Chapter 514: Girl in the Shell
"What's piled up outside my door?" After an unperceived tremor, Su Ming, who had rushed back to his apartment, was astonished to find an egg-shaped object placed right outside his door.
Su Ming was an ordinary student. Ten years ago, he had followed his parents to the Moon, and after graduating from university, he came alone to Crescent City for work.
The giant egg had appeared precisely at the entrance of his rented apartment unit.
Its silver-gray mechanical shell and the constantly flickering eerie glow clearly indicated to him that the object before his eyes was definitely man-made, not some animal's egg.
"I don't recall any deliveries these past few days..." Su Ming's first thought was of a package.
After years of development, the Moon had almost replicated everything found on Earth, from the grand artificial atmosphere down to man-made rivers and lakes. It had been thoroughly designated as humanity's second home planet, and naturally, all the industries and professions of modern society had flourished anew on this land.
"Never mind, this egg doesn't look simple. Who knows, it might be some kind of treasure. Since it landed right at my doorstep, I'd be foolish not to take it." With that thought, he unlocked his door, preparing to move the unknown object from outside into his apartment.
In the decades since the Spirit Qi era began, both official news outlets and sensationalist self-media were filled with reports of individuals encountering various "fortuitous opportunities."
Some of them had stumbled upon rare heavenly treasures, while others had unintentionally received inheritances from predecessors. The stories were each more bizarre and enticing than the last.
Su Ming was no exception.
During the decades of upheaval, as some individuals explored paths to higher-level evolution, a large number of superhumans had fallen. To leave behind a trace of their existence, many had painstakingly created various inheritances before their demise, gifting them to so-called "fated individuals."
These items meant little to true existences standing at the apex, but in the eyes of the vast numbers of penniless young people, they were rare fortuitous encounters—their first step to striking it rich.
Because there were simply too many individuals wishing to leave their mark upon the world, eventually, even so-called "fortuitous encounter design companies" emerged. These specialized in designing the styles of trial secret realms for clients to choose from, making it convenient for them to select their "fated individuals" after death.
Many of the benefactors behind those "fortuitous encounter" advertorials were precisely these companies.
...
"So heavy..." Su Ming gritted his teeth, barely managing to lift the giant egg blocking his doorway. He estimated its weight to be no less than a hundred pounds.
"Thud!" A dull thud echoed from the floor as the giant egg touched down.
"Sorry to the downstairs neighbors," he muttered, closing the door at top speed before collapsing onto a chair, panting heavily.
To accommodate the survival of ordinary people, the Moon's surface gravity had been adjusted by a moon-wide system to a level comparable to that of Earth. Thus, the hundred pounds in Su Ming's hands was a genuine hundred pounds.
"What exactly is my fortuitous encounter?" Su Ming slowly approached the silver-shelled giant egg, examining it closely for the first time.
Runes emanating a deep, ethereal glow covered the egg's surface, constantly enticing him to reach out and touch it.
He had been too nervous while moving it in earlier to remember any tactile sensations, so now was the perfect time to make up for it.
"Place your index finger into the small hole at the bottom?" Just as his palm was about to touch the egg's surface texture, he seemed to hear a voice.
"Bottom... small hole..." Su Ming followed the instruction, flipping the giant egg over. Sure enough, right in the center, he saw a hole.
"Perhaps this is part of the trial?" He still believed this was his fated encounter, so all his thoughts naturally gravitated towards the idea of a fortuitous trial.
Without much hesitation, Su Ming inserted his index finger.
The size of the hole was just right.
"?!" Half a second later, he realized the opening had suddenly constricted, his entire finger jammed tightly within. He felt a warm, sucking sensation on the pad of his finger.
Su Ming started to panic. That strange sensation gave him an ominous feeling.
Suddenly, a needle-like pain shot through his fingertip. It felt as if a thin tube was drawing his blood while simultaneously injecting some unknown substance.
Realizing something was wrong, Su Ming tried again to pull his finger from the hole at the bottom of the giant egg, but he found his eyelids growing heavier and heavier...
...
"What happened to me?" Su Ming's first reaction upon waking was to quickly pull his finger out. This time, he encountered no resistance and easily regained his freedom.
He looked at his index finger; apart from a small white mark on the tip, he found no other wounds, as if everything that had just happened was merely a dream.
"The eggshell opened?" Only then did he notice a large fissure appearing on the silver mechanical shell.
"Eeeh..." That was the sound of the eggshell opening from the inside along the fissure.
What greeted Su Ming's eyes was a completely naked girl.
She was curled up within the giant egg, slowly waking from her slumber.
This sudden sight startled Su Ming so much that he fell back onto the floor. Not everyone could calmly watch themselves "open a treasure chest" and find a person inside.
"Who are you?" The awakened girl wiped away the viscous liquid covering her face and calmly stared at Su Ming, asking.
The inside of the giant egg had been filled with a colorless, transparent liquid, and the girl emerging from it was also covered in the substance, which only added to her allure.
"I... I'm Su Ming, who are you?" Su Ming, intimidated, stammered out his reply.
"I... who am I?!" The girl froze upon hearing the counter-question, as she realized she didn't know who she was either.
"How about... you put on some clothes first." Unable to find the right words to express his feelings at that moment, Su Ming racked his brain for a somewhat appropriate response.
...
After a quick wash, the girl emerged from the bathroom dressed in pajamas, emitting an intoxicating fragrance that forced Su Ming, who sat nearby, to constantly pinch his thigh just to maintain his composure.
"Three years or more, maximum death penalty. Three years or more, maximum death penalty..." He mumbled these two phrases repeatedly to distract himself.
This girl, who looked to be only eleven or twelve, was impossibly beautiful. He had to exert every ounce of his willpower to ensure he wouldn't do anything beastly in a moment of impulse.
...
"It seems to have succeeded," Bai Mo murmured to himself, observing from an extreme distance.
The girl who emerged from the eggshell was Xu Xuanling, who had unknowingly participated in the reincarnation and rebirth experiment. Bai Mo had placed her on the Moon.
"Since you hated having no face in your previous life, this time I'll grant you a beautiful one." After learning of the experiment's success, Bai Mo no longer dwelled on the matter. The Star Beacon of the Manghuang Realm was still waiting for him to deal with.
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