"It's okay, it's okay, Xiao Bai! I don't blame you!"
As she spoke, Lin Luoluo started giggling foolishly again.
She had noticed that ever since she contracted Xiao Bai, she couldn't stop herself from grinning like an idiot.
Maybe... this was what it felt like to have hope for the future?
Before, her life had been like a pool of stagnant water. Her disabled legs and her family's poverty were two mountains weighing down on her, leaving her unable to see a glimmer of light.
But now things were different.
Xiao Bai's appearance was like a ray of light tearing through the darkness.
He had potential that even she couldn't fully see through, and he had brought an entirely new possibility with him.
That feeling of racing like the wind and lightning, that extreme speed when human and Contract Spirit became one, made her realize for the first time that her disability might no longer be a burden.
Now Lin Luoluo had made up her mind to take tomorrow's assessment.
Hopefully nothing unexpected would happen during the assessment tomorrow...
At last, lost in such daydreams, Lin Luoluo knocked on the battered wooden door of her home.
She cleared her throat and called out in the most cheerful voice she could manage:
"Chuchu, I'm home!"
"Sis?"
A voice as sweet as a warbling oriole first came from behind the door, but in the next second, it turned wary and dropped much lower.
"The heavenly king covers the earth tiger?!"
Hearing Lin Luoluo's sister, Bai Chen looked a little bewildered.
What the heck?
The heavenly king covers the earth tiger?
Why does that sound like some kind of code? Do these sisters have to exchange a password just to get home?
As if sensing Bai Chen's confusion, Lin Luoluo hurriedly explained to him in her mind:
"Here's the thing, Xiao Bai. This area is too chaotic. There are always low-level Devil Creatures that have escaped from the mine tunnels wandering around nearby and causing trouble in human society."
"The Guard Corps organized by the Federation won't come to Poor Districts like ours to clear them out. They only care about the safety of the Rich District."
"Recently, I heard that a Devil Creature capable of mimicking human voices came to the Poor District, and several households have already fallen victim to it.
"If someone opens the door without knowing, it'll barge in and turn them into its bloody meal."
"So to be safe, Chuchu and I came up with a password for opening the door. Only if you give the right answer will the door be opened."
As she spoke, Lin Luoluo pressed her little face close to the cold crack in the door, lowered her voice, and whispered her answer:
"Luoluo is one point five meters tall!"
The moment she said the password, Lin Luoluo's little face flushed scarlet with embarrassment. It was as if steam might burst from her ears; her rosy face was exceptionally cute.
She ranted furiously in her mind:
Damn it, Chuchu! Why did you have to come up with such an embarrassing password?!
I thought only the two of us sisters knew it, so it was fine to say it behind closed doors. I never expected Xiao Bai to hear it too!
This is so humiliating! Aaaah!
Hearing the explanation and the password, Bai Chen's nonexistent mouth twitched, and his gaze fell on Lin Luoluo.
Hmm...
He sized her up.
Though the girl didn't look quite as short as one and a half meters, she was no more than around one point six meters tall, so the password was quite fitting.
But to be honest, Bai Chen actually liked this kind of figure. After all, giant bears and lolis rarely coexisted, but Lin Luoluo was the exception.
The next second, Bai Chen thought again of what Lin Luoluo had just said.
Devil Creatures that mimicked human voices actually appeared at night, yet the Guard Corps paid them no mind.
It seemed that people at the bottom of this world lived in even deeper waters and hotter fires than he had imagined, and the gaps in power and wealth were glaring.
But now that he was here, he certainly couldn't let these two girls go on living in a place like this.
It was filthy, chaotic, and run-down, and danger lurked everywhere.
It wasn't hard to imagine that the sisters probably couldn't even get a peaceful night's sleep before, living in fear every day.
Bai Chen set a clear goal for himself.
First, he would pass that Contract Spirit Master qualification assessment and get an official status.
Then, the second step was to make money!
Make enough money to get Lin Luoluo and her sister a big house in the Safe Zone!
A big house where they would never again have to worry about being bothered by Devil Creatures and could sleep in peace!
As he thought this, the tentacle wrapped around Lin Luoluo's waist to hold his body in place unconsciously tightened.
Lin Luoluo's body tensed under the squeeze. Blushing a little, she folded up the pile of wheelchair parts and carefully set them in a corner by the door, then quietly urged him in her mind:
"Xiao Bai, let's go inside."
Only then did Bai Chen snap out of it.
Oh, right!
He was Lin Luoluo's "legs" now. Her wheelchair was broken, so if he didn't move, she naturally couldn't move either.
Bai Chen acknowledged her and immediately controlled the tentacles attached to the girl's legs, taking a step and carrying Lin Luoluo into the house.
As soon as they entered, a damp smell mixed with cooking fumes and mildew hit them in the face.
Bai Chen surveyed the interior.
It could hardly even be called a "home"; it was merely a shelter that barely kept out the wind and rain.
The entire space was a cramped single room, so small there was hardly room to turn around.
A single bed that didn't look particularly comfortable took up nearly half the room. Beside it was a simple kitchen stove, and the wall was blackened with soot.
In the corner, a tattered cloth curtain had been hung to partition off a toilet with barely enough room for one person.
Half of the room's only window had been nailed shut with wooden boards, making the already cramped space seem even dimmer and more oppressive.
Still, the few furnishings they had were arranged very neatly, and the floor was spotless. It was clear that both girls cared a great deal about cleanliness.
This is where they live?
Just then, a voice bursting with delight suddenly rang out, interrupting Bai Chen's inspection.
"Sis! Y-you can walk on your legs?!"
Bai Chen's gaze shifted toward the voice.
It came from a girl standing beside the bed.
That had to be Lin Luoluo's younger sister, Chuchu.
Her skin was very white, with a sickly pallor, and she was so startlingly thin that a gust of wind seemed enough to blow her over.
But her features were exquisitely delicate. Her large eyes were clear and bright, and together with her small nose and lips, they made her a budding beauty through and through.
Although she was the younger sister, she was considerably taller than Lin Luoluo, looking a full one point seven meters tall.
The girl wore a pair of shorts that had faded from washing, exposing legs that were long and slender. But they lacked the healthy fullness of her sister's legs, possessing only a heart-wrenching boniness.
The same went for her chest: it was a complete airfield, the kind where, if she bent over, one could see all the way down to her navel through her loose neckline. It was a stark contrast to her sister.
At that moment, her beautiful eyes were wide as she stared fixedly at Lin Luoluo.
More precisely, she was staring at Lin Luoluo's legs, planted firmly on the floor.