Jiang Wangyue went back to her own bedroom, sat cross-legged on the thick, spotless white carpet, and sulked.
She’d been practicing diligently these past few days, working on how to use her mental power, but the C-grade ceiling left her with no room to perform.
To put it as an analogy, Jiang Wangyue felt she was currently a top-of-the-line Bugatti engine that had been crammed into the lowest-spec model of a Wuling Mini. [1] a Wuling Hongguang Mini EV, a famously cheap, tiny Chinese city car, i.e. a world-class engine wasted inside a budget runabout jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2723735_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2723735_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Everyone else had a mental sea, she had a mental spoonful. [2]the chapter title’s pun: 精神海 “mental sea” vs 精神勺 “mental spoon/ladle,” near-homophones, meaning her mental power is the merest dribble next to everyone … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2723735_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2723735_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
A single spoonful of water, what could you possibly do with that?
Threads of drowsiness drifted up from deep in her mind. Jiang Wangyue raised a hand to rub at the space between her brows, and, too lazy to move, simply slumped over the foot of the bed and fell asleep.
When she woke, it was already deep into the night.
Jiang Wangyue slowly sat up straight, reaching back to press at her somewhat stiff neck.
Say what you would about her single spoonful of mental power, there were perks to having so little. One nap and it had topped right back up to full.
There were faint sounds coming from outside. Puzzled, Jiang Wangyue got up and walked to the window to look down into the courtyard.
A figure stood there in the moonlight, and behind him, spread out, was a pair of black wings nearly two meters across.
Ji Li.
What was he doing?
Jiang Wangyue had only time enough to see the wings give a light flap before their owner withdrew them back into his body.
Ji Li stood there a long while in the empty courtyard, lost in thoughts she couldn’t begin to guess.
Drowsiness swept over her again. Jiang Wangyue yawned, turned, and went back to sleep.
In the very instant she drew the curtains, Ji Li’s head snapped up toward her, his brows knitting slightly, only after a moment did his expression settle back into calm.
The morning sun was sealed out completely by the heavy curtains. When Jiang Wangyue woke, she twisted and contorted her way through a big stretch on the bed before finally sitting up.
After spacing out for a bit, she couldn’t help raising a hand to slap herself lightly on the cheek.
No good. If she kept degenerating like this, she really was going to end up exactly like the original host.
Step one to self-discipline: make a plan.
Jiang Wangyue was someone with a strong capacity for action, once she decided to do a thing, she did it.
But the moment she opened her terminal, a message from Lan Xue popped up.
【Female master, there’s breakfast in the kitchen’s warming box, remember to eat. I had work, so I’ve gone on ahead.】
The feeling of being kept in someone’s thoughts, it was the first time Jiang Wangyue had ever experienced it.
What a considerate little leopard, truly an essential household item for travel and home alike.
Done marveling, Jiang Wangyue quickly drew up a simple one-week self-discipline plan for herself, and only then went downstairs to eat breakfast.
The dining room was as quiet as ever, Jiang Wangyue had long since gotten used to it.
The breakfast Lan Xue had left was a bowl of cured-pork congee. She didn’t know what special seasoning he’d put in, the flavor was a little unusual, but it was edible all the same.
Jiang Wangyue snapped a photo of the bowl, eaten clean, and sent it to Lan Xue, tacking on a cute little cat sticker.
She certainly hadn’t forgotten that the several beast husbands at home all hated the original host down to their back teeth, she had to seize every chance to hurry up and farm some goodwill points.
Lan Xue, who had already arrived at the Biological Research Institute, lowered his eyes to that little hopping, bouncing cat, and a flicker of amusement crossed them.
“Professor Lan.”
Colleagues passing by would now and then greet him politely, Lan Xue gave a slight nod and strode briskly past.
Arriving at his own private lab, Lan Xue confirmed the door was locked from the inside, then slowly drew a silvery-white sphere from his pocket.
Pressing his lips lightly together, he raised a hand and powered up the experimental equipment.
But in the very instant he was about to place the silvery-white sphere inside, Lan Xue hesitated.
Everything over this past year, and the scenes of these last few days spent alone with Jiang Wangyue, flashed rapidly through his mind. He gripped the silvery-white sphere tight.
“Beep, beep—”
The alert tone of a new message called Lan Xue’s thoughts back. He returned the silvery-white sphere to his pocket and opened the terminal.
【Sir, we’ve reached the V-215 system. The Empire has sealed away every piece of data relating to the target, we have no way to investigate any related information.】
Lan Xue raised a hand and touched the bite mark on his neck, then replied, his expression placid.
【No need to investigate any further.】
【Understood.】
Left alone at home, Jiang Wangyue was busy browsing the Starnet for case studies on females’ second awakenings.
Aside from that Daughter of Miracles the Empire had only just discovered, there were plenty of examples of females whose grade had climbed after a second awakening, but none of them anywhere near as outrageous as her. At most it was C up to B, or B to A, never once had anyone jumped four grades in a single leap.
Jiang Wangyue crooked a finger and tapped lightly at the desk. A pity that the Daughter of Miracles’ data had been locked away by the Empire, otherwise she could have drawn a few pointers from it.
Closing the Starnet, Jiang Wangyue shut her eyes and stilled her mind to feel out this body’s mental sea.
From the moment she’d transmigrated up to now, the only one she’d truly entered was Yun Miao’s mental sea, with Lan Xue and Ji Li, she’d done no more than brush the surface lightly before her mental power ran dry.
Yun Miao’s mental sea was an endless snowfield, blanketed in pure white snow and towering, majestic snow-mountains.
And hers…
Jiang Wangyue stared at the rubble spread out across every direction and fell silent.
It really was a wasteland of debris and withered vegetation, the distance veiled in a gray, murky fog so that nothing could be seen clearly.
After the experiment failed, the original host’s mental sea had certainly collapsed about as thoroughly as it possibly could.
Jiang Wangyue crouched down. In front of her was nothing but a little puddle, maybe a meter across. The water was clear enough, but it looked as though it might dry up at any second.
Jiang Wangyue couldn’t help yanking up a fistful of the dead grass by her foot.
What was she supposed to do?
While she fretted and stewed over here, Tinar, shut up at home for several days now, barred from going out, was smashing things in a frenzy.
“Out of my way! I have to go settle the score with that bitch Jiang Wangyue!”
The male beastmen kneeling all over the floor kept their heads down, silent and unmoving, like so many lumps of stone.
The door that had been locked for days was suddenly pushed open right then, and a male beastman who bore a passing resemblance to Tinar walked in, his face cold.
At the sight of him, Tinar settled down somewhat.
“Isaac, why have you come back?”
“If I didn’t come back, the Rodriguez family would be ruined at your hands.”
Tinar gave a scornful laugh. “It’s just a few days of being sealed off, isn’t it? Once we’ve ridden out this rough patch, won’t things just go on as before? Where’s it as dire as you make it sound?”
Isaac looked at this sister of his, a little clever, but in truth extraordinarily stupid, and a chill flashed through his eyes.
“The Hidden Blade is swallowing up our trade channels in District 13. If Mother hadn’t told me the truth, they’d have completely succeeded by now!”
“Impossible!” Tinar’s face was full of disbelief.
Isaac narrowed his eyes slightly. “Mother says, do you know who it was that reported Night Tryst?”
“It was that bitch Jiang Wangyue!” Tinar said through gritted teeth.
Jiang Wangyue…
Isaac knitted his brows tightly. “The C-grade female who matched and married the young master of the Yun family?”
“Who else could it be?”
“Understood. I’ll handle this matter, you stop stirring up trouble.”
With that, Isaac gave Tinar no opening to argue back, he simply turned and left.
Left behind, Tinar gripped the long whip at her waist tight, murderous intent flickering in her eyes.
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