Chapter 102
After opening her eyes, Xia'er found herself faced with a new dilemma.
How was she supposed to break free from the encirclement of Adele and Aivina without waking either of them?
Gently, Xia'er lifted her right leg and slowly nudged Adele's leg, which was draped over her, away with the sole of her foot.
Then, inch by inch, she slid her body down, sinking into the covers, and finally emerged from the other side of the bed.
Fortunately, both Adele and Aivina were wearing silk pajamas, and the sheets beneath them were also silk, allowing Xia'er to slip away without a sound.
Stepping onto the wool carpet, aided by the dim candlelight, she located a familiar canvas bag on the table that she had placed there during the simulation.
Opening the bag, she found a notebook, several vials of potions, and a cloth pouch wrapped in a bag.
The pouch felt somewhat thick, and when Xia'er weighed it in her hands, she suspected it contained another notebook.
However, as she picked up the pouch, she noticed a small note pressed beneath it. Unfolding it, she saw a crooked drawing of a radiation symbol.
It seemed best not to open it just yet.
Ignoring the other items, Xia'er opened the notebook beside her.
At the back of the notebook, there were notes written in Chinese addressed to herself.
"I managed to buy the potions from Aivina. She has quite a few 'Instigators' and 'Listeners' potions and materials, apparently collected from before."
"The previous 'Otherworld Pages' seem to be somewhat damaged, and their effects aren't great anymore, but I couldn't be bothered to rewrite them, especially with a Tier 3 'Crown Guard' around. So I just exchanged for a few in the subsystem."
"There wasn't much else worth exchanging, so I traded everything for 'Otherworld Pages'—25 of them. That should be enough for you to distribute flyers."
"The items are in that pouch. See if you can fit them into the warehouse... but based on my understanding of the system, it probably won't work."
"I had Adele notify Yulis about everything in advance, then sent her to Aivina. After all, staying near Yulis, who’s in the spotlight, is riskier than being close to 'Crown Guard' Nia."
"If luck is on your side, you might see Xiu again just before the simulation ends... though it might not be her again."
"Enough of that. I'm dead tired. I'm going to sleep now. What you do next is up to you."
"Oh, and by the way, you know we didn't do anything."
"The effects of 'Charm' and 'Art of Conversation' are greater than you think. If you feel it's necessary, you might want to upgrade those two skills—unless they're too expensive, since I can't do much besides exchanging a few things at the shop."
"88"
What is this... a stack of 'Otherworld Pages'?
Xia'er glanced at the thick pouch she had just weighed, never expecting it to contain this.
She took out the "Bishop of Radiance's Token" from her warehouse and tried to grab the pouch, hoping to store it, but failed.
After putting the "Bishop of Radiance's Token" back, Xia'er looked at the pouch with a hint of confusion.
Previously, just a single 'Otherworld Page' was enough to trigger alarm-like whispers in her mind when she got close.
But these 25 pages, merely wrapped in cloth, gave her no sense of threat.
This didn’t feel like 'Otherworld Pages'.
For now, Xia'er set the canvas bag aside, found her clothes and shoes, and left the room. After changing in a guest room on the other side, she made her way to the hall downstairs.
These items were too dangerous; Xia'er couldn't risk opening them in Aivina's room, especially with a Tier 3 'Crown Guard' keeping a watchful eye on Aivina's safety almost around the clock.
Not finding a suitable room, she took the items to the restroom on the first floor.
Here, the privacy was slightly better than the still-unrepaired parlor.
Xia'er hung the canvas bag on the back of the door, took out the pouch, took a deep breath, and slowly opened it...
Nothing happened.
She reached in and pulled out one of the 'Otherworld Pages', crumpled it into a ball, wet it, and then slowly raised it to her face.
Though the blood and writing on it had blurred from the water, the crumpled folds made the already indecipherable text even harder to read.
Yet, the words did not affect Xia'er in any way.
She tossed the crumpled paper back into the pouch and directly pulled out a complete page, looking at it intently.
It was a familiar 'Otherworld Page', but it held no power anymore.
In the previous simulation, the Xia'er within had indeed transformed using her predetermined points, exchanged for gold pounds, and purchased a fair amount of survival supplies.
Could it be that everything exchanged from the subsystem, aside from transformation, was fake?
Or were the items real but stripped of any extraordinary properties? Only precious metals like gold pounds could be used intact?
Xia'er checked the remaining 'Otherworld Pages' and confirmed that none were useful before repacking them into the canvas bag.
It was quite impressive that her simulated self had thought of this and attempted it, though it was unfortunate that it didn’t yield the desired results.
However, the ability to exchange for identical fake items... if utilized well, could prove to be quite beneficial.
Just not at this moment.
Xia'er rummaged through the bag and found a brand-new vial of potion.
The potion emitted a soft pink glow, and within the shimmering light, several tiny tendrils swam about—this looked like an 'Instigator' potion.
But this vial was very different from the one she had seen with Thomas.
Thomas's vial had tendrils that were nearly blackened, filled with a murky mixture of black mist and oil, nothing like this clean pink.
It seemed that the potion Thomas had received was likely made from secondarily extracted materials... or even thirdarily.
It must have been tainted with some soul residue.
No wonder Thomas needed to drink two vials; just one had turned him into that ghastly state.
At the neck of the vial was a small tag wrapped in iron wire, inscribed in Ansu language with the word "Instigator," clearly written by Xia'er herself.
Xia'er had no doubts about the authenticity of this potion, even without the accompanying replication ritual.
In matters as critical as this, both the simulated and real Xia'er would never joke around.
She lifted the potion bottle, giving it a gentle shake.
The tendrils seemed alive, swirling in the pale pink liquid, and upon noticing Xia'er's movement, they pressed against the side of the crystal bottle closest to her, like fish drawn to food.
Xia'er looked at her reflection in the mirror, placing her hand on the cap, and slowly applied pressure, watching herself pull out the cork.
As the cap came off, a mesmerizing fragrance instantly filled the restroom.
Xia'er raised the potion bottle and took a deep gulp of the liquid inside.
The tendrils writhed, diving into her mouth along with the potion, splitting into several paths as they entered her.
Some tendrils burrowed straight into her nostrils, tearing through the flesh before racing toward her brain.
Others slid down her throat, merging with the potion at her vocal cords.
"Cough, cough..."
Xia'er couldn't stop coughing, slightly bowing her head over the sink as a torrent of blood mixed with unidentifiable clots surged from her mouth and nose.
The once enchanting fragrance in the restroom had vanished, replaced by a strong metallic scent of blood.
Intense pain radiated from her brain and throat, making Xia'er feel as if she might faint.
Fortunately, she had died enough times that, while her pain tolerance hadn’t increased, her threshold for fainting had somewhat improved, preventing her from losing consciousness immediately.
This potion... why is it so torturous...
Xia'er stared at the bronze sink now clogged with blood clots, her vision gradually blurring.
She lost track of time, and just when she felt she could no longer endure, the pain abruptly ceased.
In that instant, memories and knowledge that did not belong to her surged into her mind, coinciding with the disappearance of the pain.
This is...
Xia'er examined the knowledge and memories in her mind, which, like before when she completed the replication ritual and drank the potion, were all about how to use her abilities.
Is... this it?
What about the whispers?
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