The moment Zhong Baiye and the others saw Paimon like that, they realized she had tricked them.
But now that the Mora and Primogems were in Paimon's hands, not even an adeptus could get them back from her.
All they could do was lower their opinion of Paimon a little further.
They thought back to that golden treasure chest, then looked at Paimon's "exquisite" appearance.
Sure enough, nothing good ever lay beneath an exquisite exterior.
"It's nice here, and it should be getting late by now. Let's rest here tonight and head back tomorrow."
Keqing worked out how much time had passed and realized they had been inside for over eight hours. The stars should already be out by now, making it a poor time to travel.
Zhong Baiye was still thinking about his gacha system and had been planning to suggest the same thing, so he agreed as soon as Keqing spoke.
Seeing that Zhong Baiye had agreed, Lumine said nothing and simply nodded her assent.
Afterward, they found a few empty rooms on the floating island and settled into separate quarters.
It was worth mentioning that Lumine had walked into Zhong Baiye's room with a perfectly serious expression, intending to stay with him.
If Keqing hadn't kept her guard up and watched Lumine closely, she might actually have gotten away with it.
As Keqing dragged her away, Lumine protested indignantly.
"I'm his little sister. Isn't it only natural for me to stay with my big brother?"
Zhong Baiye very much wanted to agree with Lumine, but after Keqing shot him a look reserved for perverts, he behaved himself.
Although Zhong Baiye regretted missing such an opportunity, if Lumine really had stayed with him, he wouldn't have known what to do.
When Keqing dragged Lumine away, he breathed a sigh of relief too.
"Forget it. No point thinking about that. The pulls are what matter."
After more than a dozen chapters of hard work, Zhong Baiye had finally saved up enough Primogems for another ten-pull.
The gacha system, which had lain dormant for more than a dozen chapters, could finally be put to use again.
Zhong Baiye was in no hurry at all. First, he took out the Sigil of Permission.
Then he opened the door a crack, checked that no one was outside, and sneaked over to where the Slimes rested.
He tiptoed back carrying a Hydro Slime that was still fast asleep.
"Hydro, Hydro, come help me take a bath."
Zhong Baiye made his friendly request to the Slime with a nauseating expression on his face.
Even the Slime shuddered at the look he was wearing.
But intimidated by the Sigil of Permission in Zhong Baiye's hand, the adorable Hydro Slime had no choice but to tremble as it crawled onto him.
Seeing the Hydro Slime cleaning his body, Zhong Baiye once again wore a smug expression worthy of a pervert.
He even muttered, "Bathing and changing clothes is the traditional ritual before a pull. But bathing with a Slime feels amazing. I don't even have to do anything myself."
With that thought, Zhong Baiye soon lost himself in the Hydro Slime's ministrations.
At last, the Hydro Slime finished washing him and immediately ran off to one side, where it lay trembling.
If the Slime could speak, Zhong Baiye might have heard it saying, "Boohoo, X﹏X, I've been defiled."
Zhong Baiye paid no attention to any of that and hurriedly snapped out of his bliss.
Smack, smack!
He clapped his palms together twice, then knelt on the floor with a solemn expression.
"Jade Emperor, Buddha of the Western Heaven, Lord Lao, Raiden Shogun, and Rex Lapis, bless me. Please let me pull something good."
As he spoke, he glanced at the floor.
He thought, This floor is marble. It'll definitely hurt if I actually bang my head against it.
In the end, he only went through the motions without actually making a sound.
It turned out that everything Zhong Baiye had done was preparation for the upcoming ten-pull.
Once he finished, Zhong Baiye looked satisfied as he carefully took the glittering Primogems out of his money pouch.
[Ding! Primogems available for top-up detected. Proceed with top-up?]
Zhong Baiye took one last look at the Primogems in his hands, then turned his head away and silently declared with every ounce of strength he had, Top up.
"Wait a minute! I'm not this greedy."
It suddenly occurred to him that he had never cared this much about money before.
"It must be because I've been spending so much time with Paimon lately. She's rubbed off on me."
Zhong Baiye thought about Paimon's expression whenever money was involved. It was almost identical to the one he'd just worn, so he decided to pin the blame for his change on her.
"Ahem! Who's cursing me? It must be that Zhong Baiye."
Paimon, who was resting with Lumine, suddenly coughed twice and instantly concluded that Zhong Baiye must be involved.
[Top-up successful! Perform a ten-pull?]
The system's notification pulled Zhong Baiye out of his thoughts.
He silently prayed to Rex Lapis, the Raiden Shogun, and the others once more before trembling as he answered, Yes.
Once again, Zhong Baiye saw a virtual sky, with several shooting stars hurtling toward him.
"Gold! Gold! There has to be gold!"
As he watched the shooting stars, he prayed nonstop in his heart, barely daring to keep his eyes open.
The feeling of pulling was exactly the same as pulling in Genshin Impact before he transmigrated.
As though Rex Lapis and the others had heard Zhong Baiye's prayers, this ten-pull actually produced another streak of golden light.
[Ding! Congratulations, host.] [Obtained white items: Cola ×2, Great Adventurer's Experience ×4] [Obtained purple items: Delicious Buddha Jumps Over the Wall ×1, Special Bamboo-Copter ×1, special skill-Stealing ×1] [Obtained gold item: Skyward Blade ×1]
Although pulling the Skyward Blade was a pleasant surprise for Zhong Baiye, it was still within his expectations.
What surprised him most was that he'd also pulled a bamboo-copter and a skill.
He promptly topped up some Mora to check the details of the bamboo-copter and the Stealing skill.
[Special Bamboo-Copter: Once activated, can be used freely for one day. Height and weight limits apply.] [Special skill-Stealing: Randomly steals one item from a nearby person based on the user's luck.]
He could understand the bamboo-copter. It was probably much like the one in Doraemon: attach it to your head, and even an ordinary person could fly freely.
But the Stealing skill left him a little confused. Whenever stealing came up, the first thing he thought of was that scumbag Kazuma's god-tier skill in KonoSuba.
Still, the skill's detailed description didn't specify whether it came from that series.
"Forget it. I'll just try it out tomorrow."
A wicked grin spread across Zhong Baiye's face as he prepared to use the skill right away, then run a few tests tomorrow.
"After all, this skill doesn't do any damage. There's nothing wrong with testing it on other people."
Zhong Baiye reassured himself inwardly, unaware that the wicked grin on his face had already given him away.
Before you continue