CHAPTER 628: CHAPTER 611: CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE 5

"You, you, you!!" Mr. Mu was furious.

The more Zhou Lihui talked, the more convinced he became – bolstering his confidence: "Besides, I wrote a promissory note, I’m not saying I won’t pay it back. Why do you keep hounding me for it?"

"You’re just too used to getting your way. Why should we give up our own chances to expand our business to lend you money just because you want to do business and run an agritourism venture? When others start a business, they save up a little first and then borrow from relatives and friends. What about you? You’d rather we fund the whole thing!" Mu Ying said irritably, "We’re really not going to lend you a penny this time!"

Having said that, she started packing the golden beans into a cloth bag, ready to leave with Mr. Mu. As long as they got the money back, that was enough; arguing with such a person was a waste of energy.

"No way, that gold is mine; you can’t take it!" Zhou Lihui blocked their way.

Mu Ying handed the cloth bag to Mr. Mu, picked up a broom from the ground, and swept it in front of Zhou Lihui: "What you say doesn’t count! Try to stop me again, and I’ll beat you to death!"

Zhou Lihui hastily backed away, scared.

Mu Ying, holding the broom, left the yard with Mr. Mu, noting the neighbors lurking around the corner. She threw her broom into the back yard, spat, and said, "Using your own mother’s illness to fleece other relatives, we can’t stand to serve the likes of you. Skulking around – what’s not yours will never truly be yours. You don’t want to earn money through honest work, always looking for shortcuts. There’s no such thing as that many lucky breaks!"

This incident meant Zhou Lihui’s hiding of the gold could no longer be concealed in the village, and the villagers were all abuzz with gossip.

"That Zhou boy is cunning. Apart from his sister, who would dare lend him money? Now he has even fallen out with his sister’s family – isn’t that just like stealing money?"

"He sure came up with a plan, melting the gold into the concrete. It’s a good thing Mu Girl is smart, checking each by knocking it open. Otherwise, who would’ve guessed he hid it there?"

"A bachelor indeed has no good goods!"

...

Having fought and won the "battle," Mu Ying scratched her palm and reminisced about her recent performance as she left her uncle’s house. She had to admit, the character’s original blusterous approach was quite satisfying, especially in dealing with the likes of Zhou Lihui.

She couldn’t help but fish for compliments from Mr. Mu, "Dad, was I not very imposing just now, absolutely domineering?"

"This time, it really was thanks to you that we got the money back in time, but as a girl, you should act more ladylike and not be rough all the time. It’s not becoming of a girl," Mr. Mu said.

Mu Ying: "..."

Forget it, she’d better shut up.

After returning home, she reported the good news to her mom and then, feeling hurried, went to wash her hands – the water and stones in the vat were rather dirty, and her right palm had been itching fiercely.

As she washed, she noticed a fine red line on the palm of her right hand, which was where the itch was coming from.

Strange, she hadn’t touched anything sharp that day. She thought back – maybe it was a splinter from the broom that had scratched her hand? That must be it.

After washing, she applied some ointment and didn’t think much more of it.

With the most urgent task at hand for the character’s body completed, there seemed nothing left to dig into regarding the character’s own story. The rest was just to peacefully get through this summer vacation.

Mu Ying felt she had played the role satisfactorily; now, she just needed to find a way to get information about the "evil object." Since she couldn’t find any traces in the character’s memory, she would try looking online to see if there was any related news.

So, she spent the next afternoon searching various news on the computer, which was quite normal for a college student during the summer vacation.

But her palm itched more and more fiercely, with the sensation that something was about to emerge from that red line.

At night, the itching became so severe that she could only find relief by clenching her right hand into a fist and scratching the palm with her fingers.

Last night, she had already struggled with sleep, and after another two exhausting days, her fatigue had become overwhelming, her consciousness gradually blurring. However, her right hand continued to move slowly to relieve the itch.

But as her fingers kept scratching, she suddenly felt something round, damp, and chillingly cold. Mu Ying woke up with a start and felt it again.

Something seemed to have appeared suddenly in the palm of her hand.

Groping around, she turned on the bedside lamp and extended her right hand, staring at it fixedly. Her pupils shrank sharply.

In her palm, an eyeball had grown.

It was a pitch-black eyeball, just like the leaves in the center of the glass marbles, with no whites, staring coldly at her. It was extremely eerie and made one’s hair stand on end.

With just one glance, Mu Ying quickly closed her palm, her heart pounding violently.

If it hadn’t been for her habit of not screaming when afraid, her shriek would probably have awoken everyone in the neighborhood at this moment.

After taking several deep breaths, she finally calmed down.

It was terrifying. How could an eyeball grow in her palm? How did such a sanity-draining thing suddenly appear on her body?

Thinking back on the appearance of the eyeball filled her with fear.

Logically, she should have only been startled by the unexpected sight of an eyeball in her palm, not ongoing fear at the memory of it. But the reality was her body and mind couldn’t stop trembling just at the thought of that eyeball.

Mu Ying almost subconsciously thought of the term "evil object." Although she didn’t know what an evil object in this world looked like, from her experience in her previous life, this strange eyeball definitely qualified as an evil object.

The manner of its appearance and its effect on people were all too sinister.

The Great Sage Chen Mian also came from Blue Star, and in the Trial World she created, what was referred to as an evil object should be similar to her understanding.

If this was indeed an evil object, would solving the problem of this eyeball count as achieving the ultimate goal?

To resolve it, she first had to figure out what it was.

Thinking back now, when her palm itched during the day, there must have already been something filthy in it. When had the itching started?

She couldn’t help but recall the pile of strange black marbles, as dark as the color of this eyeball.

Could they be related to those marbles?

Upon further thought, who would bother to replace all the differently colored marbles in the pot with black ones? And even the black marbles used for the Chinese jump-checkers game were not as black.

Mu Ying decided to take another look at those glass marbles tomorrow.

Fortunately, the itching stopped once the eyeball appeared in her palm, but she could clearly feel it when the eyeball moved.

It was completely outside her control, yet it was part of her body, which made her involuntarily aware of it.

As long as she didn’t look at it, she just felt a bit strange and wasn’t overwhelmed with fear and terror.

She got out of bed, went to the medicine cabinet in the living room, and found a plaster. Closing her eyes, she covered her palm with it, preventing any accidental glimpses of the eyeball.