Chapter 134 - 4 Blind Boxs
The kiss ended faster than the silence it left behind.
Xue Ji released Ethan, but didn’t step back right away. She remained close, her warm breath still lingering on his lips, fingertips lightly holding his lapel as though reluctant to give up the distance she’d just claimed. After a moment, the tip of her tongue traced across her own lips, slowly, like someone who had just sampled something precious and was confirming the taste matched expectations. Her eyes brightened, no longer carrying the composed poise of a city lord, but instead a naked greed so brazen that the secretary standing behind her had to give a soft cough.
"Ethan." Xue Ji smiled, her voice lower than usual. "If you ever have free time, you can come find me."
Ethan hadn’t managed to say anything yet. She tilted her head, black hair sliding down one shoulder, her smile deepening.
"I’ll keep you company. For a very, very long time."
The last line was spoken as lightly as an invitation for tea, but the way she looked at him had nothing to do with tea. The secretary stood frozen for another half second before hurrying forward, gently tugging Xue Ji’s sleeve as a reminder that there were still other people in the room. Xue Ji didn’t look at her. She only gave Ethan one final glance, nodded with satisfaction, then turned.
"Let’s go."
The two of them left the room. The door closed, and the sound of heels in the corridor quickly faded, leaving behind a space so quiet you could hear every remaining person breathing.
Laira growled.
The sound wasn’t loud, but it was enough to make the glass of water on the table vibrate. She took one step toward the door, her frame of nearly two meters twenty casting a long shadow across the stone floor. Her red hair bristled slightly from her aura, eyes narrowing, teeth clenching. If nobody stopped her, she would have shouldered the door open and gone after Xue Ji immediately.
Ethan grabbed her wrist.
His hand couldn’t wrap all the way around Laira’s wrist. The skin beneath his palm was hot and trembling, not from fear, but from anger that hadn’t yet converted into a blow. Laira looked down at him, the height difference causing her gaze to fall straight from above, sharp enough to ask why he dared hold her back.
"Let go."
"No."
"She kissed you."
"I know."
"Right in front of me."
"I know that too."
Laira drew a very deep breath. Her chest rose, nearly brushing Ethan’s face, but she didn’t notice. She only stared at the door that had just closed, her voice going hoarse. "I just need one slap. I won’t kill her."
"One slap from you would blow out half the corridor." Ethan tightened his grip slightly, not to overpower her, but to pull her attention back. "This isn’t the place for a fight. Besides, could you actually beat her? She’s already reached Elite, about to step into Sovereign."
Laira was silent for two seconds.
Then she pouted, clearly unconvinced, but she didn’t yank her hand free either. Ethan took the opportunity to pull her back one step, enough that the distance to the door was no longer a straight line she could charge down.
Ruo Yan stood nearby, one hand raised to her forehead. She sighed, no longer looking toward the door, no longer looking at where the kiss had just happened. Her expression wasn’t furious like Laira’s, but more like someone who had seen this ending coming from the moment Xue Ji walked up to Ethan, and simply regretted not stopping it in time.
"I’m tired."
Ethan turned to her. "Because of the kiss?"
"Because during the day I fight for my life, and at night I have to watch those two compete over who gets to claim you first." Ruo Yan lowered her hand, her white hair slightly disheveled across her forehead. "Xue Ji didn’t kiss you because she likes you. She kissed you to mark territory. Laira wants to bite that mark off. And you’re standing in the middle with the same expression as if someone just thanked you for a gift."
"I’m not that calm about it."
"Close enough."
Laira pouted even harder after hearing that. She leaned down, her forehead nearly touching Ethan’s, her voice low. "Next time that woman brings her face close, I won’t just stand and watch."
Ethan raised his other hand and rubbed once between her two horns. Laira froze. That move had always been very effective on her, and this time was no exception. Her shoulders dropped a fraction, the hot aura around her body easing slightly, though her gaze still lingered on the door.
"Let’s go back to the room first." Ethan said. "Not here."
Ruo Yan watched the two of them for a moment, then nodded. "Agreed. If we stand here another five minutes, I’m afraid Laira will punch through the door just to ’have a chat.’"
Laira huffed, but this time she followed along.
Night fell quickly over Silver Moon City.
From the window of the living room in the quarters Xue Ji had arranged for them, Ethan could see the energy lamp system lighting up one by one along the stone tiers. The city sat between massive cliff walls, its light not spread evenly like in Safe Zone 7, but gathered into golden strips running along the main roads, storage depots, and treatment wards. The night wind was colder than during the day, carrying the scent of wet stone and a faint trace of tea still lingering from the corridor.
Laira sat in a large chair near the window. The chair was meant for an ordinary guest, so when she sat down her knees had to be raised high, her back against the armrest while still clearly cramped. Ruo Yan claimed the chair opposite, cradling a cup of tea, her expression softer than it had been in the meeting room, though her eyes still occasionally flicked toward Ethan as if gauging whether he still remembered that kiss.
Ethan didn’t meet that gaze.
He sat on the edge of the bed and opened his storage space.
A soft glow spread before him. Items appeared in rows, no longer obscured by the haze of the battlefield. He checked through them slowly, not because he’d forgotten, but because so much had happened in rapid succession during the day that only now, in the quiet, did he truly have the time to look at what he was holding.
Four Blind Boxes.
The first had come from using the alias Bone Serpent to claim the top spot on the leaderboard inside Owin’s trial space. The system at the time hadn’t asked whether he wanted to receive the reward under his real name, only issued a Blind Box based on whichever identity held first place. Minimum rarity rank S. Ethan looked at it for a few more seconds.
The second was the Floor 18 milestone reward. Also minimum rank S.
The remaining two came from the Trial Gate ruins earlier today. One Weapon Blind Box Chest, minimum rarity rank A. One Random Blind Box Chest, also minimum rank A.
Beyond the boxes, there were materials.
The Primordial Armor had broken down quite a few things he’d collected in the ruins during the day, the most notable being the life sphere.
It sat apart, not grouped with the rest of the materials. Ethan reached in and felt a faint pulse transmitting through his palm. Warm. Steady. Each beat trailed a thin current of vital energy, enough to push the fatigue in his body back a little. Beside the sphere were materials extracted from the trial’s Measurement Sphere itself, the core having been destroyed while he’d preserved the vital energy before the entire structure collapsed.
Four boxes.
One sphere.
A cluster of materials.
Ethan looked at them for quite a while.
His finger rested on the first rank-S Blind Box. Just opening it could change his trajectory tonight. A new weapon, a new skill, a new talent, maybe even something beyond prediction. For any other Awakened, four unopened boxes like these would be enough to keep someone up all night.
He didn’t open them.
QingLian had been very clear. After crossing into Gold, subsequent Blind Boxes would gradually become influenced by the first choice. He had chosen Partner. So when he reached Gold, these boxes wouldn’t merely be random rewards, but things that could reshape the entire path he was walking. Opening early might yield something powerful. Opening at the right time might yield something that truly fit.
Ethan withdrew his hand.
’Wait for Gold.’
He closed his eyes for a moment, reorganizing his schedule. Three days until departure with QingLian. One month until the new Trial Gate opened. That area would have multiple races, participants below Diamond, far more dangerous than the ruins he’d just been through. Before leaving, he needed to stabilize the injury beneath the Primordial Armor, let Laira and Ruo Yan fully recover, and prepare enough resources for the journey.
The tasks were clear.
Only, just as he was about to continue thinking through the route, a soft figure pressed against him from behind.