Chapter Four: The Deal

With just a single sentence, Qin Jing gleaned several layers of meaning.

First, under normal circumstances, delivering a small bag to Jessica would come at a tremendous cost. (Yet GPD didn’t have to pay it.)

Second, the Mythic World was likely a parallel universe to Earth. The only difference was that it was a world of extraordinary powers—a world, as Jessica put it, where spiritual energy had been revived. According to the wildly popular web novels these days, the revival of spiritual energy meant that a once barren world, for certain reasons, began to see the emergence of spiritual energy and phenomena like superpowers. (I suspect that the Earth I now live on has also begun to awaken spiritual energy—most likely starting a year ago, when mirrors first started behaving strangely.)

Third, the direct use of the formal “you” meant Jessica acknowledged his power, while she also openly admitted her longing for a Chanel bag. This…

(Beautiful lady, how can I possibly not take advantage of you now?)

“But I never intended to sell this bag. Let me think: in the Mythic World, spiritual energy has fully revived, powerhouses are everywhere, gods and immortals walk the land, and even ordinary people can live forever. In such a world, the spirit is bound to feel hollow. People look back and realize that, in fact, life was happier before spiritual energy awoke, wasn’t it?”

The highest art of selling is to not sell something, while making the other party desperate to buy.

Jessica’s face showed disappointment. Even without any hint of supernatural enchantment, a beauty of her caliber could make Qin Jing’s heart flutter with just a glance or a smile.

But Jessica was clearly flustered and didn’t notice this. She cautiously offered, “Perhaps it’s not to your taste, but I can give you my treasured ‘Super-Magical Derivation Formula.’ Though I haven’t fully deciphered it myself, its value is beyond question.”

Qin Jing’s expression soured: this thing sounded impossibly advanced. What use could it be to him? Could he even understand it?

Jessica, misreading his silence as dissatisfaction, hurried to add, “Additionally, I can give you the coordinates of the Mythic World, so you may visit our realm at any time.”

A powerhouse of this level must be endlessly curious about other parallel worlds, right? By doing this, haven’t I become a guide for travelers between worlds? Jessica wept inwardly: All for the sake of my beloved Chanel, I’ll do anything.

Qin Jing’s mood darkened further. What a joke—visit the Mythic World? Even if he could figure out how to get there, he’d be nothing but prey for any random underling in that realm.

But when it came to business, Qin Jing was always shrewd. He knew he couldn’t refuse any further; the priority now was to send this clearly formidable figure away, and then quietly digest his gains. After all, even just the information he’d acquired was an immense windfall.

So he waved his hand nonchalantly and said, “Fine, seeing how much you desire it, I’ll give you this Chanel bag for free. It’s not worth much on Earth anyway.”

The item itself wasn’t valuable; the real treasure was the means to traverse between parallel worlds.

Jessica naturally understood this. Her face lit with gratitude as she opened her palm. The wand she held floated into the air, then, right before Qin Jing, it disassembled itself—the main body unraveling like cotton, dissolving into the void like snow, leaving only a resplendent crystal orb behind.

“Thank you. This is the ‘Supermodel Crystal,’ which contains the ‘Super-Magical Derivation Formula.’ I’ve also placed the coordinates of the Mythic World inside. Please, accept this token of my gratitude.” Jessica bowed her head respectfully as she spoke.

Qin Jing dared not accept it. Who knew what ties this thing might have to Jessica herself?

He casually pointed to the corner. “Just leave it over there.”

Jessica’s lovely lips twitched, her face turning slightly sour. After a moment’s hesitation, she reluctantly agreed. Without any visible movement, the crystal orb drifted to the corner.

Only then did Qin Jing notice that the corner was piled with his old clothes. Most absurd of all, there were two pairs of smelly socks, and the crystal orb landed right atop them…

This…

A cold bead of sweat trickled down the back of Qin Jing’s neck, but he kept his composure and handed the Chanel bag to Jessica.

At the sight of her long-coveted luxury item, Jessica instantly forgot her earlier displeasure. She received the bag with the utmost care, tears streaming from her eyes.

“I can’t believe it… I finally have you…”

Seriously, is such an extreme reaction necessary? It’s just a luxury good from the industrial age!

Qin Jing was dumbfounded. He’d guessed the bag was probably valuable, but he never imagined that it could make this extraordinary beauty lose all composure in an instant.

“You don’t understand…” Jessica sobbed. “In our world, spiritual energy is abundant and every thing brims with life. The technological splendor of ancient times has long since vanished. That’s precisely why we yearn for those lost ages—we miss having to pick up a phone call, instead of relying on tedious mental transmission spells. We miss the taste of bread and rice, produced naturally, rather than spirit grain and spirit rice…”

Jessica went on and on, and Qin Jing understood.

In short, it was a case of “affluenza.” When good things are abundant, people stop treasuring them. Even the most precious thing—life itself—loses its meaning after too long and can even inspire thoughts of suicide.

Rarity creates value, an eternal truth. In the Mythic World, the revival of spiritual energy was so complete that some common “technologies” of modern society became synonymous with inferiority.

With spiritual energy awakened, everyone sought extraordinary powers, neglecting existing technology. Over time, iconic brands like Chanel vanished from history, and even recreating them became impossible.

Artificers and witches could make super spatial bags, but couldn’t replicate a simple Chanel bag—that was the reality of the Mythic World.

The spiritually empty elite, under these circumstances, naturally began to covet the rare relics of the pre-spiritual-revival era.

Jessica, the daughter of the head of the Witch faction in the Mythic World, had long since attained immortality, yet she couldn’t even obtain a small bag. That was her reality.

She poured out her grievances, giving Qin Jing a deeper understanding of her world. At last, as if suddenly recalling something, Jessica nervously removed an ornament from her neck and tossed it to Qin Jing, saying,

“This transaction may mean little to you, but to me, I’ve gotten the better end of the deal. This is a spatial artifact gifted to me by my elders—the only valuable possession I have left. I hope you won’t disdain it…”

Qin Jing only caught the first part; Jessica seemed to say more, but her silhouette was already growing faint, vanishing into the mirror.