Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Xie Licheng was awakened by the pain from the wounds on his body. Before he could even figure out how he had been injured, the moment he opened his eyes, he saw a whip lashing toward him.

Instinctively, Xie Licheng reached out and grabbed the whip, intending to teach the person who dared to strike him a lesson.

Ever since he had obtained a golden finger by accident, no one had dared to show him such disrespect.

He wanted to see who was bold enough to lay a hand on him while he was "asleep."

Then Xie Licheng looked up and met a pair of eyes blazing with anger.

They were exquisite eyes, but unfortunately, what lay behind them was tainted, ruining the natural beauty of those eyes.

The owner of those eyes was a youth of about seventeen or eighteen, with a slender build.

The youth wore a set of bright red ancient-style robes, and his face was fair, with rosy lips and bright teeth.

Apparently not expecting Xie Licheng to fight back, the youth yanked the whip and shrieked at him: "How dare you! You dare lay a hand on me? Do you have a death wish?!"

Xie Licheng frowned at the words and immediately sensed something was wrong.

The language the youth spoke was completely foreign—not one he recognized—but surprisingly, he could understand it.

There was also something wrong with the body he was in now. He felt extremely weak, as if he hadn't had a proper meal in a long time, and as if he had suffered inhuman abuse.

This wasn't his body. Even if his original body had been hurt, it wouldn't be in this kind of shape.

With that in mind, Xie Licheng didn't immediately get up to attack the youth.

Not because he didn't want to, but because his current body couldn't manage it.

Given his current physical state, if it weren't for his iron willpower, he'd probably have already slipped into a deep coma.

Besides, he still didn't know what was going on, and he was in such a weakened state—it was better not to make any sudden moves.

With that in mind, Xie Licheng released the whip and hid the faint murderous intent in his eyes.

A flicker of smugness crossed the youth's face, but it quickly twisted into an ugly scowl of fury.

He angrily said to the two people behind him: "You two, hold him down for me. This piece of trash dares to fight back—I'm going to break one of his legs today, or people will think I'm scared of him."

The two people behind the youth exchanged a look, and one of them cautiously tried to speak up.

"Master, you've almost beaten him to death. If the old master finds out..."

Before the man could finish, the youth, like some kind of psycho, suddenly spun around and lashed him with the whip.

The youth's whip had barbs on it, and a single strike was enough to rip skin open.

The man took the hit, his face going pale from the pain, but he didn't dare make a sound.

Bearing the pain on his face, he knelt carefully in front of the youth, not daring to try to stop him again.

The youth looked at his submissive posture and let out a cold sneer.

"What, you think he's cute and you're secretly feeling bad for him?"

The man's face turned deathly pale at the words. He pressed his forehead to the ground and stammered in his own defense.

"Master, I wouldn't dare. I haven't. I'm yours, and I'd never... never look twice at some worthless horse slave."

The youth snorted and laughed. "Honestly, even if you did like him, it wouldn't matter. You two are a perfect match anyway. One's a horse slave from the slave camp, the other's a lowly servant boy. If you've taken a liking to him, I can grant your wish and let you two consummate things tonight."

Seeing the man had already burst into tears from fear, the youth couldn't help but cackle.

The youth was pretty, and his voice wasn't bad either.

But because he spoke with such sharp-tongued malice, like some kind of villain, he came off as both vicious and sinister.

Xie Licheng found him truly insufferable. As he endured the grating laughter, he took in his surroundings.

He wondered: if he killed this guy, what were the odds he could escape?

Xie Licheng had already confirmed that the body he was in wasn't his.

Not just the body—maybe even the world and the time period had changed.

This was clearly an ancient world, and Xie Licheng was a modern man—from an apocalyptic modern era, no less.

Since he felt his body had been swapped, he subconsciously assumed his golden finger was gone too, so he didn't think about killing the guy and hiding in his space.

His gaze was icy as it swept over the youth's slender, pale neck, then slowly drifted elsewhere.

The place they were in was a small courtyard.

The courtyard contained two rooms, a stable, and a well.

The rooms, the stable, the well—everything looked old and rustic, just like scenes from ancient costume dramas from before the apocalypse.

Combined with the clothing of the youth and the other two, it was safe to say this was the ancient era.

Then, before Xie Licheng could look around more, the youth suddenly turned to face him and raised the whip to strike him again.

Just then, a hurried voice rang out from outside the courtyard, cutting off the youth's plan to keep up the violence.

"Master, Master, bad news! The Eldest Young Master is back!"

The youth pulled back his whip reluctantly and grumbled, "That wretch again. Why's he back so soon?"

The one delivering the news was a girl—a maidservant, to be precise.

Hearing his words, she pushed open the courtyard gate from outside and urged him, "I'm not sure. He's already reached the moon gate of the side courtyard. Looks like he's coming for you."

The youth said, "Got it. You lot clean this place up and lock him in the woodshed. Don't let that bastard see him."

With that, he tossed the whip to another servant and hurried off with the maidservant.

Once the youth was gone, two people remained in the courtyard besides Xie Licheng.

One was the man who had pleaded for Xie Licheng earlier, and the other was a tall man who had been ordered to take Xie Licheng to the woodshed.

The tall man was big and burly. He didn't take Xie Licheng to the woodshed right away. Instead, he lowered his eyes and said to the man still kneeling, "Tell me, aren't you stupid? You can't even protect yourself, and you're still trying to plead for someone else? If the Eldest Young Master hadn't come back in time, forget him—even you... wouldn't have walked away from this alive."

The man kneeling there only stirred slightly after a long moment.

The tall man paid him no more attention. He reached out, dragged Xie Licheng up, and headed outside.

But to the tall man's surprise, no sooner had they stepped out of the courtyard gate than they ran straight into the Eldest Young Master heading their way.

The man was startled and tried to drag Xie Licheng back inside.

Seeing how scared the man was, Xie Licheng deliberately did the opposite of what he wanted. He gave a slight struggle and dropped to the ground.

The man cursed under his breath, then dropped to his knees with a thud beside Xie Licheng.

Soon after, the Eldest Young Master, followed by several servants, strolled over and stopped in front of them.

A maidservant beside the Eldest Young Master looked at the blood-soaked horse slave on the ground and spoke up: "Master, it must be the Young Master's doing again. He's been going too far lately. This horse slave must have done something to offend him—I've already seen the Young Master beat him several times."

Hearing this, the Eldest Young Master walked over to the horse slave on the ground. Startled, the maidservant quickly followed.

Maidservant: "Master, that horse slave is filthy and covered in blood. You... shouldn't get too close."

The Eldest Young Master, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.

His voice was cool and detached, betraying little emotion.

"It's fine. He's just a servant. The filth and the blood on him aren't there by choice."

With that, he leaned down slightly to get a closer look at the horse slave's wounds.

He saw wounds on the horse slave's head, neck, and back—bloody and raw, a truly horrifying sight.

He let out a soft sigh, and just as he was about to order someone to fetch a physician—

The horse slave, who had kept his head down, suddenly looked up at him. Their eyes met out of nowhere.

What surprised the Eldest Young Master was that this filthy, wounded servant had an exceptionally handsome face.

Sword-shaped brows, bright eyes, a high nose bridge, and slightly deep-set eyes... His brows and lashes were thick and dark, so dense they looked almost painted on.

It was a pity—no matter how handsome the face, once scarred, it was like jade with cracks, no longer perfect.

While the Eldest Young Master was lamenting Xie Licheng's face, Xie Licheng was equally stunned by the Eldest Young Master's looks.

Both were extraordinarily good-looking, but they were clearly different types of handsome.

After all, one was a man, the other a male consort. Even if both were stunning, there was a huge difference between them.

Xie Licheng was the bold, striking type—tall, cool, and handsome.

The Eldest Young Master's looks were far more delicate and refined.

As a male consort, his build was less broad and sturdy than a man's, with a softness unique to his kind.

He appeared slender and tall, yet carried a supple resilience unique to his kind.

Both were undeniably handsome, but side by side, they were like two completely different paintings.

One was a fierce meat-eating wolf; the other, a gentle grass-eating sheep.

Xie Licheng lived in a post-apocalyptic world—a cruel one, but also surprisingly tolerant.

Many who couldn't survive on their own would team up with others to keep living.

Men paired with women, men with men, and women with women.

When survival itself was a struggle, gender didn't matter much anymore.

Xie Licheng had seen many handsome men become wives to other men just to survive.

Xie Licheng was strong, and strength always attracted beautiful men and women alike.

But being a lone wolf by nature, he'd never picked any of them to be his partner.

That said, he'd seen all kinds of beauties over the years—a man of wide experience.

Yet even with all that experience, the first time he laid eyes on the Eldest Young Master, he couldn't help but be stunned by his looks.

This person... was truly beautiful—worthy of being called a painting come to life, no exaggeration.

Xie Licheng didn't dare stare at him for too long, feeling it would be rude.

So he glanced once, then looked away.

His tact spared the Eldest Young Master any offense.

The Eldest Young Master straightened up with the maidservant's help, then said to the people behind him: "Go find a physician to tend to him."