Chapter 113: Outlier

Outlier

"Fu Guang sis, you're back!" The black-haired, black-eyed girl widened her eyes, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, holding a plate with pastries, standing in the listening-to-wind pavilion inside the bamboo grove.

She put the plate down and hurriedly walked toward the woman who suddenly appeared at the spatial entrance.

The wind lifted her golden long hair, the wind chime swayed and dinged, and Wen Li came flying like a swallow.

Those black eyes staring at her were round and gleaming, like two black stars.

"Sister." Wen Li stopped one meter in front of her, right hand pinning the edge of her blue clothing, lips slightly pursed, cheeks red, smiling shyly.

Wen Li's condition had improved considerably; she was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girl in the midst of development, and in just a month she had shot up like a tender bamboo shoot in the bamboo grove.

After not seeing her for a month, her height had quickly grown from waist level to chest level compared to the last time they met.

Fu Guang reached out, made a gesture above Wen Li's head, slightly lowered her head, brows and eyes curved, saying, "Little Wen Li, you've grown taller."

"Mm." Wen Li also nodded happily; when she looked in the mirror she also noticed she had grown, by as much as ten centimeters.

"Sister, was the mission successful?"

"The mission was of course successful; what is she saying?"

After saying that, Wen Li pursed her lips somewhat regretfully, not knowing how to communicate in such a situation, and feeling that her words were inappropriate after they were spoken.

"Mm, everything went smoothly. What are you doing?" Fu Guang led the anxious little girl into the listening-to-wind pavilion, looked toward the table, at the pastries that were somewhat misshapen.

The pastries were peach‑flower shaped, each petal a different size; this was no exception—almost every pastry was uneven in length.

Upon hearing this, Wen Li's eyes brightened, and she placed both hands behind her back, intertwining them.

She gazed at Fu Guang sister's increasingly radiant visage, then at the pastries she had made, and for a moment felt her pastries were too shameful to show anyone.

She also recalled what her friends on the Star Net had said: adults don't like children doing things unrelated to study.

She also wondered whether Fu Guang sister would think she was idle.

She pinched a leaf‑shaped pastry with her slender fingertips, Fu Guang looked at the cautious Wen Li and asked, "May I try one?"

"Of course, of course." Wen Li stammered, looking at her poorly shaped pastry being eaten by the first guest.

As the pastries gradually disappeared, the little girl straightened her back, tensed her whole body, looking as if she were about to face judgment.

When Wen Li felt tired from studying, she would go make pastries; this was advice from her Star Net friends: doing what you like relaxes the mind.

She saw that Fu Guang sister liked eating pastries, but hardly anyone in interstellar space makes them, and Fu Guang sister doesn't always have the time to make them herself.

Having benefited from her sister's kindness, she felt she should do something for her sister within her ability.

After trying pastry making, Wen Li momentarily fell in love with this creative feeling; she could pinch whatever she wanted, shaping it as she pleased.

Seeing the food she created, she would quickly become happy.

Fu Guang took in the little girl's expression, ate the pastries bite by bite, her blue‑gold eyes meeting obsidian‑like eyes, and said, "The taste is not bad, though perhaps next time you could use less sugar."

Ah, Wen Li let out a breath, her straightened back relaxing a little; she pinched a piece of pastry and tasted it, finding it cloyingly sweet, masking the original flavor.

"Are you afraid of me?" Fu Guang wiped her mouth, looked at the cautious Wen Li, and asked.

"No, not at all." Wen Li nodded, then shook her head.

"Hmm, I understand." Before Wen Li could say anything, a cool hand rubbed her head.

"Relax; after I wake up from a nap, I will test your studies over the past month."

Fu Guang rose, walked toward the cottage, her golden long dress intertwining with the sunlight falling on it, as if about to melt into the light.

"Okay." Wen Li heard herself reply, all other emotions fading, leaving only the anxiety of the upcoming test; she hastily opened her light‑brain and reviewed the knowledge she had learned over the past month.

Don't let the knowledge slip away; quickly get it into your head.

She didn't notice that Fu Guang, after walking a short distance, stopped, turned her head slightly, and glanced at her.

She is still just a young child.

Fu Guang stepped back to the room she had prepared for herself; the room was bare except for a table holding a zither, and only an antique‑style large bed remained.

With one hand she lifted the light‑colored bed curtain, then lay down smoothly on the soft mattress; the curtain swayed back to block the light, the soft bedding enveloping her limbs, the woman stared expressionlessly at the ceiling, her feet aching.

The sated little blue egg leaned against the iceberg of the mental landscape, whining softly, and in an even quieter voice said, "I am a king; naturally I can transform into other races."

Fu Guang closed her eyes, her voice tense and laced with danger: "Then why didn't you say so before?"

"I, I don't remember." The huge blue egg bore two cracks; its round shell pressed against the iceberg, it wanted to assert itself confidently, but it simply wasn't clear.

But the egg cannot be forced; its fragile shell would crack, and it would break.

Fu Guang raised a hand to rub her forehead, asking, "What else can you turn into?"

"No longer." Xiao Lan at that moment wished to burst out of the iceberg surrounding it and find a hole to hide in.

Fu Guang ground her teeth; she usually could make people laugh, and now she felt it too.

Xiao Lan listened to the grinding of teeth nearby and said, "My grade is high, so hiding is quite normal."

A cold laugh sounded in her ear: "Normal? Are there beast‑blood guides?"

"Huh?" Fu Guang lowered her voice to an extreme low, pressing: "What about the side effects of the transformation potion?"

Xiao Lan didn't know whether to say it was afraid or not; her soft voice nevertheless ignited all of Fu Guang's anger: "Isn't it already taking effect?"

Her temples throbbed; Fu Guang's hand at her side clenched, relaxed, clenched again, relaxed again.

Is this a joke?

The corners of her mouth pressed flat; sharp nails sent a pang of pain to her palm, letting Fu Guang maintain her wavering sanity.

She quickly summed up: "So, if you haven't broken your shell, my spiritual form is a merperson, right?"

"Yes." Xiao Lan replied quickly.

"Then why does my foot hurt?" a gloomy voice lingered at its ear.

"Just a after‑effect?" Xiao Lan said uncertainly.

Creak‑creak, Fu Guang clenched her hand.

"If you are my collaborator, you are the most unqualified one." Fu Guang's desire to drag Xiao Lan out and beat her grew ever stronger.

We can't even manage the most basic information exchange; cooperation is just all talk.

"Why is it all just talk?" Xiao Lan asked, puzzled.

"Because there's nothing at all." Fu Guang reached out, forcibly pulling Xiao Lan from the mental landscape, her gaze lingering on it.

"Speak, what else do you know?" The blue-gold eyes flashed, voice like a ghost: "Otherwise, I don't mind becoming a being without a spiritual form."

(End of chapter)