A New Fortune, A Lingering Melancholy

As Bai Xia emerged from the bathroom, towel-drying her hair after a refreshing shower, her gaze fell upon a deposit notification within her SkyNet messages.

Upon opening it, the dazzling sum of twenty thousand Huayuan glittered so brightly it nearly blinded her.

This was a legitimate twenty thousand renminbi, a sum capable of buying an unimaginable mountain of instant noodles!

She had not anticipated such promptness from Tian Zheng; he had promised to go offline and transfer the funds, and he had done so without delay.

A wave of profound gratitude washed over her, bringing her perilously close to tears.

Little did she know, however, what Bai Xia’s reaction would be if she were to discover that the very man she had already emblazoned with a glorious label in her heart had, just moments ago, effortlessly sold those same items for a staggering one hundred thousand yuan—and that sum represented only a fraction of his total haul.

Such details, of course, would remain hidden from her, at least for the time being.

All in all, Bai Xia felt immensely satisfied.

Only yesterday, she had been so destitute she had nearly resorted to ’round corners’ (TL Note: A euphemism for prostitution), yet today her wallet was once again pleasantly plump.

Naturally, she yearned to withdraw every last coin and roll around on the pile in jubilant celebration.

Beneath the deposit notification, she also noticed a message from an unfamiliar sender, its content remarkably brief.

“I’ve had someone transfer the money.

Did you receive it?”

Knowing that no one but Tian Zheng would utter such words, Bai Xia swiftly added him to her otherwise vacant contact list.

Glimpsing the solitary entry, she initially considered labeling him simply ‘Tian Zheng,’ but after a moment’s reflection, she revised it to ‘Boss,’ a gesture of profound respect.

Having added the contact, Bai Xia idly sent a brief message in response while awaiting her takeout.

To her surprise, a reply came instantly, and finding herself rather bored, she engaged Tian Zheng in a text conversation.

Unsurprisingly, their conversation revolved around the game, encompassing various rumors, future development strategies, and other such topics.

Though Bai Xia found herself less than captivated, she nevertheless listened with unwavering attention, absorbing every word, adhering to the unspoken principle that one must diligently earn their keep when accepting another’s generosity.

Their exchange, however, did not extend for long.

Primarily, many matters were simply too complex to convey adequately through text.

Secondly, Tian Zheng on the other end appeared to have pressing engagements, and simultaneously, Bai Xia’s takeout order was nearing its arrival.

Having settled upon a time to log in and a designated meeting point, Bai Xia severed their connection and departed to retrieve her takeout.

****

Upon finishing her takeout, the hour outside was not particularly late.

Yet, the preceding hours spent gaming had left her utterly exhausted, prompting Bai Xia to collapse into sleep after indulging in just a few episodes of new anime online.

Her slumber proved unexpectedly profound and sweet.

She pondered whether this blissful rest was a consequence of the immense energy she had expended earlier, or perhaps because the heavy burden weighing upon her heart had, at last, been temporarily set aside.

Not only was her sleep undisturbed by the usual jumbled, forgettable dreams, but she also remained deeply unconscious until past eight the following morning before gradually stirring awake.

“…Hmm?”

The crisp chill of a November morning was already distinctly palpable.

Bai Xia, having just roused from sleep, burrowed deeper into her quilt, feeling an utter lack of energy.

Her eyes fluttered open, fixating on the ceiling as she drifted in a brief reverie.

Though she intended to rise, she found herself, in a hazy state, inadvertently drifting back to sleep for another half hour.

Nearly an hour later, having indulged in a leisurely dawdle, she finally, and with palpable reluctance, hauled herself from the bed to attend to her morning ablutions.

****

As previously established, Bai Xia harbored no intention of engaging in games that day.

This was not due to any burgeoning aversion, but simply because a number of real-world errands demanded her attention.

Firstly, her abode was severely lacking in almost every essential, necessitating a trip to the supermarket to procure provisions for replenishment.

Following this, she intended to purchase fresh ingredients to stock her refrigerator.

Bai Xia herself was far from being a culinary novice; quite the opposite, her cooking prowess was remarkably decent.

Having lived alone for many years, she found that while takeout offered undeniable convenience, a steady diet of it eventually failed to satisfy her palate.

Consequently, she had cultivated the habit of purchasing ingredients and preparing her own meals whenever she found herself with free time or during holidays.

While the flavors might not rival those crafted by a restaurant’s head chef, the meals she prepared invariably tasted more appealing than any takeout.

After all, the fruits of one’s own labor always seemed to carry an inherent bonus of satisfaction.

Furthermore, with the encroaching chill of the season, she needed to acquire several new garments.

The original owner’s wardrobe had been sparse to begin with, predominantly comprising flashy, impractical dresses, and Bai Xia had long harbored the desire to augment it with more suitable attire.

Amidst this jumble of miscellaneous tasks, had time permitted, she would have relished the opportunity to thoroughly explore the city she now inhabited.

Ever since her arrival in this world, her thoughts had been consumed by anxieties about future survival, leaving her with no genuine chance to properly observe her surroundings.

The likelihood of remaining in this world indefinitely was high, and thus, despite any lingering discomfort, she understood that certain realities simply had to be embraced.

Having completed her ablutions and changed into fresh attire, Bai Xia paused for a moment of contemplation before donning a woman’s trench coat.

Continuous heavy rains in recent days had brought a sharp drop in temperature, making the extra layer a practical necessity.

The black trench coat, complete with a generous hood, still felt somewhat oversized on her frame, a consequence of her slender build.

Nevertheless, it offered excellent protection against both the biting wind and the impending rain.

Indeed, the weather outside was far from pleasant; a heavy overcast sky was accompanied by strong, blustery winds.

“Should I go back and get an umbrella?”

Sensing the imminent threat of rain, Bai Xia, now stepping out of her residential complex, murmured the question to herself.

Yet, having already reached the main entrance, the thought of returning proved too much of a bother.

Emerging from the somewhat secluded residential complex, she activated her SkyNet navigation and boarded a silently self-driving public transport, setting off towards the nearest large supermarket.

The bus held only a handful of passengers, and with Bai Xia’s hood pulled up, she remained entirely unnoticed by anyone.

Bai Xia, largely indifferent to her anonymity, simultaneously monitored the navigation route and gazed out at the passing scenery through the bus window.

While technological advancements had far surpassed those of the past, Suhua boasted an impressively lush green landscape.

Sturdy maple trees lined both sides of the thoroughfares, and along one edge of the pedestrian walkways, countless unnamed flowers continued to bloom in vibrant profusion.

The post-rain humidity, infused with the invigorating scent of nature and the sweet perfume of blossoms, combined with the silently gliding vehicles and the sparse pedestrians, coalesced into a tableau of near-perfect serenity.

In stark contrast to the boisterous clamor of the great cities etched in her memory, the Suhua before her eyes resembled an idealized metropolis, one that existed only in dreams.

Pristine energy sources had eliminated all forms of pollution, allowing human existence to flourish in closer harmony with nature.

Bai Xia leaned against the window, her chin propped in her hand, silently surveying the scene.

Her gaze, quite involuntarily, drifted into the distance, becoming unfocused and lost in thought.

This world, it seemed, was far more beautiful than she had ever anticipated.

Yet, the subtle echoes of familiar landscapes inevitably stirred memories of her past, and with them… an undeniable pang of loneliness.

Spanning the chasm of an entire world, this immense distance, despite her most fervent efforts to adapt, still left her with an undeniable sense of being an outsider, profoundly out of sync with this new reality.

A profound yearning gripped her: for the friends of her past, scattered across the four corners of the earth yet sporadically connected; for the companions with whom she had once indulged in drunken revelry after work; and most acutely, for her parents and kin, who, despite perhaps only a few annual phone calls, perpetually longed for her swift return home…

But, in all likelihood, a return to that life was now an impossibility.

“So capricious, so helpless,” she murmured, “perhaps this is simply the nature of life itself.”

As she sighed, her eyes cast downwards, the girl’s clear, melodious voice jolted the drowsy middle-aged man in the front row.

He stirred, instinctively turning to cast a peculiar glance her way, before muttering to himself, in a voice barely audible, ‘Are children nowadays truly so precocious?’

Though Bai Xia hadn’t distinctly caught his murmur, she could readily infer the man’s sentiments.

Despite the observation being a direct consequence of her own emotional outpouring, a faint blush still crept across her cheeks.

‘I hope I wasn’t taken for a chuunibyou’ (TL Note: A Japanese term, ‘chūnibyō,’ referring to ‘eighth-grade syndrome,’ a phase during which adolescents believe they possess special powers or hidden knowledge.)?

Feeling an increasing sense of unease, she promptly disembarked the moment the bus arrived at her destination.