A Genuine "Divine Artifact"

"Do you take your Regiment Leader for an idiot?" With a look as if she were staring at a moron, Suzumiya Haruhi pointed around the ceiling. "Installing Shadowless Lamps in your house? You're seriously bored."

Jiu Ming felt that going to have another talk with Panel-kun, who only answered questions, would be entirely his own fault.

"Would you believe me if I said I'm a ghost?" After pondering for a moment and seeing that she had clearly decided to stay here and extort him, Jiu Ming decided he needed to send her away quickly!

But if she was someone Panel-kun had specifically flagged, could this Girl really be God or something?

Forget it. Even if she was here, she still had to obediently call him Boss. He had no idea whether the Mysterious Shop could handle someone like that, but he should send her away in the safest way possible!

Right in front of Suzumiya Haruhi, Jiu Ming looked around, picked up a teacup from the coffee table, then, amid her puzzled gaze, stepped back in front of the door and viciously smashed it against his own head.

"Hey! Are you crazy?!"

Even though she possessed godlike abilities, Suzumiya Haruhi had no understanding of her own power. Seeing Jiu Ming blatantly trying to get himself killed, she immediately panicked. Then came confusion, followed by shock, and finally, when the cup hit the floor with a crack, that stunned shock turned into wild delight...

"Y-you-you-you-you... you really aren't human? This isn't some magic trick, is it? Or sleight of hand?" Suzumiya Haruhi overreacted and sprang up, rushing to Jiu Ming's side to ask excitedly. She had clearly seen the poor cup pass straight through Jiu Ming's head before falling to the floor and shattering into Glass Shards.

Apparently ignoring the dangers of the human heart in her "innocence," she rushed toward Jiu Ming. The moment she got close, he smoothly sidestepped, and as the Girl stumbled past him in shock, he gave her a helpful shove in the back.

"Bye~"

"Damn you! I'll remember this! Just wait for the Regiment Leader's judgment!!!!" Her roaring voice echoed from beyond the door for a long time. Jiu Ming scratched his ear and casually glanced at the empty, windowless room beyond it.

How was she supposed to judge him when they were in different planes? Regiment Leader? Leader of what regiment?

"Oh?" Having sent one problem away, Jiu Ming felt much more relaxed as he floated toward something bright. It seemed that Girl had forgotten her phone here?

The phone that had miraculously gone from having no signal to having signal because of a single sentence from Suzumiya Haruhi...

Name: Suzumiya Haruhi's Phone

Type: Other

Attribute: Communication

Quality: Divine Artifact

Remarks: A phone Suzumiya Haruhi carries with her. It possesses an incredibly powerful communication effect that works under any circumstances!! Don't forget to charge it and pay the bill...

Origin Power required for forced collection: 4000

Convertible Origin Power: 2500

Panel-kun even gave Jiu Ming an extra explanation.

"Divine Artifact quality... Hey, hey, has the other world gone insane? It's just a phone!!"

At the same time, this phone was not his. Suzumiya Haruhi had left it here, and it belonged to someone else. Of course, that did not mean Jiu Ming could not use it; he simply could not seal it into a card for easy carrying.

Wasn't that a bit unnecessary?

Of course not! This phone carried Origin Power from another world. If it were brought into a different world, it could be considered a virus and would be rejected. If it could be sealed into a card, it would be equivalent to converting it into a "universal item."

That was the marvelous part of the Mysterious Shop. Otherwise, if Jiu Ming took this phone to another world, he himself would be caught in the crossfire and face intense rejection from that world. The simplest form of rejection would be something like an all-attributes-reduced-by-xxx debuff...

At the same time, converting items into Origin Power came with losses. At least half of the Origin Power would be lost during conversion, and the displayed conversion value was already after the discount. Jiu Ming suspected that the Mysterious Shop had pocketed that portion...

Turning the phone over in his hand, how should he put it? It really looked and felt like an ordinary item. With just a little force from Jiu Ming's hand, this "fragile" Divine Artifact would be destroyed.

"This thing really is a Divine Artifact!?"

It was the real deal. Think of how even a cup used by God could be called the Holy Grail...

"Huh?" Scratching his head, Jiu Ming helplessly looked back at the door. The information Panel-kun had revealed was rather subtle. A cup used by God... then what about the phone in his hand?

"It's already dark?" After staggering and steadying herself, Suzumiya Haruhi hurriedly surveyed her surroundings. There was no doubt about it—she had returned to where she had originally been. Judging by the sky, her experience of spending several hours in that mysterious place had been real!

"Yeah!!!" Suzumiya Haruhi drew out the word, her face filled with indescribable excitement. "It was real! This is absolutely amazing!! I have to find that place!!"

"I mean, you really did appear from here?"

Holding a can of soda, a boy with a Derpy Face pointed at Suzumiya Haruhi, who was behaving quite abnormally outside the girls' restroom, and muttered to himself, "There clearly wasn't anyone inside before..."

"Kyon..." A soft, timid voice made the boy's whole body stiffen. "You went into the girls' restroom?"

"..." The boy with the Derpy Face froze for a moment, then quickly shook his head. "N-no-no-no! I'm not a pervert, why would I go into a place like that?! Please don't misunderstand, senpai!"

As he spoke, the boy could not help tugging at the Three-No Girl standing quietly beside him, petite and fair-skinned, with short hair.

"Mm."

A response so simple it could not have been simpler.

At the same time, Suzumiya Haruhi, who had been immersed in her own world since returning, noticed the boy and Girl waiting outside the girls' restroom. The Girl was one thing, but the boy...

"Hey! Kyon, what are you planning to do hanging around here so late? Be a pervert?"

"...I was waiting for you! Otherwise, I'd have gone home ages ago. Where exactly did you go?" Kyon scratched his head speechlessly and turned his face aside. Had she not heard his explanation just now?

"Where did I go? Somewhere amazing, obviously! No, I have to find that place! Wait, how did I get in there before?" With an excited expression, Suzumiya Haruhi kept entering and leaving the girls' restroom.

"..." The Three-No Girl gently pushed up her glasses. Two cold gleams flashed across the lenses as she silently watched Suzumiya Haruhi's actions.

"What are you doing? Did you lose money in there?"

"That's not right. Why can't I just go whoosh and end up in that place?" After repeatedly failing, Suzumiya Haruhi's face gained a hint of irritation. She completely ignored Kyon's question. "Impossible, impossible! Why isn't it working?!"

"Hey, what exactly happened? Where did you go earlier?" Suzumiya Haruhi had already been "missing" for several hours.

"A strange shop. Did you know? I actually saw a ghost!" Mentioning the ghost, she could not help revealing an angry expression. "Damn it, he actually pushed me!!"

"He pushed you!?" Kyon bared his teeth. "And you saw a ghost? Does that mean our school is getting another Ghost Story? The girls' restroom..."

As he spoke, he quietly glanced at the Three-No Girl beside him. With a ghost or something, there was really no need to worry, right?

"I'm telling the truth!" Seeing Kyon's disbelief, Suzumiya Haruhi's expression turned somewhat furious.

"Fine, fine. Maybe this restroom door connects to hell or something, and sometimes someone happens to walk through it." Kyon spread his hands. "Just like in novels. Hurry up and let's go—the school is already closed."

"...This is making me furious!" Gritting her teeth, Suzumiya Haruhi turned around. "I'll definitely find that place again and show you!"

Huh? She was angry.

Watching Suzumiya Haruhi stomp away with heavy footsteps, Kyon moved closer to the Three-No Girl and asked in a low voice, "Yuki, could Haruhi be telling the truth?"

"Suzumiya Haruhi did disappear from this world for a period of time."

"Ah...?" With his mouth hanging open, Kyon maintained his Derpy Face as he felt the entrance to the girls' restroom become strange as well. Could some monster really come rushing out of it someday?

Just as he was about to ask more questions, Suzumiya Haruhi, who had left, came back. "Kyon, your phone. Give me your phone."

Before she even finished speaking, she was already searching Kyon's body. She directly snatched his phone from his pocket. "I left my phone there. If I call it... it'll definitely connect."

She quickly pressed a few numbers and held the phone to her ear, waiting in anticipation. Then the phone began to ring with a connected tone...

"Ha! It connected! You have to believe me now, right?!"

"Whether anyone answers on the other end is another question."

"Shut up!" Suzumiya Haruhi directly cut Kyon off, her face fierce. "If he dares not answer, it's the death penalty! Death penalty!!"

His eyebrows twitching slightly, Jiu Ming looked at the phone, which now displayed an incoming call. It had actually connected. Was this truly what it meant to be a Divine Artifact?

Should he hang up?

No, he should just recycle this phone. Even if it was the first pink-quality item he had acquired...

"Hello...?"

"Yeah! It connected!!!" With a shout, Suzumiya Haruhi instantly hit the speaker button, and Jiu Ming's voice came from Kyon's phone.

"Tell me about your place!" Suzumiya Haruhi shouted into the phone in a tone that sounded almost like an order.

"...Hello, this is the Transmigrator Agency. What service do you require? For a message, press 1. To handle business, press 2. For information inquiries, press 3. If you dialed the wrong number, please press the hang-up button to confirm..."

"I'm certain that guy on the other end is bored out of his mind." Hearing Jiu Ming's voice, Kyon immediately responded.

"I'm certain you're about to be in trouble." Jiu Ming's voice drifted over leisurely.

"Oh no!" Seeing the lights in the hallway and hearing the thudding footsteps, Suzumiya Haruhi immediately realized that the night staff were coming to inspect the place.

"Run! You're not allowed to hang up."

Hm. Jiu Ming gave a soft snort. His hearing was not poor, and the communication effect of this phone seemed unexpectedly powerful. Even with the speaker on, he could clearly hear what was happening on the other end, such as the faint footsteps approaching from afar...

It was easy to deduce. Where had Suzumiya Haruhi come from? She was still there after returning. And where was she? At school, of course!