Chapter Eighty-Two: Dining

Calming down, Chao Xu finally understood one thing. She probably possessed some kind of special ability that allowed her to directly see the “aura” swirling around others. But what exactly that thing was, she still didn’t know.

Finding an excuse to send Ci Mo away, she picked up the furry ball that had been thrown into the hamster cage. After having its eyes covered and staying in the cage for so long, the round and fluffy creature was trembling, looking thoroughly unsettled.

Chao Xu paused as she held the furball, coughing guiltily. She would never admit that after changing her clothes, she had completely forgotten the furball in the cage and went off to eat, entirely at ease with herself, never sparing a thought for the silly thing left behind.

She untied the cloth, and at last, the furball’s beady eyes saw the light of day again. It shivered once, then again, and finally couldn’t hold back a howl.

“How could you be so heartless to me, host? Am I not your little darling anymore?” it wailed.

Chao Xu replied honestly, “You never were.”

The furball cried even harder.

Unable to bear the relentless sobbing, Chao Xu placed a small strawberry pudding, which she had gotten from Aunt Wang, in front of the furball.

“Eat it. I brought it especially for you,” she said.

In truth, she simply couldn’t finish it herself.

The furball sniffled twice. Its little heart deeply wounded, it intended to refuse out of pride. Yet the sweet scent lingered at the tip of its nose, making it impossible to say no. Swallowing, it reached out with its paws and took the pudding, giving a haughty snort.

“This time, I’ll let it slide because I’m magnanimous, but don’t let it happen again.”

Chao Xu nodded, watching as the furball dove into the pudding, swallowing mouthful after mouthful, and finally lay back in the empty shell with a satisfied belch, invisible little flowers drifting around it.

“Burp—delicious,” it sighed.

Seeing the furball in a good mood, Chao Xu tentatively asked, “Do you think people have aura?”

She was curious, having seen different auras around two different people today—one around Chi Naiyun, the other around Ci Mo.

Rubbing its belly in bliss, the furball replied, “Aura? Of course. There are three thousand paths in the world, and any living being in it is protected by their fortune. The only difference is in how much or how little.”

So that thing was fortune?

Chao Xu gave a thoughtful “oh” and asked, “So you can see and touch fortune too?”

Because of the furball’s explanation, Chao Xu instinctively believed that being able to see and touch fortune was perfectly normal.

But the furball stared at her as if she were a fool. “Fortune is intangible and formless. It can’t be seen or touched.”

Afraid Chao Xu would misunderstand, it added, “It’s normal for ordinary people not to know about fortune. Even for us super-intelligent artificial intelligences, we only have some basic knowledge of its existence.”

Was that so?

Chao Xu quickly realized that being able to see and touch those auras, to interact with them, seemed to be something only she could do.

Interesting.

She knew the implications of this were far from simple, yet she had no intention of speaking about it. The silly furball had said it: fortune itself cannot be seen or touched.

If she alone could see it, there must be some secret about herself.

The furball was silly, but some things were better left unsaid.