The Only Human in the World – CH8

Chapter 8

Yomi’s brain was completely overloaded.

His thoughts were still in utter turmoil when a tremendous rumbling sound came from above, shaking his ears painfully. He quickly covered them and looked up.

…Another starship!

But as the starship drew closer, the monster, who had originally been relatively quiet, seemed to be provoked by something. He let out a roar, his face gradually twisting, those oppressive golden eyes seeming as though they had been drenched in blood… and his gaze never once left Yomi.

A moment later, the monster tilted his head slightly. His face sank into shadow, and suddenly a scorching, flame-like aura stretched out from him as he reached with a claw to grab Yomi!

He wanted to catch Yomi, so that the other party would not be harmed in the coming chaos.

And yet his body, his aura—everything about him—in little Yomi’s eyes was an unbearable danger, an attack he could not withstand…

Yomi hurriedly backed away and ducked under the little pushcart nearby.

At that moment, inside the starship, Karl was issuing orders for the surrounding civilians to be evacuated while also instructing soldiers with illusion-type abilities to properly conceal Ansius’s true form. At the same time, he had people prepare a giant iron cage… Once Ansius entered a fully uncontrollable berserk state, this was the only way to take him away. It was also the worst-case plan.

Heaven knew Karl had nearly been scared to death when he discovered that the Crown Prince’s true form had run out to look for that little one.

As for why His Highness Ansius had not gone over wearing his human-skin suit…

That had to do with what happened yesterday in the black market. Just thinking about the scene made Karl feel sorry for Ansius.

He had never imagined that the person Ansius had been searching for all this time was actually working in a doll shop in the black market…

At the time, Ansius had been so unusually agitated that he failed to control the mutation of his true body and directly tore the newly worn human-skin suit.

And making a new human-skin suit would take at least three days.

That created a vicious cycle. Ansius’s true body had been too anxious, and he entered a berserk state on the spot… They had spent a great deal of effort before finally managing to take him away.

Unexpectedly, Ansius ran out again that very same day. Fortunately, after secretly looking at the little one, he had returned to the palace rationally.

And today he had come out again to follow him!

Karl was panting and drenched in sweat! Staring at the condition of the monster below, he was just about to give a signal when his movement suddenly halted.

The soldier beside him also widened his eyes and muttered, “What is His Highness doing…”

On the ground—

Within the space sealed off by a circle of mist, the violent monster, after seeing the trembling legs of the little figure under the cart, suddenly stopped moving.

A breeze brushed past. The enormous monster once again withdrew his wings and claws. He crouched down, his tall body nearly pressed to the ground, tilting his head to look at the boy beneath the little pushcart.

Yomi slowly lifted his eyelids. The monster’s fierce face was right before him.

Yomi did not dare make a sound.

After a terrifying silence, the monster rasped out two hoarse syllables: “Yomi…”

“……”

On the starship, everyone could not help but gasp in astonishment.

Karl stared at the scene in shock.

His Highness Ansius had actually pulled himself out of his berserk state on his own.

…This was the first time he had done so since suffering that grave injury.

Karl instantly thought of the purification ability Snaran had long since lost, and his eyes widened at once.

Could it be… could it be that this tiny Snaran from the wilderness possessed a purification skill?!

Looking at the figure below, so small he was almost impossible to see, Karl’s expression grew grave.

At that moment, a scout beside him, wearing glasses with detection skills, said, “Mr. Karl, His Highness Ansius has already withdrawn his combat abilities. There’s no need to worry.”

Karl nodded, then asked in a grave tone, “What about the small one?”

“What?”

“That tiny little one… is he still releasing purification skills?”

The other man looked baffled. “That little guy doesn’t have any skills.”

“…None?”

“Right. Not only does he not have any now, he probably never will.”

Silence.

Karl straightened awkwardly, rubbed his nose, and sighed. “Then hurry and invite His Highness Ansius to leave.”

Yomi had never experienced anything like this before.

His mind was blank. When that monster softly called out his name and sent him a friend request through his light-brain, perhaps because he was too stunned, too unable to understand what was happening… in all the confusion, he had no idea how he somehow ended up pressing accept.

A short while later, the monster flew into the silver starship in the sky. With a burst of rumbling noise, the ship quickly disappeared without a trace.

Yomi stood up in a daze. Looking at the pile of brand-new clothes in front of him, he remained frozen for a long time before finally hailing a ride.

The driver stuffed both Yomi and the little pushcart inside and sent him all the way home without any trouble.

In short, Yomi could not make sense of anything that had happened today.

He struggled to think it through for a long while, then simply gave up, tidied up the clothes, and hung them neatly in the wardrobe.

That evening, Lili’s parents invited him to eat with them.

Yomi said in surprise, “Is that really okay?”

Lili’s mother said, “In a way, we’re neighbors too. And you often keep Lili company—we still haven’t thanked you properly.”

Yomi agreed. That night, he even bought a basket of fruit and pushed it in on his little cart.

Lili was so excited that she ran over to help him push it, treating it like a little toy. “Fun, fun! So fun! So cute!”

Yomi played with her for a while. When he heard dinner was ready, he took Lili to wash her hands and went with her to the dining room.

A variety show was playing on the light screen. The moment Yomi saw the host on it, his eyes widened. “Exchange Life?”

“That’s right. You used to work at that restaurant too, didn’t you? If I hadn’t been chatting with a colleague today, I wouldn’t even have known you’ve been working so hard outside.”

Yomi froze, then shook his head. “That job wasn’t hard.”

Lili’s father said, “How could it not be? You had to stand there the whole day, and every time someone turned the spring, you had to move with the music box immediately. And that kind of job was temporary work, right? If you had a steady job, you definitely wouldn’t have had time to do it. Once it was over, you had to go find another job… You must have suffered quite a few grievances, haven’t you?”

Yomi said, “It was okay.”

Lili’s mother said, “But you seem to be quite popular. One of my female coworkers kept saying you were adorable after watching the episode. The program team protects ordinary people, so they won’t reveal your privacy. The audience doesn’t even know your name, so the people who like you gave you a nickname—Little Music Box Baby!”

Lili’s father clinked glasses with him. “You work this hard. Things will definitely keep getting better and better for you.”

Lili clapped her hands. “Mimi is going to become a super rich man!”

The whole family laughed.

Yomi blushed all the way to his ears from what they said, and he smiled too, lowering his head to eat.

That night, after returning to his wooden hut, Yomi turned on his light-brain and started searching for information related to the latest aired episode of Exchange Life.

Among the many comments praising or mocking the guests, there really were quite a few mentioning him.

[That tiny little staff member worked so hard!]

[Hehe… I’m already imagining how gorgeous he must be after taking off the mask!!!]

[Forget it. If he’s wearing a mask, it definitely means his exposed monster traits aren’t pretty. I’d advise you not to expect too much.]

[He’s already so cute, what nonsense are you talking about? Buzzkill, get lost!]

…

Yomi shyly read those comments. While he felt happy, he also felt a little worried.

He was not a Snaran. Too much attention would not be a good thing for him.

A new day arrived quickly.

In the morning, while Yomi was still combing his hair, he first received a call from his boss Vera. “Hurry and check the trending topics!”

He quickly opened the social media app on his light-brain and tapped into the trending page.

Vera asked, “Did you see it?”

Yomi fell silent.

…He was on the trending list.

Trending No. 5: #MusicBoxDoll

When he clicked in, it was full of screenshots of him from the show, videos of him changing poses with the music box, and behind-the-scenes clips of several guests deliberately trying to make him laugh or even scare him, while he remained completely motionless…

The hottest one was a small behind-the-scenes clip shot outside the restaurant.

It had captured the moment Yomi split half his cake and gave it to a friend.

After that, discussion about him kept increasing. Someone had even created a dedicated fan account for him: Little Music Box Baby Observation Diary

The newest post on that account was precisely the behind-the-scenes cake-sharing clip.

The comments were lively.

[I’m crying!]

[Too cute and too pitiful… I want to buy every little cake in that restaurant for baby!]

[That boy isn’t Little Baby’s boyfriend, is he? Aaaahhh I refuse to allow him to fall in love so soon!]

Under that comment, an account with an octopus avatar replied:

[Nope, just a friend.]

[Did the real person show up???]

The other side said nothing more.

Yomi knew that was Lynn’s account. He placed a video call to Lynn. “Sorry, I dragged you into this.”

Lynn shook his head, looking especially happy. “Mimi, you’re amazing! I’d never seen you act as the music-box doll before. I had no idea you could play it so perfectly!”

Yomi’s ears reddened. “I didn’t know either.”

Lynn asked, “Do you still have to go film today?”

Yomi nodded. “Boss already called me.”

“Then hurry and go. We’ll celebrate later!”

“Okay.”

After locking the door, Yomi headed to the shop in high spirits.

The moment he pushed the door open, Vera and the photographer looked at him awkwardly.

Yomi said, “I’m in great condition today. On the way here, I even thought of several new poses for the photos!”

“Yomi…” Vera began.

“Boss, yesterday that hat was a little tight. Shouldn’t we alter it a bit?”

Vera stood up. “All right, we can talk about that later. Yomi, come with me first.”

Yomi obediently followed her into the office inside.

There was a small bouquet of flowers on the desk. Yomi said, “So pretty. Is it today’s photo prop?”

Vera picked up the small bouquet and gently placed it in his arms. “Yomi… I can’t keep employing you anymore.”

The smile froze on Yomi’s face.

Vera turned her head away, not daring to look at him, her voice hoarse. “You’ve gotten a little famous online now… A lot of people are trying to find out your information. You know, every shop owner and worker here has to follow one rule—that is, absolutely no drawing attention. And now you’re being watched… This isn’t your fault, but there’s really nothing I can do.”

Yomi quietly looked at the bouquet in his arms. After a long while, he finally sorted through the tangled logic behind it all and nodded. “I understand.”

With reddened eyes, Vera settled his wages. When she saw Yomi off, her voice trembled with tears she could not hold back. “Yomi, I really like you… I’m going to contact more friends outside during this period and see whether there’s any suitable work for you.”

Yomi smiled and said, “Thank you. I’ll find work.”

Yomi went home holding the flowers.

On the way back, he thought about many things. He felt that his situation was already much better than it had been at the beginning. Before finding another stable job, he could keep doing odd jobs, and he now had some savings, so he did not have to stay so tightly wound.

While he was thinking, Lynn called: “Mimi, a new fast-food restaurant just opened near the furniture factory, and they’re running a promotion. After work, I’ll come pick you up and we’ll go eat together!”

Yomi said, “Okay.”

After the call ended, his eyes blinked slowly, then gradually turned red.

That face, so soft and easy to bully, was finally covered in tears.

And yet very soon, he wiped the tears away completely, hugged the flowers, and walked over to the recruitment board nearby.

There were many jobs, but almost every listing stated a required height of at least x meters.

A condition that was not strict at all for Snaran was, for Yomi, an obstacle he could never overcome.

Yomi rubbed his eyes and continued looking down. This time, he finally found a flyer that did not limit height:

[Burrowing Contest Now in Full Swing! Small-sized contestants sincerely invited to join!]

He read it carefully. The contest involved crawling through all kinds of strange rock caves. After successfully clearing a challenge, contestants could receive prize money based on the size of the cave, with the highest prize reaching one hundred thousand star coins!

Yomi burst into laughter through his tears.

After copying down the information from the electronic flyer, Yomi hurried home and started writing an email to sign up.

As soon as the email was sent, his light-brain began chiming—it was a video call from an unfamiliar number.

…Were they this efficient?

Yomi hastily tidied his hair, cleared his throat, and accepted the call.

The figure that appeared in the projection was a man of about thirty, wearing glasses and a suit. “Hello, Yomi, I’m Karl! Um… would you please allow Crown Prince Ansius to take care of you for a period of time? Please think it over carefully. We will pay you corresponding compensation!”

Yomi let out a soft breath, hung up the call at once, and immediately tapped the option to report it as a scam call.

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