Even Qin Ling, who had been prepared for something, was stunned when Tang Mo conjured a bowl of spicy hot pot right out of thin air.
He hadn't expected the girl before him to be so straightforward after her secret was out.
He'd thought they would have to play a game of cat and mouse for a bit. She was truly interesting and cool.
"How about I trade you a bag of stuff for it?" Qin Ling asked, hefting the package he was holding.
"Deal," Tang Mo agreed without a moment's hesitation. She had eaten plenty of his snacks in her past life, so she knew exactly what was inside.
Chocolate, cookies, soda water, and her favorite—beef jerky.
"You're not even going to ask what's inside?" Qin Ling placed the package on the ground and took the spicy hot pot. He didn't seem to mind at all that Tang Mo had already eaten half of it and began to dig in.
"Oh? So, what's inside?" Tang Mo asked, watching him eat with a grin.
'After they left the school, she had only ever seen him in the Alliance Daily and on the leaderboards. The man he became was nothing like the cheerful person he was now. He was always frowning, which wasn't cute at all.'
"Nothing much, but I promise you won't be disappointed. If you need anything in the future, just come find me. As long as you're trading cooked food, I can get you anything."
Qin Ling wasn't just bragging. In these chaotic times, he really could get his hands on anything.
"Okay," Tang Mo agreed.
Carrying the package back to her dorm, Tang Mo didn't immediately wash up and get into bed as she usually did. Instead, she carefully placed the package in the very back of her closet.
"Well now, that doesn't look like you just went to call your mom. It looks more like you went on a date with your boyfriend," Li Lanlan teased.
"A boy didn't give you that, did he?"
"Mhm." Li Lanlan had just been teasing Tang Mo, so she was surprised when Tang Mo actually agreed with a serious expression.
"It really was a boy?" Li Lanlan put down her phone. Even Song Qing glanced over.
Plenty of guys had pursued Tang Mo during her college years, but no one had ever heard of her accepting a gift from anyone, let alone dating.
"Who is he?" Lanlan pressed.
"Someone I like."
Tang Mo dropped that line and then took her things to the washroom. Others might be able to skip bathing, but she couldn't. She sweated a lot every day, so no matter how precious water was, she had to at least wipe herself down.
She left Li Lanlan and Song Qing staring at each other in the dorm room, wondering which lucky guy had managed to win Miss Tang's favor.
The next day was Monday. As usual, Tang Mo woke up early for the group assembly before heading down to the water to fish.
The weather was getting colder, and fewer and fewer people were willing to brave the water.
Tang Lianwei stood on the bank, his arm wrapped around his new girlfriend. She was said to be the belle of the Foreign Language College.
He had long since forgotten all about Tang Mo. He'd tried to pursue Wenqing a while back, but she wouldn't give him the time of day. She was too busy fawning over An Yang, who acted like some old-school official.
'It's only because you have a Space,' he thought. 'Otherwise, with a face like that, I wouldn't have given you a second glance.'
Tang Lianwei tightened his arm around the little beauty and spat on the ground.
"What is this…?" Not long after they'd entered the water, Shi Xuan, who was standing next to Tang Mo, suddenly cried out.
"Why is this fish silver?"
Hearing that, Tang Mo immediately knew what was happening and waded through the water toward Shi Xuan.
A silver fish was swimming in the water at their feet, its color incredibly conspicuous in the clear water.
"Catch it!" Tang Mo yelled to her class president.
She and Shi Xuan were the only two people in this part of the water. Tang Lianwei was far away on the bank, too busy flirting to notice what was going on over here.
Shi Xuan was already moving before Tang Mo even had to say anything. Anyone could tell this was something good.
After all, Tang Mo's agility had increased, and she was quick with the cloth bag in her hand.
But her tool was no match for Shi Xuan's speed. He swung a tennis racket down on the silver fish's head.
'From the force of that swing, Shi Xuan's Strength Value must be pretty high,' Tang Mo mused.
A blow like that would daze anyone, let alone a fish.
As the fish's eyes rolled back, Shi Xuan scooped it up.
But once he had it, he was faced with a problem. He was shirtless—where could he hide the fish?
'If I hide it in my trunks…'
'That would be way too obvious. Doing that would be like treating everyone else like they're blind.'
"Why don't you give it to me for now? I'll give it back when we return," Tang Mo suggested.
Shi Xuan didn't hesitate and handed the fish over. Tang Mo was wearing a one-piece swimsuit, so it wouldn't be as conspicuous no matter where she stuffed it.
Besides, she was a girl. Even if someone got suspicious, what could they do? A bunch of grown men weren't going to search a girl's body, were they?
Tang Mo slid the fish down her leg, but in reality, she sent it straight into her Space. Both of her legs were submerged, so Shi Xuan couldn't see clearly.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before their time was up. After getting ashore, the two exchanged a look and walked one after the other to a deserted academic building nearby. They found an empty classroom, went inside, and locked the door behind them.
"This should be an abnormal treasure. Class President, try scanning it with your watch."
By the third month of the apocalypse, the authorities had already announced the existence of abnormal treasures, and the appraisal function on the watches was officially launched and made public.
The fish was clearly not ordinary, so there was no point in Tang Mo trying to be deceptive. Even a fool wouldn't have bought it. It was better to be honest.
Shi Xuan activated his watch's appraisal function, and a beam of light shot out, scanning the still-unconscious fish.
A moment later, a string of text appeared on his screen.
[Agile and Swift Silver Fish:
Attribute: Provides 10 agility attribute points
Method of Use: Consume directly]
It really was an abnormal treasure. Neither Tang Mo nor Shi Xuan were surprised by the result.
With an appearance like that, it would have been weirder if it wasn't an abnormal treasure.
The name, however, made them both break out in a cold sweat. The "persona" of this silver fish, which had been knocked unconscious with a single swat from a racket, was "Agile and Swift"?
It seemed a little divorced from reality…
In truth, you couldn't blame the silver fish. If anyone was to blame, it was the people who had found it too late.
Life in the lake had been too easy. It ate plenty of smaller fish every day and had simply grown fat.
Its decadent lifestyle had robbed it of its agility, leaving it to face the fate of being swatted.
"Class President, you found the fish and you caught it, so it's yours. But I really want it. How about you sell it to me?"
Tang Mo had no argument about the fish's ownership; by rights, it belonged to Shi Xuan.
"Well…"
Shi Xuan seemed conflicted.
He didn't have a particular need for ten agility attribute points.
His Strength Value was high enough for him to protect himself.
He didn't need to do much running around the school, so whether he could walk a little faster or slower didn't really matter to him.
Information didn't travel well within the school, so most people had no idea how precious an abnormal treasure truly was.
To Shi Xuan, the ten agility attribute points were less valuable than the fish's value as a meal.