"Well? What do you think, Sister Cipher? Big Bear and I built this place piece by piece!"
Seeing the stunned expression on Cipher's face, Luo Lin puffed out her chest with pride, her face beaming with a sense of accomplishment. Cipher turned back toward her, her eyes still clouded with a touch of disbelief.
"How did you even manage this? It's... it's like magic."
"Hehe, it's all thanks to this thing I picked up!" Luo Lin reached down, fumbling in her pocket as if to pull something out.
But before she could reveal it, Xiong Lei—who had just stepped through the door—rushed forward to stop her.
"Captain... you know how much that thing is worth here in the Pit. You can't just show it to anyone!"
"But there aren't any outsiders here," Luo Lin pouted. "Sister Cipher is part of the team now, isn't she?"
"That's true, but..."
Xiong Lei started to protest further, but Luo Lin cut him off with a firm look. "I know what you're worried about, Big Bear. But I can guarantee it—Sister Cipher is absolutely trustworthy!"
"Fine... if you say so." Xiong Lei sighed, eventually dropping his hand in defeat.
Watching the two of them go back and forth, Cipher's curiosity only deepened. What kind of item could be so significant that it caused a rift between teammates just by the mention of showing it?
Then, she saw it. Luo Lin pulled a simple bracelet from her pocket.
"A bracelet?" Cipher tilted her head. She leaned in, circling the object and inspecting it from every angle, yet it looked entirely mundane.
Xiong Lei had claimed this thing was incredibly valuable, so it had to have some special property, right? But no matter how she looked at it, it seemed like ordinary junk.
"Can't tell, can you?" Luo Lin teased. Seeing Cipher's intense stare, she intentionally stayed silent, withholding its function to see if she could deduce anything on her own.
The answer was clear the moment Cipher's puzzled gaze met hers—even someone as capable as Sister Cipher couldn't sense its secret.
"Actually, the exterior is just a cover. Inside this bracelet is a massive hidden space! Here, look!"
Luo Lin opened her palm. In the blink of an eye, a heavy metal gauntlet materialized out of thin air, resting in her hand.
That's… Xiong Lei's gauntlet.
Cipher immediately recalled the scene outside the cultists' hideout, when she'd activated Chrono Surge and glimpsed Xiong Lei fighting with a pair of metallic fists. She'd assumed he had simply packed them away in a bag; she never imagined they were stored inside a spatial device.
Cipher stared at the gauntlet, lost in thought.
"Eh? Why aren't you surprised?"
Luo Lin's face fell. After striking a dramatic pose for several seconds, she was expecting a look of pure shock. But instead of the reaction she'd hoped for, Cipher simply gazed at the gauntlet while contemplating.
"Well... a spatial bracelet is certainly rare," Cipher said slowly. "But as for spatial items... I actually have one too."
"What?! Sister Cipher, you have one too?"
How the tables had turned. Now it was Luo Lin's turn to gawk, her eyes nearly popping out of her head.
"Yep. I also have quite a lot of stuff inside."
As she spoke, Cipher reached into her system inventory and pulled out a pack of dried fish. To Luo Lin, it looked exactly like her own trick—a small bag appeared instantly in Cipher's palm.
Luo Lin was utterly defeated. She'd secretly wondered how someone else could possibly own such a rare item, but seeing Cipher pulling things out just as she did made reality sink in.
'So, this treasure of mine is just common gear to someone like her...'
Wait... no!
Luo Lin's internal monologue took a sharp turn. 'I was the one who found Sister Cipher! I was the one who argued with Lin Wei to let her join the team! If she's this strong and has rare gear, it just proves my instincts were right!'
'My judgment was genius!'
In an instant, Luo Lin's gloom vanished. She perked up, her head lifting even higher than before, strutting around like a rooster after a triumphant victory. She felt an immense pride on behalf of Cipher.
Standing nearby, Cipher watched in turn as the girl's emotions shift from confusion to shock, then to depression, then to a sudden epiphany, and finally to unbridled pride. It was like watching a one-woman theater performance.
"Uh... anyway, do you want some dried fish?" Cipher asked, deciding that the universal language of food was the only way to bridge the gap in Luo Lin's erratic thought process.
She tore open the bag.
"Hmm? Dried fish?" Luo Lin sniffed the air. Almost immediately, a rich, savory aroma wafted through the room. "What is that? It smells amazing!"
Drawn by the scent, Luo Lin's gaze locked onto the source.
"It's... a snack, I guess? Want some?" After offering the bag to Luo Lin, Cipher absentmindedly tossed a small handful into her own mouth.
And then—
The moment the fish touched her tongue, Cipher's tail, which had been swaying lazily, went bone-straight. With her sapphire-blue eyes shimmering, she stood frozen like a statue—save for the faint, involuntary tremor at the very tip of her tail, the only sign she hadn't fully petrified.
My god... this taste... how is it this good?!
As the crispy morsels met her taste buds, an explosion of umami saltiness pierced through her senses, followed immediately by the lush fragrance of rendered oils. Each fiber of fish, coated in delicate fat, melted under the warmth of her mouth, releasing a crisp yet tender texture—as if countless tiny bursts of flavor were detonating between her teeth, carrying the pure, oceanic sweetness of deep-sea fish.
Salt and oil intertwined, fusing into a subtle but potent current that shot straight from her palate straight to her brain like a tidal wave.
With a literal buzz in her head, her mind went blank.
Every thought in her head evaporated then and there, replaced by a flood of pure, unadulterated euphoria.
After a brief internal struggle—and a soft swallow—the delicious morsels vanished down her throat. Only then did Cipher's awareness begin to return. Her eyes cleared, and her breathing steadied.
The moment clarity returned, her expression hardened onto the dried fish on the floor. She was scowling at it so heavily, her fur bristling as if she were facing a mortal enemy.
She then slowly, carefully lowered the bag and the rest to the floor.
—SHING!
A streak of gold and purple light flashed across the room. In the blink of an eye, Cipher reappeared several meters away, pressed against the corner—the maximum distance the small room would allow.
"Sister Cipher? What's wrong?" Luo Lin and Lin Wei asked in unison, looking deeply concerned by her lightning-fast retreat.
"I... I'm fine," Cipher panted, her bristling fur slowly smoothing out.
However, when she saw Luo Lin reaching down to pick up the discarded bag, Cipher's eyes widened once again. Her tail shot straight up.
"Stop! Don't touch it! There's something wrong with that fish!"
Luo Lin froze, her hand inches from the bag. She looked at the fish, then back at Cipher. It looked like normal food, but nevertheless obediently pulled her hand back.
With the danger averted, Cipher breathed a sigh of relief. She immediately opened her system interface and stared intensely at the item description for the bag of dried fish treats.
"I need to see what the hell this is... is it laced with ice or something?" she muttered under her breath. "It just stunned me for five seconds!"
She tapped the icon for the detailed breakdown.