Little Alpaca – Chapter 112

Volume 3: Old Tales of Kunlun

How About You Come Home With Me?

A lie, surely. A bird woman’s mouth is a ghost that always lies.

Back then, who was it that said she didn’t much like her human form, that her looks were plain, and that she might as well change back?

Now she’s making her words sound so pleasant. But once she turns around and finds her fluffy little alpaca gone, she probably won’t want a friend anymore, she’ll just want her little pet back.

I can’t be fooled by the bird woman’s sweet words and honeyed phrases¹!

Yi Qiu thought, holding a grudge. She had intended to retort, but when the words reached her lips, she looked at You Yan’s incredibly earnest expression and was once again at a loss for words.

She couldn’t help but reflect for a moment that thinking this way wasn’t quite right. After all, no matter what, the young You Yan from her childhood had never once lied to the alpaca.

“You, are you being serious?”

“Of course!” You Yan said, then frowned, biting her lip and sighing softly. “But in this form, how long will you have to cultivate before you can achieve a human shape?”

“I… um, well, actually, how should I put this…” Yi Qiu stammered for a good while before continuing, her voice laced with guilt, “Our alpaca method of cultivation is different from other species!”

“Ah?” A trace of bewilderment flashed through You Yan’s eyes.

Yi Qiu thought for a moment, then continued spouting nonsense in eight directions². “It’s like this. You feel like I rarely cultivate, but in fact, I am cultivating at every moment of every day! We alpacas are a very magical kind of animal. We… we cultivate by eating!”

You Yan was now completely stunned, her pair of slender eyes filled with disbelief.

“Although you might not believe it, it’s really true. I just need to eat and drink every day to cultivate!” Yi Qiu said, and as if to add credibility to her words, she quickly added, “You know I’m very young, right? Little Red Flower is much older than me. She can’t talk, but I can. Doesn’t that prove that I’ve really been cultivating?”

“You, all you alpacas cultivate like this?”

“Yup!” Yi Qiu nodded with a serious face, her gaze carefully observing You Yan.

You Yan’s gaze was undoubtedly lost. It was clear that the words coming out of this little alpaca’s mouth completely exceeded her understanding of the matter of “cultivation.”

Her instincts told her not to believe it, yet she couldn’t help but want to believe it.

Yi Qiu didn’t know if it was a psychological effect, but when she was spouting the same kind of nonsense to put off the bird woman, she always felt guilty, as if she could be exposed at any moment. But when she was fooling the bird girl, she felt no psychological pressure at all, just like coaxing a child; no matter how outrageous the story, she was unjustified but still bold of spirit³.

It just seemed that fooling a little girl like this wasn’t quite appropriate…

But on second thought, it wasn’t a big deal. After all, the bird woman had bullied her plenty in the past, so what was wrong with her fooling the little bird woman a bit inside this illusionary realm?

Besides, back when she was still in the outside world, she had spouted nonsense plenty of times. It really wasn’t a big deal.

After all, she truly didn’t know how to cultivate, but if she asked directly, it would definitely arouse You Yan’s suspicion—she was already a demon beast capable of human speech, how could she not know how to cultivate?

“Then, then…” You Yan blinked her dazed eyes, as if trying hard to accept the setting that “alpacas rely on eating to cultivate.” After a long while, she finally asked, “Then how much more do you have to eat before you, you can achieve a human shape?”

“How would I know that?” Yi Qiu said, unable to stop herself from falling into a bout of deep thought.

There were some things that, if You Yan hadn’t brought them up, she would have forgotten.

The Blood Condensation Pearl was still inside her body, she could feel that much. But she also remembered that the spiritual power within this Blood Condensation Pearl didn’t belong to her. Whether she was a human or an alpaca was all dependent on a single thought from You Yan.

So, is it still a matter of favorability points?

Yi Qiu subconsciously glanced at her own attributes again. As she expected, that System Baocai was still disconnected from her. Not only could it not answer questions, but even its numerical statistics were completely paralyzed.

Question marks, question marks! Besides a pile of question marks, there was nothing at all!

She remembered that when she first entered, the favorability column hadn’t disappeared yet; it had been cleared to zero at the time.

Now that this little You Yan was being so good to her, she wondered if the favorability had broken a thousand.

If it had, then she would have met the basic condition. She would only need to guide this little You Yan to discover and control that Blood Condensation Pearl, and she could become human again, right?

As Yi Qiu thought this, she suddenly grew excited. She really, really didn’t want to keep being an alpaca!

“What are you thinking about?” You Yan asked as she leaned in closer.

She reached out with her cool hands and gently cupped the little alpaca’s fluffy head. Her eyes were filled with curiosity as she observed the little alpaca’s ever-changing expressions up close.

At this distance, the tips of their noses touched lightly, and even their breathing seemed exceptionally clear.

Yi Qiu couldn’t help but tilt her neck back, a trace of surprise and nervousness suddenly appearing in her round eyes.

In that moment, she couldn’t help but think that if alpacas could blush, she would have already turned into a little alpaca with a red-furred head.

Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!

We just said we were friends, what kind of friends get this close!

You Yan even said she doesn’t see me as a pet, but this distance is clearly the distance between a master and her little pet!

Thinking this, the little alpaca couldn’t help but shake her head huffily.

Seeing this, You Yan couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“What are you laughing at? Is it funny!” Yi Qiu couldn’t help but knit her brow—if that spot on an alpaca’s forehead could be called a brow, then she had indeed knit it.

“No, no, I’m not laughing at you!” You Yan grew nervous for a moment and quickly pulled her hands back from the little alpaca’s head, explaining earnestly, “I just thought your expression just now was so interesting. I don’t know why, but just looking at you makes my heart feel happy…”

As she spoke, she obediently sat to the side, a hint of apology in her eyes.

If it were the bird woman from before who had suddenly laughed like that, the little alpaca would have definitely thrown a tantrum.

But at this moment, looking at the You Yan beside her who looked as if she had done something wrong, sitting exceptionally proper with a guilty expression, Yi Qiu couldn’t summon even a shred of anger.

She tried to calm her emotions and said in a small voice, “We, we alpacas, besides eating, have another way to cultivate quickly.”

Hearing this, You Yan’s eyes instantly lit up again. “What way?”

Yi Qiu was about to bring up the Blood Condensation Pearl, but when the words reached her lips, they were all blocked by her reason.

In that instant, she subconsciously glanced at the system again.

The Blood Condensation Pearl contained You Yan’s spiritual power. If she told the little You Yan before her about this, it would probably be very difficult to explain things clearly without telling the truth.

But the truth was, this was an illusionary realm, and everything in it was fake. She was an outsider who not only had to leave eventually, but had also been thinking with every beat of her heart⁴ about the bird woman on the outside.

If little You Yan knew about these things, it would surely be hard for her to accept, right?

Ultimately, she currently, one, did not know what this illusionary realm signified, and two, did not know if a large emotional fluctuation in the little You Yan before her would cause harm to the main body’s spirit and soul.

Before, it was a moment of carelessness that made her fall into the trap left by that Yi bird, causing You Yan to fall into this place with her.

Today, no matter how you looked at it, muddling through the days, safe and sound would be much better than making a rash move.

Therefore, Yi Qiu told herself that to be safe, it was best to wait until she reconnected with the system, check her current stats, and figure out what exactly this illusionary realm was before considering whether to tell little You Yan the truth.

“Yi Qiu, Yi Qiu?”

“Huh?” Yi Qiu suddenly snapped back to reality, only to realize that You Yan had been calling her name the whole time.

“Were you listening to me?” You Yan tilted her head, a little bit of displeasure in her eyes, yet it was clear she was trying hard to hide it.

Yi Qiu shook her head and said honestly, “I zoned out just now. Say it again.”

After speaking, she couldn’t help but think that at a time like this, the bird woman would probably be looking at her with a half-smile, watching until her scalp went numb⁵ and she was panicked as a batch⁶, before she would finally say languidly, “If you didn’t hear, then forget it.”

But right now, the one in front of me isn’t that bird woman. She probably wouldn’t say that, right?

“If you didn’t hear, then let’s just forget it,” You Yan said, lowering her gaze and pursing her lips.

Meow’s⁷, my face hurts⁸.

Yi Qiu was silent for a moment, then couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Why won’t you say it anymore?”

You Yan thought for a moment and said seriously, “You didn’t answer my question, so it must be a secret. Secrets can’t be told, so I won’t ask anymore.”

Yi Qiu: “Aren’t you curious? You don’t want to know?”

You Yan: “I am curious, and I definitely want to know, but if you’re not willing to say it, then I just won’t listen.”

Yi Qiu: “…”

You Yan: “Daddy⁹ said that you don’t have to say things you don’t want to say. It’s fine as long as you don’t lie to people.”

Yi Qiu unconsciously took a deep breath, suddenly feeling a great pain in all four of her knees—she thought, she was probably a despicable alpaca, fabricating all sorts of lies from beginning to end to a You Yan who had never once forced her.

“It is, it is sort of a secret, but I’ll tell you one day, it’s just not the right time now…” Yi Qiu said, thought seriously for a moment, and continued, “I can only say that this method is indeed related to you, but you don’t need to do anything special. You just… you just have to keep being good to me!”

“Ah?”

“Mhm, if you’re good to me, I’ll be in a good mood, and if I’m in a good mood, I’ll eat more!” Yi Qiu began spouting nonsense with a completely straight face. “Look, I cultivate by eating. The more I eat, the stronger I get, and then it won’t be long before I can become a person!”

“…Is, is that how it works?” You Yan was skeptical for a moment, then couldn’t help but lower her gaze and begin to think seriously.

Yi Qiu tilted her neck, carefully observing You Yan’s expression.

This little bird seemed to be genuinely and seriously contemplating the incredibly profound question of “what counts as being good to an alpaca.”

It had to be said, You Yan’s serious, contemplative look was, to some extent, adorably foolish.

In fact, no matter how you looked at it, You Yan was already extremely good to her, and she wasn’t a greedy alpaca.

She just needed a little time to confirm a few things, to ensure her actions wouldn’t hurt You Yan again.

But just then, You Yan suddenly raised her head, looked at Yi Qiu, and said seriously, “Yi Qiu, you… how about you come home with me?”

“Hm?”

“Little Red Flower said you sometimes have nightmares at night, and when you have a nightmare, you call out my name.” You Yan said, reaching out to rub the fur on Yi Qiu’s neck. She tilted her head, squinted her eyes, and smiled faintly. “Actually, I’ve been thinking recently, if I were by your side when you have a nightmare, I could help soothe your fur. That way, would you sleep a little more peacefully at night?”

“I…”

“So, come home with me!”

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