This time, Jiu Ming didn't encounter any scene skips. Before long, little Youji returned alone... Well, "before long"—Jiu Ming looked speechlessly at the sky, which had already darkened. By his senses, no more than five minutes had passed, yet time seemed to have accelerated dozens of times over, and night had fallen with astonishing speed.
She came back alone?
After thinking for a moment, Jiu Ming roughly understood what had happened. Her mother had probably already died, hadn't she?
And... her eyes had turned red. The little girl also carried an aura utterly unlike that of an ordinary person. Had something awakened within her?
"Big brother, I'm sleepy." This time, she didn't hide behind the door and watch him through the crack. She simply opened her front door, left it open, and walked straight inside.
Jiu Ming hesitated briefly before following her in. What had once been a cozy home had become terribly messy after being left untended for so long. A thin layer of dust had gathered in many places. Empty water bottles and uncleared household garbage lay scattered across the floor, while the disorderly bowls and chopsticks on the dining table filled the house with an indescribable gloom.
Inside her room, little Youji silently hugged her treasured teddy bear and lay slanted across the floor. Beside her other tiny hand were several photographs brimming with happy family memories.
"Big brother, I want to go find Mom and Dad." The night outside the window swiftly receded. Little Youji, clutching her teddy bear as she lay on the ground, opened her eyes and spoke in a low child's voice to Jiu Ming, whose hand rested on her forehead.
"...Is that so? Then I'll take you there. But eat something first."
"No. If it isn't something Mom made, I won't eat