Chapter 3: Pandora's Invitation

The ghostly light from the phone screen illuminated Lin Nuannuan's tear-streaked face in the gloom. Those words—"Lin Nuannuan, do you desire change?"—seemed to possess a magic, piercing through the fragile wall of despair and self-pity she had built, striking directly at the corner of her heart where something was screaming madly.

Desire change?

How could she not!

She wanted to tear apart Director Zhang's disgusting smirk; she wanted to possess Su Yuan's unquestionable confidence and charm; she wanted Qin Hao and his new girlfriend to kneel before her, consumed with regret; she wanted to escape this cramped rented room, to escape all of this suffocation!

The thought spread like wildfire, instantly consuming her brief fear and reason. She practically pounced on the phone, snatching it up. As her fingertip touched the cool screen, three options materialized calmly below the text, so precise it was chilling:

1.  Make those who humiliated me pay the price they deserve.

2.  Gain undeniable recognition and success, once.

3.  Possess a captivating charm that cannot be ignored.

No extra explanations, no exaggerated promises. The options were concise, direct, yet carried a cold, all-knowing, fate-controlling air.

Lin Nuannuan's heart hammered wildly in her chest, blood rushing to her head, a buzzing in her ears. Her gaze locked onto the first option. Make those who humiliated me pay the price… Director Zhang… that man who shattered her dignity before the entire department…

A cold voice whispered faintly in the depths of her mind: What is this? A virus? A scam? Or… something worse?

But the voice was quickly drowned out by more turbulent emotions. So what if it's a scam? What did she have left to lose? The worst outcome was just maintaining the status quo, or something even worse. But what if… what if it was real? The thrill of seeing an enemy brought low, even for a moment, was enough to soothe her shattered spirit right now.

Her breathing became ragged, her fingers trembling slightly with the force of her grip. Reason and madness warred fiercely in her head. She tried to turn off the phone, holding down the side button, but the screen remained unresponsive. She tried to swipe away from this interface, her finger sliding across the screen to no effect, as if the image was burned into the deepest layer of the display. This App was like a persistent parasite, firmly lodged in her phone.

The eerie blue loom icon rotated quietly in the darkness, as if silently urging her, or perhaps mocking her hesitation.

Finally, the emotions suppressed all day—a mix of humiliation, anger, and destructive desire—breached the last levee. She closed her eyes, with a near-self-destructive resolve, and pressed her trembling fingertip heavily onto the first option.

The screen changed instantly.

Against the deep black background, the faint blue lines of the loom suddenly brightened, as if infused with energy, and began to spin faster. Countless fine, silky points of light converged from all directions, greedily devoured and woven by the loom. The entire process was soundless, yet filled with an eerie, mechanical precision.

A few seconds later, the light faded. The screen returned to normal, and the strange App icon also vanished, as if everything just now had been a hallucination born of extreme stress.

Lin Nuannuan slumped on the floor, back against the door, gasping for air, her heart pounding as if trying to escape her chest. The room held only the sound of her ragged breathing and the distant, muffled noise of the city outside.

Nothing had happened.

A wave of immense emptiness and self-mockery washed over her. She was truly insane, to believe in such a nonsensical thing. She wiped her face, pushed herself up on weak legs, and fumbled for the light switch.

The harsh white light made her squint instinctively. She walked to the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face, trying to shock herself awake. The person in the mirror had red, swollen eyes, a pale face, and messy hair—a pitiful female ghost.

"Really… so stupid," she said to her reflection, forcing a smile uglier than a cry.

However, just as she turned to leave the bathroom, a flicker of movement caught the corner of her eye. It seemed a faint, faint blue thread of light had flashed and vanished where she had just been standing in the mirror, too fast to truly capture.

She spun around, staring intently at the mirror.

It held only her own alarmed face and the sight of the small bathroom behind her.

An illusion?

It had to be an illusion.

She forced herself not to think about the strange App anymore. After a hasty wash, she collapsed into bed. Her body was utterly exhausted, but her mind was abnormally active, assailed by random thoughts. She didn't know how much time passed before she finally fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

The sleep was not restful.

She had a chaotic, oppressive dream. There was no specific scene, just boundless darkness, and a regular, cold… sound of a loom operating. As if a massive, invisible loom was weaving something, ceaselessly, in the deepest recesses of her consciousness.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***