Disguise

To be fair.

When it came to changing appearances, Ling Wuyuan was quite skilled.

In his previous life, as an orphan—an orphan who struggled even to afford school and food—his tuition and living expenses while studying had basically depended on scholarships and all kinds of part-time jobs squeezed into his daily schedule.

And in order to earn the first pot of gold needed to start his own business, he had once learned skills such as hairdressing, cooking...

But he had not studied any of them for long.

Because the time required to truly delve into those skills was a little too long.

Besides, there were all sorts of other issues.

They did not fit with his plan of quickly earning his first pot of gold.

So he had only briefly tried out those skills.

However, even so, as someone who learned everything quickly—where others often needed months to roughly master something, he often needed only a few days to reach the same level—the earnest studying he had done back then still left him with hairdressing skills that could be called proficient.

Now, in just a few short minutes, he made extremely ideal alterations to the little girl's hairstyle.

Throughout the process, perhaps because an old hairdresser's occupational habit had flared up, he actually felt rather sorry for the hair he had cut short.

Mm...

Such good hair quality that he almost could not bear to do it!

If he could, he even wanted to persuade her to keep her hair long.

Long, black, straight hair was truly top-tier!!

How should he put it...

That was what happened when an occupational habit acted up.

When faced with hair of sufficiently high quality, one could not help feeling it was a pity...

"The hair's done."

Looking at Ling Wuyuan before her, who was seriously inspecting his new work from top to bottom, the little girl did not know what she looked like now. But seeing the heartfelt satisfaction on Ling Wuyuan's face, it probably was not bad.

So, after pausing blankly for a moment, she slowly nodded.

Though she did not cry or show anything of the sort, during those few minutes, while letting Ling Wuyuan work on her hair, she could not help recalling everything that had happened before. As her hair was cut, she thought of the scene of her clansmen suddenly suffering a vicious enemy attack midway through the birthday banquet, and a heartfelt grief slowly rose within her.

Though her personality was somewhat aloof due to her parents having died early in her childhood, she had always held deep feelings for her clansmen.

Now.

Even if her family had not been wiped out overnight, there was no doubt that they had suffered grievous casualties.

Especially the strongest members of the family. As the enemies' primary targets for assassination and encirclement, their survival rate was so low it was hard to imagine...

At present, they could at most preserve a small amount of living strength.

Noticing her listless expression.

After thinking for a moment, Ling Wuyuan chose not to probe any deeper.

Just as he had said before, he did not know how to comfort people.

After all, no one had comforted him despite him ending up in this sorry state.

For someone like him, who had struggled independently through two lives without family or friends.

Comforting others and all that.

It truly hit a blind spot in his knowledge...

He had never experienced it, so it was hard for him to understand.

Besides.

He did not need comfort either.

The twenty-five years of society beating him down in his previous life, plus five years of difficult survival in this life—thirty years of brutal living in total—had long forged him an exceptionally steady temperament.

Of course, it had also made his personality a little abnormal...

At this critical juncture.

He understood only one thing: the most important matter was to hurry up and disguise her further, so that she could get out of here as soon as possible.

Thus, after rummaging around in the box he had just dug up for a while, Ling Wuyuan soon took out a small case filled with large amounts of powder.

This was something he had specially made in the past to disguise his skin tone.

It could make one's complexion resemble that of an ordinary person who had labored all year round.

If he had not previously learned how to mix cosmetics, paint, spray paint, whitewash... and gained considerable insight into blending colors, he truly would not have been able to make this thing.

When Ling Wuyuan had first crossed over, he had actually arrived directly in this ruined temple, naked from head to toe—not even wearing a pair of underpants.

1. He could not understand the local language and did not know where he was.

2. His body had reverted to roughly five or six years old, and he was not even wearing a pair of underpants.

3. His skin was far too good, completely unlike the commoners outside.

All those factors combined.

Ling Wuyuan, who had already personally learned in his previous life just how difficult life in this world could be, immediately gained an even deeper understanding of its countless hardships.

At that time, he could only be described as utterly out of place within Black Stone City.

It was the kind of incongruity where anyone could take one glance and clearly tell that something was off about this kid.

It was like everyone present was riding motorcycles, but you fucking drove out in a diesel tractor...

It was hard for others not to notice you.

Back then, although Black Stone City was full of people, to Ling Wuyuan, it was no different from being surrounded by a pack of wolves.

He looked around.

Yet there was no sense of safety, nor any place for him to belong.

Who could understand that feeling?

Still, there was one thing Ling Wuyuan felt rather fortunate about: there had not been a famine nearby for quite a few years.

If a famine had truly broken out.

He was not sure whether someone might have caught him and cooked him.

At that point.

His already obstacle-ridden journey of survival would have directly undergone a second class advancement into a life-and-death battle royale, making it even more unbearable...

At this moment, looking at the cosmetic in his hand, a trace of nostalgia surfaced in Ling Wuyuan's heart.

He had not used this thing for several years already.

After all, following his deliberate adjustments, his originally tender skin had long become no different from that of an ordinary beggar.

This was another sad topic...

He gently sniffed it.

After confirming that it had not spoiled thanks to being well preserved, he nodded slightly in satisfaction.

Then he immediately said to the little girl:

"Next is the final step. I'll put some disguises on your face, so don't move around..."

Although she had previously only put on some light makeup with the help of maids and had never dealt with any so-called disguises, the little girl still nodded earnestly.

"I understand."

And so, with his exquisite skills, Ling Wuyuan not only changed the little girl's facial skin tone, but also gave her several artificial scars.

Although, due to the limited conditions, anyone who stared and inspected her carefully could easily spot the problem, at this point there was already nothing to be picky about...

After she herself gradually applied the disguise to her neck and hands as well, Ling Wuyuan looked straight at her face, which had turned slightly red from him repeatedly touching it, and at her somewhat evasive, shy gaze. With an extremely solemn expression, he said seriously:

"Very good. Let's get up!"