"Waaah!"
Ning Rongrong squeezed her eyes shut in terror. She thought she was going to die!
"Stop crying. I'm here, aren't I? You think I'd let you fall?"
Qin Qi grabbed the front of Ning Rongrong's clothes with one hand and hauled her up.
"You're so light. I lifted you with one hand."
Qin Qi grinned.
"Waaah..."
"I—I'm scared! I'm scared we'll never get home! I'm scared a Soul Beast will eat me!"
"I'm scared I'll never see Dad, Grandpa Sword, or Grandpa Bone again!"
Ning Rongrong ignored his teasing and buried her face against his chest.
She cried softly, afraid a Soul Beast would hear if she let herself wail.
After a while, she calmed down and looked up at Qin Qi.
"How are you not scared? How can you even smile?"
"Don't you know we might die?"
Ning Rongrong's eyes were red. No matter how noble her status, she was still a little girl.
Deep down, she was fragile.
"If I don't smile, should I cry with you?"
"Will crying scare away those Soul Beasts down there? Will it give us a way out?"
"No. So crying's just a waste of energy."
Qin Qi saw no point in crying. No one would come help him just because he cried.
If crying was useless, he could only rely on himself.
Ning Rongrong froze at his words. Even her sniffling stopped.
She couldn't understand how he could be so strong when he was about her age.
"Are all the boys in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan as brave and strong as you?"
She remembered the boys her age in her own sect cried easily too.
Was it because theirs was a support sect? Did that make them soft?
"Of course not. I'm brave and strong because I'm strong!"
"It