Chapter 32
Because there was no camera inside the capsule, the audience only saw that after Yomi scared him by pretending to be a ghost, Anxius seemed to nudge him with his head. The two of them looked like they were having a great time. Much later, they heard Yomi say, “Go to sleep, Louis,” and only then did they belatedly realize that the little guy’s sudden ghost act had actually been meant to distract Louis.
Yes, the audience all knew that Louis was Yomi’s fan. And even if he were not, any carefully protected weak little companion who kept getting targeted by wild beasts again and again—and had even nearly been taken away for real once—would naturally leave anyone with psychological trauma if they put themselves in his place.
[This is what you call the sky clearing after rain. What a total relief.]
[Poor Yomi. I hope everything goes more smoothly for you from here on out…]
[Crocodiles Aren’t Fish: Teacher Mi isn’t as weak as you all think. After going through so much, he still hasn’t shown any intention of quitting the show. Even though Louis has always played the protector, I think Teacher Mi is more like the healer in a game, constantly giving Louis an endless supply of energy. Teacher Mi is the best!]
[Um… what was Louis saying just now? His voice was so low, I couldn’t hear it clearly.]
[Was he calling him Mimi? Whatever, it’s too late, I’m going to bed too. Good night, everyone!]
It was not until the next day that people realized what Anxius had said—that “baby.”
A Yomi fan who made edited screen recordings, out of pure curiosity, isolated that section of audio and magnified it for analysis. In the end, they could hardly believe it… Louis had actually said “baby”!
Too much! They, his loyal fans, had not even gotten to call him that yet!
That very morning, the members of Yomi’s global fan group angrily spent the entire morning calling him “baby” in the chat.
Even the few anti-fans lurking inside were so frightened they left the group.
Today was the fifth day of the live broadcast for It’s Okay to Be Different, and the fourth day of partner survival. There were only two days left.
Sure enough, the weather outside had cleared. The sun was bright, and beams of golden light poured into the mouth of the stone cave, looking warm just from sight alone.
Taking advantage of the fine weather, Yomi and Anxius, as if sharing the same thought, carried the things inside the cave out to dry in the sun.
Anxius also moved the capsule house onto a patch of grass fully drenched in sunlight.
They had only lived in this stone cave for a few days, but they had already accumulated quite a lot of belongings.
Anxius carried the large items, while Yomi bustled about with the smaller things he could manage, and also took that pair of black wings outside to sun them.
At first glance, it really looked as though a household lived there.
After finishing all that, he went hunting with Anxius.
Now that the weather had cleared, the rain dragons had long since disappeared.
This time, Anxius chose a smaller target—pheasants.
For such a huge monster, catching pheasants was child’s play. Anxius easily caught three of them, picked a few handfuls of wild fruit nearby, and then did not linger outside, heading straight back to the stone cave.
It was still early. Yomi told Anxius to rest first, saying he was not hungry yet.
In truth, he himself wanted to rest. He did not know why, but he felt especially sleepy today. More accurately, ever since arriving on the Leia Continent, his energy had been getting worse day by day. It just had not been very obvious the first few days. But after going out today, he came back feeling particularly exhausted.
Yomi thought it was because of the damp rainy weather. He took the bedsheet out of the capsule, spread it over the now-dry grass, and lay down on it in a big starfish pose to bask in the sun. When he saw Anxius walking over, he said to him through half-lowered eyelids, “You’re really not going to sleep? Then I’m going to nap for a while.”
Anxius did not leave the grassy patch. Nearby, he cleaned and prepared the pheasants, then came over and turned the sun-dried clothes over to the other side, after which he sat beside Yomi’s sheet and used his wings to drive away mosquitoes.
Yomi woke up after only half an hour. He still felt weak all over, but his body had been warmed by the sun, and he felt a little better. While still groggy, he caught the smell of roast chicken. Before he had even sat up, the monster had already crouched beside him holding a portion of cooked chicken, slicing it into pieces with a knife and feeding them into his mouth.
“It’s done roasting.”
Yomi thought he was just asking him to taste it, so he opened his mouth and ate.
Anxius kept feeding him slices of meat.
On the live broadcast screen, the monster was carefully feeding meat to the little person lying down.
[Sorry, I clicked in by mistake. This beautiful little guy with paralysis is so pitiful, and the person taking care of him is really attentive. Wishing him a speedy recovery!]
[?]
[This really is a newcomer, huh.]
[You didn’t click into the wrong room. This is indeed the livestream for It’s Okay to Be Different. Teacher Mi isn’t paralyzed, he just got tired from going out to hunt wild fruit!]
[Hunting wild fruit, hahaha…]
Yomi yawned and sat up. Honestly, he also felt lazy and weak right now. After thinking it over, aside from the dampness from before, maybe the fright had something to do with it too?
The roast chicken was delicious. After thanking him, Yomi would not let Anxius feed him anymore. He got up and followed him over to the fire, then broke off a drumstick and gnawed on it with relish.
This time his appetite was wide open. He ate an entire chicken by himself.
Anxius was very satisfied. After the meal, he went to throw away the food scraps, and when he turned back, he found that Yomi had lain down on the grass again.
This time Yomi was not asleep. He just wanted to bask in the sun a little longer and lift his spirits.
The Leia Continent after the rain was still beautiful. The sky was blue, the clouds were white, and the trees and grass were lush and green, like an oil painting that had swept away yesterday’s endless wind and rain completely.
A few birds skimmed across the sky. Looking at those ordinary birds, Yomi felt for a brief moment as though he were still in his original world.
A moment later, Anxius lay down beside him.
One big figure and one small figure lay side by side on the grass, basking in the sun.
The well-fed afternoon was very quiet. Even the mosquitoes seemed fewer. Yomi enjoyed this kind of peace. He plucked a long blade of grass and held it at his lips, feeling as though he too had become part of this vibrant wilderness.
After lying there a while, Anxius gradually grew sleepy. He wanted to nap, but he was afraid Yomi might get snatched away by some beast, so he simply spread out his wings and buried the little person beneath them, leaving only his head exposed.
Yomi understood his concern and obediently lay under his wings. He grinned and said, “It’s like being covered with a feather duvet.”
Anxius had already closed his eyes. Hearing that, he thought the little one was too warm, so his other wing instinctively stirred.
Stretching lazily, Yomi said, “I’m not hot. Get some proper rest.”
In a place like this, being able to eat well and drink well was already happiness enough.
After lying there a while, Yomi folded his hands behind his neck and looked up at the birds flying overhead in groups, as well as the drones, and could not help muttering inwardly: Would there really be a lot of people watching the livestream? The two of them spent every day hunting, eating, and sleeping—wouldn’t the audience get sleepy watching that too?
Whatever. Better take another nap.
He had been sleeping so much lately; maybe it was because he was growing. Growing taller was quite important, after all. A lot of boys were still growing even in their twenties. Yomi felt that he still had plenty of room to grow.
Thinking that, he yawned and happily closed his eyes.
The day passed fairly peacefully. Yomi ate his fill and slept his fill. After sunset, he and Anxius brought everything back into the stone cave together and spread fresh dry grass. The whole cave was filled with the scent of sunshine, making it perfect for sleeping.
Before it got dark, Yomi lay over his stone table and counted the days: only two more days, and they could leave this place.
Time had passed quite quickly…
There was no feeling of reluctance at all. He was not about to give up a convenient life just to yearn for this kind of primitive one. Besides, with his size, there was no way he could make a living in the wilderness.
He slept through the night until dawn, and it was now the fifth day of their partner survival.
The weather was still excellent. Anxius brought Yomi to the place where electric bulls appeared. This time, he was going to hunt one. The electric current from an electric bull was not something an ordinary person could endure, so Anxius brought the capsule along as well. He planned to tie the capsule—with Yomi inside it—to a tree branch. If some other beast really showed up, Yomi could simply shut the door and wait inside until Anxius came back.
This was not Yomi’s first time waiting for Anxius on a tree branch, so he had no objection to the arrangement. The two of them set out as usual, but an accident happened on the way…
Yomi had never imagined that he would run into another guest from the program here—the robot Arlo!
Yomi stared at him in astonishment, as though doubting whether this really was a guest from the show.
The monster frowned slightly, then very quickly acted as if he had not seen the other party at all and walked right past the robot, continuing toward the forest.
Arlo did not feel awkward in the least. Following behind them, he said, “So you really are here. Yomi, how did you turn into an egg?”
Yomi: “…This is a capsule house.”
Arlo: “How do you have a capsule house? Did you cheat?”
“No,” Yomi said, laughing helplessly. “We found an abandoned shelter. This was inside it.”
“You found it,” Anxius, who had not spoken until now, suddenly corrected him.
Yomi blushed, and by then Anxius had already found the giant tree where he would place him.
Anxius tied the capsule securely in place, then turned and shot the robot a warning glance. But he could tell Arlo had no ill intentions, so he was not overly wary.
To be honest, with someone accompanying Yomi, he could focus more fully on hunting. He turned back and checked the capsule house’s bindings again. After confirming there was no problem, he quickly headed toward the electric bull.
That left only Yomi and Arlo by the forest.
Yomi stuck his head out of the capsule and curiously sized up the lone robot. “Where’s your partner?”
“Arlo doesn’t like partners. Arlo wants to live alone!” The robot seemed delighted that Yomi was talking to him and lingered under the tree without leaving. “Yomi, you live in a bird’s nest. It looks very safe.”
“This is a capsule house,” Yomi stressed once again, then continued asking, “How did you end up here? The production team should have separated us by a very long distance, right?”
“Arlo can sense the drones’ positions. After leaving Jinwen’s nest, Arlo followed the direction of the nearest drones and found this place.” The robot gave him a standard smile. “Arlo and Yomi are very fated!”
Yomi could not laugh. Even for a robot, walking such a long distance must have taken a long time. He asked, “Aren’t you hungry?”
“Arlo can absorb sunlight. Yesterday there was sun, so Arlo walked very fast.”
This had touched on a knowledge blind spot for Yomi, and he was very surprised. “…That’s way too amazing.” In other words, if this robot stayed on the Leia Continent, then even without food or water, he would not lose?
A red patch appeared on the robot’s face.
After several days without seeing anyone besides Anxius, Yomi did not reject Arlo’s appearance at all. He was even rather happy about it. Arlo loved talking, and Yomi also loved chatting, so before long the two of them were bizarrely on the same wavelength, chattering away about their respective experiences.
[Arlo actually ran all the way over to Yomi and Louis! If I weren’t watching the livestream, I’d absolutely think this was scripted… heaven knows how far apart they were!]
[Arlo is a robot. If it were a normal person, they’d definitely be dead tired… by the way, is Jinwen okay?]
[Watched that side’s stream. Looks like he’s searching for Arlo now…]
[The painter has gone crazy, hahaha. He’s painting on the rock wall with prey blood…]
[How are Yomi and Arlo able to keep answering each other nonstop even though they aren’t even on the same channel?]
[Replying to upstairs: two chatterboxes can do that.]
[Since when is Teacher Mi a chatterbox?]
[You go spend a week in the wild—if you see another person, you’ll become a chatterbox too!]
[What do you mean by that? Isn’t Louis a person? My heart is cold!]
[Stop arguing. Louis succeeded over there! What a brilliant hunt!]
By the time Louis came back carrying the electric bull, Yomi had basically already learned almost everything about how Arlo had run away from home. He had not fallen out with Jinwen—he just was not used to partnering with someone, so they had each gone “solo.”
The program did not require partners to work together from start to finish, so there was naturally no rule saying that going solo counted as failure. After all, the production team secretly hoped some guests would stir things up, quarrel, and produce dramatic conflict.
Anxius was back. Yomi looked at Arlo, then at Anxius.
From far away, Anxius had already seen Yomi happily chatting with the robot. He was not opposed to the robot’s presence. He needed to hunt here, and if there was one more person to keep an eye on Yomi, he certainly would not object.
Receiving the signal in Anxius’s eyes, Yomi immediately asked Arlo, “Do you want to come with us?”
The robot nodded. “Arlo can go with Yomi.”
Just like that, the three of them returned to the stone cave together.
The robot looked like he was touring someone else’s new home. He paced back and forth around the cave several times, then came out and commented, “The stone cave is very clean.”
Yomi treated Arlo to “fruit tea.” “Thank you,” he said.
Arlo did not actually need to drink water, but when conditions allowed, he still liked eating and drinking. After having the “fruit tea,” he went off to find dry grass and make a bed for himself.
Yomi went to help him and even offered a suggestion: “This spot gets the morning sun. Why don’t you lay it here?”
By the time they had finished spreading the dry grass, Anxius had already roughly processed the electric bull and was now cutting it up and setting it over the fire.
Yomi led Arlo over to take a look. He asked, “Arlo, have you ever eaten electric bull?”
Arlo shook his head.
Yomi thought for a moment. “The texture is very tender. It’s delicious.” As he spoke, he went to toss more firewood into the flames, then suddenly remembered something. He got up, ran back into the stone cave, found the sour green fruit, glanced at Anxius, and smiled as he squeezed it over the meat on the rack. “I wonder if it’ll taste even better…”
Anxius understood what he meant. Taking the green fruit from his hands, he crushed it with one claw and drizzled all the juice over the meat.
Arlo stared, dumbfounded.
Once the fragrance came out, just like before, Anxius first cut Yomi’s portion into small pieces and placed them on a leaf. As for Arlo’s, he simply tore off a portion and handed it to him, then paid no more attention.
Arlo’s eyes widened as he ate. He could not consume too much food, so that one piece of meat was already enough for him to taste.
“Electric bull. Delicious,” Arlo said.
The three of them sat around the roast meat and ate together. Yomi got the feeling they were having a little gathering. Seeing that Arlo was eating too fast, he worried the other would choke and hurriedly said, “Slow down, or you’ll get hiccups.”
“Arlo is not yet fully human-shaped. Arlo won’t get hiccups.” As he said this, the robot swallowed the rest of the meat in one go.
Yomi watched in admiration. After finishing the fragrant beef, he was just about to suggest they all eat some fruit, but the obliging Arlo, now softened by having eaten their food, eagerly offered, “There’s a fun place. Do you want Arlo to take you there?”
Anxius looked toward Yomi.
Yomi froze for a moment, then asked, “What kind of place?”
Putting on an air of mystery, Arlo said, “Very safe, very fun. You’ll know when you get there.”
When one was bored, nobody could refuse going to an unknown but supposedly fun place.
“Alright. We have nothing to do anyway, so let’s go take a look.”
Before setting out, Arlo thought of another fun idea. He set his sights on the vines on the capsule house and wanted to use them as transportation, padding it with dry grass and pulling Yomi along.
The good news was that the moment he suggested it, Anxius adopted the idea. He made a little vine cart and had Yomi sit on it, then pulled the vine and followed Arlo forward.
The bad news was that Arlo could not pull it! He could only watch helplessly!
Whenever they hit a downhill slope, the vine cart would slide down very quickly, even tugging Anxius forward a bit.
The first time they slid downhill, both Yomi and Arlo, who was in front, laughed and thought it was fun.
When they hit a second slope, Anxius simply shortened the vine and quickened his pace, reaching the flat ground at the same time as the vine cart.
Seeing the pleasure in Louis’s eyes, Yomi felt a little regretful. Back when he was young, whenever there was heavy snow, he and his friends would use sledding gear to pull and push each other across the snow, and it had been great fun. If the size gap between him, Louis, and Arlo were not so huge, he would really have liked to take turns pulling them too, so they could experience that flying kind of joy.
[Got it. So Louis is a grassland sled dog, right?]
[Just don’t drag Teacher Mi into a ditch!]
[Arlo looks so wronged. It was obviously his idea, but he can’t pull anyone…]
[That look in Teacher Mi’s eyes—he’s not thinking of pulling Louis, is he? Don’t do it!]
[Who says dreams don’t matter! Charge ahead, Teacher Mi!]
[Mimi doesn’t need to be that stubborn. If all else fails, he can still marry into wealth at Lava Mountain in the future! [Rain Dragon heart gesture]]
[?]
Neither Arlo nor Anxius was slow. Nearly an hour later, they stopped in front of a patch of shrubs.
The ground was dappled with mottled light, and not far away there was the sound of running water.
Yomi climbed down from the vine cart. What he saw before him was a very tall thicket of shrubs, with some brightly colored stones around it. The scenery here was even better than it was near the stone cave, and there was a greater variety of plants. As for the shrubbery in front of them, it also looked different from the other bushes they had encountered before.
“There’s a maze inside the shrubs,” Arlo said. “Before I found you, I played maze games in there for a long time.” After saying that, he pointed to an obvious opening ahead that someone had clearly crawled through.
Half doubtful, Yomi walked toward the entrance. Inside, there really were many crisscrossing passages. It truly was a natural maze.
Arlo said, “Yomi goes in and hides. Arlo will come find you.”
…Hide-and-seek? Yomi smiled. He actually did want to try it. But when he walked into the shrubs and happened to look up once, his smile vanished.
He saw Anxius’s horns above, and the back of Arlo just after he turned away…
Yomi: “…”
He walked back out. “That’s not fair. You’re both too tall—you can completely see me from above.”
“No! Arlo hasn’t peeked yet!” the robot said, only to realize he had exposed himself, and promptly covered his own mouth.
“…”
Anxius pressed his lips together and said nothing. He really did need to keep an eye on the other, in case anything unexpected happened.
Yomi said, “…Forget it. I’ll just play the maze.” He turned and went back into the shrubs. After hesitating for a while at a fork in the path, he chose one route and went forward.
After walking for some time, he actually found a pheasant at one of the forks. Startled by the sound, it fled. For a moment both the person and the chicken were frightened. The chicken ran off, and the little person continued onward with a knife in hand.
It was supposed to be a maze game, but along the way Yomi also picked up quite a few things: pretty feathers, nice-looking little stones, and some fruit shells.
The maze game gradually turned into a treasure hunt.
Yomi was having a wonderful time. Back when he was bored, he could spend an entire day playing Tetris. This sort of immersive “adventure” game was far more fun than Tetris. Once he got absorbed in it, he would even forget the time.
Whenever he came to a narrower passage, Yomi would crawl through it. Occasionally, he would call out Louis’s and Arlo’s names just to make sure the two of them were still there.
Outside the shrubs, Arlo stood on tiptoe and watched the little person crawling inside the maze. He had just reached one hand through the bushes in front of Yomi to scare him when a black wing smacked him so hard he went dizzy.
Arlo immediately guiltily explained, “Arlo wasn’t trying to scare him. Arlo just thought he was cute and wanted to poke him.”
“…”
After disciplining the troublesome robot, the monster quietly moved closer to where Yomi was. Watching Yomi inside struggle to choose a path at a fork, he slowly spread his wings. All at once, he also wanted to play with him…
