The sound of knocking reached his ears. The delivery guy’s attitude was quite good. Henry Clark hurriedly jumped out of bed and opened the door, and the delivery man’s face came into view.

After thanking him and signing for the food, Henry Clark opened the meal box. The aroma hit him in the face—the food from this place was as good as ever. Henry Clark ate while continuing to read his book.

Nowadays, online novels are all the rage; if you haven’t read a few, you’d feel embarrassed to even greet people. Recently, Henry Clark was obsessed with xianxia novels—talismans, magical treasures, secret realm adventures, monster grinding and all that. It was especially captivating.

He ate and read at the same time, though not to the point of not tasting the food. Still, he didn’t really pay attention to what was in the meal.

Suddenly, he bit into something a bit hard. A salty taste flooded his mouth—his tooth had been chipped and was bleeding. The pain yanked Henry Clark out of the story.

Ugh, he quickly spat the thing out. Looking down, he saw it glinting with a metallic sheen—it was a ring.

With his tooth injured, Henry Clark grimaced in pain, and his anger flared. He’d heard of classmates finding hair or cockroaches in their food before, but a ring? That was unheard of. This was just too much. Swallowing a ring was no joke; he might even need surgery.

Thinking of this, he felt a wave of fear. He couldn’t let this go. Henry Clark unlocked his phone, logged into the food delivery app, found the snack shop’s number, and called…

No answer. Three times in a row, still nothing.

Although Henry Clark vaguely guessed it was because the shop was busy, he couldn’t get over the fact that he’d found a ring in his food. If he didn’t do something, more students might suffer.

You’re forcing my hand.

Anger surged in Henry Clark’s heart, and with a wicked resolve, he bent over his desk and started typing furiously. Soon, a two-hundred-character, image-rich, scathing review was freshly posted.

“Whew!”

He hit send, and his mood instantly improved. These days, food delivery is fiercely competitive—a thousand good reviews might only bring in two or three extra orders, but a single eye-catching bad review like his could cause the shop’s sales to plummet.

That’s what you get for serving dirty food and not answering my calls.

Henry Clark muttered resentfully. It wasn’t that he was petty, but today’s experience was just too frustrating.

He’d already blacklisted that little shop.

He wasn’t full, but after this incident, he had no appetite to keep eating. If he found another cockroach or a fly, he’d have to go to the hospital for a stomach pump.

With no mood to eat, he started examining the ring in his hand.

To be honest, it looked quite exquisite, with an ancient design. Just a glance gave off a high-end vibe. The material… was a bit odd—not gold, not jade. Henry Clark admitted he didn’t have much experience and couldn’t identify it.

But it was clearly no ordinary item. How could something so valuable end up in his food?

Henry Clark turned it over and over in his hand, examining it. The ring felt warm to the touch. Wait… how could a metal object feel warm?

He felt more and more puzzled, and just as this thought crossed his mind, the ring suddenly melted—without any warning—turning into a puddle of metallic liquid that seeped into Henry Clark’s palm and disappeared.

What the hell!

I’m doomed, I’m doomed.

Henry Clark felt his eyelids growing heavier, his consciousness gradually fading.

Chapter 2: A Strange Encounter in a Dream

Believe in science.

The worldview Henry Clark had built over the past twenty years told him that so-called supernatural events only happened in novels. Reality was boring; there was no such thing as magic, battle aura, or transmigration.

But just now…

Could it be he’d read too many novels and started hallucinating?

This just showed how important work-life balance was. Staying cooped up in the dorm wasn’t just a sign of terminal laziness.

Henry Clark shook his head and checked the time. He’d only been unconscious for five minutes. He couldn’t help but suspect he’d just fallen asleep and had a dream.

Yeah, that must be it. Finding a ring in his food was already ridiculous, and for it to melt? That was pure fantasy.

Still, he couldn’t help but open his right hand and look. The skin on his palm was no different from before. If the ring had really melted, there was no way it wouldn’t have left a mark.

Ha, a dream. It must have been a dream.

Thinking this, Henry Clark felt much better. After all, he wasn’t some delusional teenager and was long past the age of wild fantasies. He wouldn’t believe in supernatural events so easily.

A pleasant ringtone sounded from his phone.

Henry Clark looked down—it was an unfamiliar number, marked by 273 people as a food delivery contact. Was it from some shopping website?

Did he buy something?

He had no recollection. His family was average, and he wasn’t a shopaholic. Aside from some daily necessities and clothes, he rarely shopped online.

Still, Henry Clark didn’t hesitate. He picked up the phone and pressed answer. He didn’t get many calls anyway, and his plan minutes always went unused. Besides, answering was free.

If it was a scammer, Henry Clark wouldn’t mind chatting about dreams and life, and could teach them a lesson in no time.