On the way home, Hilda barely said a word. She was wearing the new clothes Hao Ren had bought for her, while the bag in her hand contained her old, tattered, dirty dress. The bag itself was another kind of disposable packaging that seemed inconceivable to her—extravagant and wasteful. She stared at the shopping bag as if deep in thought.
The two of them were walking along a sparsely populated street in the South Suburbs. Since there was no rush, Hao Ren had not teleported them straight back. He felt that letting Hilda experience Earth's public transportation might help the worried Elf Queen relax a little and take her mind off things. After all, although Hilda would only be staying here for two or three days, she was still technically taking a trip to Earth. Unfortunately, these efforts seemed to have little effect. Hilda had no interest whatsoever in observing how novel and interesting everything around her was. Most of the time, she walked with her brows furrowed, questioning various aspects of human life on Earth. The rest of the time, she simply lowered her head and brooded, completely immersed in worries about her homeland.
During the few days they had traveled together in the Dream Plane, Hilda had not behaved like this. Back then, she had been traveling with everyone through a barren wilderness from beginning to end, sleeping only one night at a simple, cramped lakeside outpost. She had had little opportunity to observe and judge the way the Dream Plane's inhabitants lived. She had, however, exclaimed that the Dream Plane's vast blue skies and huge stretches of naturally growing forest were enviable—though Hao Ren had not thought much of it at the time. Now, seeing Hilda's unusual behavior, Hao Ren could not hold back any longer. "What