Jack, in the shadows beneath the bar, heard the footsteps pause in the center of the living room, then turn towards the kitchen.
Her heart was as still as water.
Jack's fingers skillfully unlatched a hidden buckle, pulling gently.
There was no earth-shattering commotion, only a section of dark-colored object, slowly drawn out a small portion from the miniature space interface extending from her bracelet.
It was a fish Tail.
Its color was like an over-salted dried fish, an unhealthy grayish-brown, with even some suspicious crystalline reflections on its surface.
Only a section, about twenty centimeters, was pulled out; more of it remained hidden within the spatial equipment.
The moment the Tail appeared, a scent began to subtly permeate the air.
Theresa, already halfway into the kitchen area, suddenly wrinkled her small nose and abruptly halted her steps.
"Hmm? What's that smell...?"
She sniffed, then her expression changed drastically. She covered her mouth and nose, backing away repeatedly. "Ugh! It's so, so stinky! What is that?! Is the kitchen drain blocked?"
The smell was incredibly pungent.
It bypassed any concealment, rushing straight to her head.
Theresa, enduring the discomfort, was still driven by curiosity to peek into the kitchen.
What she saw first was a crouching gray figure on the floor near the corner of the open kitchen.
The person had their back to her, head down, seemingly fiddling with something.
"Who's there?!"
Theresa immediately became alert, no longer caring about the stench.
An outsider had indeed entered her home!
Was this the culprit who ruined her manga and bitter gourd juice?
Her small face tightened, Honkai Energy began to subtly flow within her, and the aura of an S-rank Valkyrie started to rise.
"Don't move! Who are you? How did you get in?"
Jack did not reply.
She maintained her posture with her back to Theresa, her right hand already grasping the extracted salted fish Tail.
The touch was cold and strange, as if holding a seafood item dried for centuries.
She could even feel this "immortal salted fish" faintly pulsating, as if it had its own life force.
She heard Theresa's questioning and perceived the aura rising from her.
Good strength, but... many flaws.
Now is the time.
Jack still didn't turn around. Her right wrist gave a slight flick, and her index finger quickly flicked the rough edge of the salted fish's caudal fin.
"Pfft."
A sound like a leak.
A dark green, fish-shaped phantom, like solidified inferior jelly, shot out from the tip of the salted fish Tail!
It wasn't large, only palm-sized, but its speed was incredibly fast, leaving a faint trail in the air as it lunged straight for Theresa's face!
This sudden turn of events, and the attack method, were too... beyond common sense.
Various chaotic thoughts flashed through Theresa's mind instantly, her body instinctively wanting to dodge or defend.
But the intense stench that arrived first had already made her breath catch, slowing her reaction by half a beat.
More importantly, she had never seen or even imagined such an attack.
"Wh—?!"
The dark green fish-shaped energy ball solidly splattered on Theresa's face, and then — it exploded.
Not a physical explosion, but the ultimate release and impact of odor.
"Ugh—!!!"
In that instant, Theresa felt as if her entire head had been stuffed into a sealed jar accumulating millennium-old stinky salted fish, ten-thousand-year-old stinky socks, and countless indescribably rotten things, and then this jar vibrated inside her skull!
Her eyes stung, ears buzzed, taste buds seemed to experience the ultimate decay of the world, and even her thoughts seemed to be stained with a grayish-green hue.
"Ugh..."
Her legs gave out, the Honkai Energy she had gathered instantly dispersed, her vision blurred, and the world spun.
The intense physiological discomfort made it impossible for her to stand, let alone fight.
"Thump."
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"