The next morning.

A snuffling, coughing sound, like an elephant with a bad cold 🤧, shattered the quiet of the small house. The girl’s thin blanket lay crumpled into a ball on a pillow. A pale arm stretched out from under the thick quilt, flinging a wonton in a perfect arc. It landed precisely on the floor, already carpeted with wontons.

“So cold…” Hua Xin mumbled in a nasal voice. She shivered all over, her cheeks and nose tip slightly flushed. Her jet-black hair was damp with sweat, strands clinging to her cheeks and the corner of her mouth.

Ignoring the wontons she kept tossing, one might wonder if she’d been up to no good the night before with restless hands.

After yesterday’s cold shower, the unexpected happened as expected. Hua Xin stared blankly at the ceiling, then slowly closed her eyes. Her hands rested peacefully on her abdomen beneath the quilt.

😇・°ʚ✟ Ascension ✟ɞ°・😇

Today, she couldn’t do anything. Her body felt so weak that even going to the bathroom required her to lean against the wall to avoid falling. She’d finished the cappuccino Auntie sent, but the double shock of the cold shower and Auntie’s fussing finally overwhelmed her frail body, barely held together by willpower. At this point, might as well… just sleep first. She hadn’t eaten, but drinking nothing but lava-hot water had filled her up. “A person can survive a week without food, but not without water…” Sleeping all day to recover sounded good too… By nine in the morning, overwhelming drowsiness washed over her. Peaceful 😇.

Wait—had she taken her medicine?

The sudden thought made her struggle to open her eyes.

“Sigh…” Hua Xin reached out, patting the bedside.

“Mm, found it.”

With dead-fish eyes, she stared at a strip of little red flower cold medicine—still perfectly intact, not a pill missing.

Two pills at once… that should speed things up.

Chomp…

She tore open the packaging, swallowed the pills, then grabbed an old-fashioned enamel mug. Gulping down hot water, she closed her eyes.

“Bleh.” The girl stuck out her tongue cutely 🥵, the bitter taste making her squirm uncomfortably 😣.

She slipped back under the covers. Rolling onto her side, she sighed happily—lying flat clogged her nose, but this way, one nostril stayed clear. “I can breathe now…” Hugging a life-sized anime body pillow, Hua Xin drifted into a deep sleep.

But fever or fitful naps left her dazed. Beneath the wonton layer, the medicine packaging from two hours ago lay forgotten. Her phone flashed silently on the desk, drowned in messages it couldn’t deliver.

……………………

“Money 💰… so much money 😋…”

Dollars rained down, burying Hua Xin in fresh bills. The crisp ink scent filled her with bliss.

“Hehe 🤑, I’m rich… I can do anything… I’ll run the AC all day! I’ll eat a mega burger with six hundred layers of cheese and three thousand layers of meat 🤤…”

“I’ll buy the priciest PS5 and RTX 4090 Ti 🤤! I’ll get the 🍎 10086 Max 1TB Coldfront Blue…”

But the falling dollars suddenly turned into razor-sharp needles, stabbing at Hua Xin as she floated in the cash. Trapped in the money pile, she couldn’t move.

“Ahhh 😨 nooo! I voted for you with monthly tickets, Tang San (hint hint), to help everyone revive Yi Lai Ke Si 😭! Don’t kill me with that needle barrage!”

“Ugh…” Hua Xin, now a human pincushion 🦔, tilted her head and went still.

The scene shifted.

“Huh? I’m not dead?”

Hua Xin stared in disbelief at her small, clean hands, exhaling in relief.

What’s this… I’m alive.

Hakimi hakimi hakimi~ Hakimi nare no~

Humming, she sat up—then froze at the opulent room. Where was she?

*Creak.*

“Master,” a cat-eared maid purred, stepping in, “would you like to eat first, bathe first, or… be served by someone first?” Behind her trailed… Tohka?!!

Hua Xin’s eyes widened in shock.

Ryouko, Eriri, Tsunade, Sekai, Ahri, Seraphine…

One by one, the anime girls who fueled her fantasies filed in.

“Am I dreaming? 🤤 I’m not dreaming, right? 🤤”

Drool dripped from her chin as she gazed at the lineup.

“My harem… all mine? 😭 I’m so happy. So fulfilled.”

Crying, she stood and lunged toward the soft, white thighs, ready to embrace the ultimate fantasy she’d craved for over a decade.

“Here I come, 2D world…”

“Here I come, 2D world 😭!!!!”

She’d forgotten she no longer had the tools for the job.

“Wives!!! …Huh??? 😨”

The beauties vanished, replaced by wooden stakes bristling with blades, oozing black-green poison.

“No! 😭 I don’t want the 2D world anymore!!!!”

“Save me! Make it stop! (desperate sob)”

Mid-leap of faith, she couldn’t pull back, watching helplessly as blades pierced her body, staining the stakes crimson.

“Ugh…”

Hua Xin tilted her head again, lifeless.

…………

“My foolish master.”

Hua Xin opened her eyes to a pure white void.

“Who’s there? Am I not dead?”

She looked up—and froze 😨.

A winged cow hovered midair, gazing at her with tender approval.

“Seeing you well eases my heart. I’ll chase my own dreams and freedom now. Don’t grieve for me. May you find peace and joy…”

With that, the cow flapped away.

“No! 😭😭😭 My cow-cow!”

Hua Xin wept helplessly, reaching toward its fading form… then…

Opened her eyes.

Ugh…

Familiar sights.

Computer. Walls plastered with anime posters.

Wiping drool, Hua Xin silently lifted the quilt.

It was gone.

Tears streamed down her face 😭.

Sobs wracked her body as she clutched the blanket.

“Goodbye 👋🏻…”

“My cow-cow 😭.”