Chapter 45

Ye Chuqi wasn't afraid, so the boy crouched there calmly too. He wanted to live, and following Ye Chuqi was his best choice now. She had medicine and food, and she was stronger than him. Her prices were a little steep, but they weren't unbearable.

After two days with Ye Chuqi, the boy seemed to have accepted his lot. Apart from the fierce look he was born with, he was remarkably well-behaved. He followed her in silence, eating whatever she told him to eat and drinking whatever she gave him.

His legs were steadier today, and he even took it upon himself to gather firewood. The chicken soup simmering in the pot came from a bird he had hunted. Ye Chuqi hadn't said she would charge him for food, but he plainly didn't want to owe her too much.

Ye Chuqi rubbed her chin and looked the boy up and down. At her meaningful gaze, he silently took a step back and tucked himself into the trees' shadows.

"Can you cook?"

The boy shook his head from beneath the shadows.

"Do you want to learn?"

The boy froze. He raised his head from the shadows, dazed, his fierce eyes full of confusion. When he suddenly realized what Ye Chuqi meant, his eyes widened. All their ferocity vanished, leaving him looking adorably stunned.

Ye Chuqi: Pfft.

"Do you want to learn?"

The boy nodded hard.

Ye Chuqi's thinking was simple: the more people who could cook, the more she could sit back and enjoy the results instead of doing everything herself.

The boy's thinking was simple too. The more he learned, the more skills he had to rely on, and the better his chances of survival.

Their aims differed, but they worked together in perfect harmony. The obedient, sensible, hardworking boy showed a tenacity and stubbornness in learning new things that Ye Chuqi admired. She had only planned to teach him a few simple dishes, like soup and roast meat, but seeing him like this piqued her interest.

After the basics of preparing ingredients, Ye Chuqi had him practice knife work. As for a knife to cut vegetables and meat, she had those in her Storage Bag. They were essentials. She couldn't very well use a dagger to chop vegetables and meat—that would be such an indignity to it!

When the boy gripped the kitchen knife, his eyes lit up. Paired with their fierce shape, it looked as though he might charge out and hack someone down at any moment.

San San chuckled. "What, taken a liking to him?"

"Yes, I have."

A talented, obedient, sweet kid like this had to be brought back to Lush Mountain! She wondered which martial uncle he would take as his master. Then she wouldn't be the youngest on Lush Mountain anymore.

Ye Chuqi blinked, hiding the dark glint in her eyes. Watching the boy carefully slice the meat, she smiled with genuine pleasure.

"Can you read?"

The sudden question made the focused boy's wrist jerk. He nearly cut his finger. He narrowed his eyes at Ye Chuqi, looking fiercer than ever.

"Do you not want to talk, or can you not talk?" Ye Chuqi couldn't help laughing as she asked. Red Beard had asked her something similar not long ago. So little time had passed, yet their roles had changed completely. "What's your name?"

The boy was silent for a moment. He set down the knife and carefully arranged the sliced meat on a plate. Pressing his lips together, he said, "I don't have one." He hadn't spoken in a long time—or perhaps he rarely spoke at all. His voice was low and hoarse, though a trace of an adolescent crack lingered at the end.

He had no name, and he didn't know where he came from. For as long as he could remember, he had lived in the dense forest, raised by Magic Beasts. Later, a kind adventurer passing through had brought him into human society, but he had never fit in.

He seized every chance to grow stronger, only to be knocked down by reality again and again. This time, he had finally had the chance to follow a team of adventurers deeper into the Lost Forest. He wanted to hunt more game, build up his resources, and fill his little purse. Who could have known his luck would be so rotten? In a ruined site, he stepped on a damaged teleportation Formation. He and the adventurers were transported deep into the Lost Forest—and landed in the lair of a High-Rank Magic Beast.

Then those people did something to him, making the rampaging High-Rank Magic Beast pursue him relentlessly while they escaped unharmed.

Hearing the boy's story, Ye Chuqi felt an unexpected sense of kinship. They were both so unlucky!

Still, Ye Chuqi thought her own ordeal had been a pure accident. Those Demonic Cultivators surely hadn't expected the Formation to activate suddenly, swallow them all, and tear them to pieces in the turbulent Astral Wind. What had happened to the boy sounded more like a trap deliberately laid for him.

Those adventurers must have discovered the teleportation Formation long ago, perhaps even known where it led. That was why they had specifically brought the boy, who was more burden than help in a fight, deep into the Lost Forest: they wanted to use him to test the way. The High-Rank Magic Beast's rampage was no accident either. They had provoked it with medicinal powder, and it had pursued the boy because they had put that powder on him. He was a sacrifice. Once he lured the beast away, every treasure in its lair would fall into their hands.

Ye Chuqi clicked her tongue. He really had had it worse than her.

After "chatting" with Ye Chuqi, the boy looked a little more at ease. At least, when he held the kitchen knife, undisguised delight appeared on his face. Paired with those eyes of his, though, it looked strange no matter how she viewed it.

The boy truly had no name. During the years he grew up among Magic Beasts, he couldn't even speak a human language. After an adventurer brought him into human society, no one thought to teach him to read or write properly. That was a privilege reserved for the wealthy. When people called for him, it was only "that kid" or "brat." He didn't even have a proper form of address.

"Would you like a name?" Ye Chuqi rested her chin on her hand and watched the boy, who had nearly sliced through all the meat she'd saved up lately. "Or should I just call you 'hey' or 'brat' from now on?"

The boy: "..."

"Is there a name you like, or one you'd want?"

The boy shook his head.

"Then how about this? My best friend is called San San, and I'm called Qi Qi. What if I call you Xiaojiu from now on?"

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