Chapter 1: A Top Handsome Man Covered in Wounds

Faintly, Li Yue heard the crack of a whip and slowly came to her senses.

The first thing her vision registered was a mane of silver-gray hair reaching her shoulders.

The owner of that hair knelt on the ground, his bronze back taut like a drawn bow, every muscle bulging with power. Yet his skin was crisscrossed with gruesome whip marks that shocked the eye.

Fresh wounds oozed blood, trickling down his firm muscles to form tiny streams at his waist, finally dripping onto the edge of his animal-hide skirt.

When his dark red eyes lifted, Li Yue felt as if the fangs of a venomous snake had seized her heart.

Those icy eyes seethed with undisguised hatred.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze falling on the leather whip in her hand, and a faint, cold smirk curled his lips.

His voice was hoarse, each word laced with venom. "You're stopping already? Used up all your strength for the day?"

Li Yue's mind exploded with a deafening roar.

Agony erupted in her temples as fragments of the original owner's memories flooded in.

She had been a corporate drone, working herself to death after staying late at the office. Now, she had transmigrated into a Beast World novel she had just finished, becoming the villainous cannon fodder with the same name.

The original owner's father, a stray beast, had doted on his only female cub. As soon as she came of age, he had brought home five males to force her into a binding contract with them.

She never liked the beast husbands her father had captured, and she spent her days finding new ways to torment them.

The handsome man before her had the form of a venomous white snake, its movements ruthless and deadly. In the end, it would break her fingers one by one.

Li Yue suddenly released her grip. The leather whip clattered to the floor, and a drop of blood from its tip splattered on her ankle. The icy touch sent a shiver down her spine.

You Lie's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

At this point, the cruel female would normally have raised the whip with even greater force or used a charred stick to burn him.

But now she had dropped the whip?

"What new torment have you conjured now..."

"Don't speak," Li Yue interrupted, needing time to process the horrifying reality.

In the Beast World, male ranks ranged from weak to strong in the colors Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. The original owner's father was a Violet-rank Scorpion Beast, at the apex of the Beast World's social pyramid. It was precisely this status that allowed him to capture five extraordinarily talented males as her beast husbands forcibly.

But according to the novel's plot, her father would never return from this latest trip to find her a husband.

After his death, the beast husbands, driven to their breaking point by torture, would collectively revolt.

Risking a backlash, they would gouge out their partner beast marks. Five males who should have died from the procedure somehow survived through sheer ferocity. In the end, they would dismember her in ways a hundred times crueler than the original owner had inflicted on them, devouring her completely.

The thought of the severed finger pain described in the book sent a chill through Li Yue's fingertips.

She couldn't die!

Especially not in such a gruesome way!

Forcing herself to meet those dark crimson eyes, Li Yue kept her voice as steady as possible. "Get up."

You Lie didn't move, merely raising an eyebrow, the mockery in his eyes deepening. "What, trying a new way to torture me?"

As he tilted his head back, the Scorpion Beast Mark on his chest became more prominent.

That was the partner beast mark, the shackles that bound them against rebellion. "Or are you planning to try pouring salt water on the wound?"

Li Yue's breath hitched. The original owner had indeed done such things.

She took a deep breath and turned toward the bamboo basket in the corner of the stone hut.

Inside lay withered herbs, traded by her Father from the tribe. The original owner had never used them on them, preferring to pass off poisonous vines as medicinal herbs, watching them writhe in agony.

She began sifting through the basket for hemostatic herbs, saying, "Your wound needs treatment. I won't..."

"No need." You Lie interrupted her, slowly standing up.

He towered over Li Yue by more than half a head, his shadow falling over her with oppressive weight.

"Spare me your act. Are you planning to burn me with a heated stick later, or have you devised something more vicious to torment me?"

Li Yue's hand, holding the herbs, froze mid-air.

She had forgotten that the original owner's cruelty was etched into these men's bones. Any slightest deviation from their expectations would be interpreted as a new form of torture.

Just then, rustling footsteps sounded outside the stone hut.

Three figures appeared at the cave entrance, each bearing wounds, yet all fixing her with the same cold, icy gaze.

Leading the group was Si Qi, the silver-haired Crane Beastman and Yellow-rank Priest. He should have exuded an ethereal aura, but instead looked gaunt and haggard, his body covered in burn marks—the result of the original owner's searing with a red-hot wooden stick.

He kept his eyes lowered, his long lashes concealing his emotions, only his clenched fists betraying his suppressed rage.

Chi Yu, the red-haired Fox Beastman, followed closely behind. His face, once meant to be alluring and enchanting, was disfigured by a jagged scar stretching from the corner of his eye to his jaw, transforming it into a grotesque mask.

He flashed Li Yue a seductive smile, but his eyes remained cold. "What's this? Why aren't you continuing to 'torture' You Lie?"

Last came Jin Ye, the burly Lion Beastman with short, disheveled black hair plastered to his forehead. His upper body was a tapestry of scars and whip marks.

Li Yue's gaze swept over the three men, her heart sinking like a lead weight.

Though they were four top-tier handsome men with vastly different styles, she felt no trace of admiration.

Four of the five beast husbands had arrived.

"Where's Lanxi?" she blurted out.

The name instantly changed the atmosphere in the cave.

Chi Yu laughed even harder. "You've forgotten so quickly? Yesterday you said you wanted to see what would happen if we pulled out a merman's scales and buried them in the sand. You had us bury him in the mountains, remember?"

Li Yue's fingertips turned icy.

Lanxi, the only Sea Tribe Beastman among the five, would have torn her skin apart inch by inch after the partner beast mark was removed.

Because she had made him endure the excruciating pain of scale-pulling, a fate truly horrifying to merfolk...

She looked at the four heavily wounded males before her, then remembered Lanxi with his scales ripped out, and suddenly shivered violently.

Noticing her distraction, a hint of mockery flashed in You Lie's dark crimson eyes. "What, already thinking of new games?"

He took another step forward, the metallic tang of blood on his body growing stronger. "Let's just get it all out at once."

Li Yue's head snapped up, meeting his gaze.

She knew nothing she said would matter now, but she had to do something. "You Lie, go bring Lanxi back. I have something to say."

You Lie let out a low chuckle, as if he'd heard a joke. "Li Yue, what game are you playing now? Torturing us one by one wasn't enough? You want all five at once?"

Li Yue took a deep breath, placing the blood-stopping grass back into the bamboo basket. "Let's make a deal. If you agree, I'll break the contract with you all."

The stone chamber fell silent, so quiet you could hear your own breathing.

Si Qi's lowered eyelids trembled slightly, Chi Yu's smile froze on his face, and the sound of Jin Ye's clenched fists creaking against each other filled the air.

You Lie's laughter died. He stared at her intently, as if trying to determine whether her words were trustworthy.