Chapter 1: A Complete Deviant!

A chilling hissing sound slithered past her ears, making Jin’er clench her jaw and squeeze her eyes shut. Her breathing grew short and restless. Even though she had endured such scenes nearly every other day for the past two months, she could not help but tremble, unable to look directly at what lay before her.

"Still too afraid to look? This little treasure is truly beautiful," the man teased, a smirk curling his lips as he watched her tightly furrowed brows and fluttering lashes. Mischief flickered in his eyes, and he could not resist the urge to torment her further.

Rather than pressing the snake’s flickering tongue against her half-raised wrist as he usually did, he gripped the slick, scaly tail of the flower-patterned snake in his left hand and wickedly drew it across Jin’er’s delicate cheek.

“Ah—!” Jin’er, eyes still shut, shrieked when a cold, clammy sensation suddenly slid across her face. Panic-stricken, she stumbled backwards, landing hard on the ground.

“What are you doing?!” she cried, glaring with fury. Her tiny fists clenched so tightly her knuckles whitened, teeth gritted audibly, her chest heaving with rapid breaths. Her lovely little face was bloodless.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… The little girl is angry? I’m just helping you toughen up. After all this time, you’re still so afraid of them—it’s a disgrace to your title as the ‘Poison Slave,’” the man sneered, triumph gleaming in his eyes. He ran the thick, snake’s body, as wide as an infant’s wrist, across his own face as if cuddling a beloved pet.

Jin’er looked at him and the snake with utter loathing, cursing his ancestors a hundred generations back in her heart. This damned bastard delighted in tormenting her with new tricks, as if watching her scream and tremble filled him with unspeakable satisfaction—a true sadist.

Ever since she had fallen from a steep slope two months ago and landed in the hands of this man, her days had become a living nightmare, hovering on the brink between life and death. Time and again, she had thought of ending it all, but she could not resign herself to such a fate. If she were to die, she swore she would drag this hateful man into hell with her.

As she thought this, her eyes flashed with icy hatred—a look far too fierce for a ten-year-old girl.

The vicious man beside her noticed the malice in her gaze, but only snorted with disdain. “Why are you looking at me like that? Are you fantasizing about how to kill me? Don’t be foolish. Rather than daydreaming, you’d do better to listen and obey. When I have no more use for you and I’m in a good mood, I’ll let you go.”

At these words, Jin’er sneered inwardly, then turned her eyes away, refusing to look at him any longer. Deep in her gaze, contempt and scorn gleamed.

Seeing this, the man’s temper flared. His smirk vanished at once, replaced by a fierce scowl. “Get up and test the poison for me! Or do you want another beating?!”

Jin’er gritted her teeth and lowered her eyes to hide the hatred burning within. Suppressing the pain from her old wounds, she forced herself to stand, moving like a lifeless doll to stand before him. Silently, she rolled up her sleeve and offered her wrist, scarred with grotesque wounds.

She turned her face aside, refusing to look, her gaze cold and vacant as she stared at the ground, waiting for the agony to come.

“Mm—!” The sudden stab of pain on her wrist drew a muffled gasp from her clenched lips, and her heart spasmed violently in her chest.