Chapter 18

“He Nian, where are you going?! You haven’t finished harvesting your wheat!”

“Just say I’m not feeling well and left early!”

Jiang Henian didn’t look back as she ran along the uneven dry field paths toward the main road.

Many turned to look at her, surprised.

That loud and clear voice just now—was it really from that usually silent girl from the Jiang family? Where was she rushing off to like that?

Urgently need to use the toilet?

As she stepped onto the outer ridge between the fields, someone was coming out of the cornfield carrying a basket full of corn.

They almost bumped into each other.

When Jiang Yanqiu saw her, she immediately recalled last night’s events and scowled, “What, are you blind?!”

But Jiang Henian merely glanced at her from the corner of her eye, didn’t even stop, and ran right past.

Being ignored made Jiang Yanqiu’s face darken.

This girl was getting bolder and bolder lately—acting all strange and not respecting her or her mother anymore. Just let her talk to their father a couple more times, and he’d definitely agree to the marriage swap. Let’s see how long this brat can still act smug!

Wait a minute—where the hell is she running off to in such a panic?

Jiang Yanqiu’s eyes narrowed. She tossed the corn basket aside and followed.

Jiang Henian ran with the determination and desperation of an 800-meter sprint during a school physical exam. She didn’t even stop to catch her breath as she reached the foot of the mountain at the edge of the village and pushed open a rickety wooden door, charging inside.

Not far behind, Jiang Yanqiu hid behind a tree, eyes wide with shock.

Jiang Henian! Pretending to reject the marriage she arranged, but secretly sneaking off to see He Jinshan?!

And she was acting all innocent before?!

Inside the shabby straw hut, Jiang Henian stood frozen in front of the bed, staring at the man whose face was pale as death, breathing faint and shallow.

Her heart raced uncontrollably.

That damn sweet potato was telling the truth…

Back in the wheat field earlier, she’d suddenly blacked out—and been pulled into some kind of mysterious space.

It was bright on all sides, like a glass room. She was still processing it when, out of nowhere, a giant sweet potato—literally, red-skinned and yellow-fleshed—dropped from above, complete with eyes and a mouth.

The giant sweet potato stood there with two spindly vines planted on its hips and announced, with great swagger, that it was from the Time-Space Administration and had come to fix a “bug” detected in this book-world.

Jiang Henian thought she was finally going home.

Instead, she was informed that, yes, she had been randomly chosen as the lucky transmigrator into a novel, but He Jinshan had been dragged in by accident because of her.

And because this world didn’t have a native body for He Jinshan, the system had split her own life force in half and gave one to each of them. They now shared one life. They couldn’t be apart for too long, or else they’d start to weaken and die—faster and faster the longer they were apart.

Jiang Henian almost lost it.

“You’re kidding me. If this is true, then how is there already a ‘He Jinshan’ here that the whole village knows?”

The sweet potato coughed awkwardly and explained seriously:

“The great Time-Space System has self-correcting, logical-consistency protocols. Inserting a new character into the narrative without anyone noticing is no problem—as long as it doesn’t affect the main plotline.”

Jiang Henian growled, “If you can fabricate a body, why not give him a life too? Your system is useless! Trash!”

Offended, the sweet potato pretended not to hear. It tapped its gaudy diamond-encrusted watch and sternly warned:

“It’s been nearly 12 hours since your separation. He’s in critical condition due to a forced fusion with a foreign life force. His half of the energy isn’t enough to support recovery. Without nourishment from the original life source, the body will reject it—and accelerate toward death.”

It leaned closer with a gleeful, sleazy tone: “And once he dies, your half gets weaker too. You’ll die soon after.”

“You’ll die first,” she retorted coldly.

Jiang Henian pulled out a cleaver from her storage space and sliced off one of its vines cleanly.

The sweet potato screamed and leapt backward, terrified. “How dare you attack me?! I’m a prestigious Time-Space Monitor!”

“Cut the crap. Give me something useful,” she snapped, advancing with the knife. “How do I cut this bond and survive on my own?”

Realizing she was serious, the sweet potato caved. “To maintain life force, the two must remain close together to circulate energy. Over time, that can restore two full life sources.”

“How long?”

“Ten years.”

“Then die with us. I’ll make mashed sweet potato out of you first.” She smiled sweetly, raising the cleaver again.

“WAIT! There’s another way!!”

The sweet potato was drenched in fear. Wasn’t this supposed to be some pampered rich girl? Why was she like a mob boss with a meat cleaver?!

“Eat tonic food! Powerful ones! It won’t be as good as shared energy, but it can help in emergencies, speed things up.”

Jiang Henian calmed slightly. “Go on.”

“At first, you can only be apart for 12 hours max. Any longer, and your life force plummets. As your bodies strengthen, the time can increase. Staying close, physical contact, and—erm—bodily fluid exchange are the three fastest methods for energy circulation—oh no! Time’s up—”

Before it could finish, Jiang Henian’s vision warped again, and she was abruptly thrown back into reality.

Now, she looked at He Jinshan—who had been stable that morning—and saw his pale, bloodless face. Even she felt weak and dizzy now.

She rushed to him, grabbing his face. “He Jinshan! Wake up! He Jinshan!”

He didn’t react. His body was cold, stiff. Almost dead.

Jiang Henian shook all over. Her mind was spinning. Contact—physical contact…

She scrambled onto the bed, frantically touching him, even lying down on top of him with her small frame.

“Still no reaction?! What else—what else does it need…?!”

Her palm suddenly touched something wet—his wound had opened again.

Black blood.

Panic surged in her chest. She fought to remember what that damn potato had said.

“Contact, physical contact… what else… body fluid…?”

Her eyes fell on her bloodied hand.

Blood is a body fluid too… Does it mean… I have to feed him my blood?

She summoned the cleaver from her space again, placing her slender wrist against the blade. The glint of metal was too sharp, too cold. Her breath shook violently.

I’m scared…

She hesitated. Her hand trembled and she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

What if she missed and hit an artery? Then she’d be the first one to die!

Suddenly, He Jinshan groaned in pain.

She looked up. He was coughing blood.

Bright red, dripping down his deathly pale face.

It was like the last spark of his life was bleeding out.

Jiang Henian’s ears rang. Deep within her own body, she felt a searing pain—like her life force was being ripped out with his.

She shuddered. The cleaver vanished from her hand—yanked back into the space, like her subconscious was rejecting anything dangerous.

She couldn’t summon any weapons now. Too scared. And He Jinshan was dying.

“No, no—don’t bleed anymore—don’t die…”

She acted on instinct. Holding his face, her hands slick with his blood, she lowered her head and kissed him hard.

His lips were ice-cold, tasting like rust.

She bit down on her tongue, drawing blood, and with shaking fingers, forced his mouth open.

Closing her eyes, she pushed forward in a reckless, clumsy attempt to transfer her blood into him.