I'll Feed You and Find You a New Home-Please Come Out! What, You're Rejecting My Kindness?!

"Hey, come on out."

"Do you want to come out?"

"Instead of getting beaten up and fighting people every day, why don't we leave this place and go our separate ways, so everyone can be happy?"

Shen Le sat at the long table holding the model, his left elbow on the tabletop and his cheek propped in his palm, making idle conversation with the fluorescent lights... spiritual presences... whatever those things inside the model were.

As he chatted, he reached in with his right hand, sweeping back and forth through the model's courtyard, trying to scoop out one or more of the lights.

It clearly wasn't working. Those lights had been hopping around right under his nose before, but now he couldn't catch a single one:

Not only could he not catch them, they weren't even showing themselves. He had no idea whether they had turned invisible, hidden in the rooms, or sunk beneath the floor tiles.

Or perhaps, as intangible points of light, they could hide inside tangible walls, bricks, and roof tiles?

"Come on... I'm asking you to come out very seriously, very sincerely!" Shen Le sighed, focused slightly, and poured a little more power into his fingers and palm.

Warmth spread through his hand. As his fingers continued weaving through the model, faint golden light seemed to rise in response.

It was very thin and fine. His fingers swept through it easily, feeling only a slight, lingering tug, like strands of spiderweb-

But even so, that fine net woven of golden light did not scoop up the glowing lights Shen Le wanted and toss them out.

Compared with Shen Le, a self-appointed owner who had come along halfway through, did it recognize those glowing lights as more truly a part of this house?

"Looks like talking alone