People with similar builds are the ones who can most directly notice changes in each other's height.

"Really?" Jason Ford was intrigued when he heard this. At 1.73 meters tall, he wasn't actually considered short among his countrymen.

However, nowadays, being tall is considered attractive. In fact, just a couple of days ago, Eric Clark said that even 1.75 meters is just third-rate and practically disabled.

That guy is 1.81 meters tall, so of course he can say things like that without any pressure.

Chapter 8 Little Smith's Strange Reaction

Deep down, Jason Ford also hoped he could grow a bit taller. Previously, he thought it was impossible to achieve this goal in this lifetime. The best he could do was, like some Little David, buy a pair of height-increasing shoes.

But now, he could actually go through a second growth spurt. He had to admit, this was quite tempting.

Still, no matter how tempted he was, what interested him most right now was his ability to cash out.

So he returned to his dorm, pulled out two thermal shirts, then a thick jacket and heavy pants, and then found a rechargeable mini flashlight, stuffing them all into his suitcase.

What impressed him most was a pair of infrared binoculars. He had bought them back in college. As a student, besides studying and working out, he was also a half-baked backpacker. Although he never traveled far, he still bought some related gear.

He really missed those school days—a time when he could let his dreams soar and youth shine without restraint...

He had also bought a kukri knife along with the infrared binoculars, but when he graduated, he sold the knife to a junior—carrying something like that around the country would only bring trouble.

After stuffing all the essentials into the suitcase, Jason Ford picked up his phone to do something, but just then, the door opened and Mark Harris walked in.

Jason Ford waited a moment and saw that the guy just sat on the bed and started playing games on his phone, so he could only purse his lips in frustration and drag his suitcase out.

Mark Harris spoke up, but didn't even look up. "You're leaving?"

Jason Ford glanced at him and saw that all his attention was on his phone, so he replied casually, "Just going out for a bit."

Mark Harris said nothing more. For someone as reclusive as him, even asking that much was already a big deal.

Jason Ford dragged his suitcase downstairs. Passing by a convenience store, he stopped to think, then went in and bought two 1.25-liter bottles of mineral water and a few boxes of chocolate.

When he wheeled his suitcase through the entrance of the Hongjie Club, the receptionist Little Smith happened to be yawning at the door. Seeing him come in, she was startled. "Where are you going with that?"

Jason Ford lied without missing a beat, "The suitcase is a bit dirty, so I brought it over to clean it."

"Okay," Little Smith nodded. She was the type who didn't like to overthink things and easily believed him. Then she remembered something. "I don't need my phone right now. Is half an hour enough for you to borrow it?"

Jason Ford was taken aback and replied, "Well, maybe... never mind?"

"Never mind?" Little Smith raised her eyebrows angrily and snapped, "I've deleted my online banking and Alipay, and transferred all my WeChat balance to someone else. And now you're telling me... never mind?"

"Alright," Jason Ford felt his scalp tingle and could only nod in frustration. "I thought it might be inconvenient for you. I'll use it now, ten minutes is enough."

"Ten minutes?" Little Smith eyed him suspiciously as she handed over her phone. "Where are you planning to use it?"

Without thinking, Jason Ford replied, "The restroom."

"The restroom?" Little Smith was stunned for a moment, then quickly snatched the phone back with lightning speed.

She unlocked the screen, swiftly opened the photo album, and her fair fingers danced across the screen so fast it was dizzying.

Without hesitation, she tapped seventy or eighty times in a row, then hit the delete button before handing the phone back to him, half-smiling, half-mocking. "Can't you just find a proper girlfriend? Why mess around with this kind of shady stuff!"

Damn! Jason Ford slapped his forehead in frustration. "You don't actually think I was going to... you know... with your photos, do you?"

"I won't give you that chance," Little Smith replied proudly. "The rest are just food and scenery photos now."

Jason Ford looked at her speechlessly for a long time before finally saying, "You... really overthink things."

Am I really that desperate?

To be fair, Little Smith did have a decent figure, but she was more of a "Beethoven" type. As for her face... well, it wasn't that bad. As the saying goes, 'there are no ugly girls in youth,' so she could barely score a seventy.

If she were really ugly, the front desk wouldn't have hired her, right?

Jason Ford carried his suitcase into a cubicle, turned on Little Smith's phone camera, and set the phone on the toilet tank lid—her phone even had a little stand, making it easy to adjust the angle.

He hooked the suitcase handle over his right elbow, swiped open his old phone with his left hand, and tapped on a blank spot. "Let's go~"

The next moment, he was back on that stretch of Gobi Desert. Sure enough, the suitcase hanging from his elbow had come along too.

The sun still hadn't set. In this space, it seemed that once he left, time would stop as well.