It was four in the afternoon, definitely not mealtime.
The whole area was basically one huge construction zone, and this little stir‑fry shop was stuck right in the middle of it. It wasn’t exactly covered in dust, but calling it “nice” would’ve been a stretch.
Still, the owner cooked well enough to make up for the rest.
Noah Porter had already eaten most of his food before he finally lifted his head and snuck a glance at the man across from him—his boss, Ethan Noble, who looked completely out of place in a spot like this.
And then Noah realized something: ever since they’d sat down, Mr. Noble’s gaze had been fixed on something to his left.
Not just looking—staring, brows slightly drawn, like something out there was seriously bothering him.
Coming from someone as uninterested in gossip as Ethan Noble, that was… weird. Weird enough to spark Noah’s own curiosity.
He couldn’t hold it in. He quietly followed his boss’s line of sight and turned to look.
That was when he froze.
He’d been starving when they arrived, too focused on the fact that there was food here to notice anything else. Somehow, he’d completely missed the young girl sitting by the roadside—dressed head‑to‑toe in white, or… well, more like ancient-style clothing.
At her feet was a piece of cardboard, clearly torn from some box, propped up for everyone to see. A line of elegant handwriting stretched across it.
The calligraphy looked great. The message… not so much.
There were three lines in total—
Master of Divine Fortune
Read your fate, your luck, your love life.Anything could be divined, but every reading came with a steep price.
Noah Porter couldn’t hold it in and let out a small laugh.
Right then, a gust of wind swept past, knocking the cardboard sign flat on the ground with a sharp slap.
Only after it fell did Noah notice there was writing on the back too.
Three more lines—
Hua Tuo reborn
Specializes in stubborn, strange illnesses
Also very expensive
The girl’s face was bare, no makeup at all, yet so striking that even someone like Noah—who’d met more than his share of beauties—found himself silently impressed.
Hands down the most stunning girl he’d ever seen, no contest.
Maybe she sensed the two men staring, because she lifted her eyes and glanced their way.
Then she dropped her gaze again, propping her cheeks in her palms, looking like life had her seriously defeated.
This time Noah just couldn’t hold it anymore. He burst out laughing, loud and unrestrained, then leaned toward his boss with a grin. “Ethan, this is hilarious. That girl’s so young and already out of her mind.”
Isabelle Adams wasn’t deaf—quite the opposite. Her hearing was sharper than most people’s.
With how loudly the man laughed, she caught every word.
Of course she knew he was laughing at her.
She bent down, picked up the fallen sign, and headed straight toward the two of them.Noah Porter’s laughter died instantly when Isabelle Adams started heading their way. The moment she shot him a sideways glance, his heart skipped—hard.
Wait… was she about to lose her temper and throw a punch?
He darted a look at Ethan Noble sitting across from him, then hurried to his feet, posture tense, like he was silently declaring, Hit me if you must, but don’t drag my boss into this.
What he didn’t know was that Isabelle was just as startled by his sudden rise.
She lifted her head, met Noah’s fierce, ready-for-war expression, and actually froze for a second. With a confused blink, she asked cautiously, “Are you trying to hit me?”
Noah was completely thrown off.
Hold on—wasn’t she the one coming over like she wanted a fight?
He stared at her clenched fists, his mind full of question marks.
Seriously, between the two of them, who looked more like they were about to start something?
Her tone was sharp, her stance aggressive; she absolutely looked like someone who knew how to deal damage.
Ethan shot Noah a calm look, a silent order telling him to sit down.
Only after Noah reluctantly dropped back into his seat, still watching the girl like she was a ticking bomb, did Ethan turn his attention back to her. “Something you need?”
Isabelle lowered the sleeves she had rolled up earlier, nodded earnestly, and said, “Boss, want a fortune reading? First reading of the day. No 9999, no 999—just buy me a meal and we’re good.”
As she finished, she noticed the man in the wheelchair looking at her, so she lifted her gaze and met his eyes.Some people just naturally look like they don’t belong in a place like this. The man in front of her, dressed in a perfectly tailored suit and sporting“I totally didn’t expect to run into some creep. He asked me to read his palm, so I asked for the fee. Next thing I know, he’s trying to drag me to his place, talking all kinds of disgusting nonsense. I snapped, beat him up, and then had to hand over my only ten yuan as medical compensation.”
Isabelle Adams had luckily run fast. That disgusting old pervert, even after getting pummeled, still tried to squeeze money out of her.
Thinking about losing those ten yuan didn’t even make her that upset now. After all, with how hard she’d hit him, she knew perfectly well ten yuan wouldn’t even cover the guyShe’d stripped off everything she could before the lightning struck, terrified the tribulation would fry her belongings. In the end, she was tossed back here with nothing but the rattling poverty clinging to her like a sound effect.
Her entire spiritual manor, bound to her very soul, did follow her back. But the lightning had wrung every drop of energy out of it. Without enough spiritual power, the place might as well have been locked behind ten iron gates.
The only thing on her that could still be called valuable was the white robe she wore. Yet here, in the twenty‑first century, without spiritual force to support it, it wasn’t some treasure at all—just a tough, hard‑to‑tear piece of clothing.
What really hit her hard was realizing her so‑called fasting body, which never needed food in the cultivation world, actually got hungry now. With no spiritual energy left, even her stomach had joined the rebellion.