Transmigrated As A Cannon Fodder Sacrifice, I Tricked An Evil God Into Becoming My Live-In Husband - Chapter 7

The cold voice carried no trace of emotion.

Main Quest Issued Escape from Gui Xu.

Time Limit Three Days.

Failure Penalty Annihilation.

The word annihilation exploded in Zheng Qiuyu’s mind.

The fleeting warmth and sense of security she had felt moments earlier, after Zhuohuo’s swift annihilation of their powerful enemy, instantly froze into ice and shattered into dust.

A shiver ran through her body, her hands and feet growing uncontrollably cold.

One moment she was basking in the sweet illusion of being a God’s consort, the next she was confronted with the icy reality of being annihilated by the System.

This Gui Xu was clearly no benevolent place.

Daring not to waste a second, she immediately focused her mind and examined the detailed quest information provided by the System.

A crude map unfolded within her consciousness.

On the map, their current location—a cave—was marked with a glowing dot. At the map’s deepest point, a region radiating an ominous red light was labeled with two words Hellheart.

This was Gui Xu’s only exit.

However, the sole path leading to Hellheart was blocked by a colossal, bl00d-red terror.

Void Devouring Beast

Beneath the name was a note that sent shivers down Zheng Qiuyu’s spine

Extremely high hatred value toward the Blazing Fire Divine Sovereign.

Zheng Qiuyu’s breath caught in her throat.

She froze completely.

Send Zhuohuo?

An extremely high hatred value was practically handing him over as a snack.

Go herself?

She glanced down at her hands.

A fledgling cultivator barely at the third layer of the Qi Refining Stage, her strength was likely less than a mouthful for that ferocious beast.

Time only three days.

Stay here and wait for death, or actively seek it out?

Both paths seemed to lead to the same end.

Zheng Qiuyu’s nails dug deep into her palms, the sharp pain jolting her chaotic thoughts into focus.

No.

She couldn’t give up so easily.

She lifted her head and looked at Zhuohuo beside her.

The battle was over, and the killing intent had receded from his body. His crimson eyes had reverted to their usual blank, vacant state, gazing quietly at her as if awaiting her next command.

He was her only hope.

Her only chance at survival.

Zheng Qiuyu took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the terror and despair churning within her. She forced a wan smile onto her face.

She had to fabricate a new lie—one that would willingly lead him into the death trap.

Husband, she said, her voice still trembling slightly, but she strove to make it sound hopeful. I sense a treasure ahead that could accelerate your recovery.

Shall we go see?

Zhuohuo tilted his head, as if trying to understand the meaning of treasure. But he didn’t ask. He simply gazed into Zheng Qiuyu’s eyes and gave a gentle nod. He obeyed her words without question or hesitation.

The pair set off, venturing deeper into the Gui Xu.

The closer they approached the Hellheart marked on the map, the more oppressive the surrounding environment became. The air grew so thick it felt like it was about to solidify, making each breath a struggle. Countless shimmering, razor-sharp temporal rifts drifted through the space, silently slicing through everything they encountered. A massive boulder that fell from the cavern ceiling was silently disintegrated into primordial dust mid-air.

Zheng Qiuyu watched with a heart pounding in her chest, instinctively slowing her pace.

Zhuohuo noticed her hesitation.

Without a word, he silently stepped in front of her, shielding her completely behind him.

The temporal distortions, capable of tearing through steel, automatically dissipated into nothingness when they approached within three feet of his body.

With his own body, he created an absolute zone of safety for her.

Zheng Qiuyu gazed at his broad back, his long, silvery-white hair swaying gently with each step.

Though they were heading toward a perilous place with only a slim chance of survival, being protected by him filled her with an inexplicable sense of calm that slowly bloomed from the depths of her heart.

Just then…

ROAR—!

An indescribable roar erupted from the endless darkness ahead without warning.

The sound seemed to bypass the air entirely, detonating directly within the depths of their Divine Souls.

Zheng Qiuyu’s vision went black, her mind ringing with a deafening buzz, and she nearly fainted on the spot.

This single roar carried a pressure several times more terrifying than the Bl00d River Patriarch’s full-force attack earlier.

Zhuohuo stopped in his tracks.

Pulling Zheng Qiuyu even closer behind him, he lifted his head. For the first time, a solemn expression appeared in his usually vacant crimson eyes.

In the endless darkness, something was approaching.

It was a colossal beast of immeasurable size.

It slowly emerged from the shadows, its single claw larger than the entire cave where they were hiding.

Its body was covered in layers of black scales that seemed to be forged from the void itself, pulsating with an eerie, heart-stopping glow.

But what truly inspired terror was its head.

It had no eyes.

Instead, its head was covered in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bizarre compound eyes of varying sizes, constantly shifting and rotating.

Each compound eye reflected a different shattered fragment of time and space, radiating an aura of chaos and destruction.

The Void Devouring Beast.

It had appeared.

The moment its hundreds of compound eyes locked onto Zhuohuo, every single one of them turned bl00d red.

A tidal wave of fury, a frenzied killing intent, and something else… a bone-deep hatred, erupted from the colossal beast.

This wasn’t the desire of a hunter eyeing its prey.

This was an eternal, unyielding hatred.

ROAR—!

Another roar, but this time it wasn’t a warning. It was an attack.

The beast opened its massive maw, and a black pillar of pure destructive and devouring energy tore through space, hurtling toward Zhuohuo in an instant.

Zhuohuo instinctively raised his hand, golden Divine Fire coalescing to counterattack.

But just as his power was about to erupt, the invisible Heavenly Dao Shackles within his body tightened violently.

Golden runes flashed beneath his skin, bringing excruciating pain.

He groaned, and the Divine Power he had gathered faltered.

Boom!

In his haste, he could only summon a Divine Power shield.

The black beam slammed into the shield, unleashing a deafening roar.

The force sent Zhuohuo sliding backward dozens of meters before he barely managed to regain his footing.

For the first time, he appeared somewhat disheveled.

Having landed its first strike, the Void Devouring Beast’s assault grew even more ferocious. Countless black energy blades swept down like a storm, blanketing the sky.

Restrained by the Heavenly Dao Shackles, Zhuohuo couldn’t fully unleash his Divine Power and was forced into a desperate defense, narrowly avoiding disaster at every turn.

Just then, a stray blast bypassed Zhuohuo’s defenses and hurtled toward Zheng Qiuyu behind him.

Zheng Qiuyu’s pupils constricted.

She had no time to react.

But at the very instant the destructive force was about to strike her,

a sudden buzz filled her mind.

An inexplicable sense of familiarity, accompanied by an overwhelming wave of sorrow, surged into her heart without warning.

She was stunned to realize that the enraged beast, while furiously attacking Zhuohuo, had intentionally or unintentionally avoided striking in her direction with every attack.

Zheng Qiuyu stared intently at the rampaging creature.

An utterly absurd thought flashed through her mind

It… it seems to be protecting me?

Why?

It hates Zhuohuo, yet it’s protecting me, whom Zhuohuo is shielding behind him?

This makes no sense.

Unless…

Its hatred is solely for Zhuohuo.

And it… recognizes me?