HBWnovel Chapter 245 Time is Like Dough—Stretch It, and There's Always More
Chapter 245 Time is Like Dough—Stretch It, and There's Always More
After pacifying Nivalis, Rita contacted Shadow.Q.
She had finally succeeded in creating a low-cost version of [Melting Time]. Though it used completely different herbs, the ingredients were largely analogous, and many steps had been simplified. The final product was a basic potion, but for the current Blue Star players, it was more than sufficient.
[Rita]:
[Time is Like Dough—Stretch It, and There's Always More]:
Reduces the cooldown of all player skills by 30 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes.
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[Shadow.Q]:
"My lady, name your price! How much for a bottle?"
[Rita]:
"This formula is my own creation. I'm willing to sell the recipe to you directly, but it's a bit complex. While it's just a basic potion, three steps can't be automated and require an alchemist's hands. The herb costs average around 50 silver coins, but you can gather them from low-level dungeons under level 10."
[Shadow.Q]:
"Our offer: we'll waive the 1,200 gold coins you owe for buying [A Big World, A Small Me]. For each bottle Special Affairs Bureau produces for its own use, we'll pay you 1 copper coin. If we sell the potion, you'll receive 5% of the profits. This is the Special Affairs Bureau's show of goodwill. Deal?"
[Rita]:
"Deal."
The Special Affairs Bureau, having become familiar with Rita's personality, didn't lowball her. Perhaps they'd been coached, or perhaps they'd learned that generosity earned Rita's favor. She wouldn't say it outright, but she'd always repay such goodwill with valuable offerings in the future.
Rita appreciated the terms. Most importantly, Shadow.Q distinguished between SAB's self-use and sales revenue.
As a result, the entertainment industry had grown quiet, while martial arts gyms, fitness centers, and weapon shops thrived.
Rita searched for a long time before finding an entertainment lounge. Upon entering, she realized it seemed to be run by [The Nameless Ones]—a group she remembered from news reports about Black Jade's killing sprees in her past life.
When she asked to learn mahjong, the proprietress led her to a table with three players already seated.
"If you want to learn, they're the only ones here at this time willing to teach you," the proprietress explained. "Oh, and no gambling here."
Rita removed her mask and sunglasses as a courtesy. Before she could offer to pay for lessons, two of the players—both older women—eagerly pulled her into a seat and began explaining the rules while shuffling the tiles.
"To win, you usually need 14 tiles. You need a pair of identical tiles, and the remaining 12 tiles should form four sets of three. Each set can be either three identical tiles or a sequence..."
They explained terms like kong, flower kong, and pure color (qingyise) while Rita listened intently.
When they reached pure color, they clarified:
"For pure color, all the tiles must belong to one suit—dots, bamboo, or characters. No honor tiles like white dragons or red dragons are allowed!"
Rita: Hmm? Oh no...
She thought back to Mistblade's irritated expression when drawing a four-character tile.
Wait. Could Mistblade... have been trying to complete a pure color hand?
The thought struck her as absurd, like someone playing poker and fretting over completing a full house.
Rita wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. "Auntie Wang, what happens if someone interrupts a pure color hand?"
She quickly fabricated an example. "Say, yesterday my mom's game was interrupted by a power outage. Everyone left the table as-is, planning to resume later. But while I was practicing my skills, I accidentally destroyed one of her tiles. I didn't realize at the time and replaced it with a random tile. Thinking back, it might not have matched the rest of her hand..."
The table fell silent. Then, one of the women slammed her hand on the table, eyes wide.
"Girl, your mom didn't try to kill you?!"