The Game with Fairies

Li Muyang made his way through the village, passing by the stilted buildings of varying heights arranged in a pleasingly haphazard manner until he reached the gate of the village.

Stepping out, the most striking sight was the forest ahead along the main road.

Twisted branches and tree trunks were adorned with the ghastly corpses of the dead, hanging like dried husks.

These bodies had been left out in the open for quite some time, yet strangely, no scavengers had come to feast upon them.

Li Muyang waited by the roadside for a while before he saw a carriage emerge from the forest laden with corpses.

Cloaked in black with his face concealed beneath a hood, the coachman appeared sinister and mysterious.

He pulled the carriage to a stop at the side of the road, and Li Muyang saw three dirty children sitting in the back.

Their eyes were filled with terror, and they sat huddled together, motionless in their fright.

The cloaked coachman glanced at Li Muyang and spoke in a hoarse voice, “The lambs you requested from Black Cloud Village.”

【Xiao Yecao】

A large, pale yellow health bar floated above the head of one of the children.

She was dressed in thin, filthy hemp clothing, her hair a tangled mess, her face smeared with dirt, indistinguishable from the other children at a glance.

But without a doubt, she was the one Li Muyang was looking for—the main character of this nurturing simulation game.

What followed was a smooth transaction. Li Muyang counted the children, paid the coachman, and then led the three of them back into the village.

The trio, all around ten years old, followed him timidly, like birds startled by the mere twang of a bow, seemingly too scared to do anything only obediently comply.

As Li Muyang walked through the village with the children, he couldn’t help but feel as if he were herding sheep.

However, the Demon Refining Sect herded actual goats—albeit somewhat strange ones—but they were indeed not human.

The ‘lambs’ he was leading now were real humans…

Looking at the three trembling children and hearing the villagers’ laughter and comments, Li Muyang curled his lip in disdain.

What an era to still be practicing traditional demonic arts… Look at the Demon Refining Sect, a major power controlling hundreds of cities.

They have already long developed new methods of demonic cultivation and abandoned the inefficient, traditional practices of sacrificing and extracting souls.

It’s a waste it is to kill mortals. The Demon Refining Sect had completely discarded the traditional practice of killing for cultivation, instead breeding black sheep and other demonic beasts as substitutes for human sacrifices.

As for the commoners within their territories, they all had to, work hard, perform laborious tasks, and pay taxes to the Demon Refining Sect.

They create far more value by being thoroughly exploited than if they were simply killed.

As a demonic cultivator of the new era, Li Muyang naturally scorned the traditional methods of the game’s world. But he didn’t pay it much mind.

After all, the worldview within the game’s instance was bound to differ from reality.

In the last tutorial he completed, the Heavenly Origin Dynasty hadn’t seen a demonic cultivator for a thousand years.

Li Muyang brought the three children to Steward Wu and handed over the money bag.

After counting the silver in the bag, Steward Wu glanced at Li Muyang and said,

“You look like a ghost. Don’t go up the mountain anymore, lest you die there.”

“Choose one of these three lambs to take home. You’re responsible for looking after it. Just don’t let it die. From now on, you’re free to move around the village.”

As Steward Wu finished speaking, a dialogue box popped up in Li Muyang’s field of vision.

【…Me? Steward Wu, please no! I can still go up the mountain!】

【(Kneeling down and begging for mercy)】

“…?”

The two dialogue boxes that popped up in his view left Li Muyang completely baffled.

What’s going on?

The game is asking me to choose a child to take home and raise… Why does it feel like a life-or-death decision?

These three kids look harmless and timid.

What’s there for this Leng Aqi to be afraid of?

Li Muyang fell silent for a moment before selecting the first option.

After Li Muyang made his choice, the game character immediately began to plead with Steward Wu.

However, after listening to the game character’s pleas, Steward Wu’s gaze remained icy cold.

“Leng Aqi, stop playing dumb with me. Either you choose one to take home or get out of the village. There are no other options.”

The steward’s attitude was extremely unpleasant, and Li Muyang fell silent again.

A new dialogue box appeared in his vision.

【Choose a lamb to take home】

Li Muyang turned his head and looked at the three children once more.

One boy and two girls, all around ten years old, dirty and looking like homeless refugees.

Fear seemed to fill their eyes.

But for some reason, perhaps influenced by Steward Wu’s words, Li Muyang now felt a hint of danger when he looked at the three children again.

Perhaps these kids don’t seem as simple as they appear.

He glanced at the three children with uncertainty and finally chose the one with a pale yellow health bar above her head,

【Xiao Yecao】

“I’ll choose her.”

Li Muyang pointed at the dirty little girl.

Since it was a nurturing game, there must be only one choice, and this little girl was the one to take home.

If he missed this opportunity to adopt this one, the game would surely end in failure.

When he spoke to choose the little girl, she, who had been standing with her head down and cowering, didn’t say a word.

However, the pale yellow health bar above her head instantly turned into a red hostile health bar full of enmity.

What the hell…

She’s hostile now? Just because I chose her?

Li Muyang stared at the little girl speechlessly, now certain that these three kids were not as simple as they seemed.

These aren’t three harmless little lambs. They’re clearly three little monsters in sheep’s clothing!

After Li Muyang made his choice, Steward Wu went inside, came back with a chain made of fine iron, and threw it out.

“Remember to tie her up before you go to sleep and keep her a bit away from you.”

Steward Wu glanced at Li Muyang and said, “But don’t tie her too far away. She’ll go mad if she can’t absorb your Yang energy.”

I’ll be damned…

Upon hearing this, Li Muyang almost threw the chain at Steward Wu’s head.

So these three brats really are trouble, needing to be chained close to absorb his Yang energy after being brought home?

What on earth is this village doing, buying such eerie children?

Li Muyang was full of doubts, but Leng Aqi obediently picked up the chain and walked away.

And that 【Xiao Yecao】, with the red health bar above her head, followed Li Muyang closely and obediently.

She even understood to follow him without Li Muyang having to call her.

Such a seemingly dependent little girl would normally be endearing.

At this moment, Li Muyang found himself speechless as he looked at the red health bar above the girl’s head.

This brat is quite good at pretending…

It’s a good thing this is in the game, with hostility indicators.

If he encountered such a terrifying kid in real life, Li Muyang would probably be fooled by her seemingly innocent appearance.

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