Chapter 3 Mysterious Space

Lin Luoran has no time to respond when the bead hits her face… Like crackling fireworks, all she can see are flashing dazzling rays of light. Lin Luoran closes her eyes reflexively. Lin Luoran couldn’t help shedding tears due to the bright light. It seems like there is no other threat. She tries to move her hands and feet and manages to open her eyes. The scene in front of her is so amazing. Where is she? She is standing on a lawn. These grasses grow like crazy, almost reaching two feet tall. It is a land of about half an acre, where a log cabin covers over 1/3 of the area. In the distance, there is a small pond, bubbling of spring. A sapling grows beside the pond, fresh and alive. A red fruit in the size of mulberry is hanging on the sapling, which looks juicy with the vapor of the spring. Lin Luoran pinches herself hard on the cheek. Ouch! The log cabin is still there, so is the bubbling spring. Lin Luoran remains standing on the grass—This is not a dream. Everything in front of her must have something to do with that mysterious bead, Lin Luoran suspects. She is inherently tougher than ordinary girls or else she wouldn’t have survived all these years of difficulties. Therefore, Lin Luoran is fairly calm when she encounters with this kind of supernatural things. Holding the thought of taking things as they come, Lin Luoran decides to explore this mysterious space. She thinks for a moment, then picks up a clod from the ground and tosses it out. With a nice curve, the clod is bounced off at around 30cm from the log cabin. The cabin appears to be protected by an invisible shield. Lin Luoran is curious. Since only the clod is bounced off, it might be okay for the human to get closer. She walks toward the cabin one step after another. As exactly as expected, she then hits something bouncy like jelly. A transparent pit forms after she pokes it with her finger. Obviously, she can’t get into the cabin, at least for now. Her eyes cast on the small pond and an idea comes to her mind. The spring nourishes the fruit and both of them might be magical restoratives. Then whether should she drink the spring or eat the fruit, that is a question. Anyhow, Lin Luoran doesn’t want to risk her life so she picks a blade of grass to fiddle with the water. A long time later, the grass still remains green. At least she proves that the spring is not corrosive. She nerves herself to put the wet grass into her mouth. The taste of mud rushes into her mouth. But she also tastes a bit of sweetness. Is this the sweetness of the spring? How miraculous! Lin Luoran has experienced too many strange things so far. If the spring is toxic, she is destined never be a protagonist. She hesitates for a while and finally bends over and drinks a handful of water, thinking that this place is mysterious but peaceful so the water will probably be unharmful. Lin Luoran has been thirsty for long since she hasn’t drunk any water after coming back from the visit to Li Anping. Also, a lot of blood was drawn from her. Now, spring water runs down her throat and its sweetness fills her mouth. Lin Luoran feels good as if she has just drunk a bottle of ice water in the midsummer. She no longer feels anxious about this place. She couldn’t help drinking some more. There is plenty of sun in this mysterious space and the temperature is just right. Lin Luoran lies on the grass, waiting for something magical to happen to her. It is so comfortable that she doesn’t even want to get up. With time passing by, Lin Luoran almost falls asleep while waiting. However, she hasn’t gone to the stage that written in the novel about the situation after someone takes magical restoratives. Lin Luoran touches her face. Her skin is not that smooth. The roughness is inevitable for she can’t afford expensive skincare products. And her hands… What? The cracks and wrinkles caused by cold weather are gone. Her facial skin hasn’t changed, but her hands, after soaking in the spring, become much smoother. Is this the effect of the spring? Lin Luoran becomes excited. Perhaps her whole family can live on the spring which can improve skin conditions. Lin Luoran is not greedy. She feels glad enough after just figuring out the effect of the spring! The finding lifted her spirits. Lin Luoran gets up and walks briskly to the spring, checking on the pond that carries her hope…She hasn’t gotten out of the shadow of lovelorn yet. Lin Luoran is born with the toughness of lower-class people. This is the exact time for her to distract her attention to something else, for instance, the mysterious space or the small pond which might change her future. The spring water comes bubbling up out of the underground. It seems to be an everlasting pond. An idea comes to Lin Luoran’s mind. Will the spring water have some extraordinary effect on plants? She can’t wait to have a try, but there is only grass and a sapling in this space. Only thinking about watering the grass with the magic spring water makes Lin Luoran’s heart aches. Then… It has to be the sapling. Lin Luoran wonders whether that red fruit is edible. All the sudden, Lin Luoran begins to feel hungry. However, she couldn’t bring herself to pick it for the fruit is so tiny and beautiful. She stares at the pond and for some reason, she holds a handful of water and pours them on the sapling. “What?” Lin Luoran couldn’t help but marvel. The spring water immediately seeps into the soil and the leaves also absorb all the water drops on them. In a minute, even in the blink of an eye, the sapling starts to change right in front of her. The leaves gleam. Not only do they look greener, but also shine like jade. It seems that the leaves evolve into jadite in just a short amount of time. The leaves are shining. Something like mist rises up and flows around the leaves. It circles the red fruit for a moment before the fruit greedily absorbs it. The greenness of the leaves gradually fade away while the fruit gets even redder. The leaves no longer have the texture of jade, but the fruit is gradually turning into a ruby. With a slight crack, the fruit falls from the sapling! Lin Luoran catches it before it falls to the ground. She looks back at the sapling. It has returned normal and all that glitterare gone. Obviously, the red fruit ripens by absorbing the essence of the sapling, which makes it so precious. Lin Luoran feels the warmth of the fruit in her palm. This thing really doesn’t look like an ordinary fruit! Lin Luoran struggles between eating it and throwing it away. However, she has been staying in this space for quite a while. How can she get back? The moment this thought flashes in her head, Lin Luoran finds that the scene in front of her starts to change. She actually finds herself returns to her house in a blink of eye, remaining the gesture of lying on the couch as before. Are these all her illusion? Thinking about this, Lin Luoran looks down on her hands—The mysterious bead is once again tied around her waist by a thread of silver, soft but strong. It appears that this thread of silver comes from inside the bead for there is no joint. She finds something warm in her right hand. Lin Luoran loosens her grip and sees that ruby-red fruit. The warmth in her hand is a reminder that what she just experienced is not a dream, but an adventure!