A beautiful black-haired girl with clear eyes walked down the bustling street, wearing ill-fitting men’s clothes. She gazed around curiously, clutching a gothic doll that exuded an eerie aura, its eyes seeming never to close. Such a duo was bound to attract attention in a crowded place. To be honest, Yu Sheng felt he might have underestimated the “difficulty” of taking both Foxy and Irene out at the same time.
He had lost count of the curious glances thrown their way. Half of them were undoubtedly drawn to Foxy, who was peering around like a child seeing the world for the first time. The other half were aimed at him.
But Yu Sheng had to stick with the fox girl beside him, because she genuinely understood nothing about this world.
She didn’t even know what money looked like here. In fact, the mere fact that she knew you needed money to buy things was impressive enough—thanks to her having lived in a civilized society many, many years ago.
On the other hand, the social norms in Foxy’s memories were so different from those of the city that unexpected troubles kept popping up.
For instance, when they passed a parking lot, she was particularly curious about why so many “immortal carriages” were parked there yet remained so quiet, and why those vehicles were so patient. Honestly, when she first brought it up, Yu Sheng didn’t even grasp what she meant.
“In my hometown,” Foxy explained softly, “carriages and boats all have spirits. The spirits of transportation love to run and jump; they don’t like staying still outside the mountain gates. So when immortals and demons go out and need to stay somewhere, they hand their vehicles over to caretakers. The caretakers are responsible for taking the vehicles around nearby. There’s also a large place with its own little dimension where you can put the vehicles inside and let them roam freely. That’s called a ‘self-service parking lot’…”
As she spoke, she pointed to a car by the roadside where a novice driver struggled to park. “That one is so clumsy. Back home, even children’s hobbyhorses would mock it.”
Yu Sheng quickly pressed down her hand. “Things are different here than in your hometown. Don’t point.”
Yu Sheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, suddenly very curious about what her hometown was like. When he first met Foxy, he thought her home was a classic world of immortals and demons. But then there was the immortal tour guide, and later “hundreds of law enforcement immortals capturing a great fox demon for violating forest protection laws and sentencing her to five hundred years,” and now even children’s toys like hobbyhorses had spirits. He felt his mind spinning.
He couldn’t quite imagine the style of Foxy’s homeland.
Could such a place even exist in a normal universe?
Unfortunately, Foxy herself couldn’t clearly describe what her hometown was like—not just because she was young when she left, but also because the long torment in foreign lands had made her forget many things.
“I can’t remember much. I just recall the elders saying our home wasn’t always like that,” Foxy mused, trying to bring up the faded memories in her mind. “It was when powerful ‘Heavenly Beings’ arrived and enlightened the warring creatures on the ground. After that, we began living with the Heavenly Beings, ‘traversing stars and millions of miles in an instant.’ I remember the elders saying that the stars in the sky would change positions every few years—that was the Heavenly Beings adjusting navigation routes. My father worked on those routes. His job was to push out anything that broke into the routes and give them tickets…”
As she spoke, the fox girl grew excited. “My father could operate an enormous ‘immortal shuttle,’ bigger than a building! He said it was called a ‘starship.’ The spirit of the starship was even more powerful. All you needed was one person to lie in a pool inside the starship and give orders to the spirit, and it would fly. It could catch things faster than light using a treasure called… ‘Moonfront Ensnarement Breath Severer’…”
Yu Sheng listened, bewildered. He glanced at Irene, who was being held motionless in Foxy’s arms, pretending to be an ordinary doll, and wondered silently, “Can you make sense of this?”
“I can’t,” Irene’s voice echoed in his mind. “Are you taking her seriously? She might just be making it up… I suggest you wait a couple of months until her mind settles. By then, the story might change again.” ɽаNỗ𐌱Εꞩ
Yu Sheng frowned. He also doubted the authenticity of Foxy’s fantastical tales, but he felt that if she were truly confused, she wouldn’t be able to concoct such imaginative and intricately detailed stories.
Regardless, what Foxy described left a deep impression on him.
“Alright, stop overthinking,” Irene’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “You’d better get Foxy into some proper clothes—the real challenge starts now.”
Hearing this, Yu Sheng’s face turned grim.
Many things seemed straightforward during planning, but once you had to consider the details, the troublesome parts emerged.
He had no idea how to pick out clothes for a girl! He hadn’t even stepped into a women’s clothing store!
But he had no choice. He was the one who said he’d adopt Foxy; it was too late to regret it now.
Just as Yu Sheng led Foxy toward the mall, bracing himself as if heading to his doom, a familiar figure flashed at the edge of his vision.
It was a petite, short-haired girl, about seventeen or eighteen, with pursed lips and a maturity that seemed slightly out of place for her age.
At first, Yu Sheng didn’t recognize her, only finding her familiar. After a couple of seconds, he realized where that familiarity came from.
It was the girl who called herself “Little Red Riding Hood.” Today, she wasn’t wearing her dark red outfit but had on a brightly colored jacket, making her less recognizable at first glance.
Yu Sheng immediately knew he’d found a savior.
Almost simultaneously, “Little Red Riding Hood,” walking on the opposite side, sensed someone looking at her. She quickly looked up—for a brief moment, her eyes were as alert as a wolf’s.
But that wolf-like gaze vanished instantly, too quick for anyone to notice. Seeing Yu Sheng, she looked slightly surprised.
She swiftly crossed the street, a hint of surprise in her eyes as she regarded Yu Sheng. After sizing him up for a few seconds, she finally spoke. “You’re out shopping too?”
“Is it strange that I come out to buy things?” Yu Sheng replied.
“Ah, sorry. I just thought it was a coincidence.” Realizing her words might seem odd, she promptly apologized, though the doubt in her eyes didn’t fade.
After all, she knew Yu Sheng lived in Wutong Road—a different world altogether.
When she left that place, she had guessed that this “human” named Yu Sheng might not be entirely human. His extremely realistic human behavior could very well be some form of mimicry.
She hadn’t expected to see this “person” who resided in an Otherworld strolling down the street to shop.
Could he even eat human food?
An absurd thought crossed her mind.
Then she noticed Foxy standing beside him and the doll in her arms.
“Is that one… dead?” she asked, pointing at Irene, whose eyes had lost their sparkle.
Irene’s eyes almost flickered back to life—she shifted slightly in Foxy’s arms. Yu Sheng heard her angry voice in his mind, “She’s the dead one! May she explode on the spot eight hundred times! Yu Sheng! Insult her back for me!”
“She’s cursing you,” Yu Sheng said calmly, pointing at Irene, who still didn’t dare to move. “Quite nastily, actually. I’m too polite to repeat it.”
Irene began cursing even more vehemently.
“Little Red Riding Hood” couldn’t hear any of it.
But she could imagine.
“You two are… quite creative,” she remarked, giving Irene an appraising look. “Using this method to bring her out openly. By the way, judging by the situation, are you buying clothes for her?” She nodded toward Foxy.
“Spot on,” Yu Sheng admitted, spreading his hands and choosing to ignore Irene’s ongoing tirade. “I’m at a bit of a loss. Didn’t expect to run into you—could you help us out?”
“I think I can guess what kind of help you need,” she responded, her eyes drifting over Foxy’s ill-fitting attire. A slight smile played on her lips. “This is something I haven’t done before.”
Yu Sheng’s eyes lit up. “So you’ll help?”
“Of course. It’s no trouble,” she said nonchalantly. “But you’ll have to help me with something afterward.”
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation