Chapter 65. A Connection, Reappearing...
The moment all the information came together, a long, piercing electromagnetic hiss rang in Lin Xiaoxiao's mind, and she involuntarily covered her head with her hands.
The next second, her heart suddenly stopped beating, and the blood in her body seemed to freeze for several seconds.
Then a surge of energy broke through the stagnation in her body, and her whole body seemed to have gained its own consciousness, throbbing wildly. A surge of heat exploded in her heart, and her mind went blank, as if something was about to break out.
Immediately afterwards, a familiar voice, accompanied by crackling electromagnetic sounds, reappeared in the depths of her mind: 'Looking for me... no... coming... not here yet... wait a little longer...'
A dozen seconds later, the strange sound disappeared, and the electromagnetic sound also disappeared.
Lin Xiaoxiao's condition has returned to normal.
At the same time, she also forgot the fact that the voice had suddenly appeared, as if a part of her memory had been forcibly ripped out again.
As Lin Xiaoxiao covered her head, Xiao Weizhi quickly stood up from the chair opposite her, bent down and reached out to support her shoulder, his tone anxious and helpless: "Xiaoxiao, what's wrong?"
Lin Xiaoxiao's face was pale. She slowly lowered her hands, her eyes filled with confusion: "What happened to me? Did I do the same thing as before?"
Xiao Weizhi pursed his thin lips tightly and nodded: "Yes."
For a period of time, Lin Xiaoxiao had nightmares every night. When she woke up the second time, she couldn't remember anything, except that her face was deathly pale.
Later on, similar situations would occasionally occur briefly during the day, each lasting only a short time.
However, after each such incident, Lin Xiaoxiao herself was completely unaware of what had happened; she only felt physically uncomfortable.
Later, Xiao Weizhi noticed the situation and realized that something was wrong.
After observing her for a period of time, it was found that whenever this happened, she would feel inexplicably unwell after recovering, and then she would have no memory of what had happened.
In response, Xiao Weizhi searched everywhere in the capital, pulling strings to have her examined and her past records checked... but he couldn't find anything out.
Lin Xiaoxiao shook her head vigorously, trying to regain her senses. Grabbing his wrist, she said her guess in a very urgent tone: "Weizhi, your old man may be in danger."
Then, she recounted how she had met several people at the underground auction, one of whom was named Mu Shao, and how that person had even bid on a (color-tricolor) cursed item.
Lin Xiaoxiao hadn't originally intended to think about it in this way.
Until Xiao Weizhi mentioned a point that instantly gave her a very frightening idea.
The reason why the Xiao family can still hold on so stubbornly and remain among the top-tier aristocratic families is because Xiao Weizhi's grandfather is still alive.
Grandpa Xiao was among the first batch of 'SSS-level pioneers who successfully explored secret realms' in his youth, and he was also an eighth-level powerhouse.
Putting aside everything else, even those old acquaintances and high-ranking officials in the capital... no matter what they think in their hearts, they have to give him some face on the surface.
What if the Xiao family patriarch is no longer around? And what about the businesses that have been targeted?
If you want to save the Xiao family, even a god would have to scratch his head in frustration.
After listening to Lin Xiaoxiao's account with grim expressions, Xiao Weizhi and Uncle Jiang immediately guessed that it was probably those shady characters who always liked to hide in the gutter, preparing to cause trouble again.
Xiao Weizhi bent down, reached out, and carried Lin Xiaoxiao, who was sitting on the chair, in his arms, steadily walking towards the room.
He was expressionless, but his voice was very gentle: "Jiang Bo and I will find a way to handle these matters. It's late, you should go back to your room and rest first. We can talk about the rest after you've rested."
Lin Xiaoxiao rested her head on Xiao Weizhi's shoulder, reached out and grabbed his collar, her mouth opening and closing but unable to make a sound, trying to warn him to be careful, that someone was targeting the Xiao family's businesses.
"Damn 'plot control'!" Lin Xiaoxiao roared inwardly.
When he finally placed her on the bed, she managed to squeeze out two words: "Sniper!"
After saying those two words, her throat felt like it had been scalded by a burning flame, and a stinging sensation instantly struck her, plunging her back into a state of complete muteness.
Upon hearing those two words, Xiao Weizhi's eyes flashed with contemplation. He then removed Lin Xiaoxiao's prosthetic right leg and placed it aside. He bent down, braced his hands on either side of her legs, tilted his head, and leaned closer to give her a gentle kiss on the corner of her lips.
Then he reached out and touched her head, gently comforting her: "I'll take care of the rest. It's late, you should rest first, we can talk again tomorrow."
Lin Xiaoxiao, who had lost her voice, nodded in agreement.
Given her familiarity with the state of being unable to speak, it would have been almost impossible for her to speak these past few days.
Then get some rest first. If there's anything to deal with, wait until you've rested enough before getting up to handle it.
As she nestled into the soft bed and drifted off to sleep.
In her space, the stone placed in a corner slowly floated into the air, emitting faint light, as if it was trying to break through and leave using this method.
Just as ripples of spatial distortion appeared around the stone, it seemed to run out of energy, losing all its strength and abilities, and reverted to its ordinary stone state, falling back to its original position.
The next morning, Lin Xiaoxiao, who was standing by the window, noticed that the red magic circle in the sky was starting to lighten in color and some of the patterns were fading, as if the magic circle's energy was about to be exhausted.
Lin Xiaoxiao was a little confused. Could it be that she had remembered it wrong again?
The original text states that the blood-red magic circle in the sky lasted for more than a month, almost two months.
How come it's disappearing in less than a month? What happened?
Lin Xiaoxiao herself did not expect that all these changes were related to her. The reason why there was such a big difference from the original work was because she changed several key points.
'Knock knock knock—' There was a knock on the door.
Sister Luo's gentle voice came from outside the door: "Miss Lin, are you awake?"
Lin Xiaoxiao opened her mouth to speak, but found that her throat was still hoarse and she couldn't make a sound. She immediately opened the door and smiled and nodded at Sister Luo who was standing outside.
Sister Luo smiled and bowed slightly: "Good morning, Miss Lin."
Lin Xiaoxiao waved awkwardly and greeted her, silently replying in her mind, "Good morning, Sister Luo."
Seeing that Lin Xiaoxiao didn't speak, Sister Luo assumed that she was suffering from internal heat again, which caused her voice to become hoarse. Her tone was somewhat helpless: "Miss Lin, are you suffering from internal heat again? Your constitution is not suitable for eating so much spicy food. I've told you that before..."
Under Sister Luo's concerned nagging, Lin Xiaoxiao lowered her head awkwardly, avoiding Sister Luo's worried gaze.
Getting a sore throat? That's true.
Every time I try to 'reveal' the plot, my throat feels like it's on fire, causing me to lose my voice, which can be considered a physical form of 'getting too hot'.
After dinner, Lin Xiaoxiao drank a large cup of herbal medicine to reduce internal heat. She then sat on the sofa in the living room and drank warm water to soothe the bitter and numb taste in her mouth.
As her gaze swept past the black cat casually licking its fur, she suddenly remembered the 'stone' she had brought back from that underground mission site.
For the past few days, I've been following the black cat around, but I couldn't find a suitable place to check it, so I just left it in my space for several days.
After returning, I was so tired that I fell asleep. Then, I talked to Xiao Weizhi about things late at night, but I didn't remember the strange 'stone'.
Thinking back to that feeling of being summoned earlier.
Lin Xiaoxiao immediately wanted to take out the stone to examine it, curious about what was hidden inside.
She turned to the treasure-hunting mouse crouching beside the black cat and the red-tailed creature frolicking on the ground and asked, "I have something to take care of back in my room. Do you want to come up with me?"
The treasure-hunting mouse turned its small body and slowly approached the black cat, its back to Lin Xiaoxiao, and muttered, "No."
Redtail's four paws gripped tightly onto the sofa's leather surface, leaving tiny paw prints as it climbed and used the sofa as a climbing frame, its six large red tails swaying wildly behind it.
Its childlike voice was very cheerful: "No, Redtail wants to play with Uncle Terral."
When the black cat heard the word "uncle," it paused in licking its paws and stared blankly at the red-tailed cat not far away.
Then, as if it didn't want to accept the name, it kicked its two paws to the ground, closed its eyes and pretended to be asleep, demonstrating its intention through its actions: if I don't respond, then it's not calling me.
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded: "Okay, I'll go back to my room to take care of some things first. If you need anything, just come to my room to find me."
Back in her room, Lin Xiaoxiao quickly closed the door and nervously took out a stone from her spatial storage.
Holding the stone in her hand, she could clearly feel something within it conveying some unknown emotion.
Apart from that, this stone is no different from anything else.
Lin Xiaoxiao scratched her head, puzzled, picked up the stone and shook it, feeling somewhat frustrated: 'There's no hint at all, how am I supposed to deal with this?'
She studied it repeatedly, trying soaking it in water, burning it with fire, chiseling it with a hammer... she even smeared some blood on it, but the stone didn't change at all.
After studying it for 40 minutes, there was still no change.
Just as she was about to put the stone back into her spatial storage and study it slowly later when she had time,
The stone emitted bursts of light, trembled, broke free from Lin Xiaoxiao's hand, floated into the air, and began to slowly break apart, revealing a ball of light, slightly larger than a fist, emitting a pale golden glow.
Several prompts then quickly popped up on the screen:
[An unknown spirit has proposed a contract with you: Do you agree?]
[A specific relationship was detected; a contract was established without obtaining consent]
[Treasure Merchant class skill detected. Re-integration officially commencing...]
[Integration progress: 10%, 35%, 60%...]
Everything happened in just a few seconds. Before Lin Xiaoxiao could react, the ball of light was already heading straight for her forehead.
Fragments of memories quickly flashed through Lin Xiaoxiao's mind, and she stared wide-eyed in astonishment.
Act One: Inside a dark, windowless room with six walls made of black brick, resembling a cage, a woman in a white dress, her face obscured, sits on the floor, whispering something to a pale golden orb of light before her. After a long while, the orb flickers as if in agreement…
{Act Two: The woman's right hand emitted bursts of light as she forcefully pulled a ball of white light from her chest and stuffed it into the pale golden light. Immediately afterward, as if greatly injured, the woman spat out a mouthful of blood…}
{Third scene: After the pale golden light absorbed the white light, the woman waved her hand, and the pale golden light was forcibly transformed into an ordinary gray-black stone, which she placed in a corner of the room…}
{Act Four: The woman is roughly shackled and taken away by several masked men; the stone remains unnoticed...}
Act V: Years later, the dungeon crumbles, and stones are carelessly tossed aside by the roadside…
...
[Due to unforeseen circumstances, one of the Treasure Chest Merchant's job skills failed to be fused.]
Congratulations: Your Gathering skill (Intermediate) has automatically upgraded to: All Things Extraction skill (Diamond level)
Congratulations on acquiring the skill: Extraction of All Things (Diamond Level) (Upgradeable)
[Extraction of All Things (Diamond Level): Only those who possess this skill can extract everything in the world, whether it be energy, skills, or even souls...]
Congratulations on obtaining: Ancient Wise Spirit (Diamond Tier) (Upgradeable)
[Intelligent Spirit: A special spirit with a one in a trillion chance of being born only in places with numerous ancient books. It is said that this spirit can travel between the world of books and the real world; as long as there are books, there is nothing it doesn't know, making it a living, breathing version of Baidu (the Chinese search engine for information on search engines).]
[Special Note: This intelligent spirit is special. A unique event has occurred to it, forcibly fusing it with a special class skill: [Attribute Imprinting Technique (Diamond Level) (Upgradeable)]]
After everything is over.
Lin Xiaoxiao felt all her strength inexplicably drained away, and she collapsed to the ground, her forehead covered in cold sweat and her lips turning uncontrollably white.
Before her floated a fairy about 15 centimeters tall, dressed in a light gold vest dress, with three pairs of transparent wings shaped like leaves behind her.
The elf's hair was neatly combed back, she wore black-rimmed glasses, and she held a small brown-black book in her arms. Her tiny face, no bigger than a thumb, stared expressionlessly at Lin Xiaoxiao.
Its voice was devoid of any emotion, showing neither joy nor displeasure: "It's a pleasure to meet you, new treasure chest merchant. I am the wise spirit—All-Intelligence."
Lin Xiaoxiao sat on the ground, her hands supporting her body on either side, forcing a pale smile and weakly nodding at it.
Quan Zhi whispered a few instructions, and before Lin Xiaoxiao could react, he turned into tiny stars and merged into her body before going back to rest.
After resting for a while and regaining some strength, Lin Xiaoxiao quietly opened her information panel:
[Name: Lin Xiaoxiao
Age: 22
Occupations: Treasure Chest Merchant [Hidden Occupation], [Divine Agent]
Destined Bound Person: Xiao Weizhi [Effect: Live and Die Together]
Level: LV64 (...) [Currently retained experience points: 2,243,475]
Job Skills: Daily Treasure Chest [0/10], Luck Treasure Chest [1 per day], Experience Treasure Chest [0/3], Sacrifice to Lady Luck, Treasure Chest Crafting (Diamond Level)
Other skills: Wisdom Spirit (Diamond Level), Divine Eye (Diamond Level), Extraction of All Things (Diamond Level), Listening to the Sound of All Things, Gold Coin Critical Strike (Diamond Level)
Talents: Extra-large storage space, Lucky Libra, [Negative Buff: Experience Points -50% (Permanent)], [Negative Buff: Stamina -20% (Permanent)], [Identity Concealment Buff (Permanent)]
Special Contacts Module: Currently recorded contacts: [4/4] (List collapsed)
Task Module: [Task 3 (Please expand to view details)]
Lin Xiaoxiao looked at the words "Intelligent Elf Skill" that suddenly appeared on the panel and smiled bitterly.
From those fragmented memories, one can vaguely discern that the woman did it on purpose. After being captured, she made a desperate move, forcibly extracting her skills and merging them into the body of an elf.
Then, with the spirit's consent, they forcibly reversed the spirit's life nature and transformed it into a skill-based entity.
[Skill Body: This refers to a special entity that transforms spirits, summoned beasts, etc., into skills, making them immortal and indestructible. Even if they are reduced to ashes, they can regenerate and be summoned again after a certain period of time.]
The advantage is that once transformed into a skill body, there will be no more talent restrictions. As long as the master can improve and level up, the skill body can also improve accordingly.
The downside is that once the skill's owner dies, the skill entity will also perish (unless a way to extract the skill can be found).
Although becoming a skill-based entity grants immortality, it also means eternally losing its freedom.
Therefore, unless faced with a dead end or other reasons, all spirits or summoned beasts would never agree to become skill entities.
Lin Xiaoxiao sat on the ground, feeling a faint ache in her temples, and sighed softly: Things are getting complicated.
Lin Xiaoxiao initially thought that her "seniors" had been deceived or for some other reason, and had directly traded their professional skills as tradable items.
But is it really just a simple imprisonment of a "living treasure trove" that could make her "senior" so desperate, even going so far as to extract and discard their own professional skills?
Moreover, she felt like she had seen the clothes worn by the men who took the woman away somewhere before; they looked very familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen them before.
Xiao Weizhi pushed the door open and came in. Seeing Lin Xiaoxiao sitting blankly on the ground, he immediately walked over, picked her up, and frowned as he asked, "Why are you sitting on the ground?"
Lin Xiaoxiao opened her mouth to explain: She had been sitting on the ground for a while because she was too weak.
Then they discovered that she was still mute, so they simply shut up and stopped talking.
Two days later, all the magic circles in the sky disappeared, and the skies above the capital returned to normal.
The Xiao family's businesses were still targeted, but the losses were still within acceptable limits, probably because the magic array didn't last as long as in the original story.
Meanwhile, thanks to Lin Xiaoxiao's reminder, seven days later, the sanatorium guards captured an assassin using a cursed item one night.
Unfortunately, due to some reason, the props had already been activated when they were captured. In a moment of desperation, one of the old man's guards took the curse, and he fell into a coma that day.
Xiao Weizhi compensated the guard's family and promised to find a way to save the professional.
However, the matter could not be concealed and was widely reported by major media outlets, leading to the public perception that the Xiao family was a slave enterprise. Subsequently, the share value and sales volume of most of their industries plummeted.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the heart of the mountains, 400 kilometers from the capital.
A 10-meter-high and 5-meter-wide vortex appeared out of thin air hundreds of meters in the sky. Then, as if by a pair of invisible giant hands, the vortex was torn apart, making it seven or eight times larger than before.
A few minutes later, countless figures rushed out of it...
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