"Su Wan, you've got the Emperor's Luck! Come clean—did you and Teacher Chu make some kind of deal? Otherwise, why are you always the one who wins?"
Her three roommates stared at her with eyes as big as copper bells, turning red with envy!
Su Wan lifted her chin smugly. "Hmph, this isn't luck. It's skill!"
Her boastful remark set her roommates giggling, and the dorm room was soon filled with cheerful laughter.
Su Wan struggled free of her roommates' grasping claws, her clothes in disarray, then pulled out her phone and tremblingly opened the Douluo App.
The user nickname was clearly—
Little Bunny Be Good!
With practiced ease, she aimed the camera at her desk. A gentle white light flashed, and a black wooden gift box appeared out of thin air on the desktop.
She opened the exquisite wooden box. Three strings of candied hawthorn, each a different color, lay quietly inside.
Her roommates helped identify them. "Blue Silver Fruit, White Spirit Fruit, and this one is... Green Bamboo Fruit! Right?"
Su Wan didn't answer. She picked up a string of pale green Green Bamboo Fruit candied hawthorns. Their amber sugar coating shimmered enticingly under the fluorescent light.
Their fantastical beauty was brought to its fullest by their dazzling appearance!
"Gulp!" ×4
If it came from Douluo, it had to be good stuff!
Under her roommates' adoring gazes, Su Wan carefully brought one of the fruits to her lips.
The sugar shell cracked with a crisp snap, and sweet juice mingled with the fresh scent of bamboo, blooming across her tongue.
A strange coolness didn't mix with her saliva and slide down her throat into her stomach. Instead, it surged upward into her brain.
It was a soothing sensation, richer than mint, that instantly swept away Su Wan's exhaustion from staying up late. This must be what it meant to feel refreshed and clear-headed.
Her mind, frazzled by her summer internship, felt as clear as if it had just been washed with fresh water. She could almost hear the rustling of bamboo leaves in the breeze!
"This feels amazing!" Su Wan exclaimed excitedly, praising it again and again.
"Su-jie, let me have a taste—just one bite! I'll trade you a whole year's worth of milk tea!"
"Su-jie!" ×2
Su Wan hurriedly cradled the gift box against her chest, protecting it like some priceless treasure. "No way, no way! There isn't even enough for me."
"So stingy!" ×3
"Ugh, why am I so useless? If I'd known, I would've reposted a few more lucky koi posts!"
"The price on the secondhand market has already topped ten thousand, and they're still impossible to find."
Su Wan bit into her second Green Bamboo Fruit and closed her eyes blissfully, ignoring her roommates' reproachful stares.
Meanwhile.
The Special Incident Investigation Bureau.
This time, they didn't need to go to the trouble of collecting gifts from the livestream. Perhaps their luck had simply been too good: two bureau staff members had won the candied hawthorn gift boxes.
Inside a laboratory, more than a dozen top biologists and chemists gathered around precision testing equipment, shock written all over their faces.
"The test results are in!"
Professor Li, the lead researcher, held the report that had just been printed. His voice trembled.
"The main ingredients are sucrose, fiber... and extracts from the flesh of three unknown plants. The most incredible thing is—"
He pointed to a set of figures specially marked on the report, but his hand wouldn't stop shaking.
"In the flesh of this fruit called Green Bamboo Fruit, we detected several low-concentration bioactive polysaccharide complexes. One of them has a molecular weight of approximately..."
"It appears to have extremely strong antioxidant activity and the ability to regulate neurotransmitters. It can cross the blood-brain barrier within 30 seconds, significantly increase activity in the cerebral cortex, and... also clear free radicals from the body."
The assistant beside him took notes. "Professor, so it can not only sharpen the mind and improve alertness, but also slow aging?"
"It seems to have some effect. At least, that's what the results of our experiments show so far."
Professor Li nodded.
"We haven't detected any harmful substances or side effects for now. The structure of this polysaccharide complex is unlike anything we've ever seen. It's fascinating. I recommend applying to use a higher-grade laboratory!"
"I agree!"
"Me too!"
In the office, Wang Jianjun took the experts' compiled test report. After a moment of silence, he lit a cigarette.
Two handwritten characters on the report stood out starkly—
Fruit pits!
That's right. The candied hawthorn fruits had freaking pits!
Unfortunately, they'd been exposed to the high heat of the syrup.
Wang Jianjun stubbed out his cigarette. In the end, his hand settled on a red telephone.
The country's largest secondhand trading platform.
Searches for "Douluo Candied Hawthorn" had completely eclipsed the earlier rabbit-ear hair ornaments.
Tens of thousands had entered the giveaway this time, so naturally quite a few prizes had made their way onto the resale market.
There were far more buyers than products, and everything was snapped up almost instantly, but the buzz it created was unprecedented!
Some had even posted offers to trade for "a house in the city," followed by thousands of "I'm looking for one too" comments from all over the country!
This sweet cross-dimensional storm had swept not only through Xia Country, but across the entire world, setting off a "candied hawthorn craze"!
On international e-commerce platforms, posts offering "Douluo Candied Hawthorn proxy shopping" topped a hundred thousand in half an hour.
Twittor, TikTek, and Instagran were all flooded with posts—
"#TangHulu," "#DouluoReal," "#MagicCandy."
These familiar yet unfamiliar hashtags shot to the top of the global trending charts.
Rose, an Eagle Sauce netizen, wrote on Twittor: "Can someone buy me a stick of magic candied hawthorn? I'd be willing to... (some things are better left unsaid)."
Island Country's anime forums were also in an uproar.
Countless illustrators stayed up all night creating pictures of Douluo delicacies, with Xiao Wu, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling among the models firmly occupying center stage.
Jean-Pierre, a famous food blogger from Wuji Country, drooled dramatically at the screen during his livestream.
"Oh, my God! This is a work of art! I have to go and try this magical candy for myself!"
Countless foreign netizens were learning about this traditional delicacy from the East for the first time, captivated by its beautiful appearance and the incredible effects—wildly exaggerated with every retelling.
Lin Xiaoyu had also noticed the online frenzy. Her eyes shone with pride as she said sincerely,
"No streamer has ever had the kind of influence Chu Men does! Who would've thought the whole world would go crazy over a stick of candied hawthorn!"
[Waaah~, I have some bad news for everyone. Hawthorn prices have gone up!]
[That's nothing. White sugar futures are even crazier!]
[All I know is that I just went out and bought a stick of candied hawthorn. It cost me a full twenty bucks. What a bunch of profiteers!]
The giveaway ended, but no matter how great a stir it caused in the real world, The Truman Show remained calm and peaceful.
"It's getting late. We should head back!"
The night market behind them was still bustling, but Chu Men was starting to feel tired.
He rose to his feet, dusted off his clothes, and stretched with a satisfied yawn.
It was as if he'd just set down a burden weighing a thousand pounds!
Seeing this, Xiao Wu couldn't help yawning too. She rubbed her sleepy little eyes and said in a soft, childish voice,
"Uncle Creepy, I'm a little sleepy too!"
"If you're sleepy, climb onto my back. I'll carry you home!"
Chu Men turned to the beautiful little snake and the adorable little healer. "You two should head back early as well. Heaven Dou City is getting more and more unsettled."
"Won't you walk us home?" Dugu Yan asked in a coquettish voice.
The moment she finished speaking, her cheeks flushed. She wanted to explain herself, but somehow the words wouldn't come.
She could only curse herself inwardly for being so hopeless!
Chu Men readily agreed. "Sure! I've never been to Heaven Dou Royal Academy."
Before you continue