This time she squatted in a different spot.
Thinking of the inconvenience of drawing water to wash her hands earlier, she took the opportunity to practice the Water Control ability she had copied yesterday.
Thus, using spatial micro-manipulation, she first mixed half a jug of fresh salt and sugar water inside her space.
Then, holding the water jug in her hand, she opened the lid and used her Water Control ability repeatedly to condense the salt and sugar water into a thin stream, raising it to the mouth of the jug, relaxing it, and raising it again.
She practiced just like that.
As she practiced, her stomach suddenly twinged with pain.
Bai Bai stowed her water jug, jumped to her feet, and dashed toward the public restroom.
This trip was a bit shorter, but just as she stepped out and stood at the restroom entrance, another wave of pain hit her. Without having time to pay for another entry, she turned around and went back inside.
Fortunately, this third time truly cleared everything out—there was nothing left. After paying and stepping outside, Bai Bai felt light and relaxed all over, and her stomach was hungry once more.
She returned to the spot where she had washed her hands earlier. As before, she used spatial micro-manipulation to condense a ball of water, switching to her Water Control ability the moment it left the space to turn it into a flowing stream to wash her hands.
The concept was sound, but the execution fell short—water splashed all over her shoes.
Bai Bai decisively switched back to her previous hand-washing method to avoid wasting water repeatedly for the sake of practice.
After washing her hands, she moved to a different spot to sit down and eat.
The space didn’t preserve freshness, so the food was only lukewarm by now, but this was rich, oily food—whether warm or cold, it was edible and delicious.
This time, Bai Bai boldly opened a food box containing a meat-and-vegetable stir-fry.
She didn’t recognize the vegetables, and the texture of the meat didn’t taste like farm-raised poultry or livestock either, but it was packed with savory fat. After one bite, she couldn’t bring herself to put it down, taking bite after bite and eating half the meat and vegetables on their own before even starting on the rice, pouring the vegetable broth over the rice as well.
Just as she was thoroughly enjoying her meal, her vision suddenly went dark as a human-shaped shadow cast over her.
Bai Bai immediately looked up, clutching her bowl with a blank, dazed look.
Standing before her was a dark-skinned man with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
“Is something wrong, Big Brother?”
Bai Bai felt a bit nervous, but kept her expression unreadable. With her mental energy fully charged, no one would believe it even if she pretended to be scared, so she might as well act naturally and openly.
“Smells pretty good. Do you have any extra food?” The man’s voice rumbled with a booming tone, his stomach grumbling in tandem.
“There’s still one box of vegetables and one box of meat-and-vegetable stir-fry, completely unopened.”
In truth, there was also a dish with pure meat, but bringing that out would be hard to explain. For a bottom-tier awakened user like Bai Bai, even coming across a dish with meat and vegetables counted as a stroke of immense good fortune for the day.
“Resell them to me.”
The man generously counted out fifty yuan from his pocket and set it on the ground beside Bai Bai.
“But these are second-hand, and they’ve already gone cold.”
“Cold is fine, I can just heat them up.”
With the disclaimer out of the way, Bai Bai pulled out two tightly sealed food boxes.
Anyone who frequently ate takeout knew that once a food box was opened, closed again, and reopened, the feel of the lid was completely different, making it easy to tell if it had been opened beforehand.
Seeing the two pristine, unopened food boxes, the burly man nodded in satisfaction, reached out to take them, turned around, and walked away.
Bai Bai didn’t know who he was and didn’t care to know; she shouldn’t be curious about someone who could casually drop fifty yuan to buy second-hand food.
However, the fact that food could be resold stirred memories from the original owner.
That was how the bottom-tier market operated—anything edible had a buyer.
Not only could proper meals like these be resold, but even that sour rice ball in her space would find someone willing to buy it.
Thinking of that rice ball, Bai Bai decided it was better to just throw it away. Having transmigrated only yesterday, she couldn’t bring herself to sell food she knew was spoiling to others.
Finishing the last few mouthfuls of rice, Bai Bai left the food box where it was, leaving the sour rice ball inside as well.
Tearing off a section of the mother-and-baby paper to wipe her mouth and hands, she patted her rear and left.
Taking advantage of the early hour, she took a slight detour to a new Anomalous Market, trading two bags of grain for 4 Tier-2 Source Crystals. Combined with the stock in her space, she now had a reserve of 5 Tier-2 Source Crystals.
Then, she headed back home.
Halfway back, she saw road maintenance workers repairing a large crater left behind after digging out an anomalous plant.
The main worker handling the job was an Earth-element awakened user, continuously filling the crater with dirt.
There were also four ordinary workers nearby, with a rammer placed on the ground; they clearly worked in pairs, waiting for the soil layer in the crater to reach a certain thickness before lifting the rammer to tamp it down firm.
Staring at the user’s movements of moving and filling dirt, that familiar impulse surged within Bai Bai again.
She wanted it, she got it.
Her mental energy instantly plummeted to the bottom, yet a sliver remained—it wasn’t drained dry to the point of needing to absorb a Source Crystal.
Bai Bai lowered her head and hurried on her way, laughing wildly in her heart.
The strength of her mental energy was directly correlated with the volume of her space. Yesterday, copying the Water Control ability required an immediate Source Crystal replenish, but today she didn’t need one at all.
Hahahahaha!
Furthermore, low mental energy aligned with the daily state of mental depletion, so Bai Bai didn’t have to worry about anyone noticing anything unusual when she returned to the residential complex.
When she finally walked onto the small street where her complex was located, Bai Bai sharply noticed that the neighbors seemed to be gossiping about some fresh news.
She didn’t stop to pay attention.
An exhausted awakened user with depleted mental energy had no spare energy to care about external matters.
Reaching the complex’s main gate, even more people were gathered in small groups, gossiping away.
A neighbor from the same floor as Bai Bai spotted her in the crowd and waved for her to come over.
“Little Bai, Little Bai! Come over, come listen to the news!”
“Sister, what happened? I’ve seen people gossiping all the way down the street.”
“Ah, you don’t know yet! That dead-beat matchmaker got investigated!”
“Does it have to do with those two rabid dogs from yesterday?”
“Ha! It really takes you young people with fast minds—both of them were introduced by her! One had been married for a month and a half, the other for less than half a month!”
“Holy crap!” Bai Bai spat on the ground. “What a toxic piece of work!”
The neighbor sister felt the exact same way.
“Both victims are gone now—both were single with no relatives.”
“What’s the situation now? Is the complex going to screen for remaining rabid dogs?”
“Yes, they’re already screening! Mainly checking those who got married, cohabited, or shared a rental in the last six months.”
“I feel like the rabid dogs in our complex are pretty good at hiding. They’ve already killed people, but aside from those two yesterday, no other rabid dogs have exposed themselves.”
“Yeah, given how rabid dogs act, that doesn’t make any sense.”
The neighbor sister tilted her head, equally puzzled.
“Ah, don’t overthink it. What does it have to do with us? Maybe those who died in the past really did collapse from extreme exhaustion. But as for those two rabid dogs yesterday, that dead-beat matchmaker can forget about wiggling her way out of it.”
“Right, she deserves a horrible death! By pulling a stunt like this, she made it tough for matchmakers across the whole street to do business. Who would trust whether you’re introducing a human or a ghost?”
“Exactly, exactly!”
After chatting with the neighbor sister a bit longer, Bai Bai was about to find an opportunity to leave and head home when she suddenly saw two uniformed officers from the police station arrive. One of them had taken her statement yesterday.
The groups gossiping at the main gate instantly fell silent, looking over with curiosity.
The complex administrator appeared quickly.
After exchanging a few words, the administrator took two documents from the officer, turned around, and posted them directly on the bulletin board by the main gate.
While he was posting them, a crowd immediately swarmed around him.
Bai Bai didn’t join the crowd; she walked up directly to ask the officers.
“Hello, officers! I’m Bai Bai, who reported the case yesterday. Have you found new leads?”