Back-Walking

Early morning.

Chen Ming woke up in a daze, feeling a heavy weight on his body. He looked down to see Dong Qianqiu pressing against his left side and Di Qiu'er pressing against his right.

He looked up at his status bar and saw that the Weakness and Cold effects were gone. He couldn't help but want to complain that this underlying code was even more powerful than the underlying code of the Douluo Continent.

Logically speaking, with his four super-god-level martial souls, no cold should ever affect him.

In reality, this cold only caused Steve to suffer from Weakness III and Mining Fatigue III.

Weakness III reduced his damage output to a decimal, and at Weakness V, he wouldn't even be able to hit anyone.

For Steve, he could still jump around, but for frail people like Chen Ming, it was fatal; he hadn't even had the strength to get up.

Chen Ming immediately got up, pushed Di Qiu'er and Dong Qianqiu aside, checked the time—seven in the morning—and got out of bed.

The movement woke Dong Qianqiu. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and a moment later, she opened her pale blue eyes.

A flash of confusion crossed her eyes as she looked at Di Qiu'er, who was sleeping soundly beside her, and listened to the sound of washing coming from the bathroom.

Di Qiu'er seemed to feel that her body pillow had disappeared and felt uncomfortable, so she immediately reached out to search for it.

"Hey! Ouch!"

Di Qiu'er's small hand quickly grabbed Dong Qianqiu's, and she violently dragged the still-dazed girl over.

The little shark was caught off guard and pulled into the little Auspicious Beast's arms, being used as a body pillow.

"Your Majesty Qiu'er... too tight..."

Dong Qianqiu felt uncomfortable being held so tightly by Di Qiu'er, her face flushing slightly as she spoke.

"Don't make noise... sleep a bit more... breakfast isn't ready yet..."

Di Qiu'er pressed Dong Qianqiu down directly. Dong Qianqiu's face was buried in something soft, and she stared at the gentle embrace in front of her with dilated pupils.

Shock, confusion, bewilderment, envy, and inferiority flashed through her eyes. She struggled, but the struggle was ineffective, so she simply gave up, like a salted fish that had lost its dreams.

Your Majesty Qiu'er smelled good and felt soft. Come to think of it, why was she so well-endowed when she looked so thin? Her strength was also immense; she wondered how those small hands could exert such power.

Chen Ming had just finished showering and walked out to see this fragrant and colorful scene. It was certainly easy on the eyes, but when did these two get so close?

Doubt flashed through his mind, but he quickly headed to the kitchen to process some of the seafood he had caught yesterday.

Soon, the aroma wafted out. Di Qiu'er was lured by the scent, and Dong Qianqiu also managed to break free from the other's control. The little glutton immediately shouted toward the kitchen:

"It smells so good, Chen Ming, what are we eating?"

"Seafood porridge."

The response came quickly. It felt like the scent of breakfast had become Di Qiu'er's exclusive alarm clock.

Soon, Di Qiu'er and Dong Qianqiu finished washing up and sat down to eat the seafood porridge.

"It's so fresh. By the way, what happened last night? Why were we so weak as soon as we got back?"

Dong Qianqiu praised his cooking, then remembered the situation from the night before and immediately asked curiously.

"That's because this world carries some rules of power. For example... staying in cold places will be bone-chillingly cold, getting wet will cause a cold, and extreme heat will cause heatstroke."

"We stayed in the deep sea for a long time yesterday, constantly in the freezing seawater, which caused our body temperatures to lose balance and resulted in a cold."

"It's not because our constitutions are too poor; even if a God King came, they would catch a cold. That's how the code is written."

Although Dong Qianqiu didn't understand what code was, she knew the reason, so she would have to pay attention to these issues next time.

"I understand. I'll be careful when I go into the water later."

While the two were chatting, Di Qiu'er was holding a large pot of seafood porridge, devouring it mouthful by mouthful, her eyes focused only on the food.

Morning.

Chen Ming chose a spot in the imperial palace, and the three of them worked together to build a huge artificial lake, then released the Demon Soul Great White Shark that Dong Qianqiu had caught into it.

"Does it not eat anything?"

Dong Qianqiu looked at the pixel-style Demon Soul Great White Shark that wasn't eating at all and asked in confusion. Chen Ming looked at the Demon Soul Great White Shark, which was staring straight at him, and hesitated to speak.

"It seems it only eats players."

"I see..."

Dong Qianqiu looked at the Demon Soul Great White Shark that was staring straight at Chen Ming and had no choice. At least she wasn't lonely anymore; there was at least a little shark to keep her company.

However, the palace where Chen Ming lived became lively. Originally, he was all alone, but now there was a little Auspicious Beast and a little shark.

The little Auspicious Beast raised a ten-thousand-year Golden-Eyed Black Dragon, and the little shark kept a tiny shark.

Of course, to avoid another situation where there was no milk to remove negative status effects after catching a cold.

Chen Ming raised a few bees, stored some honey, and even made some milk tea with milk, so that even if Di Qiu'er stole the milk tea, there would still be honey as a backup.

Fun fact: In My World, honey can remove negative status effects.

Fun fact: When you are hungry, you can put food into the hole under the nose and transport the food into the stomach through chewing or swallowing, which has the effect of relieving hunger.

Evening.

Chen Ming was exhausted after a day of work—making breakfast in the morning, digging the artificial lake, making lunch at noon, training the two in marksmanship in the afternoon, and cooking dinner in the evening—and he simply collapsed onto the sofa.

"I'm exhausted..."

Dong Qianqiu watched Chen Ming looking so weary and sat down directly, placing his head on her lap as she said:

"Then take a rest, I'll keep you company."

The back of Chen Ming's head rested on Dong Qianqiu's soft thighs, and the sensation was truly comfortable.

"My body feels a bit sore. Qianqiu, you and Qiu'er should get on my back and step on me."

"Step on you?"

Hearing this unfamiliar term, Dong Qianqiu grew puzzled, only to see Di Qiu'er take off her slippers and step onto the sofa.

"Turn over."

Di Qiu'er gave the instruction concisely, and Chen Ming flipped over, lying prone on Dong Qianqiu's lap, the faint scent of milk drifting to his nose.

At the same time, the hot breath he exhaled hit Dong Qianqiu's legs, the warmth making her cheeks flush crimson, though out of curiosity, she kept her gaze fixed on Di Qiu'er.

She saw Di Qiu'er step onto Chen Ming's back with her bare feet, then place both feet on him and begin to march in place.

"Is this... back-stepping? Is it effective?"

Dong Qianqiu's eyes were full of curiosity; it was her first time seeing someone use back-stepping to relieve full-body soreness.

"Little Shark, come up too."

Di Qiu'er signaled for Dong Qianqiu to join her. Hearing this, she hesitated and looked down at Chen Ming, who had his face buried in her lap.

Chen Ming gave a thumbs-up to show his approval, and having received permission, Dong Qianqiu stood up and stepped onto the sofa.

Dong Qianqiu lifted her fair, petite, and translucent feet, carefully stepping onto Chen Ming's back, afraid of hurting him. Only when she saw the look of pure comfort in Chen Ming's eyes did she dare to place both feet on him.

ps: The second update for March 2nd, totaling four thousand words.