Transmigrated As A Cannon Fodder Sacrifice, I Tricked An Evil God Into Becoming My Live-In Husband - Chapter 10

Pain.

It felt as if every bone in her body had been shattered and haphazardly reassembled.

Zheng Qiuyu’s consciousness was jolted awake by this excruciating agony.

She struggled to open her eyes, her vision blurring with unfamiliar layers of deep green foliage. Fragmented sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, stinging her eyes.

The air hung thick with the damp, earthy scent of decaying leaves.

Falling…

She remembered.

After Zhuohuo blasted through the Gui Xu barrier, he had collapsed from exhaustion, plummeting from the sky with her in his arms.

The realization sent a jolt through her. She bolted upright, ignoring the protests of her battered body.

Zhuohuo!

He lay beside her, his long silver hair spread across the withered leaves, stained with dirt and devoid of its usual luster.

His face was deathly pale, his eyes tightly shut, and his breathing so shallow it was barely perceptible.

Trembling, Zheng Qiuyu reached out to check his pulse.

He was still alive.

Relief washed over her, and she collapsed back onto the ground, gasping for breath.

She examined his body. There were no visible injuries, but he had fallen into a deeper coma than ever before.

Her hand instinctively moved to the Divine Seal on her wrist.

It was astonishingly hot, almost burning her skin, yet there was no longer any sensation of power leaking from it—only intense heat radiating outward.

He had exhausted all his energy.

Zheng Qiuyu’s heart sank.

System! System! Come out quickly! Check his condition! she frantically called out in her mind.

This time, there was no trace of the usual playful electronic voice.

Instead, a cold, mechanical, emotionless voice echoed in her consciousness.

Energy depleted.

Core damaged due to breaching world barriers.

Functionality 99% disabled.

Zheng Qiuyu’s bl00d ran cold.

What does that mean? What do you mean by 99% disabled?

Only the basic inventory remains active.

She hurriedly opened the system panel. The once-abundant exchange options were now grayed out, leaving only three isolated icons still lit.

A packet of Insect Repellent Powder.

A crumpled Water Purification Talisman.

And a book… its cover emblazoned with the words 21st Century Latest Edition… Modern Wilderness Survival Manual.

Zheng Qiuyu froze in utter disbelief.

Roar—!

In the distance, the roar of an unknown demonic beast pierced through the forest canopy, carrying with it a heavy, metallic scent of bl00d.

Immediately afterward, a cacophony of terrifying roars erupted from all directions.

Some were deep and thunderous, shaking the ground with their reverberations.

Others were sharp and piercing, causing waves of pain to stab through her eardrums.

This was no safe place.

Zheng Qiuyu stared at the unconscious Zhuohuo beside her, a primal fear gripping her heart like never before.

The System was gone.

Zhuohuo, her strongest protective charm, was incapacitated.

She had to rely on herself.

Rely on herself to protect them both and survive in this treacherous, unknown wilderness.

The instinct to survive overwhelmed all her confusion and fear.

Gritting her teeth against the searing pain that coursed through her body, she began dragging Zhuohuo’s massive frame.

His body was heavy, and every inch Zheng Qiuyu dragged him cost her every last ounce of strength.

Her fingernails carved deep furrows into the mud, and the rough bark of trees tore her palms raw, leaving them dripping with bl00d.

Finally, she discovered a hidden cave concealed by vines at the foot of an inconspicuous hill.

The entrance was small, but the interior was surprisingly dry.

With her final reserves of energy, she dragged Zhuohuo inside and propped him against the stone wall.

Exhausted, she collapsed at the cave entrance, gasping for breath.

But she couldn’t afford to rest.

She opened the Modern Wilderness Survival Manual, flipping through its pages with a nearly ravenous gaze, absorbing every bit of knowledge it contained.

She found some pungent plants, crushed them, and mixed their dark green sap with the System’s Insect Repellent Powder.

Then, she carefully smeared the sticky mixture onto the thin vines surrounding the cave entrance and rigged a simple tripwire using flexible vines.

Any disturbance would tug the vines, triggering an alarm.

A rudimentary early warning trap.

The next two days were hellish for Zheng Qiuyu.

Following the manual’s instructions, she set up several snare traps near the cave to catch small animals.

On a lucky day, she might catch a rabbit or some plump, unidentifiable bird.

She used the most primitive method to start a fire drilling wood.

After countless failures and blistered hands, she finally coaxed a precious wisp of flame to life.

Using her only Water Purification Talisman, she purified a puddle of murky rainwater.

Her mental and physical strength were pushed to their limits.

She was a wretched sight, her face and body smeared with mud and scratches, her clothes tattered beyond repair. Only her eyes still burned with stubborn determination.

On the third day, as Zheng Qiuyu chewed on a piece of half-cooked meat, a thunderous roar echoed through the mountains.

The sound carried savage fury and an aura of utter destruction, silencing the entire forest.

Zheng Qiuyu froze, her head snapping up.

A bear the size of a house was rampaging through the trees, relentlessly pursuing several cultivators.

The massive creature was dark brown, its fur bristling like steel needles. Each earth-shaking stride sent tremors through the ground, and trees shattered like matchsticks in its path.

The cultivators, clad in azure Daoist robes, fled in panic toward her cave.

Leading the group was a young woman, no older than sixteen or seventeen, bl00d trickling from the corner of her mouth, her face pale as death.

Her pace was clearly faltering.

Senior Sister Yue’er! Hurry!

Her fellow disciples screamed in terror from behind.

The girl glanced back.

The terrifying beast they called the Earth-Rending Bear had already closed in, its massive claws gleaming with a cold light as they rose high, carrying a vicious wind that tore through the air, ready to slam down on her back!

The shadow of death loomed over her.

In that split-second of life and death, Zheng Qiuyu, hiding in the cave, suddenly recalled a passage from the Survival Manual

Bears possess an acute sense of smell, particularly sensitive to the scent of bl00d and carrion… They prefer climbing steep, complex terrain over flat ground, using such climbs to demonstrate their strength…

She glanced at the other side of the giant bear’s escape route.

There, a near-vertical cliff face loomed.

Without hesitation, Zheng Qiuyu grabbed the last piece of bloody meat beside her and hurled it with all her might toward the cliff!

The small piece of meat arced through the air in a parabolic trajectory.

The Earth-Rending Bear’s claws were already about to touch the girl’s back.

Suddenly, it stopped.

Its massive nose twitched, sniffing the air.

A fresher, more intense scent of bl00d drifted from the cliff, more alluring than the girl’s.

The bear turned its head and saw the cliff face, its predatory instincts instantly ignited.

Roar!

The Earth-Rending Bear roared, a flicker of calculation flashing in its massive, beastly eyes.

It abandoned the small morsels about to be within its grasp, abruptly changing direction and charging toward the cliff face, seeking the suddenly appearing food.

The young female cultivator and her fellow disciples had narrowly escaped death.

Still shaken, they stopped in their tracks and followed the trajectory of the meat chunk, their gazes drawn to the small cave in shock.

A woman with tattered clothes and covered in mud leaned against the cave entrance, gasping for breath.

She looked even more disheveled than the group fleeing for their lives.

Yet this seemingly ordinary woman had diverted the terrifying demonic beast that had left them helpless with a single piece of roasted meat.

The young woman’s gaze fell upon the woman’s arms.

There, hidden beneath long, disheveled hair, lay a silver-haired man in a deep slumber, unconsciously radiating an extremely faint yet soul-shaking aura of authority.

The young woman’s pupils constricted sharply.

A realization flashed through her mind

A reclusive master!

These two must be peerless experts who had been wandering the mortal realm when they were caught in an unexpected mishap!

Lin Yue’er, her nerves finally settling, hurried to the cave entrance and bowed deeply to Zheng Qiuyu, her voice filled with reverence.

Thank you, Senior, for saving our lives!

This junior is Lin Yue’er of the Azure Cloud Sect. May I ask how Senior is addressed?

Zheng Qiuyu watched the young woman’s sudden 180-degree shift in attitude, a spark of inspiration igniting within her.

A plan began to form—a plan that could buy her time to breathe and provide her with a place to hide.