3: Chapter 3 Another World

"Mistress, where are you going?"

Tang Ruan's body stiffened.

Without turning her head, she said, "I'm going out for a bit. Be good and don't follow me. I'll be back in a while."

So, you want to play-act with me, huh!

She wanted to see if an NPC could develop self-awareness.

The little fox was silent for two seconds.

It obediently gave an "Mm."

"Then I'll wait for you to come back."

Very good, the NPC's characterization is stable.

Tang Ruan walked to the entrance of the cave.

She bolted outside.

A bright light pierced through, blinding her.

After her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized she hadn't returned to the real world.

Before her lay an endless grassland.

To the left, a tall man with deer antlers was herding sheep.

The moving flock of sheep looked like drifting clouds in the sky.

To the right, there was a lake.

Several sturdy men were working together to pull in a fishing net from the lake.

Plump fish leaped out of the water, their scales glittering like stars under the sunlight.

What a harmonious and beautiful scene.

Tang Ruan smiled.

A pastoral idyll—the dream of so many wage slaves.

Playing this game with her, are they?

She took a step back and aimed for a direction where no one was around.

Charge!

As long as she kept running in one direction, there had to be a place the "game graphics" couldn't render!

She didn't know how long she had been running, but the sky had darkened.

Tang Ruan was already exhausted.

Her legs gave out, and she fainted.

"Mistress... save me!"

In the darkness, the little fox's cry for help echoed.

Tang Ruan opened her eyes and looked helplessly at the cave ceiling.

If the strategy doesn't work, is it time to restart the game?

She slowly looked toward the cave entrance.

But suddenly, she saw a pair of long legs.

The man was dressed in black martial attire, and the patterns on his boots resembled scales, exuding a strong exotic vibe.

Looking further up, he was only wearing half-armor on his upper body.

His eight-pack abs looked like eight neatly stacked bricks.

His pectoral muscles were even more firm and full.

A burst of masculine pheromones hit her right in the face.

She couldn't help but sniff.

She felt like something was about to flow out...

She got to see something good again!

"Mistress! Mistress!"

The little fox's cry for help snapped Tang Ruan back to reality.

The little fox was covered in blood, held in the man's hand.

And the hand the man was using to hold him had protruding knuckles, looking like sharp claws...

This hand... she had seen it before!

Tang Ruan snapped her head up.

She met the man's amused face.

His blood-red eyes narrowed.

"Mistress, how about I kill him today and make you a scarf?"

"No... absolutely not!" Tang Ruan blurted out.

The man looked at her in disbelief.

For some reason, Tang Ruan actually felt a hint of hurt in that gaze.

"Do you know what he did—"

Before the man could finish speaking, his brows suddenly furrowed.

The little fox bit the man's hand.

The man let go in pain.

It immediately broke free and blocked the path in front of Tang Ruan.

With its back to her, it took an offensive stance, all its fur standing on end.

"Mistress, run! I'll protect you!"

Tang Ruan jolted awake...

"Woof! Woof woof!"

Hearing the dog-bark ringtone, she knew it was the dog-boss calling.

Tang Ruan felt around on the floor for her phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Tang Ruan! Where did you run off to! Absent without leave, I'm docking your pay for three days!"

"Boss, I... I fainted."

There was a silence on the other end of the line.

"Then... then rest well at home, make sure nothing happens to you. Don't come to the company until you're completely better."

The boss sounded even more nervous than she was.

But she knew it wasn't out of concern.

Tang Ruan worked as customer service for a pet supply company, which had a total of five employees.

The boss was a "middle-aged man with ambition" over forty who was constantly starting new businesses, usually shrewd and mercenary.

He was afraid that if she fainted at the company, it would count as a work-related injury.

She hung up.

Tang Ruan climbed up from the floor.

She walked to the water dispenser and poured a glass of water.

The cold water went down her throat.

Her mind was full of the blood dripping onto the ground.

The little fox's injured leg...

The man's terrifying smile...

So, what happened later...

Was the little fox killed?

Was she killed along with it?

However, that terrifying man also called her Mistress.

He had said before that he was her First Beast Husband.

What does First Beast Husband mean? Like the head husband?

Why would she choose such a terrifying head husband!

Tang Ruan's imagination ran wild, and she suddenly thought—

Yan Qing seemed to have said that a Beast Husband cannot kill his Mistress.

But he didn't say why.

Then why did he kill her?

A chill ran through Tang Ruan.

She booked another appointment for herself online.

---

This time, she had a full check-up and even went to the psychiatry department.

"No issues, you're very healthy."

...

"Don't be under too much pressure; having dreams is very normal."

...

Tang Ruan held a thick stack of test reports and found a quiet restaurant to sit down in.

If there were no issues with her body or mind.

Then there must be—a problem with the place?

Forget it, she should just ask the Fortune Teller first.

Tang Ruan sent a "smiley face."

Fortune Teller: [ "Smiley face." ]

Tang Ruan: [ You said last time that I had a yin peach blossom calamity. ]

[ Mm. ]

[ So, does it get better after passing the calamity? ]

Since it's a calamity, it can't be like this for her whole life, right!

[ Correct. ]

The Fortune Teller didn't mention the 500 yuan fee again, but he was very sparing with his words.

Tang Ruan proactively sent a 100 yuan red envelope.

A minute later...

[ A yin peach blossom calamity is the same as a peach blossom calamity; they are both unfulfilling romantic experiences. For some reason, you don't end up together in the end, and it ends in heartbreak. But don't worry, although it will be very sad, it will eventually pass. ]

The effect of 100 yuan is really good; he even knows how to comfort people now.

Tang Ruan gave a bitter smile.

She knew it; she didn't have any good luck in love, not even in her dreams.

But she suddenly thought that if she stopped dreaming about "the people in that world," that should also count as "not ending up together"!

She wrote a short essay about her experiences over the past few days and sent it to the Master.

[ Master, do you believe there is another world? ]

[ Of course! Parallel universes, folded space, time travel... these are all things humans are still researching. We have no way to prove they exist, but at the same time, we have no way to prove they don't. In three thousand worlds, how could there only be ours? ]

Tang Ruan felt that what he said made a lot of sense.

So, is it possible that she didn't encounter "demons and ghosts," and she isn't sick.

She simply traveled to another world!

Tang Ruan stood up abruptly from her seat, her eyes shooting out rays of hope.

The restaurant owner was startled.

"Customer, is something wrong?"

Tang Ruan coughed awkwardly.

"Could you please hurry up with the shredded pork with garlic sauce rice bowl? Thank you."

"Okay... okay!"

She wasn't mentally ill, that's great!

[ However... ]

The Fortune Teller suddenly hesitated.

Tang Ruan was very proactive this time and sent 100 yuan via WeChat Pay.

The Fortune Teller continued: [ Once you pass the calamity, your connection with the "peach blossom" over there will be completely severed. ]

Tang Ruan wasn't afraid of it being severed; she wished it would be severed immediately!

To be honest, after spending these days together, she had developed genuine feelings for Yan Qing.

Sometimes at work, she couldn't help but wonder: What is he doing?

In short, she was almost developing a "love brain"!

If it ended in heartbreak because of a person in a dream, it wouldn't be worth it.

[ If I change my environment, will it be severed? ]

Tang Ruan suspected that the place she lived might just be the entrance connecting to that world.

[ You can try. ]

That night, she booked a hotel on the top floor of the commercial building where her company was located.

The hotel's environment was average, but you could go up to the rooftop and overlook the beautiful view of the whole city.

The cool autumn breeze brushed against her cheeks, making her think of all that had happened in the past.

At this moment, she felt incredibly relaxed.

After her father died, her mother remarried and took her along.

Her mother treated her like a burden, and her stepfather never gave her a pleasant look.

She grew up "unloved" like that.

But after she graduated, her mother used the name of love to make her send "alimony" back.

Saying how difficult it was to raise her back then...

Her mother's occasional care made her, who was extremely starved for love, fall for it.

So, at first it was three hundred or five hundred, then later three thousand or five thousand...

Until they asked her to take out online loans to pay for her younger brother's tutoring classes.

Only then did Tang Ruan suddenly wake up and cut off contact.

But they were "resourceful."

They would still find her company through various channels.

Tang Ruan had changed many jobs because of this.

Until she met her current "mercenary" boss, who was very good at dealing with difficult people like them.

Furthermore, his company was already so small that it didn't need to care about its reputation.

Only then did Tang Ruan manage to settle down.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, the sound of an explosion came.