I'm the Prey?

Li Muyang passed through the stilted buildings of varying heights scattered across the stronghold and arrived outside the main gate.

Stepping out of the gate, the most striking sight was the forest directly ahead of the road.

From the twisted branches of the trees hung a series of wretched, dried corpses.

These bodies had been suspended in the wilderness for what seemed like a long time, yet not a single scavenger had come to peck at them.

Li Muyang waited by the roadside for a while before a carriage emerged from the corpse-laden forest ahead.

The driver was clad in a black robe, his face hidden beneath a hood, appearing both sinister and mysterious.

After he pulled the carriage to a stop by the road, Li Muyang saw three filthy children sitting in the cart.

The children were all wide-eyed with terror, huddled together in the cart, motionless and at a loss for what to do.

The black-robed driver glanced at Li Muyang and rasped, "The lambs the Black Cloud Stronghold requested."

Li Muyang, however, keenly identified his target among the three children.

[Little Wild Grass]

A large, pale yellow health bar floated above the head of one of the children.

She wore thin, filthy hempen rags, her hair was a tangled mess, and her face was smeared with mud, making her look no different from the other children.

But there was no doubt that this was the target Li Muyang was looking for—the heroine of this cultivation-style game.

The handover and payment went smoothly. After counting the heads, Li Muyang paid the driver and led the three children toward the stronghold.

The three children, all around ten years old, followed behind Li Muyang like frightened birds, seemingly scared witless and only capable of obeying orders.

As Li Muyang led the group through the stronghold, he felt a strange sense of being a shepherd.

However, the Demon Refining Sect herded actual goats; although those goats were somewhat eerie, they were indeed beasts.

The "lambs" before him, however, were actual human beings...

Watching the three shivering children and listening to the villagers' mocking whispers by the roadside, Li Muyang curled his lip.

What era is this to still be practicing traditional demonic arts...

Look at the Demon Refining Sect—a major power occupying hundreds of cities—they have long since developed brand-new methods of demonic cultivation, abandoning the inefficient, traditional ways of killing people to extract bones and refine souls.

What a waste to kill people.

The Demon Refining Sect had directly abandoned the traditional practice of killing to cultivate, instead raising exotic beasts and monsters like "two-legged sheep" to replace human blood sacrifices.

As for the mortals within their territory, they were all required to pay taxes, work, and perform hard labor; the value extracted from them was far greater than simply killing them.

As a new-era demonic cultivator, Li Muyang naturally looked down on the traditional methods used in this game dungeon.

But he didn't pay it much mind.

After all, the worldview of a game dungeon was surely different from reality; in the tutorial he had cleared last time, the Tianyuan Dynasty hadn't seen a demonic cultivator for a thousand years...

Li Muyang brought the three children to Steward Wu and handed over the money pouch.

Steward Wu counted the silver inside and glanced at Li Muyang.

"Pick one," he said. "You're already in such a sorry state; don't go up the mountain anymore, lest you die out there."

"Take one of these three lambs home. You are responsible for looking after it—just don't let it die. From now on, you can move freely within the stronghold."

As Steward Wu finished speaking, a dialogue box popped up in Li Muyang's field of vision.

[...Me? Steward Wu, I beg you, don't! I can still go up the mountain!]

[(Directly kneel and kowtow to beg for mercy)]

"...?!" The two dialogue boxes that popped up left Li Muyang stunned.

What was going on? Letting the game character choose a child to take home and raise... why did it feel like a matter of life and death?

These three children looked harmless and timid; what was Leng Aqi afraid of?

Li Muyang hesitated for a moment before selecting the first option.

Once he made his choice, the game character immediately begged Steward Wu for mercy.

But after listening coldly to the character's pleas, Steward Wu's expression remained icy.

"Leng Aqi, don't play games with me. Either pick one to take home, or get out of the stronghold. There is no other choice."

The old steward's attitude was extremely harsh, and Li Muyang fell silent.

A new dialogue box appeared in his vision.

[Select a child to take home]

Li Muyang turned his head and looked at the three children again.

One boy and two girls, all around ten years old, filthy and looking like homeless refugees.

Their eyes seemed filled with fear.

But for some reason, perhaps influenced by Steward Wu's words, as Li Muyang looked at the three children now, he felt a faint aura of danger.

These three children didn't seem as simple as they appeared on the surface.

He cast a wary, uncertain glance at the three children before finally settling on [Little Wild Grass], who had a pale yellow health bar hovering over her head.

"Her. I choose her."

Li Muyang pointed at the filthy little girl. Since this was a raising-sim game, there could only be one choice; this little girl was the one he had to take home.

If he missed this chance to adopt her, the game would surely end in failure.

That was what Li Muyang thought, but the moment he spoke to select her, the little girl, who had been standing there with her head bowed and cowering, didn't say a word.

However, the pale yellow health bar above her head instantly shifted into a hostile, blood-red enemy health bar.

What the hell...

She was already hostile? Just because I picked you?

Li Muyang stared at the little girl, speechless, fully confirming that these three brats were not as simple as they looked.

These weren't three harmless little lambs; they were clearly three little monsters in sheep's clothing!

Once Li Muyang made his choice, Steward Wu walked into the house and tossed out a chain forged from refined iron.

"Remember to chain her up before you go to sleep, and keep her at a distance," Steward Wu glanced at Li Muyang and added, "But don't chain her too far away. If she can't absorb your yang energy, she'll go berserk."

What the f—

Li Muyang nearly smashed the chain onto Steward Wu's head upon hearing that.

These three little brats were truly no good; after taking her home, he actually had to keep her chained by his side to let her absorb his yang energy?

What on earth was this stronghold doing, buying such eerie children?

Li Muyang was full of questions, but Leng Aqi had already obediently picked up the chain and left.

As for [Little Wild Grass], with that blood-red health bar above her head, she followed closely behind Li Muyang, step for step.

She didn't even need Li Muyang to call out to her; she had already sensibly followed along.

Such a demure and gentle little girl should have been endearing.

Yet, looking at the red health bar above her head, Li Muyang only felt speechless.

This brat sure knows how to put on an act...

It was a good thing this was a game with hostility indicators. If he had encountered such a terrifying brat in reality, Li Muyang feared he truly would have been deceived by her innocent and vulnerable facade.