I stared at the bead glowing faintly in my hand, muttering to myself. I couldn't tell if this thing was just leftover scrap from some deity’s workshop, but it had certainly put me through the wringer. Still, thanks to it, I had managed to scrape by in this perilous ancient world until now.
"Sigh, here we go again with a new questline..." I exhaled, feeling like a forced laborer stuck in a 99-6 work cycle, with not even a moment to catch my breath.
However, before I could even mentally prepare, I noticed the atmosphere in the Imperial Palace had taken a strange turn. How to put it? It was like the stillness before a storm, so unnerving it made my skin crawl. First, several palace maids disappeared without a trace, as if they’d evaporated into thin air, not even leaving a shadow behind. Then, precious items began to vanish—the luminous pearl the Emperor had bestowed upon Imperial Noble Consort Chen, and even the silver I had painstakingly saved up to improve my meals... (My silver! Oh, my silver!)
Chapter 46