Chapter 5: The Contract

The woman stared at me with cold eyes, and in an instant, a weapon I had never seen before suddenly appeared in her hand, aimed directly at my throat. 

I instinctively closed my eyes. Everything seemed like a dream, a hallucination before death. 

To my surprise, the weapon halted an inch from my throat. 

The woman gave me a slightly surprised look with a wicked smile. "Trifecta Convergence, Fivefold Ascension. Who would have thought someone so talented could come from such desolate lands? You, an ordinary person, have seen me unclothed. By right, I ought to kill you to silence you. But seeing your divine potential, I will spare your life. Let's form a contract. I will fulfill your remaining wishes."

Thinking it was all an illusion, I extended my hand, bit my middle finger, and pressed the blood onto the woman's forehead as instructed. Her skin was smooth, making everything feel real. 

After completing the contract, the woman asked, "What is your wish?"

I weakly replied, "I wish to become strong, have lots of money, and never be bullied again."

"That's too much. You can only choose one," she said.

I was used to being poor. "Then, make me strong."

"As you wish," she said, and with a sudden transformation, she became a beam of white light that flew into my forehead. 

I shuddered as if hit by electricity, and a blinding white light filled my vision. After a long moment, my eyes gradually cleared.

The woman was gone, and I was still in the swamp. Was it all just a dream?

Struggling, I crawled out of the swamp, noticing how filthy I was, and decided to wash in the pond. 

The pond was deep and crystal clear. Unable to resist, I sipped the sweet, refreshing water. 

I drank until my belly was full before stopping. After cleaning my body and clothes, I wondered how to climb out.

The cliff was steep and sheer, like a wall reaching the sky. How on earth would I get up there? I was stumped.

"You haven't tried yet. How do you know you can't?" A crisp voice suddenly sounded in my ear. It was the woman's voice from earlier.

I looked around but saw no one. 

"Who are you?" I asked hurriedly.

"I'm Nerissa. I'm inside your body now. Start climbing."

Nerissa? The fairy I saw earlier? How did she end up inside me?

"Don't overthink it. I'll explain later. You need to leave here quickly," Nerissa's voice urged again.

Doubtful, I approached the cliff and began to climb. To my amazement, I ascended three or four meters effortlessly. I felt like a gecko, swiftly scaling the cliff like flat ground, reaching the top in no time. 

I really had become stronger! I was thrilled. 

Damn you, Bowen. I would never have to fear you again!

But having been gone so long after falling, he must have left. I wonder if he had found Mia yet.

Anxiously, I dashed down the mountain. As I neared the base, I suddenly heard a moan. Stopping to listen closely, it was a woman's voice, filled with pain yet oddly tinged with pleasure. 

Then, a man's voice followed. "Ah, ah, ah... I can't take it anymore; I'm about to finish..."

It was Bowen's voice! Was he having sex with Mia?

I muttered a curse and ran toward the sound. After running for four or five minutes, I saw him emerge from a thicket, pulling up his pants. 

How did I hear them from such a distance? But I had no time to ponder this. 

Glaring at him, I demanded, "What did you do to Mia?"

Bowen looked up, his face a horror mask as if he'd seen a ghost. "You... you're alive? Didn't you fall off the cliff?"

"Where's Mia?" I advanced step by step, seething with anger.

Bowen picked up his phone, tapped it, and the woman's moaning abruptly ceased. "Hmph, that slut hid somewhere, leaving me to deal with it myself." 

I realized the woman's moans had come from his phone. This bastard was watching porn while masturbating. 

Oh, what a pervert. 

But I was relieved Mia hadn't been violated.

"It's all your fault! If not for you, I'd have had Mia by now." Bowen grabbed a stick from the ground and swung it at me.

Instinctively, I dodged and kicked his waist.

"Ah—" he screamed, flying five or six meters away, landing heavily like a dead pig. 

I was stunned. How could my kick be so powerful? Did I kill him? 

I rushed over, but Bowen suddenly shouted, "Ghost! You're not human. You're a ghost!" Then he scrambled down the mountain, rolling and crawling.

Unsurprisingly, he thought I was a ghost, surviving the fall and kicking him like that.

Once the man was out of sight, I hesitated about returning to the village. Dan's parents would surely demand a Burial Accompaniment if I went back. 

But if I didn't, what would I eat on the mountain? Maybe I should gather some wild fruits to stave off hunger and return after dark. 

As for Mia, she must have gone back to her parents' home.

Suddenly, a sharp scream echoed from the mountain. "Ah!" 

It was Mia's voice, filled with agony as if she had been slashed. 

Without hesitation, I sprinted uphill. Mia's pained moans reached my ears as I ran, sounding deeply distressed. 

When I found her, she was sitting in a thicket, pale and sobbing quietly. 

I rushed to her, asking, "What happened?"

Mia's lips quivered as she saw me. She struggled to speak. 

"What happened? Why did you scream?" I pressed.

"I'm... I'm going to die," Mia murmured, "A snake bit me."

It turned out Mia had been hiding in the bushes, afraid that Bowen would catch her. Hearing his scream from below, she decided to emerge, only to feel a sharp pain on her hip from a snakebite. 

Her complexion grew worse, her eyes shut tight, her lips turning purple, barely breathing—a deep poison indeed.

I crouched to inspect her hip, noticing the blood on her pants had turned black. "I'll get you to a hospital," I said, trying to lift her.

Mia weakly pushed me away. "There's no time. I... I feel so weak. I'm going to die. I don't want to die..."

"Suck out the poison," Nerissa's voice suddenly instructed in my ear.

"Okay."

I told Mia, "Lie down, I'll suck the poison out."

Mia glanced at me but remained silent.

I laid her face down on the ground and started to remove her pants.

"You—" Mia clutched her waistband. "Don't you dare."

"I'm just extracting the poison, nothing else," I explained, "If the poison isn't removed, you'll die."

After a moment's hesitation, Mia released her grip. 

Swiftly, I pulled down her pants, my roughness causing Mia to protest. 

Seeing the alarming wound on her hip, I pulled her underwear down to her thighs.

With that, Mia's bare skin, from hip to upper thigh, was exposed to my view.