5: Chapter 5: Gaining the Support of a Rich Woman!

Only two people remained in the discussion room.

Silence lasted for about a dozen seconds.

Su Bai sighed and turned to Lin Xiao. She hadn't left yet. She had been sitting in her original spot since earlier, her expression regaining its calm after a brief shift. She hadn't run off screaming like Zhao Dahai, but she didn't show any intention of getting closer to Su Bai either. She just sat there, looking at Su Bai thoughtfully with her beautiful eyes, as if trying to discern whether there was any trace of a joke on his face.

"You're not running?" Su Bai asked.

"Why would I run?" Lin Xiao toyed with a lock of her long hair. "It's not like you're going to use this card on me."

"So you believe me?"

"Hard to say," Lin Xiao's voice was very calm. "But there is one thing I am sure of."

"What's that?"

Lin Xiao stood up. She walked over to Su Bai and looked down at him.

"You're not joking."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

Su Bai didn't say anything.

Lin Xiao stared at him for a few more seconds, then suddenly turned around and walked to the other side of the discussion room. She crossed her arms, her back to Su Bai, seemingly deep in thought.

Then she said something Su Bai completely didn't expect.

"Su Bai. Do you really know how to make this card?"

Su Bai was stunned for a moment.

"Yes. I have the blueprint."

"Blueprint," Lin Xiao repeated the word. She turned around with a strange expression on her face—a mix of curiosity, doubt, and some emotion Su Bai couldn't quite decipher for the moment. "Before today, you were still having a headache over the two-dimensional circuits of an Element Card, and now you say you have the blueprint for an Armament Card. And it's an SSS-grade card that sounds like it was made by a psychopath. Don't you have anything to explain about this logical gap?"

Su Bai fell silent. He certainly had things that needed explaining—the existence of the system, the fact of his transmigration, the anime culture of another dimension—none of which he could possibly explain.

But he didn't want to make up a clumsy lie either.

"I can't explain it," he finally said. "But I can make it."

Lin Xiao looked at him. Seconds ticked by.

Then she suddenly smiled.

It wasn't a mocking smile. Nor was it a polite one. It was a very strange, somewhat excited smile. It was as if someone had placed a completely incomprehensible puzzle box in front of her, and she wanted to tear it open to see what was inside.

"Do you know how I got into this academy?" Lin Xiao suddenly asked.

Su Bai shook his head.

"Third in the entire grade for the theory exam," Lin Xiao said. "But for the practical exam—I barely passed and was almost weeded out. My mentor said I'm the most typical clumsy-handed person she's ever seen. My brain understands everything, but my hands are completely useless.

Do you know that feeling? When you clearly know how to make the card, how to draw every circuit, and the ratio and nodes of every material, but your hands just won't cooperate. You can never draw a perfect line. You can never stabilize your Mental Power output."

She paused.

"So when you said 'I can't explain it' just now, I actually felt a bit envious of you."

"Envious?" Su Bai frowned.

"Envious that you at least have a bit of... I don't know how to describe it, a mysterious self-confidence? I don't know if you were always this secretly eccentric, but the current you sitting in front of me, with only fifty yuan in your pocket, actually dares to solemnly describe a perverted cross-dressing card that can make the user's soul leave their body. And you truly believe you can make it. It's very interesting."

She took a step closer.

"So, I've made up my mind."

"Decided what?"

"This young lady wants to witness some of the results of this card." Lin Xiao lifted her chin, recovering her haughty demeanor. "By the way, Zhao Dahai said you were driven crazy by the final exam, but I think it's not that simple. Your eyes aren't crazy. A madman's gaze is unfocused. There is something in your eyes."

She paused.

"Though I'm not sure what that something is."

Su Bai locked eyes with her for a few seconds.

"So you stayed because you want to see what I can actually make?"

"Pretty much," Lin Xiao shrugged. "Of course, there's also a more realistic reason—we've been grouped together. It does me no good if you fail. Although I'm clumsy-handed, my theory is decent. At least I can help you keep check on the technical plan."

"What about the materials?" Su Bai asked, a trace of bitter teasing in his tone. "I have the blueprint, and I know how to make it. But what I need isn't some common stuff like Iron-Armored Bull essence blood. I need the resentment crystal of a Phantom Demon, the extremely tough silk thread of an Abyssal Dream-Weaving Spider, and five grams of formless spirit sand."

When Lin Xiao heard these three names, a crack finally appeared in her expression.

"What did you say?"

"You didn't hear wrong." Su Bai pulled up the material list from the system panel and recited it verbally. "A Tier-4 Phantom Demon's resentment crystal, three Tier-3 dream-weaving spider silk threads, and five grams of formless spirit sand. The market price is about... forty-seven thousand yuan."

"Forty-seven thousand?!" Lin Xiao's voice rose half an octave. "You want forty-seven thousand yuan worth of materials for a Tier-1 card? That show-off Wang Shaotian only spent thirty thousand to make a B-grade card! What kind of card is this of yours? SSS?!"

"It is indeed SSS," Su Bai said.

"You're actually going along with SSS!"

Lin Xiao looked as if she had been splashed with a cup of ice water. She stared at Su Bai, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly.

"SSS. Tier-1. SSS."

She repeated those words as if confirming she hadn't misheard. "Do you know what a Tier-1 SSS-grade card represents? It's a quality that theoretically exists but is almost impossible to create in reality. Since the founding of the entire Jinghai Card Creator Academy, only two people have ever made an SSS-grade card at Tier-1. One is the current principal, and the other is the first founder, who died fifty years ago. And you, someone who can't even draw an Element Card stably, say you want to make a Tier-1 SSS card."

"Yes."

"Using a perverted doll concept that makes people cross-dress and turn into stone."

"Yes."

Lin Xiao took a deep breath and sneered, "Do you think I'll believe that?"

"Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter to me," Su Bai shrugged.

"Huh?" Lin Xiao was dumbfounded. "Do you have money?"

"No."

Su Bai thought for a moment. "But I feel like I definitely won't be short on money in the future."

"Why?"

"..."

Seeing that Su Bai remained silent, Lin Xiao frowned and asked again, "Not saying? Then let me ask another question. You said you only have fifty yuan left in your pocket. If we both go home today, what will you do next?"

"Take out a loan."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course."

Lin Xiao fell silent again, her eyes narrowing as she stared closely at Su Bai, as if confirming something. She muttered, "Not even a bit guilty... Is it for real..."

Then, she made a move that caught Su Bai completely by surprise.

She reached out and picked up the holographic phone on the table. It was the latest model, its screen projecting a light blue light screen in the air. Her fingers flew across the light screen so fast that Su Bai could only see a blur of afterimages.

"What are you doing?" Su Bai was surprised.

"Checking my account," Lin Xiao said without looking up. "Be quiet."

After a dozen seconds, she stopped her fingers. A number was displayed on the light screen. Lin Xiao stared at the number for two seconds, then tapped confirm.

*Ding.*

Su Bai's phone rang. His phone was an old model left behind by the original host, with a crack across the screen. But at this moment, a bank transfer notification popped up above that crack, making the phone look much more pleasing to his eyes.

Transfer Amount: 50,000.00

Transfer Memo: Phantom Demon Crystal + Dream-Weaving Spider Silk + formless spirit sand, don't waste the rest

Su Bai looked up.

Lin Xiao was looking at him with her arms crossed. Her face had returned to that haughty, slightly disgusted expression, but the tips of her ears seemed slightly red—perhaps it was just the angle of the light in the discussion room.

"What are you looking at?" she said. "This money is lent to you. It's not a gift."

"You transferred fifty thousand for forty-seven thousand worth of materials," Su Bai said.

"That three thousand is for your living expenses." Lin Xiao's tone was very casual, as if speaking of a trivial matter. "I've seen your file. Your pension is gone, and the money you make working in the material warehouse is barely enough to feed yourself. If you starve to death in the card creation lab, my money goes down the drain."

Su Bai fell silent for a few seconds. Then, he suddenly smiled.

It wasn't a polite smile, nor was it that bitter, self-deprecating smile from before. It was a genuine, heartfelt smile.

Because he suddenly realized that in this class where everyone thought he was crazy, there was actually someone—someone he originally thought was just a haughty rich girl—who was willing to shell out fifty thousand yuan to pay for his madness.

Even if she said it was a 'loan.'

Even if she said it was just 'for fun.'

But the money was real. The transfer was real.

And that was enough.

"Thanks," Su Bai said. Just two words, nothing more.

"Don't be so quick to thank me." Lin Xiao raised a finger. "I have conditions."

"Speak."

"First, you can only use this fifty thousand to buy materials. You're not allowed to use it for anything else. If I find out you're wasting my money, you're dead."

"Deal."

"Second, three days. I'm giving you three days."

Lin Xiao held up three fingers. "Three days from now, we'll meet. You must make the first-stage semi-finished product of this cat and show it to me. Don't try to fool me; I'll bring professionals to look at it then. Well, since we're a group, we might as well just treat it as a meeting to discuss it. In exchange, I will of course bring my own results to share with you guys, and I'll drag Zhao Dahai along too."

"Semi-finished product? Exchange meeting?" Su Bai repeated the words.

"Yes. I don't expect you to finish an entire card in three days, nor do I expect it to be SSS, but you must at least prove to me that your ridiculous theory isn't just you talking nonsense."

Lin Xiao's tone carried a hint of tsundere and threat. "If after three days you present a pile of deceptive junk, or worse, run off with the money, you are truly dead. I will have every material merchant in all of Jinghai blacklist you, so you won't even be able to buy a single sheet of blank draft paper for the rest of your life."

Su Bai locked eyes with her for a few seconds.

Then he stood up and nodded solemnly.

"Rest assured, Boss."

"Who's your boss—"

"In three days, I'll show you what real miracles and magic are."

Lin Xiao was stunned for a moment. Then she snorted and turned her head away.

"You better. I've bet all my private savings on you. You'd better not disappoint this young lady."

"Private savings?" Su Bai raised an eyebrow. "Fifty thousand yuan is your private savings?"

"...None of your business."

Lin Xiao tossed her long hair and turned to walk toward the door. Halfway there, she stopped and cast a glance back at Su Bai.

"What are you still sitting there for? Let's go to the black market. The Phantom Demon crystal and dream-weaving spider silk you mentioned would take a week to pre-order through regular channels; there's no time. I'll take you to the third underground level. An owner there owes my family a favor, so he should be able to get them in stock."

Su Bai was startled for a moment, then stood up.

"You know how to get to the underground black market?"

"This young lady has been at this academy for two years. Do you think I've never even visited the black market?" Lin Xiao gave him a look that said 'how can you be so ignorant'. "Keep up. Don't get lost."

The door to the discussion room opened. Lin Xiao strode toward the end of the hallway. Su Bai followed behind her, passing through the classmates who were still crowded in the hallway discussing their Monthly Exam plans.

A few people noticed this scene: the poorest loser in the entire grade and one of the richest girls in the entire grade walking out one after the other. Several classmates looked at each other, their faces filled with confusion.

Wang Shaotian was also in the hallway. He was discussing the ratio of mithril powder with a few of his followers when he caught sight of Su Bai and Lin Xiao's backs out of the corner of his eye, his brow furrowing. Then he shook his head, seemingly deciding that the two of them getting together was certainly not anything worth paying attention to.

Zhao Dahai crouched in the corner of the classroom. Seeing Su Bai walking down the hallway behind Lin Xiao, an extremely complex expression appeared on his chubby face, as if he were looking at someone about to be tied up and taken to the execution ground.

Su Bai ignored the gazes around him.

He followed behind Lin Xiao, walking through the main hall of the teaching building, out of the tall gateway that symbolized status and position, and across the wide main road in front of the Jinghai Card Creator Academy. The setting sun had already sunk behind the distant buildings, and the sky took on an ambiguous hue somewhere between deep blue and purple.

Lin Xiao turned into an inconspicuous alley at a junction, then stopped in front of the third iron door. She knocked on the door three times, with intervals of three seconds, two seconds, and four seconds respectively.

The door opened a crack. A pair of eyes peered out from inside.

"It's me," Lin Xiao said.

The door opened.

A complex scent mixed with rare mineral powders, monster blood, and various strange potions wafted over them. Behind the door was a narrow staircase extending downward, with magic lamps emitting a dim glow embedded in the walls on both sides.

Su Bai stood at the top of the stairs and took a deep breath.

Then he followed Lin Xiao, stepping into the Jinghai City underground black market.

With fifty thousand yuan in his account,

Kyubey's blueprint imprinted in his mind,

And the three-day promise ticking down in the countdown—

—it was enough.

It was time to show this world what a 'Magical Girl' from another dimension truly was.