CH 50

TL: Moonlit

At breakfast time, Xie Feng finally got to eat the roasted sweet potato as he wished. To be honest, he felt it was the most delicious roasted sweet potato he had ever tasted. The texture and flavor were excellent, and he almost ate even the sweet potato skin.

By the campfire, everyone watched in silence as Xie Feng ate the sweet potato while shedding tears. He cried, ate, and thanked Shu Shuishui all at once.

Everyone: …

After finishing the emotional outburst and the meal, Xie Feng wiped away his tears and hiccupped, looking as if nothing had happened. “Why are you all staring at me? When are we setting off?”

Yu Jin watched the transition from crying to composure within seconds and silently gave Xie Feng a thumbs-up. This ability to switch emotions so effortlessly, along with the earlier boastful talk of patting a mouse’s butt and the rumored talent to modify simulators, made Yu Jin feel inferior in comparison.

Nan Ge saw that Xie Feng’s emotions had completely calmed down and felt relieved. It seemed that Xie Feng had truly made up his mind. “We’ll depart in an hour. The temperature is still low now. Do you need anything to take with you? Nan Fang and Yu Jin can help you.”

“Sure!” Xie Feng’s eyes lit up. “I have a lot of things. Since we’re leaving, I’ll bring everything over. Can’t let others benefit for free!”

Hearing this, Nan Ge and Yu Jin’s eyes also brightened. Who would complain about having too many resources? Of course, they would bring everything! Yu Jin patted Xie Feng’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’re all on the same side now. I’ll take care of things here. From now on, we’re family.”

Touched, Xie Feng nodded. It took him a moment to realize that something wasn’t quite right, but he was already being dragged toward Fei Luo’s base.

Meanwhile, Shu Shuishui watched Yu Jin and the other three walk away together, arms around each other’s shoulders. He tilted his small body and scratched his head with his paw, then sighed leisurely. “Youth is great!”

Nan Ge chuckled. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling old, Shuishui?”

Shu Shuishui earnestly nodded his little head, then turned to look at Gu Langu. “Will you find me unattractive? I heard people nowadays prefer younger guys, and I may be a piece of old dried meat, but I’m not too bad.”

Gu Langu’s expression was momentarily perplexed. He had seen Shu Shuishui in a brief human form, and no matter how he looked at it, Shu Shuishui didn’t seem old at all, let alone dried meat…

Nan Ge burst into laughter.

Gu Langu’s silence made Shu Shuishui’s little ears droop, and his pitiful gaze instantly brought Gu Langu back to his senses. “Not at all! Shuishui will always be a fresh, young guy, forever youthful. Even if one day you have white hair all over, you’ll still be the most handsome one.”

Shu Shuishui’s little ears indeed perked up again, but after a moment, the dormouse sheepishly stroked his own whiskers, then pinched the tip of his whiskers. “White hair might not happen, but what about white whiskers? Would you mind?”

Gu Langu and Nan Ge’s gazes turned to see that indeed, Shu Shuishui’s whiskers had a transition from dark to light color, with a few silver-white spots at the tips.

Feeling a bit self-conscious from being stared at, the little dormouse added, “If you mind, I can try using a razor or hair dye. Gu Gu, what color do you like?”

In the end, after some persuasion from Gu Langu and Nan Ge, Shu Shuishui regretfully gave up on the idea of dyeing his whiskers. He scurried around the tent, helping Nan Ge tidy up the camp. Due to his small size, Shu Shuishui’s contribution was limited, mostly involving carrying various small objects and placing them in storage boxes.

Soon, Shu Shuishui finished his tasks, but the others were still packing up the tents. With some free time, Shu Shuishui and Gu Langu found an open area without a single footprint. Shu Shuishui personally left a series of shallow pits by stepping on the snow with his little feet, while Gu Langu followed alongside, refraining from stepping on Shu Shuishui’s tiny footprints.

“Gu Gu, let’s build snowmen. I’ll make a small one, and you can make a big one. One represents you, and the other represents me.” To make building snowmen more ceremonious, Shu Shuishui found a small scarf from the spiritual storage and wrapped it around himself.

Gu Langu readily agreed, although he had never built a snowman before. So, with one human and one dormouse, they started building snowmen.

On the other side, Yu Jin and Nan Ge finally confronted Shi An’an. Shi An’an appeared different from what they had imagined. He seemed very calm and refined, definitely older than Xie Feng.

Xie Feng saw the person and didn’t instantly flare up into argument mode, as usual. “Big Bro Shi, Brother Luo, good morning!”

Everyone around Fei Luo’s base was stunned, looking at Xie Feng in surprise, wondering if he had taken the wrong medicine. And why did Xie Feng bring two people from Gu Langu Base?

A hint of surprise flickered in Fei Luo’s eyes, and Shi An’an couldn’t hide his astonishment either as he responded, “Seems like you’ve come to terms with things. That’s good. Don’t have conflicts anymore. You’re still young; you haven’t figured out what love and dependency are.”

Shi An’an’s words casually drew an age gap between Fei Luo and Xie Feng, as if it were a natural division between different classes and worlds.

“Xiao Feng, come back. It’s always difficult out there,” Fei Luo hoped that Xie Feng’s greeting meant there was room for reconciliation.

Xie Feng nodded, smiling brightly, just like when they first met. “I’ve thought it through. After all, both Brother Luo and Brother An are much older than me, and I haven’t matured enough yet. I shouldn’t have been so impulsive.”

Everyone else: “…”

They were about to explode into a quarrel, but seeing Xie Feng defusing the situation with his sunshine smile, Yu Jin and Nan Ge exchanged a glance of ‘What just happened?’: “…”

Unaware of the near-confrontation, Xie Feng continued sincerely, “Brother Luo, you accompany Brother An for a while. You’re getting older, so take care of your health. You two can do your thing; no need to be polite. Once I’ve moved my things, I’ll leave. Don’t worry, I won’t touch what’s already established. After all, Brother Luo, you once gave me a meal, so I’ll only take what I’ve personally found or am currently developing.”

Could Fei Luo refuse? Not in front of Yu Jin and Nan Ge. Indeed, Xie Feng had brought a lot of convenience to their base, but for people who had lived in a high-tech era, these conveniences weren’t as novel. Over time, they had gradually forgotten about them.

With a somewhat stiff smile, Shi An’an, who was defined as “getting older,” nodded, “Since it’s Xie Feng’s decision, I can’t stop him. As for those devices, they were originally researched and developed by you, so naturally, you can take them.”

He displayed a clear attitude as a host, even without Fei Luo having to say a word, Shi An’an made all the arrangements clear.

Fei Luo’s final attempt to persuade Xie Feng had to be swallowed down. He watched as Xie Feng happily led Yu Jin and Nan Ge to his original tent.

Xie Feng had his own equipment car, an RV, and a dedicated driver. Such treatment had once caused some resentment among the people at Fei Luo’s base. However, when Xie Feng directed Yu Jin and Nan Ge to slowly drive the car away, the people at Fei Luo’s base suddenly realized that Xie Feng had truly left. He left completely, without any lingering attachments, just driving away.

The people at Fei Luo’s base were a bit puzzled, but also felt like Xie Feng’s departure was inconsequential.

Shi An’an watched the car heading toward the Gu Langu base and felt that he was one step closer to success. It was getting closer, and as long as he completed one target mission, he could reboot the system. Although the system was forcibly put to sleep due to the failure in the previous world, not even knowing the mainline mission, Shi An’an was quite certain that the world he entered this time was a small cultivation world, or you could say a primary cultivation world.

Although he still didn’t know why this planet had suddenly transformed from technology to cultivation, Shi An’an was certain that cultivation and technology were completely different branches. Therefore, the so-called “technology genius” wouldn’t be of much use in this new world.

When he first arrived in this world, due to insufficient energy, Shi An’an’s system went into sleep mode, and he had only three days to quickly bind a target to obtain energy. Naturally, the target had to be the person in control at Fei Luo’s base, as Shi An’an had no interest in targeting anyone else.

Not everyone could provide energy. Generally speaking, the stronger the person, the more energy they could provide when targeted. However, under the time constraint, Fei Luo was the only one who met the requirements. Hence, this led to the subsequent developments.

As expected by Shi An’an, everything gradually developed in a positive direction. Although the system was still in sleep mode and the mainline mission hadn’t been activated, the energy obtained from Fei Luo could at least allow him to restart some abilities.

At this moment, no one at Fei Luo’s base knew the impact that Xie Feng, who they had let leave today, would have on this world and the star system in the future.

As Yu Jin and Nan Ge happily drove away, they were unaware of the future potential of this crying and whining youngster.

When the RV arrived at the Gu Langu base, Shu Shuishui and Gu Langu’s snowmen were also finished. One small and one large – the small one was less than fifteen centimeters tall, and the large one was like a perfect work of art.

Shu Shuishui looked at the snowman Gu Langu had built and wished every part had been precisely measured. The perfectly spherical shape seemed like it was mass-produced in a workshop.

From his spiritual storage, Shu Shuishui took out two green grasses and inserted them into his snowman’s body as makeshift arms. The swaying grass seemed to be waving greetings to people in the morning breeze.

“Hello, snowman. Goodbye, snowman,” Shu Shuishui politely responded, waving his little paw. When everyone started their vehicles to prepare for departure, Shu Shuishui also didn’t delay. Before leaving, however, he poked a hole in both the large and small snowmen and placed two seeds inside.

“What did you put in there, Shuishui?” After closing the car door, Gu Langu asked as he watched Shu Shuishui wiping his paw on a handkerchief.

Shu Shuishui didn’t hide anything. “One tree seed and one grass seed. When next summer comes, the snowmen will melt. Those are mine and Gu Gu’s snowmen. Once they melt, we won’t be able to find them, so I left the seeds behind. When next year comes, they will sprout, and our snowmen will grow into trees and grass!”

Gu Langu turned his head one last time to look at the two snowmen not far away. Suddenly, he looked forward to the arrival of next summer, imagining that his large snowman would eventually grow into a towering tree, guarding the grass seed inside Shu Shuishui’s snowman.

Little did Gu Langu know that the tree seed was actually placed inside Shu Shuishui’s small snowman.

The convoy set off once again, and after a long journey through the first day, messy tracks left on the snowy ground depicted a line with no beginning or end, like intricate patterns carved on pure white silk.