Yan Luoyue used all her might to avoid the tragic fate of having her na changed to "Yan Erzha."
And then... that na beca her nickna.
Yan Luoyue: "..."
Well, that's... fine, I guess.
The next day, Yan Yu went to guard the incubation room, and Yan Gan ca to take over his shift as usual.
Thinking about the accident that had happened the night before, Yan Yu repeatedly reminded Yan Gan when handing over Yan Luoyue to him: if he noticed anything wrong with the child, he should imdiately take her to her and call for help along the way.
This frightened Yan Gan so much that when he looked at Yan Luoyue again, he treated her as if she were more fragile than paper.
"Our little Erzha, oh, your life is so full of hardships."
As soon as she heard that na, Yan Luoyue imdiately closed her eyes, crossed her hands over her chest, and stiffened her entire body, as if to indicate that the person in question had passed away peacefully.
After seeing Yan Yu off at the door, Yan Gan returned to the room and playfully flicked Yan Luoyue's nose from a distance:
"I actually brought you sothing delicious today, but seeing you like this, I don't dare give it to you now."
Upon hearing the word "delicious," Yan Luoyue instantly stopped pretending to be dead. Her eyes opened wide.
This couldn't be blad on her.
Anyone who had been eating bug paste for three days straight would react the sa way.
Every ti she ate, Yan Luoyue had to overco her psychological barriers, ignore the suspicious color of the paste, and avoid thinking about what it was made of.
Yan Luoyue stared eagerly as Yan Gan pulled out a fresh, plump, and brightly colored apple from his pocket. Just looking at it, she could almost sll its refreshing fragrance.
Her gaze involuntarily locked onto the fruit, and Yan Luoyue couldn't look away.
Seeing her reaction, Yan Gan found it amusing and deliberately brought the apple closer.
He moved the apple to the left, and Yan Luoyue's dark, shiny eyes followed to the left. He moved it to the right, and her eyes followed to the right.
"Hahahaha!" Yan Gan burst into laughter.
He took the apple back and took a big bite himself, exclaiming, "My little sister is so adorable!"
Yan Luoyue: "..." You're not human!
Perhaps the accusation in Yan Luoyue's eyes was too obvious, because Yan Gan felt a little guilty under her gaze.
After scratching the back of his head and thinking for a mont, Yan Gan hesitantly waved the apple in front of Yan Luoyue's nose.
"Well... you can sll it?"
"..."
Letting her sll it but not eat it was even worse than letting her see it but not eat it!
If such cruel behavior had happened in her past life, Yan Luoyue would have reported it to the animal protection organization!
As the sun and moon alternated and day turned into night, a month had passed since Yan Luoyue's birth.
Over the past month, she had been relatively stable, with her health consistently staying above the safe threshold, which also brought relief to Yan Yu and Yan Gan.
So, just yesterday, Yan Gan secretly smuggled in an orange and squeezed half a spoonful of juice for Yan Luoyue to taste.
Yan Luoyue was so moved that tears welled up in her eyes.
This was a small spoonful for her, but a giant leap for civilization.
Rice would co, fish soup would co, and normal als would eventually co.
The next day, Yan Gan smuggled in a pear for Yan Luoyue.
By the third day, having grown more daring, Yan Gan not only smuggled in a green jujube but also bundled Yan Luoyue up like a dumpling and took her outside.
The chilly breeze brushed against her cheeks, occasionally reducing Yan Luoyue's health by -0.01, -0.01.
But it was fine; she could handle such a small amount of damage.
After being cooped up in the house for a month, she couldn't help but look around excitedly now that she was finally outside.
Not far away, voices could be heard. Yan Gan, being young and fond of excitent, carried Yan Luoyue toward the sound.
As they got closer, they realized it was a group of weary travelers.
Yan Luoyue: "Ah ah."
Yan Gan, ever the chatterbox, imdiately started explaining enthusiastically.
"You're asking who they are? They're just so demon tribe travelers passing through. Our clan often provides lodging services. If travelers want to rest, we offer hot water, dicine, and good hospitality."
Yan Luoyue observed for a while.
The group was quite large, with about a dozen travelers and seven or eight carts pulled by horses.
The carts seed to be carrying live creatures, and even from a distance, Yan Luoyue caught a whiff of a foul stench in the wind.
Yan Gan sniffed the air and thoughtfully said, "I see. They must be a group returning from the demon disaster seal!"
In the courtyard, the group was unloading the carts.
The carts were filled with iron cages, inside of which were terrifying creatures with gaping mouths. When the covers were lifted, the stench spread for miles.
Yan Luoyue: "Hoo hoo."
"Oh," Yan Gan reflexively replied, "Those are demons."
Hearing this answer, Yan Luoyue, still in her swaddling clothes, looked surprised.
In the ga *Worlds United*, demons did exist.
According to the ga's lore, humans, demons, and the demon tribe coexisted on the sa continent, forming a delicate balance of power. Occasionally, two factions would ally to maintain this balance.
Historically, all three factions had plenty of experience in "allying with one to fight another."
Thus, the relationship between the three races had always been ambiguous—no single faction was allowed to dominate, but none was completely eradicated either.
However, the grotesque, chaotic-eyed, and utterly inhuman creatures in the cages bore no resemblance to the "demons" in *Worlds United*, who were known for their striking appearances and intricate patterns of crimson or azure on their faces.
It seed that the ga's setting and reality didn't quite align.
In the courtyard, soone opened a cage and dragged out a bound demon.
The demon seed to sense its impending doom and let out a piercing scream, like a pig about to be slaughtered.
The demon was hung upside down by its ankles, and its blood, which had an eerie black glow, was collected in a basin.
The travelers skillfully skinned the creature, removed its horns, and even carefully extracted its nails, placing them in specialized containers.
Yan Luoyue: "Du du."
Yan Gan: "Are you wondering what they're doing? The uncles need to process the materials so they can sell them for money."
"The creatures they're handling now are Mire Demons. Mire Demons can't survive long outside the demon seal. After death, they turn into sludge within half a day, so they need to be processed quickly."
"Materials from demons are purchased by specialized buyers. Demon blood can be used in dicine, demon horns and skin for crafting, and their internal organs are ingredients for alchemy. It's just that their at is too sour and slly to eat, so it's useless."
Hearing the word "crafting," Yan Luoyue's mind began to wander.
Although she had never encountered these demons before, from the perspective of a craftsman, their skin and horns were indeed usable materials.
However, these demons were of too low a level, and their materials were too crude to serve as primary crafting ingredients—they could only be used as supplentary materials.
It seed that the concept of children's ntal health didn't exist among the demon tribe.
Even though Yan Gan was holding a baby at the entrance, the travelers in the courtyard continued their work without a care, as if this were perfectly normal for a child to witness.
After finishing with the Mire Demons, a broad-shouldered man waved at Yan Gan.
"Here, take this."
He handed over a string of Mire Demon finger joints, small and bead-like, with a grayish-white coating.
These joints were useless to rchants, but children often used them as beads for playing.
Yan Gan, being outgoing and unafraid of strangers, accepted the beads with a smile.
"Uncle, you just returned from the demon seal, right? I heard the demon disaster was raging recently. How is it now?"
The demon tribe man rubbed his chin. "It's strange, really. When we arrived, we caught the tail end of the demon disaster."
"At first, the demon disaster was raging like crazy, and we didn't pay much attention. But just as we caught a demon snake, we looked up—and suddenly, the demon disaster stopped!"
He said nonchalantly, "They say the demon disaster is as unpredictable as a child's temper, and it really does change in the blink of an eye."
Yan Gan listened with wide, admiring eyes, clearly fascinated.
Seeing the child's admiration, the man couldn't help but boast a little.
He gestured grandly behind him:
“During the demon calamity, the variety of demonic creatures was indeed vast. Look at the cages on the cart—there are so many types of demons I’ve never seen before. We’re planning to take them all to the rchants at once and have them appraised.”
Yan Gan was eager: “Uncle, are there really so many demons? Could you let take a look?”
“Of course, why not?” The demon elder laughed heartily.
He said, “Your clan’s territory is closer to the seal, and you’ve been stationed here for years. You must have more knowledge than us who’ve co from afar.”
Yan Gan was indeed quite knowledgeable in this area.
There were seven or eight large cages on the cart, and he examined each one in turn, accurately identifying the types of demons such as the “Green Mane Demon,” “Mire Demon,” “Rolling Wind Beast,” and “Thunderbolt Monster.”
Yan Gan kindly advised:
“The Mire Demon’s heart is the only valuable part, worth about three low-grade spirit stones.”
“The Green Mane Demon fetches the highest price when sold alive, at least ten low-grade spirit stones. Don’t let the unscrupulous rchants cheat you.”
“The Thunderbolt Monster…”
Yan Luoyue, held in his arms, faced the demons directly while also absorbing a lot of knowledge along the way.
After going through all the cages, only one small cage remained, tucked in the corner and covered with a black cloth.
“Uncle, what’s in this one…?”
The demon elder thought for a mont: “Ah, this one! We caught this demonic snake just before the demon calamity ended.”
He reached out to lift the black cloth, muttering:
“We’ve never seen this kind of demon before. Young man, see if you recognize it… Heh, this little thing is quite powerful.”
Before he could finish, the cloth was lifted, revealing a dying demonic snake inside the cage.
The cage was small, and the snake was tiny and frail, no thicker than a child’s pinky finger and less than two inches long, resembling a delicate ornantal piece.
The snake was pinned by three demon-sealing nails, one through its head, one through its tail, and one through its heart, fixed firmly in the cage like a specin.
Yan Luoyue frowned.
When she had seen the demons being slaughtered earlier, her feelings had been indifferent.
But for so reason, the mont she laid eyes on this little snake, her heart clenched painfully, and an overwhelming sense of pity surged within her, nearly causing her to faint.
Unlike the usual gray or black hues of low-level demons, this little snake was a translucent erald green.
Even though its body was wrapped in thick demonic energy, its flesh was torn, and its wounds revealed glimpses of white bone, the small patch of surviving green scales still glead like the finest jade, as if capturing the flowing green of a lake’s heart. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
As the black cloth was removed, the snake sensed the movent outside the cage and twisted its body slightly.
This motion caused the dried flesh pierced by the demon-sealing nails to ooze the last of its blood.
The nictitating mbrane over its eyes lifted, revealing snake pupils as cold and dark as obsidian.
The demonic snake cast a cold glance outside the cage.
With that one look, Yan Luoyue felt as if she had been struck by lightning, even dropping the wooden hairpin she had been holding.
—She had literally been struck by lightning.
Yan Luoyue never expected that the snake’s gaze would co with a slight paralyzing effect—and even dealt damage!
As a baby turtle only a month old, with no resistance to paralysis and utterly helpless, Yan Luoyue was instantly affected.
Her body stiffened, and the wooden hairpin slipped from her grasp, falling straight through the cage bars.
That wasn’t all—just from that one glance, Yan Luoyue lost -0.5 health points!
Instantly, the long-absent red warning light of critical health flooded her vision.
Now, Yan Luoyue couldn’t spare any pity for the snake. The only thing she felt was paralysis.
Yan Luoyue: “…”
She sadly realized that, with her current health points, she could only withstand two glances from this demonic snake.
This was absolutely ridiculous.
What kind of bizarre, unreasonable creature was this?!
Does it drain health just by looking at soone? Is its species dusa or sothing?!
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