The next morning, sunlight squeezed through the gap in the curtains and landed right on Lux’s face.
Her ears twitched, as if trying to shoo away an uninvited guest.
Then, she furrowed her brows, pouted, and shrank further into the blanket, leaving only her ears exposed.
Five minutes later, she groggily poked her head out from under the covers, her hair a bird’s nest, eyes half-open, staring blankly at the ceiling for quite a while.
Her tail flicked unconsciously under the blanket.
“Right…
the lottery…
the mod…”
She suddenly snapped awake and sat up abruptly, the blanket sliding down to her waist, her pajama collar slipping to one side to reveal a patch of snow-white shoulder.
She didn’t bother fixing it and immediately opened the system panel.
In the inventory, those glittering items were still there.
The Totem of Undying, enchanted golden apple, ten buckets of lava, iron blocks, bookshelves…
“It wasn’t a dream.”
Lux let out a sigh of relief, patted her chest, and then stretched, arms raised above her head, her tail standing up like a flagpole.
She yawned, her ears twitched, and only then did she slowly crawl out of bed.
While washing up, she brushed her teeth in front of the mirror, her mouth full of foam, when she suddenly remembered something.
“I don’t seem to have any diamonds yet.”
She needed diamonds to make a diamond pickaxe; only with a diamond pickaxe could she mine obsidian, and only with obsidian could she build a Nether portal.
Although she had 10 buckets of lava, enough to make a portal, mining obsidian required a diamond pickaxe.
Without a diamond pickaxe, obsidian couldn’t be mined.
Lux spat out the foam, wiped her face dry, returned to her room to pick up her jade abacus, opened the shopping app, and searched for “diamond.”
The results left her stunned.
The price of diamonds…
was much cheaper than she had imagined.
A cubic meter of diamonds cost only sixty stellar jades.
It was dirt cheap, completely different from the “a diamond is forever” concept in her understanding.
“Oh right, this is the interstellar era…”
Lux realized.
Things like diamonds were luxuries on Earth, but in a civilization capable of interstellar travel, they were probably just common industrial raw materials.
Maybe they could even synthesize them artificially; who would care about natural diamonds anymore?
She gritted her teeth and placed an order for twenty cubic meters, instantly achieving diamond freedom.
One thousand two hundred stellar jades—her balance dropped by more than half.
Lux stared at her account balance for two seconds, her ears drooping from heartache, her tail tucked between her legs.
“It’s okay, it’s okay…
an investment…
this is an investment…”
She comforted herself, put down the jade abacus, and decided not to think about it.
Her royalties would come in eventually; money could be earned again, but if she ran out of diamonds, she’d have to wait for delivery.
After buying the diamonds, Lux started typing.
Calling it typing was actually just copying out the stories from her head, though some settings needed to be slightly adjusted according to the situation in this world.
By noon, Lux rubbed her sore fingers, turned off the jade abacus, stood up, and stretched.
“Ah…
I’m exhausted.”
Her bones made a “crack, crack” sound, she stretched her neck, and picked up the jade abacus, preparing to go out and buy groceries.
She had drawn the Farmer’s Delight mod, so how could she not try it out?
Besides, she really wanted to eat something good.
For the past few days, she’d either been eating cake outside or just scraping by; it had been a long time since she’d had a proper meal.
Aurum Alley wasn’t far, so Lux locked the door and strolled leisurely in that direction.
The sun was nice, there were pedestrians in twos and threes on the street, peddling calls rose and fell, and everything was perfectly normal.
When she reached the entrance of Aurum Alley, she was just thinking about what big meal to make and what ingredients to buy, when suddenly—
A loud noise came from overhead, making Lux’s ears ring.
She instinctively covered her ears and looked up at the sky—she saw nothing, but the sound continued, as if something was tearing the sky apart.
Immediately after, the ground began to shake.
The stone path beneath her feet trembled, the shop signs on both sides clattered together, and the goods displayed at the entrances tumbled down with a crash.
“Ah—!”
“It’s an earthquake!”
“Run!”
The street instantly erupted in chaos.
Pedestrians scattered and fled; some ducked into alleys, some huddled in corners covering their heads, and others stood dazed, only to be dragged away by those nearby.
Lux stumbled two steps and grabbed a stone pillar to steady herself.
Her tail puffed up into a ball of fur, her ears pressed tightly against her head, and her pupils narrowed into vertical slits.
“An earthquake?
That’s not right, is it?
Isn’t the Xianzhou a ship?
How can a ship have an earthquake?”
Before her mind could process it, a passerby fell to the ground, face pale, and pointed at her—no, pointed in the direction behind her.
“The, the Ambrosial Arbor has revived!”
Lux froze.
The Ambrosial Arbor?
What Ambrosial Arbor?
I’m not the Ambrosial Arbor, am I?
She instinctively turned her head to look at the giant tree in the center of the Luofu—
Then her pupils contracted sharply.
That tree was already absurdly large, towering into the clouds, its canopy blocking out the sun.
But now, it was growing wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The trunk twisted like a snake, climbing upward, branches exploding in all directions, each new branch emitting a golden light.
Leaves drifted down rustlingly, like golden snowflakes, covering the sky and the earth.
The Ambrosial Arbor was growing.
It was growing, and the entire Luofu was shaking.
Lux stared at the giant tree that pierced through heaven and earth, her mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.
She was standing quite far from the Ambrosial Arbor, but the sense of oppression felt like it was pressing directly onto her chest, making it hard to breathe.
People on the street fled in all directions; crying, screaming, and footsteps merged into a chaotic mess.
Immediately after, a large number of Cloud Knights arrived, wearing armor and holding blades, beginning to control Order.
“Don’t panic!
Evacuate in an orderly manner!”
“Watch your step!
Don’t push!”
Lux was swept forward by the crowd for a few steps before she suddenly snapped back to reality.
“No, I have to go home—”
She ran against the crowd toward home.
Her wooden clogs went “clack, clack, clack” on the stone road, her bell belt jingled, her tail puffed up behind her, her ears pressed against her scalp; she looked like a startled rabbit—no, a startled fox.
She hadn’t run far before her jade abacus rang.
Lux answered it while running, panting as she shouted: “Hello—”
“Lux, where are you?”
Guinaifen’s voice came from the jade abacus, her tone urgent, a stark contrast to her usual happy-go-lucky self.
“I’m at the entrance of Aurum Alley!”
Lux dodged a woman running with a child.
“Guinaifen, what on earth is happening?”
“The sky is falling, that’s what’s happening!”
Guinaifen’s voice went up an octave.
Come back quickly, it’s not safe outside now!”
Lux ran while looking back at the giant tree that was still growing, swallowing hard.
“The Ambrosial Arbor…
isn’t it just a tree?
Is it that serious?”
“Oh, I can’t explain it to you right now!
Just come back!”
“Okay, okay, okay!
I’m already running!”
Lux hung up the jade abacus and picked up speed.
Her wooden clogs tapped out a rapid drumbeat on the stone road, her tail whipping back and forth behind her, nearly hitting passersby several times.
She sprinted all the way to her front door.
When she pushed it open, she was panting like a bellows, fine beads of sweat on her forehead, her ears bright red.
In the living room, Guinaifen was pacing back and forth, hands clenched together, her brows furrowed enough to crush a fly.
Seeing Lux come in, she immediately walked up to her, looked her up and down, and reached out to pinch her arm, checking her ears and tail.
“Are you okay?”
“I, I’m fine…”
Lux was a bit dazed from being pinched.
“I just went to buy some groceries, but the incident happened before I even got there.”
Guinaifen let her go and let out a long breath, as if her hanging heart had finally settled.
“You scared me to death.
I thought you were stuck outside and something had happened to you.”
Lux looked at Guinaifen’s face, which was full of anxiety, and felt a bit unaccustomed to it.
Usually, this person was always smiling and laughing, treating even the sky falling as no big deal, but now she was like an ant on a hot pan.
“Guinaifen,” Lux tilted her head.
“Why are you so panicked?
This doesn’t look like you at all.”
Guinaifen rolled her eyes at her.
“Don’t mention it, I’m still worried about Sushang.”
She walked to the window and took a peek through the gap in the curtains.
“She’s a Cloud Knight; she’s definitely on the front lines right now.
I don’t know how she’s doing…”
Guinaifen’s voice became quieter and quieter, the last sentence almost spoken to herself.
Lux walked over and stood next to her.
“She definitely won’t be in any trouble.”
Guinaifen didn’t speak.
“I’ve seen Sushang practice swordplay, and she’s very impressive,” Lux continued, her tone becoming serious.
“And with her personality, the foolish have their own blessings; even the Heavens wouldn’t have the heart to take her.”
Guinaifen turned to look at her, the corners of her mouth twitching as if she wanted to smile but couldn’t.
“There’s no one like you, talking about Sushang like that.”
Lux put her hands on her hips and said: “Just tell me, isn’t it true?”
Guinaifen was silent for two seconds and sighed.
“I hope so.”
Lux stood by the window, watching the crowds still running on the street outside and the Cloud Knights maintaining Order, her mind in a jumble.
She suddenly thought of a question.
“Guinaifen.”
“Hmm?”
“What exactly is this Ambrosial Arbor you all keep talking about?
Why is everyone so afraid?”