“It’s just cutting fruit, not hard labor. You should hurry up and shower too. You’re covered in sweat—don’t dirty my sofa. It’s currently my favorite piece of furniture.”
“Alright, alright, I’m going. Oh right, someone’s bringing over some keys later. Help me receive them.”
“What keys?”
“Well, since we’re planning to travel around, I had someone deliver an RV. If we’re talking about praying to gods and Buddhas, then we absolutely have to visit Tibet at least once. Honestly, if anywhere can make wishes come true, I think Tibet’s more reliable.”
Shi Meiqing twitched at the corner of her mouth. This girl had really become obsessed.
“Got it. Hurry and shower already. By the way, what do you want for dinner? Should I buy ingredients and cook, or eat out?”
“Delivery’s fine. Cooking is too tiring, and going out means changing clothes again. Delivery is perfect for us. But there’s no rush. We’ll decide after I’m done showering.”
Shi Meiqing nodded and picked up the knife to start cutting fruit.
She had slowly learned how to cook after her grandparents passed away.
Maybe living alone had simply been too lonely. She’d followed cooking videos online and learned many dishes. Occasionally, when Little Curly Hair came over, the two of them could at least enjoy some homemade food together.
Drip.
Feeling liquid land on the back of her hand, she looked down and saw bright red blood.
She immediately set down the knife and turned on the faucet to wash it away.
This had been happening frequently lately.
Thankfully, it hadn’t happened while they were outside today. Otherwise, Little Curly Hair would definitely have been terrified.
Tilting her head back slightly to stop the bleeding, she didn’t notice that some blood from her nose had dripped onto the bracelet she’d received today.
She had specially put it back on after showering.
After all, it was Little Curly Hair’s heartfelt gift. How could she treat it casually?
Only after the bleeding finally stopped did she notice the bracelet had gotten wet.
She quickly grabbed tissues to dry it.
As for the monk’s warning that it couldn’t touch water, she hadn’t taken it seriously at all.
She just couldn’t let Zhao Qingye notice.
Hurrying to finish cutting the fruit and placing it in the refrigerator, she finally relaxed and sat down on the sofa.
The moment she lowered her head, she realized something was wrong.
She lifted her wrist and carefully examined the bracelet.
The beads were supposedly made of jade, though everyone knew they were fake. Still, the pale green color looked fairly convincing.
But now, one of the beads had changed color.
She thought back carefully and was certain that when she first received the bracelet, that bead absolutely hadn’t looked like this.
The bead, originally pale green like the others, had turned dark green, with thin red threads seeming to move inside it.
Looking at it now, the bead seemed far higher in quality—definitely not something that could be bought for only a few hundred yuan.
The tiny Zhao Qingye came out wearing home clothes and immediately noticed Shi Meiqing staring at the bracelet under the light.
“What are you looking at? Okay, the material isn’t great, but the meaning behind it is good. You’re not allowed to take it off.”
“No, come look at this.”
Shi Meiqing pointed at the bead that had changed color.
At this point, the bead had already become so dark green it was almost black, standing out sharply against the pale green beads around it.
Zhao Qingye sat beside her.
“Look at what?”
“Wait… weren’t all the beads pale green? Why did this one change color? The quality’s way too terrible, isn’t it?”
The difference in color was so obvious Zhao Qingye noticed it immediately.
“Could it be you didn’t check carefully when choosing the bracelet? Should we go back tomorrow and get another one?”
Shi Meiqing opened the drawer beneath the coffee table and took out a small high-powered flashlight.
Turning it on, she shined the beam directly onto the bead.
Now it was even clearer.
Inside the nearly black bead, thin red threads flowed slowly.
“Holy crap… I’m not seeing things, right? Why does it look like red lines are moving inside it?” Zhao Qingye blurted out in shock.
This was seriously creepy.
“You’re not imagining it. Just now I watched this bead slowly change from pale green right in front of my eyes. Keep watching carefully—I think it’ll keep changing.”
The two leaned close under the light, holding their breath as they stared at the bead, barely larger than a soybean.
Sure enough, the nearly black bead soon became completely black.
Without the flashlight, they wouldn’t have been able to see inside at all.
The red threads inside also began moving faster and faster, making their eyes feel dizzy.
But neither of them looked away.
They stared without even daring to blink.
Eventually, the red lines moved so quickly the naked eye could barely track them anymore.
Unable to endure it any longer, the two finally blinked a few times to relieve their eyes.
And in that tiny instant—
The bead suddenly emitted a burst of red light that completely enveloped Shi Meiqing.
Then Zhao Qingye’s side instantly became empty.
Shi Meiqing had disappeared.
Zhao Qingye froze.
Wait.
Where the hell did her giant best friend go?!
She immediately started searching frantically.
She even checked the tiny gaps beneath the coffee table—spaces barely large enough for a finger to fit through.
If she still couldn’t find Meiqing, she was genuinely going to consider calling the police.
The only reason she didn’t immediately report it was because she worried her best friend might have encountered some kind of supernatural opportunity.
What if the government dragged her away for research?!
Sweating anxiously, Zhao Qingye stared at the gap beneath the coffee table again, almost hoping a finger-sized Shi Meiqing would suddenly crawl out.
Just as she was about to think of other solutions, she looked up—
—and suddenly locked eyes with Shi Meiqing, who had appeared out of nowhere.
Like magic.
Zhao Qingye immediately pounced on her like a tiger and hugged her tightly.
“Holy crap, girl! You almost scared my soul out of my body! Why did you suddenly disappear? Was something weird going on with that bead?”
Feeling something wet soaking into her shoulder, Shi Meiqing looked disgusted as she pushed Zhao Qingye away slightly.
“Hey, don’t wipe your snot and tears all over me.”
Zhao Qingye: “…”
Are we even still best friends?!
She sniffed hard and quickly wiped her face clean with tissues.
Her already large, bright eyes were practically glowing green now.
“Girl, tell me honestly—did you get some kind of cheat ability? A dimensional space? A system? Or an immortal mansion?”
Who wasn’t a novel addict these days?
After seeing protagonists obtain all sorts of magical cheat powers, who hadn’t fantasized about getting one themselves?
Shi Meiqing: “…”
“Why stop there? There are more than just those three kinds of cheat powers.”
“Hah, obviously! You literally vanished into thin air just now. What else could make someone disappear except a space-type power? Hurry up and tell me what kind of cheat you got!”
“…Probably a space?” Shi Meiqing answered uncertainly.
Just now, when the red light enveloped her, she suddenly felt herself transported somewhere else.
At the time, she hadn’t had any opportunity to examine where she’d gone.
Her only thought was that if she suddenly vanished like this, Little Curly Hair would cry herself to death.
So all she focused on was figuring out how to come back out.
After struggling for a while, she finally managed it.