Bang!
Just as Li Wei was planning on how to get out of this Godforsaken situation, the rotten, already falling apart wooden door of the shed was kicked open so hard that the splinters went flying.
Li Wei winced, shielding his good eye with a trembling, bruised hand.
Through the dust he saw a silhouette standing in the doorway.
It was a girl.
She wore a coarse, gray hemp robe of that of a servant. Her hair was tied back in a messy bun, and while her face might have been considered pretty in a village, it was twisted into a mask of utter, unbridled disgust.
She was none other than Xiao Mei.
Li Wei's heart thumped. He remembered writing her character sheet three years ago on a sticky note.
Name: Xiao Mei.
Role: A cannon fodder Minor Antagonist.
Personality: Vain, cruel to those weaker than her, subservient to power.
Fate: Executed in Chapter 15 for spilling tea on the Third Young Master's fiancee.
In fact, she was a nobody, a speck of dust in the grand tapestry of his novel.
Just like Gu Fan, she was a throwaway character he had created solely to deliver a poisoned bowl of porridge.
But right now, this speck of dust held the power of life and death over him.
She stepped into the shed, her nose wrinkling as the smell of blood, sweat and rotten flesh hit her.
She didn't look at Gu Fan like he was a human being. She looked at him like he was a stain on the floor that refused to be scrubbed away.
"You are still breathing, young master?" Xiao Mei said, scrunching her nose, "How pitiful."
Her words were devoid of any respect for a young master, be he illegitimate.
She sounded disappointed, as she accused him of being alive.
She held a cracked wooden bowl in her hand with gray, lumpy sludge that smelled faintly of sour milk and sawdust.
It steamed slightly, releasing a pungent, acidic odor that made Li Wei's empty stomach cramp in protest.
"I brought you a little something. So be a good boy and eat, Master Fan," she sneered, emphasizing the title 'Master' with venomous sarcasm.
She didn't place the bowl in front of him.
She flicked her wrist and tossed the contents of the bowl onto the dirt floor, right in front of his face.
The hot, gray sludge splattered, coating his hands and the front of his torn rags.
"Eat it before the rats get it."
"The kitchen wanted to throw it out, but I asked them to let me bring it to you. Aren't I kind to you?"
Li Wei stared at the puddle of filth.
In his memories, the memories of the original Gu Fan, he would have cried at the sight of this… whatever this thing was. He would have eaten it just to survive another day. And he would have begged for more.
But Li Wei... Li Wei felt a cold run along his spine.
He knew what this was. This was a test run.
Xiao Mei is doing this to gauge his will to live.
When she sees him eat the filth like a dog, she will report it back to the Second Young Master.
And then the order will come to poison him the next day.
'If I eat this,' Gu Fan thought, his mind racing, 'I might survive today. But I will die tomorrow.'
"What's wrong?" Xiao Mei took a step closer, her cloth shoes inches away from his nose, "Not hungry? Or do you still think you are a Young Master?"
"Look at you. A crippled bastard. A waste. Living in the delusion that one day, the Clan Patriarch will accept you."
"Even the dogs in the Gu Clan have better bloodlines than you, Gu Fan."
She leaned down, gathering a glob of phlegm in her throat, and spat it onto the porridge on the floor.
"Do us all a favor and just die. It would save me the walk."
Gu Fan remained silent. He wasn't looking at her face. He was staring at her ankle.
It was exposed. Just a strip of pale skin between her hemp pants and her cloth shoes.
For some reason, it looked vulnerable. Soft, and tempting.
Ding!
Just as he was lost in thoughts, a crisp and clear bell rang inside his skull. It drowned out the pounding of his own heart.
And before he could understand what was happening, a translucent blue screen, materialized in the air before his eyes.
[System Initializing...]
[Host Signature Detected: Creator.]
[Welcome, Author. Welcome to the 10x Parasitic Rewards System.]
Li Wei's breath hitched.
'This…'
But Xiao Mei didn't react, that means, only he could see it.
He had written about systems before.
In his books, systems were usually cheat codes given by the heavens to help the protagonist reach the apex of the world and look down on everyone else.
But he didn't remember writing this specific system.
"10x Parasitic Rewards System"?
'Didn't I give Gu Chen the "Heavenly Vision"?'
'Is this a glitch born out of my existence in this world?'
Suddenly text began to scroll rapidly across his retina along with the mechanical sound, defining the rules of his new existence to him.
[System Mechanics Initialized]
[The Parasite (Passive/Active]
[The Host is physically damaged and talentless. Conventional cultivation is impossible.]
[Activation: Requires organic contact (Touch/Fluid Exchange) to plant a 'Seed'.]
[Effect: Once a Seed is planted, the Host enters a parasitic relationship with the target.]
[Reward Multiplier: When the target gains 1 unit of Cultivation, Experience, or Vitality, the Host gains 10 units.]
[Yin-Yang Plunder (Special)]
[Condition: Requires intimate contact (Sexual) or the consumption of Target's Blood Essence. Only works with the opposite gender.]
[Effect: Allows the Host to steal and assimilate the Target's Bloodline, Physique, or Spirit Root.]
[Reward Multiplier: The stolen attribute is refined and enhanced by 20x during assimilation.]
[Current Status]
Host: Gu Fan (Li Wei)
Condition: Critical. Shattered ribs (3), Internal bleeding, Malnutrition, Meridian Blockage (100%).
Time to Death: 48 Hours without intervention.
[Directive: Plant a Seed immediately to survive.]
Gu Fan read the text in a split second.
'Parasite…?'
'I got the parasite system? Why?'
But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Or Gu Fan twisted it to make sense.
He was an anomaly in this world. A parasite leeching on some absurd luck to transmigrate into this world.
He wasn't supposed to be here. But he was.
And since he was there, he wasn't going to end up dead twice in 48 hours.
He looked up. Xiao Mei was turning around.
"Boring," she muttered, kicking dirt onto his face, "I will come back tomorrow to collect the corpse."
She began to walk away. And just as she did, Gu Fan tried to hold her.
But the moment he tried to move, pain exploded in Li Wei's chest.
If she left the room, he would lay here for hours in his own pee and faeces. In the company of those damn rats.
He needed to do something. And he needed to do it fast.
"WAIT!!!"