Rolling Around~~

"...What kind of nonsense are you talking about?"

Chapter 61: Rolling Around~~

An unfamiliar ceiling.

...Even though it was his own home, the ceiling still felt unfamiliar. That was strange enough.

There was no sleeping beauty lying beside him.

There was no suffocating weight pressing down on him either.

And down there, he was full of energy, without the feeling of having been drained dry.

He got out of bed and walked to the door.

Mm, the strand of hair wedged in the door as an alarm was still there.

It looked like no one had entered his room last night.

Mm... It was perfectly safe, so why did he feel this inexplicable sense of disappointment...?

Liu Bai sighed and casually put on his pajamas before heading out.

"Morning, sir."

Acheron happened to be coming out of her own room as well. When she saw Liu Bai, she greeted him in a businesslike manner.

Though according to Guinaifen, that room had originally seemed to belong to Firefly.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Liu Bai asked Acheron with concern.

"Very well... Although the furnishings in the room seem different from before, it is extremely comfortable."

Of course it was. Just look at how much comfort those furnishings had accumulated.

Not to mention diligent little Firefly taking care of them all day long.

"What is your schedule today?" Acheron acted like a dutiful guard.

"Uh... If I had to say, I don't have one? I'm planning to spend the whole day reading in the Serenitea Pot... Oh, right, Acheron, could you spar with me sometime?"

"Sir?" Acheron looked somewhat puzzled. "As the employer, you have no need to go onto the battlefield. I will protect you at your side. From Miss Firefly's description, this planet does not seem particularly powerful."

"But... you aren't as strong as you used to be either, are you?"

Both yesterday's conversation and the mod's own description had made Liu Bai realize certain things.

"Skills tempered through countless trials will never betray me. Please rest assured, no matter what desperate situation we face, I will use this blade to clear a path for you."

"What are you two talking about so early in the morning?"

Guinaifen came upstairs with her hands on her hips. "If you two don't come eat, the food will get cold! I'm already done eating!"

Although Liu Bai had sent Guinaifen away yesterday, she had started clamoring to return once Natasha came back and Kong had someone to look after her.

Acheron: "..."

After being urged by Guinaifen, Acheron silently went downstairs, with Liu Bai following behind her.

"That's more like it." Guinaifen nodded in satisfaction.

They should not talk about things no one could understand while they were at home.

"Come to think of it, Boss Liu really doesn't seem to have anything to do? Firefly is really holding herself back."

Creak...

Guinaifen, who had been about to wake Firefly for breakfast, saw Firefly's door open by itself.

Guinaifen instinctively ducked behind the corner.

Wait, I'm not a thief. Why am I hiding?

But since things had come to this, Guinaifen could hardly just walk out in a perfectly straightforward manner.

Mm... Maybe she should just pretend nothing had happened and go downstairs?

Firefly was already awake anyway. She should be coming down for breakfast soon.

However, just as Guinaifen was about to turn and leave, Firefly's footsteps on the wooden floor stopped.

Creak...

The sound of another door opening.

"?"

This time, Guinaifen could not resist her curiosity and peeked out.

The door to Liu Bai's room had just closed.

"???"

No, if this was an attack, it was broad daylight already!

Guinaifen raised a brow. This would not do.

Having thought that far, Guinaifen walked to Liu Bai's room and pushed the door open with a creak.

"Miss Firefly—"

Before Guinaifen could finish saying "big sis," a tide of regret surged uncontrollably through her when she saw the scene inside.

...Oh no.

Before her, Firefly had thrown herself onto Liu Bai's bed, rolling around while burying her face in the blanket and rubbing against it.

Or rather, that was what should have been happening.

Because of all the rolling, their gazes met directly.

Now, Firefly's movements had frozen.

The blissful smile on her face had frozen as well, even beginning to collapse into a stiff expression.

No, Guinaifen's own body was stiff too.

"Mm... Looks like Boss Liu is already up. Honestly, when someone suddenly disappears, it really gives me a headache~"

Guinaifen immediately realized she had seen something she should not have.

There was only one thing to do now—close the door as though nothing had happened and pretend she had seen nothing.

"Miss Gui?"

But...

Just before Guinaifen could close the door, it felt as though an iron clamp had seized her wrist.

Guinaifen slowly turned her head. Under the sliver of light cast through the door crack, a somewhat terrifying smile—one that seemed forcibly made—was aimed at her.

...What kind of speed was that?

"...I didn't see anything."

Guinaifen recited that line flatly, turning her head away and trying her best to shake free of Firefly's hand.

But it was utterly useless.

Firefly's hand seemed steadier than the pillars of the Divine Foresight Commission.

And Guinaifen could feel it: Firefly was gradually beginning to pull.

In just two seconds, the pull grew beyond anything Guinaifen could resist, and she was dragged entirely into the room.

"Um... Miss Gui?"

Firefly, having been caught in the act of inhaling Liu Bai's scent, tried her best to put on a kind and approachable expression as she looked at Guinaifen, who had fallen to the floor with her eyes shut and head turned away.

"You can open your eyes and look at me."

"No, no, no, no! Little Gui may be a street performer, but I know the rules of the jianghu. If I see your face, I won't live to tell the tale. Let me go, and nothing happened today. Once I'm outside, I'll be your loyal eyes and ears keeping watch over Boss Liu."

Guinaifen refused to open her eyes no matter what.

In that instant, Guinaifen's quick wits made her realize that she was the only real little lamb in this house.

Firefly was a big bad wolf wearing a little lamb's skin too.

"You would say that to anyone, wouldn't you?"

Firefly's tone turned helpless.

"Um... Although I don't know what strange misunderstanding you've come up with, I... I only came to help Mr. Liu Bai fold his blanket. After all, Mr. Liu Bai can be careless sometimes."

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

Burying your face in someone else's blanket, wrapping yourself in it, and rolling around on someone else's bed—your goal was to help them fold the blanket.

You're the boss. Everything you say is right!

"...I really was folding the blanket."

When Firefly repeated herself a second time, even she began to sound guilty.

"Mm-hm, folding the blanket, folding the blanket."

Guinaifen's posture made it obvious: whatever Firefly said, she would believe it.

Then Guinaifen felt like she had been lifted up with one hand.

"...In that case, I'll have to trouble Miss Gui to make a promise."

"..."

This seemed rather bad?

"Uh... Are you trying to make me betray Boss Liu?"

"Uh!"

Firefly made a speechless sound.

Guinaifen had her eyes shut and could not see Firefly's expression, but that did not stop her from using some standard lines to interfere with Firefly.

"Um... Little Gui isn't exactly a blabbermouth, but isn't Miss Acheron obviously the most dangerous one right now? Those legs, that waist, and she's powerful and knowledgeable..."

"She... Rather than knowledgeable, it would be more accurate to say she has sensed something different from us—ordinary Pathwalkers."

When Firefly spoke of Acheron, her tone became more serious.

"She... might be an Emanator, or perhaps someone blessed by an Aeon with a close relationship to one."

"Huh, huh, huh? Doesn't that mean she's a big shot?" Guinaifen opened her eyes in shock.

Mm, she really had been lifted up one-handed.

"She is undoubtedly powerful outside, but on this peculiar planet..."

Firefly rested her chin on her hand.

"Although I have noticed some problems with this planet too, the existing information is far from enough to make a judgment... She only heard secondhand accounts that I heard from Mr. Liu Bai, so why did she dare to reach a conclusion immediately?"

"..."

While the big shot pondered, Guinaifen obediently kept quiet.

"Paths are everywhere. It is normal for an Aeon to occasionally overlook something, but throughout history, so many Aeons with such differing personalities have all overlooked this place. Even the Paths themselves cannot spread here..."

Paths were not physical roads that, once established, could only spread through certain places.

This was a rule. Once one became an Aeon and opened a Path, one essentially became an embodiment of the universe's rules, which was why situations like the big fish eating the small fish could arise.

A place an Aeon could not see did not affect the objective existence of a Path—there were so many people in the universe that no Aeon could possibly glance at every single Pathwalker.

It was simply that being noticed by an Aeon was the fastest way to improve, and the kind that brought the greatest increase in strength.

"...Because she had been glanced at by an Aeon, she described this place as being outside an Aeon's sight. What she actually meant was that the rules common throughout the universe had been sealed off here. That is why she said skills tempered through countless trials would not betray her... Because most Pathwalkers have never benefited from the Path itself. They only embarked upon a Path through chance circumstances. People may follow the same Path without sharing the same faith, and they are not strongly dependent on either Aeons or Paths."

Firefly supported her chin with one hand while holding Guinaifen up with the other.

Guinaifen: "..."

Could you put me down before muttering all that?

"Because she is very closely connected to her Path and her Aeon, and that connection was cut off here, did she decisively reach that conclusion? Even so, someone capable of becoming an Emanator cannot be underestimated..."

With her protecting Mr. Liu Bai, it was still quite reassuring.

So...

Firefly tried her best to reveal a gentle smile as she looked at Guinaifen, whom she was holding up.