Chapter Seventeen: The Strange Treatment in the Mountain Stronghold

"Help! Someone help me!"

Inside the mountain cave, what was once the bandits' lair, the wooden door broke off its hinges with a crash and fell heavily to the ground.

Disheveled, Ming Tian burst out of a room in a frenzy, only to be tripped by the swift Yin Chan. He flew forward and slammed hard into the door with another resounding thud.

"Don’t run! Cooperate a little, will you? Are you even a man? Not manly at all! If you are, then enjoy it properly!"

With her clothes in disarray, Yin Chan grabbed Ming Tian’s leg and dragged him back into the room.

Ming Tian wailed desperately, completely powerless to resist. His ten fingers left long scratch marks on the wooden door as she hauled him back inside.

"No! Please, no! Yamete!"

"Yamete, my foot! Off with your pants, now!"

"Don’t! We’re friends! You can’t do this!"

"Less talking!"

"Can’t we just leave the pants on?"

"How are we supposed to get anything done if you don’t take them off? Hurry up!"

"No! Even if you’re a woman now, you’re still a man at heart! This isn’t right!"

"For crying out loud, if you won’t, I’ll do it for you!"

"Help! My virtue!"

Yin Chan’s delicate brow twitched with two thick veins of anger. She whipped out a dagger and pressed it directly against Ming Tian’s manhood.

"Make another sound and I’ll castrate you!"

Damn it, why does everyone enjoy threatening to castrate me?

Ming Tian was on the verge of tears. Like a wronged maiden, he trembled and reluctantly removed his pants.

"That’s better," Yin Chan said, taking out a crochet needle she kept with her. She rinsed the blood from Ming Tian’s thigh wound with fresh water, then used her own hair as thread to stitch him up.

One had to admit, Ming Tian admired her skill. The pain of the stitching was far less than expected—just a faint sting.

Yet in his heart, Ming Tian cursed Cui Jue and his ancestors eighteen generations back.

That last slash from Cui Jue had been entirely too close, skimming the edge of disaster. If it had been two inches higher, the line of the Zhuge family would have ended with him.

In the main hall outside, An Luo was now out of danger thanks to Yin Chan’s care and bandaging, but he still lay unconscious.

"You’re lucky. The blade missed your tendons and ligaments. Otherwise, you’d be crippled for life." As she finished stitching, Yin Chan’s eyes softened with a trace of relief. "Thank you both for saving me."

Yin Chan was beautiful—especially now, moved as she was. Her clear eyes could make anyone’s heart melt.

Unfortunately, Ming Tian could never separate her from her past life as a forty-year-old uncle. So, no matter how stunning she was, even more beautiful than the Princess of Jiangmen, he felt nothing.

Besides, An Luo liked her. Even if, by some wild stretch, Ming Tian fell for Yin Chan, competing with An Luo would be a nightmare.

"Oh my..."

Ming Tian imagined An Luo shirtless, flexing his chest with a philosophically intense glare, hands on hips, glaring at him. The thought made his own rear clench involuntarily.

"Why are you tensing up? Relax, or I can’t sew properly." Yin Chan smacked her own thigh, snapping Ming Tian out of his thoughts.

This battle had been costly, but at least the stolen silver was recovered. There were three horses in the bandits’ stable. After tending to their wounds, they could ride to Douhu Prefecture; otherwise, in their current state, they’d never reach Jiankang.

"By the way, what exactly is the Chaos Rippers? I thought the only transmigrator group was the Transmigrators’ Alliance." Ming Tian, settling his nerves, turned his attention to the key issue.

"What rippers? Are you starving? It’s Chaos! Chaos Rippers," Yin Chan corrected him, pausing her needlework. Her brow furrowed in deep disgust. "They’re a deranged organization," she said with a sigh, launching into an explanation.

She’d been a transmigrator for seventeen years and was well-versed in the era, history, and the ways of transmigrators.

She had once known another transmigrator who completed their "Great Work" and left this time period. When a transmigrator completes their Work, they can leave a bit of information to help their friends who remain.

The information Yin Chan received was this: every day, a new transmigrator appears somewhere in the world, at a random period. As of now, there are about three thousand transmigrators in this era.

Most join either the Transmigrators’ Alliance or the Chaos Rippers.

The Alliance aims for mutual support among transmigrators to complete their Great Works. It’s less efficient, but very safe: should one be in trouble, others will help. Most members manage to finish their Work and depart in peace.

Even if they can’t, they can live well in this era.

The Chaos Rippers are the opposite. They believe in survival of the fittest, doing whatever it takes to succeed. Their most common method is simple: kill all transmigrators who aren’t part of their group.

The goal? Lower the difficulty of completing the Great Work.

After all, the more people aim for the same Work, the harder it becomes. If Ming Tian becomes the God of Food and completes his Work, then the next person with the same task must surpass his achievements. And so on.

It’s efficient, but it crosses a moral line.

Two years ago, Cui Jue, third-in-command of the Chaos Rippers, was traveling when he was attacked by bandits and nearly killed. He happened to be found by Yin Chan, who was on her way to Sumen Town.

She saved his life, and he told her his background. Because medical Great Works are rare, he wanted to recruit Yin Chan, promising to guarantee her success.

"I couldn’t agree with their methods. Killing all rivals just to accomplish your own goal—how is that any different from a beast?" Yin Chan shook her head in regret, clearly wishing she hadn’t saved Cui Jue.

"When I refused, he tried to abduct me. Fortunately, I’d already invented soap, and it was raining that day. I had strong alkaline powder with me and threw it at him. That’s how I escaped."

Hearing this, Ming Tian recalled the large chemical burn scars on Cui Jue’s right hand—no doubt inflicted by Yin Chan that day.

She’d really gone all out.

Alkali burns are dozens of times more painful than acid burns and don’t stop once they start. Theoretically, if Cui Jue’s hand was burned by alkali, the corrosion would continue until his entire arm rotted away. Who knows how he stopped it?

But what worried Ming Tian more was what Yin Chan had just told him.

If the Chaos Rippers truly were so mad, he was in grave danger.

His chosen Great Work was to become the God of Food. With over three thousand transmigrators, it was hard to imagine no one else shared the same goal.

Now that he’d made an enemy of Cui Jue—who was also the son of Cui Huijing—he’d need to be on his guard from now on.

Even if he hadn’t offended Cui Jue, Ming Tian could never join the Chaos Rippers.

Killing all your competitors just for yourself? Please—were these people all teenagers with warped values before they came here? Who could actually believe in such a twisted creed?

Competition is survival of the fittest; no one likes rivals, but indiscriminate slaughter for personal gain? That’s the kind of thing only novels excuse for the sake of drama.

This isn’t being a bleeding heart; it’s the basic line of being human.

If you attack me, I kill you—it’s your own fault. Like the bandits lying dead outside, Ming Tian felt no guilt in killing them.

If disaster or war takes many lives, Ming Tian would treat it as a show, munching seeds on the sidelines. If he didn’t cause it and it had nothing to do with him, why interfere?

But killing innocents just for your own ambitions? That’s where the line of humanity is drawn. Others could do it, but he never would stoop so low.

When the stitches were done, Ming Tian checked the wound. Yin Chan’s skill was truly impressive—walking still hurt, but at least he wouldn’t have to limp.

"An Luo isn’t awake yet, is he?"

Ming Tian peeked out; An Luo was still out cold—or maybe just sleeping—snoring so loudly that even the two swords beside him vibrated with the sound.

"There’s water and food here. Let’s rest tonight before heading to Douhu Prefecture," Ming Tian suggested.

"You’re our team leader now. Of course we’ll follow your lead," Yin Chan replied with a generous wave and a charming smile.

"Don’t joke. Since when was I the leader?"

"Without your wisdom, I’d be dead. If you’re not the leader, who is? An Luo? I think even he’ll acknowledge you."

"Then I’ll humbly accept. From now on, you must call me Big Brother when you see me, understood?"

"You’re funny. Maybe you should switch your Great Work and become the cleverest Prime Minister."

"No thanks. You know what the current and future emperors are like. Besides, the food of this era is awful. I’m a good man—I want to benefit the people."

"Benefit the people? You?" Yin Chan looked at Ming Tian and couldn’t help but laugh.

Ming Tian stepped out into the main hall and gazed at the starry sky.

"Everything in the ancient world is fine, except the food." Looking up at the pollution-free, dazzling stars, Ming Tian turned and smiled earnestly. "Since there’s no good food in ancient times, I’ll just have to be the God of Food, won’t I?"

——

End of Volume One