Chapter 3 — Death Exam

If I show fear, it proves that I have been pretending to be stupid these past few days and will surely die. If we feel nauseous, it proves that we still have humanity, which in this hell is also redundant. We have to be… crazier. I suddenly jumped up from the ground, like a fool seeing a new toy, screaming and rushing into the main hall. I ran to the body of the first murdered woman, pointed at the pile of brain matter and blood all over the ground, clapped my hands and laughed loudly:

"Wow! So much red ink! Painting! Drawing a big turtle!"

I sat down in a pool of blood, dipped my hand in the warm, sticky liquid, and frantically drew on the floor.

“Hi hi hi, red turtle, so happy!”

While drawing, I put my bloody finger in my mouth and sucked on it, then pretended to hate it: "Puff puff, salty! Not delicious! Not as delicious as royal pork trotters!" Quiet. The whole main hall was filled with only my crazy laughter and the sound of thumb sucking. Ta Canh Hoa stood not far away, looking down at me from above. Those eyes were like looking at a maggot rolling around in a manure pit, filled with extreme disgust, but only... no killing intent.

“What a... rare thing to be stupid.”

He took out a pure white handkerchief and meticulously wiped each finger until there was no trace of blood left.

“Clean up this trash.”

He threw a dirty towel on my face, obscuring my vision.

“If you don't clean up properly, you'll turn into trash.”

After speaking, he turned around and left, his shirt white as snow, untainted by dust. When the sound of footsteps completely disappeared, I slowly pulled the scarf down from my face. Under the scarf, my face still had a stupid smile, but my eyes were extremely cold. We look at the piles of bodies covering the ground, at the once vibrant lives that are now just empty shells of skin. My stomach churned violently, but I tried my best not to vomit. We started cleaning up. When I dragged the body of that "mechanical genius", I accidentally touched her wrist. It's been cold. But I felt the gaze of the chaotic block of characters on the screen behind the dragon. It is watching us. It is evaluating whether this maggot playing with blood has "nutrition" or not. We have to act until the end. I dragged the body, whistled and sang random songs, and even made a devil face with the screen. At that moment, I knew I was no longer human. In order to survive, because of this fragile ray of hope, I turned into something more terrifying than a demon. But as long as we're not dead, we still have a chance. One day, we will definitely erase that greedy line of code.

03

The emperor seems to have developed some kind of twisted interest in an idiot like me who is "not even afraid of death." He did not kill me, nor did he force me to impregnate me. On the contrary, he gave me a "Permanent" position and raised me in the heavenly palace next to Duong Tam Palace. Compared to being called a concubine, it would be better to call it a monkey used for entertainment, or a living reserve to be slaughtered at any time. Even more dangerous. Because that means I'm always under his eyelids.

“My dear, come here and grind ink.”

Ta Canh Hoa sat in front of a desk, holding a copy of the chapter in his hand, without raising his head and giving orders. I immediately smiled my familiar stupid smile, drooling and ran over, picked up the ink stick and crushed it like garlic on an inkstone. Ink splashed everywhere, even on Ta Canh Hoa's white sleeve. The eunuch next to him was so scared that his face turned pale, and he was about to kneel down and ask for forgiveness. Ta Canh Hoa He waved his hand again, the corner of his lips curled up into a meaningful smile: "It's okay, fools have the blessings of fools." He put down the notebook and suddenly turned his head, those eyes like dead water staring at me, his tone indifferent:

“My dear concubine, today the imperial room is brewing royal jade wine.”

Boom! My mind was like a siren ringing loudly, my whole body's blood turned upside down. This is a death question! This is the melody engraved into the DNA of the Chinese people, the ultimate signal to identify people who travel through time. Even under pressure like this, my muscular reflexes almost made me blurt out — “One hundred and eighty drinks.” If I just say these five words, I will surely die. Ta Canh Hoa's hand was placed on the hilt of the short knife at his side, the knife's handle was shiny because it had been polished smooth. It was unknown how much blood the time traveler had drunk. He's waiting. Waiting for an opening, waiting for the light of "understanding" to flash in my eyes. I bit the tip of my tongue hard, the pain keeping me awake. I slurped and drooled almost spilling out, widened my lifeless eyes, and smiled foolishly:

"Wine? Is it good? Hehe... Your Majesty is so rich. In my hometown, I had the first two wines for only two coins per bowl. After I drank it, I poured it out, I didn't know the world..."

The killing intent in Ta Canh Hoa's eyes surged in the blink of an eye, then quickly disappeared. He frowned in disgust, pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the ink stains on his hands.

“Unbearable vulgarity.”

He pushed the other knife back into its sheath. I escaped death once again. But we know, this is just the beginning. He will never stop testing me. As long as I am alive, this death test will always repeat. To survive, we can only act as stupid as possible. While grinding ink, I intentionally dropped the ink stick on the ground, then scrunched my butt and crawled under the table to pick it up. Thanks to the cover of the tablecloth, I quickly glanced at the black notebook that he pressed under the notebook. That is absolutely not the emperor's diary. A strange light emitted from the page, the writing was not Dai Wei script, but command code - a code I was so familiar with that I knew it by heart! [System Log – Day 4521] [Energy level: Critical (12%)] [Goal: Dynasty stability requires constant consumption] [Warning: The Host's (Emperor)'s mental condition is deteriorating…] My pupils shrank sharply.