Mu Anqi awaited General Ji's invitation and fell asleep peacefully in the space. The next day, since the general didn't come to her, Mu Anqi spent points to go to the training ground and practiced gun and dagger skills with a junior instructor. She got so absorbed that she trained for 12 hours straight, only taking a break for one meal, and it only cost her 100 points in total.
Returning to her room, she washed up and lay on the recliner, zoning out, when Mu Anqi suddenly realized: she had grown extravagant.
Before, spending 100 points would have made her cringe, but now spending 100 points in a day didn't seem like much at all. Looking at her 1,922.6 points, Mu Anqi raised her hand and rubbed her face. She couldn't let this continue. She couldn't always be at S-rank, after all!
On the third day, Mu Anqi entered the item shop again. She bought a storage ring that cost 800 points per cubic meter. After a discount, it was 640 points. In the future, if she wanted to expand storage, she could directly use points to expand it, still at 800 points per cubic meter. For Mu Anqi, that meant 640 points per cubic meter.
A cubic meter isn't particularly large or small, but it was enough for Mu Anqi to store all her current items and weapons. She could even shove in her tattered backpack as well.
With the storage ring, as long as the silver ring was on Mu Anqi's hand, retrieving items required only a thought. This meant that even if she were tied up, she could easily take out a dagger to free herself. Getting bullets or other items didn't require rummaging through the backpack anymore. Of course, losing the backpack was out of the question—it was at least a beginner item, and who knew when it might come in handy?
After taking care of her meals, Mu Anqi spent 5 points to buy more than thirty ordinary candy jars and ten ordinary notebooks in bulk. She selected one notebook to place in the storage ring and arranged the jars and notebooks neatly in her room. Then she took a candy jar and layered it with cotton candy, apple gummies, and hard candies, filling it to the top. Since Mu Anqi wasn't sure whether General Ji liked only hard candies or just preferred to eat hard candies first, she made half of this jar hard candies and split the remaining space equally between the other two types.
After finishing this, she stayed in her room practicing dagger skills alone and didn't go out to spend points on training.
Until six o'clock on the fourth morning in the space, the teleportation invitation arrived as scheduled. Mu Anqi was well prepared, and having gone to bed early the previous day, she didn't feel any morning grumpiness when awakened by the "suona" from Nirvana Space. She quickly washed up, dressed, and checked her storage ring to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything, then accepted the invitation and teleported to the Shattered Mirror Continent.
Appearing again at the main city gate, Mu Anqi didn't even realize she felt a bit of lightness and excitement. She ran toward the main city and stood in front of General Ji, who was waiting quietly. Her moist, lively eyes almost shone as she called out, "General!"
"Mm." Ji Huaichu looked at the little money tree's smile and said, "Your performance was very good."
In this round of the game, Mu Anqi's performance had indeed been a pleasant surprise. From Ji Huaichu's perspective, given the little money tree's temperament, with the giant lizard so cooperative and obedient, even constantly "acting pitiful," she had expected Mu Anqi to soften. And with so many monsters lured in, some of whom had no "demon life," Mu Anqi never hesitated when firing her shots.
Watching the decisive actions of the little money tree, Ji Huaichu felt very gratified. After all, this was exactly the kind of personality she wanted in a ghost. If Mu Anqi had been overly indecisive or excessively sympathetic, Ji Huaichu would have felt some dissatisfaction and adjusted Mu Anqi accordingly… but now, the little money tree was just right.
"General!" Mu Anqi thought for a moment and took out the jar of carefully arranged candies from her storage ring. She held it with both hands and handed it over, watching Ji Huaichu's expression.
Ji Huaichu's expression didn't change much, remaining calm as ever. After taking the jar of candies, she casually asked, "Do you want to touch a fluffy monster?"
Mu Anqi was momentarily stunned. Of course she wanted to! But… could she really say that in front of General Ji? She hesitated, then remembered what she had said to the general at the end of the game. She wanted Ji Huaichu to trust her more, so she should offer the corresponding honesty. "I… do want to. But this is just a natural fondness for cute, fluffy animals. It's nothing else, really."
Ji Huaichu looked at Mu Anqi but didn't ask what the "nothing else" meant. She simply nodded. "Later, I'll take you to see a monster from the Underworld. You can touch her, but don't be too frivolous in your behavior."
Mu Anqi let out an "Ah!" She hadn't expected such a reward. As for being frivolous… when it comes to stroking something fluffy, is there really a difference between a "gentlemanly" touch and a "lewd pervert" touch? Wait a minute—General Ji means… she's going to take her to touch a monster!?
"Um, General, isn't it a bit inappropriate to touch a monster?" After all, monsters can take human form—if she went to touch one… wouldn't that make her look like a pervert? Yet Mu Anqi was still very tempted. "It won't hit me, right?"
"No." Ji Huaichu said as she walked into the city. Mu Anqi hurried to follow, both excited and nervous. She stole glances at Ji Huaichu's back, and for a brief moment, she lost her enthusiasm for this reward.
"Um, General, has the monster already arrived at the General's mansion?" At the mansion's gate, Mu Anqi hesitated and spoke with some trepidation. "If I don't want to touch the fluffy one, can I choose a different reward?"
"What reward do you want?" Ji Huaichu asked.
"…" She couldn't think of anything at the moment. Mu Anqi looked at General Ji. Clearly, Ji Huaichu would get angry over a few words from the giant lizard, so why would she actively let her touch a fluffy creature? Although the fluffy one was cute, Mu Anqi didn't even know what kind of fluffy creature it was. At that moment, she looked at Ji Huaichu and, without knowing why, blurted out, "I want to clear the Black Mirror Vortex with you, General."
"What kind of reward is that?" Ji Huaichu smiled. She reached out and pulled Mu Anqi into the mansion. "Go ahead."
When Ji Huaichu let go, Mu Anqi suddenly raised her hand and grabbed the general's forearm. This instinctive action startled her, but when she looked up at Ji Huaichu's expression, she realized the general didn't seem angry. Mu Anqi didn't let go; she just adjusted her hold on Ji Huaichu's sleeve. "General?"
"Mm." Ji Huaichu glanced at the sleeve, allowed Mu Anqi to hold on, and stepped into the mansion.
Entering the front hall, Mu Anqi saw a stunning beauty with peach-blossom eyes seated at the main seat. She lifted a delicate hand to sip tea, making her red lips even more alluring. Her natural charm was overwhelming—just a slight lift of her eyes exuded countless temptations that were intoxicating. A single glance made Mu Anqi inexplicably blush.
She even felt her body heat up and her heart race, completely unsure why.
Just as Mu Anqi was at a loss, Ji Huaichu cast a cold glance at the fox and said sharply, "Put away your charm."
The beauty furrowed her brows slightly, showing a hint of grievance. Her pitiful look was enough to make one's heart ache, making it impossible not to want to hold her carefully in one's hands. At that moment, several strands of black shadows appeared at Ji Huaichu's feet…
The beauty's expression changed instantly, and she said in a coquettish voice, "I was just joking with the General~ why get so angry?"
It was only then that Mu Anqi felt herself return to normal; all the previous effects disappeared. Looking at the beauty again, she was indeed beautiful, but the breathtaking, heart-stirring impact from before was gone. This… is charm magic? A special filter of the demon race?
"Don't waste time," Ji Huaichu said.
Mu Anqi glanced at the monster, then at Ji Huaichu, and realized the general was speaking to the monster.
In the next moment, the beauty reluctantly stood up and walked forward, stopping only in front of Ji Huaichu. Mu Anqi looked over and noticed the beauty had been staring at her the whole time. "…Hello?"
"Mm, hello." The beauty withdrew her gaze, looking slightly embarrassed as she turned her head. In the next instant, a pair of fox ears and a fluffy white fox tail appeared. She hugged her white fox tail—it was large, fluffy, and visibly soft to the touch. The fox spirit extended her tail toward Mu Anqi, keeping her head turned away to avoid eye contact, and softly said, "Go ahead and touch it."
Mu Anqi's fingers itched slightly, and a curious warmth stirred in her chest. She looked at the fluffy, cotton-candy-like white fox tail, then glanced up at General Ji. Her hand still held onto the general's sleeve, and she couldn't help giving it a gentle little shake.
"Go ahead and touch it," Ji Huaichu said. "It's a reward, after all."
The fox seemed a tiny bit displeased at that, but ultimately held back. After all, this little player was cute, and letting her touch the tail didn't cost her anything.
Finally, Mu Anqi let go and touched it. She lightly laid her hand on the fox tail and was immediately amazed by its soft, smooth texture. She ran her fingers down the fur, gently and properly, feeling a relaxing, almost healing sensation that made her want to keep touching it. Unfortunately, the tail belonged to a fox spirit, and General Ji was right beside her, so Mu Anqi restrained herself. After a while, she withdrew her hand, stood quietly, and wore a look of obedience.
Surely that no longer counted as "frivolous," right?
"Is that all?" The fox beauty turned back, looking at Mu Anqi with a strange gaze, then questioned Ji Huaichu, "You said your little player was super eager to touch something fluffy, right? So… is my tail not fluffy or soft enough that your little player isn't interested?"
Ji Huaichu didn't say anything, only looked at Mu Anqi.
"…Um, no, that's not it." Mu Anqi was extremely embarrassed. She looked at the big, fluffy, soft tail and had to muster all her willpower to resist touching it. She offered only a shy, obedient, and innocent smile. "It's just… you're the General's guest. It would be too rude to act frivolously toward you, so I don't want to behave in that way."
Unexpectedly, as soon as Mu Anqi said this, the fox beauty's eyes suddenly lit up.
Author's note:
Fox spirit: Isn't this exactly my favorite pure, innocent scholar type!? I love it!
(Because some readers mentioned the main plot, but actually this story doesn't involve destroying the Nirvana space or unifying the Shattered Mirror Continent. If anything, it's just clearing the Black Mirror Vortex while getting familiar with the Shattered Mirror Continent, then having a romance with the ghost general and rising to rich-woman status…)
Everyone, relax a little _(:з」∠).