You're Called Yezi?

Ye Chuqi glanced over. Big Black Fish had already rolled onto its back in the puddle, looking perfectly content. If she hadn't been able to sense everything in her space, she would have thought it was dead.

Suppressing a laugh, Ye Chuqi returned to the Little Oasis. No other creatures appeared this time. She searched the little pool inside and out and confirmed that the few charred stones in it were what blocked her Divine Sense. She knew next to nothing about this world's resources, but that didn't stop her from hoarding anything she found like a little hamster.

When she left the Little Oasis, her space held a few charred stones alongside Big Black Fish. As for the water, its color challenged everything she knew about what water ought to look like, so she gave up on it. There was nothing else edible, either. By the time she returned to the cave, she was effectively empty-handed.

Faced with the lift of Red Beard's lips and the expectation in Xiao Nuo's eyes—especially Red Beard's "You're back?"

Ye Chuqi seriously considered, for a moment, whether roasting Big Black Fish would feed everyone for a few meals.

Chapter 5: Ashen Wasteland 05 — You're Called Yezi?

The air seemed to freeze for a moment. Ye Chuqi said nothing, but Red Beard didn't find her lack of response strange.

Only when Xiao Nuo returned his badge did he realize Ye Chuqi had taken it at some point. Getting it back this way was a little awkward. From her reaction, he could also tell that the badge didn't seem to mean much to her.

"Have you heard of the Red Wind Mercenary Group? Have you heard of Red Beard?"

Ye Chuqi paused. Had he noticed something? Was that why he was asking? She had only just arrived in this world, so of course she hadn't heard of either. But he couldn't see her shake her head, and she didn't know how to say no here.

Wait. Did he say Red Beard?

When she had first found him, he had been covered in blood, his face almost unrecognizable. But he'd definitely had a striking beard covering more than half his face. What color had it been?

She'd held onto his badge for a while, too, so of course she remembered what it looked like. The flame burning at the center of that golden badge was still vivid in her mind.

So this man is Red Beard? From the way he says it, the Red Wind Mercenary Group and Red Beard must be famous.

Ye Chuqi lowered her gaze to the little bundle by her feet. She didn't know when it had shuffled over, but it was staring up at her eagerly. Even after Red Beard had cleaned it up, it still looked grubby. Fine down had begun to grow on its once-bald wings.

Ye Chuqi bent down and scooped it up.

Hearing the movement, Red Beard said with a smile, "Its name is Xiao Nuo."

Xiao Nuo.

This time, Ye Chuqi saw the little creature's name and committed its pronunciation to memory.

"Don't let its size fool you. It's a purebred Lion Owl cub."

Lion Owl. Another new term. Ye Chuqi repeated it silently, meeting the little creature's clear-eyed gaze again. It was much as she'd expected: put together differently, but rather like a Griffin.

What Ye Chuqi didn't yet know was that Lion Owls and Griffins were entirely different species. She had overlooked Red Beard's word purebred. Griffins were a cross between two species, while Lion Owls were a species unto themselves and could reproduce on their own. They were far rarer and more precious than artificially bred Griffins.

Ye Chuqi thought of the piece of dried meat she had offered before leaving and decided she knew why the little creature had suddenly grown so friendly. The meat looked ordinary, but it had been made from Spirit Beasts carefully raised on the slopes behind Lush Mountain. Not only did it taste incredible, it retained much of their spiritual energy. It was one of the favorite snacks of everyone on Lush Mountain.

She took out another piece and held it in front of Xiao Nuo. Its amber eyes went blank for a moment.

So it wasn't because of the dried meat?

But it clearly wasn't about to refuse her kindness. It already loved the taste, after all. With an excited "Awooo!" it clutched the meat and rolled around in her palm, nearly tumbling right off.

Ye Chuqi now understood why Red Beard had been so willing to let her go looking for Xiao Nuo alone. She also understood what he'd meant when he said his little companion had no fighting ability to speak of.

This little thing would probably be easy for anyone to lure away.

She knew Red Beard's face was wrapped too tightly for him to see her, yet she still had the strange feeling that he was watching her. She tilted her head and kept quiet.

Red Beard suddenly seemed to understand. "You can't speak?" But he'd heard her make a sound before—a simple "Mm." He remembered how soft her voice had been.

After a moment's hesitation, Ye Chuqi gave another "Mm." He'd asked whether she couldn't speak, after all, not whether she didn't know how.

"Xiao Nuo." She wasn't mute. She just didn't know how to pronounce anything else.

Hearing her voice clearly for the first time, Red Beard froze for a moment. It was as soft as he'd imagined, though its ending held an indefinable clarity that brushed lightly past his ears.

More importantly, her pronunciation wasn't quite smooth. It had the stiffness of someone imitating a sound.

She was copying his pronunciation.

That was what Red Beard thought, and he asked her outright.

Ye Chuqi answered with another "Mm."

For some reason, that one sound struck Red Beard as both obedient and aggrieved. He couldn't help laughing.

"You can understand me, but you don't know how to speak? Did no one ever teach you?"

Ye Chuqi stared at the pitch-black cave ceiling and gave a thoroughly halfhearted "Ah." She was a sword cultivator with a sharp tongue who had never lost an argument at Lush Mountain, yet here she was, unable to speak. How miserable was that?

Red Beard quickly composed himself. He'd laughed only because her tone was so expressive; even simple sounds carried so much feeling that he could tell she had a lively personality. More striking still, she had reproduced a sound after hearing him say it just once. It was only a simple syllable, and she was still clumsy with it, but—

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Stories with Pocket Dimensions

Time-Travel and Rebirth Romance