Chapter 67: Hu Li's New Life

Regardless, Yu Sheng now understood why Hu Li could launch her tail.

He wasn't clear on how other fox demons in this world operated, but evidently, Hu Li's lineage had taken the path of Super Beast Armor during its inheritance...

Now, the young fox demon sat opposite the dining table, clumsily gripping a pair of chopsticks and shoveling the food from her bowl into her mouth with great speed.

It was just the simplest hanging noodles, with some vegetable leaves and sliced ham added, plus two fried eggs, yet Hu Li ate as if it were the most top-tier delicacy in the world; her table manners were far from elegant—but her enjoyment was extreme.

Strictly speaking, this was the first hot meal she had eaten in years; although the biscuits and instant noodles Yu Sheng had brought her before were also good, sitting safely at a dining table and eating steaming food from a bowl was an entirely different sensation.

"Eat slowly; if it's not enough, there's more in the pot," Yu Sheng said, watching Hu Li, who had nearly finished a bowl in the blink of an eye, with a touch of heartache, then gently tapped her hand, "Chopsticks aren't held like that; watch me."

Hu Li lifted her eyes from the rim of her bowl, glanced at Yu Sheng's right hand, and then, while chewing a fried egg, awkwardly adjusted her grip on the chopsticks.

She learned very quickly.

"Benefactor, did I eat too fast...?" Only after finishing the entire bowl of noodles did Hu Li lift her head somewhat embarrassed; she saw that Yu Sheng had only eaten half the noodles in his bowl, while beside him, Ailin also had a bowl placed before her, its contents completely untouched, "I... I just feel that if I don't eat quickly, it might disappear at any moment."

"It's fine; you'll gradually adjust. Besides, with your constitution, eating heavily for a few meals won't affect your health," Yu Sheng couldn't help but laugh, "If it's not enough, I'll serve you some more."

"Mm-hmm."

Before Yu Sheng could even rise, Ailin, sitting on the table, spoke up: "Let her finish my bowl first."

The little puppet used both hands to push the bowl in front of her over to Hu Li.

Hu Li said thank you, didn't ask why a portion of food was placed before a puppet that couldn't eat during a meal, and simply lowered her head to begin eating rapidly.

After finishing the meal, Yu Sheng discovered that the bowls and chopsticks Hu Li had used hardly needed washing—she had licked them so clean they could reflect a person's image...

After tidying up the kitchen, Yu Sheng changed into clothes suitable for going out.

He also found a set of his own trousers and jacket for Hu Li—to be honest, they didn't fit well at all; Yu Sheng was much, much taller than the young fox demon, and no matter how he adjusted them, his clothes hung loosely on her.

Sleepwear could be made to do with a few sizes off, but making outdoor clothes fit was not so easy; in the end, Yu Sheng had to use many hidden safety pins and some makeshift sewing to make his clothes stay securely on Hu Li without looking too incongruous.

Even so, a Miss standing one meter sixty-something tall wearing a set of clearly ill-fitting men's clothing would still look quite strange walking outside, but fortunately—Hu Li's good looks compensated for this issue.

Facts proved that having a good-looking face truly allowed one to do as one pleased, and the fox demon's face was indeed good-looking, which meant that when walking outside, she at most resembled a pretty girl with somewhat eccentric fashion taste.

While Yu Sheng was busy adjusting Hu Li's clothes, Ailin sat cross-legged atop the shoe cabinet nearby, propping her chin with both hands to watch the spectacle; just as Yu Sheng was nearly finished, she couldn't help but mutter, "Hu Li, you say you can 'hide' your ears and tail, so why can't you change your height, or the clothes on your body? My outfit is something I 'transformed' myself; can't you fox demons' 'transformation' abilities do that?"

"Powerful fox demons can!" Hu Li immediately defended her clan, "Papa said that powerful fox demons can even become as tall as a mountain in the blink of an eye! Running through the mountains and forests, chased by several thousand Security Immortals behind them; if caught, the sentence is over five hundred years. But, I can't! I only learned how to refine my ears and tail..."

Ailin listened, stunned, her expression quite strange: "Uh, well, that doesn't sound like something to be proud of... Hey, your speech is becoming much more fluent, isn't it?"

Hu Li immediately narrowed her eyes, looking very happy: "I just got used to it by speaking more and more."

Ailin's gaze shifted to Yu Sheng; who knew what thoughts were running through her head, but suddenly she spoke again: "You two are going out together..."

"Of course," Yu Sheng nodded, "She has no clothes, shoes, or socks, and she can't go out shopping alone; naturally, I must accompany her."

Ailin propped her chin with both hands: "I want to go out too."

Yu Sheng was startled upon hearing this; he finally realized what that puppet had been pondering intermittently since waking up this morning, but this caught him off guard: "You? How will you go out? A living puppet over sixty centimeters tall strolling openly outside? Do you have any idea how many people you'd frighten!"

"You carry me," Ailin stated righteously, "I'll disguise myself."

Yu Sheng didn't react immediately: "How will you disguise yourself?"

Ailin simply went limp, her limb joints dangling, staring wide-eyed with an expression of dying with regrets.

There wasn't even a highlight left in her eyes.

Her voice then rang out in the minds of Yu Sheng and Hu Li: "See, doesn't this look much more ordinary? There are plenty of one-third scale puppets in doll shops; if you leave me like this inside one, displayed in a showcase all day, no one would discover me..."

Yu Sheng was dumbfounded, instantly awestruck by Ailin's creativity.

But in his heart, he felt even more awkward: "Then wouldn't a grown man like me carrying a one-third scale puppet while strolling outside look a bit perverted..."

The highlight instantly returned to Ailin's eyes; the next second, she leaped directly from the shoe cabinet and pounced onto Yu Sheng's head: "You didn't think it was perverted when you carried me on your shoulders to fight monsters in the Other Realm, did you! Now that the fighting is done, you're unwilling to even take me out for a walk! Do you believe I'll bite a mouthful of tooth marks into your head—so many that not even a band-aid can cover them!"

Yu Sheng immediately flailed his hands in a panic to deal with the puppet clawing and brandishing on his head; after much effort, he managed to pry the creature off and tossed her directly to Hu Li, who was standing nearby in a daze: "Fine, fine, we'll take you out, but she has to carry you."

Ailin was immediately satisfied—she just wanted to go out; as long as she could go out, it didn't matter who carried her.

In fact, she didn't even mind being dragged out inside a suitcase; she could unzip it slightly to peek outside.

It had been a very, very long time since she had last seen the world outside.

"It's just that this painting of yours is a bit troublesome," Yu Sheng frowned, looking at the picture frame strapped to Ailin's back; due to the existence of this frame, Hu Li had to hold the puppet's body in a very awkward posture while also avoiding the frame blocking her line of sight, "Being conspicuous is one thing, but more importantly, it's in the way."

"Then take it off and carry it separately?" Ailin reached back and removed the picture frame from behind her, "As long as it doesn't get too far away, it should be fine."

Hu Li nodded, and without waiting for Yu Sheng to speak, she took the puppet's picture frame; immediately afterward, a large cluster of tails appeared behind her with a "Bang!", and she stuffed the frame into one of them.

This time, Yu Sheng finally couldn't hold back; he realized that the process of Hu Li hiding things inside her tail seemed different from what he had initially imagined: "... How exactly did you stuff it in?! Could it be that it's a dedicated storage space?!"

Hu Li blinked her eyes, only then realizing belatedly that she should turn around and spread out her tails to explain to Yu Sheng in detail for the first time: "This one is specifically for storage; these two are for hugging to keep warm while sleeping; these few can serve as blankets or can grab things very flexibly. Except for the storage one, the other few can be used during fights..."

Yu Sheng's expression froze: "... You mean launching them out?"

"Yes."

"Are all these the results of 'refinement'?"

"Yes."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, but could only remark that fox demons were truly miraculous.

Far more miraculous than the human body.

At the Special Duty Bureau's Second Brigade, Song Cheng entered the office today more than twenty minutes later than usual.

Almost the very next second after he had just settled himself at his desk, the monitor on the table lit up, and the seemingly eternally cold face of Special Duty Bureau Director Baili Qing appeared on the screen.

"It seems you have already been to the 'Train'," Baili Qing's calm voice came from the speaker nearby, "Was it not smooth?"

"Yes, but nothing went wrong," Song Cheng was not surprised by the Director's sudden contact, merely shaking his head with slight embarrassment, "Today's 'Train' carriage structure was more complex than usual; when retreating back to the real world, I discovered I had missed my stop."

"What was the result of the exchange with Passenger 22?" Baili Qing asked directly.

"... Director, something seems amiss," Song Cheng immediately adjusted his sitting posture, leaning his body slightly forward, "Regarding Wutong Road No. 66, the passenger's answer was 'No such station'—while this is unusual, it's not yet outrageous; the most abnormal part was when I asked about 'Nightfall Valley'..."

He paused, his expression becoming exceptionally grave: "Passenger 22 answered that this station has been cancelled."

For the first time, he saw such obvious surprise on Baili Qing's face.

He had always assumed the Director's face was frozen.

"This is the first time this answer has appeared," Song Cheng said, carefully observing the changes in Baili Qing's expression, "What do you think..."

"Immediately arrange for a deep diver to execute a dive," Baili Qing said quickly.

(End of Chapter)