Letting the Written Word Speak for Her

Taking advantage of the time while the little fox went to find a candidate, Yun Shu opened the nefarious permanent prize pool once again.

The drop rates of the prize pool were controlled by the Great God. No matter how she calculated it, as long as she went to pull for new outfits, the prize pool would swallow up a significant amount of her Shock Value. However, she had no choice but to pull.

At present, she was still not very skilled at turning the unreal into reality. If she wanted to achieve a certain goal, she still needed the assistance of outfit skills.

Pouring Shock Value into pulling outfits could be considered an investment.

Once she understood this, she no longer felt pained by the Shock Value swallowed by the prize pool. She simply went for a 1,000-pull. Since even a 300-pull would be swallowed anyway, she might as well feed the prize pool to the brim all at once, saving her hands from getting tired of pulling.

【Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the Tide of All Things Set - Handheld Piece (4/8): Sea God's Scepter.】

【Piece Description: Holding this scepter allows you to summon schools of fish to migrate back within a hundred-mile radius (Cooldown: 120 hours).】

【Set Skill: Collect all pieces to unlock the Guixu Tide-Birthing skill, which can revitalize depleted sea areas, allowing dead reefs to grow moss, empty shells to nurture flesh, and the marine clans to flourish.】

【...】

【Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the Tide of All Things Set - Formation Piece (5/8): Myriad Tides Life-Breath Formation.】

【Piece Description: Activating this formation accelerates the growth of all marine life within a hundred-mile radius by three times. After three days, they will return to their normal growth rate (Cooldown: 120 hours).】

【...】

【Current Shock Value: 88,288,000】

Seeing that she still had over eighty-eight million Shock Value left, Yun Shu expressionlessly clicked on another 1,000-pull.

Those who gambled on prize pools never had smiles on their faces.

【Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the Attracting Wealth and Treasure Set - Hair Accessory Piece (2/6): Treasure-Gathering Yaoguang Hairpin.】

【Piece Description: Wearing this hairpin allows you to sense all unclaimed wealth within a hundred-mile radius (Cooldown: 48 hours).】

【Set Skill: Collect all pieces to unlock the Prosperous Wealth skill. With a wave of your sleeve, golden sycees will rain from the heavens.】

【...】

【Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the Tide of All Things Set - Mount Piece (6/8): Abyssal Tower Boat.】

【Piece Description: Crafted from mica and shaped like a barracuda, it can carry several people and travel tens of thousands of miles underwater.】

【...】

【Current Shock Value: 87,988,000】

“Only two pieces left to complete the set?” Yun Shu looked at the Tide of All Things Set in the system wardrobe. Considering that there were many coastal cities in the south, this outfit set would be of great use. Since she would have to pull it sooner or later anyway, she might as well get it early and enjoy its benefits.

And so, she clicked another 1,000-pull.

【Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the Attracting Wealth and Treasure Set - Handheld Piece (3/6): Coin-Leaf Branch.】

【Piece Description: Carved from white jade and emerald, it has the power of turning stone into gold (Cooldown: 48 hours).】

【...】

【Current Shock Value: 87,688,000】

Yun Shu seeing that a 1,000-pull had yielded only a single piece, she decisively closed the permanent prize pool.

If the system hadn't told her that the Great God couldn't hear her inner thoughts, she would have suspected that he was eavesdropping on her mind while secretly tweaking the prize pool's drop rates.

Speaking of inner thoughts, she suddenly recalled something.

She remembered that a long time ago, the system had mentioned it could monitor her emotional metrics. Since the system could do this, the Great God could undoubtedly monitor her emotions as well.

From this perspective, as long as her emotions fluctuated too wildly during a draw, the Great God could deduce what she wanted or didn't want, adjusting the prize pool accordingly.

“Host, Host! I found someone!” The little fox ran over eagerly and curled up in Yun Shu's arms.

Her train of thought interrupted by the system's bustling voice, Yun Shu simply cast aside her thoughts about the prize pool and focused on the present.

“Take me there,” she said.

The little fox guided Yun Shu. “It's just ahead. Following the criteria you gave me, I found a female student who has no parents. She grew up in Ye Qingqing's Hall of Salvation and got into Yecheng Academy through her own hard work. I've observed her for several days, and she is a very resilient and kind-hearted girl.

“Oh, right, Host. You've actually met her before. During that trip to Longyou, she was the granddaughter of Granny Yu. She used to be called Yu Xiaocao, but now she's changed her name to Yu Ran.”

Yun Shu paused in her tracks and asked the little fox, “Wasn't Yu Ran living with Granny Yu in Longyou? I recall Granny Yu mentioning that Yu Ran's parents were working elsewhere. How did she end up in Yecheng all by herself and become an orphan?”

She also remembered that Yu Ran was mute.

The little fox sighed. “Granny Yu was of advanced age. Not long after we left Longyou, she passed away.

“As for Yu Ran's parents, they had actually been murdered by a fellow villager long ago. This was the first cold case solved by Lu Sui after he was transferred from Yanping City to become the Governor of Longyou. Seeing that Yu Ran was a girl left all alone in the world, Lu Sui sent her to Yecheng and entrusted her to Ye Qingqing's Hall of Salvation to be raised. That's how she managed to grow up safely.”

Yun Shu fell silent for a moment.

Whether it was the system or Shen Yu and the others, they always said she had done enough.

But in her eyes, as long as there were still commoners suffering in this world, she could not allow herself to idle.

If she did just a little bit more, there would be one less person in the world suffering through hardships like Yu Ran.

“Host, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

Yun Shu shook her head at the little fox.

Afterward.

She followed the little fox to the Hall of Salvation.

As twilight deepened, the bluestone pavement in the courtyard of the Hall of Salvation had just been sprinkled with water, damply reflecting the sky.

Several five- or six-year-old children were squatting in the courtyard, playing.

By the well in the backyard.

Yu Ran was bent over, wringing out the washed coarse cloth clothes. Her wrists were so thin that her light blue veins were clearly visible.

Granny Sun, who was in charge of the kitchen, came over carrying a basket of dried mugwort. Her voice was as loud as a clanging gong. “Girl Ran, the teacher at the academy assigns heavy schoolwork. You shouldn't keep running over here. We old bones have everything under control here at the Hall of Salvation.”

Yu Ran wiped the water from her hands, stood up, and pulled out some paper and a pencil from the cloth pouch at her waist.

Then, she wrote a few lines on the paper.

“Granny Sun, I've finished all my schoolwork. Madam Ye has taken in more and more children over the years, and you all are too busy to handle it all in a day. I just wanted to help out as much as I can.” Her handwriting was elegant and neat, showing that she had put hard work into practicing.

Granny Sun sighed, knowing she couldn't persuade her otherwise.

Ever since Lord Lu had sent this child to the Hall of Salvation, she had quietly taken on more than half of the heavy chores here.

She was so sensible it was heartbreaking.

Yu Ran bent down again to scrub the clothes, the soapberry lather drifting over her fingertips with the flowing water.

She recalled the assessment by the academy teacher this morning. On the passage “the benevolent person loves others,” she had written three full pages.

When her grandmother passed away, she had been herding sheep on a hill outside Longyou City. Running back home, she looked at the small figure covered by a white sheet in the main hall, but she couldn't make a single sound.

Later, when Lord Lu carried her onto the carriage, she looked through the window and saw the mountain ridge where her parents had been pushed off the cliff by their fellow villager years ago. She still couldn't make a single sound.

Even later, she fell in love with reading. She could write down all her thoughts and feelings on paper.

Letting the written word speak for her.