Consciousness was pulled away from the golden rain and passionate kisses, as if forcibly dragged from the warm depths of the sea into a frigid current. After the intense feeling of weightlessness and the dizzying sensation of distorted spacetime, Su Nian's five senses finally managed to reassemble.

The first thing I felt was a bone-chilling cold. It wasn't the cold of modern city air conditioning, but a damp, musty chill that seeped into my bones.

Then, there is sound.

The sharp crack of a whip cutting through the air was mixed with suppressed, painful groans. The scraping sound of chains dragging on the rough stone surface was teeth-grinding. And in the distance, the faint roars and cheers, like those of wild beasts, mingled with a desolate and heavy horn sound.

Finally, there's the smell. A heavy stench of blood, the sour odor of fermenting sweat and grime, and a faint, almost imperceptible, rotten smell that even a certain spice can't completely mask.

Su Nian suddenly opened her eyes.

What came into view was not a brightly lit podium, nor the comfortable dormitory of the NF base, but a huge, dark cage made of rough boulders.

No, it's more like... a place where livestock are temporarily kept.

She was huddled on a cold, stained pile of hay, no longer wearing her ice-blue starry dress, but a rough, thin, and barely covering piece of linen cloth that barely covered her vital parts. Her exposed skin was blue from the cold and covered with tiny scratches and bruises.

She was surrounded by dozens of people, men and women, dressed in rags and emaciated, some sitting and some lying down. Most of them had blank, lifeless eyes, like lambs waiting to be slaughtered. Only a few younger women were sobbing softly, their bodies trembling with fear.

[Ding—World jump complete. Current location: Savage Continent, Jie Tribe Royal Court, Slave Camp.]

[New identity added: Su Nian, former princess of the Southern Xia Kingdom. Three months ago, the Southern Xia Kingdom was destroyed by the Jie tribe; all members of the royal family were captured, the men were executed, and the women were sent to slave camps.]

[Core Mission Released: End tyranny and obtain the crown.]

[Friendly Reminder: The rules of this world are extremely restrictive, limiting the use of supernatural powers. Host, please act with caution and use your intelligence to prevail. Good luck!]

The electronic voice of 088 rang in my mind, its tone unusually serious, and even the sound of chewing snacks stopped.

Su Nian: "..."

Excellent. From being the rumored girlfriend of an e-sports champion to plummeting like a cliff to becoming a princess enslaved by a conquered nation. This leap is comparable to freefalling from the summit of the Himalayas into the Mariana Trench.

She tried to mobilize the power of ice within her body, but it was as if she were stuck in quagmire, unable to move. At most, she could only condense a barely perceptible chill at her fingertips, which was better than nothing. Her physical condition had also deteriorated to that of an ordinary weak woman; she was cold, hungry, and utterly powerless.

'088,' Su Nian thought weakly to herself, 'Does your God have some kind of misunderstanding about what constitutes an "exciting story"? Does it only count as exciting if you torture someone to death?'

[Host, according to big data analysis, extreme environments are more conducive to catalyzing strong emotional fluctuations, which is helpful in acquiring the mission target's 'heart'.] 088 explained seriously, [Besides, look how compelling the male lead's character is this time! Born a slave, tyrannical and bloodthirsty, a king who unified the barbarian tribes! What a standard beautiful, strong, and tragic hero! As long as you can win him over, you'll be the quintessential heroine of a redemption novel!]

Su Nian: '...Thank you.'

Redeeming literature? She's barely surviving herself; it's questionable whether she'll even make it through today.

Just then, the heavy wooden gate of the cage was pulled open from the outside with a loud bang!

The blinding torchlight surged in, dispelling some of the darkness, but also bringing an even stronger stench of blood.

Several Jie soldiers, dressed in simple leather armor, burly and fierce-looking, entered, carrying whips and ropes. Leading them was a minor leader with a scar on his face. His lewd gaze swept over the trembling female slaves in the cages, finally settling on Su Nian, whose disheveled yet still undeniably beautiful appearance.

"You! Come out!" Scarface shouted in broken Common, pointing his whip at Su Nian.

The female slaves around her instinctively shrank back, their gazes towards Su Nian filled with sympathy and... a hint of secret relief.

Su Nian's heart sank. She knew that in such a place, outstanding appearance often meant greater disaster for a woman.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She couldn't panic, she absolutely couldn't panic. She slowly stood up, her body swaying slightly from the weakness and cold, but she quickly regained her balance, straightening her back as much as possible, and calmly looked at the scarred man.

She didn't beg for mercy, nor did she show excessive fear. She simply met his gaze with her clear eyes, which carried a hint of barely perceptible aloofness.

Scarface paused for a moment. He had seen far too many female slaves crying and begging for mercy, or completely numb; such calmness was rare. This slightly diminished his sadistic urges, and instead aroused a sense of curiosity.

"What are you looking at! Get out of here!" he shouted rudely, but his tone was not as fierce as before.

Two soldiers stepped forward and roughly tied Su Nian's wrists with crude ropes, then shoved her out of the cage.

Outside lay a vast camp comprised of tents and makeshift stone huts. A biting wind howled, whipping up dust and withered grass. Slaves, chained and driven by whips, toiled under the weight of their burdens. An atmosphere of despair and barbarity permeated the air.

Su Nian was pushed and shoved through the camp and toward the tallest, most magnificent, and also the most sinister stone palace in the distance—the royal court of the Jie tribe.

Along the way, she saw desiccated corpses hanging from wooden poles; she saw gladiatorial arenas where bloody hand-to-hand combat was taking place, with the losers being dismembered on the spot; she saw mountains of unprocessed prey and... human bones.

A wave of nausea washed over her, but Su Nian forced herself to suppress the discomfort and began to observe her surroundings more closely. The style of the buildings, the soldiers' equipment, the people's behavior... she was frantically absorbing information about this strange world. This was her only means of survival and completing her mission—her mind and knowledge.

Finally, she was taken to the outside of the main hall of the royal court.

The enormous temple doors, constructed from whole animal bones and massive stones, were wide open, and a deafening clamor emanated from within—wild laughter, vulgar curses, the clanging of utensils, and the piercing cries and pleas of women.

The intense smell of alcohol and blood almost solidified and wafted out of the hall.

"Go in! The king is in a good mood after returning from the hunt today, so he might grant you a good death!" Scarface shoved Su Nian with ill intent, pushing her staggeringly through the palace gate that resembled the gaping maw of a giant beast.

The interior of the hall was extremely spacious, with torches burning brightly on the walls, their flickering flames casting shifting shadows throughout. Thick, dark-colored animal hides covered the floor. The massive stone pillars were carved with ferocious mythical beast totems.

In the center of the main hall was a huge fire pit, with a bonfire burning inside and charred meat from some unknown animal roasted on top.

The most eye-catching feature is the throne at the far end of the hall, carved from a single piece of obsidian.

A man sat on the throne.

He wasn't dressed in particularly luxurious attire, just a simple black leather armor that accentuated his strong and muscular physique. His bronze skin was covered with various old scars, like coiled centipedes, testifying to his past struggles through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He wasn't wearing a crown; his long, jet-black hair was casually draped over his shoulders, with a few strands falling across his forehead, partially obscuring his eyebrows and eyes.

Even from this distance, Su Nian could clearly feel the palpable oppressive aura emanating from the man. It was a terrifying aura mixed with bloodshed, violence, savagery, and absolute power, as if he himself were the master of this wild land.

He casually rested one hand on the armrest of the throne, his knuckles large and calloused. In his other hand, he held a huge goblet made from a skull, filled with a dark red liquid.

Below the throne, on both sides of the hall, sat Jie nobles and generals, equally savage and fierce, most of them with enslaved, disheveled women in their arms, lewdly mocking and amusement. In the open space in the center of the hall, several shackled slaves were fighting each other, blood splattering, drawing wild cheers.

Su Nian's appearance was like a drop of clear water falling into a boiling oil pan.

Her clean-cut demeanor, so out of place here (despite her disheveled state), and the strange tranquility she maintained even in such circumstances, instantly drew a lot of attention.

"Oh? A newcomer?" A drunken nobleman's eyes lit up, and he staggered to his feet, about to walk towards Su Nian.

"roll."

A cold, deep, emotionless voice rang out. It wasn't loud, but it seemed to carry an invisible force, instantly suppressing all the noise in the hall.

It's the man on the throne.

He didn't even lift his eyelids, continuing to casually toy with the skull-shaped wine glass in his hand.

The drunken nobleman turned pale as if he had been choked, and sat back down sheepishly, not daring to say another word.

The entire hall fell silent instantly after that shout of "Get out!" All eyes turned to Su Nian, who stood in the center of the hall with her wrists still bound, with a mixture of awe, curiosity, and schadenfreude.

Su Nian could feel that the gaze from the throne had finally fallen on her.

That gaze, like the sharpest icicle, carried scrutiny, indifference, and a kind of... coldness as if looking at an inanimate object.

She forced herself to raise her head and meet that gaze.

The flickering firelight illuminated the man's face on the throne. It was an extremely handsome, yet extremely dangerous, face. His features were deep and sharply defined, as if carved by a knife and axe; his nose was high and straight, his thin lips were tightly pressed together, and his jawline was taut and cold. But what was most unsettling were his eyes.

The deep black ink, like a bottomless icy pool, contains no human warmth, only endless slaughter, conquest, and an innate disregard for life.

He is the tyrant of this world, the king of the Jie tribe who was born a slave—Helian Jue.

That was also her mission objective: to find Xie Chen's fragments in this world.

Helian Jue's gaze lingered on Su Nian's face for a moment, from her clear yet calm eyes, to her neck, which was blue from the cold but still straight, and then to the thin, tattered slave clothes she was wearing.

The corners of his mouth seemed to twitch very slightly, but the curve was devoid of any warmth, only endless mockery.

“The princess of Nanxia?” he asked, his voice still icy. “She’s more pleasing to the eye than those who are always crying and wailing.”

He paused, casually tossing the skull-shaped wine cup to a nearby attendant. His tall frame leaned slightly forward, his indifferent eyes locking onto Su Nian with an air of nonchalance that held the life and death of an ant in his hands.

"Raise your head and let me have a good look at you."

"If you are pleasing to my eye, I will grant you the opportunity to stay by my side and serve me tea and water."

A suppressed, ambiguous chuckle and murmur rippled through the hall once more. Staying by the tyrant's side? That would be a thousand times more painful than death! Everyone knew Helian Jue's cruel nature; anyone who displeased him would be skinned alive!

Su Nian's heart was pounding violently in her chest, not from shyness or fear, but from extreme calmness and rapidly racing thoughts.

She knew this was her only chance. A chance to get close to him, understand him, and then... influence him. Though dangerous, it was the only way out of this desperate situation.

She slowly raised her head further, letting the flickering firelight fully illuminate her face. She didn't try to flatter or feign arrogance; she simply looked back at the man on the throne, who held her life and death in his hands, with a calm, almost serene gaze.

Her voice was slightly hoarse from the cold and weakness, yet it echoed clearly in the now quiet hall:

"yes."

There's only one word: neither humble nor arrogant.

Helian Jue looked into her clear, deep eyes, which seemed to reflect all the filth in people's hearts. Her gaze was unfathomable.

He slowly stood up.

The tall figure, exuding a powerful aura of oppression, descended step by step from the high throne and walked towards the slender yet resolute figure in the center of the hall.

The leather boots stomped on the animal hide, making a dull sound, as if stepping on the tip of everyone's heart.

Finally, he stopped in front of Su Nian, looking down at her with a shadow that almost completely enveloped her.

He reached out, his cold, rough fingers carrying a faint, still-smelling blood, and suddenly gripped her chin, forcing her to tilt her head back and endure his agonizing gaze even more closely.

"very good."

He leaned close to her ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, his breath cold and tinged with a cruel mockery:

"From this day forward, you shall be mine..."

"...slave."

(End of Chapter 99)