The stress of constant vigilance was taking a toll on Yun Ming. His cough had returned, and the shadows under his eyes deepened. Ye Xia worried the poison had done permanent damage.
Rummaging through her storage for anything that might help, she found a crate she had completely forgotten: the exotic fruits she had bought to waste the last few hundred RMB of a daily quota. They were, of course, long spoiled. But the crate also contained a pamphlet about their supposed "superfood" properties, including one fruit called the "Golden Dragon Peach," renowned in local folklore for its restorative qualities.
It was probably nonsense, but it sparked an idea. She reached out to Liam Kane on the Ghost Network.
"Liam, the 'Golden Dragon Peach.' Myth or potential basis for a real restorative elixir?"
Liam, always excited by a new puzzle, was intrigued. "The folklore is persistent across several cultures. There might be a bioactive compound. Why?"
" I have a lead on a supplier of the fresh fruit," Ye Xia said, bluffing. "I'll have a sample sent to your lab. See what you can find."
She then used the system's funds to waste an enormous amount of money funding a "botanical expedition" to a remote region rumored to have the peach. The expedition was a total failure; they found no such tree. It was a perfect waste of money.
But a week later, Liam called back, his voice buzzing with excitement. "The sample you sent—where did you get it? It's incredible! It contains a previously unknown peptide that acts as a powerful cellular regenerator! This could be the key to stabilizing Master Yun's condition!"
Ye Xia was stunned. There had been no sample. Liam was analyzing thin air. Or was he? The system had registered the expedition as a "waste," but had its reality-bending properties somehow created a biological result from a fictional premise? Had her money, wasted on a fruitless search, actually manifested the fruit's legendary properties in Liam's lab?
It was a terrifying, exhilarating thought. The system's power was far stranger than she had imagined. She didn't question it. "Use it," she told Liam. "Make the elixir."
Sometimes, the most useless waste could yield the most precious dividends.