“I'm still using my usual toner and lotion.”
Nan Zhi opened her phone's front camera to inspect herself closely, but couldn't spot any major difference, other than that her skin did indeed seem a bit fairer.
She thought about it for a moment and offered an explanation:
“Maybe it's just my body constitution? There were way too many people during the May Day break—everywhere outside was packed shoulder to shoulder—so I just stayed holed up at home playing games the whole time.”
“Sigh, comparisons really are odious.”
Zhang Qiuyu grumbled, then suddenly glanced around before whispering to Nan Zhi with a mysterious air:
“Have you heard? The advertising company on the floor right below us seems to be haunted!
Everyone had time off over the break, right? Only property management and security guards were working in the building.
Well, yesterday when the ad company staff came back to work, not only did they find flowerpots filled with dead birds, but the outside of their windows was covered in handprints!”
At this point, she shivered theatrically:
“And what's even creepier, remember how people said someone jumped off the roof last year?
Word is, that person didn't die immediately on impact and landed right on the balcony below!
Do you think it could be... Eek! Good grief, spit spit spit! Why am I even talking about this first thing in the morning!”
Staring at her computer screen, Nan Zhi replied absentmindedly:
“Couldn't the handprints just be from the cleaning lady wiping down the glass?
And as for the dead birds, maybe they didn't close the doors tightly when they left, so stray cats slipped in from outside and made a nest in the office.
Back in my hometown, we had a tabby cat that absolutely loved catching birds.”
“True.”
Zhang Qiuyu nodded, clearly eager to drop the subject:
“By the way, that game you recommended to me a couple of days ago—did you get the name wrong?
I searched all over the internet, but I couldn't find that game you mentioned, 《Path to Immortality》!
I couldn't find Honghe Technology either. Did you accidentally download some bootleg game?”
How could it not be found?
Judging purely by quality, 《Path to Immortality》 blew most virtual holographic games on the market out of the water.
Nan Zhi found it rather bizarre.
Back when she downloaded it, she had stumbled upon this single-player game purely by chance, and she had even made a point of checking the publisher's name.
Though she was puzzled, Nan Zhi chose not to pursue the topic further.
“Ahem.”
The company supervisor stood in front of their cubicles, rapping lightly on the desk.
This is getting out of hand.
Slack off if you must, but don't do it so blatantly!
There's a surveillance camera right above your heads!
At least tone it down a bit.
Zhang Qiuyu stuck her tongue out and turned to look at Nan Zhi.
The latter was already buried in her work, practically swallowed by the miniature mountain of pending documents.
Honestly, she had really changed a lot.
After not seeing each other for five days, not only had her skin lightened by a shade, but even the little pocket of belly fat accumulated from desk work and irregular hours seemed to have melted away.
Her exposed forearms were slender and fair—not overly thin, but exuding a healthy glow.
The young woman's profile was well-defined, and her jawline had become considerably sharper. While not yet jaw-dropping, compared to before, the transformation was nothing short of dramatic.
If she didn't know her personality, she would have assumed Nan Zhi had secretly undergone some cosmetic procedures.
Did she take some kind of magic elixir or something?
Soon, Zhang Qiuyu laughed off her own silly thought, shook her head, and got to work.
...
...
As the day drew to a close, the corporate slave routine finally wrapped up for the evening.
The weary, “don’t come near me” gloom radiating from Nan Zhi completely vanished the second before she stepped through her front door.
“Takeout! Ice-cold Coke! Games! TV shows! Web novels!! My precious darlings, Mama's home!!
Huh? I don't remember buying anything online recently. Who sent me a package?”
Noticing a delivery parcel sitting on the doormat, she carried it inside.
Ordering takeout, grabbing an ice-cold Coke, and turning on a TV drama—it was time for the bliss of solitude.
While waiting for the ad to buffer, Nan Zhi suddenly remembered the mysterious package and grabbed a pair of scissors to open it.
The package was just an ordinary cardboard box, stamped with a large “Mouda Express” logo across the top.
Strangest of all, the sender line on the shipping label read: “Honghe Technology Game Co., Ltd.”
“What's going on? Data breach? Player perks? But I never entered my home address, did I?”
It was the first time Nan Zhi had ever encountered anything like this.
She decided to call the courier to ask.
Dialing the delivery guy's number, the person on the other end sounded equally bewildered:
“That's weird. The tracking number is real, and the system says I delivered it—
but I haven't even been to your residential complex today. What in the world?
Why don't you open it up and see what's inside?”
Nan Zhi opened the box and saw that there was nothing dangerous inside:
Three small porcelain bottles that looked straight out of a historical period drama; shaking them produced a faint rattling sound.
A small bundle of green weeds tied together with red thread, unusually vibrant and strikingly green.
They looked strangely familiar.
In the corner of the box lay a crumpled bundle of dried leaves, seemingly wrapping something inside.
When Nan Zhi reached out to touch it, the dried leaves twitched.
“A living creature?”
Nan Zhi gingerly shook open the clump of withered leaves, and a fist-sized, golden-furred mouse tumbled into the box.
The mouse looked utterly bizarre.
It had round ears, round eyes, and a round head. Its large, protruding ears took up nearly two-thirds of its head, its snout was short like a piglet's, and its thick long tail was coiled up like a spring, tucked warily beneath its body.
Nan Zhi picked it up by the scruff.
The golden mouse raised its stubby paws toward Nan Zhi and squeaked indignantly: “Squeak! Squeak squeak!”
Fierce as could be.
Nan Zhi let go, but the little creature didn't fall back into the box as expected.
“Hello? Hello?! What's in there? Is it something you bought?”
The courier shouted loudly over the phone:
“Do you need me to come over and check?”
“Um...”
Nan Zhi's eyes zoned out. Staring at the golden mouse floating right in front of her face, she hesitated:
“Does your courier service... deliver flying rats now?”
The courier was thoroughly baffled: “What? Rats? Live or dead? Those things carry diseases! Besides, our company doesn't ship live animals.”
Then where on earth did the rat in front of her come from?
Taking a deep breath, Nan Zhi snatched the golden-furred mouse from the air and swiftly hung up:
“Sorry, my mistake. It really is my package.”
“Hello? Hello? Hey!”
Left hanging, the courier was completely mystified.
...
...
Half an hour later.
Nan Zhi sat cross-legged on the sofa, staring blankly.
On the coffee table before her, the golden-furred mouse sprawled in a fruit bowl, clutching a peach and nibbling on it at a leisurely pace.
It ate rather daintily.
Nan Zhi felt that being able to have such casual thoughts at a time like this meant her psychological resilience was truly commendable.
No matter how slow her reflexes or how thick-skinned her nerves, she knew something was deeply amiss.
On the tablet screen, her in-game character was still idling in a meditative posture.
However, the 【Treasure-Seeking Spirit Mouse (Purple Quality)】 that should have been resting quietly in the corner of her inventory was nowhere to be seen.
The counts of Blood-Supplementing Grass and Qi-Supplementing Pills had also changed.
There was only one truth.
The weeds and porcelain bottles were the Qi-Supplementing Pills and Blood-Supplementing Grass from 《Path to Immortality》.
And this flying golden rat was clearly the Treasure-Seeking Spirit Mouse from the game!
“Squeak? Squeak squeak squeak?”
Seemingly sensing its owner's mood, the golden mouse stopped eating, twitched its big round ears, and tilted its head slightly to stare at her:
“Squeak squeak squeak?”
“Just eat. I have a toothache and want to be alone for a bit.”
Nan Zhi buried her face in her hands once more.
Rate on N.U.
