This Is the Power Bestowed by God?!

By the time the plane landed, it was already afternoon local time.

Xina walked stiffly through the airport, staring at the signs written in several languages around her as she fell into deep thought. These place names are so strange! Where am I supposed to go?

Because she had left in such a hurry, Xina had not prepared any luggage for herself. More importantly, all her savings had gone toward buying the last plane ticket.

She only had three coins left in her pockets. In a place where every inch of land was worth a fortune, surviving was out of the question—buying a bottle of water was already a luxury.

Oh! No, that was not right. It seemed she no longer needed to eat or drink, so at least that saved her a fair amount of money.

Standing beside the bustling street, Xina felt the grandeur of the city—and her own confusion—for the first time. She suppressed her panic and prayed inwardly, God, please give me some guidance. Where should I... go?

You must feel the power I bestowed upon you with your heart. It will guide you!

Feel it with her heart?!

Raising a hand to cover her chest, Xina felt the icy-blue gem within her emitting a faint glow. Pale pink patterns slowly spread from her chest toward her limbs.

In a daze, an image of a blue-violet gem appeared in Xina's mind.

Somehow, a thin thread seemed to have appeared between that blue-violet gem and Xina. Even from far away, she could vaguely sense its location.

"Is this what God needs me to retrieve?" Xina opened her eyes. Her already gaunt face had turned even paler in that short span of time.

Set off by her black long dress, she looked like a paper doll that had stepped out of a painting.

Guided by that blurry thread, Xina had already determined the direction of her destination—and tragically became a Herrscher traveling on foot... (Remove the words "pseudo," or that would be far too disrespectful.)

At dusk, on the upper floors of the Singapore Queen Hotel.

An elderly man in a white lab coat nervously clutched a silver-gray briefcase. Sitting tensely on the sofa, he glanced from the corner of his eye at the anxious-looking man standing nearby and asked in confusion,

"What is Cocolia playing at? Isn't she supposed to care a great deal about this gem?"

"Why not take it straight back to Anti-Entropy? Why make me come all the way to this island nation!?"

"It's only a minor setback. In a couple of days, someone will come take you to headquarters!" The anxious man peeled a banana as he turned around.

"Just stay here peacefully. Schicksal's forces cannot enter this country. Even if a few little bugs sneak in... there are bodyguards."

"With me here, even if those little bugs slip inside, I'll have a good time playing with them."

As soon as he finished speaking, the anxious man licked the banana, making the old man on the sofa's eye twitch for no apparent reason.

"This way, Miss!" The attendant outside the hotel warmly greeted Xina. She politely nodded to him, looked around the hotel lobby, then headed toward the elevator.

Entering the elevator, Xina stared thoughtfully at the panel, which showed no response despite her pressing the buttons. What's going on? Do elevators in big cities need facial recognition too?

As she was thinking, a guest leaving the elevator could not help reminding her, "Miss, you need to swipe a room key card to use this elevator..."

"Huh?!" Xina froze slightly, but quickly understood. She scratched the back of her head and stuck out her tongue at the guest. "Oh no, I forgot my room card is with my mother!"

That excuse sounded reasonable enough. The guest merely glanced at Xina. Seeing that the embarrassment on the young girl's face seemed sincere rather than feigned, he had no intention of meddling. Casually leaving behind, "Oh! I see! Then go to the hotel front desk and call your mother to come down and get you!" he turned and left.

After exiting the elevator, Xina looked at the long line at the front desk and silently walked out of the hotel lobby. She believed that with her "world-shaking wisdom," she would definitely be able to sneak in.

Fifteen minutes later...

In the hotel staff changing room, Xina crammed an unlucky man, limbs splayed wide, into a locker as she sighed, "Fine, I admit it. Sometimes stupid methods really are much more effective."

After changing into the red cheongsam worn by hotel staff, Xina was just about to use the employee Pass Card to take the staff elevator to the floor she needed when a portly man dressed like a supervisor approached her.

The fat supervisor walked right past Xina without a second glance, then suddenly turned back and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Wait, why do I feel like I've never seen you before?"

"I... I'm new today..." Xina came up with an excuse and said it without changing expression.

In Xina's view, that was a perfectly sound reason, as long as this man was not—

"I'm from Human Resources. We didn't hire any new employees today at all. Tell me, whose side are you on? Did Schicksal send you here—Aah!"

Before the fat man could finish, a muffled scream came from his mouth.

"Ah! My hand, my hand!"

As he staggered backward, the fat man tripped over a chair and fell onto his back, lovingly meeting the marble floor. The hand he had mentioned shattered into an unknown number of pieces during the fall.

"Eh?!" Xina stared in surprise at the wound, which was not bleeding at all. She had not expected that merely having a thought would produce such power.

"Tsk, you really were sent by Schicksal..."

As the fat man crawled backward, he reached his remaining intact arm toward the small of his back. As an outer operative planted by Anti-Entropy in this hotel, he kept a loaded pistol there year-round.

Click...

The moment the fat man pulled out the pistol, Xina reflexively raised her right hand and froze the fired bullet, the muzzle, and the man into one complete whole.

"I..." Xina stood there helplessly, staring at the ice sculpture frozen together as one. For a moment, she did not know how she should deal with it.

It was not until voices drifted over from nearby that Xina snapped out of her daze. She tried pushing the ice sculpture with her hands, but it took all her strength just to shift it a few centimeters across the floor.

Seeing the footsteps drawing closer and closer, Xina gave up on trying to hide the ice sculpture before anyone came in.

She shut her eyes, steeled herself, and raised her right hand just as she had when freezing the fat man...

"Ah, finally off work. Want to grab a drink in a bit?"

"Sure! That newly opened place is pretty good!"

After changing clothes, two hotel employees walked out of the staff changing room chatting and laughing. Only after their footsteps faded farther and farther away did Xina crawl out of an empty locker.