the electricity, you are the light! You are the only hope of our whole village!"
"Ho..."
"Stop! Let me process this for a minute."
Chai Xiaomi leaned against the wall and walked aimlessly further inside.
She was contemplating what her odds of winning were.
According to the plot in her memory, near the ending, the villain was already the youngest Gu King of Miaojiang.
No one could get close to him, let alone hurt him. He died from the backlash of his own Gu.
When she read that chapter, Chai Xiaomi was dumbfounded.
The incredibly overpowered grand villain from the early stages just dropped dead just like that.
It felt as if the author forcibly killed him off just to achieve a happy ending, not even bothering to properly explain his background.
So she immediately exited the novel, gave it a one-star rating, cursed "Rushed ending!", and didn't read any further.
Facts proved that you shouldn't casually give one-star ratings to novels, or you'd suffer karma.
"Ouch, holy sh*t!"
Chai Xiaomi was so preoccupied with thinking about the plot that she completely missed a protruding rock under her feet and fell flat on her face.
At the same time, it sounded as if some animals inside the cave had been startled, letting out a chorus of hissing sounds.
"Heh."
A very faint sneer rang out.
"Just a foreigner, look how scared you all are. It's just food delivered right to our door."
The voice sounded gentle and clear, yet chilling to the bone.
The young man was speaking a foreign language that Chai Xiaomi couldn't understand, but fortunately, Youtiao could simultaneously translate for her.
Even the surrounding air seemed to freeze, as if a layer of frost had formed.
Chai Xiaomi looked up.
She saw a large pool of water in front of her, with someone soaking in the middle of it, their back facing her.
Judging from the voice just now, it was a young man.
Several long braids interspersed with silver threads were tied on both sides of his ink-black hair, held high at the back of his head by an exquisite silver ornament, while the rest of his long hair spread out like thick ink floating on the surface of the water.
Besides the back of his head, all that could be seen were his slender, sharp shoulders exposed above the water.
The depths of the cave were very dark. The only reason she could see these details clearly was because the water in the pool emitted a faint blue glow, rippling back and forth.
The young man slowly walked up from the pool, creating ripples all around him.
Only then did Chai Xiaomi see clearly that what was flowing down his body was actually dark red bloody water, striking against his pale skin.
The young man's back gradually emerged from the water.
Just as the curves below his increasingly narrow waistline were about to be fully revealed.
In a split second, her vision blurred, and accompanied by dense, piercing screeches, countless bats hanging on the cave walls swooped down at her.
Their eyes were blood-red and their fangs were bared. Looking like they were infected with a zombie virus, their aggressive formation made it clear they were going to swallow her alive.
Chai Xiaomi's scalp tingled, and she subconsciously raised her arms to block them.
Yet, as if intimidated by something, the bats merely circled her, refusing to come any closer.
"Why aren't you eating?" a young man's puzzled voice rang out.
The swarm of bats parted to make a path.
At some point, he had put on his clothes—a vibrant blue Miao ethnic outfit adorned with intricate traditional patterns.
Around his neck, he wore layers of silver collars engraved with exquisite designs.
Two dangling earrings swayed gently as he walked, letting out crisp, tinkling sounds.
The youth stopped in front of her.
With red lips, white teeth, and the tails of his eyebrows curving slightly upwards, it was a face so beautiful it bordered on bewitching.
Especially that pair of heterochromatic eyes: one was amber, the other a deep, profound purple.
They looked like two radiant gems embedded in his face, shimmering with a light that seemed capable of capturing one's very soul.
A terrifying chill shot up from the soles of Chai Xiaomi's feet, invading her limbs and bones. She instantly felt her entire body go stiff.
In the novel, the only person born with heterochromatic eyes—other than the villain, Wu Li, who else could it be!?
"Youtiao, I feel like I'm toast..."
"Host, hang in there! Rely on your beauty, your beauty!"
"What the heck is my beauty going to do? He's prettier than I am! I want to knife the author. What's the point of writing a guy to be so incredibly alluring??"
Before she could finish venting her grievances, her wrist was suddenly grabbed.
The youth's hand was icy cold, completely devoid of warmth, and his fingertips were still wet with water.
"You... how is this possible?"
In disbelief, he pulled Chai Xiaomi's wrist closer, staring intently at the back of her hand and whispering an incantation as if trying to confirm something.
Chai Xiaomi followed his gaze, only to see a striking black scorpion tattoo on the back of her hand!
This was the exact spot where she had just been bitten by the Divine Tree's poisonous scorpion. There was no wound; instead, a tattoo had appeared.
In a moment of desperation, Chai Xiaomi had a flash of wit. Disregarding everything else, she turned the tables and grasped Wu Li's hand with both of hers.
She even rubbed his icy hand against her cheek. The touch felt like an ice-cold soda can against her skin. Chai Xiaomi hissed softly, then plastered on an incredibly affectionate expression and drawled, "Is it you? A'ge, you're the one who appeared in my dreams."
"Even though this is the first time I've met you, I feel a sense of deja vu. Is this what people call love at first sight?"
The greatest form of blackmail in the world is emotional blackmail. When someone falls hopelessly in love with you and you cannot reciprocate, a sense of guilt naturally arises in your heart.
If Wu Li felt even a tiny sliver of guilt, he wouldn't kill her so easily.
Xiaomi, you are an absolute genius!
"Let go! Who is your A'ge!" Wu Li suddenly switched to Mandarin.
The novel mentioned that he could speak Mandarin. Although his intonation sounded a bit rusty, it didn't stop the youth's voice from being as pleasant to the ears as ever.
He forcefully flung her hands away and stumbled back two steps in a fluster. The swaying tassels of his earrings brushed past his face and tapped against his jawline. His lips were pressed into a tight, straight line.
Amidst the chaotic clinking, the swarm of bats suddenly scattered, all retreating into the depths of the cave.
In the dim light, only countless pairs of red eyes remained, flickering on and off, as if they were hiding in the shadows to watch the drama unfold.
"Idiot!" Wu Li scolded coldly. "Is 'A'ge' something you can just call anyone? Besides, anyone can tell with one look that you're older than me."
