Just as Chai Xiaomi's lips were about to touch that cold body, a hand suddenly appeared in front of her, pressing lightly against her lips.
Although the palm was cold, it carried a trace of the faint warmth of a living person.
"Idiot!"
A cold voice sounded like a deep ravine in an empty valley. It lacked its usual lazy banter, and instead revealed a hint of imperceptible panic.
"Open your eyes and look carefully at what is in front of you."
Chai Xiaomi suddenly froze.
She blinked sluggishly, surprised to find that there was no person on the ground at all, but merely a dead branch lying across the floor!
Following the hand blocking her lips, Chai Xiaomi's gaze slowly moved up along the slender wrist.
The young man's excessively handsome face came into view, elegant and captivating. Beneath long eyelashes, his starry eyes sparkled, carrying a chaotic bewilderment.
"Wu Li..." Chai Xiaomi's voice still held a crying tone, light and floating like a sleepwalker's murmur. "You're not dead..."
Wu Li's eyes suddenly darkened, the panic in them becoming more apparent.
The girl's voice came through the gaps of his fingers, soft and muffled, like a feather brushing past. Her moist, clear eyes were unfocused, as if she hadn't yet snapped out of the scene from a second ago.
Her long eyelashes still held wet tears, trembling slightly like a black butterfly about to take flight.
As she spoke, her soft lips parted and closed unconsciously, gently brushing against his palm.
It felt like... fine, dense kisses.
Wu Li abruptly pulled his hand back. A tingling sensation shot up from his palm and spread rapidly, like countless tiny ants crawling across the tip of his heart, leaving him momentarily at a loss.
"You're not dead," Chai Xiaomi said with an extremely serious expression, repeating it as if to confirm.
Wu Li rubbed his warming palm with his thumb. Remembering how she had just been hugging that dead log and crying her eyes out, he was momentarily speechless.
"Am I that easy to kill? You just entered an illusion created by the tree demon." He turned his head away, his tone trying to return to its usual harshness, but the end of his sentence was a bit unsteady. "When you pass away in the future, I'll still be alive. So there's no need for you to be buried with me, what is there to cry about—"
Before he could finish, his words came to an abrupt halt.
Chai Xiaomi suddenly crashed into his arms, her hands tightly wrapping around his neck.
The person in his arms burst into tears without warning, crying even harder than when she was hugging the wood, wiping all her tears on his collar: "That's great... boohoo... do you want to drink sweet soup? I'll treat you to sweet soup!"
Wu Li froze in place, his arms hanging at his sides, forgetting to push her away.
"Sweet soup..." he murmured softly.
He used to always hear people say that sweet soup was sweet. Later, when he grew up and finally tasted it, he felt it was nothing special.
Perhaps he had long passed the age of craving sweet soup.
Or perhaps, he had long grown accustomed to the taste of bitterness.
He originally had no interest at all, but for some reason, hearing her ask between sobs at this moment, he suddenly felt thirsty. His heart stirred, and he was just about to answer, "I want to."
Wu Li's lips moved, but he saw the person in his arms suddenly pull away.
Chai Xiaomi rubbed her nose. The layered silver collar hanging around his neck was certainly beautiful, but it was hard and hurt her nose. Through tear-blurred eyes, she saw Wu Li's lips seem to part slightly.
"What did you just say? I didn't hear clearly, say it again."
After rubbing her nose, Chai Xiaomi raised her hand to wipe her tears.
With her wiping motion, the poisonous scorpion tattoo on the back of her fair hand was particularly striking.
A dark, gloomy look flashed across Wu Li's eyes.
He had actually almost forgotten...
She had his love gu planted in her, so it was only natural that she devoted all her passion to him.
Illusions reveal the most terrifying scenes in a person's heart. The reason she feared his death the most and shed tears for him was merely caused by the catalysis of the love gu inside her body.
Wu Li was silent for a long time. His dark eyelashes covered the emotions in his eyes. His lips curled up, and he suddenly let out a soft scoff, his voice carrying an indescribable mockery.
"No, I hate sweet things."
Chai Xiaomi paused her tear-wiping motion and asked eagerly, "Then what do you like to eat?"
"I don't like anything."
Chai Xiaomi looked up at him in confusion. She had clearly noticed a hint of softness in his eyes just a moment ago, but now he had reverted to that arrogant, cold face.
Did this guy take a masterclass in Sichuan Opera face-changing?
But at the thought of that small, thin figure, Chai Xiaomi's heart suddenly softened again.
Just as she was about to say something more, a sinister and terrifyingly weird voice suddenly echoed from all directions—
"Little girl, why don't you ask me what I like to eat?"
Who is talking?
The voice sounded both male and female, sometimes near and sometimes far, as if drifting from the distance, yet also as if pressed right against her ear.
Chai Xiaomi suddenly felt her back tingle, a chill creeping all over her body.
Only then did she realize that the surrounding scenery had long changed back to the drum tower from before. At that time, hearing Song Yueyao say that Jiang Zhiyu and Wu Li were in danger, she had followed her and run here.
"Me, I just love eating young fledglings like you. Fine, tender meat, and such a pretty appearance, it really makes one drool!"
As the words fell, they were accompanied by bursts of sinister laughter.
Chai Xiaomi's teeth chattered. Wu Li had just mentioned a tree demon, and she immediately thought of the tree demon in the deep forests of Chishan that sucked Chi Lie dry. Listening to its words, did it want to suck her dry too?
Chai Xiaomi asked the system: "Aren't tree demons rooted in one spot on the ground? How could it run all the way here?"
Youtiao had already finished scanning. If the host hadn't suddenly interrupted it just now, it would have told her.
"This system has just determined that what is currently in front of you is a thousand-year-old tree demon that gained sentience long ago. This type of demon is called a Banana Spirit, the one with the highest cultivation among tree demons. It's much more powerful than the one you saw in the mountains earlier. Its main body and branches can freely transform into human forms, and it can also create illusions for people."
Youtiao fell silent for two seconds, kindly reminding her: "In this novel, this is an SS-level demon. With the protagonist group's current abilities, they might not be able to contend with it. Host, you better pray for your own luck~~~"
SS-level!
The original work rated the demons and evil spirits in the novel, namely A, S, SS, and SSS.
In the early plot, the protagonist group only encountered A-level demons, growing step by step in the later stages.
How come they are playing for such high stakes right out of the beginner village?
The laughter drew closer and closer, while the whereabouts of Jiang Zhiyu and Song Yueyao were unknown.
Chai Xiaomi quietly took a half-step back, but her back bumped against something cold and hard.
The next instant, a dark brown branch covered in fine lines poked out from the side of her neck like a living creature. Carrying a damp, cold, and putrid aura, it gently brushed past her jaw.
Before her cry of alarm could escape, Chai Xiaomi felt her waist tighten. She was immediately scooped up by an arm, falling backward into a cold embrace.
A faint, clear scent of green bamboo wafted over her face. It was Wu Li. This scent instantly masked the putrid smell of those branches.
Wu Li protected her at his side, raising his eyes to look at a certain spot in the void, the corners of his mouth curling into a careless arc:
"Old man, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed," he said, his tone lazy yet perfectly clear. "She's no virgin."
Chai Xiaomi was stunned.
"She's pregnant." He paused, deliberately dragging out his words. "I doubt she'd suit your appetite."
Chai Xiaomi looked up at him. The young man's lips were curled into a cold smirk, intentionally using the very excuse she had made up earlier.
