"Family gathered, warm lights." That moment where she cries into the birthday wine breaks my heart. She just wanted a family. And they used that exact desire to drug her and mutilate her. The birthday banquet betrayal is peak villainy. It is so personal and cruel.
The book is heavily structured around Chinese webnovel conventions. The 'face' system (hiding the situation from the mom), the 'generation' system (Teacher Liu's grandfather fought the demons), the 'system' as a document. A pure Western audience might find the dialogue a bit unnatural or the societal structure weird, but if you are familiar with xianxia or LitRPG clones, this is home turf.
This story reminds me of other transmigration novels where the protagonist uses modern knowledge to survive, but the famine setting adds a unique hardship. The scarcity of resources makes every decision count, and the protagonist's background as an athelete helps her stay physically strong and mentally resilient. Reading this made me think about how I would react in her situation—probably much worse. The plot hooks are strong, and I finished the excerpt wanting to know immediately what happens when she goes back to the Xie house after the wedding. It's the kind of addictive read that makes you stay up late.
“If only it were a warm light.” And then it changed. This is such a subtle hint at Sun Hang’s ability. The author didn’t feel the need to have a character explain his powers in a training room. They just let the weirdness happen and let the MC and the reader wonder together.