Chapter 344

Chapter 344

The Ripple Effect

"Yeah! If we’re ever unsure about something in the future, you’ll have to remind us!"

Their overly sweet tone made Lin Nannan sense their slightly apologetic sincerity, so she nodded along.

She had the least patience for petty drama. If they could understand that her presence made no difference to them, that would be for the best.

As for random jealousy or the like—she’d rather not deal with it. She wasn’t about that drama.

"Nan Nan, there are plenty of herbs in the back mountains. If you recognize them, you can pick them yourself—saves you money!" Xiao Pei reminded her, seeing how many herbs she had bought.

"Lu Heng isn’t home, and he won’t let me go out alone. He says it’s too risky," Lin Nannan said with a pout.

Xiao Pei blinked in surprise. "What danger? We often go to the back mountains to dig for wild vegetables, and sometimes we even gather herbs for cooling fevers or flushing toxins. We’ve always been fine!"

"Right! If you want to go, we can take you next time. It’s more fun with more people!" someone suggested.

Lin Nannan definitely wanted to go. Hearing that they’d go together, she immediately nodded. "Great! Just hit me up when it’s time."

On this trip, as they walked and chatted, Lin Nannan gradually warmed up to them.

Though, to be precise, it wasn’t Lin Nannan blending in with them—it was them accommodating her.

Once home, Lin Nannan put everything away and sat down on a chair, sensing her surroundings. She realized the rock fragment had already disappeared from her space at some point.

"Damn it! I was planning to study it when I got back and maybe show it to Yin Xu—he might’ve known what it was. But now it’s just gone! Where am I supposed to find another one!?" Lin Nannan was totally thrown by this turn of events and just stood there, stunned.

Once something disappeared, it wouldn’t reappear. Lin Nannan pressed her lips together, realizing her only hope now lay with that boy.

If his family had more, that would be ideal. If not, she’d have to figure something else out.

"Finally found something useful, and now I don’t even know what it was—so frustrating!" She stomped her foot, fighting tears.

Before this, nothing she placed in her space had ever vanished—except for that rock she’d tossed in.

"So, does that mean my space can’t contain things with psychic energy?" The idea both lit her up and weirded her out. What was she supposed to do now? Was this gonna wreck her?

Anxious, she paced around the house, trying to figure out how to resolve this. Unconsciously, she began to wonder—if psychic-energy-infused objects couldn’t exist in her space, did that mean the space’s severe damage tied into her accident?

"When the time machine malfunctioned, I must’ve tried to store it in my space before losing consciousness. Normally, that wouldn’t have affected the space at all," Lin Nannan muttered to herself as she connected the dots. "But because I was already injured by the time storm, and the time machine was linked to my psychic energy… that’s why some fragments ended up on the village’s back mountain while others vanished without a trace. The missing ones probably disappeared inside my space."

With this realization, Lin Nannan deduced why her psychic energy and space still functioned after she replaced the original owner. The remaining fragments of the time machine must have merged with her space, protecting her psychic energy from collapsing. Even when her energy was at its weakest, it remained stable, with no freakouts.

Now that she roughly understood the process, Lin Nannan grew even more eager to question Hui Hui’s mother for answers…

"I just don’t know if she’ll know anything…" she bit her lip but hoped anyway. She wanted to find more fragments to restore her psychic energy.

If she could fully recover, she could send the fragments away again. That way, even if she lost her psychic energy in the future, she could stay here without any loose ends…

……

Lin Nannan could wait on everything but this. It had her itching to move. So, the very next day, she went out to ask around.

Returning to the intersection where Hui Hui had left the day before, Lin Nannan inquired and searched until, just before noon, she finally found the person she was looking for.

"Sister?" Hui Hui, hearing the knock, rushed to open the door. Seeing Lin Nannan standing outside, he did a double take.

"Hui Hui, who's there?" A weak voice came from inside the house, perking Lin Nannan up.

She wiped the sweat off her face with a handkerchief and said to Hui Hui, "I came to talk to your mom!"

"Why do you want to see my mom? You were the one who wanted to buy that stone!" Hui Hui thought Lin Nannan had come to ask for money back and was about to cry.

Lin Nannan picked him up, booping his little nose, and said, "Don't worry, I'm not here for money. I need to ask your mom something."

Hui Hui calmed down and led Lin Nannan into the room, but he hovered nearby, clearly determined to protect his mother.

"You are...?" Hui Hui's mother looked at Lin Nannan with confusion.

"I'm the one who bought the stone from your family yesterday," Lin Nannan quickly explained, fearing they might misunderstand. "I just wanted to ask where the stone came from. Do you have any more, or do you know where I can find similar stones? I’ll make it worth your while."

Hui Hui's mother hesitated before replying, "That stone was from my husband's family. He died of illness."

Lin Nannan hadn’t expected Hui Hui to have lost his father at such a young age. She murmured sympathetically before bringing the topic back.

"Did you ever hear anything about these stones?" she pressed, unwilling to give up.

Hui Hui's mother thought for a moment and said, "It was something my husband found by chance. Out of curiosity, he studied it and told me, 'It's neither gold nor jade, but we couldn’t identify what was inside...'"

"So you don’t know what’s inside?" Lin Nannan murmured, then looked at the frail woman and asked, "Are there any more?"

Hui Hui's mother looked at her with mixed emotions. "Since you're asking, it must have some value. But I always thought it was just a rock. My husband became obsessed with it, and it killed him in the end..."

"Was he... murdered?" Lin Nannan asked quietly.

"No," Hui Hui's mother replied without hesitation. "He worked himself to exhaustion, staying up to study that stone, and in the end, it cost him his life."

Lin Nannan felt a chill. Realizing the danger of objects imbued with psychic energy, she understood the truth in Hui Hui's mother’s words—the father had indeed been killed by the stone.

Psychic energy could save lives—or take them without a trace.

She asked many more questions, and Hui Hui's mother answered them all, but eventually, the talk ended when the woman became too exhausted.

"Look after your mom, okay?" Lin Nannan reminded Hui Hui as she left.

"Okay!" Hui Hui grinned and nodded.

After Lin Nannan left, Hui Hui ran back inside and hugged his mother around the waist. "Mom, when are you going to get treatment?"

Hui Hui's mother forced a smile. "Soon."

Leaving Hui Hui’s home, Lin Nannan’s heart felt heavy.

She suddenly realized that Hui Hui's mother was seriously ill—likely affected by the stone as well. She wondered whether Hui Hui was affected too.

With current medical knowledge, there was no way to save Hui Hui's mother.

This made her even more puzzled. What kind of thing could have such destructive power, yet benefit her so much?

Since she couldn’t figure it out on her own, and no one at the base had answers, Lin Nannan decided to call Yin Xu for advice.

"A stone that harms the human body?" Yin Xu repeated after hearing Lin Nannan’s question, then muttered to himself before saying, "Though I haven’t seen the stone you mentioned, if I’m not mistaken, it might be a meteorite..."

"A meteorite?" Lin Nannan was stunned.

"Yes, a meteorite," Yin Xu said, then added seriously, "Lin Nannan, if you find any, don’t handle it recklessly, understand?"

Lin Nannan hurriedly explained, "It's not me, it's someone else. There's a stone in their home, and both the husband and wife got sick. I thought it was weird, so I asked about it. The stone was even thrown away by their child."

No matter what kind of stone it was, it had already vanished into thin air. She couldn't just whip one up for Yin Xu to study, so she had to make an excuse to put him off.

"Got it. Well, be careful!" Yin Xu knew Lin Nannan had good judgment and reminded her before hanging up, but she stopped him.

"I want to ask, where can I find such meteorites?" she inquired.

If the vanished one couldn't be verified, she'd look for ones that still existed. As long as she got close, she could determine whether they affected her.

"There are some in the capital. When you come, I'll take you to see them!" Yin Xu didn't think much of it, assuming she was just curious, and just promised.

"Good, I'll look for you when I get to the capital!" Lin Nannan agreed.

Yin Xu, having heard about Lin Nannan's temperament from Lu Hang, immediately cautioned her, "Not now. If you show up in the capital now, you'll be a sitting duck. Stay in the base and don't come to the capital. The meteorites won't be moved—you can see them anytime later. Understood?"

"Understood!" Lin Nannan sighed and replied helplessly.

Though she didn't know what the hidden danger was, even Yin Xu had returned to the capital, indicating how seriously everyone took the matter. To avoid causing concern—like the uproar when she went to Nanshi—she had no choice but to just stay put.

With Lu Hang here, she didn't feel too bad about it. But regarding the meteorites, she still wanted to verify as soon as possible whether they could be useful to her.

Because her mental energy recovery was linked to that stone, Lin Nannan couldn't ignore Hui Hui and his mother. But since she couldn't go out every day, she gave them a bit more money to make life easier for them.

As for anything else, she couldn't help.

If she had the Healing Solution, saving Hui Hui's mother would be a small matter. But now, it broke her heart, but there was nothing she could do...

Affected by this matter, she felt out of sorts for days, until Xiao Pei knocked on her door, holding her daughter...

"Nan Nan, are you home?" Xiao Pei called from outside.

Lin Nannan responded and opened the door, asking, "What's wrong?"

"Your field... you need to go check it now!" Xiao Pei said urgently.

Having not visited the field for days, Lin Nannan thought something was wrong. She quickly headed out, closed the door, and hurried toward the field...