After a full day of classes, Su Xing went alone to the storage room in the teaching building’s basement.
“Tap, tap, tap…”
She sharply heard footsteps following her.
Su Xing calmly opened the storage room door with her key and walked inside.
The people outside, seeing that the lights inside remained off, exchanged glances.
One of them tiptoed in.
As soon as he entered, someone from behind locked him in a chokehold, “Ow, ow! Su Xing, don’t hit! It’s me!”
Su Xing naturally recognized Kaka’s voice, so she released him and stepped out from behind the door.
Quinn and Evangel also came in, joining Kaka to face Su Xing’s interrogation.
“Why are you three following me?”
Kaka replied self-righteously, “We’re companions! You’re here for punishment, so of course we’d follow!”
Su Xing countered, “This isn’t punishment; at most, it’s just paying a debt.”
She then sighed almost imperceptibly, before flashing her mischievous smile again, “Since you’re all here, I can’t very well make you leave. Help me clean! The four of us will definitely get things done twice as fast!”
Evangel, seeing her like this, immediately scoffed, “I told you we shouldn’t come. Aren’t you just pure free labor for her?”
Su Xing deliberately smirked, “Once you’re in my fox den, don’t even think about leaving!”
She turned on the light and generally observed the room’s condition.
How to put it?
It was simply a mess.
Boxes of all sizes were scattered haphazardly, covered in thick dust.
Spiderwebs covered the corners of the room; it was clear no one had cleaned it in ages.
Evangel grimaced, covering his nose and mouth, once again regretting his moment of weakness in following them.
What sins had he committed to have to clean up after this money-grubbing fiend?
Su Xing was also a bit overwhelmed.
She quickly pulled out a handkerchief to cover her nose and mouth, then produced three more for Kaka and the others, “Let’s just take inventory of everything today so nothing gets messed up. We’ll come back tomorrow to clean.”
“Messy?”
Evangel sneered irritably, “Can this room possibly get any messier?”
Su Xing shrugged and started counting the boxes.
Kaka and the others, meanwhile, were taking inventory of other items.
Su Xing and her companions were quite normal, but when it came to Kaka, things clearly took a different turn.
“Wow! This trophy is so interesting!”
“Wow! This notice is so fun!”
“Wow! This pen is so cool!”
This left Su Xing and the other two speechless. Su Xing couldn’t help but ask, “Did your family starve you or something? Why are you so amazed to see these things?”
Kaka smiled shyly, “I really haven’t seen these things before. Don’t you think the dust on them is interesting?”
No, no, I don’t.
Su Xing felt she couldn’t communicate with Kaka, so she gave up and focused on counting her boxes.
Kaka suddenly came running over with a painting, “Look everyone! This painting is so interesting! Just looking at it makes me so happy!”
Su Xing was almost developing PTSD from his constant “so interesting,” but knowing that if she didn’t respond now, Kaka would probably pester her endlessly, she reluctantly turned to look.
The sight truly stunned her, because she indeed felt a genuine sense of joy, as if she had experienced something incredibly happy.
Quinn exclaimed in surprise, “What’s going on? I feel happy too! Does this painting have some magic?”
Su Xing suddenly remembered something, quickly turning her head, and indeed saw that even the usually scowling Evangel had a smile on his lips, clearly affected by the painting.
This was an oil painting, with extremely vibrant, bright colors.
All the figures in it were smiling broadly. But a very strange thing was that these people didn’t seem to be in the same story; each person had their own story, scattered about, unconnected to each other.
Su Xing frowned, feeling that something was wrong with this painting.
Would a painting that could make people feel happy truly be thrown into a storage room?
Just then, Kaka casually touched the painting.
The next second, the entire painting suddenly emitted a dazzling white light, and Kaka was instantly sucked inside.
***
“Kaka!”
Su Xing’s heart raced.
She grabbed Kaka’s hand, wanting to pull him out.
However, the suction was far greater than she imagined, and Su Xing was also pulled in.
Before being sucked in, she felt another hand grasp her.
Su Xing’s heart sank, her last thought being that they were probably all doomed this time.
“Ugh, where is this?”
Su Xing woke from unconsciousness to find herself standing in a world of ice and snow.
This place looked somewhat familiar!
Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand.
The next second, Kaka’s voice rang out, “Wow! We’ve all entered Spirit Realm Academy! We’re all amazing!”
These words also sounded terribly familiar.
Su Xing quickly remembered that Kaka had said this after they solved the Keno problem and received Winx’s enrollment invitation.
If she remembered correctly, spinning in circles should come next.
Sure enough, the next second, Kaka pulled Su Xing and the other two into a spin.
Su Xing felt inexplicably strange now.
She wasn’t the type to be confused; if she’d experienced something, she’d experienced it.
She wouldn’t feel like these recent events hadn’t happened just because time seemed to have rewound.
But very strangely, a bizarre sense of happiness surged within Su Xing.
This happiness was exactly the same as the joy she felt while spinning in the snow back then, giving her a sense of dislocated deja vu.
Driven by this joyful emotion, Su Xing didn’t shake off Kaka’s hand but spun along with them.
Soon after the spinning stopped, Kaka and the others suddenly froze, and the surrounding world of ice and snow vanished.
Su Xing watched as the ice and snow melted, and a strange small courtyard appeared before her.
She was standing inside the courtyard, facing its main gate.
Su Xing looked at her surroundings.
Behind her was a simple house.
“Is this a world within a painting?” she thought, then pushed the door open and stepped out.
As soon as she stepped out, Su Xing was immediately bewildered by the festive atmosphere outside the door.
On this one street alone, there were three weddings.
Two brides, wearing different styles of wedding gowns, shyly waited for their grooms at their doors, while another groom was adjusting his clothes.
None of the three looked at each other, as if they couldn’t see the others.
Su Xing vaguely understood something and stood still, continuing to watch.
Soon, two grooms appeared out of thin air in the distance.
One rode a flying horse, the other drove a Beetle car.
As for the sole male among the three, he mounted a small donkey that had suddenly appeared before him.
While observing the situation, Su Xing summoned Feng Jun.
Who knew what might happen in this strange place?
It was best to be prepared.
The next second, the three suddenly appearing figures vanished, and the three originally present figures changed into different forms.
The first bride lay in bed, her face pale, sweating profusely.
A woman beside her, holding a newborn baby, congratulated her, “The child is out! It’s a big, fat boy!”
The second woman’s situation was even more absurd; she was cheerfully jumping for joy, “Divorced! I’m finally free from that damn drunkard!”
And the groom was also cheering, holding a piece of paper in his hand, “I’ve become a Federal Senator! I’m finally going to achieve great things!”
Feng Jun, unaware of the cause and effect, saw this bizarre scene right after appearing, and its fur bristled.
It couldn’t speak now, only convey its meaning to Su Xing through its actions.
Su Xing told it about the previous events and then voiced her guess, “We must have entered the painting. Everyone in that painting was smiling, and it’s the same here.”
Feng Jun shivered, its ears flattening like an airplane.
Su Xing remembered something, her expression suddenly turning grim, “Speaking of which, we were sucked into the painting. So, it’s hard to guarantee these people are also…”
After watching them go through another scenario, Su Xing finally couldn’t help it and lifted her foot, preparing to move forward.
Feng Jun whimpered. Su Xing explained, “Let’s see if they can see us. If they can, it’s best to communicate and figure out what kind of place this is.”
Feng Jun proactively jumped down, gracefully walked ahead of her, and looked at her with glistening fox eyes, appearing docile and sweet.
“Huh?”
Su Xing paused, not understanding its meaning.
Feng Jun blinked its eyes, whimpering with its head held high.
Su Xing vaguely understood its intention, “Are you saying you want to test them?”
Seeing Feng Jun nod, Su Xing stroked her chin.
That was a good idea.
A fox was a cute little animal, and even if something went wrong, it wouldn’t arouse suspicion from the other party.
Just as she was about to nod, she keenly noticed a hint of grievance in Feng Jun’s dark fox eyes.
Seeing Su Xing look over, it let out a low rumble in its throat, and its ears drooped.
Feng Jun had always acted tsundere and disdainful towards her.
This was the first time it had shown such overt grievance in front of her.
Su Xing wasn’t slow; in fact, she was very perceptive and quickly understood what Feng Jun was feeling aggrieved about.
“Are you unhappy because I overlooked your usefulness?”
Feng Jun’s large tail wagged back and forth with a thwack, clearly indicating its displeasure.
After Su Xing guessed the reason, it no longer maintained that aggrieved posture, but instead, very tsundere-like, turned its little head to the side, not looking at Su Xing.
Su Xing knew she had guessed correctly.
She crouched down, her eyes level with the little fox, and earnestly apologized, “I’m sorry. I’ve always been alone, and when something happens, I don’t remember that I now have companions. Barring any surprises, we’ll be acting together in the future, so I’ll be mindful from now on. So, are you willing to forgive me now and help me check out the situation?”
Feng Jun then tsundere-like turned its head back to glance at her, and then walked cat-like onto the street.
Su Xing watched its retreating figure, secretly reminding herself to remember this well. She wasn’t alone anymore.
However, what Su Xing didn’t know was that after Feng Jun turned its back, its fox eyes were full of cunning.
Where was even a hint of the grievance it had just shown?
It was a fox, after all. It knew best how to achieve its goals through human emotions.
Even an arrogant fox was no exception.