Your World's Fate Is Really Cheap

"Eh? Um... hello, customer." After tidying himself up a little, Jiu Ming turned to look at the Petite Figure emerging from behind that Strange Door. A Three-No Girl—so what kind of existence was this one?

"Hello." The Three-No Girl nodded but did not step out of the room beyond the door. She opened her palm, revealing a stone... Was she messing with him?

Name: Stone

Type: Consumable

Attribute: Sure Hit

Quality: Ordinary

Uses: 1

Note: It's just a stone... Even a blind man could hit a perfect ten with it...

Convertible Origin Power: 100

There was no requirement for mandatory collection, meaning she had voluntarily given it to him. So what did this mean?

"Can we talk? This is the payment I used to come here through illegal means."

The Three-No Girl's tone was very calm. Jiu Ming could barely hear any emotion in it. She was practically like a doll. Illegal means?

Panel-kun, what happens if I don't accept this thing?

She will be immediately kicked out.

Jiu Ming nodded. He had to admit that the "price" of this little stone had been calculated perfectly. Exactly one hundred points—the price of entering through an Invitation Card. The girl before him had essentially gotten on first and paid afterward.

Of course, if Jiu Ming, the shopkeeper, refused to accept her late payment, she would immediately be ejected from here. As for the illegal means, that was not something Jiu Ming needed to worry about. The Mysterious Shop would handle it itself.

So how had she found this place?

The Mysterious Shop's location was like a single grain in a vast ocean. Without precise coordinates, no one could find it unless they relied on luck.

"Come in and let's talk." Jiu Ming took the little stone and stepped aside. A stone with the Sure Hit attribute? How had she done that? It felt like Suzumiya Haruhi's phone.

Judging from its value, for an ordinary stone to be worth so much, the Sure Hit attribute had to be absurdly powerful in some way, like the Fifty-Year Aged Preserved Egg...

It had the same value as this, but Jiu Ming figured that even someone on the verge of death could survive after eating it. Of course, food poisoning would be unavoidable. It was like the Blood Knight's Blood Healing—instant full health, sure, but the suffering came afterward. Still, better than dying.

Sure Hit, huh? If he wanted to take someone out instantly, he could find somewhere private, think of their name, and throw this stone... It would hit, right?

Its value was limited in the hands of a "warrior" like him. But in the hands of a mage, if they added something extra to the stone, then when it struck someone, the damage probably would not be as negligible as getting hit by a stone.

But it was useless to him. The little stone, sealed into a card, scattered into motes of light in Jiu Ming's hand. At last, he had made his first sale. Not bad.

"So then, customer, what was the purpose of going to so much trouble to come here?"

Jiu Ming dug out that bag of tea leaves, grinned, then tossed it aside again. There was no water here.

"Regarding Suzumiya Haruhi."

"Oh? From another world?"

"That's right. Her identity in my world is extremely special. Any change involving her may develop into unpredictable consequences."

"Including getting angry?"

"Yes. In that world, you can think of Suzumiya Haruhi as a god-like existence. Whenever she has certain unusual thoughts, the entire world is affected. Of course, she herself does not know about this."

Jiu Ming nodded. He somewhat understood why this Three-No Girl had come here. Was she here to hold him accountable? After all, he seemed to have made Suzumiya Haruhi quite angry before. What kind of turmoil would that cause in her world?

Eh? Wait, she did not know herself? Hey, hey, was it really okay for all of them to keep this from the god who seemed capable of affecting their world?

Was she really a god? She looked so delicate and weak. If she were truly powerful, she would not have been pushed so easily by him back then...

"Aren't you afraid something will happen if you keep it from her?" As soon as Jiu Ming said it, he knew he had asked something pointless. Thinking back to when he first met her and her personality, if she learned the truth, it really would be disastrous!

"Forget I said that. So what exactly does this so-called influence entail?"

"World destruction would be considered one of the more serious outcomes."

"...Damn, your world's fate really is cheap." Jiu Ming shook his head. Since when had the fate of an entire world been tied to a high school girl who looked "completely ordinary"? "But it has nothing to do with me now, right?"

"Suzumiya Haruhi has already made up her mind to come here again. Even if it is only a low-probability event, it will inevitably happen. The only uncertainty is when. Of course, with her rationality as a normal person, even if she comes here again, it should not affect her original world. I only came here to ask you not to bring up misleading topics when that time comes."

It was hard to imagine that this clearly silent Three-No Girl would say so much. Though to Jiu Ming, she sounded as though she were reading from a script, without any unnecessary emotion. It did not affect her Three-No Girl nature at all!

Misleading topics? Well, if Suzumiya Haruhi got nosy and asked him where this place existed, Jiu Ming might actually casually tell her that it was in her world. Otherwise, how could she have come here?

Saying it was another world would be better. That way, Suzumiya Haruhi would still believe her world was ordinary. The abnormal factors of other worlds would have nothing to do with her. It would not stop her strong urge to seek and explore, but it could minimize the impact on her world.

Of course, since Nagato Yuki already knew that Suzumiya Haruhi would accidentally come here through good fortune, she would definitely have made a series of precautions in advance to avoid such an encounter. But now, it was too late to say anything.

Using the special nature of the phone Suzumiya Haruhi had left here, Nagato Yuki had come here through illegal means. This place was very unusual and difficult to explain. When she entered illegally, she had even received a certain degree of warning and a piece of information.

That was why she had brought the stone with the Sure Hit attribute as the price of entering. The stone contained power from her world, but after falling into Jiu Ming's hands, every trace of power related to her world had completely vanished. In other words, the power within the stone no longer belonged to that world. Not even the most basic imprint remained.

It had been stripped away.

She could not determine the principle behind it either.

"It's just one sentence. There definitely won't be a problem when the time comes." Jiu Ming nodded and immediately agreed. Compared to Suzumiya Haruhi, if he were honest, he was more interested in the Three-No Girl before him. Well, not just because of her appearance... Okay, there was some of that too. More importantly, she gave Jiu Ming the feeling of being a "mage."

Not to mention that shameful Divine Artifact-level phone. That had purely been Suzumiya Haruhi's accidental creation. The little stone with the Sure Hit attribute that Jiu Ming had recovered was clearly something this Three-No Girl had created.

How had she done it? It was practically like enchanting... Could she teach him?

Jiu Ming really wanted to ask, but he felt he had nothing of equal value to offer, so he held back that thought. It was a matter of principle.

"Thank you. Goodbye."

The girl stood up and turned toward the Strange Door. The Information Integration Thought Entity could not connect to this place, so she needed to let the Information Integration Thought Entity know about it, even if there was no malicious intent.

"Um, my name is Jiu Ming... What's yours?"

"...Nagato Yuki." The Three-No Girl turned back and softly said to Jiu Ming, "We will meet again."

"I hope so." Jiu Ming smiled and waved to her. After encountering that seriously injured Hollow, he had realized that being the shopkeeper of the Mysterious Shop was definitely a high-risk profession...

No wonder a shopkeeper needed high-end combat power. Otherwise, if his luck was bad and he encountered a vicious customer, the shop would be getting a new shopkeeper.

"Damn it!" After seeing Nagato Yuki off, Jiu Ming checked the time. There were only two minutes left before half an hour was up. He smacked his forehead and hurried outside. Fortunately, he was not far from that bench. When he ran over, a Raincoat-like Grey Cloak had been placed on it. This was it.

He walked over and picked up the cloak. A card slipped out, and Jiu Ming casually caught it between his fingers before it hit the ground. As for the cloak, Wang Hai had probably prepared it specially. Jiu Ming draped it over himself, finally escaping his shadowless state. He had no shadow, but the cloak did. Though wearing this thing in the middle of summer was pretty strange.

"What a cheapskate..."

After finding an ATM, Jiu Ming looked at the number displayed on it and curled his lips. Money—not much, only five digits. What? That was not little? That depended on what kind of five-digit sum it was!

A five-digit number that would become six digits with one more 1, and a five-digit number that would become four digits with one less 1... Could they be compared?

He had the latter.

Forget it. He would not need much money just to read books anyway. While the newsstand owner stared at him strangely, Jiu Ming bought a City Map and left. The owner took off his glasses and kept wiping them. The lenses were not dirty, so why had that person looked a little transparent just now?

Jiu Ming went straight to the best-equipped library in the city. When it came to the richness of information, naturally he had to choose the best place. Besides, he did not have much of a concept of money now. Without any need for it, he had no strong attachment to it either. Once it was spent, it was spent. He did not feel bad about it.

—Most importantly, it was not his money.

The moment he entered, several gazes swept over Jiu Ming. Many people here were not ordinary people. In fact, there were very few ordinary people; most were Ability Users. After looking over the lobby map, Jiu Ming turned and walked left. This library was divided into two major sections. One was the Normal Area, with ordinary kinds of books. The other contained material related to supernatural abilities. Jiu Ming was not interested in that for now. Even if he read about it... he would not be able to learn supernatural abilities! Even if people in this world could develop them...