Chapter 42
Move the car?
Yomi hurriedly stopped and turned to look at where the sightseeing cart had been parked before. Mm, it really was blocking the road a little.
He had almost thought the driver had forgotten him because he was so small… Just as he thought, the driver was not that unreliable after all. Yomi wiped away his sweat, still panting, and slowed his pace.
The driver and the animal trainer had already run over. To be honest, the commotion behind them had frightened them badly too. Seeing that Yomi was fine, they quickly explained things to the tourists on that side, who were already buzzing with discussion:
“This is our temporary trainer for the dance ant zone, not a dance ant, so please don’t misunderstand!”
The tourists gasped.
Not a dance ant? Could a trainer really be this tiny? Surely there was not a child inside?
…Impossible. There was no way the zoo would employ child labor.
Faced with the ironclad truth, they widened their eyes and stared curiously at the little trainer in the dance ant mascot suit.
Yomi followed the driver forward. He lowered his head and gently patted the newly bought doll in his arms. When he looked up again, he noticed a black-haired teenage boy by the roadside staring fixedly at him.
He froze slightly, then glanced at the trainer beside him, who had been constantly greeting the tourists at the roadside. Immediately, Yomi also raised the little doll and smiled as he waved at the boy.
Hello, welcome to the zoo!
Arlo’s expression turned blank.
Seeing the tiny little thing waving in their direction, Linda was overjoyed. “Oh my god, so cute… I didn’t even know there were adults this small on Snar! He really is the dance ant trainer!”
But her son still did not move. Only after the little trainer followed the two tall Snar natives into the cart and drove away did he finally come back to himself.
His heart was pounding wildly, and all the fatigue from earlier had been swept away. Seeing the sightseeing cart about to disappear, Arlo suddenly asked Linda, “Mom, which direction are they going?”
“To the dance ant exhibit. That’s exactly where I was taking you…” Noticing the sudden excitement in her son, Linda smiled. “So, do we still want to go see the dance ants?”
How could he possibly not go?
Arlo’s ears turned red. He grabbed his camera and pulled his mother along as he rushed in that direction. “Let’s hurry, or we’ll miss it…”
But despite being anxious, Arlo soon realized they simply could not get there right away—the path leading to the dance ant zone was packed with way too many tourists!
Besides the natural appeal of the dance ants themselves, the appearance of the tiny trainer had also ignited even more interest in the dance ant zone. Tourists who had originally planned to go to other areas were now heading straight for the dance ant exhibit too.
When they reached the dance ant zone, Yomi spotted Bruel and Karl from afar. The two of them had already secured the best viewing spot in the audience area, and they were waving at him at the same time.
Yomi gave them a reassuring look, then followed the trainer into the staff area behind the exhibit.
After seeing his outfit, the zoo director nodded in satisfaction again and again.
Big Eye the dance ant had just wandered around the exhibit once. When he saw Yomi arrive, he also came running back into the work area where the audience could not see.
“Today is just a rehearsal in the exhibit area, so it’s fine even if something goes wrong. Come pick the song,” the trainer said happily as he opened up his optical brain. Out of everyone there, he was the most excited.
How could he not be excited? After starting the job days ago, today was finally the day he officially got to work!
Several popular songs from recent years appeared on the screen in the work area, along with some classical music. Since the trainer had to interact with the dance ant, they could not choose a song the trainer was completely unfamiliar with. So he asked Yomi, “Which one do you want to use? Or… do you have a song you especially like?”
Yomi had just handed the doll gift to Big Eye. Hearing the trainer’s question, he looked puzzled. “Shouldn’t Big Eye choose?”
All the staff burst out laughing. “Big Eye can dance to any song. He’s a true king of song and dance. Even if it’s a song he’s never heard before, the moment the rhythm starts, he’ll start dancing!”
So amazing. Yomi glanced at Big Eye, who was holding the doll, then turned back to the song list with a troubled expression. He had only heard a few of the songs, and none of them were really his favorites. The more he looked, the more indecisive he became.
Seeing that he was not feeling inspired by the music library here, the director quietly prompted him, “Next Monday is the three-hundredth anniversary of our zoo, a very happy occasion. If today’s rehearsal goes well, then next Monday we’ll use the same dance and song from today. So… maybe you could choose something that sounds more festive?”
The moment he heard the words happy occasion and festive, one particular song instantly popped into Yomi’s mind!
The bad news: Snar did not have this song.
The good news: the song was incredibly easy to learn—you basically knew it after hearing it once!
After Yomi explained his idea, everyone in the room fell silent.
They looked at each other, and the same sentence seemed written all over their faces:
Learn it on the spot? Can that really work?
But looking at Big Eye, who was raising both little feet and dancing in enthusiastic agreement, the director smiled and made the final decision. “Then it’s settled! It’ll definitely work!”
Meanwhile, by the time Arlo managed to squeeze through the crowd with Linda and find a decent viewing spot, half an hour had already passed. He tiredly unscrewed a bottle of water and handed it to Linda, inexplicably feeling as though he had just fought his way out of an army of thousands.
Many of the tourists were holding drinks and snacks, patiently waiting for the appearance of Big Eye, the little dance ant star.
The audience members closest to the front noticed the door opening and immediately called out to the others, “Wow, Big Eye is coming out!”
The men and women who had still been looking at their optical brains instantly looked up.
The first one to walk out was a trainer nearly three meters tall. He was dressed in a black-and-white dance ant mascot suit and raised his hand with a smile to greet and interact with the audience. Then, amid the crowd’s cheers, Big Eye the dance ant quickly crawled out as well!
“Big Eye! Big Eye!”
“So cute! This is the plumpest dance ant I’ve ever seen!”
“What’s he doing? Why does he keep looking back after coming out?”
“Ah, there’s another dance ant behind him!”
“What dance ant? That’s the new trainer!”
“What?”
Amid all kinds of voices, Yomi also walked out in time. He and the other trainer stood on either side of Big Eye. Copying the other trainer, he rose onto his toes, swayed his body, and lifted his hands high to greet the audience.
The enthusiasm of the crowd far exceeded his expectations. There were not only cheers, but countless screams too.
As expected of the beloved dance ants.
If the director had not arranged for a large number of bodyguards in advance, the scene would almost have gone out of control.
And this was only the beginning.
Just as everyone was wildly snapping photos with their cameras, they suddenly saw the two trainers below—whose size difference was enormous—step forward together. At the same time, yet another group emerged from behind the door, beating gongs and drums. The rhythm they created was strong and lively, and hilariously festive!
One old fan of Big Eye happened to be standing next to Arlo. She said in confusion, “They’ve never used this kind of music before, and it’s even being played live. Could it be that Big Eye still hasn’t accepted the new trainer?”
Just as the audience was murmuring among themselves, that little trainer suddenly moved.
“He’s leading the dance!” Big Eye’s longtime fan exclaimed in disbelief. “Big Eye is dancing along with him too! Wait, what kind of dance is this?”
Yomi had indeed started moving.
He spread his arms and began doing school broadcast calisthenics.
And while doing it, he sang into the microphone by his mouth:
“Hey, the joyful gongs and drums bring out the festivity of every year~
Beautiful dances send us cheer every single day~
The sunshine’s colors have painted today bright red~
The flowers of life are our smiling faces…
Hey! Today is a good day…”
Yes. The instant Yomi heard the director mention a happy day and festivity, the first song that came to mind was the absolutely, one-hundred-percent festive classic: “Today Is a Good Day.”
The song was catchy and not hard to learn. The trainer had practically figured out how to sing it after hearing it only once.
As for the calisthenics, Yomi did not know how to dance. The only full routine he could perform from beginning to end was the school broadcast calisthenics everyone had to do every day back when he was studying. It had originally just been a suggestion. But after he tried doing one set, Big Eye unexpectedly loved it and kept dancing nonstop.
The director had immediately declared: Then dance that!
At first, the audience area fell silent for a few seconds. Then someone laughed. And once that first laugh broke through, all the others who had been desperately holding it in could not take it anymore. In an instant, enormous waves of laughter and applause came crashing over them.
Naturally, Yomi—who was leading the dance ant performance in the middle of the gong-and-drum music—heard the commotion too. He looked blankly at the other trainer, then hurriedly spun around, kicked out a leg, and continued singing Today Is a Good Day.
Big Eye was extremely cooperative. His calisthenics were even more standard than the trainer’s—only, he was not very well-behaved while dancing. At one point, he tried to use the opportunity to get close to the little trainer and nearly kicked the big trainer’s butt while the man was squatting down.
Big trainer: “…”
Audience: “…”
It was obvious that the relationship between the three of them was… complicated.
Watching all of this from above, the director wiped his tears hard. Looking at the uproar in the dance ant zone, he knew they had succeeded—and not just with the rehearsal.
Bruel’s hand had gone numb from filming, but he still did not dare relax, afraid he might miss Yomi’s cutest shot.
And the truth was, every shot was adorable. Even though the song was so festive, when sung by the little one, it sounded especially sweet… Baby really was a born singer!
Karl was filming just as intently. After all, videos shot from different angles gave completely different feelings. He certainly did not think that just because Bruel was filming, he no longer needed to… Fine, even if the Crown Prince had suddenly ordered him to send a live real-time broadcast, the video was still being held in his hands!
In a dimly lit room, the monster sat on the bed receiving an IV drip, his golden pupils fixed unblinking on the live stream of Yomi’s performance coming from Karl.
Dressed in the dance ant mascot costume, Yomi was doing the calisthenics seriously and singing seriously too. He did not break character and laugh even once.
When Yexi knocked and came in, he was a little surprised.
This was the secret hospital Anxius had prepared for himself, located in a private base outside the main city district. Everyone in the base worked for the Crown Prince.
And this somewhat irregular hospital would soon perform a human-form restoration surgery on the Crown Prince of the Empire—a surgery no one had ever attempted before.
A great deal of preparation was needed before the surgery: daily infusions, medicine… Under the effects of the drugs, Anxius would become more or less violent each time, and Yexi would need to promptly give him a sedative injection.
Yexi had come over now because he had a feeling this might be the Crown Prince’s period of violent flare-up. Carrying his medical case, he carefully opened the door—only to be met with an extremely calm scene.
The Crown Prince was gazing absently at the light screen opposite him.
“Hey! Today is a good day…” The little dance ant in the screen—no, the little trainer—was singing while leading the dance ant through those strange movements. Tiny as he was, he had thrown the entire audience into a frenzy.
Yexi froze, then looked again at Anxius.
The monster’s gaze was glued tightly to the little figure in the video. That face naturally carried a chilling aura that made others shudder, yet at this moment, he smiled.
Yexi was shocked. Faintly, he guessed something. Without thinking, he blurted out, “The one you plan to form a symbiotic bond with after the human-form surgery… is it him?”
Anxius said nothing. He only gave him a warning look.
From that reaction alone, Yexi understood everything.
There was a madman living inside his body too. For the sake of his ideals, he could throw everything away. As for the Crown Prince risking the surgery in order to form a symbiosis with this little one, he did not find it impossible to understand.
Perhaps, to the Crown Prince, that little person was his ideal.
But before leaving, Yexi still could not help asking, “Your Highness Anxius, forgive my boldness, but… what is he to you?”
The room fell into a terrifying silence.
The monster quietly watched the bouncing little figure on the screen.
Yexi was already used to his indifference and was just about to withdraw when Anxius suddenly spoke:
“My treasure.”
…
When Yomi, the trainer, and Big Eye bent down together to take their curtain call, the audience’s excitement could no longer be contained. As if they had all agreed beforehand, they cupped their hands around their mouths and shouted loudly:
“So cute! You’re amazing! Keep it up, keep it up—!”
This was only a rehearsal, so they would not actually be leaving the exhibit area. Yomi smiled and looked toward the trainer and Big Eye.
When Big Eye lifted his little foot, Yomi immediately understood and went over to high-five him. The trainer followed with a high-five too. “Success, success! Our rehearsal this time went really smoothly!”
The trainer did not feel tired at all. Then, looking out at the grand spectacle outside that resembled a celebrity concert, the hot-blooded trainer directly scooped up both Big Eye and Yomi, one in each hand, and started running laps along the wall.
“Ahhh!”
The spectators pressed up against the wall and hurried closer, wishing they could pet those two adorable little cuties too.
Of course, that was only what they wished in their hearts. Without permission, tourists were not allowed to touch the dance ants or the trainers.
Once Yomi was lifted up by the excited trainer, his field of vision rose. Before long, he spotted Bruel and Karl, then grinned and waved both arms at them with all his strength.
The spectators beside Bruel and Karl cried out in flattered delight, “He’s waving so hard at me! He likes me!”
Bruel/Karl: “…”
While being carried around, Yomi also spotted an unexpectedly familiar face!
It was that slime named Jian.
Yomi stared at the slime, who was bouncing enthusiastically and clapping, and immediately waved back.
He had no idea why Jian was here, but seeing an old friend still made him very happy.
As soon as the rehearsal ended, Yomi went straight to the dressing room to change clothes. He wanted to know why Jian was here. Logically speaking, he ought to still be participating in the second episode of the show.
After changing back into normal clothes, more than half the audience had already dispersed. Naturally, after watching the dance ants, people moved on to see the other animals.
Fortunately, Jian had not left. As soon as Yomi went over, he saw the slime’s impossible-to-ignore figure.
It seemed Jian had stayed there just to wait for him. He had not moved at all. The moment he saw Yomi, he ran toward him too.
The two of them ran toward each other, then both slowed down at the same time as they got close. Just as Yomi was about to greet him, he saw that Jian was holding out two apples in his hand.
“Yomi,” Jian said, handing them all to him. “For you to eat.”
At the same time, Bruel and Karl came over as well. Both of them had watched Different Is Fine Too before, so they recognized this slime.
But unlike Bruel and Yomi, who knew nothing about the second episode, Karl was aware of some of the inside details. After staring for two seconds at the apples in the slime’s hand, he burst out laughing. “This… isn’t this your task for this episode?”
Task?
Yomi was stunned. “You mean… you’re still livestreaming right now?!”
Jian nodded and pointed at the little bee camera floating in the air.
Yomi: “…”
The slime twisted his body and leaned against the wall as he explained the task for this episode to Yomi.
Their episode had already begun smoothly a while ago. Since the production team had temporarily found two extra guests, there were still five pairs total. But because Joseph was currently unable to leave the main city district, this episode’s challenge was about completing business tasks at different places around the main city. Each pair was given starting food, but aside from that they had nothing at all, and needed to survive by working or using other methods. Of course, simply surviving was not difficult, but this episode also required them to calculate how much money they earned. To complete the mission, they had to at least earn the minimum amount set by the show. This time, each pair had to make five thousand star coins within one week.
On average, that meant each pair had to earn at least over seven hundred star coins per day. Divided between two people, each person needed to make roughly three to four hundred per day.
That was not easy at all, especially since they still had expenses of their own. Someone like Jinwen, who had been used to a luxurious standard of living before, might earn a little only to spend it all right away. But for someone like the painter, who had an actual skill to rely on, it was possible to make enough in a short time…
Jian was paired with Joseph. The two had decided to set up a fruit stall somewhere with heavy foot traffic nearby. But Joseph did not understand the market and got tricked. He used the money they had worked so hard to earn over the past few days to wholesale fruit at a high price… In order to sell the fruit, Joseph had asked Jian to stand in front of the stall and act cute to attract customers. Jian had “acted cute” with a lot of attitude. Taking advantage of Joseph not being around, he counted the money they had left, felt there was no way they could finish the task, and directly bought a ticket to the nearby zoo. But since he did not want to come for nothing, he carried a pile of fruit inside with him.
By the time he noticed the huge commotion at the dance ant zone, he had already sold quite a lot and was left with only two apples.
Curious, Jian followed the crowd over to the dance ant zone, and then saw Yomi, whom he had not seen in a long time.
Even with the dance ant mascot suit on, Jian recognized him at a glance. That tiny size, that clear and bright voice—it was definitely Yomi!
After hearing Jian’s explanation, Yomi understood everything. He borrowed a little cash from Karl and bought one of Jian’s apples.
Jian shook his head.
Yomi said, “If you hadn’t specifically saved them for me, someone around here definitely would have bought them. It was really crowded just now, and buying things was inconvenient. Someone definitely would have bought your apples. I’m only buying one now. The other one is the one you’re giving me.”
Jian was silent for a while, then nodded. In an awkward voice, he asked, “Yomi, how can I contact you in the future?”
Yomi opened his optical brain and added Jian as a friend.
The two of them happily left the zoo together. Jian still had filming to continue, and Yomi waved goodbye to him. “Take it slowly. If business goes especially well one day, maybe you’ll make enough to complete the task. And if you don’t make enough, just treat it as gaining experience in starting a business.”
Jian: “Mm-hmm!”
Back in the livestream chat that the two of them could not see, the comments began flooding in like crazy:
[Didn’t they say Yomi wouldn’t be in this episode? Ahhh, tell me who this is then?!]
[Wuwuwu, Jian actually got to run into Teacher Mi, he’s too lucky!]
[Seeing that Teacher Mi looks healthy and well, I’m finally relieved!]
[I really want to watch these two babies run a business together!]
[Um… the place where Yomi is looks like the dance ant exhibit I just visited. That little trainer earlier… it couldn’t have been him, could it?]
[?]
That day, when Yexi returned home, he immediately felt that something was off.
His son, who had been silent and depressed ever since coming to Snar, was actually laughing in his room—and making obvious little strangled noises as if trying hard to suppress them.
Yexi looked like he had seen a ghost. “What is going on?”
Linda made a shushing gesture at him and hurried over to whisper, “I took Arlo to the zoo today. On the way back, he kept laughing the whole time. Later, I don’t know what he saw online, but he started catching up on that really popular recent show, I think it’s called Different Something… He likes it a lot. But that’s a good thing, right? It’s much better than before, when nothing could interest him at all.”
It was a good thing, but Yexi was baffled. Normally, his son did not even like variety shows very much…
Arlo’s bedroom door was left slightly ajar, so Yexi quietly went over and peeked inside.
At a glance, he saw that familiar little figure on the screen.
Against a lush green background, the little person—so pretty he barely looked real—was shouting toward the camera with reddened lips:
“Pitaya! There are actually pitayas here…”
His son started making weird little noises again.
Yexi: “…”
