"Because I happened to be passing by here for something..."
Xiao Xiao smiled.
Seeing the unfamiliar child beside Xiao Xiao, Auntie Xu nodded knowingly.
"All right."
"Then I'll leave you to it."
"I should get going."
"Goodbye."
Auntie Xu left with a beaming smile.
"Goodbye."
After Auntie Xu had walked away, Xiao Xiao turned around.
He looked up.
The wall was already empty. Not a single creature remained.
"Ah!"
The boy's startled cry came from beside him.
Xiao Xiao glanced over without surprise.
"Master Xiao!"
The boy looked anxious.
"Ya Ya..."
"Mm."
Xiao Xiao nodded. "It left."
"..."
Master Xiao's calm tone doused the flame of anxiety that had suddenly sprung up in the boy's heart.
He opened his mouth.
After a long moment...
"...Oh."
The boy answered flatly.
"It left..."
"It'll come back."
Xiao Xiao continued.
The boy froze.
"What would you like for lunch?"
Xiao Xiao's sudden question left the boy, who had only just come back to his senses, stunned again.
Huh?
"There's a good Chinese restaurant nearby. Want to try it?"
Xiao Xiao suggested.
"Or do you like dumplings, shumai, and things like that?"
"There's a place nearby that serves those too—"
"Ah!"
The boy finally understood what Xiao Xiao meant.
He instinctively looked down at the time.
Phew~
Fortunately.
The boy breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he hurriedly interrupted Xiao Xiao.
"Master Xiao."
The boy's voice was a little loud.
When Xiao Xiao stopped speaking, he gave him an embarrassed smile.
"I have to go home."
"I..."
As if worried Xiao Xiao might misunderstand, the boy explained with some nervousness.
"Mom made lunch for me."
If he didn't eat it, it would go to waste.
And wasting food was bad.
Unless something really,