"This is..."
Xu Xiaoyou focused her gaze. She picked up the bronze-colored die from the washbasin. After rinsing off the blood with water, she observed it under the light.
Light refracted on the surface of the die, with a faint golden luster flowing across it. Looking closely, this strange die was about the same size as a normal one, yet it actually had a hundred faces!
Every face was separated by polygonal edges carved with intricate and mysterious patterns. Xu Xiaoyou brought the die close to her eyes, squinting to look carefully, only to discover that every single face had a number on it. They weren't fixed numbers, but were constantly flickering!
She placed the die flat in her hand and leaned down. From her perspective, those constantly flickering blue numbers weren't engraved on the surface of the die, but were floating in the air as projections. At first glance, they looked like a drifting blue mist.
With every change of the numbers, a "click-clack" sound of interlocking gears would ring out.
She couldn't describe the feeling, but after spitting out this die, the previous suppression and listlessness had all faded away. Her entire being felt much lighter.
A voice in her heart told her.
This die was her mimicry.
Inside the room, Xu Xiaoyou looked at the creature on the table, which was only the size of a fist, had small white wings, and was soft as a marshmallow, sinking into deep thought.
The creature had a humanoid shape, with a face as delicate as carved jade, looking quite cute. It was currently lying on the table, fast asleep, with "Zzz" symbols floating from its head.
"Is this a pet Tang Xin is keeping? Since when?"
She tried poking the creature's face, hearing it make a "Fuwa~ chuu" sound before it rolled over and continued sleeping.
"This is actually quite fun."
Xu Xiaoyou became interested. She went to the kitchen to find a piece of leftover cake and placed it in front of the little fellow. The little fellow's nose twitched slightly, its eyes lit up, and it stood up, pattering over to the cake. It hugged the cake and started gnawing on it, a satisfied expression appearing on its face.
"Hehe."
"Xu, Xiao, You!"
Just then, Tang Xin's annoyed shout came from outside the door.
Xu Xiaoyou's body trembled. She turned around to find Tang Xin rushing in with a dark expression. She looked somewhat... ashamed and indignant, gritting her teeth.
"What... what's wrong?" She felt a bit guilty under the girl's stare.
After Tang Xin saw the little fellow on the table hugging the cake and eating happily, she was so angry that she extended her index finger and poked Xu Xiaoyou's head repeatedly. "This is my mimicry! Don't just feed Xiao Xin whatever you want!"
Xu Xiaoyou's pupils shook. She looked at Tang Xin, then back at Xiao Xin on the table, whose bead-like black eyes looked a bit confused; she was still holding that piece of cake, unsure if she should continue eating.
Xu Xiaoyou tried poking Xiao Xin's tender pink face again, and then she saw Tang Xin's face sink in slightly, as if she were the one being poked.
Xu Xiaoyou poked a few more times. Tang Xin crossed her arms and glared coldly. "Have you played enough?"
"I didn't know. It won't happen again." Xu Xiaoyou blinked.
Tang Xin sighed and waved her hand toward Xiao Xin. The latter transformed into a microphone and flapped its small wings, flying into her hand.
Watching the girl walk away, Xu Xiaoyou spread her hands, intending to study her die some more.
Since it had a hundred faces, she would name it the hundred-faced die.
She turned her palm upward, and the hundred-faced die appeared in her hand again.
She dug out an old-fashioned microscope from the storage room of the security booth. Its circular lenses and archaic body gave this optical microscope a bit of a punk vibe.
Placing the hundred-faced die under the optical microscope and aligning the lens, she closed one eye and leaned in to observe the die.
There was a tiny gap at the polygonal junction of each face, allowing her to see the precise structure inside through the slit. Countless gears and mechanical parts were interlocking and operating within, almost like a mechanical workshop shrunk down countless times. Xu Xiaoyou thought of expensive famous watches; the internal structures of those well-known watches were similarly complex and precise.
But they seemed inadequate in front of this tiny die.
She studied it for a long time but still couldn't figure out how the die operated or how it projected the constantly changing numbers onto its faces.
Finally, she gave up and decided to just try it out.
"Gods of heaven and earth, let the goddess of luck show her spirit." After shaking the die in her palm a few times, Xu Xiaoyou threw it onto the table.
The die spun continuously on the table and stopped a moment later, with light shining from the face directly on top.
An image like an LCD screen was projected above that face.
"Destiny points: 53."
"Minor luck: Obtain a piece of inspiration."
"Record or manifest?"
"Manifest."
Seeing a piece of inspiration condense out of thin air and fall onto the table with a crisp bouncing sound, Xu Xiaoyou was overjoyed.
She picked up the inspiration and held it to her ear, hearing the faint sound of ocean waves, like the rising tide crashing against the shore, with a few faint bird calls.
There was no mistake; this was a genuine piece of inspiration!
Xu Xiaoyou intended to strike while the iron was hot and research the specific abilities of her die some more.
Another throw!
"Destiny points: 78."
"Luck: The power of the next skill card will receive a minor enhancement."
"Record or manifest?"
Xu Xiaoyou's heart stirred, and she quietly selected manifest.
She tried to use fireball bombardment. A storm-like vortex of flame surged out and condensed in an instant, looking like a fire demon grinning as a wind of flame carrying endless heat and destructive power swept through the entire room!
The commotion just now triggered the fire alarm. Large clouds of water mist sprayed down from the fire sprinklers overhead, soaking Xu Xiaoyou like a drowned rat.
"Sorry, sorry! I don't know what's wrong with the alarm. Sorry for the trouble! Nothing happened! Sorry!"
Outside the door, the few property owners who had rushed over heard the blue-haired girl's explanation, and their furrowed brows relaxed. They asked a few more concerned questions before finally leaving.
Tang Xin walked in from the door with a speechless expression. "What are you doing now? You even triggered the fire alarm?"
Xu Xiaoyou looked around guiltily, pretending to be very busy.
Tang Xin shook her head gently and didn't blame the girl further. She had been quite worried about her these past few days, fearing she really had some kind of mental illness, or even thinking she had been brainwashed by the ascetic sect and turned into a bad pomelo.
Seeing that Xu Xiaoyou's mental state was much better today, the stone weighing on her heart finally dropped.
"If you have anything on your mind, you can talk to me. I'll listen patiently," Tang Xin said softly. "But please don't play with fire alone in the room, thank you."
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm really not sick," Xu Xiaoyou waved her hands repeatedly.
After watching Tang Xin walk away again, she still felt some lingering fear.
You call this a minor enhancement? It almost blew this tiny shack to the heavens! She would never again believe any description in a card maker's ability that used words like "minor," "slight," or "a bit"!
Xu Xiaoyou threw the die again.
This time, something seemed different.
The projected screen turned an eerie blood-red, with dark blood seeping from the edges.
The temperature in the entire room dropped suddenly. Countless crimson eyes opened on the screen, staring fixedly at Xu Xiaoyou.
"Destiny points: 11."
"Calamity: Master-biting spiritual blade."
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