Daily Survival After Inheriting a Harem (GL) - Chapter 2

“My lord.”

“Ah?”

Qiu Qi did not dare turn her neck casually. She asked very cautiously, “Have you finished changing?”

The person behind her was silent for a while before softly replying, “Mm.”

Only then did Qiu Qi turn around, and her eyes immediately lit up.

As expected, a beauty looked good in anything. Even such simple, plain white clothes, when worn by Pei Yuqing, were forcibly elevated into something with the immortal air of a lotus rising unstained from the mud.

Pei Yuqing silently accepted the baptism of Qiu Qi’s overly passionate gaze. Perhaps it was an illusion, but she felt that the person before her was somewhat unfamiliar now. The main reason was the inexplicable… foolishness that had appeared out of nowhere.

“Cough.”

Seeing Pei Yuqing looking at her without moving, Qiu Qi awkwardly reminded her, “I told you I have amnesia, so I don’t know the way out.”

Pei Yuqing pointed toward the stone door on the left, but still did not move.

Qiu Qi guessed the reason. It was probably because of some rule or etiquette that required her, as the master, to walk in front.

She could only walk up to the heavy stone door. She looked around but did not see anything that resembled a mechanism. Feeling somewhat helpless, she turned back to look at Pei Yuqing. The other party calmly met her gaze, yet still remained unmoved.

Qiu Qi had no choice. She raised her hand and lightly patted the enormous stone door blocking her path, asking Pei Yuqing for help.

“I don’t know where the switch—”

Before she could finish speaking, her palm suddenly met empty air. At the same time, a heavy crash sounded beside her ear.

The stone door had merely been patted by her once, yet it could not withstand the force and collapsed with a thunderous boom.

Dust rose and floated through the air. Qiu Qi’s mouth fell open, her shock written all over her face.

Very quickly, she swallowed nervously and carefully raised her right hand, the culprit.

“If I say I didn’t do it on purpose, would you believe me?”

Pei Yuqing nodded. “Do not worry. Tomorrow morning, I will have someone repair it.”

Judging from Pei Yuqing’s tone, it seemed she was already used to this kind of thing?

That made Qiu Qi feel even guiltier.

Boohoo, such a good beauty. How could anyone have the heart to treat her so cruelly? Don’t be afraid. From now on, Sister Qiu will protect you!

Qiu Qi took the lead and walked through the long, narrow passage, leaving the bathing pool that had been sealed up like a secret chamber by thick stone walls.

As soon as she stepped outside, her gaze was drawn to the moon above her head.

Tonight’s moon was very round. The light it tried hard to give off was a highly saturated red. The longer one stared at it, the more strange and chilling it felt.

“Is the moon here always this color?”

Pei Yuqing, who was behind her, paused briefly before quickly replying, “My lord, tonight is the full moon. It is precisely when your body is weak. It would not be good to remain outside for too long.”

Body weak?

Qiu Qi turned her neck. They had not gone far yet, and from where they stood, she could still see the stone door she had broken with a slap.

“This counts as being weak?”

Pei Yuqing fell silent again.

…

Following Pei Yuqing’s directions, Qiu Qi wandered all the way back to the bedchamber.

This sleeping place truly lived up to the respectful title of “my lord.” The bed alone took up more space than Qiu Qi’s living room at home. It looked like more than ten people could lie on it without any problem.

“A bed this big must be really tiring to change the sheets for.”

Qiu Qi shook her head.

“My lord.”

Pei Yuqing did not answer her words. Instead, she suddenly bent both knees and knelt straight before her, lowering her head respectfully.

“The hour of midnight has passed. Please do not forget your Beast Core Pearl.”

Qiu Qi did not care about some pearl or whatever. Pei Yuqing’s inexplicable kneeling had already frightened her quite a bit.

She hurriedly reached out to help her up.

“Why are you kneeling?”

“My lord once ordered that no one else is allowed to look directly at the Beast Core Pearl.”

“…”

Indeed. That did sound like something this character setting would say.

Qiu Qi sighed, both for the beauty and for herself.

“Then if I now order you again to get up, will you listen?”

Pei Yuqing’s posture did not change, but the gaze she gave Qiu Qi carried probing suspicion.

Qiu Qi put on a stern face.

“I’m serious. I don’t like you kneeling to me, I don’t like you calling me ‘my lord’ every other word, and I dislike it even more when you use such distant, respectful language to address me.”

“My lord, that is against the rules.”

“I already have amnesia. Can’t you let me be willful just this once?”

“Then how should I address my lord in the future?”

Qiu Qi’s eyes rolled, and she could not resist being mischievous again.

“Just call me Baby Qiqi.”

Pei Yuqing lowered her eyes and calmly refused.

“I should still call you my lord.”

Qiu Qi: Very good! She has personality. I like it!

…

The Beast Core Pearl Pei Yuqing mentioned was placed on a wooden stand behind the folding screen. A dark brown, bowl-shaped holder supported a fist-sized round pearl that was emitting a blood-red light.

Qiu Qi had also seen glowing pearls in the modern world. Those things were called luminous pearls. The name sounded fancy, but in reality, artificial luminous pearls were extremely cheap. She could smash ten of them with one hand and not feel bad at all.

But this pearl was different from a luminous pearl. Its light seemed to converge inward. The red glow outside was the faintest, and the deeper inward it went, the brighter it became. At the same time, wisps of faint black mist were rising from it.

In short, one could tell at a glance that it was not anything good.

Beast Core Pearl, Beast Core Pearl…

Just hearing the name, Qiu Qi knew it was probably similar to the concept of an inner core in xianxia dramas. It was the original body’s source of power.

Qiu Qi nervously swallowed.

“Am I supposed to swallow it?”

“My lord only needs to place your hand on it.”

Qiu Qi let out a breath of relief and placed her hand on it.

Before her fair fingers could fully touch the pearl’s surface, a powerful suction force pulled Qiu Qi forward. While she was trying to steady herself, the pearl suddenly rose into the air. The black mist around it then grew even heavier.

Qiu Qi’s eyes abruptly widened. She felt as though all the strength in her body was being drained away. There was a terror like her life force was rapidly flowing out. As she grew weaker, the pearl’s light became brighter and brighter. Many strange characters appeared out of thin air around it and began circling it.

The characters spun faster and faster, faster and faster, until they were nearly impossible to see. Then, all at once, the pearl flew fiercely toward Qiu Qi’s chest.

Qiu Qi watched helplessly as the thing merged smoothly into her body. With the warmth in her chest, her body was filled with strength once again. However, the pearl showed no sign of stopping and continued madly stuffing things into her body. The temperature flowing through her blood grew hotter and hotter. Her entire body felt so scalding that she seemed about to catch fire.

“It hurts… I feel so awful…”

Qiu Qi collapsed painfully to her knees.

Could the next script please be simpler? She did not ask for any spells, immortal aura, or heaven-defying combat power. She just wanted to eat well and drink well!

Pei Yuqing stood to the side, her blue eyes dim. She seemed like a bystander without any emotions.

“My lord, please wait a little longer.”

Just wait a little longer, and the appointed time would arrive.

The forbidden curse on the Beast Core Pearl had taken her three months of preparation with the human shaman she had found. Although the price had been high, compared to revenge, she did not care about such external possessions.

As long as she killed this demon tonight, during the full moon when it was weakest, then she, and everyone in this courtyard, would regain their freedom.

Thinking of this, a trace of emotion finally appeared in Pei Yuqing’s eyes.

She was about to be free.

…

Qiu Qi could not withstand the immense pain, and very quickly her head tilted to the side as she passed out.

Large fragments of scenes began forcing their way into her mind. Qiu Qi realized that these were the original body’s memories.

Because of this, Qiu Qi soon learned the reason she had fainted. In an instant, cold sweat broke out across her body.

This script was far more difficult than she had imagined.

The original body had a violent and tyrannical personality. Just because it liked the scent of fresh blood, it slaughtered innocents without reason. It killed without any justification, purely on a whim. It was not that no one had ever resisted, but because its power was too overwhelming, no one was its match.

Qiu Qi carefully counted through those horrifying, bloody scenes. This thing had made far more than one or two enemies. They came by the carriage load. It had already reached the point where if it went out for a walk, it could run into more than ten assassins drawing their blades against it.

No, there was no need to go out at all. There was already a long line of people waiting right beside it.

Among beastmen, there was a widely known servant contract. Both parties used blood as the medium and their souls to form a contract. One party swore eternal loyalty to the other and would never betray them.

The servant could not disobey the master’s orders, could not take the initiative to dissolve the contract, and if the master died, the servant would die along with them.

The original body had used this contract to trap Pei Yuqing, who had originally been the daughter of the Elf King, by its side.

The elf race was different from beastmen and humans. They were proud and calm by nature, did not like living in groups, and were few in number. Most of them lived scattered across Guluo Mountain, far away from worldly affairs.

There was a natural hot spring on Guluo Mountain. The spring water was very helpful for the elf race’s spiritual cultivation. Nourished by this divine water, the elves’ strength far surpassed that of all other races, making them the kings of one-on-one combat in this other world.

Although each of them looked slender and delicate, if they were placed on a battlefield, they were powerful beings capable of wiping out an entire company with a wave of their hands.

The elf race was so powerful that it explained why the original body treated Pei Yuqing so cruelly. Even with the restraint of the servant contract, it still did not feel at ease and used rings forged from Mystic Ice Iron to lock her bones and body, causing her to suffer bone-grinding, flesh-tearing pain with even the slightest movement.

The elf race was naturally cold in constitution. This had to do with the techniques they cultivated, so they often soaked in hot springs in daily life to nourish their bodies and minds. But Pei Yuqing had been forced by the original body to bathe only in ice water. On top of that, the Mystic Ice Rings were made from materials extracted from thousand-year-old ice. For a race already afraid of cold, with such vicious cold invading her body, Pei Yuqing’s physical condition naturally worsened day by day.

Qiu Qi thought of the beauty’s pale complexion earlier.

So it was not that she had originally been born looking so weak and fragile. She had completely been tortured into this state by that demon?

Damn it. Was that thing even human?

After learning all this, Qiu Qi felt a kind of anger over Pei Yuqing’s experience, as if she had suffered it herself.

If it were her, she guaranteed she would be a thousand times more vicious than Pei Yuqing.

She would first strip that demon bare, then use a knife to slowly cut it apart piece by piece to vent her anger! She would make it fully taste the agony of having its bones scraped and flesh sliced, and she absolutely would not leave it with an intact corpse!

Thinking this, Qiu Qi realized that she had to wake up quickly. Otherwise, if she really died, wouldn’t Pei Yuqing, who had signed a servant contract with this body, be finished too?

The surroundings were very dark. In the center of her vision, there seemed to be a black vortex capable of swallowing people whole and sucking them in. It was somewhat like the deep consciousness space described in novels.

Qiu Qi lowered her head and saw a ring of light glowing beneath her feet. She pulled her legs forward and began running, wanting to break free from this boundless darkness. She did not want to stay in this demon’s subconscious for even a moment longer. What if she got assimilated?

“Damn bitch! Once I get out, I’ll make you pay!”

Someone was roaring not far away.

That voice was filled with thick hatred and fury, like the frightening low growl of a wild beast from deep in its throat.

Qiu Qi sharply looked toward the direction of the voice. By the light beneath her feet, she approached step by step.

The shouting came from a mass of humanoid black mist trapped inside a cage.

“Lowly commoner!”

When the black mist saw Qiu Qi, its reaction was intense. It immediately pressed itself against the bars on her side, revealing a terrifying half-human, half-beast face. Its eyes were filled with a heavy blood-red color, making it look extremely oppressive.

“You finally came. Hurry and return the Beast Core Pearl and the body to me. Once I go back and kill that bitch, you will be richly rewarded!”

“Who are you calling a bitch?”

Qiu Qi crossed her arms and coldly asked back.

“Didn’t you just see her? That bitch surnamed Pei!”

At the mention of Pei Yuqing, the black mist’s expression turned ferocious. Its face kept shifting back and forth between human and beast.

“I provided her food and clothing, but in the end, she actually treated me like this. If not for the sake of that face, would I have tolerated her for so long? Just watch me torture her to death!”

Qiu Qi could not continue listening even halfway through. She raised her hand and smacked it right on the forehead.

“Shut up. You’re ugly and still so damn talkative. I’ll settle the other matters with you in a while. Who were you calling a lowly commoner just now? I’m your mother, do you know that?”

“What nonsense are you spouting!”

The black mist had clearly not expected Qiu Qi to say such words and froze in place.

“Hurry and give the Beast Core Pearl back to me! Otherwise, I’ll make you pay!”

“Hah?”

Qiu Qi clenched her fist and twisted her neck.

“What, you didn’t get enough scolding just now and want to hear a round of Sister Qiu’s Zu’an-style rap?”

“You—”

“Do you know what situation you’re in right now?”

Qiu Qi slowly rolled up her sleeves.

She had already received the original body’s memories, so of course she knew why it had now turned into a ball of black mist and was trapped here.

Every beastman had a Beast Core Pearl. It was precisely because of this pearl that they were different from ordinary livestock. Not only could they transform into human form, they could also possess strength far beyond ordinary people.

Cultivating one’s own Beast Core Pearl required at least a hundred years, and at most a thousand. Yet the original body had shot up to its current position in just ten short years. It was not because it had extraordinary talent, but because it was cruel and forcefully stole other beastmen’s pearls and swallowed them.

If a beastman’s own Beast Core Pearl was devoured or destroyed, that beastman would die along with it. One could imagine how many lives had been sacrificed for its pearl to accumulate to its current state.

The consequence of building power on the blood of others was that every full moon, the Beast Core Pearl would begin to backlash against the original body. Thus, it had no choice but to temporarily remove the Beast Core Pearl on that day, then hurry to put it back on after midnight passed.

The night of the full moon was when it was weakest. Losing the Beast Core Pearl would not only weaken its beast essence, but would also cause chaos in its memories and personality. To avoid accidents and revenge from enemies, every full moon it would select a consort with powerful beast essence to serve it in bed.

The kind who never returned.

If Qiu Qi had not accidentally entered its body today, then Pei Yuqing, who had been chosen, would likely have met with disaster.

The more Qiu Qi thought about it, the angrier she became. It was not that she wanted to be some righteous light. She simply found this thing unpleasant to look at.

Her knees bent slightly and her body sank. In the past, in order to strengthen her body, she had signed up for taekwondo classes for a while. Although she had only learned a few flashy moves that looked better than they were, combined with this body’s rough and unreasonable brute strength, it was more than enough to deal with this thing.

“Lowly commoner! What are you trying to do?”

Qiu Qi curled her lips. Her left foot stepped on the ground, and as her body leapt into the air, she used the strength of her waist and hips to turn. Gathering all her strength, she fiercely launched a back kick straight at the black mist’s head.

“Ah—!”

The scream of pain was so sharp it almost pierced the eardrums. Qiu Qi slowly lowered the leg she had raised into the air and playfully waved at the original body, which had already scattered into pieces.

“Old beast, bye-bye.”

After saying that, Qiu Qi even added an especially infuriating toothy grin, full of mockery.

“Your body will be used by me from now on. Your beauty will be pampered by me in the future. So pack up and peacefully ride the crane west.”

What a pity. It only had the form of black mist and no physical body. Otherwise, she definitely would have carried out her earlier idea of slicing it to pieces.

After the mist scattered, it slipped through the gaps of the cage and drifted up into the sky before disappearing.

The instant the original body vanished, the pitch-black space before her finally tore open, revealing an opening glowing with white light. Qiu Qi hurriedly ran in that direction.

Madam, I’m coming!

…

“Hah—ha—”

Qiu Qi finally sprang up from the bed.

After waking up, her first reaction was to check whether Pei Yuqing was all right. As a result, the moment she looked up, the other party was standing in front of the bed, looking at her as if she had seen a ghost.

Qiu Qi knew what she was thinking. A person she had originally believed was one hundred percent dead had suddenly come back to life. Anyone would be frightened by that, right? Let alone Pei Yuqing, who hated the original body so much.

But the more Pei Yuqing hated it, the more Qiu Qi had to show weakness. First, to lower the other party’s guard. Second… she had to work hard to try to move the beauty.

A tough bone like Pei Yuqing generally responded to softness rather than force—or perhaps neither softness nor force worked on her at all. Qiu Qi did not know which type she was, but she could only gamble.

If this were an otome strategy game, Qiu Qi might have already given up right here. After all, the possibility of getting a blackened ending or a bad ending was far too high.

But right now, she had no choice.

She began to face the changes that had happened to her so far. Everything from now on was not a game, not a novel, and there would be no chance to revive and start over or load a save file.

Enjoyment was a luxury only after safety was guaranteed. Right now, even keeping her life would be difficult.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Perhaps because she had gotten chilled from soaking in the water earlier, Pei Yuqing coughed a little. She lowered her eyes under the motion of covering her mouth, unable to hide the astonishment in them.

What was going on? That human shaman had clearly said that once the curse successfully took effect, there would be no mistakes. Yet this demon had awakened safe and sound?

For tonight’s plan, she had even prepared herself to die together with it. How could she be willing to let all her efforts fail at the last moment?

Pei Yuqing’s complexion was already pale, making her look frail. Now with those two coughs added on, Qiu Qi’s heart ached terribly.

“Madam, did you catch a cold? It’s all because the water just now was too cold. I’ll go boil water for you right now. Soak in a hot bath before sleeping.”

Qiu Qi was not just saying it. After she finished speaking, she really jumped up and prepared to go boil water.

To boil water, she had to go to the woodshed. The woodshed was in the westernmost corner of the courtyard, so she had to go outside.

Of course Pei Yuqing did not believe Qiu Qi’s words. The Beast Core Pearl had already returned to its place, so her plan must have been exposed. If Qiu Qi went out now, she was probably going to drag out everyone involved in this matter and kill them all together.

Thinking that others might be implicated because of her, Pei Yuqing grew anxious and reached out to grab Qiu Qi’s wrist.

“Mm?”

Qiu Qi turned her head.

“My apologies. I will put on my gloves now.”

Realizing that she had done something inappropriate, Pei Yuqing turned to the side to pick up the gloves placed on the table.

Qiu Qi knew the reason. This was Pei Yuqing’s ability as the daughter of the Elf King. Through touch, she could read a person’s current thoughts.

The original body had greatly detested this ability. If cutting off those hands would not have ruined the beauty of this body, it would have done so long ago. That was why it had ordered Pei Yuqing to wear gloves every day, and as long as she stayed with it, she was not allowed to take them off.

Qiu Qi lowered her brows and somewhat tenderly touched Pei Yuqing’s hand.

Her joints were even, her ten fingers were long and slender, and even her nails had a beautiful luster. With such a beautiful pair of hands, why should she have to wear gloves every day? If it were Qiu Qi, she would have become a hand model and developed a side business long ago.

“Don’t wear them.”

Qiu Qi shook her head.

“If you want to read, then read. I won’t hide anything from you again. From now on, I will only have you, and I will never do those things that hurt you again.”

That confession was sincere enough, right? Beauty, beauty, hurry and praise me!

Pei Yuqing frowned. She was not angry, but confused. Too many unfamiliar changes had occurred in this person tonight.

The key was that even though she was touching the other party, she still could not see through her thoughts.

Her mind-reading ability was actually very limited. She could only read immediate thoughts. If the other person was good at disguising themselves, a little training would be enough to deceive her. Therefore, she could not rule out the possibility that this demon was tricking her.

But the plan had already failed. The act still had to continue.

Pei Yuqing lowered her head.

“Yes, my lord.”

…

Pei Yuqing was not at ease, so in the end, she accompanied Qiu Qi to the woodshed to boil water.

A pot of water half as tall as a person would take at least the time of one incense stick to boil. Qiu Qi rarely used such backward water-boiling equipment. She also could not bear to let the beauty exert herself, so she made a mess of herself.

After fumbling around for a long time, she saw the water bubbling and finally knew that the great task was complete. She excitedly stood up and sought credit from Pei Yuqing.

“Beauty, let’s go. I’ll carry it back. You can have a good hot bath and warm yourself up.”

Most elven women developed well, so Pei Yuqing was rather tall, more than half a head taller than Qiu Qi.

If she wanted to look Qiu Qi in the eyes, she had to lower her head slightly. With this downward glance, she directly met the bright color in Qiu Qi’s eyes. The fair little face was full of the desire to be praised. Paired with the black soot carelessly smeared on the tip of her nose, she looked like a gentle and lovable human cub.

Pei Yuqing’s fingers moved. Instinctively, she wanted to wipe the soot off Qiu Qi’s nose for her. But very quickly, as though she remembered something, she immediately lowered her hand back to her side and gave a slight bow.

“Thank you, my lord.”