Having returned to the Infinite Hotel, Ding Yi noticed the note tucked under her door and went to the adjacent rooms to report her safe return to her two young companions.

After briefly recounting the events, carefully omitting Qin Yuan’s involvement, Ding Yi once again found herself on the receiving end of a safety lecture from the concerned duo in her room.

“But Sister Ding Yi, you’re really too awesome!” Yan Ming exclaimed, looking at Ding Yi with stars in his eyes. “If only my sister were also—”

Faced with his abrupt silence, the two girls exchanged knowing glances.

Ding Yi quickly changed the subject. “By the way, Xiao Ming, what wish brought you here?”

Observing Yan Ming’s even more somber and listless demeanor, Ding Yi shook her head at Jiang Xianqing, feeling somewhat at a loss for words.

“I’ll go first!” Jiang Xianqing announced, showing her usual disregard for gentle consolation. She aimed to lighten the tense mood. “I was driving with my mom for some fun, and on our way back home, we saw a reckless driver in the wrong lane. To dodge them, our car hit the guardrail.”

“Right after hitting the guardrail, we were struck from behind by a car that had completely lost control.”

“I,” Jiang Xianqing took a deep breath, forcing another smile. “The car was completely mangled. I couldn’t see what my mom looked like, and she couldn’t hear me when I called out to her. I couldn’t move, and my whole body was screaming in pain.”

“I just thought, any god or immortal would do, please just come and save me and my mom.”

“And then I ended up here.”

Yan Ming’s eyes began to redden. His youthful appearance and naturally large, puppy-dog eyes made him appear even more pitiful as tears welled up.

“I want to save my sister,” he choked out, his voice thick with emotion.

Yan Ming sniffled, trying to regain composure. “My parents are gone. In this world, my sister is the only family I have left. She’s about to graduate from college. She’s so good, good at everything, good at studying, good to me. She’s always dreamed of being an art teacher since she was little.”

“Her dream was almost within reach…” his voice trailed off, heavy with unspoken sorrow.

“She, she was hurt by bad people—” Yan Ming’s fists clenched tightly, his entire body trembling with suppressed rage. He gritted his teeth as he continued, “Those two beasts didn’t treat my sister like a human being at all!”

“My sister, my sister was lying in the hospital. I finally waited for her to wake up, but then my sister told me she didn’t want to live anymore.”

The tall young man broke down, tears and snot streaming down his face. “My sister, my sister has never said such a thing, not even during the toughest times she’s faced. What did those two beasts do to her to make her say something like that?”

“My sister is so strong, she finally managed to survive the physical injuries, but now she says she might as well be dead.”

The more Yan Ming spoke, the louder his sobs became. Jiang Xianqing’s eyes also turned red as she listened, and the two of them clung to each other, finding solace in their shared tears.

Ding Yi: …

Ding Yi carefully considered the situation for a moment, then asked, “Were those two beasts caught?”

“No,” Yan Ming exclaimed, his crimson eyes burning with primal rage. “Those two beasts escaped overseas, referring to it as studying abroad.”

“It’s all my fault for being so useless. I’m already eighteen, already an adult, and I still can’t protect my sister.”

“What are you saying?” Ding Yi flicked his forehead sharply. “How could it possibly be your fault? It’s the fault of those two beasts. You and your sister did absolutely nothing wrong.”

“That’s right!” Jiang Xianqing chimed in, patting him firmly on the back. “Don’t say such self-defeating things. How heartbroken would your sister be if she heard that?”

Yan Ming, who had just received a physical reprimand from both directions, sobbed harder. “I just wish I could turn back time, so that those disgusting things wouldn’t have happened to my sister. That way, she wouldn’t…”

“Wait a minute,” Jiang Xianqing, now entirely in supportive mode, rummaged through the room for paper and pen. She scribbled down her address and several phone numbers. “I don’t know who will leave this place first, you or me. If you leave first, you can call these numbers and say that I told you to find them. Whether it’s money or lawyers or anything else you need, they can arrange everything clearly for you.”

“Damn it, ‘studying abroad’! Just because they have some stinking money, they think they’re untouchable? I’m telling you, we’re not short of money either!”

The tears that Yan Ming had briefly held back now flowed freely again. “Wuwuwuwu, Sister Qing.”

Ding Yi grabbed the pen and also wrote down her address and phone number. “Although I can’t compare to the truly wealthy, I’ve still managed to save some money over the years, and I know a few people. If your sister wants to change careers or needs any other kind of help, I might be able to offer a little assistance.”

Yan Ming looked at Ding Yi with his tear-filled eyes. “Wuwuwuwuwu, Sister Ding Yi.”

Ding Yi, never comfortable with emotional displays, awkwardly patted his shoulder and offered a simple, “Don’t cry.”

“Write down your address and phone number too, no need to write your name. In case I get out of here first… although that seems unlikely.” Jiang Xianqing added, tearing off another piece of paper.

“But just in case, if I do get out first, I can go and help take care of your sister. After all, I’ve received a lot of care from you both,” Ding Yi said earnestly.

“That’s right, that’s right,” Jiang Xianqing agreed, finding Ding Yi’s words surprisingly comforting. “You quickly write it down. We will definitely be able to get out of here, it’s just that the timing is indeed hard to predict.”

Yan Ming roughly wiped the tears from his face and said, his voice still shaky as he wrote, “Thank you.”

“But Sister Ding Yi, if it’s convenient, can you teach my sister how to become as powerful as you?” he then asked, his gaze filled with admiration.

“You’re both artists, but your hand-to-hand combat skills are really on a whole other level.”

Ding Yi: “… If there’s a chance, definitely.”

Jiang Xianqing wiped away her tears and then realized that there was still one person in the room who hadn’t shared their wish.

“Ding Yi, is it convenient for you to talk about your wish?” she asked gently.

“There’s nothing inconvenient about it,” Ding Yi frowned, attempting to seriously remember the crucial moment. After a throbbing headache nearly consumed her, and as the other two stared at her in fear due to her sudden paleness and cold sweat, she relented with a sigh. “The main issue is that I can’t recall.”

“Ah?” Jiang Xianqing exclaimed, surprised.

“Huh?” Yan Ming echoed, equally bewildered.

After Ding Yi recounted everything that had happened on her birthday and the strange symptoms that manifested whenever she attempted to recall her wish, Yan Ming and Jiang Xianqing fell into a thoughtful silence.

“This… I’ve never heard of anything like it before,” Jiang Xianqing finally said. “Is it possible that your wish was so immense that the New World felt it would be tough to fulfill? But because you had already summoned it, it had no choice but to accept, so it erased your memory of making the wish as a sort of compromise?”

Yan Ming listened to her somewhat convoluted explanation and said, confused, “Sister Qing, what are you talking about? How did the New World suddenly become Aladdin’s lamp?”

“Go away, you’re the one who brought up Aladdin!” Jiang Xianqing retorted playfully.

“Sister, could it be that you drew a wish blind box?” Speaking of this, Yan Ming’s eyes lit up with renewed interest. “For example, you didn’t actually make a specific wish at all, but the New World just took a fancy to your strength, pulled you in first, and when you collect all the stars, you can make any wish you want then.”

“Took a fancy to my strength?” Ding Yi found his words genuinely amusing. “What strength do I even possess? The strength to eat three cakes a day or the strength to not leave the house for a week?”

“Is eating three cakes a day a lot?” Yan Ming asked innocently.

Ding Yi was silent for a moment, processing this unexpected question.

Ding Yi was shocked by his genuine curiosity.

Ding Yi felt a strange sense of camaraderie. “I acknowledge you as my little brother.”

Although Yan Ming didn’t fully grasp the nuances of her statement, he still happily responded, “Sister, how many stars do you need in total?”

“Sixty,” she replied, recalling the count from her first day in the instance. “What about you?”

Yan Ming had forty, and Jiang Xianqing had fifty.

Ding Yi suddenly remembered Qin Yuan’s earlier remark. He had stated that all the wishes of those who came here could be broadly categorized into two desires: life and money.

Ding Yi wasn’t particularly driven by extreme wealth, and she certainly wasn’t struggling financially in her previous life; therefore, she hadn’t come to the New World for money.

If the price of one life was forty stars, and the cost of two lives was fifty stars…

Then her sixty stars, could it possibly be the price of three lives?

Who was it that she desperately wanted to save?

“Sister Ding Yi, did you just think of something?” Jiang Xianqing asked, noticing the change in her expression.

Ding Yi rubbed her temples wearily. “Nothing, I can’t seem to grasp anything concrete.”

Jiang Xianqing, sensing her fatigue, reminded her to eat before gently pulling Yan Ming away, allowing Ding Yi some much-needed rest.