Mo Zhiyuan had gotten carried away.

It wasn’t until she got outside that she regretted it, crouching down and clutching her head.

Aaaah! Seriously, why did I have to act all manly at a time like this?! Now I have to climb the stairs all over again—and this time with extra weight!

Just thinking about it made Mo Zhiyuan want to cry.

Let’s just say I’m laying the groundwork for my miserable working life in the future...

Climbing stairs is going to become part of my daily routine from now on. There’s no escaping it. Sooner or later, I’ll have to face it.

At that thought, an idea suddenly came to Mo Zhiyuan.

Don’t I have Word Spirit? What would happen if I said ‘Relieve fatigue,’ like I did this morning when I hit my head?

It’s worth a try!

As for why she didn’t just say, “Teleport me to the first floor,” it was because Mo Zhiyuan had already learned her lesson. That probably wouldn’t do a thing, and she’d just be wasting another 500 yuan.

She’d formed a vague understanding of how to use her supernatural ability, Word Spirit.

They called it equivalent exchange, but there were still some basic rules she had to follow. For example... she couldn’t ‘create something from nothing.’

Of course, that was only Mo Zhiyuan’s guess.

Unfortunately, she could hardly put her ideas into practice. She was just too—poor. She didn’t have the money for it.

Still, you had to save the good stuff for when it mattered. There was no need to try it on the way down. She’d give it a shot when she climbed back up later!

La la la~ La la la la~

The girl was so happy at the thought of not having to worry about climbing the stairs later that she practically floated along. Humming a cheerful tune, she made her way downstairs with a spring in her step.

..........

“Hello! You have a package. Please sign for it~”

In the hallway, a strangely dressed girl was delivering something to one of the residents. She really didn’t look like a courier.

—Fiery red.

That was the first impression people had of her.

The girl wore a pair of windproof-looking goggles with chestnut-colored frames, along with a vivid red bunny-ear headband. Her outfit looked a little like something an adventurer from a Western fantasy world might wear, though it still had a distinctly modern feel. Her chestnut hair fell to her waist, and her clothes were mostly a blazing red. Her hot pants outlined her hips perfectly, while the shapely legs between them and her knee-high boots were hard to look away from.

The moment you saw her, the first things that came to mind definitely weren’t ‘her clothes are too revealing’ or ‘she’s wild and unrestrained’... or any other lewd nonsense. Instead, she gave you the immediate impression of someone who did everything in a rush, never dragged her feet, and couldn’t stand to wait a second longer than necessary. Lively and cheerful, with a bright, youthful smile and a fiery personality, she could melt a stranger’s defenses without even trying.

Spend a little more time with her and get to know her better, and you’d find that she was like a vivid red rose in full bloom—rosy and warm.

This girl was Chen Sique.

“Oh, I wanted to ask you something. Do you know if there are any vacant places around here for rent?”

Just as the resident was about to close the door, Chen Sique hurriedly called out to stop him. He was a quiet shut-in, and when the pretty girl in front of him spoke to him, he immediately started stammering.

“Uh, I... don’t think so? I’m really sorry! I’m not sure!”

The shut-in nervously blurted out a reply, then slammed the door shut, leaving Chen Sique looking disappointed.

“Sigh... No luck again...”

She’d gotten into a university in this city, and a very good one at that. Her future was looking bright, but that had left her with a problem.

She had nowhere to live.

Chen Sique didn’t like the idea of living on campus. She’d heard that even a girls’ dorm with only four people could have six or seven group chats! It was ridiculous. She didn’t like that kind of backstabbing atmosphere.

Besides, there were things she needed to do that she couldn’t do in a university dorm.

At first, her family had arranged for her to stay with a relative who lived in the capital. The relative had happily agreed, and everything should’ve worked out perfectly.

But who could’ve guessed that, just as her summer vacation was about to end, that family would—

Tear. It. Down!

Apparently, the demolition compensation was very generous. That very day, her relatives finalized everything, without even giving Chen Sique time to react!

When they sent her a picture of the huge ‘Demolition’ sign painted on the wall, she was furious!

There was nothing she could do. She’d have to find a place to live near her university in this city on her own.

Today, she was delivering packages for the shop her father ran and taking the chance to look around for a place.

But as an outsider in this city, she had no roots or connections here. She’d run into one obstacle after another, and after spending the whole morning searching, she still had nothing to show for it.

This place was very close to the university she’d gotten into. If she couldn’t find anything here, she’d have to cut into her free time and live somewhere farther away.

“I guess I’ll try asking somewhere else...”

Disappointed, Chen Sique prepared to leave. Her feet landed on a strange-looking contraption beside her—a pogo ball.

She’d probably played with one in PE class as a kid. You stood with one foot on each of the platforms on either side of the ball, then used its springiness to bounce around.

But this pogo ball was a little different. Compared to the kind used for exercise, it looked much cuter. Basically, it was a rabbit plush.

Once the mechanism that secured her feet popped up, Chen Sique bounced quickly down the hallway like a rabbit, hopping from side to side.

“Hmm-hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm-hmm~ Bunny, bunny, hop~ hop~”

The girl quickly shook off her disappointment. As her view bobbed up and down, her mood lifted, too.

She’d never been one to let worries get to her. Optimism was her one and only attitude toward life. And if something really did bother her, she’d burn it to ashes!

“Aaaaaah—!!!”

Just as she bounced up to the stairwell, a scream rang out. Chen Sique only caught a glimpse of fresh blue rushing into view before a soft ‘something’ knocked her to the ground.

It was like a fateful meeting: red and blue tangled together.

......

Mo Zhiyuan had gotten carried away.

The other shoe always dropped fast. Damn that little brat who’d pissed on the stairs! She’d panicked and dodged, twisting her ankle in the process.

All she’d managed to see was a scorching red shape beneath her before she plunged headfirst down. Thankfully, there’d been a ‘cushion’ to absorb some of the impact. Otherwise, she’d probably have ended up disabled.

Then came the searing pain in her ankle.

“—!”

She hadn’t even managed to cry out ‘It hurts!’ before Mo Zhiyuan clapped a hand over her mouth and muffled the words. Tears sprang to her eyes from the pain.

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!

I’m gonna die!!!

“Ah! Are you okay?”

Chen Sique, who’d served as Mo Zhiyuan’s cushion, wasn’t in much pain. When she saw the girl in front of her crying her eyes out, stifling her pained cries with all her might, she immediately put her own concerns aside.

—Ah, crap! I landed on someone!

Coming to her senses through the pain, Mo Zhiyuan’s eyes flew open in alarm. For a moment, she even forgot that she was hurting.

H-how much am I going to have to pay her? Waaaah... If I injured her, I’ll probably owe her thousands, maybe even tens of thousands! If I’ve left her with some kind of disability, I’ll be picking through trash to survive for the rest of my life.

I’ve still got a daughter at home to support, and now I’m completely broke, buried under a huge debt with only 2,000 yuan to fall back on.

At that thought, Mo Zhiyuan gritted her teeth through the pain, which had already begun to fade a little. She raised a trembling hand and scrawled a line in her little notebook, then looked at Chen Sique, whom she’d landed squarely on, with tear-filled eyes.

‘I really don’t have a drop left...’

Chen Sique: “???”