Ganyu stood at the doorway, glancing around nervously.
It was her first ti doing sothing like this, so she was understandably a bit tense.
Seeing no one around, she reached for the doorknob.
The door wasn't locked.
With a gentle push, it opened easily.
She slipped inside, imdiately closing the door behind her. When she looked up, she saw Xia Zhi sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her with a warm smile.
Her cheeks flushed for no reason at all. She spoke softly, "Should I lock the door?"
"Yeah, lock it."
"Okay."
Ganyu reached back and turned the lock, a crisp click ringing out.
Then she turned around again and slowly walked toward Xia Zhi.
With every step, the little bell tied at her neck jingled ever so lightly.
The closer she got to him, the faster her heart began to pound, all kinds of indescribable images popping up in her mind, making her face burn even hotter.
As for Xia Zhi, the nearer Ganyu ca, the more he noticed how red her face had gotten — and he could also sll the faint coconut-like fragrance radiating from her, stronger and stronger.
It felt just like a delicious feast walking right into his mouth.
Tonight Ganyu was wearing a new outfit. It wasn't the typical Liyue style, but had an ancient, almost ethereal vibe.
Obviously sothing she had changed into on purpose.
Ganyu sat down lightly next to him, placing both hands on her thighs and unconsciously clasping them together.
Xia Zhi chuckled. "So nervous?"
Blushing, Ganyu lowered her gaze. "Um, not really…"
It was funny — she'd dared to listen through the wall and do sothing bold just the other day, but now, with no wall in between them and no Shenhe around, she'd turned shy instead.
Xia Zhi looked at her with a grin. "In that case, how about we play a little ga first?"
Ganyu looked up. "A ga?"
"Yeah, a ga." Xia Zhi nodded, taking a golden treasure chest from his inventory.
Ganyu's eyes were drawn straight to it.
It was a beautifully ornate golden box with strange patterns carved on it.
She stared for a mont before realizing, "This treasure chest… looks kind of like the end-of-year bonus chests you handed out during New Year?"
"Pretty similar."
"Except those were black iron colored, and this one is golden. Does that an sothing?"
"They all hold different things you can draw, but just like how gold is worth more than black iron, the items from a golden treasure chest tend to be more valuable."
"Oh, I see."
"Here."
"Eh?"
"You've always had good luck. Back at New Year, everyone had you open their bonus chests, and you ended up pulling exactly what they wanted. So I'd like you to try opening this one too."
"Then… what do you want from it?"
"It's not about what I want. It's what you want."
"?"
"Whatever cos out of the chest, it's yours."
"Huh?"
Ganyu looked down at the golden treasure chest in her hands.
"So… I'm opening it?"
"Yep! Go ahead!"
"If I don't get anything good, you can't bla ."
"I believe in you. With your luck, you'll definitely get sothing great — sothing perfect for you."
"That just makes even more nervous!"
"Haha, don't worry."
Her luck had always been pretty good, but still, things like this were hard to predict.
If she was unlucky today, well… hopefully not.
With that prayer in her heart, Ganyu opened the chest.
A strange light flashed.
The treasure chest vanished.
A small, black, bead-shaped item appeared before her.
She picked it up between her fingers, studying it. "What is this? Looks kind of plain… maybe it's useless?"
"The best stuff is usually the most unassuming."
Xia Zhi reached out, took the black bead from her hand, and tucked it back into his inventory for a scan.
[Phantom Transformation Bead]
Quality: Gold
Type: Consumable
Trait: Transformation
Effect: Can transform another item (no higher than one tier above this item) into a different form.
Hidden Effect: When used together with the prototype of the transford item (no higher than one tier above), the two can rge, combining their effects.
Recyclable: 100 points
Xia Zhi pondered for a second, then opened his palm to show her.
"This is a pretty interesting item."
"Interesting?"
"Yeah. It can change another item into any shape you want — for example, it could turn that hot-air blower gadget into a motorcycle."
Ganyu laughed at that, instantly picturing Cloud Retainer's current obsession with motorcycle blueprints.
"In that case, Master Cloud Retainer would definitely love it."
"You could give it to her if you wanted, but honestly it'd be a waste on sothing so small."
"Then… what's a better use?"
"Let think. With your luck, this should be sothing you really need right now…"
"But I feel like I don't need anything like that."
"There must be sothing we're overlooking…"
Xia Zhi turned the bead over thoughtfully in his fingers.
What did Ganyu need transford?
He considered her carefully through his god's eye.
Ganyu was never soone who fussed over her looks every day — a bit of a workaholic, she only made sure her outfit was neat and presentable, and didn't wear much jewelry.
The only real accessory she had was the bell around her neck, a gift from Mada Ping ages ago, which was a storage-type item that could hold all sorts of things.
The bell…
A sly smile crossed Xia Zhi's face as he thought of sothing.
Ganyu noticed. "What's that smile for?"
"I just figured out the best way to use this thing."
"How?"
"It's about another item…"
In his hand appeared a small wooden fish.
"This is a gift I prepared for you."
Ganyu blinked in surprise. "That looks like… from your world? A wooden fish?"
"Yup."
Ganyu tilted her head and suddenly giggled. "Isn't it kind of weird to give a girl sothing like this?"
"Normally, yeah, it's not exactly romantic, but for you, it's perfect. After all, you're a Qilin, with the destiny of [Auspiciousness]."
"[Auspiciousness]… I rember back when I was little, Moon Carver did my fortune and said the sa thing… that I should do more good deeds to bring luck to myself and everyone around …"
"Exactly. That's why you've had such amazing luck — you've done enough good deeds over the millennia to build up a huge store of rit."
"So what does the wooden fish do?"
"Normally, good deeds earn you rit, but this little guy lets you get rit just by tapping it — you don't even have to do anything else."
"!? You can get rit like that?"
"That's why it's perfect for you. Wanna try?"
"Okay."
Ganyu took the wooden fish from him, picked up the small hamr, and tapped it curiously.
A gentle golden light shimred as the fish let out a crisp, soothing tone.
Both Ganyu and Xia Zhi felt their hearts calm down, as if soothed from deep within.
"Amazing."
"But it only grants a set amount of rit per day."
"So I should tap it every day, right? To max out the rit?"
"Exactly."
Ganyu nodded, looking at the wooden fish with a little smile. "It's nice, but… feels a bit silly, doesn't it? Tapping a wooden fish all the ti is sothing nuns would do back in your world, right?"
"That's where this bead cos in."
"Huh?"
"Besides transforming an item into another shape, it can also rge two items. Take off your bell for a sec."
"Oh? So that's what you ant earlier."
"Yup. That way you won't have to tap the wooden fish — the bell will chi naturally when you walk, and you'll earn rit just by standing around."
"That feels way more normal."
Ganyu laughed and unfastened the bell from her neck, handing it to him.
Xia Zhi took the bell, placed the wooden fish on top of it, and activated the [Phantom Transformation Bead].
A system voice rang in his mind.
"Use [Phantom Transformation Bead] on [Pure Wooden Fish]?"
"Yes."
"Please imagine the desired transford form in your mind, or provide a prototype for rging."
"rge with the bell."
In Ganyu's wide-eyed gaze, the black bead turned into a dark glow, wrapping around the wooden fish and the bell. Monts later, the glow faded — the wooden fish had vanished, and the original bell was back in Xia Zhi's hand.
Fusion successful.
"Alright, let put it back on for you."
"Mm."
Xia Zhi stood up. The bell in his hand gave a soft jingle, and a faint golden light pulsed as a system voice chid again.
"Influence of [Pure Wooden Fish] detected — host's rit permanently increased by 1."
As expected, the [Phantom Transformation Bead] didn't affect the original function of the bell at all.
Ganyu lowered her head slightly, her posture sweet and yielding.
Xia Zhi reached out and tied the bell around her slender, snowy neck once more.
"Bell's on — that ans you're my kitty now."
"I'm not a kitty! I'm not Diona, I'm a Qilin — with horns!"
"Then let touch the horns."
"Hey… don't… mmm…"
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