When Li Meirong had opened her eyes, she saw Zhou Shang had been impaled by one of his own arrows.
The arrow had lodged deep into his chest, where his heart would be. Zhou Shang’s eyes bulged alarmingly out of their sockets, blood poured from his mouth, nose, and chest.
He tried to speak, but no voice came out. It was then that Li Meirong noticed his throat had been ripped out slashed through.
All his blood dripped all over her. Her entire body quivered uncontrollably, she held Zhou Shang’s lifeless body with her own two hands pressed up against his chest, to prevent him from collapsing onto her.
"Help!! Help me please..!" Li Meirong cried out. She had never in her life seen someone being murdered. Now, added to the list of firsts since transmigrating to this new body, a man was killed right on top of her, now about to crush her with all his dead, bleeding weight. The shock was too great to endure. Her throat was so awfully dry from screaming and dehydration, she was dizzy and disoriented from trauma and struggle after struggle, one after the other, piling up on her senses like the very weight of this dead man she could barely keep holding up. And she felt so...Weak, her body was burning as if she was running a fever, she really hoped she would die and just be done with it all!
"This is to express my gratitude for capturing me at my weakest moment and selling me to Taoist phonies." It was a masculine voice, cold and striking in its intensity. The killer speaking his farewell to the departed Zhou Shang.
Li Meirong turned her head to look at the person to whom the voice belonged.
It was a man with hair the color of snow, he wore worn out robes, but everything else about him gave the unmistakable impression of an overbearing, majestic ruler.
As the man dislodged the arrow from Zhou Shang’s corpse and tossed his body aside, Li Meirong found herself locking eyes with the mysterious stranger.
She couldn’t believe it. Were there really people as beautiful as this, in this world?
Momentarily forgetting her position in her haze, she lost herself in the newcomer’s burning phoenix eyes.
They were truly golden, the metallic gold, dazzling as if they were made from the precious stone itself. The color shouldn’t have been humanly possible, yet there it was staring back at her. His glistening silver hair was long and silky, practically glowing in the dark room. Here and there it was splattered with dry blood. He had a straight regal nose, ravishing pouty lips, and his ears were slightly pointy.
This was a terrible time to be thinking such a thing, but he was quite possibly the most beautiful man Li Meirong has ever seen. He didn’t really look like a man, but more like an elf from those western fantasy stories..
He held her gaze, and she came to realize that not only was his voice cold, his gaze was colder still, frighteningly so. He seemed to be someone the likes of which one would never want to cross. If she had to compare his demeanor to anyone’s, it would most likely be to that of a serial killer before he offed you for good.
Li Meirong couldn’t stop the smile that slowly stretched across her face. An unstoppable wave of euphoria washed over her, causing her to ignore all the warning signs of this feral creature that had just slaughtered someone on top of her.
She was saved!
She was saved by a white haired gorgeous man. Could it be that her transmigration would not be a tragedy but a blessing after all?
The man stared incredulously at the bloodied young girl foolishly smiling up at him and couldn’t couldn’t suppress a disgusted sneer. Best to threaten the girl, before she alerts the humans nearby.
"Girl, be quiet or speak softly. I won’t hesitate to wipe you out as well if you screech again."
Cold, domineering and overbearing.
His words were like a bucket of cold ice on Li Meirong’s happiness. She was thankful now for the blood that coated her face and hid her furious blushing. She gulped and whispered "I’m sorry...Could you give me a moment to put my clothes on, in privacy?"
She grabbed the comforter she had been lying on, and wrapped it around her, in order to hide her disheveled appearance.
The silver haired man turned around with an impatient snort to stare at the wall , his back now turned to her.
"Relax. I won’t be touching you, you have my word." He sounded very confident. His voice laced with loathing. He made is sound as if it would be beneath him to even consider the notion.
Li Meirong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, not five minutes ago she was nearly forced into having sexual intercourse, and now someone was basically insinuating to her that he wouldn’t touch her even if she was the last girl on earth.
Quickly arranging her torn up garments in a feeble attempt to look presentable, she used one of her sleeves to wipe the blood from her face.
One way or another, this man did save her. No matter what else he said, for that she would at least thank him. Perhaps he was that miracle she needed after all?
"Thank you so much for saving me. I don’t know what I would have done without you. May I please know your name?" Li Meirong asked timidly.
The man turned his head to glance back at her. Seeing that she was dressed, he replied mockingly,
"And here I thought you were just doing your job...My name is not be uttered by the likes of you."
Endure. she told herself, swallowing her indignation
Endure.
He may be rude, she thought. But so was everyone else people there. She didn’t need to know his name. She was just trying to be civil and express her gratitude. Humph.
Her throat still burned and Li Meirong felt on fire.
"Ahem, I should thank you anyway...If you are leaving, can you please take me out of this you? I beg you, I would owe you a favor for life if you do!" Li Meirong knelt down on the ground and kowtowed to him three times.
The silver haired man looked down upon the pitiful girl and smirked. He flexed his long nails that were caked with Zhou Shang’s dried blood. "What could you possibly offer me?"
Li Meirong opened her mouth to respond but the man held up his hand to prevent her from doing so. He let out a tired sigh. "Don’t bother. I will take you out of here, from the kindness of my heart. But we will have to spend the night in this room, with the stench of this corpse, without you making a sound. I have annoying pests hunting me down now, and I need to hide tonight."
Li Meirong nodded repeatedly. " Absolutely, I’ll follow your instructions, just get me out of here." She worried that she sounded too enthusiastic and tried to keep a calm exterior, as well as remain focused on the conversation while her vision became more and more blurred.
Even the domineering "man of mystery" tugged at his collar and loosened it slightly. He exhaled deeply. "Why is it so hot in this tiny room?"
Li Meirong shook her head confused, just as confused. She was wondering the same thing. At first she thought she was getting sick , but now it seemed that she wasn’t the only one. With her foggy eyes, she glanced vaguely at the long ago burnt out candle in the corner.
The smoke from the extinguished flame still lingered on...