Chapter 034

"What scar?"

Bo Yuan leaned in. Seeing her still rubbing her stomach, he quickly grabbed her coat and draped it over her shoulders. "Don't catch a cold."

Two young women looked at her abdomen, which was smooth and unmarked, and felt a bit confused. They just spoke up to advise her, "Put your clothes back on first; it's cold today."

Zhang Yang stroked her belly for a long moment before finally pulling down her rolled-up sweater and wrapping the coat tightly around herself.

"Sorry, I lost my composure."

She suddenly let out a laugh and looked at Xia Zui. "When I was little, my dad would go out to gamble every day, and my mom would be on the verge of a breakdown. They fought constantly."

"I seemed to become their only outlet for venting."

Xia Zui could see she was desperate to talk, so she listened quietly.

"I remember when I was in middle school, my parents had an argument. They kept fighting until it turned physical. The water on the stove started boiling, and in the chaos, I don't know who it was, but someone grabbed the kettle and threw it."

"I was just standing there. The boiling water scalded me all over. My stomach was covered in burn scars. It hurt so, so much."

"I used medicine later, but the scars remained forever, even on my legs."

"For all these years, I've never dared to wear crop tops or short skirts."

"I had even prepared myself for them to be with me for the rest of my life," Zhang Yang said with a smile.

She looked up at the sky. "I never expected that one day they would disappear."

To her, this wasn't just a matter of beauty or ugliness. It was a permanent scar from her childhood, one that would haunt her for life. No matter how cheerful and open she appeared, once she stripped off her outer layers, the marks of her childhood remained.

"And what happened to your parents?" Bo Yuan asked.

Zhang Yang plopped into a chair and let out a long sigh. "They divorced, of course. Neither of them wanted me, and I didn't want them either."

"You don't need to look at me with pity. I actually see it as a relief."

Xia Zui looked at the smile on her face. "You're right. There’s no scar that can't be erased; if there is, it’s only because you haven't encountered the Beauty Restoration Machine yet!"

"Hahahaha," Zhang Yang laughed. "Boss, I originally thought you were mysterious and cold."

"I didn't expect you to be quite interesting."

"By the way, what is the principle behind this machine? Those scars just vanished like that. It's too incredible."

Xia Zui whistled and looked at the sky. "Don't ask me. I’m just a business owner; how would I understand high-tech stuff?"

Bo Yuan chuckled. "You're too modest."

"But this thing really is something. It can even remove scars. Tell me, if someone had plastic surgery, could they revert to how they looked before?"

Xia Zui snapped her fingers. "I suppose so, but if you're thinking of using this machine to get a double eyelid, that won't work."

The two young women nearby whispered to each other, "One thousand, it doesn't seem that expensive."

"I've always wanted to lose weight. Do you think it really works? My thighs are full of fat."

"I want to remove my moles. I have so many on my face."

"So, shall we go for it?"

The two women nodded at each other and walked up to Xia Zui. "Scan the code!"

Xia Zui asked, "Who's going first?"

Qi Shuang spoke up, "Me?"

Jiang Jinghe nodded as well. There was nothing to argue about; after all, there weren't many people around, and even if others arrived, she would be second. No one could jump ahead of her. She had seen online that this vendor seemed to value the order of the queue very strictly. Even if you had money, you couldn't just cut in line.

Qi Shuang waited to go in. Actually, she had just said she had many moles, but they weren't really visible from a distance. Her facial features were genuinely stunning, but she had seven or eight moles on the left side of her face; looking at her profile could be a bit overwhelming for someone with trypophobia.

As she entered the cabin, she glanced inside. It was spotless, not even a single hair in sight, so she took off her shoes and stepped in.

She felt a little nervous when the hatch closed, but soon she felt a warm, comfortable sensation throughout her body. Slowly, she closed her eyes.

***

In the residential complex, Zhou Wenyao, wearing a heavy coat, hurried upstairs and unlocked the door, heading straight for one of the rooms. The door was tightly shut. Zhou Wenyao knocked. "Qingqing, Qingqing, are you awake?"

"Get up, I need to tell you..."

Before she could finish, a voice came from inside: "I'm not eating!"

Zhou Wenyao pursed her lips. "Qingqing, please open the door first, okay?"

She waited a moment, and seeing the door remained closed, she knocked again. "Qingqing, don't you want to lose weight?"

"Today, I..."

The door opened, and an obese girl wearing a hat appeared in the doorway. She looked to be around two or three hundred pounds, covered in rolls of fat.

Zhou Qingqing cried out in frustration, "I said I'm not eating! I'm not eating!"

Seeing her daughter on the verge of tears, Zhou Wenyao quickly hugged her to soothe her. "We won't eat, we won't eat. Qingqing, I'm not asking you to eat."

"Do you know about that vendor online? The one who sells bamboo dragonflies?"

"She's set up a stall here. She has a machine called a Beauty Restoration Machine, and they say it can help with weight loss."

"Qingqing, why don't you go try it?"

Her tone was gentle, and Zhou Qingqing slowly calmed down upon hearing her.

"Can it really help with weight loss?"

If it was that vendor, maybe it wasn't impossible. Zhou Qingqing had seen that vendor online; people claimed her products were high-tech—clouds that could bring rain, glasses that could let the blind see.

"Mom, you're not lying to me, are you?"

Zhou Wenyao looked at her. "Why would I lie to you?"

She had never wanted to deceive her daughter. Even when Qingqing threw fits, she knew she didn't mean it. In truth, Qingqing hadn't been like this before; she had fallen ill, and after taking medication, she had gained weight. People at school mocked her, calling her a tank, a fat pig.

Qingqing would come home crying every day, wanting to lose weight, but no matter what, she couldn't. She couldn't fit into her old clothes anymore, and every time she stepped outside, she was met with strange, judgmental looks.

Since then, she stopped going out, became silent and withdrawn, and spent every day at home. She seemed to have fallen into a depression. Her outbursts weren't something she wanted; she just couldn't control them.

Zhou Wenyao knew and understood this, which only made her heart ache more for her daughter. Qingqing hadn't done anything wrong; she had only become this way because of her illness and the hormones.

She took Zhou Qingqing's hand and said softly, "Qingqing, go change your clothes, and we'll go out, okay?"

"If we go too late, I'm afraid the owner might leave."

Hearing her mother's words, Zhou Qingqing sniffled. "Then... then I'll go change now."

She wanted to believe her mother. Perhaps there was hope?

***

At the market, Qi Shuang stepped out of the Beauty Restoration Machine and looked at her face in the mirror.

Only one of the moles on her face remained. Even her dull skin had improved, and her dark circles had vanished. Her complexion even looked rosy.

She pulled at her collar and looked at her collarbone in astonishment. "The tattoo is gone too!"

That tattoo was from a time when she was reckless; she had wanted to remove it for a long time. She hadn't expected this machine to be the real deal.

Jiang Jinghe watched her, feeling expectant. After she lay down inside, Qi Shuang was still marveling, "How come I feel like my rhinitis is gone too?"

She sniffed hard, finding her breathing clear and unobstructed. For a moment, she wasn't even used to it.

Xia Zui didn't speak. She knew part of the principle behind the Beauty Restoration Machine.

Part of how the machine achieved beauty was by eliminating underlying health issues. For example, chronic rhinitis leads to difficulty breathing through the nose, causing mouth breathing. Mouth breathing, in turn, alters the contours of the face, naturally making one less attractive.

However, this machine could only treat minor ailments.

Eleven had told her that every world had its own rules. They could break the rules to a certain extent, but they couldn't ignore them entirely.

In a high-tech era, this machine could even achieve rejuvenation, making people younger and extending their lifespans to one or two hundred years. However, in this world, it couldn't do that unless people researched the corresponding medicine or products themselves. Otherwise, the system couldn't intervene in such drastic changes.

After all, if someone discovered that the machine could make people younger, the whole world would likely go mad. Order would collapse and fall into chaos.

Of course, even if Xia Zui wanted to use the machine to make people younger, it wouldn't work, because the moment the item was taken out at the stall, it had been weakened by the rules of this world.

As for the other high-tech products Xia Zui sold, while impressive, they couldn't alter human lifespans or drive people into a frenzy. Therefore, the rules ignored them.

In other words, as long as they didn't "dance on the red lines" of the rules, the system and Xia Zui wouldn't be bothered.

The reason the Beauty Restoration Machine had so many limitations was actually because Xia Zui had more than one. There were about a dozen more at the stall, all intended for this mission.

This side quest only required serving one thousand people to be completed, but it never said she could only serve one thousand.