Chang Yuan woke to an odd sensation on his face. Opening his eyes, he found a one or two-year-old child poking his face with saliva-slicked fingers. Meeting Chang Yuan’s suddenly alert gaze, the child froze for a moment before breaking into babbling sounds, his fingers now determinedly poking at Chang Yuan’s head.
Chang Yuan silently endured several pokes until the child seemed satisfied. He then caught the child’s hand and sat up. Looking around, he found himself in a dilapidated thatched hut with nothing but straw—truly bare walls. Not seeing Er Sheng, he was about to stand when he felt a weight on his finger. The toddler had rolled onto the ground and was now sucking on his finger as if it were his mother’s breast.
Chang Yuan stared at him wordlessly for a while, realizing the child showed no signs of letting go. He said sternly: “Stop this impudence.”
The child paid no attention to his words, contentedly continuing to suck with evident satisfaction.
This… what should he do? Chang Yuan felt he should teach this little meatball a lesson, but the child seemed as fragile as clay—one squeeze might break him, leaving an unsightly mess of flesh everywhere…
As he struggled with this dilemma, a sudden “bang” of something shattering at the doorway caught his attention. Turning, he saw a woman in tattered clothes with a sallow complexion staring at him blankly from the doorway, a broken clay bowl at her feet.
The meatball gnawing on Chang Yuan’s finger spotted the newcomer and released his grip, plopping onto his bottom. Without crying, he made “jie ji” sounds and crawled toward the woman on all fours. As the child approached, the woman instinctively stepped back but seemed to remember something. Gritting her teeth, she rushed forward under Chang Yuan’s gaze, snatched up the child, and fled outside.
Her steps were unsteady, her expression panicked.
Chang Yuan grew suspicious and followed. Outside the broken hut was a desolate alley, and at its mouth, he found Er Sheng standing woodenly by the street, lost in thought.
Looking around, he saw the entire street was dead silent, with occasional groans and coughs coming from beneath houses. The air reeked of corpses and burning, and in the distance, someone was burning something that gave off black smoke.
The scene before him resembled the zombie plague from many years ago. But Chang Yuan knew clearly that this was no demon’s doing—it was an epidemic. There was no demonic or evil energy here, only human desperation and endless depression.
“Er Sheng.”
Hearing the familiar call, Er Sheng trembled slightly. She turned, her eyes hollow but hiding panic beneath: “Chang Yuan… did we leave the Desolate City?”
“This place has no yellow sand or sealing power—it’s the mortal realm.”
Chang Yuan’s last memory was of them stepping into the red light, then darkness had overtaken him, and he’d lost consciousness until waking here.
“Mortal realm… mortal realm…” Er Sheng repeated these words as if she couldn’t believe them.
Chang Yuan reached out to pat Er Sheng’s head, knowing these scenes must have triggered unpleasant memories. Just as he was about to comfort her, he caught sight of a woman hurrying past. His eyes sharpened as he took Er Sheng’s hand: “Come with me to look.”
In a quiet corner, two women each held a child, both looking haggard. After hesitating for a long while, to Er Sheng’s confusion, they exchanged the children in their arms. The children began crying unhappily at leaving their parents’ embrace. Both women burst into tears, their despair and pain beyond words. Finally, the older woman turned away and forced herself to leave.
Soon after the woman left, the child began crying inconsolably. The woman holding him began crying too, but after a brief moment, she put the child down and picked up a stone, seemingly prepared to bash the child’s head in!
Er Sheng cried out in shock: “What are you doing!” She flashed forward, knocking the stone from the woman’s hand and picking up the child. She scolded, “Such a small child, how could you be so heartless!”
The woman, knocked to the ground by Er Sheng, seemed too weak to even stand. She buried her face in the dirt, crying pitifully: “I… I have no choice… We haven’t eaten for so long, my father died of the disease, my mother is starving to death at home, and my husband has fallen ill too. I have no choice, no choice at all…”
Er Sheng listened in horror: “You… you planned to kill and eat the child? You…” She suddenly realized, “Was that why you exchanged children with that woman—so you could eat them?”
The woman covered her face, weeping: “They’re our flesh and blood… How could we bear to do it ourselves? We can only exchange children with others to eat.”
Chang Yuan’s brows furrowed sharply. Er Sheng’s face went white as she thrust the child into Chang Yuan’s arms and ran off in the direction the other woman had gone.
The woman remained prone, crying softly. Chang Yuan watched her for a moment before asking: “Why not leave this place and seek another path?”
“The city gates were sealed tight before the epidemic spread. No one can leave. There’s no food, no medicine, and more people die every day…” Mentioning this made the woman cry harder. “They say there’s medicine for the epidemic on Deer Mountain near the city, medicine that could save everyone. But that hateful city guardian… he fears the epidemic will spread to other towns, fears he’ll be held responsible… He won’t let anyone leave. We’re all trapped here in the city. Even if we don’t catch the disease, we’ll starve to death!”
After listening, Chang Yuan remained silent for a long while before placing the child beside the woman: “Take care of this child. Come here tonight for medicine and food.”
The woman stared at Chang Yuan’s retreating figure for a long time before turning to look intently at the crying child. She thought perhaps her brother had already been eaten by someone else, perhaps this man was just a liar—with the city gates sealed, how could he get out? Her husband and mother were at death’s door. This child was exchanged for her brother; she should kill and eat him…
She picked up a stone, her hand trembling with effort. Chang Yuan knew what she was doing, but his departing footsteps didn’t pause.
As the child continued crying, the woman’s raised hand hung in the air for a long time before she finally threw the stone aside and embraced the child, pressing her face against his as they wept together.
Chang Yuan thought that humans, though sometimes fragile, sometimes base, and sometimes shamefully laughable, could still in moments make choices that revealed their beauty.
When he found Er Sheng, she was speaking to four gaunt people: “Tonight, I’ll bring you medicine and food. Watch over the child and don’t eat him!” She added, “If you eat him, I’ll eat food right in front of you, or burn it all—either way, you won’t get a bit!”
Hearing this, Chang Yuan smiled inwardly.
After calming these people, Er Sheng turned and saw Chang Yuan waiting behind her. They looked at each other for a moment before Er Sheng grinned mischievously: “Chang Yuan, I want to do something bad.”
Chang Yuan nodded: “I was thinking the same.”
“I heard the hoarded food and medicinal herbs are all on Deer Mountain,” Er Sheng considered. “Seems the city guardian is hiding there too. This isn’t right—Master once told me that joining Wu Fang means being Wu Fang’s disciple, sharing its fate. I figure all disciples of a sect should have such integrity, so a city guardian who lives off the people should certainly have it too. Should we bring the city guardian back as well? What do you think, Chang Yuan?”
Seeing Er Sheng’s serious expression as she said this, amusement rippled in Chang Yuan’s eyes: “Excellent idea.”
That evening, the city guardian of Ao City, who had been staying at the Deer Mountain compound, mysteriously disappeared. Half the medicinal herbs on the mountain were harvested, though the food wasn’t stored at the guardian’s compound but in a military camp near Ao City. Naturally, the camp was also robbed.
As night fell, a black shadow passed over Ao City, scattering food and herbs. The city’s people claimed to have seen traces of a divine dragon and believed the gods had come to save them. They knelt and kowtowed repeatedly, weeping with gratitude.
Er Sheng sat between Chang Yuan’s dragon horns, giggling as she looked at the unconscious, bound city guardian. She pinched his fat belly hard: “This guy is a spineless coward—he begged for mercy before we even hit him. No wonder, with such thick skin. I bet even the Scale Sword would only draw oil, not blood.”
Golden eyes curved slightly in appreciation of her joke. Upon reaching the guardian’s mansion, Chang Yuan landed and helped Er Sheng down, ignoring the guardian who fell with a “plop” like a meatball, the pain waking him. Chang Yuan silently patted Er Sheng’s palm: “Your hands are dirty.”
Er Sheng let Chang Yuan pat her hands for a while before asking: “Are you jealous because I touched this man?”
Chang Yuan froze, then nodded: “Yes, I’m jealous.”
Er Sheng’s eyes brightened, her smile spreading uncontrollably as she hugged Chang Yuan and nuzzled against him: “Oh Chang Yuan, husband, I didn’t know you liked me this much already. Is it love deep in your marrow? Is it carved in your bones?”
After letting Er Sheng cuddle against him for a while, making his heart beat faster, he simply embraced her and bit her lip, speaking against her mouth: “Yes, all of that.” His warm, wet tongue accidentally touched her lips, and as if suddenly realizing something, he traced the curve of her lips with his tongue before slightly delving into her mouth.
Er Sheng started in surprise, instinctively pulling back, but Chang Yuan firmly held the back of her head: “Don’t move, I think I… figured something out…”
Er Sheng indeed stopped moving, her body tensing up, her jaw clenching tighter.
After struggling for a while and unable to go deeper, Chang Yuan finally released Er Sheng helplessly, his eyes filled with a strange, intimate wetness. He called out somewhat plaintively to the uncooperative female lead: “Er Sheng…”
Er Sheng remained rigidly frozen.
After they stared at each other for a while, Chang Yuan sighed with a bitter smile: “We’ll take it slowly.”
Er Sheng’s tension gradually eased. She pressed her lips together, recalling their recent actions, and asked seriously: “Should I have opened my mouth just now?”
Chang Yuan also frowned in confusion for a long time: “…Perhaps.”
“Cough… cough cough!” A voice suddenly interrupted their discussion. The meatball city guardian’s face was red as a pig’s liver from holding back laughter. When he realized his chuckle had drawn their attention, he turned pale with fright: “Noble heroes! Please don’t kill me, this humble official meant no offense! Please continue kissing, I saw nothing!”
Er Sheng slapped her forehead: “Oh right, right, we haven’t finished dealing with him yet.”
Chang Yuan narrowed his eyes in displeasure: “Let me handle this.”
The city guardian turned ashen with fear, snot, and tears flowing as he begged for mercy, but the couple simply tied him to a chair in the main hall and left, doing nothing else. The guardian remained dazed for a while before suddenly realizing that with the epidemic still raging in the city, he was now bound here alone—if he caught the disease and died, no one would know.
He wet himself and cried: “Noble heroes! Come back! This humble official knows whether to open one’s mouth at such times! This humble official knows what to do next… This humble official knows everything! Please come back!”