Chapter 15: A Small Dilemma

“Mianbao…” Hu Qingyu looked at Mianbao in the distance, calling out softly.

Mianbao knelt on the ground, head bowed in silence.
Her once eye-catching bluish-white long hair had suddenly lost its luster, looking as dull as the dust on the ground.

Before Mianbao’s eyes were shattered houses and the long-dead, lifeless bodies of people.

Tears streamed from the corners of Mianbao’s eyes, leaving two wet tracks on her porcelain-white face.

“Miss… Mianbao, these people—”

“Seriously, why do you have to follow me too?” Mianbao pouted, looking unhappily at Hu Qingyu who was trailing slightly behind her.

“Grandma Kunta said that since they can’t drive directly to Lange Village, they can’t watch over you, so she asked me to follow you, Miss Mianbao. Besides, I also have the job of being Miss Mianbao’s guard,” Hu Qingyu said with a slight smile, shaking the sword in his hand, which was named “Frost Quench.”

“Tch.” Mianbao scoffed.
“You, my guard? You look so pale and skinny, you don’t look like a capable person at all.”

“I’m just average,” Hu Qingyu said, unconcerned by Mianbao’s underestimation of his abilities.

“Here.” Hu Qingyu took a few large strides, walking ahead of Mianbao, and held something out to her.

It was a necklace made from an elemental crystal.

“Happy birthday, Miss Mianbao.”

“Whoa!” Mianbao took the necklace and examined it closely: a strange pattern was meticulously carved onto the pentagonal elemental crystal, and the chain of the necklace was made of a very strong thread.

“Thank you,” Mianbao smiled at Hu Qingyu, then muttered, “Why is it a necklace…”

“What did you say, Miss Mianbao?” Hu Qingyu asked.

“I said, this necklace is so beautiful, where did you buy it, hahahaha?” Mianbao’s face stiffened in embarrassment, and she scratched her head.

Hu Qingyu explained, “I made it myself. I carved it according to the pattern on your back, Miss Mianbao.”

Mianbao remembered.
Last night before going to sleep, she had seen Hu Qingyu carving something with his “Frost Quench.”
Hu Qingyu was really skilled, to be able to use such a large sword on such a small elemental crystal.

‘Hmm, this carving skill is comparable to mine,’ Mianbao thought.

“Wait!” Mianbao felt something was strange.
“How did you carve the pattern on my back so clearly?”

“Uh…” Hu Qingyu’s expression became unnatural.
“Because I observed the pattern on your back before, Miss Mianbao…”

“Even so, it’s impossible to carve it so clearly!” Mianbao took a step forward, bringing herself closer to Hu Qingyu’s face to put more psychological pressure on him.
However, because Hu Qingyu was quite a bit taller than Mianbao, as she closed in on him, she could only tilt her head up to look at him, which reduced her intimidating presence.

“Actually, last night, while you were sleeping on your side, Miss Mianbao, I was looking at the pattern on your back while I carved it…”

‘What the hell, I was stared at by a guy for a whole night!?
No wonder I felt a cold draft on my back while I was sleeping last night.
Turns out it wasn’t a ghost, but a stinky fox~’

“Pervert,” Mianbao spat out the two words and turned her back to him.
“Well, seeing as it was for my gift, I’ll let you off the hook.”

Although Hu Qingyu didn’t know what “pervert” meant, he guessed it was something along the lines of “lecher” or “scoundrel.” He didn’t care about these things.

‘One who achieves great things doesn’t sweat the small stuff, after all.’

Hearing Mianbao say she would let him off, Hu Qingyu gave a faint smile behind her back.
‘Little girl…’

“Brother Fox, let’s get going. I’ll let you meet my mom and dad.” Mianbao cheerfully put on the necklace and started walking with big, childlike strides.

However, Hu Qingyu had only taken a few steps with her when he saw Mianbao lower her head and stop.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Mianbao smiled at Hu Qingyu and said, “It’s nothing,” then continued walking forward.
In that fleeting moment of Mianbao’s smile, Hu Qingyu saw a trace of helplessness that he couldn’t comprehend.

‘What’s… wrong with her?’

‘Am I really going to see Dad and Mom like this?’

Mianbao looked up at the sky, her eyes filled with layer upon layer of confusion, just like the overlapping clouds that obscured the sun in the sky.

To appear before them as an incredibly beautiful girl and say: “I’m your son.”

‘Like that?
Will they accept it?’

‘The son they raised for seventeen years suddenly became a daughter?’

In this world, there was still a custom of favoring sons over daughters.
If one could give birth to a boy, it was naturally better than having a girl.
So for a son to become a daughter, many families would probably find it difficult to accept for a while, especially since Mianbao considered her father to be a very old-fashioned person.

‘Maybe I should ask to borrow Hu Qingyu’s clothes?’ Mianbao thought, her sly eyes shifting to Hu Qingyu.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Hu Qingyu asked.
Mianbao sighed, and again said, “It’s nothing.”

Even if she wore men’s clothes, so what?
Her current appearance wouldn’t look like the old Mianbao even if she dressed as a man.
After all, before she was an unremarkable slice of bread, and now she was a delicious and eye-catching cream bun.
Unless her parents were blind, they would definitely recognize her at a glance.

“Forget it, let’s just go like this. I believe Dad and Mom will understand me. This is an uncontrollable factor,” Mianbao cheered herself up again.

Hu Qingyu noticed that this girl’s mental state was very strange, one moment dejected, the next happy.
It felt like her train of thought led to the endless sky…

‘But this is also quite cute, much better than those painted dolls in the palace.’

‘But we’re about to arrive at a village in another world.
I wonder what the difference is from my original world.’

For a moment, Hu Qingyu also became curious.

“【Light Chaser】is eleven kilometers above the target—”

“Estimated time of arrival is thirty minutes—”

“Approximate location of 【Vessel】 has been confirmed—”

“Preparing to accept mission—”