Yan Hao was slightly stunned by his Junior Sister’s reply.
Then, he consoled himself, thinking that Junior Sister must simply be afraid. He continued with forced patience, "Junior Sister, the wounds caused by the Rhino-Five Beetle cannot be healed with medicinal herbs; they must be sucked out by someone. Don't worry, it won't harm you at all. There’s no need to be scared."
"Bu... but I, I really can't do it, Senior Brother. I’m so sorry." Gu Tiantian tried to summon her courage, but the wound before her was horrifying; there was something faintly writhing inside the pus-filled lump.
Not to mention the green pus oozing out—Gu Tiantian was terrified that a drop might land on her.
Combined with the stench that could knock a person unconscious, Gu Tiantian could not bring herself to lean in.
Yan Hao continued to urge her patiently, yet he still could not convince her.
Feeling his mind beginning to drift into unconsciousness, Yan Hao knew that if a wound from a Rhino-Five Beetle wasn't treated in time, death was a common occurrence.
"Junior Sister, please, help me! If you don't help me, I’m going to die." Yan Hao’s voice grew urgent. When the threat of death arrived, he felt fear.
Hearing this, Gu Tiantian had no choice but to stretch her neck out, but as her mouth neared the pus-filled lump, the feel of the green liquid made her nauseated.
"Blegh... urgh..."
Gu Tiantian felt her stomach churn, and she threw up everything she had eaten.
"Junior Sister, please, hurry." Once Gu Tiantian had finally recovered, Yan Hao urged her again in a gentle voice.
"Senior Brother, can you please stop rushing me?" Gu Tiantian felt the man was not gentle at all. She had only just finished vomiting; what was wrong with taking a moment to recover?
Hearing her response, however, a sense of resentment stirred in Yan Hao’s heart.
*I have been struggling so hard for you, why can’t you help me even once?*
"Junior Sister, my body has gone stiff. I can no longer move my upper body," Yan Hao said, his voice losing its patience.
Putting the bigger picture first, Gu Tiantian had no choice but to help.
After sucking out the pus, Gu Tiantian spat it onto the ground. Seeing the beetle revealed as the pus hit the earth, she felt the urge to vomit again.
By now, Yan Hao had calmed down. He consoled himself once more: *After all, any girl would be frightened by such a scene. This is only natural.*
The two continued along the route Gu Tiantian had chosen.
They were still attacked by many spirit beasts, but they managed to make it to a spot just a short distance from the finish line.
The price, however, was heavy.
Yan Hao was half-paralyzed, his body covered in countless terrifying, dense bloody holes.
In the next second, Yan Hao lost all his strength. The posture in which he had been holding Gu Tiantian collapsed, and both of them fell to the ground.
Gu Tiantian helped him up.
"Senior Brother—"
As she spoke, a sharp, bone-like longsword suddenly flew toward them, whistling as it sliced through the air.
Gu Tiantian’s premonition of danger flickered frantically.
*DANGER!!*
Instinctively, Gu Tiantian pulled hard on Yan Hao, shoving his body in front of her.
Yan Hao felt Gu Tiantian’s movement, but he no longer had the strength to resist. Despair washed over him.
He knew he was going to die this time.
It was like a montage before death. The vivid images of the smiling girl from his memories—pouting, singing, talking—gradually faded, replaced by this willful, vicious version of her.
Perhaps he had foreseen this result all along.
Others had chosen to see the real girl, but he was the only one still obsessively chasing that ray of redemptive light.
It was a pity that the light of salvation was merely a disguise; warm on the outside, but cold and sinister on the inside.
*Why?*
*If only I could, I would rather we had never met.*
*Never crossing paths—that should have been our best possible ending.*
The bone-like longsword pierced through Yan Hao’s heart and stopped.
Yan Hao died, his eyes closing, his expression peaceful.
Gu Tiantian’s face was cold. She dropped her facade and left his corpse lying carelessly where it fell.
Gu Tiantian looked at the body. "If you want to blame anyone, blame yourself for being so weak. You were truly useless."
The location of the man that had been flickering in her mind—she had arrived.
It was a vast, pure blue sea with rippling waves reflecting the shimmering sunlight.
A man lay quietly on the water, his long black hair draped beneath him like vines, his appearance as beautiful and enchanting as a siren.
The moment Gu Tiantian laid eyes on him, her heart began to pound, fluttering like a startled deer.
She had fallen in love.
Was this what love at first sight felt like?
Gu Tiantian approached the man cautiously and reached out, intending to touch his face.
"Swish."
The man caught her wrist.
"You stink." Feng Hanye opened eyes as enchanting as the deep sea, his nose twitching as if catching her scent.
[Plot Deviation Value is 35%.]
[Female protagonist halo effect weakened to 50%.]
White light spots quietly recorded everything.
Fei Qingsu remembered that in the original plot, the first words Feng Hanye said when he opened his eyes to the female lead were, "You smell so sweet."
How had it turned into "You stink" now?
The change of a single word in what the male lead said increased the Plot Deviation Value by 5% and reduced the female protagonist halo effect by 8%.
Feng Hanye scanned the surrounding environment, the hunger in his stomach continuing to gnaw at him.
He looked at Gu Tiantian with undisguised revulsion.
If he weren't so hungry, he would never consume blood like this.
The plot began to change again. In the original version, the male lead would ask for the female lead's consent before drinking her blood, but this time, he forced it upon her.
Gu Tiantian’s blood flowed away, her face turning pale as she felt immense pain.
"Tastes terrible, a disgusting soul," Feng Hanye commented, his tone harsh. He drank the blood even more brutally; he knew methods of draining blood that would spare the victim pain, but he didn't want to.
Because she wasn't worth it.
Gu Tiantian felt a moment of confusion. She had endured countless hardships, faced opposition and hatred from others, all to follow the voice in her head to this place.
Was this the person she had come to meet?
"Get lost." After drinking his fill, Feng Hanye left her with those two words and vanished.
In the original plot, he had found the female lead’s blood incredibly sweet and fragrant, and upon discovering that her soul was equally delicious and attractive, he had pestered her relentlessly.
[Plot Deviation Value is 40%.]
[Female protagonist halo effect weakened to 40%.]
The male lead was still pushing the change forward.
Listening to the System's announcements in her mind, Fei Qingsu felt immensely satisfied.
[Male protagonist halo effect weakened to 90%. Because the blood the male lead consumed was impure, his strength has not fully recovered.] the System provided a helpful reminder.
Gu Tiantian watched Feng Hanye, who had turned and left without hesitation, and felt even more heartbroken.
Just then, dark clouds gathered and a fierce wind began to blow, and an eye whose outline was nearly fading appeared in the sky.
Fei Qingsu looked up; the aura of the Heavenly Dao was decaying at an abnormally fast rate.
The eye scanned Gu Tiantian and Feng Hanye, then, as if letting out a sigh, rolled its pupil and vanished.