Huli carried her bowl into the living room, squatted down beside Yu Sheng, and began scooping rice into her mouth while curiously watching Eileen's three bodies huddled together with their knees drawn up in a self-isolation circle. After a while, she couldn't help asking, "Benefactor, what happened to Eileen?"
"She took a hit," Yu Sheng sighed. "She just found out that there's a kind of stone in this world that's completely useless for anything except dealing with itself, and now she thinks she was born unlucky."
"Oh." Huli didn't know whether she understood, but she nodded with her bowl in her hands. Then she leaned over and patted one of Eileen's shoulders with her tail. "The teacher at school said that capable people are always envied by Heaven..."
Eileen, who had been squatting in her self-isolation circle, raised her head. Her three bodies spoke in unison: "What does that mean?"
Huli was an honest girl. "I don't know, but the teacher said to comfort people who run into particularly bad luck like that—although they might still be terribly unlucky after you comfort them."
The three Eileens let out a synchronized sigh. Two of them simply lay down on the sofa and continued wallowing in despair, while the last one climbed to her feet and ran over to Yu Sheng. "Aaah—Yu Sheng, I think this world has it in for me!"
Yu Sheng nodded. "Yeah, I can tell."
"And you're agreeing with me?!" Eileen nearly burst into tears on the spot. "No, but why?! That thing knocked me flat back then, so I thought it had detected some incredible trait... So it turns out it doesn't defend against anything and only defends against me?! Have I ever offended Ankaela?"
"If you're asking me, who am I supposed to ask?" Yu Sheng