“Xiaoyan-jie.”
“Hey, Boss Xiaoyan!”
Chen Xiaoyan followed Chongchong as they made their way through the crowd toward the outside of the greenhouse.
On the way, many players who had once run dungeons with her greeted her warmly.
“Boss, have some ice-cold Coke.” A girl in a Zhenwu Uniform held out a bottle of that certain cola to Chen Xiaoyan.
“You are… little junior sister?” Chen Xiaoyan looked at the lively girl in front of her. She didn’t recognize her at first, but then suddenly remembered.
“Hehe, it’s me!”
At the sound, Chongchong stopped and began sizing up the Zhenwu little junior sister.
Chen Xiaoyan took the Coke but didn’t open it right away. Instead, she smiled and said, “Aren’t you going to check on the Guild Leader? What are you doing here?”
The Zhenwu little junior sister, Yutian, was now one of Mu Qingxue’s right and left hands, helping to handle guild matters.
“Got to fill up before anything else, the Guild Leader isn’t going anywhere anyway.”
Chen Xiaoyan glanced at her stomach and joked, “Oh, didn’t have breakfast?”
“Yeah, I flew in early this morning. My stomach’s been protesting, and look at all this cake—eat as much as you want!”
With that, the Zhenwu little junior sister picked up a small plate, used a steel fork to stab a piece of cake, and popped it in her mouth, face full of bliss.
She couldn’t help but make a satisfied sound, “Mmm~”
Seeing this girl eat so happily, Chen Xiaoyan started to feel hungry herself.
She hadn’t eaten breakfast today either.
“Xiaoyan-jie,” Chongchong called to Chen Xiaoyan at this point, seeming to urge her along.
“Coming.” Chen Xiaoyan picked up a plate of cake and grabbed a fork, catching up with Chongchong.
Chongchong saw that Chen Xiaoyan was carrying a plate in one hand and a Coke in the other, so she walked over and took the plate from her.
As they walked outside, she asked, “Didn’t eat breakfast, did you?”
“No, I was in too much of a hurry.” Chen Xiaoyan twisted off the Coke cap and took a small sip.
“Who’s fault is that, staying up so late?”
“You didn’t stay up?”
“Because you’re stingy, that’s why I ended up staying up!”
“How am I stingy?”
“You won’t send me pictures!”
“Why would you stay up just because I won’t send you pictures?”
“I couldn’t sleep thinking about it… uh.” As soon as she said it, Chongchong realized she’d fallen into a trap.
“Pfft…” Chen Xiaoyan covered her mouth, unable to hold back a laugh.
“Xiaoyan-jie, you wicked woman!”
Chongchong was furious, baring her teeth and glaring fiercely at her, but realizing this wasn’t a game, she held back and just glared.
“It was you who said it, why am I the bad one?” Chen Xiaoyan’s lips curled up into a mischievous smile.
“You set me up!”
“Nope, if you didn’t want to say it, there was nothing I could do. The fact you said it means you wanted to.”
“What twisted logic!”
Chongchong turned her head and stabbed at the cake with her fork, looking annoyed.
“Hey, don’t take it out on my breakfast,” Chen Xiaoyan protested as she saw Chongchong attacking the cake, trying to snatch it back.
But Chongchong didn’t give her a chance, immediately running out of the greenhouse.
As she ran, she forked another piece of cake and, triumphantly, showed off to Chen Xiaoyan.
Demonstrating how to open her abyssal maw, she gobbled up the cake in one bite.
“Tastes amazing. Too bad someone won’t get to eat it~”
“That’s my breakfast. If you want some, go get your own!” Chen Xiaoyan chased after her.
“Nope, Xiaoyan-jie’s tastes better.”
“………”
Just as the two were acting out ‘you are the wind, I am the sand’, a group of policemen in uniform walked into the greenhouse from outside.
Led in by Staff, they came in specifically to escape the heat.
“Officers, please come in.”
Lifting the curtain, the greenhouse entrance was a passageway made of air bags, with cold air swirling through, blowing chaotically.
The temperature drop was instantly noticeable.
“Chongchong, stop eating and give me back my cake.”
“Nyah nyah nyah~”
As Chongchong put the last piece of cake into her mouth, Chen Xiaoyan looked as devastated as if she’d lost her parents.
Seeing her stop, Chongchong looked back in confusion, a bit worried inside.
Had she gone too far and made Xiaoyan-jie angry?
“Watch where you’re going, silly bug!” Chen Xiaoyan suddenly shouted.
Chongchong had meant to turn her head and look, but the words ‘silly bug’ set her off.
“You’re the silly one, your whole family is—”
Bang!
She collided solidly with the just-arrived Staff.
“Ow!”
Since the ground was grassy, she wasn’t really hurt, but the steel fork from the plate poked her finger.
Yet, for some reason, she didn’t notice she’d been injured.
“You okay, Chongchong?” Chen Xiaoyan rushed over and helped her up.
Seeing Chen Xiaoyan’s worried look, Chongchong felt happy inside.
But suddenly, inspiration struck, and she instantly looked teary-eyed and pitifully up at Chen Xiaoyan: “Xiaoyan-jie, it hurts~”
Chen Xiaoyan looked at her right thumb and hurriedly pulled it closer for a careful look.
“Told you to watch where you’re going, but you don’t listen.”
The thumb had a small poke from the steel fork—not a big wound, just needed a Band-Aid.
Seeing this, Chen Xiaoyan breathed a sigh of relief.
“Huh?” Chongchong noticed the blood on her right thumb and was puzzled.
How did I get hurt?
Why didn’t it hurt?
“What do you mean ‘huh’? Be more careful next time. I’ll go ask Qiuxue if she has a Band-Aid.”
Staff: Look at me!
Chen Xiaoyan had just gotten up and taken two steps.
Chongchong called out to her,
“Xiaoyan-jie, it’s fine. Seems like it’s not bleeding anymore.”
Chen Xiaoyan turned back with a giant question mark on her face.
She squatted down, pulled over Chongchong’s right hand, and was instantly dumbfounded.
Just half a minute ago, blood had been streaming from the cut—now it had already scabbed over.
What?
Am I dreaming?
Or did I just time travel?
How could the wound scab over so quickly?
“A while ago I cut my hand chopping veggies, and it healed up real fast too. Xiaoyan-jie, do I have some kind of Special Ability?” Seeing the shock on Chen Xiaoyan’s face, Chongchong asked.
Chongchong had told her about this before, but she hadn’t paid any attention then.
But now, with the evidence right in front of her, Chen Xiaoyan had to believe Chongchong wasn’t like a normal person.
Immortal realm, ah, what exactly are you?
“What happened, brother?” A policeman helped up the Staff who’d fallen.
“Oww oww oww,” Staff groaned, clutching his chest.
Chen Xiaoyan glanced over, her face serious as she asked Chongchong, “How did you knock him down like that?”
“How should I know?” Chongchong looked over, dazed, and shook her head.
“Anywhere else hurt besides your right hand?”
“Nope.”
“Then how did he…”
A grown man and a delicate-looking girl had collided, yet it was the man who seemed half-dead from the impact.
And the girl was perfectly fine.
What kind of logic is this?
The two of them watched as the policeman helped the barely conscious Staff to his feet, tension in their hearts.
“We shouldn’t be held criminally responsible for this, right?”
No time to think about that now—they had to help first.
“Hurry and check on him. If something happens, you’ll be in trouble.”
“Okay, okay!”
Chongchong hurriedly got up and followed Chen Xiaoyan over.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was running too fast and wasn’t looking.” Chongchong kept apologizing.
“Brother Policeman, how is he? Does he need to go to the hospital?” Chen Xiaoyan asked.