Chapter 49: She

Of course, she wasn’t Ah Fu.

Wu Xiaomi knew this very well.

But the Spirit of the Wilds before her seemed to have mistaken her for Ah Fu.

That was the only reason she’d been spared.

Fine, to survive, whether she was or not, she could only play along for now…

“Sorry, I’m injured too.” Wu Xiaomi clutched her chest, doing her best to look weak. “Though I’ve recovered a bit, my strength is greatly diminished, and I’ve lost my memories of the past…”

“Sigh, you silly girl…” The woman’s tone softened considerably. “I told you long ago, if you keep this up, you’ll get chopped up one day… You’re just a mortal, yet you dared to let the Six Great Sin Witches all take maternity leave at the same time. If they don’t chop you up, who will?”

woc.

Wu Xiaomi felt her scalp tingle.

Letting the Six Great Sin Witches all take maternity leave at the same time— what kind of hero was that!

“Just because you’re pretty, you do whatever you want, flirting with every Spirit Source Lord you meet. Ah Fu, I don’t care about those things, but… but you haven’t visited me for so long. In your heart… do you even care about me?”

“……”

I have no idea!

Who knows what that scoundrel was thinking.

Probably not, or how else would she leave a pregnant woman here, waiting alone for hundreds of years.

Thinking of the White Wolf’s plight, Wu Xiaomi felt genuine sympathy and thought it was all too unfair for her.

She was already close to death. At such a moment, Wu Xiaomi really couldn’t bear to say anything cruel.

Forget it, better to comfort her.

“Of course I care about you,” Wu Xiaomi gazed deeply at the white mist before her, reaching out a hand. “Though I don’t remember much, I remember I had to come here, to see you. There’s a little White Wolf here, and she’s incredibly important to me.”

“……”

……

A sobbing sound came from within the white mist.

Gradually, the drifting white mist gathered into a figure.

On either cheek, wild markings accentuated her pale skin. Her slightly short wolf ears bore a small battle scar, but it did nothing to diminish her proud, beautiful face.

She looked at Wu Xiaomi and smiled bitterly.

“I know you’re not her.”

Uh-oh, that’s awkward.

“Though you look very much like her, there are differences… For example, Ah Fu’s legs are covered in tally marks.”

“……”

“And of course, there are a few differences in appearance as well. For sensitive creatures, those differences are more than enough.”

Then why did you tease me?

Wu Xiaomi was not pleased.

“You’re Ah Fu’s daughter, aren’t you?” White Wolf asked.

Wu Xiaomi shook her head.

“I’ve never met her. I don’t have any parents.”

Part of the white mist still lingered inside Wu Xiaomi’s body. White Wolf could sense she wasn’t lying.

“Poor child.”

White Wolf gently spread her arms, pulling Wu Xiaomi into an embrace, softly stroking her back.

“At least you’re not like her. You have a conscience; she doesn’t.”

White Wolf had sensed Wu Xiaomi’s inner thoughts just now.

Pretending to be Ah Fu was only to comfort her.

“If you need, you can consider me your mother.” White Wolf said.

“No, thank you, but I don’t need that.”

“All right then,” White Wolf smiled bitterly. “Could I trouble you to take these children out? Release them into the wild— they’ll grow up on their own.”

“As long as you don’t turn me into a monster, that’s not a problem.”

“Turn you into a monster? How could I… uh…”

White Wolf was startled as she sensed her surroundings.

Those twisted-faced Mirror Demons were indeed her creations.

But she hadn’t intended for that to happen.

For so many years, her consciousness had been scattered and drifting. Perhaps out of instinct to protect her Wolf Cubs, she had unconsciously created those Mirror Demons.

Only when Wu Xiaomi arrived and extracted the Wolf Cubs did she regain her senses.

It was only then that she realized how much trouble she’d caused the outside world during her feigned death.

“Sorry. It won’t happen again.” White Wolf sighed apologetically. “Before, I was focused on protecting the ones in my belly and had no energy left to care for the outside world or heal myself. Once I’m out, I’ll do my best to make up for the villagers who suffered.”

She doesn’t seem so bad after all.

Wu Xiaomi picked up the one, two, three, four, five… five Wolf Cubs on the ground.

The little ones clung to Wu Xiaomi’s clothes with their soft paws, hugging her arm tightly as if she were their lifeline.

“Just let them out into the wild? Can they really grow up? Their eyes aren’t even open yet.”

Wu Xiaomi was deeply skeptical.

“Set them free, and they’ll grow up quickly. That’s where they belong.”

All right then.

These magical things… I don’t get them, and I don’t dare ask.

“So… can I leave now? Can you turn them back?” Wu Xiaomi pointed at the Mirror Demons.

“Don’t worry.” The wolf woman lowered her head again, full of regret. “It was my fault. I’ll fix it, even if it’s too late for some… I’ll make amends.”

“Wait!”

Wu Xiaomi had one more question.

“Who hurt you?”

She had to know who started all this.

Even if it was just for the next step in her quest for intel, yes… just for the intel.

“I did it myself.”

“…?”

Why would you do that?

“I thought she cared about me, that she’d at least come back to see me. Now I see, it was all just wishful thinking.”

“……”

That scoundrel.

If I ever meet her, I’ll give her a good beating.

Still, there was something odd about White Wolf’s words…

It felt like there was more to the story.

But she clearly didn’t want to say.

“You should go. I’m going to seal this place and focus on healing.”

All right then. Whew—

This insane night was finally over…

The Xuling Space gradually shrank. In the blink of an eye, Wu Xiaomi was back at the entrance to the lake.

When she came to, she was already standing on the lakeshore.

The Mirror Demons’ faces were no longer twisted. They stared around in confusion.

The Shaman Couple opened their arms, embracing Nanania and Nanalia, weeping with joy.

Wu Xiaomi watched them, genuinely happy for them, though her heart felt… complicated.

“Well, as long as they’re reunited.”

The girl beamed sweetly and set the Wolf Cubs on the ground.

Just as the Spirit of the Wilds had said, as soon as they returned here, they grew rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, they were already the size of huskies.

They opened their eyes, nuzzling Wu Xiaomi’s legs and hands affectionately.

“Go on, to your own world now.”

The Wolf Cubs seemed to treat the girl as family.

“Go on, go on. Everything I raise ends up dying, so you’d better hurry up and leave.”

“……”

The Wolf Cubs nuzzled her for a long while, licking Wu Xiaomi’s hands and neck until they were damp, as if leaving their scent on her, then reluctantly trotted into the woods.

Wu Xiaomi watched them and waved.

They looked back at Wu Xiaomi too.

In the end, they leaped resolutely into the forest.

A ray of Dawn Sun spilled over the horizon and into the woods, and the forest echoed with the howls of wolves.

The kings of this wild land— they had returned.

……

The Xinhua members were cheering… Ah, every time a task was completed, these guys had to cheer.

Really, so naïve.

Wu Xiaomi was grumbling to herself when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a woman standing in the Dawn Sun.

A cloak and hood hid her figure, only a few wisps of pinkish hair spilling from her hat brim, the very same color as Wu Xiaomi’s, fluttering in the cool morning breeze by the lake.

The woman stood atop a mound, gazing at the lake.

She clearly wasn’t one of the Xinhua team, and Wu Xiaomi had never seen her before.

Yet, there was a strange sense of familiarity.