I became a vicious mother and took my three children with me to escape famine.

Donghuo Nation, July of the 21st year of Tianshun.

Gu Sisi's head was groggy, and the sound of childish screams and cries echoed in her ears.

"Don't—don't eat my... mother! Waaaaaa…"

"Don't eat my sister! Let her go! Let her go!"

"Get out of here!"

Another raspy voice rang out fiercely, "If you keep yelling, I'll eat you first!"

Gu Sisi's heavy eyelids cracked open, revealing two skinny, withered men, each holding a little girl of four or five. The other held a machete, pondering where to strike.

"Tsk, that little girl's skinny, barely two ounces of flesh, not even enough to fill a gap in my teeth!"

Another man said, "These days, when you can't even fill your stomach, what are you complaining about? If there's not enough to eat, kill those two kids too—"

What's going on?

Didn't she die in a car accident? A flood of memories that didn't belong to her flooded into her mind. As Gu Sisi digested them, a thousand horses galloped through her mind.

She, an international mercenary, had traveled to a dynasty that had never existed in history, and into the body of a village woman with triplets?

The original owner, also named Gu Sisi, was from Gujia Village, under the jurisdiction of Liangzhou in the Eastern Fire Nation. At sixteen, she married Gu Changsheng, the adopted son of the village head. After their marriage, they went hunting in the mountains and had an accident. Gu Changsheng disappeared, and the original owner lost her memory, forgetting everyone except her husband.

Soon after the accident, the original owner became pregnant with triplets, a rare pair. However, her in-laws, who already disliked her, suspected her of infidelity.

Amidst the gossip and criticism, the original owner's temper worsened, and she vented her resentment on her three children, beating and scolding them at every turn. Coupled with a once-in-a-century famine, life became increasingly difficult. She took her three children into the mountains, intending to abandon them. Then she was kidnapped by bandits.

The bandits wanted to kill her for meat, but she wept bitterly, sacrificing her daughter's life for her own, only to starve to death first.

Gu Sisi was able to escape.

There were other kidnapped people around her, more than a dozen at a glance, cursing at her. "I've never seen a mother with such a cruel heart! To save her own life, she actually gave such a young child to bandits to eat!"

Among the hostages were several people from the original owner's village. One of them, an aunt, said, "Her conscience has long been eaten by dogs! You don't know, this woman is a jinx. Her husband died right after she got married, and these children were born from an affair!"

Another villager who knew about the situation said, "After her husband died, she had an affair and gave birth to these three bastards. She won't even give them food and often beats them. Look at the bruises all over those children's arms. If they weren't lucky, they would have been beaten to death by her..."

"They're worse than animals! How can they be worthy of being a mother!"

Gu Sisi suddenly regained consciousness and sat up with a startle, startling the aunt who had spoken. The machete-wielding bandit kicked away the two little boys who were trying to pull him away. He raised his machete to strike when someone suddenly appeared and snatched the girl away.

Looking closely, he saw it was Gu Sisi.

Gu Sisi held the girl in her arms, but Gu Pan, terrified, beat and hit her, crying for her brothers.

Gu Ming and Gu Bai saw this and quickly got up from the ground, pulling Gu Pan to their side to protect them, staring at Gu Sisi with wary resentment.

Gu Sisi was in no mood to care for their feelings now, as the two bandits had their sights set on her. "How dare you play tricks on us?" the machete-wielding bandit raised his blade, swept across the crowd, and shouted angrily, "Give me the child, or I'll kill them all!"

The aunt who had previously framed Gu Sisi was also frightened. She hugged the eight or nine-year-old boy tightly in her arms and shouted at Gu Sisi, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and give them the child! Can't you see they're going to kill someone?"

The three children huddled together, all staring at Gu Sisi, fearing she would hand over her younger sister again.

Gu Sisi glanced at them, then her gaze fell on the aunt. From memory, she knew she was a woman named Zhou from the same village. She sneered, "Don't you have a child too? He's plump and white, and he's much meatier than Pan'er. Why don't you hand him over? Instead, you're asking me to hand over my own child?"

Aunt Zhou was about to curse, but fearing the bandits would actually notice her son, she moved to the side, blocking their view. Gu Ming and the other two were surprised. After all, Gu Sisi had repeatedly called them bastards before, many times.

Chapter 1: Years of Famine, Cannibalism [Page 3/3]

She said she had picked them up from the mountains, but when had she ever personally acknowledged they were her children?

"Good on you! You don't accept my offer, so you'll have to drink for it!"

The bandit was furious. "Then I'll kill you first and eat your meat, and then I'll eat you little bastards!"

What a joke! She was a top-class mercenary, trained since she could remember, proficient in every weapon. She had killed countless people, and the bounty on her head on the blacklist was well into the nine figures.

Even if this body was weak, she wouldn't take these two bastards seriously.

Her cold eyes, shrouded in a fierce glint, glared at the two bandits. With a single glance back, she instructed Gu Ming and Gu Bai, "Protect your sister."

She assumed a defensive stance. The machete-wielding bandit laughed heartily and said viciously, "With your tiny frame, you still think you can fight us? You're overestimating yourself!"

With that, he raised his machete and slashed at them.

He sized up Gu Sisi's slight figure and pale complexion, and didn't take her seriously. He swung at her, but she easily dodged.

Then, with two fingers lightly tapping him somewhere, he lost all his strength.

Gu Sisi moved like lightning, snatching the machete from him and slashing his neck with a backhand. With lightning speed, she rushed to the other bandit and stabbed him in the chest.

Everything happened so quickly that no one realized she had killed anyone until the two bodies fell to the ground, blood splattering.

"Ah!"

Gu Sisi raised her machete, silencing their screams. "Shut up!"

Her face was splattered with blood, and her appearance was horrific, instantly silencing everyone. It wasn't until she threw the machete away and sat in the corner that she breathed a sigh of relief.

Someone whispered, "Is this one from your village... so powerful?"

Several people from the village shook their heads.

Aunt Zhou stared at Gu Sisi with wide eyes, looking at her as if she were a demon from nowhere. She tried to lower her voice, "Although she has a rude and arrogant personality, she wouldn't even dare to kill a chicken!"

"That's right," another person said. "She's used to being a coward. She doesn't dare to talk back when her mother-in-law scolds her. She only dares to beat and scold her own children..."

When did this Gu Sisi become so powerful?