Love Quietly Taking Root

"Say, junior, before your teacher brought you guys out here, did they ever tell you what to do if an undocumented stowaway abroad got separated from everyone else with not a penny on them?"

"Huh? Senior, what kind of bizarrely specific question is that!?"

Σ(°°)! And what was with that opening phrasing, Senior? Were the difficulty settings getting more and more demonic!?

Another day's busiest rush had just ended. After their usual check to make sure the cash added up, the enormous supermarket was left with only a scattered few customers, making for a rare idle moment at the register.

Tang Bing, who was wearing only one earbud and humming while counting her receipts, was utterly bewildered when Fang Ran behind her spoke in such a melancholy tone again.

"I'd also like to know what kind of bizarre question this was."

After turning around and seeing Fang Ran sighing with a weathered, complicated expression, Tang Bing stared at him speechlessly for a second. Still, she smacked her lips and seriously thought about it.

"Mm, bia bia bia... if they're undocumented stowaways, then going through normal channels would basically be turning themselves in, so that probably won't work."

Then, as if she had finally come up with an answer, she looked at Fang Ran with excitement in her large eyes.

"Then, just like in the movies, they can only go find people living in some gray area and get smuggled back again."

Quite pleased with herself for coming up with that answer, she had only just finished speaking when—

Tang Bing saw Fang Ran looking even more dejected, as though life itself had lost all meaning.

"So that really is the answer..."

Fang Ran, who had grown up in a wholesome, healthy environment and had absolutely no idea where to find