Ex-Machina in Dimensional Travel

"Please, you must Shifuru them. The Mountain People cannot afford to lose even a single 'Hassan.'"

Smoke Drunk spoke earnestly.

"If you wish to know why Hundred-Faced acted this way, I can tell you everything."

"Don't worry, don't worry. We were indeed planning to return them to you Mountain People."

Seeing this, Da Vinci reined in her earlier playful attitude. An occasional harmless prank could help build rapport, but too many would breed resentment.

As a genius, Da Vinci was quite capable of judging the proper boundaries in interpersonal exchanges.

"We do want to know the reason, but don't worry. Even if you hadn't said anything, we were already planning to return them to you."

Da Vinci smiled as she reassured her, then looked toward the rear of the group, searching for that blue-purple figure.

At that moment, because of her appearance and Fou on her shoulder, Xiu Er had already been surrounded by a small group of braver children among the refugees.

"Big sister, what is the animal on your shoulder called? It looks so cute."

Even in the face of hardship, these children still retained their innocent natures. That did not mean they lacked a sense of danger, however.

After all, under their families' guidance, they had not lacked the necessary vigilance. Yet for various reasons, they did not show Xiu Er the wariness they should have.

On top of that, the fluffy white creature on her shoulder was both adorable and curiosity-inducing.

Thus, some of the bolder children had worked up the courage to try approaching this very pretty-looking "big sister."

"..."

Unfortunately, Xiu Er generally never responded to strangers who spoke to her. Even children were not spared her indifference.

That was her usual style, and acting that way also helped her avoid quite a