Chapter 61: Rain

“You are… Wu Xiaomi, right!”

The attendant of the Water Spirit of Pei, a woman with dragon horns on her head, excitedly grabbed Wu Xiaomi’s hand.

“Mm… that’s me.”

Wu Xiaomi nervously shrank behind Bai Xiaozhi.

“Give me your autograph!” The woman, with no trace of her usual regal demeanor, pointed to her skirt, “Sign here, please! I’m your fan! Your dance is amazing! I haven’t seen the Siren Dance in years!”

“……”

So that’s what this was about.

Turns out you’re also one of those “shut-in shrine witches who spend all day watching short videos.”

Bringing shame to the dragon clan, tsk.

What was I even hoping for just now…

Raising her hand, she signed her name on the woman’s fitted long skirt.

“Awesome! Ahhhh—— I’m never changing this skirt again!”

“……”

Standing to the side, Nanalia was bursting with pride: “This is my student!”

“Yeah, right, you can have the crystal, but can you actually perform the Siren Dance?” The woman made a dismissive gesture at Nanalia with her pinky.

“As if you could do the Grand Rain Prayer Art! We’re both the same, and you still have the nerve to laugh at me?” Nanalia retorted mercilessly.

They were clearly very familiar with each other.

“Ah, nice to meet you, I’m Qiao Wanwan, from the Chi Dragon Clan— that is, what you call the Eastern Dragon Lineage, the kind without wings.”

Qiao Wanwan extended her hand to Wu Xiaomi.

A gentle handshake.

“Sometimes I wonder, what connection is there between our two worlds.”

When they first met, Qiao Wanwan had all the airs of a cool, elegant lady, but not three seconds later, she dropped the act and revealed her true, talkative nature.

“All the fantasy creatures from your world— Eastern Dragon Lineage, Western Dragon Lineage, Angels, Demons, the Six Great Sin Witches, Fairies, Sea Monsters. They all actually exist here.”

Qiao Wanwan smiled and said, “Sometimes I suspect those authors actually came from here. Maybe your Earth is just a piece that fell off Nerrifa.”

Maybe so.

Wu Xiaomi thought of the science facts she crammed a few days ago.

Up until the explosion, there were still countless unsolved mysteries on Earth.

For example, in the observable universe, 99% of elements are hydrogen and helium, with all other elements making up less than one percent.

But on Earth, hydrogen only makes up 0.76% of the total mass of elements, and helium is just 0.00524% of the atmosphere, even less in the crust— almost negligible.

These proportions clearly don’t match what we observe in the rest of the universe.

It’s certain that the materials making up Earth are all elements that are vanishingly rare in the observable universe, yet somehow, they gathered together here.

Thank goodness Strategy Points can be directly exchanged for materials.

“Maybe in the future… we’ll… find the truth…”

As the medicine wore off, Wu Xiaomi started feeling drowsy again.

Her speech became slow and soft, barely audible unless you really listened.

“By the way… do you… know Rain Prayer Technique?”

Wu Xiaomi tried her best to keep her eyes open, fighting off sleep.

She looked at Qiao Wanwan.

“Yeah, I’m very skilled at the basic Rain Prayer Technique, but I can’t manage the high-sequence Grand Rain Prayer Art.”

Qiao Wanwan shrugged.

She wasn’t embarrassed about “not being able to perform the Grand Rain Prayer Art,” especially with Nanalia there to share the shame.

“At least my student can do the Siren Dance.” Nanalia put her hands on her hips.

…

“Um… then…”

Wu Xiaomi wanted to voice her request, but her mouth wouldn’t cooperate.

She didn’t have enough breath to make a sound.

“She wants to ask you about Rain Prayer,” Bai Xiaozhi spoke up for her, knowing what Wu Xiaomi wanted to say, “She wants to combine Rain Prayer Technique with the Siren Dance.

That way, the Siren Dance won’t be dependent on a water source anymore. Rain Prayer Technique can also be turned into combat power.”

“That’s a good idea.” Qiao Wanwan nodded approvingly, “But only attendants of the Spirit of Rainfall can freely use Rain Prayer Technique. And the Siren Dance is an exclusive sequence of the Spirit of Abundance. That’s a conflict.

No matter the race, the body can only host one type of Spirit Conduit. For example, Nanalia now serves the Spirit of Abundance. If she wanted to try a new Spirit Source, she’d have to remove the Spirit of Abundance’s Spirit Conduit and install a new one.”

“What if there are multiple conduits at the same time?”

“Impossible. That’s completely against the rules of biological gestation. Nothing like that could be born after ten months in the womb.”

“……”

After speaking, Qiao Wanwan realized the mood around her had turned cold.

Nanalia’s brows were tightly furrowed, and Bai Xiaozhi looked at her with obvious disgust.

“Uh… did I say something wrong? Sorry, I have a bit of a loose tongue.” Qiao Wanwan hurriedly explained.

“Wu Xiaomi has a special constitution. She was born with multiple conduits. Mm… she’s exactly the kind of ‘monster’ you just mentioned.” Nanalia shot Qiao Wanwan a glare, “You just called my student a monster.”

“Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean anything by it! I just meant, from a physiological standpoint… ah!”

The more she tried to explain, the worse it sounded.

Qiao Wanwan finally gave up and stomped her foot hard: “Wu Xiaomi, you want to fuse Rain Prayer Technique and the Siren Dance, right! I’ll teach you with everything I’ve got! Nanalia, you’re helping me!”

“? Why are you dragging me into your mess?”

“She’s your student! Of course, if she’s willing, from today on, she’s my student too!”

“Trying to steal my Xiaomi?? I’ll tear down your Shrine!”

……

With Nanalia and Qiao Wanwan, two current shamans, helping her, Wu Xiaomi learned at an astonishing pace.

If only her stamina bar wasn’t so short, she could go even faster.

“Are you really not going traveling? It’s sweltering everywhere this year, only these few days have decent weather. Soon it’ll get cold…”

Nanalia kept hinting, bringing it up every time they took a break.

“After the Friendship Association… we’ll see…”

“But after the Friendship Association, you all have to start the next Strategy Guide, right? It’s so rare to get a long vacation. If it were me, I definitely wouldn’t waste it at school.”

Wu Xiaomi shook her head.

Talking was exhausting, and she didn’t want to say more.

“You guys… go back… thank you…”

She forced out a few words.

Nanalia and Qiao Wanwan really did have things to do, so they had to leave for now.

“It’s going to rain soon, you should head back too.”

“Mm…”

They left.

Xiaozhi was still practicing piano in the next room.

So beautiful…

Even without a mentor, Wu Xiaomi could hear how quickly Xiaozhi was improving, almost flying ahead.

At this moment, there was no trace of awkwardness or beginner’s nervousness in her playing.

Only a mesmerizing elegance remained.

Such astonishing learning ability— Xiaozhi is so smart, she’ll definitely become an amazing person in the future…

Listening to the music, Wu Xiaomi leaned on the wall and quietly left the dance studio.

“Plop.”

It started to rain.

The raindrops hit her face, big and heavy, stinging her cheeks.

…

She sat down on the steps outside the building.

Hugging her knees, she let the rain pelt her body.

The patter sounded like she was bathing in a hail of bullets.

She was soaked through.

The cold seeped into her bones.

It wasn’t about wallowing in self-pity— she just wanted to experience this feeling more, to savor what it meant to be alive.

…

…

“Gu-uh——”

But in the end, she couldn’t hold it in, letting out a whimper from her throat.

Then, like an avalanche, in this lonely rainy night, the dam of her emotions completely collapsed.

“Why… is it now…”

“Why, why…”

For those who were once lucky, the End of the World is a disaster.

But for those who had nothing, it’s the one time heaven showed them mercy, granting a chance to pursue happiness.

Compared to begging for scraps like a dog just for three meals a day, Wu Xiaomi preferred today— she loved the apocalypse, loved this perilous, knife-edge world.

Even with all its dangers, she finally had the right to embrace everything.

But why…

Why.

The future she longed for collapsed in an instant.

The tiny bit of dignity she finally found vanished all at once.

If she had never come here—

Never met Nanalia, Lulutina, Kang Jie, Ah Lei.

Never performed that Siren Dance, never heard those voices of approval. Never seen Xiaozhi’s growth…

She wouldn’t have felt attached.

Wouldn’t have developed these hopes for the future.

But, it had to be now.

“I…”

“I… don’t want to die…”

She buried her face in her knees, letting the icy rain lash her back, trembling violently.

The fear she’d been hiding for days could no longer be contained.

It all burst out at once.

No matter how desperately she tried to hold back, her tears still broke through.

“Gu-uh——”

I don’t want to die.

I don’t want to die…

I want to see Xiaozhi grow up.

I want to see a new Earth, with elves, fairies, dragons, the exotic flowers and plants of Nerrifa World.

There’s so much I still want to touch, things I never even dared to dream of before…

I…

I don’t want to die…

…

“Tap, tap, tap, tap——”

Elegant, steady footsteps approached from afar, crossing the tree-lined path, splashing through puddles.

Finally, they stopped beside Wu Xiaomi.

The rain no longer fell on her back.

A Witch held up an umbrella, shielding the sky above the girl.

A Cat Owl sliced through the night, landing on her shoulder.

She sat down.

Quietly, she leaned against Wu Xiaomi, sitting together.