Chapter Eighty-Nine: Bought a Watch

At this moment, a sudden flash of inspiration crossed Ye Chen’s mind. Coupled with his previous speculations, he vaguely grasped a possibility.

Breathing—

No one noticed that Ye Chen’s breathing rhythm was now different from everyone else’s, even the beat of his heart was strangely unique. The inner energy within his body slowly seeped out from his thumb, but unlike when he crafted the diamond-shaped dart, he didn’t mold it into a fixed form. Instead, he allowed it to remain in a liquid state, trickling gently into the keyhole.

Ye Chen pictured the spiral channel inside the knob as one of his own meridians—no matter how fine or intricate the meridian, his inner energy could flow through effortlessly. Why should the spiral channel before him be any different?

It worked, it went in!

But when his inner energy reached the first sphere, an unexpected change occurred. A sudden suction from within the sphere greedily devoured the energy in the channel—like a whale gulping water—swallowing his inner energy as if it were the most potent tonic. Ye Chen’s thumb became firmly stuck to the knob, while the value of his inner energy plummeted rapidly.

In just a few seconds, his 58 points of inner energy were drained to zero.

Damn… I’ve been sucked dry.

There’s definitely something off about this sphere. Don’t tell me it’s going to drain me to a husk—let go of me!

Ye Chen’s face turned ashen in an instant. He had to brace his knife-bearing hand hard against the table to keep from collapsing as his legs weakened.

His reaction immediately sparked murmurs of confusion among the others in the meeting room. They looked at each other, unable to comprehend why this young trainee researcher had suddenly become so weak.

Everyone present was an expert in the field of awakened abilities. Ye Chen’s symptoms were clearly a normal reaction to total depletion of inner energy—exhaustion, and debilitation.

But had he even used any skills just now?

All I saw was him pressing the knife to the keyhole—there were no other movements!

Could it be that his skill is peculiar? Otherwise, that energy-overdrawn state didn’t look like an act… Even Yuya found herself questioning this inwardly.

Unlike the other researchers, who were simply spectators, Ye Chen himself was filled with anxiety. With his inner energy at zero, even his Back-Eye Insight deactivated automatically—he couldn’t see what was happening inside the keyhole at all.

But the box felt as if it had fused to his hand—he couldn’t put it down, couldn’t shake it off.

Whenever a sliver of inner energy returned, it was sucked away instantly, keeping him perpetually empty.

…Are wild awakened artifacts always this ferocious, draining you dry the moment you touch them?!

So-called autonomous awakened artifacts—Ye Chen cursed them viciously, wishing he could rename them.

What now? At this rate, the box might truly sap him to death.

He glanced at the broken blade in his right hand, seriously tempted to bring it down in a chop.

But he restrained himself.

After all, so far, the box—aside from devouring his inner energy—hadn’t caused any real harm.

The draining continued for a full half hour.

Ye Chen calculated silently: at his rate of one point of energy recovered per minute, the box had already swallowed at least eighty-eight points from him.

It was a pity that he remained in a constant state of emptiness, unable to see what was happening inside the sphere.

This couldn’t go on. And this was only the first sphere—there were five more to go… Yet Ye Chen wasn’t flustered. After all, look where he was.

This was the Supernatural Bureau—the one place where recovery potions were never in short supply.

I refuse to believe that this wretched box can drain the Bureau’s entire stock of recovery potions.

But… can I afford to pay for all that? That was Ye Chen’s real concern.

Meanwhile, on Yuya’s side, her heart had been pounding for half an hour now.

For good reason: the man before her was the first to provoke any reaction from the box.

She’d guessed Ye Chen was continuously expending his inner energy, though she wasn’t sure to what end.

From the start, Yuya’s eyes had never left Ye Chen’s face. She took in the whole progression: from initial bewilderment, to the confidence after closing and opening his eyes, to the panic and helplessness when his energy was depleted.

Was it really necessary for his expressions to be this dramatic?

What on earth was this kid doing?

Could he actually open the box?

Yuya bit her lip as she pondered.

Around the room, the researchers began to murmur among themselves, speculating wildly.

Time crept by.

At last, after careful consideration, Ye Chen raised his pale face and awkwardly addressed Yuya:

“Could I have a bottle of recovery potion first?”

Yuya nodded at one of the researchers, who immediately left to fetch it.

Very soon, a bottle of recovery potion with a dose of 100 was brought in.

Without hesitation, Ye Chen tilted his head back and gulped it down. Immediately, a surge of strength filled his body.

Then, in the next instant.

Click!

A faint mechanical sound of a lock opening.

The sound was soft, yet in everyone’s ears, it was as if thunder had exploded at their side.

All the whispering in the meeting room ceased abruptly, as if muted, and everyone turned to stare at Ye Chen.

Their expressions were a mix of astonishment and disbelief, all conveying the same thought:

“No way.”

“Are you for real?”

“Is this a joke?”

Yuya’s black-rimmed glasses slipped from her hand and clattered onto the table.

She shot to her feet, her chair scraping backwards as her legs tensed. Bracing herself on the table, she leaned forward as far as she could, her beautiful eyes wide with incredulity. Her lips parted, and in a trembling voice, she enunciated each word:

“You… you opened the box?!”

Ye Chen stood frozen, inwardly marveling: Did I? How much did it take? No more than ten points of inner energy, surely.

Wait—that’s not right. Including the previous effort, it must have totaled a hundred points.

His Back-Eye Insight reactivated, and his vision with its penetrating effect returned… So that’s how it is: one hundred points of inner energy was only enough to fill the first small sphere.

Ye Chen now saw the remaining five spheres behind it—still completely empty—realizing what he’d just gone through.

Meanwhile, before Yuya could even wait for Ye Chen’s confirmation, the box in his palm began to transform.

The body of the box shrank inward, collapsing and shrinking, while the gears inside the lid turned and rearranged themselves, changing size in an incredible manner.

The knob, too, shrank. From the size of a bottle cap, it whirled down rapidly to a tiny version no bigger than a mung bean.

In the blink of an eye, the palm-sized metal box had morphed into a wristwatch. The body of the box became a metal strap that automatically fastened itself around Ye Chen’s wrist.

The intricate patterns once carved on the box’s surface now adorned the metal band.

The face of the watch was hollow, allowing a clear view of the various gears—large and small—all spinning at their own distinct speeds.

Ye Chen was utterly stunned by this miraculous transformation… Did I just pay a dollar for a watch?