Arknights: At Thirteen, I Practice Medicine With Poison to Atone for a Century

Jiu transmigrates as the thirteenth fragment of the Year Beast. The moment she opens her eyes, the Emperor of Yan and her twelve elder siblings are staring at her, convinced she is an embodiment of the "Evil." She immediately makes a bold declaration: "I am the thirteenth daughter of Sui. I will spend a hundred years practicing medicine to atone for my sins."

When Yan personally drapes a white robe over her shoulders, he fails to notice the purple miasma roiling beneath its hem. Jiu's innate ability is poison: she can kill without a trace, or turn a poison three times more potent into a miracle cure. She casually crushes a drop of toxin, and pure white energy envelops a tea bead. After Shuo drinks it, he feels his vitality surging.

Over the next ten years, she travels throughout Yan, treating people with poison. When Wang asks why she is always clinging to him, Jiu grins and flops across the chessboard. "Let's play Gomoku. I can't win anyway." The little snake around her neck flicks its tongue. No one knows she once saved a boy on a rainy night, or that he used the poison techniques she taught him to slaughter his enemies, every last one of them. After the real culprit who had ruined his life escaped, she watched the boy's corpse drift away down the stream and never lifted a hand.

Jiu pushes the last half-cup of tea toward Wang. "Am I especially cold-blooded?"

Wang falls silent for a moment. "...That's called respect."

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.