Yun Shu didn’t dare speak much to Shen Jue at all, fearing he would lose his mind and give her more favorability for no reason again.
In both her past and current lives, she had never really been afraid of anything.
Shen Jue’s favorability was one of the few exceptions.
Sometimes, she truly wanted to beg him to stop increasing it. She really didn’t have the time to deal with his antics; she was utterly done with it.
Returning to the top floor of the Abyssal Tower Boat, she collapsed onto the soft couch, so exhausted she didn’t even want to move.
After an unknown amount of time passed, a snowy-white figure darted in through the window.
The little fox kicked off with its four short legs, its body leaping lightly onto the table, its fluffy tail brushing past the teacups.
It made a swiping motion in the air with its two front paws.
In the next second, the table was piled high with seafood it had scavenged.
Fat crabs were still blowing tiny bubbles, sea cucumbers slightly wiggled their soft, squishy bodies, and there were oysters as large as a palm...
“Host, we can finally have a good meal!” Its fox eyes were sparkling, and the tip of its tail was curled up in excitement.
Yun Shu kipped up from the couch. Seeing the table full of seafood brought back by the little fox, she couldn’t help but praise it again. “Tongzi, you’re amazing.”
She was human, so she naturally had her own appetites. However, the role she played before others was that of a transcendental Divine Lady who did not consume the food of mortals. She certainly couldn’t take that seafood herself without contradicting her own image.
But the system was different. It was always invisible; even if it took some seafood, no one would notice.
Yun Shu walked to the adjacent kitchen. This tower boat’s features were even more comprehensive than a modern cruise ship. Every floor had rooms for resting, as well as kitchens and bathing rooms...
It was just that Feng Chunya and the others respected her too much and were too disciplined. Even though she had told them they could move about freely, they still chose to stay on guard on the deck and didn't enter the pavilion.
If not for that, she wouldn’t have been so blunt about telling Feng Chunya and the others not to stand guard on the deck.
Approaching the stove, she opened the system panel and changed into the Chef Set from her wardrobe, which provided a ten-point bonus to her cooking skill.
“Let’s steam the crabs, and then make some garlic oysters...” she muttered to herself while processing the pile of seafood.
The little fox squatted to the side, its tail swaying gently as it watched the busy Yun Shu, its eyes full of smiles.
After working for a while, the person and the fox sat across from each other, faced with a table full of delicacies from the sea.
Yun Shu cracked open a crab claw.
The tender crab meat was steaming. She dipped it in ginger vinegar and put it in her mouth; the fresh sweetness shot straight to her head.
The little fox buried its head in the garlic oysters, the fur around its mouth stained with juice. “Host, it’s so delicious! Tomorrow, I’ll have that big dumb fish get some more!”
After eating and drinking their fill, Yun Shu opened the system panel to look at the refreshed limited-time prize pool. The limited-time outfit would only be available for seven days. Once today passed, she would have to wait for a rerun to get this set.
She had been busy before and hadn't had time to draw. Now that she was free, she might as well pull for the set.
“The set skill is fire control?” she noted.
Although she hadn’t thought of a use for this skill yet, she still clicked to draw. What if she needed it in the future?
The Pomegranate Abundance Set she had failed to complete before had taught her a lesson: she might not use a limited-time outfit, but she had to have it. Who knew when it would ever return?
【Congratulations, Host, for obtaining the Heavenly Karmic Fire Set · Handheld Piece (1/4): Star-Falling Scorching Arrow.】
【Piece Description: The bowstring is made of dragon sinew tempered by fire. The arrows fired can call down heavenly fire (120-hour cooldown).】
...
【Congratulations, Host, for obtaining the Heavenly Karmic Fire Set · Robe Piece (2/4): Ember-Night Feathered Raiment.】
【Piece Description: Woven from the wings of the Golden Crow. Returns a hundredfold of any damage received (120-hour cooldown).】
...
【Congratulations, Host, for obtaining the Heavenly Karmic Fire Set · Formation Piece (3/4): Eight Desolations Smelting Formation.】
【Piece Description: By deploying this formation, all weapons within it can be melted into essence (120-hour cooldown).】
...
【Congratulations, Host, for obtaining the Heavenly Karmic Fire Set · Crown Piece (4/4): Sun-Gazing Crown.】
【Piece Description: Wearing this crown can cause enemies to ignite and be reduced to ashes before they can even get close (120-hour cooldown).】
...
【Current Shock Value: 75,100,000】
After leveling up the newly drawn outfit to the maximum, Yun Shu went back to drawing the sea charts and pondering how to take over Wuling Prefecture as quickly as possible while harvesting a massive wave of Shock Values.
Sigh, Shock Values really didn't last long enough.
She still needed to earn more.
With the blue whale escorting them, the tower boat moved through the sea without any obstacles, arriving at Wuling Prefecture half a day earlier than scheduled.
...
Wuling Prefecture, a coastal fishing village.
The wind was thick with a salty, fishy dampness that couldn't disperse the smell of decay hanging over the village.
What met the eye was a landscape of desolate earthen walls and thatched roofs. Many houses were already empty, their door panels torn off to be used as firewood.
On the rocky beach at the end of the village, two thin, bony figures—a male and a female—were kneeling in the sand.
The brother was about fifteen or sixteen years old. His shoulder blades stuck out from under his ragged tunic, the bones clearly visible.
The sister appeared to be two or three years younger than him. her cheeks were sunken and her cheekbones were high, leaving only a pair of strikingly large eyes.
Their eyes were full of tears, yet they didn't make a sound, continuously digging at the sand beneath their feet with their bare hands.
Beside them lay two corpses wrapped in tattered straw mats.
Those were their parents.
From winter to spring, there had been no harvest in the village.
The fish in the sea seemed to have been driven away by someone overnight; every time they cast their nets, they only pulled up a net full of silt.
Otherwise, they would encounter a disaster at sea and never return.
Their father had given the last half bowl of thin porridge to the siblings. He had sat against the earthen wall all night and never opened his eyes again.
Their mother collapsed and followed him only two days later.
No one in the village came to help.
The living could barely look after themselves; who had the strength to bury the dead?
The siblings had been digging for over an hour.
The sand was mixed with gravel. Their fingernails were torn, seeping with faint traces of blood, but neither of them stopped.
Finally, the pit was ready.
It wasn't very deep, but it was enough.
Working together and suppressing their tears, they lifted their parents' bodies one by one into the dug-out pit.
Their father was very light, as light as a bundle of dry firewood. Their mother was even lighter. The siblings each lifted one end, exerting almost no effort at all.
The moment Zhu Guyu set down her mother’s body, her hands suddenly shook violently. Her fingers gripped the edge of the straw mat so tightly she couldn't let go.
“Father... Mother...” she cried out.
Zhu Jingzhe didn't speak. He simply pried his sister’s fingers away one by one, then silently scooped up the sand.
The fine sand poured through his fingers, hitting the straw mat with a rustling sound that felt like rain.
The earth was filled in.
The brother found a few relatively flat stones and piled them up as a small marker.
There was no headstone, no name, and not even a decent burial offering—only a small mound of earth.
A gust of wind blew by, swirling with grains of sand.
Zhu Guyu knelt before the grave, her shoulders trembling violently as a heart-wrenching wail erupted from her throat.
“Mother! Father!”
The sound of her crying was enough to break one's heart.
Zhu Jingzhe knelt beside his sister, his skeletal hands clutching the fabric at his knees, his lips pressed into a pale line.
He turned his head slightly to look at his sister’s small, distorted face as she cried. His eyes felt sour and swollen, and something hot threatened to burst out, but he forced it back.
He couldn't cry. He couldn't cry. Before his parents passed away, they had held his hand and said that since he was older than his sister, he had to hold on.
But he was only fifteen.
He didn't know how much longer he could hold on.
Rate on N.U.
