Chapter 228: The Most Beautiful Eyes in the World

Chen Yuqi was baffled.

She didn’t understand what Jin Meiting was muttering about so mysteriously.

But the words were like a spell, swirling in her mind, impossible to shake.

As she was seeing Jin Meiting out of the hospital, she couldn’t help but ask:

“What urban legend?”

Jin Meiting seemed to be clinging to a lifeline:

“On rainy days in the South Sea Suburb, an antique shop appears. That antique shop can fulfill any human desire! The antique shop can definitely save my face!”

Chen Yuqi looked at the face, burned beyond recognition, and had only one thought:

‘She’s lost her mind. Completely mad.’

Chen Yuqi was a woman who loved beauty, loved it to a hopeless degree.

She had always believed that a woman’s appearance was her greatest weapon—more effective than a degree, more useful than talent, more powerful than anything else.

It was with this face that she had won so many opportunities in life.

Those nouveau riche men, those officials—who among them didn’t treat her with the utmost courtesy and attentiveness?

Society was always forgiving toward a beautiful woman.

To become even more beautiful, she was an avid fan of plastic surgery.

And as she grew more beautiful, her life only got better.

Every day after work, all kinds of luxury cars would be parked at the hospital entrance. Whether they were wealthy upstarts or the sons of privilege, they all wanted to treat her to a meal.

If some antique shop could make Jin Meiting beautiful again, could restore that face—then what was the point of plastic surgery hospitals?

‘Wouldn’t the hundreds of thousands I’ve spent on my face just be a joke?’

Chen Yuqi was convinced that Jin Meiting had simply gone mad.

But what happened later shattered her worldview completely.

…

To be honest, Chen Yuqi had been very satisfied with her face.

The only part she wasn’t happy with was her eyes.

They weren’t big enough, not bright enough—not the kind of huge, captivating eyes a man could get lost in at first glance.

This small “ordinary” detail felt like a defect to her, like a fly dropping on a bowl of white rice. It was disgusting no matter how she looked at it.

It was this thought that pushed her to get eye surgery.

Unexpectedly, it failed.

A post-operative infection left one of her eyes unable to open. The eyelid drooped like a dead butterfly’s wing.

When she looked in the mirror, she always felt like the person in the reflection was staring coldly at her with that one eye.

That unseeing eye was like an ugly patch, destroying the entire balance of her face.

She raised hell at the hospital, for a long time.

The hospital paid her a large sum in compensation and then terminated her employment contract.

‘I might have more money in my pocket, but what good is money when your face is ruined?’

‘It’s worth nothing!’

No more luxury cars waited for her downstairs, no more bosses spent lavishly to win her favor, and her dream of opening a beauty salon was shattered into dust.

Disheartened, Chen Yuqi went to a bar called “Dusk” to drown her sorrows.

Why Dusk?

Because it was a masquerade-themed bar.

Everyone wore a mask, so no one could see her deformed eye.

She lay drunkenly on the bar, her hazy gaze sweeping through the crowd, and then—

She froze as if struck by lightning.

Jin Meiting.

‘That face… It should have been impossible to restore it completely.’

‘Burn scars proliferate, skin grafts leave discoloration… Even the most skilled plastic surgeon can’t do anything about severe burns.’

But Jin Meiting’s face wasn’t just restored—it was countless times more beautiful than before.

‘That wasn’t something plastic surgery could achieve.’

‘It was like… she’d gotten a whole new face.’

Chen Yuqi wanted to chase after her, but Jin Meiting had already vanished into the crowd on the dance floor.

She pushed past shoulder after shoulder, broke the heel of her high-heeled shoe, and searched frantically through the bar barefoot.

But in the vast sea of people, she couldn’t even find a shadow of her.

From then on, as if possessed, Chen Yuqi frantically searched for that antique shop in the South Sea Suburb.

Antique Shop Zero was the thirteenth one she’d visited.

…

Chen Yuqi took off her sunglasses.

Jiang Chaosheng’s eye twitched slightly.

The face was beautiful—or at least, it had once been beautiful.

But now, her eyes were like two insect eggs resting in the center of a piece of fine jade, making one’s skin crawl at a single glance.

One eye was barely open, while the other eyelid drooped down like a roll-up door that could never be raised.

“Can you… give me a pair of beautiful eyes?”

Chen Yuqi’s voice was trembling, her single good eye filled with pleading:

“Whatever the cost, I can pay it.”

Jiang Chaosheng didn’t answer.

He turned and walked toward the back room, his footsteps echoing one by one in the empty antique shop like some ancient timekeeper.

Chen Yuqi stood where she was, waiting anxiously.

Her palms were drenched in sweat, and her heart was beating so fast it felt like it would leap out of her throat.

About five minutes later, Jiang Chaosheng returned, carrying a box.

Chen Yuqi’s one good eye was fixed on the box.

Her intuition told her—what was inside was her wish.

Jiang Chaosheng placed the box on the counter, resting a hand lightly on top without opening it.

“Your money is meaningless to me.”

Chen Yuqi froze for a moment, then understood.

‘Of course. This antique shop owner is a supernatural being, a living urban legend.’

‘How could something like money possibly interest him?’

She bit her lip, her pretty face flushing slightly.

“If you wouldn’t mind… I could…”

“I’m not interested in you either,” Jiang Chaosheng cut her off bluntly.

The light in Chen Yuqi’s eyes dimmed.

‘I look so disgusting right now, even I can’t stand to look at myself.’

Jiang Chaosheng then said, “Forty.”

Chen Yuqi was taken aback. “What?”

“Forty years of your life. And this thing is yours.”

He tapped a finger lightly on the box’s lid.

“When you die, I will reclaim it.”

Forty years…

Of my life?!

Chen Yuqi stared at him in disbelief, a deep fear slowly welling up in her pupils.

‘This man… what he wants is lifespan.’

‘Is he a Demon?’

Jiang Chaosheng frowned, seeming a little impatient with her hesitation.

“I’m very busy.”

He reached out to take the box back.

Chen Yuqi’s heart clenched.

‘Forty years of my life!’

‘I’m twenty-six this year. If he takes forty years, I might only have a few years left to live.’

‘But—’

‘Should I live in this ugly body for another forty years, or become a beauty and live freely for a few?’

She chose the latter.

Because the first way of living was more terrifying than death.

That wasn’t living; it was serving a prison sentence.

A daily torture of watching herself slowly rot in the mirror.

“I’m willing! I’m willing!” she practically shouted.

Jiang Chaosheng’s hand paused. He retracted it and pushed the box back in front of her.

“Also—” He pursed his lips.

“Compared to forty years of your life, this thing has a much more severe side effect.”

Chen Yuqi blinked her one good eye.

“What?”

“You will harm anyone who loves you.”

After hearing this, Chen Yuqi actually breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Is that even a side effect?’

‘Up until now, I’ve been hurting the people who liked me all along.’

‘Those nouveau riche men, those sons of privilege—which one of them haven’t I wrapped around my little finger?’

‘Am I fickle and promiscuous?’

‘No, it’s just that a beautiful woman is destined to be passionate!’

“It seems this thing belongs to you, then.”

Jiang Chaosheng let out a soft chuckle, turned from the counter, and walked toward the back room.

Just as he’d said, he was very busy.

He had things to pack—the Scythe of Death and the Penalty Fire Flintlock Gun. He had to bring them all.

Then, he would go pay the Evil Qilin a visit.

Chen Yuqi stared blankly at the small box before her.

She cautiously reached out with trembling fingertips, rested them on the lid, and gently opened it.

She had to see what it was she had bought with forty years of her life.

Lying in the box was a pair of eyes.

A pair of otherworldly azure eyes, like two exquisitely cut gemstones.

It wasn’t the blue of the sky, nor the blue of the sea—it was something deeper, more profound.

It was as if the entire night sky had been condensed into two tears.

Even the Heart of the Ocean that sank into the deep sea with the Titanic probably wasn’t this beautiful.

What was most heart-stopping… was that the eyes seemed to be gazing at her with deep affection.

Even though she was a woman, her heart was thrown into disarray by their amorous glance.

Chen Yuqi swallowed and reached out to grab the two eyes, wanting to take a closer look.

In the next second, something strange happened.

Two beams of light shot from her palm, piercing straight into her eye sockets.

“AH—!”

Chen Yuqi cried out as her vision instantly plunged into darkness.

“What is this thing?!”

In the darkness, the man’s voice came from a distance:

“Item 2-17, the Eye of Medusa.”

The light returned, bit by bit.

It was blurry, shaky, like looking at the world through a curtain of water.

She saw the man’s tall silhouette and heard his voice continue:

“Poseidon fell in love with Medusa’s eyes and raped her. Poseidon’s niece, Athena, believed that for Medusa, a mere mortal, to couple with one of the Deities was an act of blasphemy. To punish Medusa, she turned her into a Gorgon.”

Her vision finally cleared completely.

Chen Yuqi tremblingly pulled out the small mirror she carried and held it up to her face—

She was completely mesmerized.

The otherworldly eyes in the mirror were so beautiful they seemed magical.

Deep within the azure irises, it was as if an entire starry sky was hidden, pulling you in with a single glance, never to let you surface again.

She looked back at Jiang Chaosheng, her voice trembling.

“These are… Medusa’s eyes?”

Her brows slowly furrowed as she suddenly remembered something.

“How could it be Medusa’s sin if she was raped by a deity?”

Clearly, she had become engrossed in Jiang Chaosheng’s story and was even feeling indignant on behalf of the poor woman.

Jiang Chaosheng didn’t stop.

“The story isn’t over. Athena believed that Poseidon fell in love with Medusa because of her eyes. Therefore… for any mortal creature to look upon them would be an act of sacrilege against the Deities. Athena was too proud to gouge out Medusa’s eyes, so she placed a Curse on them instead.”

He paused.

“Any mortal creature that looks into Medusa’s eyes will be punished for blasphemy and turned to stone. That is why Medusa’s image was described by Western bards as a ‘ferocious-faced Demon’.”

Chen Yuqi’s brows knitted tighter.

‘On what grounds?’

‘Just because she was violated by a deity, she had to suffer this kind of torture?’

Her blue, otherworldly eyes were filled with resentment. “Those Deities… aren’t they a bit too arrogant.”

Hearing this, Jiang Chaosheng lowered his gaze and murmured softly:

“Yes, a bit too arrogant.”

Chen Yuqi suddenly thought of something.

“Then if other people look at my eyes, will they also…”

Jiang Chaosheng had already put on his trench coat and begun to pack his things.

“You are just a mortal; you haven’t even opened a Spiritual Aperture. So, on you, these eyes don’t possess such immense Supernatural Power. However, the Curse is still there. While people who look at your eyes won’t turn to stone, anyone who falls in love with you will. Enjoy having the most beautiful eyes in the world.”

Chen Yuqi understood that this was a dismissal. She nodded slightly. “Alright. Thank you.”

“Your time is running out,” Jiang Chaosheng reminded her faintly.

Chen Yuqi’s heart tightened.

‘Forty years of my life. The time I have left… it really isn’t much.’