Chapter Forty-seven: Swallowed?!

Chapter Forty-Seven

At this moment, Qu Wenyuan was on the verge of madness! What on earth was this jade pendant? Why did it keep chasing after people relentlessly?

Could it be that this wasn’t the jade pendant from the novel? Impossible! She had clearly snatched it from the female protagonist’s hands!

Or was it that this item could only be used by the female lead and no one else could wield it? But what should she do now? If anything happened to Mei, it wasn’t just a matter of whether others would forgive her—she herself would never be able to forgive herself!

Mei darted nimbly around the room, while Mo Chen and Ye Jingxuan worked together to try to catch the jade pendant. Yet every time they got close, the pendant would vanish into thin air, only to reappear right in front of Mei, unwaveringly persistent.

“What the hell is this thing?” Mo Chen pointed his finger and sent a bolt of lightning toward the pendant, but it was deflected with ease.

Ye Jingxuan tried to restrain the pendant with his powers, but he failed as well.

Mei looked helplessly at the pendant that pursued her with unyielding tenacity, and finally stopped running. When it appeared before her again, she stretched out her finger, summoning a flash of white light that instantly enveloped the jade.

Closing her eyes, Mei attempted to probe the interior of the pendant with her mental power.

Inside, there was indeed some energy, but it wasn’t merely a simple space. The energy within had already developed a rudimentary consciousness and needed a host with formidable mental strength. While granting its master space or expanding it, it would simultaneously draw upon the master’s mental energy to nurture itself.

Among everyone present, Mei’s mental power was the strongest. The pendant sensed this and naturally wished to recognize her as its master. When Mei refused, it instinctively pursued her, refusing to let go.

Though recognizing a master meant it could never betray her, Mei still had no desire to expend her mental power nurturing something else. As for the benefits the pendant might bring, they were of no use to her at all—why should she waste her energy on a useless thing? She barely had enough mental strength for herself!

How could she restrain this pendant so it wouldn’t run wild?

As Mei pondered, she suddenly felt a strange sensation on her wrist. Looking down, she realized that the little white snake—dormant for so long she had nearly forgotten its existence—had finally awakened.

The little snake, still groggy from sleep, stretched its body, shaking its head. Then, as if sensing something, it slithered along the back of Mei’s hand to her fingertip, opened its mouth, and swallowed the jade pendant whole!

The little snake had swallowed the jade pendant?

The little snake had swallowed the jade pendant!

Everyone stared, stunned, at the snake that had appeared on Mei’s hand. Aside from Ye Jingxuan and Mo Chen, the others had assumed it was merely a decorative accessory—never imagining it was alive! And even more astonishing, it had actually swallowed the jade pendant!

Could it digest it?

Mei, too, was worried that the pendant might harm the snake. She checked it carefully and found that, aside from its mental strength having grown stronger, there was nothing amiss. She couldn’t even find a trace of the pendant inside it and had no idea what had happened!

You lazy little snake, you’re finally awake?

“Mama—uh, Mei, I’m awake!” Under Mei’s sharp glare, Ling Xiao quickly remembered her previous threats and corrected himself.

“That snake can talk?!” Lin Shaojie gaped at the little snake on Mei’s hand, his expression one of utter disbelief.

Mei only then realized that the snake’s words had not been transmitted telepathically, but spoken aloud from its body.

“Seems you’ve improved after a nap!” Mei raised an eyebrow, then placed the snake on the table to introduce it to the others. “This is Ling Xiao, whom I’ve taken in…”

“Daddy, you’re here too!” Before Mei could finish, the little snake sensed Ye Jingxuan’s mental strength and slithered toward him, calling out as it went.

Daddy?

The others stared at the little snake as if struck by lightning. Strange things happened every day, but today seemed especially full of them!

Of course, there were exceptions. Mo Chen, looking displeased, snatched the snake by its tail before Ye Jingxuan could react, holding it up and scolding, “Little thing, you can’t just say whatever you like, understand?”

He hadn’t missed that the snake’s first words had been to call Mei “Mama”!

Dangling uncomfortably, Ling Xiao writhed, lifted its head, and opened its mouth to bite Mo Chen’s hand. But before it could reach him, a powerful force sent it flying.

“Chen, did it bite you?” Mei asked, both worried and a little angry.

“No, don’t worry!” Mo Chen shook his head and showed her his hand.

Satisfied that he was unharmed, Mei saw Ling Xiao wobble back, coil up on the table, and ask her in a plaintive voice, “Mei, why did you hit me?”

“No biting people! They’re all my friends, and you’re not allowed to bite them!” Mei ignored its pitiful tone and warned sternly.

Though certain circumstances had forced her to raise it, in Mei’s heart, it could never compare to Mo Chen. She would not indulge it just because it acted a little aggrieved.

Because of her mental connection, Mei knew it was a venomous snake—one that had mutated and become extremely toxic, so much so that even she couldn’t guarantee she would survive its bite. If she hadn’t been sure it wouldn’t harm her, she would never have agreed to keep it by her side.

“No biting, and no calling people whatever you want. Ye Jingxuan, Mo Chen, Lin Shaojie, Qu Wenyuan, An Ziyou—from now on, call them by their names. If you don’t listen, I’ll lock you away until you do!” Mei introduced everyone in turn, her warning serious.

Perhaps sensing she wasn’t joking and really might lock it up, Ling Xiao immediately nodded obediently. “Mei, I understand. I’ll be good. Please don’t be angry with me, all right?”

“That’s better. Now that you’re awake, how long will you stay up? Do you need to sleep again?” Mei, seeing its docile expression, softened a little and showed concern for its development.

“I’ll go back to sleep soon. I just swallowed something with a lot of energy and need time to digest it. Mei, this time I’ll shed my skin. When I wake up again, I’ll have grown a bit!” Ling Xiao’s voice became cheerful at the end, its tail swishing eagerly, as if it couldn’t wait to grow up.

“You’re going to shed your skin? I’ll put you somewhere safe, then. I’ll be busy these days and don’t know what I’ll run into, so I won’t disturb you.” Hearing it was about to shed, Mei knew she couldn’t let it twine around her wrist any longer.

Ling Xiao also knew it couldn’t stay with her while shedding. Though reluctant, it nodded its little head, then quickly said, “Mei, when I wake up, you have to come get me, okay? Don’t forget about me!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t forget. You’ll see me as soon as you wake up!” Mei promised, planning to keep it in her space so she could sense when it woke.

“By the way, the pendant you just swallowed belonged to Wenyuan. Go thank her!” Remembering the pendant that had triggered Ling Xiao’s awakening, Mei felt rather embarrassed.

Ling Xiao obediently slithered over to Qu Wenyuan and thanked her.

“Thank you!”

Qu Wenyuan had a natural fear of snakes, and when it crawled toward her, she froze. Yet when she heard its soft, childish voice thanking her, her heart unexpectedly softened and her guard lessened.

“You’re welcome. It wasn’t much use to me anyway. If it helped you, then at least it served its purpose.”

Hearing this, Mei felt even more embarrassed. After all the effort Wenyuan had gone through to get the pendant, her little snake had swallowed it in one gulp—it wasn’t easy to justify.

After thinking for a moment, Mei said, “Sister Yuan, would you like a storage space? I’ll make one for you next time!”

Qu Wenyuan had felt a pang of regret at losing a space, but upon hearing Mei’s offer, her face lit up with surprise and delight. “Then I’ll thank you in advance, Mei!”

Hearing Mei casually promise a storage space, Lin Shaojie looked at her with eager, longing eyes.

“All right, you don’t need to look at me like that. I’ll make one for you too. One for each of you—as a gift for the founding of our team. That way, you can all collect things you like,” Mei said, amused by his hopeful expression, and decided to give everyone a space.

“How do you have so many space items?” Mo Chen asked, helpless and a little uneasy. “Those aren’t cabbages you can hand out at will.”

“As long as I have the materials, they’re easy to make. I can’t do the complicated ones, but simple ones are no problem,” Mei replied casually, though it sounded very different to the others.

Was there anything this girl couldn’t do?

How could such a prodigy even be raised? So young, yet skilled with computers, powers, combat, intelligence, and now even making spatial items—how was anyone else supposed to compete?

She was so outstanding, one couldn’t even muster the energy to be jealous!

The gap was too vast—there was nothing for it but to look up to her.

Fortunately, her usual laziness, love of food, and occasional absentmindedness made her seem more like an ordinary person. Otherwise, they’d be under unbearable pressure.

After dinner, Mei placed the once-again slumbering Ling Xiao safely in her space, then returned to her room, leaning by the window to settle her tumultuous thoughts from the day.

Today, her emotions had been more volatile than at any other time since coming to this world.

First, the fusion of her memories in the morning had brought on a wave of negative feelings. Then, when the team’s formation was mentioned, she remembered Cyril and the others—how she’d once formed a mercenary squad with them, taking on missions and adventuring together.

Thinking back on those days, filled with excitement, danger, and happiness, she felt a wistful longing for that time. That was why she’d suggested naming the new team “Ni,” after her old squad. Though she would now adventure with different people, she still hoped they would be as united, supportive, and fearless in the face of any challenge as her former group had been.

The power within her gathered at her left hand, and a pattern gradually emerged on the smooth back of her hand—black, white, and green interwoven into a six-pointed star, radiating a mysterious aura.

The three colors formed elegant lines around the hexagram, and in the very center, a beautiful calligraphic letter—written in the script of her previous world—spelled “Ni,” the emblem of her old team.

Gently stroking the insignia on her hand, Mei’s eyes filled once more with memories and longing.