Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 662 - 275. La Dolce Vita

Chapter 662: 275. La Dolce Vita

She fumbled blindly, grabbing the plastic bag in her embrace, which contained her waterproof wallet, meticulously wrapped, the double protection almost made Xia Beiluo cry with relief.

Her chin dripped with blood, washed clean by the rainwater or perhaps tears, as the droplets brazenly jabbed at her wound, peeling back the chafed flesh and skin, a searing pain that was nothing to Xia Beiluo.

The reacquired money was the world’s best anesthetic.

She gritted her teeth, and under the cold downpour, her body seemed to grow stronger, striding forward, she pulled her second-hand bike out of the mud; the chain had broken. Left with no choice but to push the handlebars, she rolled up her trousers, took off her shoes, hung them around her neck, and waded through water all the way back.

She could no longer remember how much time had passed.

Though slow, she soon saw her home— a four-story apartment building with scarcely any light in the darkness. The ivy on the walls resembled the claws of demons, writhing in the dark and the storm, exuding an intimidating presence.

To the side of the apartment, the stench that churned in the foul water ditch was a mix of household waste, garbage, excrement, remnants of evil spirits, and bodies from gang brawls.

Simply put, it was the smell of poverty.

Xia Beiluo cautiously maneuvered her bike into the apartment, ignoring the Security Guard’s corpse on the stairwell wall—the Church had promised to take care of it tomorrow, and the property management had bolted after hearing about the fire that had happened the day before.

She’d paid a year’s worth of property management fees, too.

Xia Beiluo wasn’t afraid of death—death was the cheapest sleeping pill. She feared poverty more, for there was no targeted medicine to cure it.

She locked her bike and climbed up to the third floor step by step, only daring to go back to her rental room after cleaning her wounds and stains in the public restroom.

The rain persisted, and darkness enveloped the world.

Xia Beiluo took off her clothes, hung them to dry between the beds on a wire, dried her hair and body with a towel, and then lit the gas lamp.

Fearing the bed would get wet, she squatted naked on the floor and took out her earnings from the plastic bag, counting bill by bill:

"1 Lingge, 15 Lingge... a total of 76 Lingge."

Her spirits lifted a bit.

She now had a total of 526 Lingge saved up!

"Earn a bit more, pay some protection money to the Black Snake Gang, then I can go work as a jack-of-all-trades at the nightclub. I could make 120 Lingge a month, 20 months a year, that’s 2400 Lingge. Just ten years, and I’ll have enough for tuition."

Xia Beiluo had taken a leave of absence from school on April 5th last year, and had been drifting in Society for one year and three months now.

Her parents were undoubtedly lucky; they never got to see her forced leave of absence because they had died three months prior, casualties of gang violence.

According to the Church, her faith in the "Master of Souls" wasn’t devout enough, and her Spirituality too poor. Even by her junior year of high school, she couldn’t tame even the weakest Wandering Souls, putting her far from becoming a "Spirit Medium."

Rather than let her stay in the Church Academy and affect other students, it was better to take a leave of absence for a year and find her own way.

"What they mean is, find some odd jobs and don’t disturb other students trying to get into the Theological Seminary, affecting the school’s admission rate."

Under the administration of the Unified Ziluo government, commoners could only improve their Status by following a "Mysterious" Pathway, joining the sects of the "Master of Souls," "Void Emperor," and "Primordial Heavenly Sovereign," serving the Chief God to lead a good life.

While her parents were alive, they had spent their entire lifetime savings to send her to the Church school, hoping to change their family’s Fate and become someone respectable.

However, Xia Beiluo had realized early on that humans were not equal.

Coming from a poor Origin, a beautiful girl would receive more favor; even if she didn’t study much, sleeping with a Priest would guarantee her a letter of recommendation.

As for Xia Beiluo, not only was she plain, but her grades were not outstanding and her Spiritual Energy aptitude was extremely poor.

Being forced to take a leave of absence from the Church Academy was essentially a polite expulsion, driving her out of the school.

Yet, despite this, Xia Beiluo still had her own pathway: as long as she worked hard and saved enough for tuition, she could afford to go to the Theological Seminary. If she studied diligently, she could at least scrape by with a clerical job.

By then, she would have made something of herself.

"Current savings: 526, still missing from the target..."

She squatted on the apartment’s concrete floor, holding her ledger, and began calculating meticulously:

"——Not bad, only 25,474 Lingge left!"

Soon, very soon, she could become a respectable person.

She carefully tucked the savings into the bottommost suitcase, placing it in the safest corner. This was her most precious treasure, even if she lost her life, the money could not be lost.

Afterwards, she turned on the gas lamp and lay on the mattress discarded by the landlord, pulling the blanket over her, a feeling of exhaustion and bliss washing over her, and she quickly fell into a deep sleep.

......

Bang!

"What’s happening? What’s that noise!"

"The sewer’s broken!"

"The toilet’s clogged, damn it, the water is coming out."

In a drowsy state, a foul stench hit her, and Xia Beiluo jolted awake, almost throwing up.

Her bed was soaked with filthy sewage, her suitcase and neatly folded clothes floating on the water, and the tenants of the apartment cursed as they encountered a sewage backwash caused by the torrential rain, flooding the entire corridor with a mix of filth.

Xia Beiluo was assaulted by the stench, her brain momentarily seizing, then a nameless fear suddenly enveloped her.

She screamed:

"Money!"

She lunged for the suitcase, dragging it onto the bed, but it was too late. The floodwater had soaked through everything, and her eyes instantly reddened.

The water continued to rise. Not caring for anything else, she hoisted the suitcase high above her head, standing on the bed as the dirty water swept over her feet, followed by the floral pillow she had found, which sank as it became waterlogged. She stood on tiptoe, a piece of filth sticking to her calf.

Xia Beiluo was like the dead, frozen in place, standing dumbly in the sewage like a giant defiantly holding her luggage aloft.

Slap!

The window burst open from the force of the water, cascading out like a waterfall with rolling waves.

The rain persisted, but with the brave and industrious residents cursing and self-rescuing, the rise of the sewage was gradually contained.

By the late night, the remaining sound of the rain was sparse, and birds perched on the electrical wires, chirping alongside the wandering souls.

In the distance, the skyline was illuminated by a purple sun. The cold was chased away, the streets swept clean by the floodwater. The Church of the Master of Souls made timely visits, paddling beautiful small boats everywhere, proclaiming the gospel and the esteemed name of the Lord.

"He makes us not fear the night, walking shoulder to shoulder with the dead."

"He is willing to bear all tragedies for us, and it is for this reason that we are even more thrifty and frugal."

"He washes away your original sin, giving the earth’s wandering souls a place to belong."

"Praise our Lord—Godin Terlman, you are the master of wandering souls, the master of heaven and earth, the great Lord, you love all things in the world equally, regardless of life or death, you will all return to His Nether Abyss..."

The monotonous choir rang out loud in the light drizzle, blessing sounds reaching everyone’s ears.

Splat.

The suitcase fell, and Xia Beiluo knelt on the ground, cradling the soggy lump of savings in her hands, opening her mouth.

Then, she set down the muddy mess, opened the notebook that had survived the disaster, and cheerfully wrote:

"August 6th: Heavy rain, a loss of 526."

"Savings amount—0"

"Distance from target: 26,000 Lingge."

"Remarks: Light rain clearing, flood, impassable roads, but the sun is shining brightly."