Volume 1: Little Alpaca
Alpaca Nudges Bird.
That afternoon, the little alpaca, tied up to the point of being unable to move, diligently craned its neck to stare blankly at its own master for a very long time.
In the end, her neck grew sore, so she simply laid it flat, lay down on the ground, and fell into a long silence.
She mentioned the favorability score to You Yan, but You Yan only told her to speak human words.
To be reasonable, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to speak human words; she had actually thought about it very hard for a long time, but in the end, she still discovered a cruel fact——
She was fundamentally unable to explain clearly to You Yan what was called a 「system」 or what a 「favorability score」 was.
Beyond that, she also sorrowfully discovered one more thing.
That was, she couldn’t ask You Yan to help fulfill the promise the system had given her.
So angry, the more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
No matter how she thought about it, it was all that pit-father1 system’s fault!
“System, you get out here for me!”
【I am here.】
“Didn’t you say I could become human with a favorability of one thousand?”
【That is not the case!】
“You lied to me! You’re just a big liar!”
【Attribute required for becoming human ≠ Reaching the attribute allows becoming human.】
Awesome2, very awesome.
This pit-father system was playing word games3 with her!
So this 「Attribute required for becoming human」 prompt meant 「Becoming human requires at least this many attributes」 from the very beginning, and even if she grinded4 enough points, it only satisfied the prerequisite for becoming human. To actually become human, she still had to find another opportunity?
Tired, no longer willing to smile.
Right now, she just wanted to furiously spam a wave of 「666」5 and give this little clever ghost6 of a system, which deserved a scolding, a big thumbs-up with both her hands and feet.
As for what main quest, what becoming human, she was in no mood to think about them anymore.
The little alpaca, with no love left for life, quietly lay down like a white-furred 「zongzi」7.
Not long after, You Yan slowly rose and walked to her side, squatting down, and gently poked her little belly twice with the tip of her index finger.
Yi Qiu, in her restraints, twisted her body into the shape of a banana and, tilting her neck, shot You Yan a glare, yet she did not want to speak.
“Why did you stop talking?” You Yan’s fingertip scraped across the little alpaca’s belly as she smiled with curved eyebrows, “What did I forget?”
The little alpaca had nowhere to dodge and could only grunt in dissatisfaction, saying: “You didn’t forget anything, I remembered it wrong!”
You Yan asked again: “Then what did you remember wrong?”
Yi Qiu didn’t know how to answer for a moment. She stared at You Yan with wide eyes for a long time, and finally closed her eyes aggrievedly: “You tied me up, I’m not going to pay attention to you anymore!”
You Yan couldn’t help but let out a light laugh. With a hook of her right index finger, Chuixue returned to her waist once more.
Yi Qiu hurriedly kicked her little legs, using the momentum to flip over, went around You Yan, and hopped over to the bedside to lie down.
You Yan got up and followed her over, once again squatting beside her. She reached out and rubbed her head, and seeing that she didn’t speak, she then kneaded the back of her neck a few times.
Yi Qiu lay paralyzed on the floor and said listlessly: “Go play with your flowers!”
The smile in You Yan’s eyes did not diminish. Grabbing the little alpaca’s scruff with one hand, she tilted the little head, which was full of astonishment at that moment, in front of her.
Then, she leaned forward, moving close to the little alpaca’s pointy ear.
Lightly, playfully, she said a sentence to her.
“Don’t you think you’ve been too presumptuous lately?”
You Yan’s tone was faint, but the slender fingers gripping the little alpaca’s scruff were extremely strong.
Yi Qiu couldn’t help but shiver.
She had originally wanted to continue sulking, but considering that it wasn’t easy for the favorability score to break a thousand, she immediately cowered.
“I… I was wrong, can’t I be?” The little alpaca’s eyes were full of grievance.
“Where were you wrong?” You Yan once again asked that question which, to the little alpaca, could be called an 「ancient unsolved mystery」.
The little alpaca was silent for a good while before she pouted and said: “I was wrong everywhere!”
At that moment, surprise seemed to flash through You Yan’s eyes, perhaps not expecting that her own little alpaca’s way of admitting fault was becoming more and more slick.
After a moment of surprise, You Yan released Yi Qiu’s scruff, got up and sat on the edge of the bed, and gently kicked Yi Qiu’s butt twice with the tip of her foot: “Aren’t you going to hurry and help them smell which direction to go tomorrow?”
Yi Qiu stood up, stomped her foot in dissatisfaction, and turned to run out of the guest room.
You Yan rarely went out recently, but Yi Qiu believed that with this bird woman’s ability, as long as she truly wanted to ferret out that Yi bird, she could definitely sense its general location even without leaving the house.
You Yan said the alpaca’s nose was sharp, so the alpaca’s nose must be sharp.
You Yan said to go in the direction of the sunset, so the alpaca’s nose sniffed in the direction of the sunset.
Because the two previous successes had established her alpaca persona of having a 「sharp nose」, the moment Yi Qiu’s little nose twitched, it made Jiang Yuyao and Luo Mingyuan, who had been planning to visit the home of the Luo couple to search for demonic traces again, change their minds.
It had to be said, the young protagonist was still a bit tender at this age, to even believe the words of an alpaca.
It was a good thing she wasn’t a bad alpaca, otherwise this story could very easily have a BE.
Regardless, after confirming the direction to advance, the three people and one alpaca left the inn where they had temporarily stayed for a long time and embarked on a brand new journey.
And on this brand new journey, the only thing the little alpaca needed to do was to transform into a grass mud dog and, from time to time, smell flowers, smell grass, smell dirt, then lead everyone in the direction You Yan had indicated.
After leaving Moshui City, they traveled west by horse-drawn carriage for six days and entered a desolate, uninhabited land.
This place was called Wu Zhou8. The temperature difference between day and night was immense; it was incomparably hot during the day and then extremely cold at night. As far as the eye could see, there were only slopes of barren grass, with few trees, mountains, or water. One look was enough to tell it wasn’t suitable for long-term human habitation.
According to legend, this was an unlucky land that had been scorched by heavenly fire. The people who once lived here had, over the long river of time, moved away generation by generation.
Yi Qiu vaguely remembered that in the original work, the vicious female number three had mentioned this place many times, which made many readers think there should be foreshadowing here, but in the end, this mysterious place never appeared even once in the main text.
Could it be that because the original villain went on strike, the vicious female number three successfully took the position of the official villain, so this new main storyline was to unfold here according to the vicious female number three’s design?
Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed possible.
However, Yi Qiu was currently in no mood to think about the plot’s direction, because it was simply too hot here!
It was so hot here that even with the protection of You Yan’s spiritual power, it still gave Yi Qiu the illusion that she was in a sauna.
At this moment, Luo Mingyuan was driving the carriage outside. Inside the carriage, two very quiet women sat opposite each other, along with a half-dead alpaca.
Yi Qiu swore to the heavens, she was absolutely not exaggerating the term half-dead.
You Yan’s own spiritual power was extremely profound; the mortal world’s intense heat and severe cold simply couldn’t enter her eyes.
Jiang Yuyao might feel very hot, but she was a cultivator after all, and naturally had a heart method to allow her inner mind to be clear and calm.
As for that little pig trotter driving the carriage outside…
The little alpaca couldn’t be bothered to care if a smelly man was hot or not!
The little alpaca only knew that, one, she had no spiritual power to protect her body, and two, she had no heart method9 to quiet her mind.
She really, particularly disliked this place!
In order to cool herself down a bit, the little alpaca, whose head was dizzy from the heat, actually started to daringly nudge against You Yan’s body.
You Yan couldn’t help but frown and subconsciously wanted to push her away, but she couldn’t withstand how clingy this little alpaca was; once it stuck to her body, it just kept rubbing.
Yi Qiu knew that this kind of behavior would very likely get her beaten up by You Yan, but she was really too hot to care about that much.
You Yan’s body was always ice-cold, and even the fabric of her clothes was cool. When it was particularly hot, just sticking close to You Yan would make one feel much more comfortable.
This comfortable feeling made her unable to resist closing her eyes and falling asleep very peacefully.
The little alpaca’s fluffy body, in this kind of hot place, was simply like a ball of fire.
But this little ball of fire suddenly curled up in You Yan’s arms, and from time to time would turn over and let out a yawn.
You Yan’s hand rested lightly on the little alpaca’s forehead the whole time.
No one discovered that from her fingertips, several extremely faint wisps of spiritual power were being transferred, inch by inch, from the center of the little alpaca’s brow into her body, and then slowly circulated through her various spiritual veins.
The little alpaca slept sweetly, completely unaware of the system’s repeated prompts.
Suddenly, the advancing carriage came to a stop.
Jiang Yuyao, who had been concentrating her energy to the side, quickly opened her eyes. You Yan immediately withdrew the spiritual power from her finger and gently stroked the fluff on the little alpaca’s neck a few times.
“Shijie, Bai-guniang!” Luo Mingyuan shouted loudly from outside the carriage, “The horse… suddenly refuses to move!”
Hearing this, Jiang Yuyao quickly got up and jumped down from the carriage in a few steps, squinting her eyes to look into the distance.
Afterward, she pressed her palm against the horse’s forehead.
A spiritual light flashed, and the horse lowered its head and began to eat the grass on the ground.
“It seems something up ahead scared it,” Jiang Yuyao said, looking around and frowning, “We need to find a place to tie it up. We’ll have to walk the rest of the way ourselves.”
“Mm…” Luo Mingyuan responded, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, and said, “Shijie, I can sense that kind of demonic energy now.”
“I can too, but it’s very faint. It should still be some distance away, I can’t identify the specific direction.”
As Jiang Yuyao spoke, she turned back and lifted the carriage curtain, saying to You Yan on the carriage, “Bai-guniang, the horse can’t go on. We have to walk the rest of the way. Little sheep doesn’t seem to be feeling well, does it need to rest more?”
“No need…” You Yan said, smiling as she pinched the little alpaca’s nose.
The little alpaca instantly bared its teeth and woke up from its dream, opening a pair of dazed little eyes and lifting its head to grunt twice in dissatisfaction.
You Yan rubbed its forehead messily: “Wake up, time to eat.”
“Hm? Time to eat…” Yi Qiu stood up with a whimper and was shooed off the carriage by You Yan patting her butt.
After she stood steadily on the ground, Yi Qiu subconsciously glanced at her attributes and was shocked to discover her spiritual root had already risen from 200 to 250!
Gaining attributes while sleeping, is there such a good thing in this world?
The weather here was clearly so hot, yet that nap just now was so peaceful, and now that she was awake she no longer felt the sweltering heat. Could it be that You Yan had transferred spiritual power to her again?
Hah, this bird woman is surprisingly conscientious.
It’s just that…
This value, why is it two hundred five10 again?
Forget it, let’s eat first.
As she thought this, she looked up at You Yan, just in time to see that bird woman also looking down at her.
The little alpaca tilted its neck.
The bird woman then raised the corners of her lips and copied her, tilting her neck.
Yi Qiu: “Where’s the food?”
You Yan: “You try and smell.”
Yi Qiu twitched her nose but didn’t smell a single hair. For a moment, she raised her eyes and glared resentfully at You Yan.
She had reason to suspect she had been played with again.
Sure enough, in the next second, You Yan gestured in a direction with her eyes.
The little alpaca took a deep breath, unwillingly turned her head in that direction, and said through gritted teeth: “The demonic energy is coming from that way…”
That tone, was as listless as it could possibly be.
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