Chapter 4:
After listening to Ling Xia’s remark, Yu ZhiJue only gave a snort but didn’t say anything. On the other hand, Song XiaoHu was extremely happy and excited, responding in delight, “Yeah, I heard the people in town say that too.”
Ling Xia smiled back, “Since it’s like this, I’ll come along with you guys.”
According to the original plotline, when Song XiaoHu and Yu ZhiJue went to YouMing City, this idiotic, loyal hound also anxiously followed them. Due to the protagonist being a trouble magnet, no long after, he blocked a blow to the chest meant for the protagonist and died.
However, as for the specifics on how that came to be, Ling Xia really couldn’t remember that well. After all, he started reading this novel a long time ago, so he’s forgotten many of the details.
Even though Ling Xia really wanted to avoid death, even if he left the protagonist and continued to stay in this small town, a miracle where he magically gets sent home is highly unlikely to happen. All he can do right now is follow these two and take it one step at a time, not to mention in his mind, he’s already listed out steps 1, 2, and 3 of his plan to change the villain.
Albeit when reading, the chapters where the protagonist and the villain went all-out against each other in fierce, love-hate battles were his favorite, but now that he’s in this world and looking at the steamed bun-faced brats in front of him, he hoped that those kind of scenarios would never happen.
Hearing Ling Xia’s words, Yu ZhiJue didn’t actually voice any dissent, only slightly knitting his brows as his almond-shaped eyes flashed, but it was clear that he didn’t really approve. When it comes to it, Ling Xia was a stranger to him, and the previously mute r.e.t.a.r.d was something he had ignored.
Usually, both Song XiaoHu and Yu ZhiJue treated wherever they went as their home and wherever they slept as their bed, neither having any belongings that needed packing, thus they planned to set off at once.
Ling Xia, looking at these two kids who were immediately prepared to start their journey, felt his lips jerk, and very uncomfortably sounded out, “We should at least pack some rations?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Song XiaoHu blinked and replied, “Elder brother Ling, we don’t have any money. What’s more, I can hunt food for us to eat along the way.”
Yu ZhiJue had glanced at him in disdain but didn’t say anything, and Ling Xia instantly realized how dumb these words of his were.
The two kids before his eyes have basically been living up till now by solely depending on themselves, and their survival skills were obviously a lot stronger than some modern adult who can’t even differentiate between the different types of grains like him. Unintentionally, he looked at the two in front of him with pity and tenderness. When reading these kinds of descriptions in the novel, he hadn’t felt any particular emotions, and all of his focus was spent on the cool and exciting scenes. Only now that he’s experiencing this firsthand, does he understand such feelings.
This alternate world is split into four large regions, and while YouMing City and LongFei Town are both on the southern continent, they’re separated by over fifty kilometers. Purely depending on one’s two legs to walk, it’s a distance that’s definitely impossible to cover within a short span of time.
Fortunately, the people of this world’s body and stamina were abnormally strong, and even after walking all day on rocky mountain paths, while Ling Xia felt a little tired, neither his feet nor legs were sore. On the road, Song XiaoHu kept chattering and laughing away, completely uninhibited, and Yu ZhiJue would also occasionally speak a few words. Furthermore, these two kids were extremely amusing in that neither was willing to take a break first, almost as if they were competing.
Ling Xia watched them, almost to the point of tears; if the villain was a girl, being paired with the protagonist like this would be so heart-throbbingly cute!
Right now, the pair of them were still considered normal children without cultivation, so after rus.h.i.+ng for an entire day, they were both tired. As dusk approached, the three of them found a secluded cave and spread a thick layer of tree leaves on the ground. Song XiaoHu caught a low-level rabbit beast, and they picked some things like wild mushrooms and such for dinner.
Ling Xia and Song XiaoHu both wolfed down their food, having long been hungry from using up too much of their strength. Yu ZhiJue started off eating in a refined manner, but after seeing the food gradually disappearing, also picked up his speed. Discovering this, Ling Xia couldn’t resist secretly laughing.
There was a small river near the cave, and when Ling Xia went to wash up, inadvertently seeing the swimming figure in the water, his delusion of Yu ZhiJue being a girl was instantly shattered.
Yu ZhiJue glared at him after sensing his incomprehensible gaze, and like an angry baby leopard, growled, “What are you looking at?!”
Ling Xia took a look at the little jimmy on Yu ZhiJue’s lower half, and dejectedly walked away.
Back at the cave, the s.p.a.ce within was limited, so the three of them had to cram together in order to all lie down.
Song XiaoHu kicked off his straw sandals and jumped in, the stains around the corners of his mouth not even wiped clean, and full of excitement, he beamed, “Ah‘Jue, Elder brother Ling, I want to sleep in the middle.”
“… …” Truly, as expected of the future casanova protagonist who operates under the standard of having someone adorn both his left and his right!
Ling Xia lied down and closed his eyes, prepared to sleep, but with a face full of contempt, Yu ZhiJue continued to stand outside. After a while, he finally stepped over to kick Song XiaoHu and said, “Go wash yourself.”
Perplexed, Song XiaoHu replied, “But I’m not dirty.”
Yu ZhiJue wrinkled his eyebrows; he had never been physically close to anyone before, not to mention, Song XiaoHu snored, sleep talked, and like to move around, among other things. When they slept under the same roof in the past, even far away from each other, Song XiaoHu would still wake him up with noise. In spite of being kicked afterwards, Song XiaoHu would continue to slumber like a dead pig, not responding in the slightest!
He wanted to persevere through the night by leaning against the wall, but Yu ZhiJue was also afraid of that affecting his condition for tomorrow’s travels; he definitely wasn’t willing to lag behind Song XiaoHu.
As a result, he reluctantly and unwillingly said to Ling Xia, “You sleep in the middle.” Ling Xia had washed himself, so at least it was unlikely he would have any gross and unpleasant smells.
The tone was a bit standoffish and harsh, yet for no particular reason, Ling Xia heard traces of awkwardness and distress. He was currently trying his best to get on the great sir villain’s good side, so without a second thought, he promptly picked up Song XiaoHu, moved him over, then patted his other side and invited with a smile, “Come on over.”
The setting where this “ErDan” had herculean strength truly wasn’t just for show; moving Song XiaoHu to the other side was practically as easy as picking up a small chick.
Yu ZhiJue paused for a beat, but before Song XiaoHu could catch on and react, he quickly lied down, squeezing his body as close to the wall as possible to avoid touching Ling Xia. He coldly stared at Ling Xia and warned, “If you turn over and kick me, I will throw you outside.”
“… …” Looking at the villain clad in a self-important, big-headed, and know-it-all aura, Ling Xia really couldn’t help but find it hilarious. Yu ZhiJue, who was shrinking and compressing his already pet.i.te body, honestly didn’t possess a shred of dignified air. Instead, he looked like a small kitten or puppy full of false bravado, harmless and a bit cute.
Forcing down his urge to grin, Ling Xia closed his eyes and murmured, “Understood.”
Song XiaoHu protested a bit, but then pulled Ling Xia into aimlessly chatting about various topics he found entertaining. Yu ZhiJue was silently glad; in the past, whenever Song XiaoHu talked too much he’d only end up yelling back in annoyance, but Ling Xia was actually responding and holding a proper conversation.
In order not to ostracize Yu ZhiJue, Ling Xia was lying flat on his back, and using his peripheral vision, he peeked at the small, motionless body curled up in the corner, not knowing what the other was thinking about.
Ling Xia cleared his throat and then thought of a question, so he asked, “XiaoHu, what’s your dream? Um, that is, what kind of person do you want to become in the future? Why do you want to enter ShaoYang Sect?”
With sparkles in his eyes, Song XiaoHu excitedly replied, “I want to become the strongest sword cultivator! I want a lot of people to know my name!”
As expected of a hot-blooded, purebred protagonist! Ling Xia rubbed his hedgehog-like head and rea.s.sured, “You’ll definitely succeed.”
It should be noted that in the future, aside from dark-arts cultivation, the protagonist had mastered all of the other types of cultivation! The radiance of his overwhelming power was basically admired, envied, and hated to no end!
Ling Xia followed up by asking Yu ZhiJue, “Ah‘Jue, what about you?”
Yu ZhiJue spared him a glance, and after a stretch of silence, gave his chilling response. “I will make all those who have looked down upon me, or humiliated me, know the true meaning of regret!”
His voice was crisp and pleasant to the ear, except, it also held a faint, entirely unchild-like, frigidly mature undertone.
“… …”
Ling Xia’s skull felt numb, unwittingly thinking back to the villain’s maniacal, preposterous last words:
This kind of repulsive world… …should be utterly destroyed… …
And that’s why a child’s education is imperative and can’t be delayed! If you can’t set them straight when they’re still young, the world will be doomed ahhh!
After what seemed like ages and Ling Xia still had yet to respond, Yu ZhiJue couldn’t resist sneering, “Well?”
Ling Xia swallowed and carefully replied in a light tone, “Mmhn, that’s a pretty good dream too, haha, Ah‘Jue, you’ll definitely be very impressive in the future!”
He does want to guide Yu ZhiJue towards an honest life, but currently Yu ZhiJue still looked at him with all kinds of annoyed and disgusted expressions, so he couldn’t really say much until they became more familiar first… …
Song XiaoHu was a bit curious though, since Yu ZhiJue had never talked about himself before. Who were the people that humiliated him? Were they similar to the people that yelled at and called himself a beggar? At the same time, he was also a bright child and knew he shouldn’t pry. Therefore, he restrained himself and didn’t ask.
Having exhausted too much of his strength during the day, Song XiaoHu quickly fell asleep and drool leaked out of his open mouth. After a while longer, the sound of soft, even breaths also came from Yu ZhiJue’s side, but Ling Xia’s eyes remained open, completely awake.
Truthfully speaking, he still felt surreal, like this was all just a dream. It was slightly better during the day, but as the night descended, so did the intensity of his own helplessness, cras.h.i.+ng over him like a rus.h.i.+ng tide.
Although he was lying on top of a thick layer of tree leaves, he could still feel the stiff, cold floor, and the pitch-black darkness of the cave made his heart softly quiver in apprehension. On top of being in a strange alternate world, from time to time, the howls of the unknown, wild beasts outside could be heard.
He blindly groped about until he touched the hands on either side of him; Song XiaoHu’s palm was coa.r.s.e and hot, while Yu ZhiJue’s body temperature was on the cooler side. Even though both hands were small, nevertheless, Ling Xia felt some degree of comfort in his heart.
Since he’s already transmigrated into this strange world, as a fully grown adult, he can’t end up being more unreliable than these kids, right?
Despite the fact that Yu ZhiJue’s guard against all things unfamiliar during the day was as high as could be, he was exceptionally peaceful while asleep, subconsciously scooting closer to the source of warmth beside him, and even gently rubbing the top of his head against Ling Xia’s chin a few times.
Ling Xia unwittingly smiled at the slightly ticklish sensation. At this time of the night, a tender atmosphere like this was easy to slowly form and develop, and gradually, he also closed his eyes.
Waking up the next morning, Yu ZhiJue’s expression immediately turned dark, as he was currently huddled in Ling Xia’s embrace with his entire back plastered against the other’s body. Mindlessly, he stood up in a rush.
Ling Xia took note of the boy’s aversive and disgusted gaze, innocently waved his hands, and stated, “I didn’t do anything.”
At first, Ling Xia wasn’t able to fall asleep, but after he did, what awaited him was an entire night of torment. Song XiaoHu not only tossed and turned, but sleep talked unceasingly, and while Yu ZhiJue was silent in the noise department, he was relentlessly treated as a pillow and tightly clung to! Furthermore, Yu ZhiJue’s body temperature was lower than his by quite a few degrees, and yet no matter how much time pa.s.sed, it wasn’t able to warm up.
The fair skin at base of Yu ZhiJue’s ears was clearly dusted with blush, but he feigned calm and left with a simple, “I’m going to wash up.”
When he normally slept alone, he was extremely vigilant and even the slightest disturbance would wake him up. Yet last night, he actually entered such a deep and dreamless sleep, only vaguely relis.h.i.+ng that his body was very warm, as if someone kept lovingly caressing his head.
That kind of feeling was extremely comfortable, so much that unexpectedly, he didn’t even want to open his eyes and wake up.