Chapter 21: The Demoness’s Gift
Chapter 21: Chapter 21: The Demoness's Gift
The Jiuyuan City where the original host lived was an ordinary city ruled under the territory of the Refinement Demon Sect.
And the Li family in Jiuyuan City couldn't even be considered a clan, but merely a family with a bit of money.
Li Muyang's father, Li Damu, was the captain of the city's defense squad, commanding around twenty men. He had a small house in the city with three entryways, where two maidservants, a nanny, and a coachman were employed.
Such a household could only be considered modestly wealthy; in the city, they were minor figures among minor figures.
After marrying, Li Damu and his wife had only one son, Li Muyang, but they also raised an adopted daughter named Li Yuechan.
The girl was the orphan of Li Damu's sworn brother. After his death, Li Damu brought the girl home to raise her.
This girl was clever and witty, with a cheerful personality, loved by everyone. She was a stark contrast to the original host's abrasive temperament and pettiness, hence, the original host and his cheap sister got along poorly.
Or it could be said that the original host had a poor relationship with everyone, even the maids and servants at home disliked him.
Latterly, the original host fell for Miss Ning of Jiuyuan City and spent all his money on her. To Miss Ning, he was at her beck and call, more convenient to use than a dog.
Eventually, in order to force his parents to provide the money to marry Miss Ning, he had a huge argument with them.
Lacking education, the rough man Li Damu was infuriated by his unruly son, uttering a few harsh words, to which the original host stormed out in a rage.
Before leaving, he even cursed his own family's entrance in front of neighbors and onlookers.
"What goes around comes around. Li Damu, I shall make you regret today's decision one day!"
Afterwards, the original host joined the Refinement Demon Sect, harboring dreams of rising swiftly within the Demon Sect and becoming an outer sect menial Disciple.
Alas, hardly a month after joining the Sect, he died practicing the wrong martial arts technique and being possessed by devils during practice.
Following that, transmigrator Li Muyang came along.
Recalling all the absurd things the original owner had done, Li Muyang only wished to cover his face at the moment.
"I had planned never to return to Jiuyuan City or contact my family again ..."
And now his cheap sister actually came looking for him?
Li Muyang suddenly felt the sensation of social death.
Although he was not responsible for the foolish acts the original had committed, having transmigrated into this body meant he was stuck with the mess – right in the mire, it might not be poop, but it was still poop.
Everyone in Jiuyuan City who knew Li Muyang recognized him as the foolish youth who publicly shouted at his parents, "Don't despise the young for being poor."
Now, not only was his cheap sister coming, but also Miss Ning, whom the original body incessantly fawned over.
"This is really a disaster out of the blue..."
Li Muyang covered his face, suddenly feeling that his secluded little hut might actually be quite pleasant.
At least living here, he could avoid a lot of trouble.
Li Muyang had absolutely no desire to meet with any acquaintances of the original host after the latter had done such idiotic things.
As for Miss Ning... who are you? I really don't know you at all!
After reading the family letter thoroughly, Li Muyang sat under the old tree beside the field ridge and closed his eyes.
Before the messenger arrived, Li Muyang had just performed the Cloud and Rain Technique and was resting on the field ridge, seemingly in meditation but actually was playing a game.
After reading the family letter, Li Muyang carefully considered his situation and quickly adjusted his mindset.
Although his adopted sister had mentioned that she would come to the Refinement Demon Sect sometime later and wanted Li Muyang to pick her up, with Miss Ning accompanying her,
the original owner already had a poor relationship with his adopted sister, Li Yuechan, so he decided not to bother going.
As for Miss Ning... she was so beautiful, she didn't lack bootlickers like Li Muyang. There would be new bootlickers eager to fawn over her. She wouldn't care about an old acquaintance like Li Muyang.
Right now, Li Muyang's mind was filled with thoughts of Little Wild Grass in the Black Cloud Fort, as well as the death-threatening first challenge. He had no intention to waste precious time on other matters.
This time, he had been stuck at the checkpoint for too long, so long that Li Muyang was almost at a loss for words.
It's just a nurturing game, could it be this difficult?
When he re-entered the game, Li Muyang sat in the empty Stilted Building, looking at the little girl in front of him.
In this period, he had tried every possible method, explored every bit of information in the fort, and even tried reloading the game to the very beginning to choose to adopt the other two children.
But if he adopted anyone other than Little Wild Grass, the system would forcefully declare his game over.
And after bringing Little Wild Grass home, the moment he closed his eyes at night, death for Li Muyang was a certainty.
It seemed to be an unsolvable loop.
Li Muyang had explored the game for a long time and still couldn't find a way to break this loop.
—Or rather, he had vaguely found the direction to pass the level, but he wasn't able to grasp it yet.
Once again, as he opened his eyes and saw Little Wild Grass's innocent and curious gaze, Li Muyang let out a sigh and said,
"Little Grass, can you talk to me about your past?"
All the clues and information collected by Li Muyang pointed to the danger originating from the little girl in front of him.
After all, before the arrival of the little girl, there hadn't been a killer in the fort who murderously preyed on people in their sleep. The likelihood was that the murderer had come specifically for Little Wild Grass.
Without adopting Little Wild Grass, the dead girl had a certain probability of dying—After dozens of continuous trials, Li Muyang roughly estimated the little girl's mortality rate.
Without Li Muyang's adoption, there was about a thirty percent chance that the young girl would die.
Various pieces of information and evidence led Li Muyang to believe with certainty that the dead girl known as Little Wild Grass was aware of the murderer's information, and she might even have a way to avoid the murderer's pursuit!
That survival rate of seventy percent couldn't possibly be due to the people in the fort saving her, right?
Li Muyang had confirmed with hundreds of deaths that when facing that eerie murderer, no one in the fort could help.
But even though he had found the direction to clear the level, this girl claiming to be Little Wild Grass was truly harder to persuade than a steel door.
In the last few days, whether Li Muyang was persuading her with kind words or resorting to harsh interrogation, no matter if he played the good cop or the bad cop, the little girl always played dumb.
There were several times when Li Muyang tried to get close to her, to cultivate affection by playing with her around the fort, making her delicious food to eat, and making her laugh with joy, even affectionately grabbing Li Muyang's hand with a moved expression to thank him.
But when Li Muyang looked up at the affection meter—zero.
This dead girl was really good at acting and pretending. At such a young age, she already understood the art of being all show and no substance.
Faced with a girl who could outperform actors, Li Muyang was almost amused to death by the situation.
Dealing with such a female lead in a nurturing game... Li Muyang was starting to consider raising her in the direction of a toxic weed.
Indeed, this dead girl had quite the innate talent for becoming a demoness of the Demon Path!