Bai Yan noticed the three of them were covered in blood and walked over with a smile. "Jinsheng, where have you been? How did you end up like this? Ran into a Mutant Beast?"
Her gaze fell on Mo Jiao, whose neck was missing several black scales. She covered her mouth in mock surprise and turned to Xiao Jinsheng, her tone tinged with reproach. "Oh dear, Mo Jiao's injuries are so severe."
"Jinsheng, what's wrong with you? Why haven't you healed your Beast Husband yet?"
"Those beastmen with scales, you know how important their scales are to them."
"Now such a large patch is missing, with flesh exposed—it might be difficult for him to Upgrade Star Level in the future. Even though he's just a snake, if he works hard enough, it's not impossible for him to transform into a Flood Dragon."
"If his body gets damaged from losing these scales, he might never be able to become a Flood Dragon again."
Bai Yan frowned and sighed. "I was hoping your Beast Husband would beastify into a Flood Dragon so my Jin Ao could finally have a companion. After all, on the Mist Continent, Jin Ao is currently the only Beastified Golden Flood Dragon. He's so lonely."
At first, Xiao Jinsheng didn't understand why the original host was always competing with Bai Yan.
Now, after this encounter, it all became clear.
With words like these, who wouldn't be furious?
"Why do you care if he transforms into a Flood Dragon or not? He's a snake; he can slither in the shadows. Can your Flood Dragon do that?" Xiao Jinsheng retorted coldly.
Bai Yan wasn't surprised by Xiao Jinsheng's reaction.
She covered her mouth and chuckled lightly. "I'm only showing concern for you, that's all. Look at Mo Jiao, his injuries are so severe…"
"Is he your man? Why are you so worried?" Xiao Jinsheng glared at her, grabbing Mo Jiao and Yu Yunxiao with each hand and dragging them toward the courtyard. "I'm warning you, I'm in a bad mood right now, so don't provoke me."
"Jinsheng, you're so heartless. You don't care at all about your Beast Husbands, even when they're injured," Bai Yan said, looking worriedly at Xiao Jinsheng's anger. Watching the three of them enter the courtyard, she finally revealed a satisfied smirk.
Mo Jiao and Yu Yunxiao were already used to the arguments between Xiao Jinsheng and Bai Yan.
After all, Xiao Jinsheng was either berating them or, out of boredom, arguing with Bai Yan.
In moments like this, they just wanted to escape this toxic woman.
As soon as Yu Yunxiao entered the sitting room, he pressed Xiao Jinsheng. "Now that we're home, can we get divorced?"
Mo Jiao stared coldly at Xiao Jinsheng, saying nothing, but his stance clearly aligned with Yu Yunxiao.
Xiao Jinsheng raised her hand to rub her temple, staggering as she leaned against the wall, heading upstairs. "Oh, my head hurts—it's like my brain isn't working. I can't remember a thing. I need to rest in my room for a bit."
"Xiao Jinsheng, don't you dare play games with me!" Seeing her feigning confusion to avoid dealing with him, Yu Yunxiao exploded.
Mo Jiao smirked sarcastically, clearly unsurprised by Xiao Jinsheng's backtracking.
Faced with Yu Yunxiao's outrage, Xiao Jinsheng scrambled upstairs like her life depended on it and locked herself in her room.
Leaving Yu Yunxiao outside, clawing at the door.
"You despicable, dishonest woman! Xiao Jinsheng, come out!" Yu Yunxiao shouted angrily.
Xiao Jinsheng pulled two handfuls of cotton stuffing out of the pillow and jammed them into her ears, pretending not to hear him.
She wasn't worried that Yu Yunxiao would break the door down.
After all, as long as she didn't divorce, Yu Yunxiao couldn't do anything to her.
As for that promise to divorce?
It had merely been casually spoken—what are face and trust compared to surviving?
She was certain that if she divorced Mo Jiao and Yu Yunxiao today, the two of them would kill her tomorrow.
Just like tuning out a boring lecture, Xiao Jinsheng tuned out Yu Yunxiao's interrogations from outside.
She placed her hand over her heart and familiarized herself with the unfamiliar spiritual power before successfully unlocking the terminal's Star Map connection.
On the Mist Continent, zombies and Mutant Beasts ran rampant. Men relied on Beastification for the strength needed to defend themselves.
Women, on the other hand, could only awaken spiritual power to connect to terminals—they possessed no ability to defend themselves physically.
This was why the terminal bound men and women in life-and-death marriages.
On the Mist Continent, Beastmen could only Upgrade Star Level if they completed terminal-issued tasks. Before marriage, tasks were assigned directly by the terminal; after marriage, tasks could only be received through their wives' terminal connection.
However, Xiao Jinsheng's relationships with her five Beast Husbands were very poor. The Beast Husband of the female lead's household received tasks from the terminal every two weeks.
Meanwhile, Xiao Jinsheng's Beast Husbands hadn't received a single task in six months.
Six months without terminal-issued tasks meant they couldn't access the resources on the other side of the Poisonous Fog in the Mist Continent to Upgrade Star Levels. Their strength was already lagging far behind their peers.
Besides assigning tasks, the terminal's connection also displayed the current marital status and profiles of the marriage partners.
The abilities of Mist Continent's Beastmen were diverse, but their star rankings were standardized.
From one to twelve stars.
Among the people Xiao Jinsheng knew, Bai Yan's Beastified Golden Flood Dragon Husband, Jin Ao, had the highest star level—currently at eight stars.
She opened the profiles of her five men and sighed.
Yu Yunxiao, age 19, height 182 cm, born January 29, Aquarius, Beast Transformation Jade Cat, Superpower Three Stars.
Su Ye, age 23, height 186 cm, born May 21, Gemini, Beast Transformation Black Panther, Superpower Four Stars.
Que Zelian, age 25, height 187 cm, born September 6, Virgo, Beast Transformation Dragon Sparrow, Superpower Five Stars.
Huaiqing, age 26, height 188 cm, born December 24, Capricorn, Beast Transformation White Ram, Superpower Three Stars.
Mo Jiao, age 24, height 190 cm, born October 31, Scorpio, Beast Transformation Black Snake, Superpower Five Stars.
Xiao Jinsheng wasn't sighing because she was dissatisfied with her Beast Husbands' strength.
She sighed because, as fragile as she was, even if those five men only had a One Star rating, it would still be incredibly easy for them to kill her.
So divorce? Absolutely not an option!
With both hands clasped together, Xiao Jinsheng solemnly thanked the terminal for enforcing the marriage's life-and-death protection law before hearing a loud knock on the door.
An impatient voice sounded from outside. "Come out and eat."
It was a voice somewhat familiar to her memories, yet for the current Xiao Jinsheng, it still felt strange.
She tried to recall who it belonged to, matching the voice to a face.
She realized the person using his foot to knock on the door was none other than.
Her third Beast Husband, Su Ye, who had a notoriously bad temper.
Xiao Jinsheng dawdled for a while. When things outside grew quiet, she carefully opened the door and tiptoed downstairs.
As she rounded the corner into the dining room, she bumped into a man leaning against a wall. Dressed in black combat gear, his golden eyes were fiercely rebellious, and his strikingly handsome face carried an aggressive sheen.
"Oh, I thought maybe you were expecting me to come upstairs and feed you myself," Su Ye taunted, smirking as he saw Xiao Jinsheng sneaking downstairs.
Xiao Jinsheng immediately shut her eyes, turning her head away—she felt she had been attacked.
Just imagining that such a handsome man would inevitably turn into a butcher who might kill her someday made her heart sink.
She turned her attention toward the dining table and, at first glance, was stunned; by the second, she felt despair.
Four other strikingly handsome "butchers" were seated around the table.
Their cold gazes drilled into her.
Yu Yunxiao, upon seeing her, turned his face away in anger.
Mo Jiao stared at her with a deep, menacing look, his murderous intent radiating.
And then there was the man—long red hair partly tied back, dressed in an elegant black-and-red Tang suit, his demeanor refined and noble. His orange-red eyes swept over her with indifference before quickly returning to the steaming cup of tea in his hand.
Xiao Jinsheng recognized him as her fourth Beast Husband—well… her fourth "butcher," Que Zelian.