Dawn broke as Gu Liang awoke, his body aching and chilled. He'd barely slept, his hand clenched around the military knife now stiff and numb. A Lie—the name he'd caught from the beastman's slurred speech—slept nearby, his overwhelming presence undiminished even in deep slumber.
Daylight seeped into the tent. Gu Liang could now see A Lie's face more clearly—deeply carved and savage, the scarred bloodstain on his cheek now crusted over, adding to his ferocity. He cautiously moved his nearly numb limbs, still bound by vines.
A Lie's eyes snapped open. Golden vertical pupils locked onto Gu Liang with pinpoint accuracy, not a trace of confusion in them. Gu Liang's heart clenched, and he instinctively tightened his grip on the knife.
A Lie rose, his gaze sweeping over Gu Liang's guarded posture and the bone knife. A faint, almost mocking curve touched his lips. He stood to drink water and eat meat. Gu Liang's stomach growled uncontrollably, but he clamped his mouth shut, refusing to show weakness.
After finishing his meal, A Lie wiped his mouth and turned to Gu Liang. He picked up a thicker, tougher leather cord and walked over. Gu Liang immediately raised his knife in alertness.
A Lie, impatient, moved like lightning. He seized Gu Liang's wrist, raw from the vine's abrasion, his grip nearly crushing the bone. The knife flew from Gu Liang's hand. A Lie easily looped the leather cord around his neck, like leading livestock, while his other hand brutally tore away the tight vine. Old wounds on the wrist ripped open, instantly turning the area a bloody mess.
Before Gu Liang could catch his breath, A Lie yanked him violently out of the tent.
The blinding sunlight made him squint. The tribe was chaotic and filthy, pulsing with raw vitality. The beastmen, seeing A Lie dragging Gu Liang, turned their eyes toward them—curious, indifferent, and mostly appraising with contempt. Some female beastmen pointed and giggled. Gu Liang felt an unprecedented humiliation. The leather rope choked his breathing, forcing him to stagger behind A Lie.
A Lie dragged him to the central clearing beside a massive bonfire.An old leopard-kin stood there, his face painted with eerie designs and adorned with bone ornaments, holding a metal rod glowing red-hot at its tip. Several tribal elders stood nearby, along with the chieftain, Mo Zong—a male leopard-kin whose mane was streaked with gray, his gaze steady yet betraying weariness.
Gu Liang instantly grasped what was about to happen, and overwhelming terror seized him. He struggled desperately: "No! Don't! Let me go!"
Resistance was futile. A Lie's arms clamped down like iron pincers, pinning him to the ground. The elder beastman chanted incantations while performing an eerie dance, advancing step by step with the red-hot branding iron. Chief Mo Zong and the elders watched in silence. This was the tribe's custom—even for the possessions of an outsider's powerful ally.
A wave of scorching heat washed over him. Gu Liang screamed in despair, tears blurring his vision.
"Sizzle—"
The searing pain of scorched flesh erupted beneath his left collarbone, sending Gu Liang into a wretched scream that nearly knocked him unconscious. The air thickened with the dreadful stench of burning flesh.
A Lie released his grip. Gu Liang collapsed to the ground, curled up and trembling, his forehead drenched in cold sweat. The seared mark beneath his collarbone burned fiercely—a symbol of ownership, a branding that forever branded him with the shame of this savage world.
A cacophony of excited and indifferent cheers erupted from the surrounding Leopard Clan beastmen. From this day forward, he was a slave of the Leopard Clan tribe, A Lie's property.
A Lie seemed satisfied. He bent down, picked up the leather rope, tugged it, and gestured for Gu Liang to rise. Pain nearly drained Gu Liang of all strength. He was roughly dragged a few steps before managing to stand.
The days that followed plunged Gu Liang into a dark, endless cycle of servitude. The most grueling tasks: hauling stones, processing hunted game—skins, entrails, and all—gathering tough fibrous plants, pounding them into crude rope... The food was the worst part, barely enough to stave off hunger. At night, he was chained to a wooden stake outside A Lie's tent like a dog.
A Lie seemed preoccupied and didn't constantly watch him, but each time he appeared, those possessive eyes made Gu Liang feel like thorns were piercing his back. Several times at night, A Lie tried to approach, only to be driven back by Gu Liang's fierce resistance—wielding his Swiss Army knife with a ferocity bordering on self-harm. The anger on A Lie's face grew more intense. Gu Liang didn't know how much longer he could keep resisting. Fear and despair gnawed at him day and night.
The other leopard-kin in the tribe mostly ignored him, save for occasional teasing or assigning tasks. Unable to communicate and utterly alone, he could only gaze at the sky where familiar stars would never appear. Each time he looked up, he felt a part of his soul silently withering and turning barren.
Until one afternoon several days later.
Gu Liang was ordered to the riverbank to clean the freshly skinned, foul-smelling hides. The water was bone-chilling cold. His hands, swollen and raw from prolonged soaking and pounding, throbbed. The brand beneath his collarbone ached faintly.
He worked mechanically when suddenly his foot slipped, sending him tumbling into the river. The water wasn't deep, but the icy cold instantly enveloped him. His injured palms slammed hard against the riverbed's sharp stones, a pain that pierced his bones. He struggled to climb out, but days of exhaustion and malnutrition left him momentarily powerless.
Several female leopard-kin working nearby saw him, pointing at his pitiful state and laughing heartily, showing no intention of helping.
Just then, a strong hand seized his arm and yanked him out of the water.
Gu Liang choked on water, coughing uncontrollably as he looked up.
The one who had pulled him out was a female beast-kin. She was tall and agile, her honey-colored skin glowing with health in the sunlight. Her features were deep-set, her light brown eyes calm and sharp. There was no pity, no curiosity, not even the contempt other beast-kin often directed at him—only a near-appraising calmness and a hint of complex emotion Gu Liang couldn't quite grasp.She wore sleek leather armor and carried a spear, radiating a heroic, martial grace.
"Are you all right?" she asked. Her voice wasn't the shrill pitch typical of other female orcs, instead carrying a low, husky quality. She spoke the same orcish tongue, yet strangely, Gu Liang faintly detected an accent subtly different from others.
Gu Liang stared at her blankly, shaking his head before realizing she might not understand. He simply instinctively shrank his arm back. Her grip was firm but didn't hurt him.
The female beasts nearby quieted their laughter, seeming wary of this sudden female presence.
"Emma, why are you bothering with this weak two-legged slave?" a female beastman muttered.
The female beastman called Emma gave them a faint glance but didn't respond. She released her grip, deftly unfastening a sizable leather pouch from her waist as if handling the most ordinary of tasks, then handed it to Gu Liang.
Gu Liang hesitated, staring at her.
Emma pointed at his bleeding palm and shook the pouch. It seemed to contain clear water.
Gu Liang hesitated. The immense loneliness and his current wretched state made it nearly impossible to refuse this small act of kindness. He took the pouch and carefully washed the mud from his wounded hand.
The icy water slid over the wound, bringing a slight sting, but it also washed away the mud and blood crust, leaving a fleeting, clean coolness. The sensation felt so unfamiliar, utterly different from the filth, stickiness, and burning pain he'd endured these past days. He almost greedily savored this moment of cleanliness. Then, a deeper chill rose from his heart—why?Why her? A female beastman who seemed to hold some status—why would she extend a hand to a slave at the very bottom? What lay behind this kindness? New torment, or an even higher price?
"Thank you..." Gu Liang murmured in Chinese, his voice hoarse and dry.
Emma seemed not to understand, but her light brown eyes studied him. They swept over the still-swollen brand beneath his collarbone, her brow furrowing almost imperceptibly—more like an... assessment.
[Target Individual Gu Liang: Minor physical damage. Survival environment assessment: Extremely harsh. Darkening tendency rising. Current darkening value: 7%.]The cold system alert sounded in Emma's mind.
Emma's eyes darkened imperceptibly. As expected, survival pressure was the primary breeding ground for corruption.
Without another word, she retrieved the skin and turned to leave the riverbank with decisive, swift movements.
Gu Liang remained rooted to the spot, his hands seemingly still retaining the sensation of the skin. He watched Emma's receding figure. Despite his deep suspicions, his body's primal craving for that fleeting purity stirred an almost imperceptible warmth within him—a warmth so faint it made him feel ashamed. He looked down at his hands, freshly washed yet destined to plunge back into the foul river water and filthy mud.
That fleeting coolness of cleanliness felt like an illusion, fragile enough to shatter at the slightest touch. Yet, in his utterly dark world, this ephemeral "purity" had carved a glimmer of light that was all too vivid. It was the first time since arriving in this world that someone had shown him an act not driven by malice or possession.
He didn't know that Emma, who had walked away, was communicating with the system in her mind.
[Just helping him out, and his darkness value still went up?] Emma was speechless.
[System Assessment: Temporary aid cannot offset persistent survival stress. Target's pain and humiliation remain unresolved, intensified by the contrast between "kindness" and "brutal reality." Darkening value slightly increased. Recommendation: Implement systematic improvement of survival conditions.]
Emma rubbed her temples. The path to redemption seemed harder than imagined. That boy named Gu Liang was more sensitive and fragile than described in the book—or perhaps more resilient.
She glanced back and saw Gu Liang had resumed his laborious pounding of the animal hide. His slender silhouette looked pitifully small against the immense workload.
This requires a long-term plan, Emma concluded. First, she must find a way to keep him alive and... make his life slightly better. At the very least, he shouldn't keep increasing his darkness value just from washing animal hides.