"Ms. Jin, if there are no further questions, please sign these documents."
Jin Qianqian remained in a daze for a long moment, and it wasn't until the lawyer and manager prompted her repeatedly that she mechanically picked up the offered pen and quickly completed the final paperwork.
Once everyone had left, Jin Qianqian stared intently at the documents on the desk.
It was only today that she had learned she actually had a great-aunt, living a solitary life in some corner of the world. They had never met, yet this relative had left her such a massive fortune.
It was a shame. She had only just learned of this relative's existence, but she would never even get to meet her.
What puzzled her most was the wooden box in front of her. According to what the lawyer had relayed, it was an heirloom from the Mi Family ancestors—her maternal grandmother's side. She was now the only remaining bloodline of the entire Mi Family, and the will had specifically instructed her to preserve it well and pass it down.
The wooden box was a drab, dusky gray, yet it felt impossibly light in her hands. A random scrap of bamboo picked up from outside would probably have more weight to it.
No wonder the lawyer and manager had been so dismissive of this "heirloom." They had brushed it aside with a few cursory words, while in contrast, they had described the stocks and properties in great detail.
Besides, she had heard of fingerprint locks, chip locks, and combination locks, but never one that required blood to be unlocked.
Everyone probably thought the same thing: the old lady had read too many fantasy novels and decided to pull a little prank on her heir in the end.
Staring at the circle in the center of the wooden box, Jin Qianqian pursed her lips. Finally, she mustered her courage and took a spare sewing needle from a drawer.
Looking at the gleaming tip of the needle, Jin Qianqian didn't forget to disinfect it with iodine before closing her eyes and pricking her finger.
She squeezed hard, managing to produce two small drops of blood that only covered about half of the little circle.
Steeling herself, she gritted her teeth and pricked her finger twice more. This time, the drops of blood were slightly larger and slowly managed to fill the small circle.
Seeing the wooden box show no reaction whatsoever, Jin Qianqian couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly. 'This great-aunt must have read way too many fantasy novels. She's just messing with me.'
'And I, an atheist, actually fell for it.'
Standing at the bay window, she gazed down at the endless stream of traffic below. Her life had certainly been a rough one. Just after graduating high school, she had happily gone on a trip to unwind with a group of classmates. While she was away, her grandfather suddenly passed away from a stroke. Her parents, who had been rushing back for the funeral, then died in a plane crash. Just like that, a happy family was shattered.
The successive waves of bad news nearly caused her to break down. Fortunately, her relatives and friends were dependable, guiding her step-by-step on how to handle the funeral arrangements in an orderly manner.
During that time, she took a year off from her studies. It took everything she had to crawl out of her grief, but she gritted her teeth and completed her four-year degree.
Living in the house her parents had left her, she endured one lonely holiday after another.
Jin Qianqian rubbed her arms, and her eyes, dry for so long, began to well up with tears once more.
She had no idea that the small wooden box she had carelessly tossed onto the desk was now emitting a faint white glow, a light that was gradually dimming.
CRACK.
Jin Qianqian heard the sound and glanced back. 'I'm the only one in the entire house,' she thought. 'Where did that noise come from?'
A quick glance revealed that the small wooden box on the desk looked different somehow.
Not daring to touch it, she bent over to examine it closely before picking up a fruit knife from the desk to pry open the box, which had already started to split apart.
An ancient, simple-looking ring appeared before her as the lid of the box came apart. Looking at the strange floral vine pattern on it, Jin Qianqian wondered, 'Does a vine like this even exist in the world?'
'So many different colored leaves on a single vine... it just doesn't seem plausible.'
Before she knew it, she was holding the ring. To her shock, blood began to flow ceaselessly from the pinprick on her finger toward the ring.
Panic seized Jin Qianqian as she watched the surreal scene unfold. She tried to fling the ring off, but it was as if it were glued to her hand, clinging tightly to her finger no matter how she struggled.
The colors on the ring grew increasingly vibrant, emitting a faint, ethereal glow. Before she could understand what was happening, the ring transformed into a streak of light and shot directly into the space between her eyebrows.
Jin Qianqian touched her forehead, feeling nothing there. She quickly ran to the bathroom; her smooth forehead was completely unmarked.
Clutching her wildly pounding heart, her hands began to tremble.
"This can't be real... Am I seeing ghosts?"
Her mind immediately flashed to the cultivation and demon-slaying novels that had been so popular in recent years. Her first thoughts were of possession, malevolent spirits, and other such theories.
"Who are you? Don't you dare scare me! Great-aunt? What great-aunt! This is all a conspiracy, isn't it!"
Jin Qianqian shouted into the air, but the only response was the dead silence of her empty home.
It took a long time for her to compose herself. She quickly poured a glass of warm water and slowly began to calm down.
'Where did the ring go?' The moment the question arose in Jin Qianqian's mind, she found herself in a vast, empty, circular hall. A ring of multicolored doors surrounded her.
Seeing these familiar colors, a theory began to form in Jin Qianqian's mind.
"No way... Am I this lucky too?" she muttered to herself, looking around. "But what are these doors for?"
Jin Qianqian still didn't have the courage to push open any of the doors. Instead, she simply thought about leaving. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in her living room.
Curious, she clutched the glass of water she had just been holding and silently thought about going back in. Instantly, both she and the glass reappeared in the great hall.
"Is this the legendary pocket dimension?" Jin Qianqian collapsed onto the floor of the hall, stroking the pure white jade beneath her. Seeing that it had no seams, that it was one single, continuous piece, she was even more stunned.
'This is ridiculously extravagant!' If not for the cold, smooth sensation under her fingers, she would have thought it was all an illusion.
She bit the back of her hand hard. "It's real."
In, out, out, and in again. Jin Qianqian played around for the better part of the day before finally turning her attention to the doors.
Red, green, blue, black, white, and purple. Six doors of different colors stood there, encircling the forty- to fifty-square-meter hall.
The doors all had an ancient, classical charm, and the studs on them were exceptionally harmonious with their respective colors.
With a surge of curiosity, Jin Qianqian stood up and spun in a circle, finally settling on her favorite color: purple.
Grasping the ring on the door, she tried pushing and pulling, but the massive door wouldn't budge an inch.
Refusing to give up, she tried each door in order: white, black, blue, and green. It wasn't until she reached the last one, the red door, that it slowly began to open under her push.
The sudden movement startled Jin Qianqian. She let go of the door ring and stumbled back two steps. After waiting a long moment with no further sound or movement, she cautiously peeked inside.