Over the next few days, Qiu Qiqian’s life became almost… stable?
Every morning, she woke up to make breakfast for Li Meng.
Afterward, she went to the Containment Room at the Association Sub-Base to undergo investigations, questioning, and testing by the analysts.
Lunch was usually at the cafeteria.
In the evening, she went out with Li Meng to resolve Guiyi incidents, taking the opportunity to sneak a few Wart Crystals.
However, Li Meng only allowed her to devour a few from the Baoshou or Hidden Hunter classes.
After all, the Association’s equipment still required Wart Crystals for power.
After dealing with the Guiyi, she returned home to prepare dinner for Li Meng.
Perhaps it was because Li Meng had not seen someone cook in a long time, or maybe she simply enjoyed the domestic atmosphere, but every time Qiu Qiqian tied back her hair to cook, Li Meng loved to lean against the doorway and watch.
Even when Qiu Qiqian told her to go away and stop interfering in a half-reproachful tone, Li Meng would promise to leave, only to return a short while later.
This life between one person and one ghost seemed remarkably… cozy.
Then, on the morning of their seventh day living together, Qiu Qiqian was in the kitchen preparing breakfast as usual.
The television in the living room was playing a morning anime—one Li Meng had apparently watched since she was little—called something like… Sad Kitty and White Doggy.
‘How can this girl like a cartoon that is so clearly made for toddlers?’ Qiu Qiqian wondered to herself while keeping an eye on the frying eggs.
She failed to notice a grey figure quietly approaching from behind.
Mmu.
Accompanied by a nearly imperceptible sound effect, Qiu Qiqian suddenly felt two soft, elastic spheres press against her back.
Her entire body involuntarily arched forward.
Immediately after, a pair of slender, pale hands wrapped around her waist.
They did not seem to possess much strength, yet Qiu Qiqian found them difficult to break free from.
“Hehe~ I caught you, Xiao Qian!”
Li Meng peeked her head over Qiu Qiqian’s right shoulder, looking at the eggs in the pan with the curiosity of a kitten.
“What are we having for breakfast today?”
“What else could we have for breakfast? Fried eggs, some fried ham, and a few slices of toast. There is still milk in the fridge, which can be taken out and heated up,” Qiu Qiqian explained as calmly as possible, despite the persistent softness against her back.
“Mmm… okay then.”
“Also… why did you suddenly hug me? Let go quickly, or the eggs will burn.”
“I’m just building our relationship, Xiao Qian. Besides, you feel quite comfortable to hold… so cool and refreshing.”
As she spoke, Li Meng gave Qiu Qiqian’s waist a gentle squeeze.
“Ugh… I will take that as a compliment. But if you keep hugging me, there will be no breakfast for you today.”
“Eh? Fine, I’ll go wait in the living room.”
Li Meng reluctantly let go and slowly walked toward the door.
Qiu Qiqian glanced at her, noticing she had not changed yet.
She was only wearing a slightly loose set of white pajamas.
‘No wonder it felt so obvious when she pressed against me… Can’t this girl be more careful? Even if I am a woman now, you should still pay attention, hey!’
Qiu Qiqian complained internally for a few moments before flipping the eggs.
Looking at things now… she was basically this girl’s nanny.
But… would a nanny be this close?
***
“Oh, right, Xiao Qian. I have something to tell you today.”
While they were eating, Li Meng, who had been focused on the television, suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Qiu Qiqian.
“What? Are you going to give me another test paper today?”
“No~ It’s because you have behaved well these past few days. The analysts discussed it and decided to temporarily cancel your tests for today. So… you don’t have to go to the Containment Room this morning!”
“Mmm… that’s pretty good.”
Qiu Qiqian continued eating her breakfast, her tone flat.
“Your reaction is so cold, Xiao Qian.”
“Well… maybe it’s because I can’t think of anywhere to go on a day off. Besides, I am a Guiyi. Are you sure you want to take a ghost out for fun?”
“But when you materialize, don’t you look just like a normal person? You have color in your face, delicate skin, and you’re very pretty.”
“Cough, that is not the issue. Think about it. Even if I materialize, if we go to a public place, people will still notice something is off.”
Li Meng thought about it.
Indeed, even if Qiu Qiqian looked normal after materializing, people would still sense something abnormal in certain situations.
The most obvious anomaly was her body temperature.
Qiu Qiqian’s temperature was identical to that of a corpse.
If Li Meng herself did not have a high-quality constitution due to her Nether Body, she might have felt uncomfortable when touching her.
Furthermore, as a Guiyi, Qiu Qiqian could not suppress the emission of her Nether Breath.
If she stayed in one place for too long, the continuous emission of Nether Breath could easily affect ordinary people.
“Mmm… in that case… I can take you to a certain place!”
“?”
***
“Xiao Qian, hurry, hurry! Go in through here.”
On the outskirts of an Abandoned Zone, Li Meng stood next to a gap in a wire fence, pointing the way in for Qiu Qiqian.
“I’m saying… why can’t we go through the main gate?”
Qiu Qiqian complained.
Meanwhile, Li Meng had already acted as the vanguard, bending down to crawl through the gap.
“This is an abandoned park. The main gate was locked long ago. This is the only entrance I know… Mmf… it seems a bit harder to get through. Did I gain weight recently?”
Qiu Qiqian looked at Li Meng’s lower half, which was stuck and swaying back and forth, and the occasional glimpse of her panties.
Her face instantly flushed red, and she quickly turned away.
“Cough… I said, I could just return inside your body and come back out once you’ve crossed.”
“Mmm… where’s the fun in that? You should experience it too, Xiao Qian! Heave-ho! I finally made it.”
Qiu Qiqian rolled her eyes and sighed helplessly.
In the end, she did not follow Li Meng’s example by crawling through the gap.
Instead, she switched to her spirit form, passed right through, and then switched back to her physical form to follow Li Meng.
The Abandoned Zone was overgrown with weeds.
As far as the eye could see, there were waist-high bushes.
Forcing one’s way through caused nameless seeds to stick to their clothes.
Next to the pebble path in the park were several statues that looked like they were meant to attract children.
However, because so much time had passed, the stone statues were weathered, and the paint had mostly peeled off, making them look somewhat… eerie.
A few steps further was a pond.
It had not been cleaned in a long time, and the surface was covered in duckweed.
Water spiders skipped across the top.
However, upon closer inspection, there were quite a few fish in the water.
It didn’t look too bad.
“I’m asking you, why did you bring me here?” Qiu Qiqian looked at the overgrown park, unable to understand Li Meng’s goal.
‘Is she going to take me on a wilderness survival trip? But a Guiyi doesn’t need to survive.’
“Hehe~ That’s because… I want to show you something quite incredible!”
With that, Li Meng brushed aside a cluster of bushes near the pond.
After walking a few more steps, she led Qiu Qiqian to a shaded spot.
There stood a small shed built from branches, wooden sticks, plastic, and cloth.
The shed was backed against a large tree.
The roof was made of plastic film and waste fabric, while the external frame was a combination of wooden sticks and small steel pipes.
Inside the shed, there was even a stone bench and a small bed…
‘Did this girl really bring me here for wilderness survival?’
Li Meng said nothing more.
She lowered her head and crawled into the cramped shed, sitting on the old-looking bed.
She patted the empty space beside her, signaling for Qiu Qiqian to sit down as well.
After Qiu Qiqian sat, Li Meng gave her a gentle smile.
She looked out at the sky beyond the shed and began to reminisce.
“Because the Association discovered my potential when I was young, my training began when I was 9 years old. At that time… Operation Cradle Snuff had ended only a few years prior. I couldn’t accept the fact that my parents were gone, so my state of mind wasn’t very good.”
“Even though the Association gave me enough time for rest and entertainment… I was a child. When children encounter things they don’t like, they want to run away. Run to a place… where they think they won’t be found.”
“So… this is where you ran to?” Qiu Qiqian looked at the corner of the small shed.
Although there were inevitably some small insects, there were no spiderwebs.
It seemed the girl still visited occasionally.
“Mmm…”
Li Meng nodded slightly.
“So… when I was 10, I skipped training once and ran away from the Association Sub-Base. I wanted to go somewhere they wouldn’t find me. I wanted to go somewhere… where I could be alone and quiet.”
“I didn’t go to a mall or a park because I knew if I went to a public place, the Association people would use surveillance to find me exactly. So… after thinking it over, my younger self came here.”
“Was there no security in this place?”
“Ah, there used to be security~ But… because a Guiyi appeared in this Abandoned Zone and scared people, no one dared to apply for the job afterward.”
“And… the Guiyi?”
“I eliminated it.”
Li Meng blinked at Qiu Qiqian, looking like a child waiting for praise.
Qiu Qiqian looked at her and sighed helplessly before offering praise in a slightly monotonous tone.
“Wow~ So impressive.”
“Hehe… actually, it was mostly because those Guiyi weren’t very high-tier. In terms of strength, they were probably about the same as you were at the very beginning.”
“I said, do you have to use me as a comparison?”
Qiu Qiqian turned, looking at Li Meng with a slightly dissatisfied gaze.
“Ah, sorry, sorry! It’s just that you come to mind so easily, so I compared you subconsciously~”
“Phew… forget it. What happened next?”
“Later… I would still come here whenever I could. I built this little shed with my own hands to serve as my… well… Secret Base.”
‘A Secret Base? That is definitely something a child would do.’
Qiu Qiqian smiled knowingly.
She curled her legs and buried her head in her arms, continuing to listen to the story of Li Meng’s past.
“Whenever I had free time, I would bring my dolls from home and direct little plays on that stone table. Looking back now, the memories are quite sweet.”
“Were you… very lonely as a child?”
Whoosh—
A cold wind suddenly blew outside the shed, causing the leaves overhead to rustle and Li Meng’s grey hair to flutter slightly.
Her eyes dimmed for a moment, but soon, the light Qiu Qiqian was familiar with returned.
“I… don’t remember. But for a child, some things can be forgotten through play. Besides… with Sister Nan and the others around, I wasn’t really that lonely. My Nether Breath wasn’t as strong then as it is now, so there were other sisters at home who took care of me.”
Despite Li Meng’s words, Qiu Qiqian could see that something she was unwilling to reveal lay buried beneath those clear eyes.
Without the company of parents, without age-appropriate friends, and bearing the title of “Youngest Youxun,” she undoubtedly carried the expectations of many people on her shoulders.
Even as a Youxun, she was still fundamentally just a girl—a naive young woman, a… human.
“If… you ever get tired.” Qiu Qiqian turned her face away, pretending to look outside the shed. “You can use my shoulder.”
Li Meng turned her head, a trace of bewilderment in her eyes.
She likely hadn’t expected Qiu Qiqian to say such a thing.
But then, as she saw the red glow reflecting on Qiu Qiqian’s profile, she couldn’t help but let out an almost imperceptible giggle.
Listening to the sound of the wind outside the shed, she leaned her head gently against Qiu Qiqian’s shoulder.
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