Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the gaps in the blinds, cut into beams of light that fell on the white sheets, like a silent string of light playing.

Miya leaned against the raised pillows and turned her head to look out the window.

The ward was on the fifth floor, and the window faced the canopy of a jacaranda tree.

It was the peak of the flowering season, and the tree was covered with dense clusters of blue-purple flowers, almost obscuring the green leaves.

From a distance, it looks like a cloud that has been dyed by the setting sun, or like a careless painter who accidentally spilled a bottle of purple paint, letting it splash onto the tree canopy.

The midday sun poured down from directly above, illuminating the outline of each flower.

The petals are thin, and when sunlight shines through them, they take on the texture of gemstones, like thin slices made from the thinnest amethyst.

When the wind blows, the whole tree sways gently, and the flower clusters rustle against each other.

A few petals were caught in the wind, twirled several times in the air outside the window, and finally stuck to the glass. After a while, they were carried away by the next gust of wind.

Miya stared blankly at the petals.

I suddenly remembered what Bie Chenye had said.

The life cycle of summer insects lasts only a few nights, and their only task is to glow.

These jacaranda trees are probably similar, blooming profusely, and then at their peak, they fall like a purple rain, covering the ground with petals that are trampled into the cracks of the stone slabs by passersby and turn into brown mud.

"Is it pretty?"

Flores' voice pulled her thoughts back to the hospital room.

Miya turned her head and found that Flores had already packed up the lunchbox and was leaning back in her chair, one hand supporting her chin and the other casually resting on the armrest, smiling as she looked at Miya.

"I'm feeling better, my head isn't dizzy anymore, but I'm still not full."

Flores smiled slightly, then took out her phone from her pocket, swiped a few times, found a screenshot, and turned the screen towards Miya.

"The medical bill is 20,400 Loren. Miss Lu left 30,000, saying the extra was for your nutrition. She also asked me to tell you—I'm sorry, I can't stay to take care of you."

Miya stared at that number for a long time.

Thirty thousand Loren.

All her hard-earned savings amounted to only 18,000 yuan, but Lu Yue threw it away without batting an eye, without even mentioning a repayment deadline, without calculating interest, and without requiring her to pay for medical expenses.

The young lady herself felt she hadn't done enough and even apologized.

Mi Ye lowered her head and pulled the blanket up to cover half of her face.

"Store Manager."

Her voice came out muffledly from the edge of the blanket.

"Um?"

"Could you please tell her for me that... I'll treat her to a meal when I'm discharged from the hospital?"

"Tell her yourself."

Flores put her phone away.

"She secretly added you on WW."

"……All right."

Miya took a deep breath, pulled the blanket off her face, and looked intently at Flores.

"Thank you, store manager."

Flores raised an eyebrow.

"They've been staying here for the past few days, feeding me and wiping my mouth."

Mi Ye pointed to the small trace of porridge left on the corner of her mouth, her ear tips slightly red.

"You're clearly very busy."

Flores didn't answer immediately, but simply pulled the chair forward, reached out to smooth the corner of the blanket for Miya, and brushed away a strand of hair stuck to the pillow with her fingers.

"If something happens to the employees of Nightingale's Nest and no one takes responsibility, wouldn't it be incredibly shameful for me as the boss?"

She spoke in a light, airy tone, but as she pulled her hand back, the back of her fingers inadvertently brushed against Miya's forehead, very gently.

Miya suddenly felt a lump in her throat.

Flores withdrew her hand, leaned back in her chair, and regained her languid elegance.

Miya could sense that the tension in the shopkeeper's body had subtly eased a little after she woke up.

It's probably like the jacaranda trees outside the window; after the wind stops, the branches no longer sway.

Miya shifted her gaze back to the purple canopy of the trees outside the window, letting the sound of the wind blowing through the petals slowly digest this indescribable emotion.

Her hand unconsciously clenched the bed sheet, then suddenly froze.

There's something on the back of my right hand.

Miya pulled her hand out from under the covers, turned it over, and held it up to the light streaming in from the window.

A small black star symbol appeared in the center of the back of his hand.

The five points of the star were neatly concealed, and its size was just enough to cover the nail of her little finger.

The color is an extremely deep black, and when you look closely, you can vaguely see a faint iridescent halo flowing deep within the symbol, as if the liquid injected into it is solidified but still slowly flowing.

Miya stared at it for a long time, her pupils dilating slightly.

Her physical changes are not just a matter of numbers.

Then she heard a crisp sound.

Immediately afterwards, two streams of information flooded into her consciousness almost simultaneously.

[Macrophagus] Lv1

It can kill low-health enemies in a weakened state and devour them, gaining one-tenth of their stats.

Miya blinked.

This thing is a perfect match for her fortune-forging device.

One involves picking up star fragments that others have consumed, while the other involves directly killing monsters and consuming their attributes.

Both are paths of unlimited growth.

If the opponent's total attributes are 100, then Execute and Devour will directly add 10.

Although the restrictions are "weakened state" and "low health", she can easily imagine the combo: first weaken the enemy to the kill threshold, then finish them off in one hit, and finally stand there and wipe out their attributes.

Miya also noticed that her panel attributes seemed to have changed.

[Body Condition 115]

【Agility 122】

[Intelligence Level 108]

[Charm 100] Max

Sure enough, my charm level dropped by more than 100 points.

Just as she had guessed, it was the breakthrough in her charm attribute that caused her to have "Shining", and now it seems that this attribute has been locked, making it impossible to further increase her charm.

Well, being cute is an advantage, but whether being too attractive counts as an advantage is another matter.

Before she could finish thinking, a second stream of information flooded in.

[Blood Fairy] Lv1

Miya stared at the flashing branch for a long time, then exhaled all the air from her lungs.

This is the flash of God.

This is the unique shimmering light that Bie Chenye spoke of, the light unique to flesh and blood magic.

He is undeniably handsome, but from a certain perspective, it's also a path of no return.

Miya turned her hand over and over to look at it. The black star sat quietly in the sunlight, completely concealing the terrifying power that could summon tentacles.

"Manager."

Mi Ye's voice sounded a little ethereal.

"I think I've become ridiculously strong."

"I can tell."

Flores' gaze lingered on the star symbol on the back of her hand for a moment before she picked up the thermos again and handed it over.

"Have some water to calm your nerves."

After drinking the water, Miya pulled her hands back under the covers, turned over, and buried her face in the pillow.

The pillow smelled of disinfectant, and also had the faint sandalwood scent of Flores. The two scents mixed together, strangely making people feel at ease.

However, a strange sense of unease lingered around Miya.

Was the store manager's reaction to this a little too indifferent?

Besides that, she had many other questions to ask.

Why did the wishing well turn black? Who was the reflection that pulled her into the water? Why is the [Divine Flash] cursed? How did Lu Yue's emergency meeting go? Does the teacher know she's in the hospital...?

But right now, all she wants to do is sleep a little longer.