Chapter 54: Winning the Jackpot

“Huh?” Xiao Qing and I were taken aback.
The milk tea shop was actually holding a tenth-anniversary prize draw.
But since we had already spent the money, we might as well give it a try.
It’s not like we really expected to win anything, anyway.

Xiao Qing and I went to the counter.
Xiao Qing reached in first to draw a prize, and a white ball rolled out—nothing.
She wasn’t disappointed; after all, most of these prize draws are just for show to attract customers.
The grand prize might not even exist.

I also walked up to the prize machine and gave it a few random turns.
Unexpectedly, a golden ball rolled out.
The staff member picked it up, confirmed it, and said with a smile, “Congratulations to our guest for drawing the Gold Prize, one laptop computer!”

“Ha?” I stared blankly as the milk tea shop owner actually brought over a packaged laptop and handed it to me.
Then he pulled me to the shop entrance and had me pose for a photo holding the laptop.

I opened it and saw that it was a gaming laptop worth over ten thousand yuan.
This milk tea shop was actually playing for real; they had actually prepared a grand prize?

I had never owned my own computer before.
My family once had an old computer, but my father smashed it during one of his drunken fits.
Occasionally, when I had some spare cash, I would go to an internet cafe to play, but not having a computer meant I had almost nothing in common with my classmates, leaving me on the fringes of the class for a long time.

I quickly realized what was happening.
Could this be the result of absorbing the wealth aura just now?
I absorbed the mall’s wealth aura, so my financial luck improved, and I won the grand prize?

After a bit of a fuss, I finally walked out with the laptop on my back, with Xiao Qing beside me.
She smiled and said, “Congratulations, Brother Xiao, for winning the grand prize.”

“You’ve figured it out too, haven’t you? It wasn’t that I was lucky, I just happened to win the grand prize because I absorbed the wealth aura,” I said to Xiao Qing.

“I didn’t expect it to be so beneficial! We should really walk around here some more. If absorbing just a little wealth aura can bring such benefits, then absorbing more might lead to even greater rewards, right?” Ou Zhiqin said excitedly.

“But if you stay in here, your wealth aura will also be continuously absorbed, right? Even if it’s just a little bit.” I said with a sense of unease.
This would definitely affect Ou Zhiqin.

“No problem, I have my ways too,” Ou Zhiqin said.
She took the jade ruyi out of her schoolbag and tucked it into the front of her school uniform, just as she had done when facing the Painted Skin Ghost.

“Brother Xiao, look. Is any more of my wealth aura being drawn out?” Xiao Qing asked.
I looked, and sure enough, no more wealth aura was being drawn from her body.

“It really works. I didn’t know Dharma artifacts had this function. And you actually carry this jade ruyi with you,” I exclaimed in amazement.

“Ever since you were attacked by the Painted Skin Ghost that day, Brother Xiao, I’ve been carrying a Dharma artifact with me, just in case I get attacked by a malevolent ghost too. But this is what a jade ruyi is originally for—to bless a person with good fortune and smooth sailing in all matters. Averting financial disasters is naturally part of that,” Xiao Qing said.

“It’s a pity my bronze mirror was broken. That one was actually more suited for dealing with demons, since the concept of a ‘demon-revealing mirror’ has existed since ancient times.”

Thinking about it, my jade pendant must also be a Dharma artifact primarily for combating demons and ghosts, since it was consecrated by an eminent monk from Wulun Temple.

“I’m sorry, Xiao Qing. Your precious Dharma artifact was broken because of me. I will definitely compensate you with a new one as a replacement,” I promised her.

I had promised to compensate Xiao Qing for her bronze mirror before, but back then, I actually had no confidence at all.
Firstly, I was penniless at the time, and secondly, my life was in constant danger.

But things were different now.
The Painted Skin Ghost was dead.
Although the issue with Xia Yubing’s parents remained, Mo Qingyan had provided a solution, so my life was not in immediate danger for the time being.

Secondly, I had money now.
Although it was Xia Yubing’s money, I felt no pressure using it.
I felt I could compensate Xiao Qing with an even better Dharma artifact.

“We can talk about that later. Now that the wealth aura issue is resolved, let’s go shopping first,” Xiao Qing said excitedly, pulling me along to wander through the mall.

Our purpose was clearly just to buy clothes, but Xiao Qing seemed to be in particularly high spirits.
She first pulled me to have a hot pot meal, then we went to an arcade for a while, and then we browsed a doll shop.
It was as if she had completely forgotten about buying clothes.

When I reminded her that we were here to buy clothes, Xiao Qing slapped her forehead and said, “Sorry, I got too carried away playing and forgot. It’s been so long since I’ve gone shopping with you, Brother Xiao. Let’s go to the clothing section now.”

Back when my family wasn’t so down on its luck and there wasn’t so much conflict at home, I used to play with Xiao Qing often, and we would go out on the streets together.
It was just that back then, neither of us had any pocket money, so we were just window-shopping for fun.

After my father lost his job and took to drinking, our family’s fortunes plummeted.
I became introverted due to the family conflicts and rarely went out to play with Xiao Qing anymore.
Thinking about it, it really has been a long time.

In contrast to me, Xiao Qing had always gone out to play with other classmates and friends—watching movies, playing board games, singing karaoke.
I knew nothing about these things, so it was Xiao Qing who had been leading me around just now.

However, on the way to the clothing section, I subconsciously took another breath of aura.
Only when it was near my mouth did I realize the taste was not quite right.
It seemed to be a stream of ominous aura.

Immediately after, I heard waves of mournful wailing.
The cries were made up of many voices, as if they were mourning at a funeral.

Then, I saw a hallucination.
A woman opened a supermarket near the commercial center.
But in the blink of an eye, the scene changed to the supermarket closing down, with the woman arguing with the commercial center’s staff before being knocked to the ground.

Finally, she knelt and cried in despair, watching her supermarket go bankrupt.
The woman climbed to the top of a building, faced the commercial center, and jumped with a wail.
Blood splattered everywhere.

“Ah!” I cried out, drawing the gazes of many people around us.
Xiao Qing quickly steadied me and asked, “Brother Xiao, are you alright?”

“Huh?! I’m fine, Xiao Qing. Did you hear any crying?” I asked after coming back to my senses.

“Crying? No?” Ou Zhiqin looked around in confusion.
There were only the lively voices of the crowd, no crying.

“I think I was seeing things. Let’s go,” I said after steadying myself.
Xiao Qing followed me with a worried look.

But ever since I saw that hallucination, the presence of the ominous aura in the air seemed to have increased significantly.
The originally magnificent mall, flowing with wealth aura, now seemed gloomy under the influence of these streams of ominous aura.

Moreover, I felt as if something was constantly following me, or rather, watching me, making my scalp tingle.
I would also hear curses or sobs in my ear from time to time.

Just then, I saw a shop in the mall that was truly out of place.
It had gold characters on a red background, and its style was completely different from the surrounding entertainment-focused shops.
Written on it were the words: Generate Wealth and Dispel Malice, Foresee Fortune and Misfortune.