The evening had finally arrived…
“Where’s Li Na? She shouldn’t have waited too long, right?”
The two sisters eagerly scanned around the school gate, searching for any sign of Dai Lina.
They had assumed they were already late and felt a slight pang of guilt. But to their surprise, they couldn’t spot Dai Lina anywhere, which only deepened their confusion.
“How strange, where is she?”
“I’m right here.”
Just as the sisters continued their search, puzzled, a familiar yet slightly playful voice rang out. Following the sound, they saw Dai Lina waving enthusiastically at them, her face beaming with a smile.
“I’ve been here for a while already, you just didn’t notice me.”
At that moment, she wore androgynous clothes with a duckbill cap on her head, not to mention a pair of fake glasses.
It was only natural that the sisters didn’t recognize her at first; after all, she looked completely different from the impression they had of her.
When they finally confirmed it was indeed Dai Lina, their expressions were stunned!
“Dai Lina?! I didn’t recognize you at all! Hope you weren’t waiting too long?”
“Nope, I just got here myself, so I only waited a little bit.”
She had only arrived a few minutes before them. But to test out her disguise, she hadn’t greeted Luna and the others immediately.
She had even put on makeup specifically for going out—not the kind that makes you prettier, but another kind…
“Eh! Li Na, you…”
As the sisters got closer, they were even more shocked to discover that under the duckbill cap, Dai Lina’s face was dotted with freckles!
“So you usually cover your freckles up, huh, Li Na…”
Lusina was quite surprised to see this; she hadn’t expected that Dai Lina normally hid her freckles.
But she had guessed wrong.
“Actually, it’s the opposite,” Dai Lina explained. “I put these freckles on myself this time because I didn’t want to be recognized at a glance.”
In fact, her whole outfit today was meant to prevent people from recognizing her.
Judging from the sisters’ reactions, it seemed her disguise was working quite well.
“Why do you look so strange today? Freckles and glasses—it’s really odd,” Xiao Xi said, curious about her look, as if she was trying to hide from someone.
Hearing this, Dai Lina hurriedly explained, “It’s nothing really. I just wanted to try out this kind of ‘ugly’ makeup style, that’s all—no special reason.”
“Oh, that makes sense…”
After hearing her explanation, the sisters looked enlightened. They had heard of such a style before, but since they weren’t into makeup themselves, they didn’t know much about it.
“What do you think? If this is my true appearance, would you still want to be my friends?”
Dai Lina teased, watching their surprised faces.
Xiao Xi responded immediately, “Of course! We never judge people by looks, right, Xiao Lu?”
“That’s right, sister. Besides, this look doesn’t hide your beauty, Li Na.”
Though the sisters felt Dai Lina seemed like a different person, once they knew it was really her, they still thought her disguise had a unique charm.
Hearing their compliments, for some reason, Dai Lina felt much more at ease…
“Well then, let’s get going.”
She glanced at the time on her phone: 6 PM already. Their plan was to enter by 8 PM, so they decided to spend the next hour wandering outside.
They took a taxi and first arrived at the food street near the amusement park, intending to stroll around a bit.
They planned to skip dinner tonight, so they would eat snacks while walking.
This time, her sister had lifted the restrictions on her, so she could eat freely and heartily!
Of course, she hadn’t forgotten Eliza—whenever her sister and Dai Lina weren’t looking, she would quickly sneak some tasty treats to her.
So far, no one had noticed.
Honestly, this sneaky feeling was really exciting!
Along the way, they bought many snacks: octopus balls, shaobing, juandengfen, and so on.
Of course, juandengfen wasn’t something Eliza could eat…
After wandering through the food street, it was just about 8 PM. They left and headed to the amusement park entrance.
After verifying their tickets on their phones, they smoothly entered the festival grounds.
Once inside, the scene was dazzling! Everywhere was decorated with colorful lanterns and strings of lights, filled with festive cheer.
On both sides of the street, small stalls bustled with vendors selling all kinds of goods—from food to toys, everything was available.
Looking up, multi-colored lanterns and lights hung high, transforming the entire park into a magical wonderland.
Occasionally, fireworks exploded in the night sky, blooming like beautiful flowers, drawing the attention and admiration of visitors.
Due to the special nature of the celebration, large rides like roller coasters were closed, but that didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm.
The sisters stood at the entrance, overwhelmed by the sea of shops and the crowds of visitors.
“So, what should we do first?”
The younger sister blinked excitedly at the two of them.
“Don’t know. Let’s just wander around first and digest the food we ate.”
Dai Lina agreed with Xiao Xi, so the three strolled down the bustling street.
The festival was lively indeed. There were games, food, drinks—everything one could want.
Along the way, many cosplay boys and girls posed for photos, their costumes varied, like characters straight out of anime, attracting plenty of curious onlookers.
Many couples also chose today for their dates, enjoying the rare romance and sweetness.
The three excitedly passed each shop, picking out their favorite items.
They bought many things—cute plush toys, exquisite accessories, and delicious snacks.
They also played many small amusement games, stopping to take pictures wherever they liked, soaking in the joy of the night.
But when it came to photos, it was almost always just the younger sister and I taking selfies; Dai Lina never took photos with anyone or even with the scenery, always the one behind the camera.
My sister and I wondered why she never wanted to take pictures, but we let it be…
***
“Hey kid, why’s your aim so bad with the gun?”
Eliza teased me, watching my poor shooting.
“…” I had no words to respond, I was just a little away from success!
Right now, we were at a balloon-popping shooting stall. The goal was to pop all 40 balloons to win the grand prize.
Both Dai Lina and I wanted to try, so each of us bought one chance. The rule was 40 bullets per person, and all had to hit to win.
“No way, I definitely aimed before shooting.”
I sighed looking at the 6 balloons left on the red cloth. So close to winning the prize!
“Maybe the gun’s broken…” I whispered doubtfully.
“Little miss, don’t say that. The guns I provide have no problems.”
The owner overheard me and sternly told me this, making me freeze awkwardly.
Oh no! The owner heard me say that!
“Hey, Li Na, why don’t you show us what you got?”
In desperation, I gave the air gun to Dai Lina, who knew firearms best.
She should be able to win, right?
“Then I won’t hold back.”
Dai Lina took the air gun, reloaded it. Once the owner placed the balloons, she aimed and decisively pulled the trigger!
The first bullet hit a balloon, but she didn’t relax and quickly cocked the gun again, firing a second shot.
She repeated this steadily, each shot popping balloons one after another.
We watched nervously while she was calm and confident. So far, she’d popped 30 balloons; only 10 left to win the prize.
Finally, after the last shot, all balloons on the red cloth were popped. Dai Lina set the gun down and looked at us.
“How’s my marksmanship?”
“Congratulations, miss, here’s your grand prize!”
The owner handed her a huge prize whale plush—the grand prize they had been aiming for.
Looks like the gun really wasn’t broken…
I thought to myself, realizing I had wrongly doubted the owner.
Leaving that stall, we continued wandering the festival streets.
“Hey, sister, isn’t that the fried chicken shop we went to before?”
Luna spotted the eye-catching sign of the Xiang Shili Fried Chicken Shop and was surprised to see it here again.
Lusina followed her sister’s gaze and indeed saw the sign.
“Looks like it.”
“Let’s get another order, sister. Their fried chicken is really delicious!”
Lusina happily accepted her sister’s suggestion.
“Alright then.”
So they headed toward Xia Xia’s shop.
***
“Here’s your order, please take it…”
After sending off another customer, I felt incredibly happy. Today I had earned a large sum of money.
After subtracting venue and ingredient costs, my profits exceeded two weeks’ worth of sales, enough so I could skip setting up stalls outside for two weeks!
I couldn’t help but think my luck was amazing. Last week, I managed to secure a stall at the amusement park, and my luck paid off—I got a spot for the festival.
As long as I paid 15% of my income to the organizers, the rest was mine to keep.
Though it felt like a small cut, it was enough.
For this festival, I prepared twice the usual amount of ingredients. I was confident my cooking skills would sell out all the fried chicken!
As for the mission from that guy Hamos… I was completely ignoring it. I just wanted to live peacefully here.
I certainly didn’t expect to run into Selina here while running my stall.
“Here’s your meal, please take it.”
Just as I handed off another order, a familiar yet strange voice spoke right in front of me.
“Um…”
I looked up and saw the silver-haired girl and her sister again. They had appeared before, now standing right in front of me once more.
“So beautiful…”
I couldn’t help but praise her beauty aloud, feeling like I could never get tired of looking at her.
If I could see beautiful girls every day, I’d happily be a fried chicken shop owner for life!
“What are you saying, boss?”
Luna’s voice snapped me back to reality, and I realized I had lost my composure.
“Sorry, nothing. What can I get for you beautiful ladies?”
I controlled myself and asked politely.
“We’d like three orders of the signature fried chicken. Dai Lina wants to try it too—it’s really good.”
“I want to try some too.”
“Alright, please wait a moment.”
I started battering and frying three chickens again, glancing over at them from time to time.
I couldn’t help but sneak a few more looks.
But while watching the two sisters, I also kept stealing glances at the girl wearing the duckbill cap.
There was something strange about her—strange in every sense. It felt like she was deliberately hiding herself.
And inside her… why did I keep sensing the aura of the Demon Realm?
I was far more sensitive than others to such things, able to detect even the slightest traces of magical energy.
So I kept glancing her way.
“By the way, Dai Lina, you’re really good with guns. Every shot hit a balloon, and you look so natural doing it.”
“That’s obvious. If I couldn’t hit, why would I use a gun in battle?”
“Heh, true…”
Guns…
I had caught everything they said. Suddenly, a spark of insight flashed in my mind!
Wait—!
Uses guns.
Short hair.
And that faint but unmistakable aura of the Demon Realm.
Putting those things together…
No way…
That thought flickered through my mind—
Eh—?!