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Chapter 460. The First Encounter at the Claw Machine

"call……"

Stepping out of the conference room, the Miracle Master wandered aimlessly through the streets.

As dusk settles in the southern part of Haidu, neon lights replace the sunlight, gradually creeping up the street corners and alleyways.

This area is home to many dubious businesses, with arcades of all sizes crammed between buildings, their signs flashing a cheap and glaring light.

As she passed by one of the shops, she was drawn to the claw machine at the entrance.

The red and green fuselage stood out vividly in the night, and the glass was polished to a shine, reflecting her somewhat tired face.

Inside the machine, colorful lights circled and illuminated the dolls inside transparent spheres—the bear with its head tilted, the rabbit with its ears drooping, each one as if sealed inside a tiny, fragile dream.

There was no one around, only the low hum of the machine running.

A six-pointed star gently emerged from her pocket, hovering at her shoulder, radiating a silent, pale purple halo.

The girl in overalls squatted down, her line of sight level with the doll.

She gazed at the slightly憨厚 (simple and honest) smiling faces of the dolls inside the sphere, and the corners of her lips unconsciously curved into a smile.

"Speaking of which..."

Her voice was very soft:

"The first time I met the God of Miracles... was also in a claw machine."

The six-pointed star did not answer, but simply rotated slowly around her, its light soft, like a silent response.

Memories were pulled back to that summer.

The parents divorced, the mother left, and the father quickly started a new family.

When her new stepmother looked at her, it was as if there was a layer of ice in her eyes.

She gradually lost her place in the family, but fortunately, before her mother left, she left her a small house—the only place where she could catch her breath.

On a day off, she wore faded overalls and wandered aimlessly into the shopping street with her classmates.

The excitement belonged to others; she only felt a buzzing in her ears.

After walking for a long time, the two finally slipped into a noisy arcade.

The first floor was packed with all kinds of claw machines, with dazzling lights and loud music.

Fluffy rabbits, adorable bears, and trendy cartoon characters are all packed in transparent boxes, waiting to be taken away.

Her gaze swept over the lively dolls, but was drawn to an inconspicuous machine in the corner.

The machine didn't contain ordinary dolls, but rather transparent spherical capsules, each containing a palm-sized plush toy.

Her gaze slowly swept over the capsules—a snow-white rabbit, a fiery red fox, a tender yellow chick… and finally, it stopped on a capsule.

It was a purple six-pointed star doll.

The velvet surface isn't particularly refined; it's even somewhat rustic. The six points of the stars aren't perfectly symmetrical either.

But the moment I saw it, a strange, warm feeling welled up from the bottom of my heart, unfamiliar yet as if I had been waiting for a long time.

"Wow!"

She heard her own voice, filled with a joy she herself didn't even realize:
"That purple star is so pretty... I want it!"

The student next to me leaned closer to take a look and whispered:

"That star... isn't it a bit ugly? It looks so cheap. Look how cute the little fox next to it is, and that rabbit, so fluffy."

The little girl in overalls didn't look away.

She gazed at the purple star that glowed silently inside the capsule, shook her head, and said in an unusually firm voice:
No. I just think it's beautiful.

"Splash—"

A shiny game coin rolled out of the groove.

She gripped the cold metal handle, her palms slightly sweaty, held her breath, and carefully manipulated the joystick.

The silver metal claw moved shakily, aiming at the transparent capsule containing the purple star.

She wasn't optimistic about her skills, having tried to play claw machines many times before. Her claws were either weak and slipped at the last moment, or she couldn't aim properly and couldn't grab anything.

So today she bought a big bowl of game tokens, which she carried heavily in her arms, preparing for a long battle.

But this time, the waving claws were unusually steady.

It hovered precisely above the capsule, then fell straight down, its three outstretched claws firmly catching the round capsule.

"Click".

A slight mechanical sound rang out, the claws tightened, firmly gripping the capsule and smoothly moving it towards the exit.

"Splash—"

Another pleasant sound. The capsule fell into the retrieval slot and lay there quietly.

The girl, holding a bowl full of game coins, was stunned.

She stared blankly at the "star" that belonged to her in the retrieval opening, and it took her several seconds to react. She covered her mouth in disbelief, and her eyes instantly lit up with joy.

"They...they caught them?"

Her voice leaked out from between her fingers:
"I caught him on my first try!"

From then on, the purple velvet six-pointed star doll followed her home.

She placed it on her small bed, letting it sit right in the middle of a pile of plush toys.

She would bring out her playhouse set, with plastic dishes in a small plastic pot, and then seriously stir-fry them before feeding them one by one to the dolls sitting in a row.

Sometimes she would even put on little shows for them.

No matter how the story changes—whether it's a princess, a warrior, or a forest adventure—she can't help but show favoritism, making the six-pointed star doll the center of attention loved by all her companions, the unspoken little darling of the story.

Days flow by like water, one after another.

The girl suffers from severe congenital heart disease, and as she gets older, the pendulum in her body seems to be running slower and slower.

Chest tightness, coughing up blood, and stabbing pain in my left limb became frequent occurrences. Until one ordinary morning.

She finished her simple breakfast and had just stood up when the world suddenly tilted and turned upside down.

"boom!"

His body crashed heavily onto the cold tile floor.

Consciousness was like being immersed in deep water, quickly becoming blurred and sinking.

My vision was completely dark, and I didn't even have the strength to open my eyelids.

"save……"

The breathy sound was squeezed out of the throat, so light that it dissipated into the air and no one heard it.

The house was empty, and this disastrous fall should have gone unnoticed, sinking into silence.

until--

The purple six-pointed star lying quietly among the pile of plush toys on the bed suddenly burst forth with a dazzling purple light without warning.

"Om————"

A low humming sound, as if coming from a very deep place.

……

"Clap."

The operating room lights suddenly turned on, their cold white light engulfing everything.

The scalpel cuts through the skin and moves quickly and precisely between the flesh to suture.

Several instruments projected beams of light from different angles, and the air was filled with the chill of disinfectant and some kind of metal.

In a corner of the ward, the electrocardiogram monitor emitted a regular sound.

"Tap...tap...tap..."

But the rhythm of the red dot representing life jumping is becoming slower and longer, at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The attending physician stared at the screen for a long time, then shook his head slightly, his voice heavy with exhaustion:
"I'm afraid... there's no way."

The operating room was deathly silent.

Only the low hum of the instrument running, and that increasingly slow, increasingly weak sound—

"Ta...tat..."

"Tap—tap—"

"despair--------"

The red line left a long, straight trail on the screen.

Just as the red line, symbolizing life, was about to be completely flattened and plunge into eternal stillness—

A beam of warm purple light suddenly and silently seeped in from under the operating room door.

It overflowed the cold floor, climbed the edge of the instruments, and finally flowed quietly to the side of the operating table.

"despair……"

The electrocardiogram monitor emitted a faint, almost illusionary vibrato.

Then, amidst everyone's frozen gazes and almost halted breathing, the straight red line on the screen flickered upwards slightly.

"!"

A low gasp was heard, followed by incredulous whispers that quickly spread among the doctors and nurses:
"Just now...did you jump?"

"Is it an instrument malfunction? Or is there a data transmission error?"

"No...no! Look! It jumped again! The heart rate is returning to normal!"

"Blood pressure...blood pressure is rising too! Oh my god..."

"This...how is this possible?"

"A miracle...this is truly a medical miracle!"

On the hospital bed, the girl's pale eyelids trembled a few times before she slowly opened them.

Her gaze was initially somewhat unfocused, but slowly it gathered into a faint light.

All the medical staff were absorbed in this sudden resuscitation of life, and no one saw it—

A six-pointed star emitting a faint purple halo flew through the closed operating room door like a silent streak of light, hovering in front of the girl and looking at her at eye level.

In an instant, the girl's vision was enveloped in a deep and peaceful purple.

The entire noisy and tense operating room background seemed to recede into a distant and blurry backdrop.

The six-pointed star slowly rotated once in front of her, its soft light pulsating.

Then, a line of clear purple text appeared directly in her mind, carrying a calm and gentle power:

Hello, I am the God of Miracles.

Would you be willing to become my priest?

　[Q&A Session]

　　Q: According to the setting that priests are influenced by the gods and gradually become deformed, why didn't the Miracle Priest turn into a six-pointed star?
　　A: Because a miracle happened.

　　Q: Why didn't Jun Yunqi turn into an elephant?

　　A: Because the God of Wealth's representative and the God of Wealth himself have an employment relationship, and the God of Wealth has an employment relationship with all "believers".

　　Q: What is the difference between an employment relationship and a religious relationship?
　　A: Employment relationships require a labor contract, while religious relationships do not. Those with labor contracts are protected from becoming distorted.

　　Q: Why is the God of Miracles, a true god, inside the transparent capsule of a claw machine?
　　A: There's still a long story ahead, we'll talk about it in the next chapter.

　　(End of this chapter)