The five Beast Husbands didn't give her a single pleasant look, but due to their shared marriage bond of life-and-death, they still had to grudgingly wash her underwear.
Recalling the original book's plot where her recklessness eventually led the five Beast Husbands to the brink, each stabbing her once to choose mutual destruction, Xiao Jinsheng felt her vision blur again.
"Damn system, you Divine Gold piece of crap! Are you giving me five bodyguards or sending me five butchers?"
Xiao Jinsheng matched the storyline with reality and realized it had now entered the arc where she loathed Mo Jiao's beastified form as a dark, gloomy snake crawling in shadows, incomparable to the golden Flood Dragon soaring above from the neighboring female lead's husband.
So she secretly swapped Mo Jiao's healing medicine with sedatives and sent him to the black market for sale.
Yes, sold him.
For cheap.
Sold him for just one third-tier Crystal Core, turning Mo Jiao into mutant beast fodder.
Mo Jiao escaped from the jaws of mutant beasts after a near-death experience, and the rage accumulated over six months of marriage with Xiao Jinsheng finally erupted. He was now hell-bent on killing her.
At present, Xiao Jinsheng was surrounded by zombies, while the other four Beast Husbands had realized Mo Jiao's disappearance and were out searching for him.
They all suspected Xiao Jinsheng had orchestrated Mo Jiao's disappearance but couldn't do anything about it without evidence—and even if they had evidence, they couldn't touch her either.
Though they despised Xiao Jinsheng, they still had to assign one of them to protect her during the search for Mo Jiao, lest her reckless antics result in their mutual demise.
The unlucky one drawn to guard Xiao Jinsheng was the white cat, Yu Yunxiao.
"Was Mo Jiao's disappearance your doing?" Yu Yunxiao questioned with a dark expression.
Xiao Jinsheng, having already absorbed the memories, tilted her head and refused to answer the question.
Inwardly, she called out to the Divine Gold System that had landed her in this pit countless times, but there was no response.
If not for this system mistaking someone else for her and accidentally killing her before realizing its mistake, she wouldn't have ended up tied to these five butchers.
"Xiao Jinsheng, do you even have a conscience?" Though Yu Yunxiao's words were sharp, they carried a sense of sorrow. "If you don't like us, just agree to the divorce already."
"Why bind us together but act all high and mighty under the Terminal's protection?"
"Hurry up and divorce us so we can part peacefully, avoiding mutual contempt."
"Divorce?" Xiao Jinsheng smoothed out her emotions, finally responding. Her pale face puffed up like an angry pufferfish as she coldly snorted, "In your next life, maybe."
Did they really think she didn't know that after divorcing, she'd lose her bond with Yu Yunxiao?
If Yu Yunxiao wanted to kill her then, it'd be effortless—no need to perish alongside her.
After convincing herself for quite a while, Xiao Jinsheng resigned herself to cleaning up this mess.
Whether she liked these five men or not, one thing was certain: divorce? Not an option!
With the Terminal system in place, marriage on the Mist Continent was her shield for survival.
Yet if she didn't divorce, the storyline would inevitably end with all five Beast Husbands delivering her mutual destruction.
Her temporary safety was clear, but Xiao Jinsheng understood that the most pressing issue now was to find Mo Jiao.
She needed to completely sever Mo Jiao's will to seek revenge after his miraculous escape.
Once again, Xiao Jinsheng gave herself a few seconds to adjust, then stood up with commanding resolve, filled with renewed vigor, heading straight for the black market to save him—only to feel her legs give way when she saw what lay beneath her.
She was standing on a fence-less fourth-story rooftop, the streets below teeming with a mass of zombies wandering aimlessly.
The fragile college student's legs went jelly immediately, tipping her body forward to fall off the rooftop.
Standing behind her, Yu Yunxiao saw this and panicked, darting forward to scoop her up just in time and pull her back.
"Xiao Jinsheng!" For the first time, Yu Yunxiao was genuinely angry.
If not for their marriage bond, he'd have loved nothing more than to kick her down to feed the zombies himself.
"Divorce! Divorce! Divorce! I want a divorce from you!" Yu Yunxiao's gold and blue abnormal pupils flared with anger, his pupils contracting vertically. His soft white hair and cat ears bristled as he lost his temper.
Xiao Jinsheng looked at him with suppressed amusement, observing his helpless fury despite his deep hostility, and couldn't hold back her laughter.
The sound of her laughter reignited Yu Yunxiao's rage. "Divorce—"
"Not happening." Xiao Jinsheng reined in her laughter, turned, and headed toward the stairs.
Seeing her indifferent attitude, Yu Yunxiao became even angrier, chasing after her. "Causing trouble is one thing—can't you just stay put without making it worse? Is it so hard to stay here safely and let us live?"
"I have to save Mo Jiao," Xiao Jinsheng said.
Hearing this, Yu Yunxiao let out a sneering laugh. "He should already be thanking the heavens for not being killed by you. And now you want to save him?"
"Believe me or not, it's up to you," Xiao Jinsheng replied without further explanation, knowing full well there was none to give.
After all, Mo Jiao had indeed been sold to the black market by her current body.
Walking down the outdoor metal staircase, Xiao Jinsheng tightly gripped the railing. She was afraid of heights, feeling faint from low blood sugar, and couldn't ignore the zombies swarming below.
Claiming she wasn't scared would be a lie.
But hearing the movements behind her, Xiao Jinsheng felt assured she was safe for now.
At least for the moment, Yu Yunxiao, despite his grievances, wouldn't abandon her.
Sure enough, seeing her dawdling step by step down the stairs, Yu Yunxiao couldn't bear it anymore. He carried her outright: "Either divorce me or go home. Stop causing trouble."
"Take me to the black market," Xiao Jinsheng demanded.
But hearing her mention the black market, Yu Yunxiao's eyes flashed with panic and greater anger. "Not only won't you agree to divorce, but you also want to sell me now?"
Xiao Jinsheng: "..."
The wicked image of her past self had truly become deeply ingrained.
"Mo Jiao is at the black market. If you keep wasting time, he'll end up chopped into pieces and fed to the mutant beasts," she said.
"How can someone as malicious as you exist? Mo Jiao's disappearance was definitely your doing!" Yu Yunxiao hissed through gritted teeth.
But knowing the urgency, he could only carry Xiao Jinsheng toward the black market.
At the same time, he sent messages to the other three Beast Husbands about their situation.
In the dark basement, inside an iron cage, sat a man with long hair matted in blood, his purple eyes burning with a dark intensity.
He dragged his fingertip across the black scales at his neck, forcibly tearing off a piece.
Instantly, blood poured down his neck, following the scales to drip onto the ground.
The scent of blood made the mutant beasts in nearby cages glare with crimson eyes, roaring into a frenzy.
Mo Jiao allowed his blood to pool beneath him, watching calmly as the mutants' constant battering weakened the cage's defenses, gradually breaking it open.
He curled his lips into a bitter, chilling smile, his eyes brimming with unstoppable murderous intent. "Xiao Jinsheng, prepare to die."
Stealthily sneaking into the black market's Beast Fighting Arena, Xiao Jinsheng had just found the basement entrance when a shiver ran down her spine.
She adjusted her shoulders, nudging Yu Yunxiao at the lock. "Hurry up. If you move so slowly, Mo Jiao will be mutant beast food."
"Now you're in a hurry? What were you doing before?" Yu Yunxiao snapped irritably.
Soon, he unlocked the Crystal Core Lock and entered the basement.
Before reaching the staircase, they were struck by the damp, moldy air mixed with a strong stench of blood.
The sounds of mutant beasts roaring reverberated throughout the basement.
"Something's wrong!" Yu Yunxiao exclaimed, grabbing Xiao Jinsheng behind him. "Don't act recklessly. Stay close to me."