"This batch of mortals... certainly has some nerve."
Ling Ye's barely audible words carried a faint, amused chuckle. Like a stone tossed into a deep pool, they sent a weak ripple across Su Wanqing's taut nerves. She held the refilled Purple Clay Teapot, her fingers still trembling slightly. Her uncertain gaze swept over the mountain forest outside the window, which had returned to silence, then the half of a shriveled steamed bun that had been "rejected" and kicked into the shadowy corner. Finally, it returned to the man leisurely drinking tea on the sofa.
Some nerve? Was he talking about those... observers who had just been instantly killed by the teapot? Or... something else?
Su Wanqing felt that her brain had completely run out of capacity. Fear, awe, absurdity, and the newborn power surging endlessly through her body were all tangled together, making her feel as if she were standing on clouds, liable to fall at any moment.
Ling Ye did not seem inclined to explain. He slowly finished the tea in his cup and set down the mug. His gaze swept over Su Wanqing's still-pale face, the dark circles beneath her eyes heavy despite her body having been purified. His brows drew together almost imperceptibly.
"Loud." He summed it up in one concise word, though it was unclear whether he meant the commotion outside the window or Su Wanqing's chaotic heartbeat and breathing.
Then, under Su Wanqing's bewildered and nervous stare, Ling Ye picked up the Purple Clay Teapot again. This time, he did not pour it into the mug. Instead, with extreme casualness... he aimed the spout at a clean glass on the coffee table decorated with cartoon cats?
It was the glass Su Wanqing usually used for juice.
Ling Ye tilted his wrist slightly. Clear, translucent tea flecked with swirling amber starlight poured into the cartoon glass with a splashing sound. The tea's warm, mellow fragrance instantly spread through the room, carrying a power that soothed the soul.
After filling more than half the glass, Ling Ye set down the Purple Clay Teapot and jerked his chin toward the cartoon glass. He ordered Su Wanqing, "Drink it."
His tone was calm, yet left no room for refusal.
Su Wanqing froze. He wanted her to drink it? This... this was Chaos Spirit Tea capable of bringing the dead back to life, killing someone by curse from a distance, and triggering the resonance of the earth veins! He had just... poured it into her juice glass for her to drink? Was this... a perk? Or... a new test?
An overwhelming sense of honor and a trace of unease surged into her heart. She looked at the amber liquid, which seemed especially incongruous against the cartoon cats yet exuded a fatal allure, and swallowed with difficulty.
"I... I'm supposed to drink it?" Her voice was dry and uncertain.
"Mm," Ling Ye replied without even lifting his eyelids, as if he had merely poured a glass of plain water. "Calming Tea."
Calming Tea?!
Su Wanqing stared at the starlight swirling in the glass and felt the fragrance washing over her soul. Then she thought of the unfortunate man who had just been cursed to death through the air by the teapot... This was supposed to calm her? This was clearly nuclear-level chicken soup for the soul!
But she did not dare disobey Ling Ye's order. After everything she had experienced, she already understood that every seemingly casual action of this big shot contained unfathomable meaning—or perhaps... pure laziness?
She took a deep breath and carefully picked up the cartoon glass with an almost devout reverence. The warm glass walls carried the distinctive smooth warmth of the Purple Clay Teapot. She closed her eyes as if she were about to drink divine nectar, then tilted her head back—
"Gulp... gulp..."
The warm tea slid down her throat. There was no explosion of energy as she had imagined, only an indescribably warm current that instantly spread through her limbs and bones! Like the gentlest hand brushing over taut nerves, all the fear, shock, confusion, and exhaustion she had suffered since last night—all the negative emotions and mental depletion—were swept away and soothed by that warm current like thin mist beneath the sun!
An unprecedented peace, serenity, and stability filled her soul! Her mind became clear and empty, as if it had been thoroughly washed by the purest spring water! Guided by the calming power of the tea, the newborn force within her became docile and fluid, flowing through her meridians like a stream and nourishing every inch of flesh.
Comfortable! Utterly comfortable!
It was as if her soul had found the warmest harbor, with all noise and unease shut out beyond it.
Su Wanqing could not help letting out a satisfied, lingering sigh. Her entire body seemed to have cast off a thousand-pound burden, and even the hand holding the glass relaxed. When she opened her eyes, the alarm and exhaustion in them had vanished, replaced by a peaceful, tranquil gleam. The color had returned to her face, and the dark circles beneath her eyes had faded without a trace.
This tea... really did calm the mind! The effect was immediate!
She looked gratefully at Ling Ye and moved her lips, wanting to thank him. However, before the words could leave her mouth, an even stranger sensation suddenly swept over her!
Her body... had become lighter!
It was not just a sensation. She had literally become lighter!
It was as if the pull of gravity on her had suddenly weakened by more than half! Holding the empty glass, Su Wanqing's feet actually... slowly and uncontrollably... left the carpet?!
"Huh?!" Su Wanqing let out a short cry of alarm. She instinctively tried to grab something to steady herself, but her body was lifted by an invisible current of air and began floating lightly! She was... about half a foot off the ground?!
Like a clumsy helium balloon, she drifted unsteadily in the middle of the living room! The cartoon glass nearly slipped from her hand!
What... what was happening now?! Did Calming Tea have this side effect too?! She stared at Ling Ye in terror.
Ling Ye seemed somewhat surprised as well, raising his brows slightly. His gaze fell on Su Wanqing, swept over the empty cartoon glass in her hand, and finally... turned thoughtfully toward the shadow in the eastern corner of the living room.
Su Wanqing followed his gaze, and her heart gave a violent jump!
The corner! The half of the shriveled steamed bun!
Could it be... that?!
The moment she looked at the half of the bun, a faint but distinct attraction came from the shadowy corner where it lay. It was as if an invisible vortex were there! The invisible current holding her aloft began carrying her... slowly, steadily... toward the half of the bun in the corner?!
"No! Don't!" Su Wanqing panicked instantly! She had not forgotten the terrifying, cold, greedy gaze that had swept over the bun earlier. Even less had she forgotten how frighteningly it could suppress the earth veins! If she drifted over and touched it, what would happen?! Would she, too, be purified and broken down like that filth?!
She struggled desperately, waving her arms and trying to grab the sofa or the edge of the coffee table. But the current lifting her was exceptionally resilient and steady. Her struggle was as futile as an insect caught in a Spider Web. Her body continued drifting smoothly and uncontrollably toward the shadow in the corner, drawing ever closer to the shriveled steamed bun lying quietly on the carpet!
Five meters... three meters... one meter...
Su Wanqing could even clearly see the dry, wrinkled texture on the bun's surface. She could "feel" the terrifying power of "constancy" contained beneath its seemingly ordinary exterior—power enough to crush the heavens. Terrified, she squeezed her eyes shut, her heart nearly leaping out of her throat!
Just as her toes were about to touch the carpet beside the bun—
The current of air holding her up suddenly... vanished!
"Thump!"
Caught completely unprepared, Su Wanqing fell straight down from a height of half a foot like a puppet with its strings cut! She landed squarely on her bottom on the soft carpet... less than ten centimeters from the half of the bun!
The expected purification and disintegration did not occur. Only a dull pain in her backside reached her.
Still shaken, Su Wanqing opened her eyes and discovered that she had not touched the terrifying bun. She had merely fallen beside it. She let out a long breath, feeling the sweat on her back once again. That was... far too thrilling!
She glanced at the "divine artifact" bun a hair's breadth away, then looked up at Ling Ye on the sofa.
Ling Ye was studying her thoughtfully, then looking at the half of the bun in the corner. His eyes held a trace of... understanding? And an almost imperceptible... distaste?
"Tsk," he muttered, pursing his lips with the air of someone who had just confirmed something. "Gravitational imbalance... troublesome." He seemed to have finally found a "scientific" explanation for Su Wanqing suddenly floating, although the explanation still sounded absurd to her. Then he glanced at her somewhat bedraggled appearance and added in a flat tone that seemed to say she was in the way:
"You're blocking the path. Move over."
Su Wanqing: "..."
She looked at the carpet, barely ten centimeters from the bun beneath her bottom, then at Ling Ye's expression, which said, "You're sitting where I put my feet." An overwhelming sense of grievance and absurdity surged through her heart once more! She had nearly been scared to death by that bun and had landed painfully on her backside, only to receive a single remark... that she was blocking the path?!
At the other end of the city, deep inside an unremarkable old building.
The atmosphere in the dim monitoring room was as oppressive as the deathly silence before a storm. On the screens, the energy-field curve representing the villa on Yunqi Mountain had remained steadily above its upper limit after the bizarre straight-line disappearance of the underground energy source.
However, just moments ago—
"Beep beep beep—!!!"
The shrill alarm rang out again without warning! On the screen, the curve representing Ling Ye's main body energy field suddenly jolted violently upward! Although the increase was nowhere near as exaggerated as during the previous underground energy burst, it instantly broke through the previous stable peak!
"Report! An abnormal fluctuation has appeared in the target's main body energy field! Intensity has increased by approximately fifteen percent! The fluctuation pattern... is extremely restrained! Suspected... emotional fluctuation?!" The technician's voice was filled with incredulous absurdity. An emotional fluctuation could make the energy reading jump by fifteen percent?! What kind of monster was this?!
"Locate the energy source!" Professor Chen's bloodshot eyes remained fixed on the screen, his voice hoarse.
"Locating... locked onto... the target's current action!" The technician stared at the synchronized, heavily distorted optical footage. "The target... the target is pouring water? He... he poured a glass of water for Su Wanqing?"
Pouring water?! Emotional fluctuation?!
Professor Chen and his assistant exchanged looks, seeing immense bewilderment in each other's eyes.
At that moment, the data streams on the screen began refreshing wildly again!
"Wait! An abnormal gravitational-field distortion has appeared in the target area! The readings... the readings are abnormal! Inside the villa... the gravitational coefficient is... is weakening?! Reduction... thirty percent... fifty percent... seventy percent!!" The technician's voice warped with astonishment!
Gravity weakening?! How was that possible?! Was the local gravitational field being altered?!
Professor Chen lunged toward the screen!
In the blurry footage, Su Wanqing was lifting the glass to drink. Immediately afterward, her entire body... actually began drifting unsteadily upward?! Like an astronaut floating weightlessly in a space station?!
"Oh my god!" The assistant could not help crying out.
"Analyze the source of the gravitational distortion!" Professor Chen's heart pounded wildly!
"Analyzing... source locked! It isn't the target's main body! It's... it's..." The technician's voice was full of extreme confusion and disbelief. "It's... the corner?! The eastern corner of the villa's living room! There... seems to be a small object with a thermally indistinct heat signature? The energy reading... cannot be analyzed! It exceeds the detection limit! But... but its existence is distorting the gravitational laws of the surrounding space?!"
A small object in the corner?! Distorting the laws of gravity?!
Professor Chen felt as if his worldview were being rubbed back and forth. He stared fixedly at the blurry red dot marked on the screen, representing the "small object" in the corner. An absurd yet seemingly only possible thought surfaced uncontrollably:
Could it be... that the thing that instantly erased the underground energy source just now... was this thing?!
Before you continue