The Transparent Little Girl

That flipping went on for an entire night.

Only Zhou An knew how agonizingly exhilarating that night had been.

Wok Flipping was an incredibly tedious process, repeating the same motions over and over.

The only positive feedback he received was the steadily rising proficiency.

But after a long time, it still became dull and flavorless.

Zhou An finally understood the loneliness described in novels.

That was exactly how he felt now.

Tedious.

Yet there was a hint of comfort amid the tedium.

Painful, yet joyful.

Together with the soreness in his arms and the tingling numbness after the airflow passed through them, he endured the entire night through that repeated cycle.

His hard work had not been in vain. Zhou An looked at the words before him and felt a wave of satisfaction.

Wok Flipping lv.2 (Strength +1): 1358/20000

Upon reaching the peak of Level Two, he had gained the Strength +1 attribute. Like Knife Skills, this Strength +1 only applied when using Wok Flipping.

Zhou An gripped the iron wok's handle and gave it a forceful shake.

Violent airflow enveloped the wok. With that shake, it actually rang out with the clash of gold and iron.

The air inside the wok began to twist, crashing violently about with a crackling, popping racket.

Zhou An tried putting in the vegetables he had used yesterday, then flicked his left hand.

The vegetables in the wok turned to powder, unable to hold out for even a second.

Zhou An: "..."

What kind of freakish game had I designed back then?

As the saying went, one could not judge a man by his face, nor measure the sea with a pint dipper.

Don't be fooled by the crude name Wok Flipping. When he truly used it, Zhou An felt that if he grabbed someone and tossed them in, he could flip them until flesh and bones dissolved.

"My whole night of hard work wasn't wasted."

Zhou An set down the iron wok, stretched lazily, and looked at the sunlight streaming in from outside.

"Roll call!"

The extra vegetables he had bought yesterday had all been flipped to bits. After leaving home, Zhou An found a roadside stall, ate a little breakfast to make do, then headed for the yamen again.

The yamen operated on rotating duty. Today, he should have been assigned to patrol the streets.

After answering roll call at the yamen, Zhou An strapped on his long saber and headed for the streets of An Ding County.

While patrolling, every constable had a designated area.

This time, Zhou An had been assigned an ordinary street. It only had around ten alleys and was not very large.

He walked down the street with a long saber at his waist.

Zhou An did not say a word.

His mind was filled with nothing but Wok Flipping and chopping vegetables.

Street patrols were exceedingly boring. Some constables would take the opportunity to skim a little something for themselves.

So-called skimming meant casually pocketing something from the street vendors—perhaps a few trifling fruits, perhaps some other small item.

The vendors had long grown accustomed to it.

That was simply how things were these days.

After pacing back and forth like this until lunchtime, Zhou An happened to pass by a douhua rice stall at the roadside. He sat down and ordered a bowl of spicy tofu pudding.

When it came to tofu pudding, some people liked it savory, while others liked it sweet.

But An Ding County's signature douhua rice had to be spicy.

A bowl of smooth white douhua, paired with a special chili sauce, followed by a bowl of pearly white rice.

Comforting.

Zhou An ate heartily. After paying the bill, he leisurely resumed his patrol.

The autumn sky was clear and crisp. A stroll after eating was also good for digestion.

He had thought nothing would happen today. Just as Zhou An was considering continuing to grind Knife Skills that evening, a sound suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

At that moment, Zhou An was walking through a secluded alley.

A clear sound came from ahead. Looking in its direction, he saw a little girl in ragged clothes fall to the ground at the end of the street.

The little girl was dressed in tatters. After falling, tears welled in her eyes but did not spill, only swirling in their sockets.

Her knee had been scraped raw from the fall.

Just as Zhou An was about to go over and ask what was wrong, the little girl stubbornly climbed to her feet.

"It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. Just blow on it, and it won't hurt anymore."

The little girl gently blew on it. Her hands were covered in bloody scrapes from the fall.

After blowing for quite a while, the little girl wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and walked toward the mouth of the alley.

A small pouch hung from her waist, the clinking of copper coins sounding from within.

Such a little girl carrying money around outside isn't very safe. Zhou An followed behind her.

After leaving the alley, the little girl broke into a run and arrived at the street outside.

The street was filled with noisy vendors and passing townsfolk.

Dressed in rags, the little girl stood out sharply against them.

She tightly clutched the little pouch at her waist and ran to a pork stall.

The counter of the meat stall was as tall as the little girl. Standing on tiptoe, she gripped its edge with her small hands and pointed at a piece of meat.

"Uncle, Uncle, cut me a little piece. That piece right there."

The little girl let go, lowered her head, and dug three copper coins out of her pouch, painstakingly placing them on the meat stall.

The surroundings remained noisy, yet the butcher seemed not to see her at all, continuing to cut meat by himself.

The little girl looked left and right, her face full of confusion. Raising the three copper coins from the counter, she said, "Uncle, I want to buy meat. My father's health has gotten a little better lately. I want to cook him just a little meat soup."

The pork seller still did not respond.

Seeing this, Zhou An's brow furrowed slightly.

Something was wrong.

Even if she only had three copper coins, the pork seller would not pretend not to see her, would he?

With that thought, he was about to step forward.

Just then, a passerby walked past the pork stall and happened to pass through the little girl.

Passed through her—completely through her.

The little girl was like a wisp of smoke, passed through with effortless ease.

Zhou An froze and stopped walking. The sight before him was deeply bizarre.

The little girl seemed to realize it too. She stared blankly at the passing crowd, then lowered her head to look at the copper coins in her hand.

A smear of blood appeared on the coins, gradually spreading until every coin was dyed red.

The little girl crouched down, wrapped both arms around her knees, and clenched the copper coins tightly. Tears swirled in her eyes.

"Ya Ya is dead... Ya Ya is dead..."

She kept repeating it. Her body grew fainter and fainter, and her eyes gradually turned vacant, until she finally vanished.

Only Zhou An could see this scene. The people around him remained utterly unaware and continued with their own business.

The airflow within his body stirred.

Zhou An came back to himself. Feeling the airflow inside him, he suddenly realized that ever since obtaining it, he seemed to have become vastly different from ordinary people.

It was because of the airflow within him that he had seen that scene just now—the little girl.

Perhaps I saw Auntie that day for the same reason, Zhou An thought.

Even now, he still had not figured out this airflow.

Whenever he used a saber or a wok, it would naturally begin to flow.

Perhaps I'll discover something later on. Zhou An temporarily suppressed the thought.

Just as he was pondering these matters, a man's cries came from the alley he had just passed.