Jin Xueli's grape soda

Anything that could snatch a human life back from the brink of death was precious beyond measure.

Even if it cost millions or tens of millions, someone would pay; even the slightest increase in the chance of survival would send people flocking to it-like that bottle of sports drink.

But erasing someone's life was cheap.

Things that killed people were often worth very little.

Jin Xueli glanced again at the Purple-Can Soda in her hand.

Really, if all she wanted was to kill someone, a knife would do. Even if she couldn't do it herself, twelve thousand dollars was enough to hire a desperate outlaw.

But using methods from the human world naturally meant taking on its risks and consequences. Blackmoor City was, after all, a real society with rules and laws. What if someone traced Anthony's death or disappearance back to her?

The residents of the Nest hadn't caught her. It would be far too ironic if she ended up in a human-world prison.

She wanted to settle this cleanly, without attracting the slightest suspicion of murder-she still had so much money, so much life she hadn't had time to enjoy.

The real reason this can of soda was expensive wasn't merely that it could cause someone's death-to be honest, she wasn't even sure whether its consequences counted as death.

But she was certain of one thing: dealing with Anthony through a phantasm would leave her with no future trouble.

As Jin Xueli stared absently at the soda, a line of tiny print on its bottom changed from "Countdown: 6 hours 25 minutes" to "Countdown: 6 hours 24 minutes."

It was only effective for eight hours, and she had already spent an hour and a half. Most infuriating of all, apart from those first few calls, she had spent the rest of that time waiting.

Was Anthony baffled too, not expecting me to contact him first?

Just as the thought occurred to her, the newly purchased disposable phone on the table began buzzing. Jin Xueli glanced at the screen and immediately snatched it up. "Anthony?"

The other end of the line went quiet for a second or two.

Then his voice spoke as though nothing had happened. "Oh, it really is you."

"Of course it's me. Wasn't I the one who left you that voicemail?"

"You suddenly said you'd lost your phone and told me to call this number. Pretty suspicious." Anthony spoke slowly, but his voice and tone resembled a rodent sniffing out scents in the shadows. "...When did you lose it?"

Jin Xueli thought for a moment and gave him a time before he had posted her phone number on porn sites. "The morning before yesterday."

Anthony paused.

When he spoke again, his tone had grown warmer. "Why are you suddenly getting in touch? We haven't seen each other in so long..."

"Can we talk in person?" Jin Xueli asked bluntly. "At the bar where we first met?"

She had chosen a public place so Anthony would feel safe coming; he was bound to fear she had found someone to beat him up once she lured him out.

"What's this about?" The harasser was indeed quite cautious.

At that moment, Jin Xueli summoned into herself every heroine from every romantic movie she had ever seen. Imitating their light, earnest voices, she said, "I... I don't like the way things ended between us. I don't think there's absolutely no room left for us. We don't have to let things turn out like this. Whatever you want, we can talk it over properly..."

Were there really women that stupid?

After being bombarded with calls in the middle of the night, left countless abusive messages and curses, and threatened with "I'll get someone to kill you right now," would anyone still be stupid enough to talk things over with the harasser?

Jin Xueli didn't think so, but Anthony apparently did-or at least, he hoped Jin Xueli was one.

"Right now?" There was something eagerly stirring in Anthony's voice that made her ears and skin crawl even over the phone. "It'll be at least another hour before I can find the time to get over there..."

"No problem. I'll wait," Jin Xueli said through gritted teeth.

After hanging up, she placed the phone and the Purple-Can Soda together on the table before her and stared fixedly at them for a while.

Several men and women drinking at the next table suddenly burst into loud laughter. They seemed to be colleagues having a drink after work, and they all raised their glasses, clinking them together in midair.

The waitress approached the table and asked with a smile, "Well? Is the person you're waiting for coming?"

"It'll be a little longer." Jin Xueli drew several bills bearing Franklin's portrait from her wallet and handed them over with the Purple-Can Soda. "As we discussed, sorry for the trouble once he gets here."

The waitress stared at the bills, visibly startled by the size of the tip and a little incredulous. "Are you sure?"

Jin Xueli slowly leaned back in her chair and smiled at her.

"...I'm sure."

As nine o'clock approached, the bar gradually began filling up.

The smell of alcohol mingled with perfume and the tobacco smoke that swept in whenever the door opened, hazing the lights.

When only three hours and forty-one minutes remained and Jin Xueli had begun considering whether to use her backup plan, Anthony finally pushed open the bar door. His gaze swept the room and quickly found his target, but he didn't come over immediately.

He stood in the doorway and looked over all the customers before ambling over and dropping into the seat across from Jin Xueli.

"You look exhausted," he said, sounding concerned from his very first words. "Things haven't been good lately? Ah, I haven't been sleeping well either. I often think about you."

Jin Xueli considered herself fairly worldly, but faced with such utterly unselfconscious shamelessness, she was still too astonished to find words.

"You know," Anthony said, tapping the table with one hand, "before I came, I called the phone you lost."

Before Jin Xueli could react, he continued with righteous indignation, "Just as I thought, someone picked it up. How could they find someone else's phone and not return it?"

"Wait, someone answered?" Jin Xueli asked hurriedly.

"Yes, a man," Anthony said.

Moran Dao's voice was deeper than most women's, and sure enough, he had misunderstood. Still, if she could answer the phone, that meant Moran Dao and the others had returned to Blackmoor City too.

"I said to him, 'How much money do you want before you'll give my girlfriend her phone back?'"

At that moment, Jin Xueli felt as though she had visited a socialite's home, taken off her shoes, and discovered that one of her socks had a toe poking through it.

"What did sh... he say?" she asked, scrubbing a hand hard over her face.

She had clearly come here to kill someone today, yet right now she wished she could hang herself from a beam first.

"You'll never guess how greedy he was!" Anthony said indignantly. "He said, 'Twelve thousand, and I'll give it back to her.' Can you believe that? I got angry right away and wanted to threaten him a little, give him a scare..."

"...And then?"

"He laughed and hung up." Anthony leaned closer as he spoke, saying reassuringly, "Don't worry. If you need me to, I'll keep calling him for you and get your phone back."

Jin Xueli lowered her head, paused for several seconds, then straightened up again.

Before answering, she raised a hand to signal the waitress, then rested her gaze on Anthony's face.

Looking at him as though inspecting a newly discovered insect, she said softly, "Yes, relentlessly harassing people with phone calls really is your specialty."

If Anthony had argued or flown into a humiliated rage, that would at least have shown he had some sense of shame.

He merely froze for a moment, then smiled. "I knew you'd hold a grudge. I admit I went a little too far... because I've never cared about anyone this much before."

The waitress came over with a tray and set a glass filled with ice in front of each of them.

With a hiss, she pulled open the soda can and filled the glass in front of Jin Xueli halfway. A thick layer of white foam floated on the purple liquid.

Just as she was about to pour some for Anthony too, he reached out and covered his glass.

"You bought this soda?" Anthony looked at the purple can on the tray and motioned for the waitress to put it down. Picking it up and examining it, he said to Jin Xueli, "I've never seen this brand... You always have these strange things."

Much as she disliked admitting it, Anthony had a kind of intuition-it was that intuition that had allowed him to pick Jin Xueli out of an entire bar full of people.

"It's imported." Unwilling to leave the phantasm in his hands for too long, Jin Xueli reached out and said, "It's pretty good. Want to try some?"

"No, you have it." Anthony pushed the can toward her and turned to the waitress. "A gin and tonic."

Without betraying anything, Jin Xueli pushed the soda can aside, as though it didn't matter.

Only after the gin and tonic arrived did Anthony speak again. "You asked me here today..."

"There are a few things I want to say to you."

Anthony sipped his drink, in no hurry to ask what she wanted to say. He glanced at the glass of soda. "Go on, drink it. Don't you like it?"

Jin Xueli lowered her eyes to the soda and brought it to her lips.

Anthony held his glass too, watching her over its rim. She opened her mouth and let the cold liquid slide into her throat and drop into her stomach.

Only when he heard her swallow did Anthony seem reassured. Looking at the lowered level of soda, he smiled. "I'll try some in a bit too. Never seen it before. What did you want to say?"

Jin Xueli set down her glass and said slowly, "There's something wrong with you mentally."

Anthony's face abruptly turned cold.

"I don't know whether you were born genetically defective or your upbringing turned you into a sick freak. Maybe no one's ever said this to you before, but today I have to tell you: you're scum.

"You think the world, especially women, owes you something and treats you unfairly, that other people have stolen what you deserve, don't you? Why do I have money when you don't? Why won't I be with you? For someone as narcissistic as you, rejection is a tremendous insult... You'll do everything you can to harass me and get revenge, but you're such a cringing creep that all you dare do is post my number on websites."

Anthony froze, his face flushing red.

Jin Xueli smiled, picked up her glass, and drained the soda. "What you get today is exactly what you deserve."

"What?" he asked blankly.

"I'm leaving." Jin Xueli stood and moved away from the table.

"Wait." Anthony immediately sprang up and reached for her arm. "Explain what you-"

The moment he came close, Jin Xueli gently blew a breath into his face.

A rich grape scent spread between them.

"People are watching. What are you trying to do?" she asked softly.

Sure enough, Anthony reluctantly released her. His eyes turned toward Jin Xueli's seat and spotted the handbag she had left there. His cheek muscles twitched into a smile, and he sat back down.

He had misunderstood: Jin Xueli was only going to the restroom.

She stood beside the sinks without using the toilet or washing her hands, drawing a blonde woman's attention. The blonde was a little drunk. Looking at her, she suddenly asked with a smile, "Why are you wearing rain boots?"

Jin Xueli was in a good mood. She tapped her toes against the floor a few times as though tap-dancing to show her, and answered with a smile too, "The forecast says rain."

When she felt enough time had passed, she went back out and returned to her table. The chair beside it was empty. No one was there anymore.

The seat was soaking wet, and a large quantity of purple liquid was dripping steadily onto the floor. A puddle had already collected there, as though someone had accidentally knocked over a can of soda-or two.

Jin Xueli stepped into the liquid, splashing her boots. She bent down to pick up her bag, then took the soda can from the table.

On her way out, she spoke to the waitress.

"My friend already left," she said with an apologetic smile. "I accidentally spilled the drink just now..."

"No problem, don't worry about it!" the waitress said warmly. "I'll mop it up right away."

The part I was proudest of in yesterday's chapter, besides Moran Dao's name, was "gate-raid"... I wonder whether anyone figured out who its brother in the human world was? It's Gatorade!

Ah, I'm missing someone to play the straight man.

(End of chapter)