That shut-in big brother earned tens of thousands in interest every single day. Meanwhile, I nearly worked myself to death fighting monsters just to make a little over a hundred thousand a month. It hardly seemed worth it.
Besides, I’d spent seven years of my lifespan to use a magic weapon early today. If I’d just kept training like before, I probably would’ve been strong enough to use one in three or four years—five at the most.
Unfortunately, things had been urgent. If I hadn’t done it, I’d have died.
There was no point dwelling on it. Luckily, I was pretty tough mentally. After finishing the mission, I deserved to have some fun. Otherwise, why had I bothered wearing a hat and putting on sunscreen?
The three of them agreed. The danger at the zoo had been dealt with, and everything damaged had been repaired. There were usually plenty of people around, but now it was just the three of them. After all their hard work, they’d be doing themselves a disservice if they didn’t take the time to enjoy the place.
Once they’d settled down, Bai Xiaoxiao, Lu Wanxin, and Cai Mengmeng got right to exploring the zoo.
“Over here, over here!”
A few hippos seemed too frightened to come up out of the water. Bai Xiaoxiao gazed regretfully at the calm surface, where several pairs of big eyes peeked out. Lu Wanxin took the chance to snap a few photos of her, teasing that she’d print them out when they got home.
They continued on from the hippo exhibit and reached the red-crowned cranes.
Tianhai Zoo was enormous. Even after walking for over half an hour, the three of them hadn’t covered half of it.
Bai Xiaoxiao was getting tired and suggested they take a break, but Lu Wanxin refused.
“We don’t get to come here every day. We finally dealt with the monster, so how can we not have some fun? Xiaoxiao, how about we secretly fly around with magic? We could take some photos from up in the air, too.”
Bai Xiaoxiao was a hundred percent in favor of not having to walk on her own two feet.
With magic strengthening her body, she felt incredibly light. By controlling the magic, she could fly freely through the sky.
Bai Xiaoxiao zipped around like a little bird and really did take a ton of photos. Dressed in a cool, breezy outfit as she flew through the air, she might’ve been mistaken for some kind of giant bird if you didn’t look closely.
To keep the cameras from catching them, Lu Wanxin thoughtfully blocked every camera in the zoo and the surrounding area for the time being. The footage showed only one enormous spot of light, and there wasn’t even any sound.
In less than ten minutes, the three of them had flown over every section of the zoo. Some of the animals on the ground raised their heads curiously to see what was flying overhead. Unfortunately, they weren’t very intelligent, and before long they went back to whatever they’d been doing.
“All right, we’ve had our fun at the zoo. Time to head home!”
Lu Wanxin called it a day. Cai Mengmeng, who hadn’t had much energy to begin with, was the first to climb into the back seat and wait for Lu Wanxin to drive her home.
Bai Xiaoxiao had planned to ask Senior Lu Wanxin to drive her home, too. But she had a feeling that if her brother and the others met, something might happen between them. In the end, she just asked Senior Lu Wanxin to drop her off at the office.
After reporting what had happened to Captain Qu Mengting, Bai Xiaoxiao received a hearty round of praise. Captain Meng Ting also promised to raise her monthly pay by about a third from then on.
That meant Bai Xiaoxiao would be making two hundred thousand a month. In the past, she might’ve been so excited she couldn’t sleep that night. But after seeing how much money her shut-in big brother had, money didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore.
That nagging sense of unfairness began to creep back in.
After ordering a ride on her phone, Bai Xiaoxiao thought about picking up something to eat at a nearby restaurant. But she worried the food out there might not be very clean, so she figured she might as well go home and eat some leftovers.
The whole ride, Bai Xiaoxiao paid no attention to the scenery outside. She didn’t even care that the wind had messed up her hair.
By the time she reached home, her stomach was already growling. If she ever had to fight a monster on an empty stomach, she probably wouldn’t be able to use even half her strength.
Bai Xiaoxiao’s thoughts started wandering as she slid her key into the front door. The lock turned with ease.
The first floor was empty. That good-for-nothing shut-in big brother of hers was probably in his room gaming again.
She’d nearly given her life fighting a monster today, while her brother was home playing games in peace—and making more money than she did. How was that fair?
The more Bai Xiaoxiao thought about it, the angrier she got. But she didn’t feel right about disturbing her brother, so she could only look through the fridge for something to eat.
The durian she’d bought a couple of days ago looked ready to eat. Her brother had bought it for her, after all. In that case...
She quickly cut it into pieces with a kitchen knife, then pulled out the plump pods of durian flesh one by one and arranged them on a plate.
It smelled amazing, and the chilled durian was perfect for summer.
That good-for-nothing shut-in big brother of hers might only be good at cooking, but she had to admit he treated her pretty well.
At first, Bai Xiaoxiao ate the durian slowly, savoring each bite. Then she decided that wasn’t enough and started gnawing on a whole chunk.
There was hardly anyone on the first floor right now, so who cared about table manners?
It took her a little over ten minutes to finish off both durians. After tidying up and throwing all the garbage in the bin, Bai Xiaoxiao headed to the third floor, looking thoroughly satisfied.
Those two big durians had easily made a full meal. Bai Xiaoxiao had worried they wouldn’t be enough, but now she didn’t feel like reheating any leftovers.
As she reached the third floor, she heard the sound of a keyboard coming from her brother’s room. It sounded like he was typing fast. Then again, all that good-for-nothing shut-in did was play games all day.
Bai Xiaoxiao had no intention of greeting Li Xinghe. She quietly slipped into her room, closed the door, and lay down on her bed.
She tossed her phone aside and decided to go over everything that had happened today.
First, they’d set out for the zoo. Everything had gone fine until they found the source of the gathering magic.
Senior Lu Wanxin had used her own magic to disperse the magic as it gathered. But for some reason, even though it looked like she’d succeeded, the magic had actually been absorbed by the giant black-patterned python directly below them, turning it into a host and successfully transforming it into a monster.
Luckily, only its body had been enhanced. It was a stupid monster that couldn’t even use magic.
After that, it burrowed underground and created a false image to lure her into investigating. The moment Senior Lu Wanxin left, it ambushed her and swallowed her whole.
Then, trapped in its stomach and overwhelmed by despair, she’d turned to her contracted spirit for help. After making a deal with Ruby, she’d traded seven years of her lifespan for the chance to use a magic weapon early.
It still seemed like a terrible deal now, but she’d had no choice given the circumstances.
Then she’d broken through from the inside, blown up the monster’s stomach, and killed it. Its exterior had been incredibly tough, but the inside was ridiculously weak.
Senior Lu Wanxin seemed to have awakened a magic weapon, too. But had she traded away some of her lifespan like Xiaoxiao had? If she had, then she must’ve made a deal with her contracted spirit to save Xiaoxiao.
Senior Cai Mengmeng had contributed the least this time, but she’d managed to injure the monster’s mouth. She’d also been assigned to patrol a corner far from Xiaoxiao. The monster had targeted Xiaoxiao first, and luckily it had been her. If it had been Senior Cai Mengmeng, who was weaker...
She’d only just faced a brush with death a couple of days ago, and today it had happened all over again.
It was a good thing she hadn’t quit on the spot.
