Three is followed by Four.
For some reason, while out gathering herbs, Aoki suddenly felt uneasy.
But immediately after, he sat down on the grass and cursed himself for being crazy.
Why would the thought of the Kitsune’s three tails advancing to four tails feel unlucky all of a sudden?
What could possibly be unlucky about it? Just because of a pun?
The sunlight was gentle, the breeze just right, the grass beneath him warm to the touch, and as his fingers brushed over the herbs, a faint fragrance lingered. That lazy feeling quietly embraced him, making Aoki smile unconsciously.
He began to look forward to tomorrow, and the day after.
Clearly, this was just a simulation world, and his mission was simply to help the Kitsune grow more tails, but for some inexplicable reason, he was still filled with anticipation.
Anticipation for what?
The Kitsune’s face flashed before his eyes—this increasingly unruly, more aggressive fox?
He had thought this was a burdensome task, but after so long, Aoki felt that he genuinely liked this troublesome apprentice.
Especially after what happened in the mountain village, he felt his affection for the Kitsune was beginning to overflow.
But he didn’t want the Kitsune to notice.
Because, judging by how aggressively the Kitsune behaved, it was terrifying. If the Kitsune realized how much Aoki cared for him, wouldn’t he get too cocky and start bossing Aoki around, completely ignoring the world?
“What are you thinking about, sir?”
The giraffe yokai accompanying Aoki placed a handful of herbs into the basket behind him.
“Ah, just spacing out.”
Because the giraffe yokai was assigned by Honji to look after Aoki and the Kitsune, their relationship was fairly amicable. He called Aoki “sir” and the Kitsune “miss.”
“Could it be that you’re spacing out thinking about Miss Kitsune?”
The giraffe yokai sat beside Aoki, half-transformed, with only three fingers resembling hooves stroking the grass.
“How did you know?”
Aoki was baffled. How could this yokai know he was thinking about the Kitsune? Could he read minds?
“Ha, I’m just asking. Miss Kitsune always brags in front of me about how good sir treats her, how she wants to be with sir forever, even granting him eternal life.
When I asked if sir agreed, she got mad and jumped on me, beating me up.”
The giraffe yokai showed a bruise on his face. “She scolded me, saying sir and her share an unbreakable bond and live for each other—that it was sir’s own words, hehe.
Well then, sir’s love for Miss Kitsune is plain to see—I can tell!”
At these words, Aoki suddenly fell silent. He quickly turned his face away, suddenly remembering something.
Oh no!
Had he really said those “live for you” words to the Kitsune?
Eh?
Wasn’t he always thinking he shouldn’t let the Kitsune get too arrogant?
Had he inadvertently revealed so many true feelings for this fox?
“Ahem! That’s not true.”
“Sir, you’re not honest.”
“Hm?”
“I’m going over there to gather herbs.”
Under Aoki’s piercing gaze, the giraffe yokai had no choice but to leave.
Watching the yokai’s retreating back, Aoki could only laugh bitterly at himself.
Then, a wave of melancholy washed over him.
Had revealing his feelings so casually made the Kitsune so happy?
Why was it that this time his feelings slipped out, but in front of Lin Qiyou…
Aoki lay on the grass and instinctively compared Lin Qiyou and the Kitsune.
What was the difference between them?
Clad in white like snow, skirt fluttering in the wind, Lin Qiyou’s smile was cold, her pleas for him to say the words “Help me”…
The difference was that the Kitsune came later, right?
That the inability to say “help me” was due to irresistible circumstances?
If back then he had truly ignored the simulation’s rules and sent a plea for help to Lin Qiyou…
Then ultimately, it was his own fault.
What had Lin Qiyou done wrong?
Clearly, nothing.
She had always been in a state of ignorance—unaware of the harm she caused herself, unknowingly aiding the enemy, and unwittingly losing everything, only to realize she had become a perpetrator.
Fortunately, she chose to forget about herself and the spiritual veins.
So what exactly was this world…
Aoki forced his thoughts to a halt and focused back on gathering herbs. The current objective remained the same: steadily progressing the secondary simulation task, the Kitsune’s long-tail plan.
He and the giraffe yokai had arrived after breakfast, and after a while, they took out their lunchboxes to eat, then continued gathering herbs.
Although Aoki had already refined countless pills for the Kitsune, he still felt like an amateur. The giraffe yokai, however, knew nothing about alchemy and often asked Aoki questions. Aoki would explain as if he were a great alchemist.
He had to admit, the giraffe yokai’s questions were always about things Aoki actually knew, so after a while, he really started to feel like a master.
He couldn’t help but be grateful—the giraffe yokai had boosted his self-esteem and emotional value quite a bit.
Feeling sore in his waist and legs, he looked up to see the sun beginning to lean westward. Aoki called to the giraffe yokai, and the two of them descended the mountain, heading toward Honji City.
When the man and yokai saw Honji City from afar, both felt a sudden sense of dread.
More and more yokai were fleeing the city, and above the city, blue smoke rose—clearly a battle was underway, an invasion in progress.
But there were no armies nearby, so only one possibility remained: there was a master here “sparring.”
Just how powerful was this master? Aoki and the giraffe yokai decided to get closer and see.
“Run, run! A human has come to the city, killing any yokai they see, killing any yokai!”
The giraffe yokai stopped a small yokai, who was crying anxiously. More fleeing yokai were running past, shouting and wailing.
Hearing this, Aoki’s heart began to race.
A human had come to the city.
Could it be that Sword Immortal You?
Why would he come to the yokai realm? Did someone tip him off?
Was it Qin Feng?
It shouldn’t be, right?
Aoki instinctively wanted to trust Qin Feng, but he couldn’t think of any other explanation.
“Kitsune, do you know how Kitsune is doing?”
Aoki stopped the fleeing small yokai, but the creature didn’t know the Kitsune because Aoki was human. It cursed and demanded to be released.
“How could he know Miss Kitsune?”
The giraffe yokai pulled Aoki outside the city. “Lord Honji is here. He is the yokai king and will be fine. Miss Kitsune is a genius among geniuses. Sir, don’t worry. Follow me.”
“Let me go!”
Perhaps emboldened by knowing he had one last chance, or worried that Kitsune’s safety mattered more than his own, Aoki struggled and dashed away from the fleeing crowd, running in the opposite direction of those escaping for their lives.
“Aoki! You’ll die! You’ll get eaten!”
When the giraffe yokai said “eaten,” he meant being done away with, but Aoki didn’t care.
Even if he really got eaten, so what?
He was determined to guarantee Kitsune’s safety.