Harming in the Dark

The source of the light specks was the large wooden box, which meant it was coming from the Savage Bones!

This sudden turn of events made Yi Yun break out in a cold sweat.

The Savage Bones were emitting light specks that flew towards him and were absorbed by him. How could Lian Chengyu not investigate such a strange phenomenon?

Seeing the light specks growing more numerous and obvious, they were bound to be discovered!

If investigated, his life would surely be forfeit!

"Yun'er, what's wrong again? Why are you sweating on your forehead?"

"Sister Xiaorou, you..." Yi Yun saw many light specks flying before his eyes, but Jiang Xiaorou seemed completely oblivious. "Sister Xiaorou, you didn't see anything?"

Yi Yun asked somewhat guiltily, noticing that not only Jiang Xiaorou but also the surrounding people were ignoring the light specks.

"See anything? Yun'er, are you sick?"

Jiang Xiaorou touched Yi Yun's forehead with concern. Yi Yun was frail and had only just recovered yesterday. If he got sick again, it would be fatal.

"Uh..."

Yi Yun froze for a moment, then breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed only he could see these light specks?

Could it be that because he owned the Purple Crystal, he could see its anomaly, while others couldn't?

He secretly glanced at Lian Chengyu on the stage, only to find Lian Chengyu still wearing a calm smile. Only when he occasionally glanced at the Savage Bones in the large wooden box did a barely perceptible hint of fanaticism flash in his eyes!

"This kid didn't notice those light specks either..."

Only then did Yi Yun relax. If Lian Chengyu hadn't seen them, it meant others truly couldn't. Only he could.

Yi Yun increasingly felt that this Purple Crystal was an extraordinary treasure!

Just then, Yi Yun saw Lian Chengyu look towards him with a smile full of hidden meaning.

He took a few steps forward and stood in front of Jiang Xiaorou.

"This grain is a reward for you. Take it and don't go hungry. If you need more, you can come find me."

Lian Chengyu spoke very softly, addressing Jiang Xiaorou. Although his tone was friendly, his expression and tone implicitly conveyed a fact: he was a superior, capable of giving and taking away anything.

Jiang Xiaorou didn't speak, and Lian Chengyu didn't mind. He appreciated Jiang Xiaorou's stubbornness during the grain distribution, but that didn't mean he liked her maintaining that stubbornness in front of him. He wanted to slowly chip away at her edges until she was as docile as a kitten in his arms.

He wanted an obedient maid, not a young lady who needed coaxing.

Especially now, with a younger brother by her side, who was her emotional support. When people have emotional support, they naturally become stronger, which was not what Lian Chengyu wanted. Moreover, Jiang Xiaorou was adopted by Yi Yun's mother, not his biological sister. They weren't blood-related but lived and ate together. Lian Chengyu didn't want to see such a situation.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had deliberately incited the crowd earlier, nearly causing chaos, which Lian Chengyu still held a grudge against. A child of eleven or twelve with such cunning would be formidable when grown up.

What Lian Chengyu wanted were obedient citizens, his stepping stones, not people like Yi Yun who were cunning and difficult to control.

The refining of the Savage Bones was imminent, a major event for Lian Chengyu. To achieve this, Lian Chengyu was willing to pay any price.

He absolutely did not want any destabilizing factors to exist, especially since Lian Chengyu himself would soon enter seclusion, and there were problems with the Savage Bones themselves – refining them would kill people!

With both food shortages and deaths, it was easy to incite public anger. If the masses revolted while he was in seclusion, overturning the large cauldron for refining the Savage Bones and ruining his plan, then the instigators would be beyond redemption.

In Lian Chengyu's view, Yi Yun harbored resentment towards him. Lian Chengyu saw none of the fear and respect a lower-class commoner should have towards him in Yi Yun.

Yi Yun already had a history of inciting riots. When he went into seclusion, if Yi Yun acted out of resentment for revenge, he could easily incite the masses to riot amidst continuous famine and deaths. Then, he could become the spark that ignited disaster.

Thinking of this, Lian Chengyu smiled slightly and gently patted Yi Yun's shoulder again.

Yi Yun's heart skipped a beat. Before he could react, Lian Chengyu's hand was already on his shoulder.

Damn it!

Yi Yun wished he could chop off Lian Chengyu's hand with a knife. This guy was too insidious; he felt like a venomous snake!

Lian Chengyu said calmly, "What are you so nervous about? Are you afraid of me? Life is hard for you and your sister. Take good care of her."

As Lian Chengyu spoke, he withdrew his hand, but a faint tingling sensation remained within Yi Yun.

Both shoulders had been patted by Lian Chengyu, and Yi Yun could only watch helplessly, unable to dodge.

"If you have any difficulties, you can come find me." Lian Chengyu's smile never left his face when he spoke to Jiang Xiaorou. Yi Yun frowned. This Lian Chengyu seemed interested in his sister.

Right, no wonder he gave him more food. If he wasn't coveting Jiang Xiaorou, why would he give him precious grain?

That sentence about coming to him if there were difficulties further revealed his intentions. If Jiang Xiaorou went to his house, who knew what would happen.

Lian Chengyu waved his hand, and several burly men from the Warrior Reserve Camp sealed the large wooden box containing the Savage Bones.

The moment the wooden box was sealed, Yi Yun felt the connection between the Purple Crystal in his embrace and the Savage Bones severed, and the light specks flying in the air disappeared.

"What is this..." Yi Yun's heart stirred. He watched the Savage Bones being carried away by the members of the Warrior Reserve Camp, lost in thought.

"Yun'er, why do you look so preoccupied?"

On the way back, Jiang Xiaorou noticed Yi Yun's absentmindedness and troubled expression and asked.

How could he not be preoccupied? This Lian Chengyu was like a venomous snake, and he had patted his shoulder twice. Who knew what tricks he was up to? Yi Yun didn't want to say anything to worry Jiang Xiaorou, yet he feared she might not see Lian Chengyu's true colors due to her youth.

But Yi Yun didn't expect that after a moment of thought, Jiang Xiaorou suddenly said, "Yun'er, that person named Lian Chengyu, you need to be very careful. Avoid him usually."

Jiang Xiaorou's words stunned Yi Yun. He hadn't expected her intuition to be so sharp.

Even though Lian Chengyu's actions today appeared to be flawless on the surface, he presented himself as a respectable tribal leader who cared for his people and was approachable.

Yi Yun could sense Lian Chengyu's strangeness because he had seen too many politician performances on Earth before. Whether it was history or news from various countries, people like Lian Chengyu were abundant. Therefore, after listening to Lian Chengyu's words, Yi Yun felt disgusted by the hypocrisy. This kind of insight was far beyond what the impoverished commoners, who had suffered their entire lives struggling just to eat, could possess.

Moreover, Yi Yun knew Lian Chengyu's hostility when he patted his shoulders twice.

But Jiang Xiaorou, she could also sense it, which Yi Yun found a bit strange.

"Just stay away from him, that's all," Jiang Xiaorou said with certainty. Yi Yun suddenly felt that he truly didn't understand this elder sister at all.

Whether it was her knowledge of Savage Bones and Savage Beasts, her intuition, or her delicate and beautiful appearance, which far surpassed that of ordinary tribal girls, Jiang Xiaorou seemed very special in this impoverished Lian Clan.

Dinner was coarse grain and wild vegetable porridge, something Yi Yun had already anticipated.

In this world, people only ate two meals a day. Most people woke up at five in the morning to work and ate breakfast around nine. Of course, breakfast was Yi Yun's term; here, it was called "morning meal." The subsequent dinner was eaten at four in the afternoon.

Yi Yun knew that in ancient China, people also ate two meals a day, just like in this other world. It was likely that in an environment of extreme resource scarcity, two meals a day was the most scientific and survivable eating method.

While eating, Jiang Xiaorou felt a bit guilty because, in the end, she still couldn't let her younger brother eat meat.

Yi Yun didn't have the mental capacity to care about such things at this moment. He kept thinking about the two pats on his shoulder from Lian Chengyu. Everything was just his conjecture and suspicion; he had no idea if anything was wrong or how serious it was.

Yi Yun had just finished a bowl of coarse grain porridge and was about to take a few more bites of wild vegetables when he suddenly felt his arm go numb, and the chopsticks in his hand dropped to the floor.

"Yun'er, you..."

Yi Yun grunted, and his left hand instantly became immobile. Both his arms throbbed with intense pain, feeling as if they were being torn apart!

"Yun'er!"

Jiang Xiaorou's face changed drastically. She didn't know what was happening to Yi Yun and hurriedly helped him onto the bed.

Damn it!

Yi Yun's arms ached terribly, and he gritted his teeth. There was no doubt that Lian Chengyu had done this. His guess was correct!

He didn't know what method the other party had used, but the absolute difference in strength meant that even though Yi Yun had guessed Lian Chengyu's hostility, he was completely powerless to avoid it.

This was the law of the jungle, where the strong determined the fate of the weak.

"Yun'er, how are you? Is it a lingering effect from falling when you were gathering herbs last time?"

"I..." When Yi Yun tried to speak, he found that even his tongue was stiff. His entire body's nerves were gradually becoming numb, and his perception of his own body was weakening.

Yi Yun gradually realized that when his entire body lost sensation, it would be his death!

Lian Chengyu wanted him dead!?

Yi Yun was shocked and furious. If he wasn't mistaken, those two pats on his shoulder from Lian Chengyu must have injected some kind of energy, like "True Essence" or "True Qi," into him, secretly damaging his meridians!

For an ordinary eleven or twelve-year-old child, it would be impossible to even consider this. Let alone others, even Yi Yun himself would have thought it was an old injury flaring up.

After his death, besides Jiang Xiaorou, no one would be sad. Most people might even think it was his destiny – how could someone who was supposed to die possibly come back to life?

Killing him without anyone knowing would not only avenge his inciting the public but also earn him a reputation for being a benevolent leader.

In Jiang Xiaorou's grief-stricken state, she would face difficulties in her future life. At that time, she might even seek out Lian Chengyu, and it would be too easy for Lian Chengyu to deal with a little girl through gentle means!

Killing him to get Jiang Xiaorou – what a vicious scheme!

Yi Yun gained a deeper understanding of this world.

This was not the rule-of-law society of Earth. Here, it was wild, primitive, and strength determined everything. It was like a world in a post-apocalyptic novel; killing people here was truly nothing!

(Thank you to all the book friends and friends for your generous rewards, thank you very much ^_^. Also, thank you to the newly appointed deputy moderator, Daidai Tabaobao, Xingxing, and Haozi for your support. There were too few excellent posts this week, and many posts couldn't be highlighted. I apologize. If you have recommendation tickets, please cast them for "True Martial World.")